The central theme of the Sermon

Ravi Zacharias discusses the reasons why he believes Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life in his sermon.

The fundamental issue of the sermon is hence whether the world cares about the importance of truth any longer.

As the sermon begins, Ravi poses the rhetorical question “Who will answer?” in order to establish the core point.

He captures the audience with humorous quips, then at minutes 12-13, he introduces his core point by describing why he believes Jesus Christ is the way, truth, and life. Ravi vividly talks about the reality of life and the evils in the world orchestrated by the evil that the men keep in their hearts. The central passage of the sermon as developed by Ravi is from the book of John 14:6 which states ”Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” KJV. Throughout the sermon, Ravi gives vivid and real life examples that he uses to demonstrate his central theme. Through the central passage, he identifies three measures of truth which include the logical consistency, empirical verifiability or adequacy, and the experiential relevance. Listening to Ravi’s sermon, one can quickly identify that he concentrates much on trying to make his audience understand why Jesus is the way, life, and truth. He, for instance, gives an example of what he told one Sheikh during a meeting in Israel about God giving His son for us that touched the Sheikh (Minute 29).

Thesis or point of Message

The thesis of Ravi’s message is based on the fact that there was an urgent need for the world to know the importance of truth and the reality that Jesus Christ was the ultimate provider of perfect peace and justice in this crazy world. Through examples of what happened in extermination or death camps in Germany and many other examples related to the evil that exists in the heart of man, Ravi shows that despite all other views that exist in the world, the search for the ultimate truth will always come back to cross of Jesus as Calvary (Minute 37-40). He argues that the root of all evil is the heart of men and the fact that bombs and gas chambers used to kill people in death camps in Auschwitz, Germany got manufactured by the most brilliant minds in the time means that the ultimate truth lies in the resurrection of Jesus.

I believe that Ravi apparently made his case for the thesis. Watching the video made me see that indeed there was an urgent need to believe in Jesus as the ultimate truth, life, and the way. The reason why I think he made his case for the thesis is because he uses examples of the events of the world that indicate the absence of truth and hope in the world. For example, his use of illustrations from the happenings of World War II that he saw in Auschwitz undoubtedly capture the attention of his audience and persuades them to believe that Jesus is indeed the only true way and truth. He also gives an example of how the multi-billion dollar industry of pornography has captured and taken captive of people’s minds up to the extent of some of them not believing in the existence of God. Furthermore, Ravi relates the increase in the manufacturing of weapons of warfare to how the heart of man has become sinful and desperately need redemption. I also believe that he makes a case for his thesis because of the way he organized his sermon. A powerful introduction, a tactful body, and a very firm conclusion characterize the sermon. In the introduction, he uses the comical statements to capture the audience’s attention before he goes deeper into the analysis of his thesis. He concludes by giving an illustration that at Calvary, evil, justice, love and forgiveness will always converge. This means that only Jesus is the way, truth, and the life.

The one ”Big Idea” I can choose from the sermon is the fact that the only source of truth in the world is Jesus Christ. The scriptural reference of this is John 14:6. According to Ravi, some day, all that is happening in the world will become history and be stored somewhere in a museum. The cultural and political inclinations that have made people denounce the truth will one day pass but what will remain is the fact that Jesus resurrected from the dead and he still lives (Matthew 28:1-20). Therefore, the belief that Jesus Christ rose and he is the ultimate source of truth captured my attention as I watched the sermon and nourished my faith in Jesus.

Work Cited

Shekhovtsov, Andriy. ”Ravi Zacharias at Passion 2016.” YouTube. Web. March 20, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUaY0AOLopU&feature=youtu.be (accessed May 11, 2017)