“Following Jesus amid Objections: Exclusive Cross”

(1 John 4:1-10)

“Why We Do”

The “exclusivity of the cross” is the claim that peace with God, others and life itself can only be

found in and through and because of faith in the cross of Christ. This single truth is perhaps the most

offensive of Christian tenets to those who don’t follow Jesus.

Lest you think the exclusivity of the cross is little more than the rants of a few fringe

fundamentalists, check out the Gospels. Jesus made the truth that He alone is the means of peace with

God and life as the central, core, driving force of His entire ministry and work on Calvary.

“I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6).

“No one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him”

(Matthew 11:27).

In response to such claims, D. A. Carson rightly counsels: “A claim like that brooks no middle
ground: either Jesus was the exclusive revealer of God, or He was a nut. If the former, we must bow to
Him, acknowledge His lordship, receive His word of revelation, delight in His truth and in the knowledge
of God only He can provide. If the latter, we must dismiss him at once, and entertain no more pious
nonsense about Jesus being one good man or one revealer among many.”

There’s an even deeper, more profound question we need to ask: Does a belief that Jesus is the

only way lead people into bigotry, oppression, feelings of superiority and, even violence? Or, is it the

way to really love God and others?

You may be surprised to hear a preacher say this, but I agree with both conclusions. The historic

record of violence in the name of Christian exclusivity is voluminous.

Yet, I hope to show in this message that the exclusivity of the cross is the only means our

affections may be so transformed that we truly love God and others. Since objectors assume that

hatred is the only inevitable result of straightforward rendering of Jesus’ “no other way” assertion, let’s

look at result that belief had on John’s life. John first recorded Jesus words in John 14 and years later

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penned a series of three epistles committed to the virtue of Christian love. He assumes that an exclusive

cross is the only means to the highest of values.

Why is anything but the “exclusivity of the cross” more attractive (4:1, 3, 5)?

Easiest to believe (v.1a): We’re all spiritual beings first and foremost. Our vulnerability is

immense. “Don’t believe every spirit.” Not everything spiritual is right and true. The irony is that our

greatest weakness—that we tend to believe “spirits”—is also the reason we ask questions beyond an

instinctual level. My dog is perfectly happy spending his entire life as a dog. He longs for nothing else

and never wonders, “What’s the purpose of it all?”

Most acceptable (v.1b): By far, that Jesus is the only way is the minority opinion. “Many”

means “a large majority” or even “an overwhelming number” of prophets are in the world claiming that

many ways lead to peace in this life and with God.

Religious and cathartic (v.3): “Anti-christ” is both a sentiment and a specific person. Here it is a

philosophy of life. The spirit of anti-christ is always to offer rest to weary persons. It often is religious in

nature. It is an appeal to our innate restlessness. We try to find belonging, acceptance and significance

and can’t in any permanent way. Soul Asylum imagines life beyond this life as the only place true love

can be enjoyed to the fullest. “I want to live with you; in the fifth demension; in a dream I've never had.

Cause I just can't live like this; in a world like this…we are not of this world…cause I’m homesick for the

home I’ve never had.”

Most tangible (v.5): Why is it so hard to believe in the exclusivity of the cross? It is because we

tend to look for truth as if it is a tangible. We want to perceive it in a palpable way. John calls this the

“of the world” malady. That is to say, we are “kosmos-centered”. We want to answer life’s biggest

questions with life itself. That’s what my Bassett does. He fills his longing for dog food with dog food.

He satisfies his craving for affection with the affection of my strokes. But, when we look to created

things to fill our longings, we’ll never know fulfillment. We yearn for purpose, but if we try to fill it

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through our career, we’ll never be satisfied. We hope for belonging, but if we use relationships to meet

our deepest need for acceptance we’re liable to turn companionship into something toxic.

What is religion? “It is going to church. It is trying to be good. It is making God happy.”

Religion is a way of answering life’s biggest questions.

The real question: Which set of answers brings about a genuine love for God and people? Do

you know how big of a question that is? It is huge. Douglas Coupland writing from a staunch agnostic,

even cynical, perspective argues that life might very well have meaning, but we’re likely to never know

it. In Life after God, Coupland as a jaded narrator, he chronicles the lives of his boyhood friends in

Vancouver, and summarizes:

“Now here is my secret. I tell it to you with an openness of heart that I doubt I shall ever achieve
again, so I pray you are in a quiet room as you hear these words. My secret is that I need God—that I am
sick and can no longer make it alone. I need God to help me give, because I no longer seem capable of
giving; to help me be kind, as I no longer seem capable of kindness; to help me love, as I seem beyond
being able to love.”

Do you know what Jesus does? He makes Himself to answer to the question, “Is there hope for

us? How can we ever be truly loving, kind and giving people?”

Answer: “I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me” –

Jesus (John 14:6).

The religious elite generally questioned Jesus with petty attempts of entrapment. But, often the

crowds—especially the poor and needy—wondered if He really did have the answers to life’s biggest

questions. Whenever He answered their queries He always relied on His trump card. He always claimed

to be the only Way.

In fact, Jesus’ most emotional pleas come when He shows Himself as the exclusive way to the

Father. “And Jesus cried out and said, ‘Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent

me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come into the world as light, so that whoever

believes in me may not remain in darkness” (John 12:44-46).

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 The exclusivity of the Gospel is the driving passion of world missions. In 2002 missionary Bonnie

Penner was martyred for serving in a prenatal ward of the Christian Missionary and Alliance workstation

in Lebanon. It was no surprise that local Muslim clerics blamed her commitment to evangelism, but it

was heart wrenching to listen to the outcry among Christian clerics. That’s a growing and troubling

trend within the church. But, it points out what happens to your zeal for missions when the exclusivity

of the cross is removed. You become passionless for the lost and even hostile to those who proclaim

Jesus as the only way.

Who is Jesus (4:2, 4)?

Jesus is God come in the flesh. John words this in a fascinating way because if he were to simply

be narrating the historical detail that Jesus was born, he’d have said, “Jesus was born.” But, instead, he

writes that “Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.”

John explains that in his narrative of Jesus’ earthly ministry in John 1: “And the Word became
flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of
grace and truth. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus
Christ” (John 1:14, 17).

Deep confession of “Christ alone” is the means to soul integrity and peace with others. Would

John have chosen to simply say we must agree that God became a man as Jesus, then faith would be

external. But, the apostle insists that we must “confess.” That is to say, we must profoundly, deeply

believe in a penetrating intellectual, mental, emotional and spiritual way that Jesus is God in the flesh.

In John 1, he tells us how it is that confession of the incarnation gives us deep down change.

“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who

believe in His name…For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace” (John 1:12, 16). He

fulfills our deepest hope. He fills us up with Himself as the reason for life—the purpose of our existence.

We fight, James says, because we do not have. Our deepest longings go unmet in

disappointment and frustration. Look at 1 John 4:4. Check out the subtle but important change in

person identifying the enemy. “You…have overcome them; greater is He that is in you, than he that is

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in the world. They are of the world.” Do you see it? Our enemy is not “them” or “they.” But it is a

single “he.”

Does Christian fundamentalism lead to bigotry and hatred by championing an exclusive means

to salvation? It depends on what your fundamental is. If your fundamental is your clamoring for self-

justification than the answer is a big, resounding, “Yes! It will invariably lead to oppression and

violence.” But, if your fundamental is God come in the flesh as Jesus confessed deep down in your

person then the inevitable transformation to ensue will be love, not judgmentalism.

Why did Jesus come (4:7-8)?

So that we may be born of God. We’re by nature tangible. Therefore, we must be reborn (John

3).

So that we may be born of God and thereby know God.

So that we may be born of God, know God and thereby truly love God. Being born of God,

results in us knowing God, which by necessity means we love Him who is love.

So that we may be born of God, know God, love God and thereby love others. Loving God is only

expressed in love for others, even enemies.

When does Jesus love us (4:9-10)?

Not only before we loved God but when we did NOT love God. Do you see that? “Herein is love.

It is not that we loved God, but that He loved us. Christ made Himself a propitiation for our sins.” No

other religion is like Christianity because they all develop a system by which you may earn God’s favor

and love. Although, other beliefs have their martyrs, only Christianity has its Messiah who is God

Himself dying for those who hate Him.

Why would He do this if all roads led to Heaven? If, in the end, He isn’t the only way, then why

become our propitiation? Was it simply to be a good example? Are you kidding me? If Christ’s death is

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nothing more than a “good example” for us, then He would have chosen a far more honorable way to be

martyred. The cross was an utterly shameful manner to die.

“Jesus alone” plus self-righteousness equals “ugly.”

“Jesus alone” plus humility equals beauty. Remember the missionary cited earlier—Bonnie

Penner? At her funeral her husband shared that the cross as the only way is “worth laying our lives

down for.” And then he adorned the Gospel with the beauty of true love only found in deep down

confession of Jesus as Lord: “Whoever did this crime, I forgive them. It's not easy. It took everything

that I have but I can forgive these people because God has forgiven me.”

Deep Need

“Little children, guard yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21). That is perhaps one of the strangest

salutations to any letter. It is highly unusual in the New Testament. The normal way to conclude an

epistle was with several greeting from common friends and a “Grace to you” refrain. Instead John

warns, “Guard yourselves from idols.”

He sees idols as the primary enemy of Christian love. Our idols are the offense to the core claim

that Jesus is the only way.

Augustine put it this way, “You have made us for yourself [O Lord], and our hearts are restless

until they rest in you.” After Jesus calls “blessed the one who is not offended by me”, He unpacks His

exclusivity with, “and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to

reveal him. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon

you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my

yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:44-46).