Life World
I know, we’ve all heard it thousands of times. It’s a common scripture. We’ve shared hundreds of times. I get that, but let me play around with it for this letter.
‘The thief cometh not, but that he may steal, and kill, and destroy: I came that they may have Life, and may have it abundantly.’ (John 10:10) I capitalized Life to separate it from the common use of that word. Here it’s Life special; One of a kind Life. It’s Christ’s Life and His Wisdom.
My little tweak in this letter is to suggest a little adjustment that’s made a huge difference in my Gospel experience. This tweak has given me a lot of Peace over the years. It’s given me Hope in tough times and Joy in the good times. I’ll not call it a commandment but at least a suggestion that’s given me a Gospel freedom.
‘Life more abundantly’ is not the same life as the world gives. (the original word: ‘above the ordinary measure’) It’s a different experience and a different appreciation of life. Jesus was very specific when speaking of the Life he was offering to us. Jesus is the ‘re-establishment’ of the Tree of Life identified in the original Garden. It was removed and in the Garden of Gethsemane set back in for us as our source for Life. Jesus is Life superior to any other life. It’s Life above our ability to live it. A Life only He can give.
Doing Contemporary Christian Worship on the radio, I have a quote I keep on my desk that was written by Christian author A.W. Tozer. He states: ‘Worship is no longer worship when it reflects the culture around us more than the Christ within us.’ For this letter I’m pretty comfortable substituting the word Gospel for worship. Gospel is no longer Gospel when it reflects the culture around us more than the Christ within us.
When we expect the Gospel to give us exactly what the world gives, we miss the bull’s-eye of the Gospel. When, as new creatures, we seek only the things we were seeking in our old life, something’s off. If we simply want the same things the world was going to offer to us before and now expect God to give them to us, it comes up a bit short of all that the Gospel offers. Secular life’s old yardstick of success won’t be sufficient to measure the new Gospel Life- it’s not wonderful enough.
Christians should not just settle for what the world offers, the Gospel offers more than that. It’s given as a bigger, better choice for us to live. The Jesus kind of Life is not simply a Life to be evaluated by the physical: dollars, cars, vacations, homes. It is more than those. It was not to be measured just by the emotional. Life is: ‘The kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.’ (Rom. 14:17)
This letter is just to add a little contrast to what we so often use to determine the success of the Gospel. There are things more precious than what the world can give, things only available by the Gospel and not available anywhere else. Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. That literally means a unique and only way to experience the things that scripture calls treasures; a pearl of great price that God has prepared for us. (Math. 13:46) I think that contrast can add a little peace to our daily lives. To do that, let’s back up.
Originally the Creation was perfect. The literal words in the original text specifically described a Creation of order. Literally, the word Creation was associated with the language ‘to polish, to cut out, to be perfect and beautiful.’ To be something of superior Wisdom and Spiritual Understanding.
God’s original Creation was not chaos. Heaven and Earth were created in perfect order. It then became confusion and emptiness. The world (2 Peter 3:7) (the one we experience today) is one distinctly different from the world that was the original perfect one. (2Peter 3: 5-6) That prior world became ‘void,’ empty (Gen. 1-2) and God stepped in and created a Garden. And then, that world had an apple tree problem.
Post-Cross, we now live with anticipation and a promise of another new Creation that’s to come in the future. (2 Peter 3:13, Rev. 21: 1) That new Creation, one we wait on and hope for, is an eternal one. In a way, Jesus is the beginning of the ‘re-created’ one with his entry and resurrection.
The word used for Life in the context of Jesus’ Life is Zoe. Literally it’s Life as the Father would have it for you. Each living person has the potential for it, we can choose ‘this day who we will serve’ in order to live it. (Deu. 30:19). Its only source is God. We can live in and by it. In Him we can live and move and have our being. (Acts 17:28)
Simple existence is different than Zoe (God kind of Life). Existence applies to all created beings. It’s biology: animal and vegetable life. Life as the Father would have it for you is only the property of God-breathed creatures. ‘Whatever has life has existence, but many things exist which have no Life.’ (E. W. Bullinger). The Gospel is a gift of God to us, Christ is that gift. (Rom. 6: 23) ‘He that has the Son has Life.’ (1 John 6:27) God’s Life is superior to bio life. It was so rich with promise that all the disciples but one (John) gave their physical lives for it.
Their lives (though empowered by the Gospel) were not easy, not without trouble and insecurity. But each was powerful and with Peace. The Gospel gives us a formula for this world: ‘we (even believers) will have trouble BUT we with Jesus by Faith, overcome the world.’(paraphrased a bit) (John 16:23) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control…(Galatians 5:22)
The ‘world’ is man-centered. It’s manifested through humans. Life is the Gospel manifested through Christ Jesus. The world passes away with our last breath. It’s temporary; Life (the God kind) is eternal.
It’s true, Life can include things that the world gives, some things we hope for and want. But the world
can’t give what the Gospel gives. There are many things that have worldly value but the truly precious things can only be possessed in our hearts. That’s what the Gospel brings. I, we all, have many things that are valuable, but the things most valuable, the things most precious, are in us.
In 1 John 1:1 the Apostle John uses the expression ‘Word of Life (Zoe)’. This is an elderly John, beginning that conversation by remembering the happy experiences when he first met Jesus, heard Jesus speak, walked with him, and touched the person. Jesus sent by God to save the world, and The Father was in total union with Christ; and now He shares His union with Christ with us, gives us an opportunity to experience that same kind of union with the Father, Son and Spirit. John shared that expression (Life/Zoe) some thirty times in his Gospel. John expressed it like this: (Jesus speaking) I am the light of the world; he that follows me shall not walk in darkness but shall have (possess) the Light of Life. (John 8:12)
There’s a life that has breath, it is counted in years, it’s measured in time, it’s temporary. It’s only now. There’s a Life that is eternal and everlasting, with only one qualifier there: follow Christ. It’s past, it’s present, and is to come.