Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, August 15th 2010
I am continuing with a series I began a few weeks back looking at some of the repeating themes that flow throughout the books of the Bible. We have looked at themes such as 'Creating', 'Covenanting' and 'Dying'. Having last time taken the rather solemn topic of ‘Dying’ our theme this week is “LIVING”. I want to start with some words that Jesus said about His mission and purpose from John's gospel, Chapter 10, verse 10. Jesus says: “I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly”
Life. Some have called the Bible 'The Book of Life' claiming 'all of life' flows through its pages. So it is surely a worthwhile exercise to spend a little time discovering what the different books of the Bible have to tell us about living.
In the earliest books of the Bible life is pictured as a gift from God. It is the breath that God breathes into all created things that God alone can cause to flourish and nurture. For the Old Testament prophets life is seen as something to be pursued. A distinction is made between ways that lead to death and ways that lead to life. The Old Testament prophets encourage people to enter into a covenant of life with their God.
Turning to the New Testament we find Jesus speaking of how life should be defined by more than just the life we live on earth and He encourages us not to be over-concerned with our lives but allow God to take care of us. He speaks of Himself as the Bread of life upon whom all can feast!
Moving through the sermons in Acts and into the letters of the New Testament we are encouraged to seek fullness of life in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit and embrace an abundant life that shows itself through love we have for God and each other. The final book of the Bible, Revelation, speaks to us of eating from the 'Tree of life' and of how our names are written in a 'Book of Life' through faith in Jesus Christ.
Aware of the risk of over-simplification (because after all 'life' is a huge theme to condense under a few headings) but in mind of the verse I've mentioned from John's gospel, where Jesus says;”I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly” to truly be 'living' in a biblical sense we must;
1. Embrace the breath of life that is within us.
2. Pursue the abundant life that Jesus offers us.
3. Allow the Spirit of life to redefine us.
Firstly, Embrace the breath of life that is within us.
In the second account of creation that appears in Genesis we read; “The LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being”. (Genesis 2:7). In the great drama of the Book of Job, his counselor, Elihu, seeks to remind him in the midst of all his troubles that “The spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.” (Job 33:4 ). The wisdom literature of Ecclesiastes advises us “Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that are given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life” (Ecclesiastes 9:9).
You are alive! Your heart is still ticking away. Your lungs are still exhaling and inhaling. Your blood is still flowing through your arteries and veins. Your brain is still buzzing away like a vast super-computer making sure the machinery of your created being is functioning in a coordinated way and at the same time interpreting and reinterpreting all that is going on within you and around you. “I will praise thee” declares the Psalmist “For I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14)
Everything around your life may not be going exactly as you want it… there may be things that you really want to change about your life… but… listen if somebody comes up to you today and says “Get a life”, you can just smile at them and tell them; “I got one!”
The Old Testament is full of great advice as how to make the most of that life you have been gifted with. Life is something best lived in God’s way, knowing God’s guidance and blessing. The Psalmist declares “You show me the path of life. In Your presence there is fullness of joy; in Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” (Psalm 16:11-1). And again … ‘How precious is Your steadfast love, O God! All people may take refuge in the shadow of Your wings. They feast on the abundance of Your house, and You give them drink from the river of Your delights. For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light. (Psalm 36:7-9).
Life is seen as something that God can redeem and protect. Those who want to live life to the full are encouraged to share their lives with God, to become (to use some biblical terms) ‘like a watered garden’, like a ‘fountain’, like a spring of joy and blessing. The image of living water flows through many different books of the Bible.
We know the difference this time of the year between a garden that is well watered and one that is parched and scorched. So we are encouraged to be thankful for the breath of life God has given to us and encouraged to nurture that life by pursuing the things that Scripture teaches are good and wholesome and true. Which conveniently leads us to a second observation. In order to truly live…
Secondly, Pursue the abundant life that Jesus offers us.
In Matthew 6: 25 Jesus says, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?”
Many times Jesus suggests to us that there is more to life than the day to day worries that greet us when we get out of bed each morning. That there are other dimensions and concerns that we should allow to break in on us. That there is an eternal dimension to life. That we should have lives that are defined by more than just life on earth, however wonderful or otherwise that life may be.
The verse I used at the start of our sermon had Jesus saying: “I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly” And throughout the gospel of John abundant, eternal ‘life’ is a common theme. We discover Jesus declaring, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). He speaks of Himself as ‘the bread of life ‘ and declares “Whoever believes has eternal life.” In probably the best known verse of the whole New Testament, John 3:16, we are told "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life.”
Bear in mind that when the biblical authors write about eternal life they don’t mean life after death. They are not saying ‘Whoever believes in Jesus will go to heaven” They are talking about life on a vast canvas, as being something that begins before the womb and goes beyond the tomb! Eternal life is not something for the ‘after-life’ but a quality of life to be enjoyed today, in the here and now, in the present!” John 8:12 tells us “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life."
Light, life, love… they are all tied up together in the life of Jesus, all part and parcel of this eternal, abundant life that God wants us to experience today. God’s desire isn’t simply that we be living, but that we are truly alive to all that God can do and all that we can be if we allow God’s love free reign in our hearts and lives. Which moves to our third observation. To truly be 'living' in a biblical sense we must;
Thirdly, Allow the Spirit of Life to redefine us.
In 1 Titus 6:12 we read “Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called”. How do we do that? How can we take hold of the eternal life that God is offering?
Firstly, we must see that allowing the Spirit to redefine us is a work of God’s grace. Paul when he writes about his qualifications to be an apostle of God tells the Corinthian Church; “We are not competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God… not of letter but of spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” (2 Corinthians 3:5-6).
Did you catch that? ‘The Spirit gives life’. The Holy Spirit, the third dimension of our relating to God. To the Church in Rome Paul writes: “If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through His Spirit that dwells in you” (Romans 8:11). Earlier in Romans chapter 6 Paul has told them “ We have been buried with Him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:4).
In the first letter of, not Paul but John we find these words “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.” (1John 5:11-13)
That’s a whole lot of scripture and theology I just shot across your bows, so let me unpack it a little! ‘Abundant life’ is about allowing God to redefine our lives and make our lives more Christ-like. Such is a process that we can not achieve by self-effort alone. God sends to us the Holy Spirit, the same Holy Spirit who inspired and lived in Jesus, to encourage us and teach us. God’s presence is with us in such a tangible way that Scripture talks about us being “In Christ” and “Christ living in us”.
We open ourselves up to the Holy Spirit through worship and prayer and Scripture reading. We open ourselves to the Spirit by serving others and treating others in the same sort of ways as we would like to be treated ourselves. It’s not just about us; it’s about all of us!
One of the lesser-known letters of the New Testament, the letter of Titus, tells us the way Christians should conduct themselves. “They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.” (1Titus 6:18-19). As we nourish our personal spiritual live and open our hearts in generosity to those we share life with, so we will find our lives become redefined by the love of God.
The final book of Scripture, the Book of Revelation, speaks of people of God as being “Those who are written in the Lamb's book of life” (Revelation 21:27). Revelation also invites us: “Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To everyone who conquers, I will give permission to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God” (Revelation 2:7). The theme of life is one that is echoed throughout the biblical books, from beginning to end!
Jesus said:”I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly”. How can we find that abundant life?
- Firstly, we can embrace the breath of life that is within us. Acknowledge that it is God who gave us life and God alone who can truly help us live life to the full.
- Secondly, we can pursue the abundant life that Jesus offers us. In practice that means realizing that is more to life than just getting by. That life has an eternal dimension that is only found through committing our lives to Jesus Christ.
- Thirdly, we must allow the Spirit of life to redefine us. This we do through both our love of God and our love of our neighbor, through serving others and helping ourselves a dynamic and living relationship with God through worship, prayer and study of God’s Word.
Rev. Adrian J. Pratt
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