Friday Devo
Scripture Reading:
John 14:6-7
6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. 7 If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him!”
6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. 7 If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him!”
Commentary from the ESV Study Bible:
14:6 Jesus as the one way to the Father fulfills the OT symbols and teachings that show the exclusiveness of God’s claim (see note on 3:18), such as the curtain (Ex. 26:33) barring access to God’s presence from all except the Levitical high priest (Leviticus 16), the rejection of human inventions as means to approach God (Lev. 10:2), and the choice of Aaron alone to represent Israel before God in his sanctuary (Num. 17:5). Jesus is the only “way” to God (Acts 4:12), and he alone can provide access to God. Jesus as the truth fulfills the teaching of the OT (John 1:17) and reveals the true God (cf. 1:14, 17; 5:33; 18:37; also 8:40, 45–46; 14:9). Jesus alone is the life who fulfills the OT promises of “life” given by God (11:25–26), having life in himself (1:4; 5:26), and he is thus able to confer eternal life to all those who believe in him (e.g., 3:16). This is another “I am” saying that makes a claim to deity.
Study Questions:
- If you grew up like I did, in church, you were most likely taught to believe things about Jesus "because the Bible said so." If the Bible says it, we should believe it... PERIOD. While this is certainly true, many of us then run off to college only to have friends and professors chip away at the Bible, and suddenly that thing we used to be sure of doesn't seem so absolute. But the truth is, we don't have to believe anything about Jesus or God simply based on blind faith in the Bible. No, it's WAY better than that! The foundation of our faith isn't the Bible at all. It's an event... the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Without the resurrection, the Jesus-following movement never happens. For the first 300 years of this new Jesus movement, they didn't even have "the Bible." They had first-hand accounts the resurrection, stories of things Jesus' taught and a few copies of hand-written letters from witnesses. It's also documented, both inside and outside the Bible, that Jesus' closest followers were beaten, tortured and killed for refusing to deny what they said they SAW. One of them was James, Jesus' brother. James, who once had thought Jesus was completely crazy, died proclaiming that his brother had been killed, raised from the dead and was, indeed, the Son of God.Is it built on blind faith alone? The Bible says so? Grandma says so? Or is it built on solid, reasonable evidence of Jesus' resurrection? What does this do to your confidence in him?
- At The City Church, we have developed what we call "The City 7". These are seven truths that are foundational to our faith. They are a way to remind us why we believe what we believe. This week we covered #5- Why do I follow Jesus? I follow Jesus because Jesus rose from the dead proving that He is the way, the truth and the life. When you think about YOUR faith, what is it built on? How solid is the foundation?
Pray:
- That you would remind yourself of how solid the foundation of your faith is and that it is tied to a documented event.
- That you would remember it is only by grace that you have been saved.
This Week's City 7:
Try to commit to memory!
5. Why do I follow Jesus? I follow Jesus because Jesus rose from the dead proving that He is the way, the truth and the life.
(Matthew 7:24-27; John 14:6)
(Matthew 7:24-27; John 14:6)
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