As Christians, we believe that Jesus is the
Savior. We believe that, through our faith in Jesus Christ, and through
God’s love and grace and mercy, we will go to heaven. We will receive
salvation and eternal life.
But here’s the question. Do you believe that there
are other ways to heaven? Do you believe there are other ways we can
receive salvation and eternal life? Or is faith in Jesus Christ the only
way to heaven? Is faith in Jesus the only way to salvation and eternal
life?
There are a lot of Christians who are very hesitant to say
that. It makes a lot of people uncomfortable. It sounds arrogant to
say that our faith is the only one that can lead to heaven. To say that,
out of all the different faiths that are out there, Christianity is the only
one that can give salvation and eternal life. Who do we Christians think
we are, anyway?
It also sounds very exclusionary. There are, after
all, lots and lots of people who follow other faiths, or who follow no faith at
all. Are we Christians saying that none of those people go to
heaven? Are we saying that none of those people will get salvation and
eternal life? Would a loving God really keep all those people out of
heaven, and only let the Christians in? Again, just who do we Christians
think we are, anyway?
Well, here’s the thing. What I think really does not
matter. I’m not the one who makes those decisions, and I’m certainly glad
that I’m not. I do, however, believe that Jesus Christ is the divine Son
of God. And so, when I read the words of Jesus, as they come to us in the
Bible, I believe them. Do I always follow them perfectly? No.
Far from it. I fall short many, many times, more times than I like to
think about. But that’s because some of Jesus’ words are not very easy to
follow, and it’s because I’m a flawed, imperfect, sinful human being. But
my failure to follow Jesus’ words does not mean that I don’t believe them.
And it certainly does not mean that Jesus’ words are wrong.
Jesus said, numerous times and in numerous ways, that he is
the only way to heaven, that he is the only way to salvation and eternal
life. And one of those times is our Bible reading for today.
Jesus uses the illustration of a pen where sheep are
kept. And we kind of understand what he’s talking about, but I read
something once that makes it a lot more clear.
It said that, at that time, it was common for several
different flocks of sheep to be kept in the same pen at night. They did
that for safety reasons--it would be easier to protect these various flocks of
sheep from wild animals or from thieves if they were all kept together.
Then, in the morning, the individual shepherds would come and lead their sheep
out to graze. And you say, how would they know which sheep went with
who? Well, from what I read, each flock of sheep would recognize the
voice of their individual shepherd. So, when each shepherd came and
called out, the sheep who recognized the voice of that shepherd would come out
of the pen and follow him. The ones who did not recognize the shepherd’s
voice would stay in the pen until their shepherd came.
So that’s what Jesus is talking about. Jesus comes,
and his followers listen to his voice. He calls his followers, and he
leads them out. Jesus leads, and his followers follow him, because they
know him and know his voice. And later he says, whoever follows him will
be saved. They will go in, they will go out, they will find pasture, they
will get what they need. Jesus is the one who, as he says, “has come that
they may have life, and have it to the full”. As for anyone else who
comes, they do not come to save the sheep. They do not come to give the
sheep life. Instead, Jesus says, anyone else who comes, comes to steal
and kill and destroy.
Jesus could not say it much clearer. He is the one
who has come to give life. Anyone who wants to have eternal life, who
wants to have salvation and go to heaven, needs to follow him. There’s no
one else to follow who will do that. Following anyone else will simply
lead to death.
And of course, this is not the only time Jesus makes a
statement like this. Jesus is quoted several times in the gospels as
saying that belief in him is the only way to heaven. He is quoted over
and over as saying that eternal life can only be found through him.
Does anyone have to believe that? No.
Everyone’s free to believe whatever they want. But if we say we believe
that Jesus is the divine Son of God, then we pretty much have to believe what
he says. I mean, the divine Son of God could not be wrong about something
like that, could he? If he could, he would not be the divine Son of
God. So, if we’re going to call ourselves Christians, we pretty much have
to believe that Jesus is the only way to heaven, that he is the only way for us
to get salvation and eternal life. Again, not because I say so.
What I say does not make any difference. But because Jesus said
so.
Does that sounds
arrogant? Does it sounds exclusionary? Well, if so, I cannot do
anything about that. Because I’m not the one who said it. Jesus is
the one who said it. If someone does not like it, well, they’re argument
is with Jesus Christ, not with me.
But in saying that, we need to
be aware of the implications of it. Because if the only way to heaven,
the only way to get salvation and eternal life, is to accept Jesus Christ as
the Savior, then that means there are people in the communities of the
Wheatland Parish who will not go to heaven. There are people in
Gettysburg, and in Onida, and in Agar, who will not get salvation and eternal
life. If you think about it, if you’ve lived here for a while, you know
that’s true.
And the truth is, we don’t like
that very much. Because we think, “You know, I know some of those
people. They’re good people. They work hard. They take care
of their families. They care about their community. I don’t want to
think they’re not going to heaven.”
And I don’t like to think that,
either. I don’t like to think about the fact that there may be someone I
pass on the street, or see in Gas N Goodies, or run into at The Corner, who is
not going to go to heaven. I wish that was not so. I don’t want it
to be so. But again, what I want is not important. This is God’s
decision, not mine. And I don’t think I’m likely to get God to change His
mind.
But again, we don’t like to
think about it. And so, too often, we don’t. We don’t think about
it. We put it out of our minds. We may believe it, in theory, or we
may not. But if we do believe it, too often, we don’t take it
seriously. And I’m as guilty of that as anyone.
But it’s wrong. We need
to take this seriously. And we need to do something about it.
According to the gospel of Matthew, the last thing Jesus told the disciples to
do before he ascended to heaven was to go and make disciples. And if
that’s not enough, all we need to remember is that Jesus told us to love our
neighbors. If we know someone who has not accepted Jesus Christ as the
Savior, or if we know someone and we’re not sure they’ve accepted Jesus Christ
as the Savior, what’s the most loving thing we can do for them? The most
loving thing we can do is do what we can to help them receive salvation and
eternal life. The most loving thing we can do for them is help them
accept Jesus as the Savior.
And we say, well, I’m not
comfortable doing that. We say, well, I don’t think I’d be very good at
that. We make all kinds of excuses. And again, I do it, too--I’m
not pointing fingers at anyone. But this was a command Jesus gave
us. Jesus did not say “go and make disciples if you’re comfortable doing
that.” Jesus did not say “go and make disciples if you think you’d be
good at it.” Jesus said do it. No ifs. No excuses allowed.
Do it. Period.
And that command continues to
apply. Even in a time of isolation and quarantines and social distancing,
that command still applies. Because Jesus did not say, “go and make
disciples unless there’s a pandemic” either. Is it going to be harder to
reach people right now? Maybe. I don’t know. Maybe it’s
easier. I know there are people watching this service right now who we do
not reach in our in-person services. That’s not a criticism, it’s just a
fact. If you’re on social media, there are people you reach on social
media who we do not reach in our in-person services. And in fact, people
are spending more time on social media now, because they cannot do some of the
things they would usually do. The way we can go and make disciples will
be different now, certainly. But is it harder? Is it easier?
I don’t know.
And in fact, it really does not
matter. Because whether it’s easier or harder, it’s still the command of
Jesus Christ. And if we say we follow Jesus Christ, then we need to not
just believe what he said, we need to do what he said.
Jesus is the way to
heaven. Salvation and eternal life are available only through him.
Not because I say so, but because Jesus said so. And it’s up to us, as
followers of Jesus, to do whatever we can to help others receive that salvation
and eternal life. Because Jesus told us to do that, too. And
besides, it’s the most loving thing to do.
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