The Way

The Way 291006SUpm

Reading: Isaiah 35: 8–10

I don’t know what radio station you listen to – if you listen to the radio at all. Some people like to have the radio on while working or studying , but I find that a total distraction. The two times when I listen to the radio are when I’m doing DIY or when I’m in the car. And there are two radio stations I listen to. One is Radio 2 – it plays my kind of music – though that might date me! – and the other is the BBC World Service which has a fascinating range of programmes – news, arts, interviews, science, music and much more. End of commercial!

A few months ago I was listening to an interview on the World Service with a man who had converted from Christianity to become a Muslim. When asked why, he explained that as a Muslim all he had to do was to follow a series of rules as laid down in the Koran. And this simplified his life so much. It was all so straightforward. He knew exactly what he had to do in any given situation. It was all boiled down into a set of instructions to follow. He felt he knew where he was. It gave him a way to live.

The ancient religion of China is Taoism and comes from the Chinese word Tao or Dao which means “The Way.” It involves lofty concepts about the way the universe moves and changes. Many of the ideas in Star Wars such as “the force” have their origin in Taoism. But it boils down in practice for the common follower into a Way to live – a pattern of life.

And for many people in this country Christianity has become something very similar. It is a way to live. It is a set of principles, a code of practice by which people live. And so someone who is reasonably honest and pleasant and doesn’t get into trouble with the law is described as a good Christian. Christianity has become a way of life, a set of rules to live by.

In our reading from Isaiah 35 we read in verse 8, “A highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way.” And at first sight you might be excused for thinking that this is again talking about a set of rules of living your life. The Way of Holiness. It sounds like a book of instructions on how to live a holy life, and the way to God is to follow those instructions.

In Acts Paul tells how he persecuted followers of the Way, and of how he eventually became a follower of the Way himself. But is this Way a set of principles for living, just like for Islam or Taoism, or is it something totally different.

Isaiah gives us a clue. In the chapter 35 verse 9 he says, “But only the redeemed will walk there, and the ransomed of the Lord will return.” We don’t ransom or redeem ourselves by walking in this road. We need to be ransomed and redeemed to get onto this road at all.

And in John 14: 6, Jesus explains the big difference between this Way and the ways we are offered by Islam and Taoism and practically every religion you could think of. He says, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Jesus didn’t come simply to tell us the way to the Father – He is the Way to the Father. When he found his first disciples beside the sea of Galilee he didn’t say to them, “Listen to my teaching and I will tell you how to live.” He said, “Follow me, and your lives will never be the same!” And now he is inviting us to come with him – to come on a journey, a pilgrimage.

Now I don’t know what images the word pilgrimage brings to your mind. It takes me back to assemblies at my primary school in Africa. And the hymn we would seem to sing more often than any other was number 515 in Hymns of Praise:

He who would valiant be

’gainst all disaster,

Let him in constancy

Follow the Master.

There’s no discouragement

Shall make him once relent

His first avowed intent

To be a pilgrim.

Adrian Plass has written a poem that expresses his response to John Bunyan’s hymn:

He who would valiant be, let him come hither

Well, yes – quite

Absolutely

Let him come!

I’ll be along in a minute

Not that I’m against hithering, you understand

I’m a hitherer

I am a hithering person – definitely am a potential one.

It’s just that – well, I’ve had to put the old hithering thing on hold for a bit

I suppose you could say I’m in the Slough of thing

Thingy

Things

The Slough of things

Couple of friendly bombs probably do the trick.

Hmmm…

First avowed intent still intact, mind you

Oh, yes, to be – a proper one

To be a pilgrim…

………….

Tell me, do your fancies seem to flee away?

Mine don’t

Large, lazy, flightless birds, my fancies – like emus

They just run and run and run and run…

Do you know, I really rather fear what men say

I suppose

The long and the short of it is – I do labour night and day

In a way

But I’m not sure I’ve even begun

To be a pilgrim.

And that might seem to be our first question – have we begun to be pilgrims? But there is a question that comes before that. Do we really want to be pilgrims? You see Jesus doesn’t force us to go with him. It is an invitation. He says, “I have come that they might have life, and have it to the full.” And that sounds great. But there is a problem. It involves making a choice. Making a decision.

People who work with addicts tell us that people with addictions have lost the ability to make decisions. They no longer decide to follow their addiction – they have no choice. If it is available, they must have it, whether they actually want it or not. But what has that got to do with us? We’re not addicts, are we? We’re not under the oppression of gambling or alcoholism or drugs. So why is it that in Africa we hear of new churches being built every week while in this country churches are closing and even a relatively thriving church like this one only sees a handful of new members each year? It’s been suggested that it’s because we have become addicts – not to alcoholism or drugs but to comfort. Comfort is much more subtle than drugs and alcohol. It doesn’t destroy families. It doesn’t lead to bankruptcy. It just slows us down and deprives us of the ability to make the choices that really matter. Jesus hasn’t given up on us. He is still calling us to walk with him. But getting out of our armchairs takes so much effort.

Billy Graham’s challenge used to be, “I want you to get up out of your seat!” Is that what Jesus is saying to you tonight? He is offering you a purpose, but are you more concerned about comfort? He is offering you a life of adventure, but do you prefer to get your adventure second hand through the TV? He is offering you life, but are you going to hang on to your armchair like grim death – or until grim death?

There is a choice, and hundreds of addicts have been able to take it. It involves having the courage and honesty to admit to our addiction and our weakness, and stand up and dare to walk the path of life with Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life.

In a couple of weeks time we’ll be thinking about how we can join this Way, this pilgrimage with Jesus. But we can’t do that until we are ready to get up and follow him. So the challenge Jesus is giving us tonight is, “Are you ready to get up out of your comfortable seat and take a walk with me?” He isn’t promising it will be easy. He isn’t promising you won’t get hurt. He is saying that you only get one shot at life in this world, and his way is the way that you were designed for and that his way was designed for you, and that there is no other way to come to God except through him by his grace. Are you up for it?