When Jesus said: “I am the door.” He was saying that through him, and through him alone, men find access to God.
“Through him,” said Paul, “we have access to the Father” (Ephesians 2:18).
Jesus opens the way to God. Until Jesus came men could think of God only as, at best, a stranger and as, at worst, an enemy. But Jesus came to show men what God is like, and to open the way to him. He is the door through whom alone entrance to God becomes possible for men.
The image of Jesus as the gate or door contributes to a controversial aspect of John's Gospel: the exclusive claims of the gospel. It is fashionable today to speak of many ways of accessing God. In our age of tolerance as a virtue, many want to say that all religious roads end up at the same place. Buddhism, Islam, Native American Spirituality, African Traditional Religions, Mormonism; all of these are spiritual journeys that sincere seekers may travel to find God. To think that one religion is superior to others smacks of the social error of intolerance. And to even suggest that one religion is true and others are false is narrow-minded bigotry that has no place in our postmodern ethic. Yet that is precisely what is going on here. Jesus is not just a new way or a better way to God. He is the gate, the only way to God
Featuring a sermon puts it on the front page of the site and is the most effective way to bring this sermon to the attention of thousands including all mobile platforms + newsletter.
Text-Featuring a sermon is a less expensive way to bring this sermon to the attention of thousands on the right bar with optional newsletter inclusion. As low as $30/day.
Pastor John Barnett has been devouring the Word of God for over 30 years. John, now the teaching pastor of Calvary Bible Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan has served congregations in Oklahoma, New England, Georgia and California. He also served on the Faculty of the Master's College...
