LIFE IN GOD ALONE

WHAT IS THE SOURCE OF LIFE?

Our God is the living God and all life has its source in Him (Deut. 5:26) “For who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking in the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?” He gave life to the human race and placed him in Eden the garden of life (Gen. 1:27) “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” However, Adam and Eve sinned and death gained entrance into our lives- but not just physical death but all the pain and suffering associated with a decaying creation (Gen. 3:17-19) Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.” God however, offers renewed, purposeful life to those who choose to serve Him (John 1:4) “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” In the New Testament Christ who is the life, brings us life and immortality (John. 1:12) “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.” In Him we can live life right now “in all its fullness” the abundance life that Christ promised those who belief in Him (John 10:10). And those who believe in the Son of God experience eternal life already here on earth and are promised life forevermore in His future community of love and justice. The power of the Holy Spirit, that resurrection power that raised Jesus from the dead, revitalizes us and enables us to express our new life from God in holy living ( John 3:5-6) “Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” Even when we die, we remain alive in Christ (Ps. 116:15) “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints,” and we look forward to the resurrection life (Job 19:26-27) “And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yarns within me!” Because our names are written in the book of life (Exo. 32:33) “And the Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book.”

THE LIFE IN GOD ALONE

God gave live to the despised child Jerusalem, when He saw her struggling in her blood (Ezek. 16:6) “And when I passed by you and saw you struggling in your own blood, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ Yes, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ God had revealed to the prophet Ezekiel that Nebuchadnezzar’s third siege of Jerusalem (586 B. C.) was soon to take place, bringing with it the total destruction of the beloved city. Prophet Ezekiel then warned those Jews remaining in Jerusalem to repent, reminding them that not merely their existence, but their living relation to God, was depending on His free grace. God alone is the author of eternal life, just as He is creator of all life (John 5:24) “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believed in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.” During trials Christians may be tempted to question whether it really pays to serve God. However, in those trying times beloved, we should be reminded of Peter’s words in (John 6:68). When asked by Jesus if he and the disciples would defect, as others were doing, he replied that they would stay, for Christ alone had the message of life. As ancient Judah would soon discover a mere ten years after Ezekiel’s warning, life apart from God was not life at all, but an empty and meaningless existence. The psalmist gives us hope in his writings (Ps. 34:19) “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.” Many may be the afflictions of the righteous, those who believe in God, who will also deliver His elect ones from them all and not just some.

LIFE NOW AND TO COME

As one may ask, “What are the implications of “life” as referred to by Christ? John the apostle gives us the answer in his epistle, the words of Jesus Christ (John 6:40) “And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”  First, life speaks of present-day peace and purpose. Without these two priceless gems no human being can possibly experience fulfillment in this life beloved. The hopelessness and the growing number of suicides give tragic testimony to this fact. Multitudes unable to experience peace or find purpose, take their own lives. But the Christian possessing both peace and purpose can rejoice even in the midst of fiery trials, knowing that God himself will arrange the outcome for His glory and their good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to the will of God” (Rom.8:28). Second, spiritual life assures our existence with Jesus after our present work is completed (Phil. 1:21-23) Paul the Apostle said, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. For I am hard pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ,” and it promises that we will someday be reunited with our departed loved ones in Christ. Third, it guarantees an exchange of our corruptible and temporary bodies of flesh and bone for incorruptible and eternal bodies of flesh and bone (1 Cor. 15:42-44) “So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body,” fashioned after Christ’s glorious, resurrected body (Phil. 3:21) “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.” We are confident, having this life, that no faithful deed done for Christ will ever be in vain (1 Cor. 15:58) “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord,” but that every faithful labor will actually carry with it a rich reward (2 Tim. 4:7-8) “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.  Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.”  Apostle Paul wrote to the (Rom. 8:11) “ But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”

PUTTING GOD FIRST

The test that the Pharisees tested Jesus with concerning taxes to Caesar, or not (Matt. 22:21) they said to Him, “Caesar’s.” And He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” The principle here enunciated by Jesus would correct any supposed conflicts in man’s duties. What He sets forth establishes the rights of the spiritual and temporal powers in our lives. I regulate our duties in subjection to both. It also clearly distinguishes the jurisdiction of these powers in our lives. When one subjects himself to the state and accepts its protection and benefits, he is obligated to support it and obey its laws. The duty of obedience I implied by the fact of subjection. But obedience to the state is but an application of the general principle of obedience to God. Rendering to God what is His reaches much deeper than obedience to the state. Man has a duty to give himself to God-all that he is and all that he has. When we adhere to this principle, there is no conflict with temporal concerns until they begin to override the spiritual. At that time, a man’s ultimate obligation is to God and conscience.  As Peter and John took a stand (Acts 4:19) But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge.”

TO BE ROOTED IN CHRIST

To be rooted in Christ is to live a life that depends fully in the Lord. To be planted on the good ground that will bear and yields fruits and not on the rock where there is no soil for the seed to germinate withal. (Luke 8:13) “But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no roots, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away.” This well-known parable of the sower, based on analogy of diverse soils, describes the responses to the Gospel by various types of hearers.  The hearers described by Jesus in our text respond to the Word of God purely on an emotional level, receiving the word with joy. But religious emotion not grounded in truth is unstable. In saving faith we obey (will) from the heart (emotions) the teaching (mind) brought to us in the Gospel (Rom. 6:17). Since theirs is merely an emotional response to Christ and the Gospel, it is inevitable that when affliction and persecution for Christ’s sake come, such superficial “believers” fall away (Matt. 13:21). In hearing the Word we dare not be satisfied with surface impressions; we must ascertain that the Word has penetrated the foundations of our lives. Otherwise the same superficial excitement involve in a swift reception of the Word will also arise to effectively put the Gospel aside.

Allow me to end with Paul’s word that ,”As we therefore have received Christ the Lord so let’s walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as we have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving” (Col. 2;6-7).

“Grace to you and Favor from God our Father and the Lord Jesus be with us all. Amen and Amen and Amen.”