Episode 1643: You Know The Way

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Scott Maderer: [00:00:00] Thanks for joining me on episode 1,643 of the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

Cassandra Crawley Mayo: Hi, my name is Cassandra Crawley Mayo, and I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop your influence and impact the world by using your time, your talent, and your treasures to live out your calling. Having the ability to get out of your own way is key, and one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this The Inspired Stewardship Podcast with my friend Scott Maderer.

Scott Maderer: To me, if you look at Christ, the place you want to be alike, if you try to create a place of love and relationship and belonging, a re-imagining of how community works, that is what I think it's talking about. [00:01:00] That's the certainty that we're after.

Welcome and thank you for

joining us on the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent, and your treasures for your true calling. In the inspired Stewardship podcast, you will learn to invest in yourself. Invest in others and develop your

influence so that you can impact the world.

In today's spiritual foundation episode, I talk about John chapter 14 verses one through 14. I share how faith is about knowing what is more than what isn't, and I also share how certainty does it have to mean we tell others what to do. John chapter 14 verses one through 14 says, do not let your hearts be [00:02:00] troubled.

Believe in God, believe also in me, in my father's house. There are many dwelling places. If it were not, so would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and I will take you to myself. So where that, where I am there you may be also.

And you know the way to the place where I'm going. And Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way? And Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my father Also from now on, you do know him and have seen him.

And Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father that we will then we will be satisfied. And Jesus said to him, have I been with you all this time, Philip? And you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me, has seen the father. How can you say, show us the father. Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me?

The words that I say to you, [00:03:00] I do not speak on my own, but the father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me. But if you do not, then believe because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do, and in fact, will do greater works than these because I am going to the Father, I will do whatever you ask in my name so that the father may be glorified in the son.

If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it. Have you ever spent time wandering around? In a city, maybe in the downtown area looking at signs, and oftentimes you'll see signs posted alongside the street bus stop. And that makes sense, right? A, a sign telling us where the bus stops. But I've heard and seen pictures [00:04:00] of signs sometimes posted that say, bus doesn't stop here.

It makes sense to me to see a sign that says, bus stop. That's what I expect, but seeing a sign that says, bus doesn't stop here. Try to imagine. Why would you need such a sign? Maybe at that spot, for whatever reason, there was a regular occurrence of people standing there and queuing up and waiting for the bus, even though the bus was never going to come.

Maybe they post the sign there because used to there was a bus stop there and now the bus stop somewhere else and doesn't stop there anymore. Maybe the city council for some reason, just decided to start putting up signs in all of the places where the bus doesn't stop. Or maybe some performance artist or comedian.

Put it up as a, an idea of a [00:05:00] joke to help make busy downtowners have something to smile about. And maybe, maybe this was just the first of many signs to come. Maybe we're going to have to mark off everywhere there's a bus size space on the road and put up a sign just in case there was some doubt. Draw the lines clearly.

Create certainty. This is a bus stopping place. This is not a bus stopping place. I don't know about you, but as a human, I often want certainty and clarity on where the lines are drawn, but stop and think. How many signs would you have to put up to mark Every place where the bus doesn't stop, it seems impossible.

An exercise in futility. Why not just put up signs telling us where the bus does stop and not worry about? Where it doesn't, if you stop and think about it. I think that's [00:06:00] oftentimes how people view the church. And in fact, I think it's oftentimes how we act as the church. We go around putting up sty signs, telling people, this is where we won't go.

This is what we won't do. This is what we don't allow. Here's the rules. Don't do this. Don't do that. For many people. The faith that we have is a no faith. A faith of telling people what isn't and what not to do. Creating boundaries and clarity of what is inside and what is outside the line. I think the church is often busy putting up, doesn't stop hear signs to make sure everyone is clear on what we consider is wrong or bad or evil.

And of course the argument is, well, if you're not clear about what is wrong or bad or evil, then pretty soon people assume nothing is, and then [00:07:00] we become the church of anything goes. And that's what culture is, right? That's what the world has become, and the church becomes irrelevant and becomes just the church of the world.

And in fact, in many places, churches, especially conservative churches, seem to be growing. Because people want clarity about the boundaries. If we're vague, then no one wants to bother. So draw these lines, put up the signs, make sure people know where the bus doesn't stop. That's what people want, right? But I would argue that's not really it.

I don't think it's that people really want to know what is bad, what is evil, where the bus won't stop. They really don't want to go around policing everyone else, telling everyone else what to do. What draws people often is not negativity, but certainty. And if the only certainty in town is the certainty of the negative, then yep, that's what I'll go with.

But the truth is [00:08:00] you can be certain of where the bus stops, but not necessarily focused on where it doesn't. What's more you can be focused on where the bus is going. Not just in a eternal life and heaven kind of way, but in a, this is what we do. This is how we live. This is what we represent in the world.

This is what a good Christian life looks like, and that seems to be what Jesus is doing in this passage. A lot of times we reflect on this passage. You've probably heard it read at a funeral. Because it seems to be about heaven. It seems to be eternal life. It seems to be about what is coming someday.

Thomas said, Lord, we do not know where you're going. How can we know the way? And Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. But the truth is, it's not [00:09:00] talking just about the afterlife. Might the many dwelling places be also right now and right here.

The one in who believes in me will also do the works that I do an even greater doing work, doing good work. That's a task for the living. And if we're doing the works and we're dwelling in his house, not in the future, but today, then the invitation isn't about what isn't. But what is the invitation is get on the bus and ride with Christ, get on the bus and know where the bus does stop.

We don't need to worry as much about where it doesn't stop, because that's not what we're paying attention to. That's not what defines us. We need to be obedient to what Christ wants us to do, not focused on what Christ doesn't want us to do. [00:10:00] In sports, they talk about you go where you look, you're, you go where you look.

So if all you're ever looking at is the negative, it drives us to the negative, to judgment. But if you look at the place that you want to be, if you look at Christ, the place you want to be alike, if you try to create a place of love and relationship and belonging, a re-imagining of how community works.

That is what I think it's talking about. That's the certainty that we're after. Thanks for listening.

Thanks so much for listening to the Inspired Stewardship Podcast. As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen. But act on what you've heard and find a [00:11:00] way to live your calling. If you enjoyed this episode, do me a favor. Go over to facebook.com/inspired stewardship and like our Facebook page and market that you'd like to get notifications from us so that we can connect with you on Facebook and make sure that we're serving you to the best of our abilities.

With time and tips there. Until next time, invest your time, your talent, and your treasures. Develop your influence and impact the world.