It's a Wonderful Life

Some highlights from Sunday's Sermon..."It's a Wonderful Life".  

How would you fill in the blank: Life is ______?

Forrest Gump filled in the blank by saying: "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get."

4 Things that Deal with Life:

1.   The stealers of life 

For many life is nothing more than the time spent between birth and death.  There are many avenues down which we can travel that lead not to life but to destruction.

• You won't find life in pleasure.
• You won't find life in performance.
• You won't find life in possessions
• You won't find life in position.
• You won't find life in pursuits.

2.   The source of life

The truth is that life is not found in pleasure, performance, possessions, position, or pursuits; it is found in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus says time and time again that he is the giver of life, the author of life.

When Jesus said he is the door of the sheep, he meant that the fold has only one entrance; life has one source; spiritual nourishment is obtained one way; heaven can be entered through one entrance. And the single means of access to all that is life is Jesus.

3.  The significance of life

 The life that Jesus gives is infinitely and eternally different than the life one possesses now.

A. The first word is bios, in which the English word biology is derived.

It refers to the duration of life - one's life span, the time between one's birth date and one's death date; or it refers to the necessities of life - one's food, shelter, and clothing.

B. The second word is zoe, in which the English words zoo and zoology are derived.

It refers to life as God has it. The life that belongs to God that becomes ours when we cross the doorway of Jesus and enter into a relationship with God. It is not duration because this life is not limited by time, nor hindered by death. It is not a possession but rather an infilling - God once again breathing his life into us.

When we were born we were given bios life, when we are born again we are given zoe life. Until we cross the doorway of Christ and enter into a relationship with God through Jesus we may be physically alive but spiritually we are dead.

4. The superabundance of life

Jesus goes on to quantify this life, "and have it in abundance.  "Have it in abundance" means to have a superabundance of a thing. To be a follower of Jesus, to know who he is and what he means, is to have a superabundance of life. There is a new vitality, a new meaning, a new energy, a new purpose, a new significance, a new outlook, a new hope, a new joy, a new life.