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Refocus Church

2. "Life" is for Living
   

A. Recap

 

•  Previously we looked at the Great Commandment.
•  We were concerned to see it through eyes of ‘grace'.
•  Grace sees an instruction as a means of help.
•  When we see God as the incredibly wonderful person that He is, we'll have no trouble loving Him.

 

B. Introducing ‘Life'

 

•  Now we want to observe a fundamental truth about our lives and our existence with God.
•  At the end of this set of Notes we have provided a number of verses of Scripture that refer to ‘life'
•  See that mostly, when we refer to life, we refer to our existence on this earth, e.g. ‘my life so far'
•  However ‘life' also means ‘living energy'.
•  Now you may not have thought about the ‘life' that makes you a ‘living being' before.
•  So again: 'life' is 'living energy'.
•  The first verses below point out that every living creature has this ‘living energy'.
•  Energy produces movement – your heart to beat, electric current through your brain, physical movement.
•  We take it for granted – this ‘physical life'.
•  It is a mystery but the Bible says it is energy from God.
•  This is physical ‘life' energy that moves us physically.

 

C. Spiritual ‘Life'

 

•  Now God is Spirit and He is the ultimate ‘Living Energy'.
•  Now note that this is not impersonal energy. He is a person so it is energy with personality.
•  When Jesus came, John described him as ‘the life' because, as with the Father, he was this Supreme Personal Energy.
•  Now what our third group of verses below show us is that there is a form of this personal energy that is more than that which energises us physically.
•  When Jesus speaks about ‘life' he refers to something far more than merely the energy that drives us physically.
•  The personal energy he refers to is energy that energises our spirit and brings a linkage with God.
•  This ‘life' or personal energy he refers to, is the Holy Spirit who is given by God to every believer.

 

D. The Effect of this spiritual ‘life'

 

As human beings we operate in different ways:

•  physically – how our bodies operate,
•  emotionally – how we feel,
•  socially – how we relate to others,
•  spiritually – how we relate to God.

 

i) Pre-Christian

•  physically – we let our bodies demand of us,
•  emotionally – we let our emotions drive/dominate us,
•  socially – we used others & there were tensions,
•  spiritually –God was a far-off impossibility.

 

ii) Christian

•  physically – His Spirit can change – healing, health, fitness,
•  emotionally – His Spirit brings control – we use or experience emotions but under control,
•  socially – others become a pleasure who we desire to bless,
•  spiritually – God becomes an intimate reality.

    

   

E. The variance of this ‘life' 

 

i) Energy from God 

•  Now in the same way as physical energy varies, so does our spiritual energy.
•  This energy comes from God.
•  Yes we are indwelt by Him, but the impartation of energy comes with conscious contact.
•  See a picture of this in God's glory & Moses.
•  When Moses met God, God's glory shone on him so he shone (Ex 34:30).
•  In the NT Paul uses this to speak about the HS who brings God's glory to us (2 Cor 3:7-18).

ii) When it is conveyed

•  Whenever we encounter the Lord, His energy is conveyed.
•  We encounter Him when we pray, read the Bible, worship, etc.
•  Every time we do these things, energy (life) is imparted to us.

 

iii) The effect of it

•  This spiritual personal energy impacts every area of our lives:
  •  physically it makes us stronger,
  •  emotionally it makes us more stable,
  •  socially it makes us more confident with people,
  •  spiritually is links us closer to God.

 

iv) The absence of it

•  When we don't do any of these things, we don't get the resource (energy, life flow) that comes with contact with God.
•  Living in this world uses up the energy we have:
  •  physically we become lethargic, ill, weak, vulnerable to ill-health,
  •  emotionally we become prey to enemy pressures and get stressed,
  •  socially we become isolated, and lacking fellowship become weak,
  •  spiritually we wonder where God is.

 

F. Loving God and Receiving ‘Life'

 

Now the call to love God becomes more significant:

•  it becomes a signpost pointing us to God,
•  it is thus a signpost pointing us to the source of life,
•  it is a reminder that life and love are linked,
•  life flows through love.

 

 

Appendix : Life Verses

 

In the Bible, ‘life' mostly refers to the period of existence that we have on this earth.

 

However, sometimes it means the very life energy that comes from God that makes us living human beings, and then through Christ, what makes us Christians.

 

a) All ‘life' is God-imparted – life is living energy – it is what every living thing has:

 

Gen 1:30  all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground--everything that has the breath of life in it….

 

Gen 2:7   God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (Heb. – spirit), and the man became a living being.

 

1 Kings 17:21 ,22   "O LORD my God, let this boy's life return to him!" The LORD heard Elijah's cry, and the boy's life returned to him, and he lived.

 

Isa 42:5   the LORD … who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it….

 

Ezek 37:5   This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life . (breath = wind or spirit)

 

Acts 17:25   he himself gives all men life and breath….

 

 

b) ‘Life' (living energy) comes from God Himself, because He is life:

 

Jn 5:26  For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself.

 

Jn 1:4  In him was life , and that life was the light of men.

 

1 Jn 1:1,2   this we proclaim concerning the Word of life . The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it…..

 

c) Yet there is ‘life' beyond merely physical life – Jesus came to bring it – ‘spiritual' living energy:

 

Jn 6:53  Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.

 

Jn 5:21    For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life , even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.

 

Jn 6:57   Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.

 

Jn 10:10   I have come that they may have life , and have it to the full.

 

Jn 20:31    these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

 

Rom 5:18   the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men ( those who will receive him ).

 

Rom 8:11   if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

 

2 Cor 3:6  for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life .

 

Eph 4:17,18   the Gentiles … are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God.

 

1 Jn 5:11,12  this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life ; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life .

 

d) Conclusions

 

1. ‘Life' is living energy.

2. God is ‘Spirit' – personal living energy.

3. He is the originator of ALL life.

4. He energises all living creatures. This is what we call ‘life'.

5. Yet there is also a further dimension of ‘life' that is more than physical energy – it is

    spiritual living energy, the very life of God.

6. THIS energy is imparted to us by God when we turn to Him and become Christians. It is

    what makes us ‘spiritually alive'.

7. Without this spiritual energy (His Spirit) we are spiritually dead, i.e. we have no real

    sense of God or of spiritual things.

8. It is this energy that brings change in us and enables us to serve Him.

 

A Final Comment 

It was as I was considering what takes place when we encounter the Lord and experience His love, that I realised that we needed to cover this topic of 'life'. Encountering God, means we encounter life and because He is God and loves us, He shares or imparts His life to us. In the spiritual dimension, this life is all-important. It is what energises us and changes us, guides and directs us and is able to flow through us to others.

For those of us who lived through the 'Toronto Blessing' this was one of the key observable things that we saw then - this imparting of 'life' or God's energy. Now it may not be flowing at the present time in such free flowing measure, but it is always there in some measure for the person of faith and obedience. That is why this is such an important message, this flow of 'life' from God, His love in almost tangible means.