The Way

5Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?” 6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. 7“If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.” John 14

The followers of Christ were first called “The Way.” It seems now a more proper name than “Christians” who now seem to include people who don’t believe Jesus is THE way and some who are only slightly sure He’s one of the better ways.

I realize that it is the highest political incorrectness to suggest that there is but one way, or one truth or even one life. I think we might have lost the name, The Way, when becoming a Christian became politically correct and the exclusiveness of Jesus became incorrect. Maybe it’s time we stand on incorrectness and those who don’t like it be damned. For in fact, they are.

It seems as Christians we have tried too hard to be nice, to avoid offense. When we have chosen to be tough, we haven’t picked our battles well. We need to stop acting like homosexuality, or liberalism or conservatism is THE sin. We need to stop acting as if there is a political solution to sin. We need to stop squabbling with brothers because they worship slightly differently, have different social customs,  or disagree with us in matters of insignificant theology.

We need to boldly proclaim that there is only one way and it is open to all who have sinned no matter how public or private their favorite sin might be. (Yes, I think most of us have a favorite sin, that we sometimes argue isn’t really a sin.) We need to acknowledge there is one truth and that includes the distressing fact that all have sinned and fallen short. We need to acknowledge Jesus as the only solution. We need to live the one life that consists of repenting and following Jesus before all else.

I love my church, but if I had to start my own it would look something like this: It would be call The Way (Not the Way International, a cult that doesn’t even believe Jesus is God). We would meet at tables. I think at every meeting each person would have a chance to speak.  We would introduce ourselves as “Hi, I’m Nick. I’m a sinner.” I think the frequent self reminders would be helpful. Maybe everyone could respond with, “Amen to that.” Just so we don’t forget. We would talk about our struggles (our sins)  and our victories in Christ. Attendance would be open to all. Membership would be limited to acknowledged sinners who believe in and follow The Way (Jesus).

I don’t think we would need a big building. That kind of church doesn’t sound like enough fun for most folks, and would require much too much change and hard work.