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REALIFE TRUTHS

— 02.18.18 —
–  CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, OH  –

HAVING A GOOD LIFE DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOU HAVE REAL LIFE.

We have already explored the concept of different types of life. On a large scale, you can clearly see differences between something like human life and animal life. And even if you narrow the types of life down to only human life, one can still see many variations in the different types of life. Some of us are teachers, others are bus drivers; some people like pistachio ice cream while others prefer Neapolitan. There are types of life within this realm that we might describe as being a “Good Life.” For example, probably the most stereotypical idea of a Good Life might be: Having a totally fulfilling job with a salary to match; Being married to your soulmate, the love of your life; Having two to three kids, ideally at least a girl and a boy; Being a part of a great community of friends...

But the idea of Real Life is getting at something much bigger and deeper than just defining the types of careers we have, the friends we make, or the types of ice cream we like. Real Life is like the big Kahuna of all types of life: Real Life is the original and unique type of life. Real Life doesn’t depend on your career or family situation. Real Life is completely and utterly fulfilling and satisfying. And Real Life doesn’t ever die.

The story of Adam in the garden portrays just this thought—there is something more to life than, well, life. You see, when God made Adam, He “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature” (Genesis 2:7). Adam had a good life. He could walk around, eat, think, enjoy nature, ask questions, and even realize that he wanted to get married. However, God showed him that there was something more than just “becoming a living creature” by planting trees and putting them in Adam’s garden. “And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:9). These two trees are pictures of two manners of life that are different from merely being “a living creature” having a good life. If Adam would have eaten from the tree of life he would “live forever” (Genesis 3:22). That means he would have gotten real life in addition to his good life, that would have made him full, complete, and forever. However, we know the story. He ate from the other tree, which changed his life for the worse.

So how to get back to the Tree of Life? Well, that's another a much longer story for another time. But it is the crux of this entire journey: reaching out beyond just having a "good life" and searching for Real Life...

YOU WERE DESIGNED FOR REAL LIFE, NOT JUST A GOOD LIFE.

Throw a snowball. Check your email. Play the piano. Throughout each day, we perform thousands of complex tasks without thinking: You calculate the trajectory of that icy sphere towards your friend’s snooty smile; your eyes scan through meaningless mumbo jumbo in a matter of seconds; your fingers move both elegantly and effortless across the white keys with a mind of their own. Humans are marvelous machines. No man-made engine can work 24/7 for 90 years, but many hearts can. No computer can contemplate its own mortality, imagine a new game—like chess, or love another creature ... but we can. If you look at any human being you have to say, “that’s amazing.”

Let’s now ask, “If this machine is so awesome, what is it designed for?” The Bible gives a few clues that might help you consider this question. Let’s look at some of them.

First, the Bible says something that is obvious to all of us: people are kind of like containers or, as Romans 9:23 puts it, “vessels.” This is very easy to understand. We are like empty buckets that could be filled with many different things. If we are into the Browns, then we might be filled with bad football. If we are into ancient history, then we may become full of Greeks, Romans, or Phoenicians. If we are into love, then we become a bucket overflowing with emotion. This is how God made us. Just like we can’t exist without food from our environment, we do not come up with everything inside of us on our own. We are vessels, and as such, we are filled with stuff.

Second, we should ask, what kind of vessel are we? Are we a bug net, a bucket, a dump truck, a suitcase, or a vase? What are we supposed to carry, what were we designed for? Here is where it gets interesting. It turns out that we have the capacity to carry the biggest thing ever: eternity. Solomon writes that God “has put eternity into man’s heart” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Now that’s seriously big. It’s bigger than a vase, a bucket, a suitcase, and even bigger than the biggest dump truck ever. It’s "eternity-sized."

This eternity-sized hole in our heart is why so many people are dissatisfied with what they have. Their problem is that they try to make the Cleveland Browns fill an eternity sized hole in their heart. To be fair, the Browns don’t even fill a regular mortal-sized hole! A person could have a good life, but it still doesn’t fill the eternal hole. Do you know what can fill that eternity-sized hole? Only something eternal. A Real Life, an eternal life, a life that can fulfill what we were designed for. This is where God’s eternal life comes in.

Lastly, the Bible has a word for this eternity-holding container … it calls it our … “spirit.” Look at this account of creation summarized by Zechariah, God “stretched out the heavens and founded the earth and formed the spirit of man within him” (Zechariah 12:1). Zechariah looks at the heavens and says, “God stretched them out.” Then he looks at the earth and says, “God founded it.” Then, he looks at people—mankind, and says, “God formed a spirit in them.” Out of all the things Zechariah could have pointed out about mankind, he chose the spirit, because that is what makes us truly unique.

It is the human spirit, the eternity within our hearts, that makes us realize the difference between merely having a good life and having a real life.

REAL LIFE STARTS WITH REAL LOVE

Everyone knows that that true greatness doesn’t just happen randomly. The great athletes of the world, the finest musicians, the richest entrepreneurs, the smartest scientists … chances are that most of them would say that the foundation of their successful life was hard work, diligence, perseverance, dedication, patience, creativity, or a combination of these. You have to work to get a good life.

Real Life, is different. After talking about this idea of Real Life, you might be asking yourself, “How do I get it?” If you’re looking for Real Life, you won’t be able to find it by working harder, by searching for the fabled Fountain of Youth, or by drinking Coca Cola. It all starts with love.

Probably the most well-known Bible verse in the world is John 3:16: “‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.’” While there is just so much in that verse, let’s distill it down to the very basics of English grammar: “God loved … that whoever believes … should have eternal life.” As we know already from the last Life Truth, that ‘eternal life’ is the very same Real Life that we are talking about. What’s really cool is that this Real Life is almost like a natural outcome or result of God’s love. God loved the world so much that it caused Him to give the world something: he gave His only Son. And His Son caused a chain of events which ultimately leads to eternal life.

1 John 4:9-10 says almost the same thing, but adds another detail about this love. Verse 10 says, “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” This is not just any ordinary sort of love. This is not the kind of love that says, “it’s not you, it’s me…” This is not a kind of love that is “feeling it” one moment and the not the next. This is not the kind of love that will only love if that same love is reciprocated back. Rather, this is Real Love, a kind of love that is completely unconditional, that loved even though we, the objects of God’s love, did not love back. This is the kind of love that was willing to give everything, even God’s own son.

So if you are looking for Real Life, don’t try to do more pushups. Instead, start searching for Real Love.

REAL LIFE COMES FROM GOD

Have you ever had the experience of knowing a person for a long time and then you meet their parents, and all of sudden, everything makes perfect sense?? Little quirks, the color of their eyes, the sound of their voice, weird phrases they use … you can now clearly see where your friend got all these things from.

Life is given. Yes, we can develop our lives on our own: You can make a house, make some clothes, or make a sandwich. You can even do things to make your life better, like getting an education or falling in love or saving up for a big purchase. However, one thing you can’t make is your life. No matter how independent you might feel now, how much you might try to change your behavior, career path, or accent, you must admit that your life didn’t start with you. It was a gift, in fact it could be considered the main gift, from your mom and dad. They gave you life.

Finding real life is similar to this. It can’t be created on your own. You can’t think your way to real life, understand your way there, or feel your way to it. The only way to get it is from the source of that life.

Just like children reflect very specific, immutable, and inherited characteristics from their parents, the source of their life, in the same way, the source of Real Life would naturally reflect the exact same unique characteristics that can be seen in Real Life itself. From what we know so far of Real Life, we know that Real Life is incredibly awesome, even eternal and perfect. So the source of Real Life would have to be incredibly awesome, eternal, and perfect. What on earth has those qualities??

Well nothing on earth has those qualities. Which is why the source of Real Life is God Himself. Just like your parents who had human life became the source for your human life, God who has eternal life is the only source of real life. The great news is that God is very willing to give this life to you. Another piece of great news is that it is absolutely free.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

A stroll through the Bible shows how incredibly occupied God is with giving eternal life to people. In fact, the reason Jesus came to earth was so that we might have life.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10)

Today, we don’t see Jesus in the flesh, so we can’t go up to him on the street and ask him for some real life. Instead, we can touch the Holy Spirit and yes, you guessed it, the Holy Spirit is a source for this real life.

For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (2 Corinthians 3:6)

When you are filled with the Spirit, the Spirit will give you real life. You can’t make real life within yourself. However, the Holy Spirit, who can touch you and fill you, will be the source of your real life. Anyone who has the Spirit will possess real life in addition to the good life they already gave.

REAL LIFE CONQUERS ALL

Life is amazing in its ability to endure. Just a few years after the Mount St. Helens volcano erupted, decimating about 200 square miles of forest, the re-greening landscape testified of life’s resilience. After the United States detonated a Hydrogen fusion bomb on Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, plants are now thriving on the island, birds are nesting, and the sea is full of fish. Who hasn’t marveled (or cursed in bewilderment!) at a green weed that somehow finds a way to grow in the smallest sidewalk crack, even in the midst of the belching vehicle fumes in our busiest cities?

When faced with seemingly insurmountable obstacles, life overcomes. The physicist Stephen Hawking has led a productive and highly impactful life even though his body has been debilitated by ALS since the 1970s. Franklin Roosevelt was one of the most active US Presidents, even though he was wheelchair-bound due to partial paralysis from his bout with Polio. When we consider life, we have to say, “Wow! Life is so incredibly awesome and prevailing!”

Real Life has this kind of overcoming power, but just multiplied like a thousand times! In fact, there is nothing that real life doesn’t conquer. Here are a few examples.

Real life conquers thirst. When you think of thirst, don’t think of the physical feeling when you forget to drink water one morning. Thirst here is referring to that desire deep within your soul searching for meaning, purpose, vitality, and stability. Jesus captures this thought when he likens the real life we’re talking about to “living water.” Jesus says, “But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14). Every other “water” will make us thirsty again. That new car, the new job, the new gadget, the move to a new city, the new family, will all leave us thirsty again. Real Life conquers and surpasses all of that. The water that Jesus gives will even become a spring of water within us that gushes up to eternal life.

Real Life conquers death. This is absolutely amazing. No one conquers death. Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Oliver Cromwell, Adolf Hitler, Albert Einstein all died, even though they all, in different ways, conquered a lot of things during their life. Even your great, great aunt Martha, who was a health food nut, eventually died! Not one of them conquered death. However, Real Life is different. If you have Real Life, death is not the final end. “When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:54-55). Without Real Life a funeral is truly sad. People may say something like “The person who died will live on in our memories.” The sad part is that, in a few generations, most of those memories will be gone too. However, Real Life is different. It gives us hope and life, even after death because Real Life has conquered death.

Finally, real life makes us conquerors, like just in general. Paul writes, “much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:17). If you read this verse closely you will see that it tells us that we, those who receive grace, will reign in life. To reign in life means that you’re not just living forever as a beggar, or as a lower-class citizen. People who “reign” are rulers, kings, governors. That means we can rule over the things in our environment. We can rule over our feelings, thoughts, fears, sins, oppression, the devil, and more! And not only does Real Life defeat all the oppressive forces in our lives, but grants us an over-abundance of the things that foster Real Life. God’s life is Real Life. That kind of life really conquers all!

FIND REAL LIFE

Most of us know someone, maybe it’s a grandmother or an aunt or maybe even your friend’s mom down the street, that just completely enjoys feeding other people. Perhaps you’ve had the experience of entering their home and some of the best, most delightful aromas fill your nostrils: of freshly baked pies or barbecued chicken or grilled steaks. After sitting down, you see a table filled with homemade noodles, pork chops, corn on the cob, freshly baked bread, salad, green beans, peach cobbler, vanilla ice cream, thick brownies … all of the good stuff. You are salivating in anticipation, yet at the same time something of despair is deep within, because you know that you possibly can’t eat all the goodness that is before you! By the end you’re laying on the floor, ready to burst, wishing you had more room in your stomach for one more bit of chocolate chip cookie ….

Believe it or not, God is just like that. He welcomes us in, where he has prepared a gigantic feast for us. All we have to do is go inside, sit down at the table, and eat it all. This is how we find real life. Just like our crazy, pie-baking, pork-grilling relative, God has all this Real Life that he is just waiting to give us. We don’t have to beg or plead or earn the right so that God would want to give us life - He already wants to. The only thing remaining for us to do is find it, choose it, and receive it.

And if you’ve followed along from the last truth, then we know that we are all hungry, or as John 4 puts it, thirsting for something more. We can try to deny it but if we’re really honest with ourselves, then we know that if we don’t have eternity deep within, our hearts will always feel empty, like a empty stomach. So the Spirit is just urging us to come and sit down, to dive into the feast of Life set before us! “The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.” (Revelation 22:17)

All metaphors aside, what does it really mean to find Real Life? Well Moses settled just that very question when he was leading the nation of Israel. Toward the end of their journey in the desert, Moses gathered the people and spoke to them. He laid out what their choices were. He showed them what was before them and counselled them to “choose life.” Here is what he said: “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.” (Deuteronomy 30:19-20) Choosing life doesn’t mean choosing to wear a tie every day, eating oatmeal for every breakfast, or listening only to classical music for the rest of your life. Choosing life means loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice, and holding fast to him. Because in the end, God Himself is your life. It’s kind of like getting married. There will be a beautiful ceremony, but the married life doesn’t really begin until both you and your spouse begin living together, loving each other through thick and thin, listening and deferring to one another, being loyal to each other. But believe it or not, Real Life is even more intimate than that, because Real Life is a relationship with God Himself, which penetrates to the deepest part of the human spirit.

Just like a marriage, we never graduate from taking hold of God’s Real Life. It would be like having a marriage ceremony and then going back to live at your old bachelor / bachelorette apartment with your old roommate! Old couples who have been married for decades will probably tell you that staying happily married after all those is a choice they choose to make each and every day. In the same way, living the Real Life is a choice every day of our lives, regardless of how experienced we are. If we choose ourselves, the world, or evil things, the result is spiritual death. If we choose God, his word, his Spirit, or his purpose, we find Real Life. Paul writes about this kind of life when he is teaching people about how to handle money. He encourages them not to put their trust in money, but rather trust God and lay hold of life. People who do this are “storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.” (1 Timothy 6:19)

That may sound like a pain in the butt: every day forcing yourself to do good things and to stop doing all the fun things that you like doing. But, also like a marriage, it can be the most fulfilling and awesome thing you’ve ever experienced. It’s like having that huge, stomach-exploding dinner at your grandma’s house … just every single day! Yes, we have to choose Real Life all the time, but it’s also a lifetime (and beyond!) of experiencing newness, satisfaction, joy, victory, and even immortality! God never stops offering life to us. In turn, we never need to stop receiving it, choosing it, and enjoying it. Right now, you can pray, “Lord Jesus, right now, I would like to take hold of the water of life you are just dying to give me! I want … Real Life.”