Be in the Way

Be in the Way

When I was a boy, one of the worst things I could do was to walk through the dirt my mother was sweeping from the floor. Doing that would get me a good swat with the broom and a stern warning. The problem was simple: when I did that, I was in the way; and small boys ought never to be in their mother’s way.

This morning I want to talk about a perspective from which we should be in the way.

The original name of what we today call “The Christian Church” was “The Way.” Paul persecuted members of The Way as we see in Acts 9:1-2 where we read: “Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.”

After his miraculous conversion on the road to Damascus, he said in Acts 24:14, “However, I admit that I worship the God of our fathers as a follower of the Way, which they call a sect.”

I think calling the Church “the Way” makes a lot of sense. In John 14:6 Jesus said, “I am the Way the Truth, and the Life. No man comes to the Father but by me.” and since the Church is the body of Christ and made up of those in Christ, it can truly be said that we are in the Way.

More profoundly, we are told in Hebrews that without faith it is impossible to please God. Faith is the way of The Kingdom. Jesus lived by faith while He was on earth, saying that He said and did only what the Father told Him. The dependent life of faith is the way.

There is another way, however. The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 11:14 that Satan comes as an angel of light. He is the great deceiver who aspires to be like God. To that end, he copies the things of God and perverts them.

For example, we read in Proverbs 14:12 and again in 16:25, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end, it leads to death.” From this statement we can see that there are two ways, God’s way, and the enemy’s way.

We are born into a world that is cursed due to our forebears having turned over control of it to the enemy. Consequently, we are born in bondage to a world run the enemy’s way. Everything around us further conditions us to do it ourselves, to work to merit approval, to trust in our own thinking and strength. In truth, man’s way is the enemy’s way. It is the way of the earth. It is the way of the flesh.

Man’s way and God’s way.

There are interesting parallels and important differences.

It all began in the Garden of Eden. In Genesis 3:4-7 that old serpent, the devil began his deception. “‘You will not surely die,’ the serpent said to the woman. ‘For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.”

The enemy lays out his perversion of the way of God. A big lie wrapped in a little truth. “God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

God’s way: Trust and rest – this tree isn’t good for you. If you eat from it, you will die.

Man’s way: Reason and sight – this tree is good for food. It looks delicious and what’s more, it will give me wisdom.

That seems better to the flesh than God’s plan. Living by faith in God’s promises and direction is what’s best for us, however.

Father graciously laid it all out for us. First in the garden, as we’ve seen, and again in Deuteronomy 30:19 “This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.” (NIV)

Indeed, this is the message of God to us. Our choice is not good and evil, leading to death. Our choice is trust and dependence, which yields Life.

Despite God having told us the best way to live, as history has unfolded mankind has always sought to live in his own way and to avoid living God’s Way. There are many examples in everyday life.

Man’s way says, “There are many ways to God.”

One of the top leaders in a mainline evangelical church said, “[I] must dissent from Christocentric exclusivism, which holds that Jesus is the only way to God’s gift of salvation,” which is “arrogant.”

He warned against “castigating other religions as being inferior.” These religions may be “more circuitous, bumpy even, but I trust God to call the family home by whatever means.”

Closer to home, the pastor at a church we once attended preached a sermon in which he stated that “the biggest enemy of justice is a closed mind,” which he defined as “one who says, ‘I have the truth.’” He went on to say that God requires justice, but that when one says, “I am right,” and consequently, “you are wrong;” there can be no justice.

In these statements we see that the perversion of the enemy moves men to carry reason to the point where it is no longer reasonable. A moment of thoughtful reasoning about justice will clearly show that if there is no right or wrong, justice does not exist at all.

If there is no right or wrong, how could a judge in a court ever convict and sentence a criminal? On what basis would the criminal be in the wrong and the victim in the right? How could it be said that a violation had occurred at all if there were no standards to violate?

It flies in the face of reason, yet reasonable people accept such things as perfectly reasonable.

These statements evidence the heresy of postmodern religious thought, which has at its core pantheistic idolatry. The belief behind them is that there is no absolute truth. In the postmodern world there can really be no sin, only your idea of morality and mine.

We may hear this without noticing. When we hear things such as “that’s your truth” or “I’m just speaking my truth” we are hearing the idea that truth is relative, even subjective.

While some may say there is no sin, the Bible talks plainly throughout its pages about it. It tells us that “the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23 NIV) If the postmodern view is correct this statement, and others of its type, invalidate the Bible as the inspired Word of God. If this relativistic view of truth is correct, the Bible cannot be God’s revelation of Himself to humankind because in it, the claim is made that there is only one God and that those who do not accept His gift of life remain spiritually dead in their sins. It’s way too dogmatic.

Then there is God’s way.

Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6 NIV) This is not the statement of one for whom truth is relative or for whom there is no wrong or right. Instead, there is a clear assertion of truth.

That such truth exists yields the simple and clearly rational idea that some things are right, and other things are wrong. Any five-year-old walking through his mother’s dirt understands that concept.

I am reminded of the Scripture in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 that says, “The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.”

By their rejection of Father’s offer of life in Christ Jesus, they choose to remain separate and apart from Him, which is hell.

Passages such as this show the flaws in the currently trendy idea that everyone is already, or will ultimately be, saved. Such passages also refute any thought that everyone is already in Christ, but not everyone knows it yet.

I’ve worked with people who have held a wide variety of beliefs. One company I worked for was based in New York City and there are many Orthodox Jews there. One gentleman, who I’ll call “Shem”, provides an excellent example of this loss of certainty.

Shem was one of the most worried men I had ever known. Day after day he would come into my office and ask if everything was OK. His visits became even more frequent after 9/11. Then one day as he watched the terrorism that had been taking place in Israel, he came and discussed his feelings of uncertainty about the eventuality of worldwide conflict and the apparent pointlessness of what he was hearing on the news each night.

I asked him if he thought that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who had promised His people an inheritance would fail to keep His promise. Shem and I discussed my belief that God was in control and that in the end God’s purpose and plan would be accomplished. That was something about which he was uncertain.

But what really stunned him was my view that it really didn’t matter at all what happened because in the worst case, if terrorists struck again and I was killed, I would be with the Lord in perfect peace and happiness.

Shem had no peace. He was forced to live with deep-seated worry and concern because he believed the delusion. For Shem there was no certainty and he agreed with Psalm 103:15-16, which says, “As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.”

But God’s Way is found in the verses that follow: “17 But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD’S love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children—with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts. The LORD has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.”

God’s love and promises are certain, and God is in control no matter how things may look through enemy-colored glasses.

The enemy holds the world in terrible bondage. Because he keeps people deceived great perversion is not only accepted, but actually promoted under the banner of “sexual preference.” The mere mention of the term has, no doubt, placed images and thoughts in your mind. It’s a term that carries tremendous weight. Expressing any view other than complete acceptance is tantamount to cultural suicide.

Many of us know people who are bound by this terrible lie. As we have opportunity, we can show them the love of God. We can be there when they want to talk. But this particular form of bondage runs deep. Man’s way (which is really the evil one’s way) has caused deep rifts between many family members. This and other evil delusions have broken homes and destroyed lives.

The evidence is overwhelming that man’s way does not work, yet the delusion is so strong that few can believe that God’s way is right.

In Galatians 5:19-21 the Spirit says, “The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

But He goes on in verse 24 to say, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

The way of God is different. The evil one guides people into delusion and perversion of what is good and godly. Conversely, the Holy Spirit guides people into the truth. Trusting that God’s way is best certainly results in eternal benefit but there are rewards in our lives here and now as well.

Just as sinful attitudes and actions have consequences here on earth, so do upright and godly attitudes and actions. That’s why we read in Titus 2:12 that the grace of God “teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.” (NIV) Father knows what’s best for us.

For example, He guides us toward monogamous commitment that unites us as one flesh. A relationship undergirded by deep trust that demonstrates the relationship He has with us spiritually.

I have touched only briefly on a few areas that demonstrate that God’s Way is higher and better than man’s way. Let me add just one more. True freedom.

My father had a great little dog named Cotton Ball. He called her Cottie. Now my dad was never a big dog person. In fact, growing up I always had the feeling that he really didn’t like dogs at all. One thing I knew for certain was that he would not put up with a dog running off or being poorly behaved. Consequently, I was very surprised when he got this dog as a puppy. I thought it wouldn’t last; that he’d get angry at the dog for misbehaving and that he’d get rid of her—but he didn’t!

Dad’s yard bordered that of a neighbor on one side, a road on one side, and the other two sides backed up against a pine plantation. When Cottie was young, Dad would walk around the edges of his property with her. One day an amazing thing happened. Dad walked across the lawn to talk with his neighbor. Cottie was with him, but when Dad crossed the invisible line between his lawn and the neighbor’s, Cottie stopped!

In subsequent years Cottie learned that she could ride in the car anytime Dad went out—except on those occasions when he first put on a suit and tie. On those days he was going to church and Cottie couldn’t come. As soon as she saw him leaving the house with a suit and tie, she sat down to wait for him to return. She wouldn’t even follow him out the door!

Cottie loved to chase squirrels, but if a squirrel she was chasing ran into the road, she would stop immediately and let the squirrel go!

One day a visitor came to the house and saw that Cottie was not tied or restricted in any way. The visitor asked about the dog being loose because it seemed risky to just let her run. The reply was. “That dog has her freedom because she does her master’s will.”

That reply reminds me of our relationship with God. In John 8:31b-32 Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” His teaching was that we should believe in Him, that we should trust Him, and that out of His great love for us, we should love others.

Because we, like my father’s little dog, do the will of our Master, (which is to believe on Jesus and love others from the love He has given us) we too have great freedom. Indeed, the freedom that results from trusting that Jesus is so great that far too many in the world simply cannot bring themselves to accept it.

Paul agreed with the Corinthians who said, “all things are permissible.” His only caution was simply that they should realize that not all things were profitable, or beneficial. (see 1 Corinthians 6:12) He told the Roman saints that because love does no harm to its neighbor it therefore fulfills the law. (see Romans 13:8 & 10)

We read in 2 Corinthians 3:17 “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” (NIV), and in Galatians 5:1 “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.” (NIV) This unusual freedom is one of the things that sets us apart from the world. It is how we live today in The Kingdom.

Many Christians struggle to know God’s will in all sorts of daily situations. They ask God, and themselves, “What job should I take?” or “Where should I live?”, or any number of similar questions.

We can live freely when we depend on Him because His Spirit teaches us, (see Titus 2:11-12) gives us godly desires, (see Philippians 2:13) and produces godly fruit within us by His Spirit. (see Galatians 5:22-23) Because He is always with us, (see Hebrews 13:5) we are free to go in whatever direction we desire. The King James Bible puts it this way, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

Such a spirit does not lead toward constant second-guessing of our decisions. It does not lead us toward bondage or superstitious worry about making a misstep or a wrong move as though we could thwart Father’s plan. Instead, it frees us completely and perfectly, as we would expect of any plan laid out by so great a God as ours.

It gives us the peace of which Jesus spoke when he was preparing the first disciples for His departure. He said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (John 14:27)

As you go out into the world this week, be in the Way. Relish your freedom. Depend on Christ in you, and don’t worry. Be at peace. Father is more than capable of seeing to it that His plans are accomplished in you.