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Introduction

Becca, a 45-year-old nonprofit executive, grew up going to church on Wednesdays and Sundays. “Basically, any day that the church was open, my family was there. For me, it was never a sanctuary. It was routine; it was what we did.” As Becca got older, she started to ask questions about her faith. Her church discouraged her doubts and questions, and the rigidity of rules and regulations within her denomination pushed her away from the Church. 

Today, Becca is disaffiliated from the Church, though she maintains a faith. “I definitely believe in something,” she says. “I want to be a good person as best I can, and I want to spread kindness. I want to see people who are mutually respectful to one another and understanding of differences. That’s what my spirituality is to me. It’s being with like-minded people and also understanding that you don’t have to be like-minded to be able to share space and that’s okay.”¹

That story is from a research project on spiritual openness conducted by Barna, an organization that has conducted over two million interviews over the course of 40 years, seeking to understand the culture around the church.

The spiritual openness project contains dozens of reports and articles helping church leaders navigate the times we are living in, which is marked by an increased interest in spirituality.

Becca’s story represents a trend among those who have become increasingly skeptical of the church, yet still want to maintain spiritual health. Some people continue to learn about and attempt to follow the teachings of Jesus. Some seek other forms of spirituality.

Barna’s research shows that 52% of teens in the U.S. are very motivated to continue learning about Jesus. Overwhelmingly, Christian teens today say that Jesus still matters to them—76 percent say, “Jesus speaks to me in a way that is relevant to my life.”

Gen Z, or those in the ages from 13-28, remain refreshingly open to Jesus as an influence in their lives.

Their reports say that of all U.S. teens and adults, 63 percent say they have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today. This is actually most common among Millennials, or those born between 1981-1996, of whom 70 percent say their commitment to Jesus is still important to them.

While these reports are done within the U.S., Canada tends to follow similar trends. In a partnership with Alpha Canada, Barna discovered an increasing interest in spirituality among young people in Canada, and that Christian teens are surprisingly open about their faith with their non-Christian friends.

With the general population indicating a warm and positive perception of Jesus, how is it possible that our society is increasingly and quickly distancing itself from its foundational Christian values?

Many are open to discovering what will truly satisfy their deepest longings. Along with modern experts and self-help resources, they look also to Jesus as a positive influence on their search.

But when we look at what Jesus said, we discover that he cannot be just one option among many. He made claims about himself that prevent the possibility of there being multiple ways to find complete satisfaction in life.

In John 14, we read a conversation between Jesus and his followers. Jesus was explaining that he will be leaving so that he can prepare a place for them in his Father’s house.

He is talking about making preparations for his second coming. His followers want to go with him, indicated by Thomas’ question in verse 5: “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

Most religious teachers or spiritual guides provide instructions for how to get whatever they are promising. Some might promise internal peace and say that meditation is the way.

The goal of Buddhism is to become enlightened and reach nirvana, which is the end of the cycle of death and rebirth. The way to nirvana is to the eliminate all greed, hatred, and ignorance within a person. 

The goal of Islam is to achieve “righteous living” by fully submitting to the will of Allah, living a life of obedience to His laws as revealed in the Quran, and ultimately attaining eternal happiness in Paradise.

The ultimate goals of these and other religions is dependent on how a person lives. People follow a certain way, which is taught by religious or spiritual experts, and they are given a reward for their efforts in following the way.

In John 14:6, Jesus makes a claim that is so counter intuitive that even most Christians fail to grasp how different it is from other religions.

Perhaps it has been your experience that Christianity is not much different than the way of other religions. Live a life of obedience and virtue and you’ll earn a spot in heaven.

Perhaps you wouldn’t say it that way. Perhaps you would think more along the lines of a Christian ethic or set of morals that, unless you follow them, you are not really a Christian.

Let’s consider what Jesus says in response to Thomas’ question. The question again is, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

Jesus responds by saying, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

But, this statement and the underlying message of all of the New Testament, is that the way to eternal life with God is not through our effort but through Jesus himself. The truth about God and ourselves is known through Jesus. And, fullness of life is experienced only in Jesus.

So, with that said, let’s look closely at what each of these three words mean.

Jesus is the Way

Jesus being the way seems to have two meanings. First, as I have already said, Jesus is the way to eternal life with God.

DA Carson says, “Jesus does not simply blaze a trail, commanding others to take the way that he himself takes; rather, he is the way.”²

In this understanding of how Jesus is the way, we are saying that he is the way to salvation.

The second understanding is that Jesus does indeed blaze a trail, but it is a trail in the sense of what sort of people we are to be as God’s children.

God has adopted us. Jesus is God’s true Son and he shows us what sonship looks like. If we see ourselves as siblings of Jesus, fellow children of God, and members of God’s household, then we should be asking ourselves how we can behave properly.

The Jesus way, in the sense of how to behave, does not get us into the household, but it shows us how members of his household are meant to behave.

Now, the question is often, if we behave badly, does that disqualify us from being God’s children? I don’t think so.

God’s adoption of us is not conditional upon our behaviour. But, it does require us to receive the adoption, which is made possible because of Jesus.

So, Jesus is the way in the sense of being the only way to God, and in the sense of showing us how to behave.

Let’s now look at how Jesus is the truth.

Jesus is the Truth

This statement dismisses the popular notion that truth is relative. While we all have our own experiences and perspectives, truth is unchanging and known fully only by knowing Jesus.

Now, the dilemma comes when we consider that there are many true things about the world and our experiences that the Bible does not address directly.

If you go to the Bible with questions about how to understand the internet, internal combustion engines, or modern medical procedures, you will find no answers.

Jesus being the truth is not about how to understand everything. It is about knowing God. Going back to DA Carson, he says:

Jesus is the truth, because he embodies the supreme revelation of God—he himself ‘narrates’ God, says and does exclusively what the Father gives him to say and do, indeed he is properly called ‘God’. He is God’s gracious self-disclosure, his ‘Word’, made flesh.³

There is much to be known and discovered in life that does not require someone to know Jesus. But, the one thing that every person on earth truly needs and longs for is only known by knowing Jesus.

And, knowing Jesus changes how we engage with everything else. He is the truth that brings clarity and focus to all of our experiences. He shows us how we are meant to understand and interact with the brokenness in ourselves and in others.

He is the way to God and shows us the way to live as God’s children, he is the truth about God and shows us how to understand ourselves, and finally, he is the life.

Jesus is the Life

Jesus being the life means that there is only death without him. When the first humans rebelled against God, death was brought into the human experience.

This is not God’s design. We are meant to live eternally with God and one another. We are meant to enjoy fullness of life.

In Genesis 2:7 we read that “the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”

And when Jesus came, he came to bring the breath of God back to humanity. John 1:4 says about Jesus, “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.”

Through Jesus, the life of God is restored. Jesus said in John 11:25, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die.”

Just as Jesus had to die in order to bring this new life into humanity, so we must also die. The only way to be made new is for our old nature to be replaced with the life of Christ.

This is the work of God and requires us to surrender. We all have things that keep us from experiencing this new life. I find so often that when I struggle with my faith or with sin, I try to find some strategy or tactic to get rid of it. My guilt prompts me to try and clean myself up so that I can be rid of the shame before I come to God again in prayer.

But the life of Jesus doesn’t work this way. We cannot clean ourselves up. We can only surrender our guilt and shame to God. This is why Jesus came. The life of Christ fills us only when we surrender.

Conclusion

The essence of this powerful statement that Jesus is the way and the truth and the life is that he is and does what we can never be and do.

The disciples of Jesus wanted to know how to get to the Father. They were looking for a religious practice, some new set of instructions that would secure their place in the kingdom of God.

In response to this question, Jesus did not give instructions or directions to God’s house. He gave himself.

The instructions he gave in other places throughout the Gospels are a picture of what humans are meant to be as God’s image bearers. If we understood and applied the teaching perfectly, we would properly put on display who God is.

Jesus accomplished this, so he is our model. The way of Jesus shows us the way of the kingdom. As we wait for the return of Jesus, God wants us to put on the character of his kingdom. Not so that we can get into the kingdom, but because we are already citizens of the kingdom, and to show the world what the kingdom looks like.

The truth of Jesus helps us see God, ourselves, and all of creation in the way God sees. This helps us live in the Jesus way.

The life of Jesus fills us up so that we do not fill ourselves with the things which corrupt God’s image bearers. When we abide in Jesus, we are filled with his life.

To close and as we prepare to take communion, I want to read a meditation written by Thomas a Kempis, the 15th century author of The Imitation of Christ.

Follow thou me. I am the way and the truth and the life. Without the way there is no going; without the truth there is no knowing; without the life there is no living. I am the way which thou must follow; the truth which thou must believe; the life for which thou must hope. I am the inviolable way; the infallible truth; the never-ending life. I am the straightest way; the sovereign truth; life true, life blessed, life uncreated. If thou remain in my way thou shalt know the truth, and the truth shall make thee free, and thou shalt lay hold on eternal life.

1. “Openness to Jesus Isn’t the Problem—the Church Is”, https://barna.gloo.us/articles/spiritually-open-issue-3, accessed January 30, 2025. ↩︎
2. DA Carson, The Gospel according to John 3. (14:5–14) ↩︎
3. Ibid. ↩︎