The Essential Life

Text: “We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true–even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.”
• John 14:6 (NIV) “I am the way and the truth and the life.”
• John 1:4 “In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.”
• John 10:10 “I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly.”
• Colossians 3:4 Christ, who is your life…

The Scripture personifies The Essential Life.  The life is a person to be known, not just an impersonal mysterious process.  And our experience of life gets better the better we get to know the One who is life.
• The gospel is an invitation to Life to the full, which means a full relationship with the One who is life. The deeper our relationship with Him, the richer and more substantial  (meaning, of true substance) our lives become.

Three specific qualities about this life…

I. The Life of Jesus is more than earthly elements.
· –Ecclesiastes 5:10 “Whoever loves money never has money enough …”
· –Luke 12:15 “a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
· –It is more than romantic love.  More than career success.  More than any earthly situation.  It can bloom in the sunniest of rooms as well as in the dark dampness of a prison cell.
· No matter who you are, no matter where you are, no matter what your situation may be, the life of Jesus is greater than our earthly status or circumstances.

II. The Life of Jesus enriches earthly elements.
· When Jesus is our life, He begins to help us put things, ambition and relationships in their proper place ,and we begin to learn to not expect things or people to do or give what only He can do and give.
· Godliness has everything to do with a relationship with Life and not a religious code of conduct.  But when this form of godliness takes root and begins to flourish, godly behavior becomes the fruit.

Things I want for you, Valley Brook and friends…
· 2 Corinthians 11:3 -“just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.”  Beware of a spirituality that does not have Christ as its center.
· May all of us have an ongoing awakening to the One who is more wonderful than we ever could have imagined.  I want a sense of wonder to drive us irresistibly forward to greater trust in Him.
· This is something we can say Amen. Yes. Please and Thank You to.

III. The Life of Jesus is Supernaturally Personal.
· Our physical life is bound to natural forces. The life that we have in Jesus is supernatural, and not bound to the same laws.
· There is no relativism with Him. He doesn’t compare us to one another. Physically. Intellectually. Economically. Culturally. Racially. None of that.
· The flesh is deceptive.  And sometimes you have to fight to believe the life we have been given.  Like fighting bad weather to get to some place we really want to be.
· There is so much more knowledge of Him and His glory that is available to us in this life than we presently know.   As our knowledge of Him grows, our lives become immeasurably richer with the true and unsearchable riches of Christ.