Let’s talk about you. On the eternal time line your life is but a dot.
Life is short and then you die.
Be happy while you are living, for you’re a long time dead. Scottish Proverb
Too often too late comes too soon.
Yeah, your life is not limitless. So, making the most of your very short life is crucial is it not?
Let’s explore that a little deeper…Let’s expand the dot…
< _____________ { (born)____________________(die) } _________________>
One way to look at life is to suggest there are 4 seasons of your life….
o Spring: Childhood
o Summer: Big choices/family/career development
o Fall: transition – empty nesting – grandparenting – calling on your mind
o Winter: retirement – thinking legacy – enjoy watching grandkids develop
This is one way to look at the breadth of your life. - It can be a good life and a fulfilling life full of magic and wonder and love and memories…
· BUT it also can be unfulfilling and empty and have moments of drudgery.
· Life rarely is as simple and sweet as I have laid out moving seamlessly from one season to the other…it’s just not that romantic.
· There’s Pain, loneliness, emptiness, loss, tragedy, abandonment, failure and even boredom all mixed in.
So…life is short and it’s usually a mixed bag of the good, the bad and the ugly…and THEN you die.
So, because life is the way life is I want you to know something that is of utmost importance:
You were made for more!
· Yes life is short but within that momentary existence You were made for more!
· And yes, life can be arduous but within those tough times You were made for more!
This life in the dot can be …should be so, so much more…
I want to continue to describe that life today. We began last week and will continue for two more after this – 4 in total.
Before we dive back in a side comment - I want you to know that this church exists to help get you there.
Grace Church…this community does not just want to remind you that You Were Made of More…we want to help you find that “more kind of life”…and introduce you to the one who will get you there…Jesus the Christ…the son of the Living God.
· This church believes the key is found in Jesus
o We make no apologies for that
o All other religions are trying to point you to the better life …but they are all incomplete until they lead you to the one.
So…let’s hear directly from him today. I want to show you two stories in which Jesus says to two very different people You Were Made for More…
Story number one…John 3:1-16 page 883
Let’s take that last, most famous, verse out of the abstract and make it personal to this guy…Nicodemus.
This is how God loved you, Nicodemus: He gave his one and only Son, so that, if you believe in him, you will not perish but have eternal life.
· You could fill your own name in there!
I’m going to read the 2nd story but, before I do, pay attention to the last two word phrase.
“…eternal life”
That phrase is huge and means something different than you think it does.
John 4:5-14
· There it is again…. “…eternal life”
Let’s personalize that last sentence…
Ma’am if you drink this water you will soon become thirsty again.But if you drink the water I give you, you’ll never be thirsty again. It will become a fresh, bubbling spring within you, giving you eternal life!
Now, remember as we look at the world of the text ( John’s text) …when you see a similar idea appear in back to back stories…know that is not an accident. John placed these real stories back to back to make a point…in this case, about that phrase….eternal life.
What does it mean? (again…from the world OF the text)
· The word “eternal” is an (adjective) which modifies or describes the word “life”.
o Most of the time we see or think about the word we think it refers simply to chronological life – life in time that goes on and on and on and on (like our illustration)
o Other times we think of the word eternal we think Spatially – life somewhere - a place…somewhere we go after we die…heaven.
So, we think that Jesus is offering to Nicodemus and this woman, if they are born again or drink his water, they will some how be guaranteed a place in heaven after they die.
But that is not what this word means…
· Eternal literally means “an eternal KIND of life”
· It’s referring to a certain Quality of life. A life with particular characteristics or features…
o Also implies this is a kind of life that you put on like a coat
So…it doesn’t simply mean WHERE you go or HOW long you will be there but means a kind of life you can live right now AND forever.
Let me cut to the chase…Jesus was saying to Nicodemus and this nameless woman: You were made for more!
Nicodemus – if you believe in me and are born again you can have an eternal kind of life right now– you were made for more than this kind of life you’re living.
Woman – if you drink my water you can have an eternal kind of life right now! You were made for more than this kind of life you’re living”
So what is this eternal kind of life he was offering…in its broadest terms?
· Nicodemus story – An eternal kind of life is one that is mysterious and powerful like the wind
· Woman – An eternal kind of life is one that is deeply satisfying
If I could choose one word to describe an eternal kind of life I’d choose transcendent
· An eternal kind of life is one that is transcendent. – more than the norm!
o Transcends the everyday
o Transcends the mundane
o Transcends the pain
o Transcends the isolation
o Transcends the frustration
Let me modify our illustration…
Eternal kind of life: You were made for more!
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|  |
< _____________!____________________! _________________>
Let’s get specific and personal:
4 characteristics of this life you were made for:
Last week – Muriithi Wanjau reminded us of one of the great qualities or characteristics of this eternal kind of life…
1. The eternal kind of life is one of deep, loving community.
- Not just friendship but a community of stretcher bearers who will
2. The eternal kind of life is one of freedom from strongholds. (next week)
o Strongholds
3. The eternal kind of life is one of destiny and purpose. (two weeks)
4. The eternal kind of life is one walked in companionship with God.
One of the most startling things Jesus says to the woman…“If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.” John 4:10
· I’m right here. Ask me.
· To Nicodemus: The son of man has come down from heaven. I’m right here.
This is what God has been trying to say to you for a long time is it not! I’m right here!
· In your pain. In your questions. In your lostness. In your boredom. In your loneliness. I’m right here.
You were made for more.
· In your embarrassing moral failures…in your crashing career…in the fog of your next steps. I’m right here. You were made for more.
· In your theological confusion…in your broken relationships…in your crushing defeats…and in your awful habits and hangups…I’m right here. You were made for more!
If you only knew who was speaking to you would turn to me and walk with me…and I will be with you. And the holy spirit would blow like the wind into your life and you would be transformed and then we’d walk together through it all….and we will be companions.
You were made for more…an eternal kind of life!
unashamed …forgiven …listened to …cared for … a life in companionship with the God of the universe.
What’s the hinge point? What’s the thing that will unlock it? Where does it start?
Surrender.
o You don’t get this life accidently or somehow it seep into you.
o You do get it with religion
o You do not begin to walk with God by being a better person.
You surrender.
· Stop. Admit. Repent. Believe. Follow. – this unlocks the eternal kind of life…the life you were made for!
Pray!