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September 21, 2007
|
First
Presbyterian Church |
|
Food
for Thought:
Give Me Jesus,
Give Me Life
|
|
Oh when I come
to die
I heard my
mother say
Dark midnight
was my cry
In the morning
when I rise
I heard the
mourner say |
When life comes crashing in around you, when it doesn’t seem possible that you can make it through another day, when troubles weigh you down, where do you go, whom do you call on? Do you call out to your mother, or your father, or someone who has always been there for you? Now that may be well and good. But even they do not always have the answers and they will not always be around. So let me ask this question- do you ever call out, do you ever cry out to Jesus? And conversely when you have a joy that you just cannot contain, when something good comes your way, when you feel like rejoicing and maybe even a little dancing and you want to tell someone else, whom do you call or whom do you tell? Maybe your sister or your brother, maybe a friend, but let me ask you- do you ever give thanks to Jesus?
There is a commercial that always catches my attention whenever a version of it comes on the TV. You always know what is being advertised because there is the punch line- “Life comes at you fast.” There is usually something big or some potential problem that someone will be confronted with- like the child being pushed by the supposed father who, when the child swings back for another push the small child is all grown up and knocks the father over.
Or the more recent ad that shows a happy-go-luck man drinking his cup of coffee and a birdie singing when all of a sudden the bird lands on the branch, the branch comes crashing down and lands on his car roof crushing it in. But there is always a solution in the advertisement- why of course it is what the commercial is trying to sell in the first place and that is what insurance company? Why it is Nationwide Insurance, and Nationwide has the answer to the problem. The commercial punch line is true- life does come at us fast, and the older we get the faster it comes. And the older we get it comes at us with blazing speed and we want to slow it down but we can’t. So when life does come at us fast, is the insurance company going to have all the answers to all of life’s problems? Is the insurance company going to be there 24/7? Will the insurance company be there to minister to us, to comfort us, to bear us up all the time, every day, all day through?
Is the insurance company going to promise that they will “never leave us or forsake us?” No! For there is only one who can promise this, and that is Jesus Christ.
Found in verse 17 of II Corinthians 5 is one of the best-known verses of all of scripture. It is true, there are few words in all of the scripture filled with more hope than those found in this one verse. Paul is sharing his feelings about growing older and about the time, the age to come. He had this feeling that the world, as we know it, had “had” it, and that the new order that would last forever had already begun. Paul’s gospel was that when any person said “YES” to Jesus Christ and became a Christian then God made him or her a part of that new creation.
The Greek word for “new creation” is “ktisis”. There are two important meanings to this Greek word: (1) the creative act, the act of creation or (2) the thing created, the creation itself. And so what Paul means is that when a person gives their life over to Jesus Christ, Jesus begins a new “act of creation” in them. They are not just reformed or somehow rehabilitated. When a person gives their life over to Jesus Christ they are recreated. They are a new person from the inside out. For Paul the Christian is “in Christ” and the old self has died and the individual breaks forth a new person, as if that person had been newly created by the very hands of Almighty God.
I love the story from the Gospel of John, chapter 4 that tells of a woman who had reached the end of her rope. And hopelessness could have been her middle name. Let me tell a paraphrased version of the story. But if you want to read it later on today in your Bible it is found in John 4:7-42. “Sighing deeply, she picked up the earthen jar and places it on her shoulder. With her free hand she opens the door. Suddenly, the heat hits her and for a few seconds she cannot see a thing. Then her eyes begin to adapt to the white light outside. She bends over slightly and walks through the low door.
Outside it’s quiet. Not dead quiet- the cicadas are buzzing in the trees. But there is no one in sight. She’s alone. She looks up and down the dusty street but doesn’t see any of the other women. With another sigh she begins to walk to the outskirts of town. The woman is on her way to fetch water. It’s not a good time to fetch water. In fact, it’s not a good time to be outside. The sun has reached its zenith and seems to hang in the air as it beats down mercilessly on her. She could have chosen a cooler time of the day, but that would have meant facing the other woman. You see, the woman is the town’s local ‘bad girl’. She’s not married to the man she’s currently living with. She’s already had five husbands. Five times she ‘s tried to start over. Five times she’s tried to build a new life. And now she’s given up on marriage, given up on happiness, given up hope. For her there is no turning back. No new start. No new beginning. She’s accepted her lot as an outcast. She’s learned to live without hope.”
To speed up and tell you what happens that day- she meets up with Jesus and He offers her not the physical water from the well. Jesus offers her “living water”, He offers her new life, for He tells her that He is the Messiah. That He is what she has been longing for. That He is the answer to the questions and the doubts of life. He is the one who can bring peace even when there is pain and suffering and chaos all around when “life comes at you fast.” He is the only one who can give life, new life, not only in the here and now, but for eternity. What does the woman at the well do? She listens to Jesus, she welcomes Him, and she accepts Him with open arms. And if you read the entire story in John 4 you find that she goes back to her city and tells others about this one who knew everything about her and in the end many of her fellow Samaritans believed because of her, as well as because of what Jesus said to them. That woman and many of the people of her city in Samaria were given Jesus that day and they accepted Him with open arms. Why?
Because He is the only one that really makes any sense in this world of ours. If we get Jesus, we get life. Two great gifts for the price of one.
Key Points
Introduction: The lyrics of Negro spirituals were tightly linked with the lives of their authors, the slaves
The message was plain and simple- “you can be _________”
When life comes crashing in around you… where do you go, whom do you call on?
When you feel like rejoicing… whom do you call or whom do you tell?
A commercial- “Life comes at you fast”…
Verse 17 of II Corinthians 5 is one of the best known verses of all scripture
The Greek word for “new creation” is “ktisis”
There are two meanings to this word: 1) the creative __, the act of creation and 2) the thing created, the creation ______
When a person gives their life over to Jesus Christ they are ________
The story found in John 4:7-42--- a woman at the end of her rope; hopelessness could have been her middle name
Jesus offers the woman _______ water; He offers her new ________
Conclusion: If we get Jesus, we get life. Two great gifts for the price of one.
Presbyterian
Church (U.S.A.)
