It’s been estimated that of an average 70 year life
- 23 years are spent sleeping
- 16 years working
- 8 year watching TV
- 6 years eating
- 6 years travelling
- 4.5 years in leisure activities
- 4 years being sick or suffering illness of some kind
- 2 years getting dressed and
- half a year practicing religion of some kind
What is life all about?
Jesus answers that in two ways. Firstly, by telling us what life isn’t about and then telling us about what life is all about.
Life is not about making money and accumulating possessions.
Jesus says in Luke 12, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a person’s life does not consist in the abundance of their possessions.”
Life is not about making money and getting stuff.
Jesus says:
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal. but store up for your selves treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy and thieves not not break in and steal. For where your treasure is there your heart will also be.
So, not only does Jesus tell us that life doesn’t consist of the abundance of possessions — but he gives us two big reasons why:
1. You won't be able to take it with you.
If you went around your house and put a sticker on everything that you could take with you when you died — what things would have stickers on them?
In my house I’d have a sticker on my wife and my kids (and my bible as the eternal word of God) but that’s about it isn’t it.
We can’t take our stuff with us but somehow we seem to live for it anyway.
The Psalm says: each person’s life is but a breath, everyone goes about like a shadow They bustle about, but only for nothing. They heap up wealth, not knowing who will get it.
You won’t be able to take it with you when you die
and secondly,
2. It won't even last your life time.
Jesus says treasure on earth will rust and be eaten by moths
George Harrison one of the Beatles, one of the greatest and most influential pop bands of all time knew fame, knew adulation, knew the pleasure of mastering his craft, the sense that his was a formative influence on music.
But George Harrison said this in the Beatles Anthology:
When you've had all the experiences - met all the famous people, made some money, toured the world and got all the acclaim - you still think "is that it?". Some people might be satisfied with that, but I wasn't and I'm still not.
Real life is all about Jesus.
Jesus said in John chapter 10, “I have come in order that you may have life, and have it to the full.”
It’s a bold claim isn’t it? Jesus claims to give us life to the full, life in all its abundance. Life that is fulfilling because it’s life the way the creator of the world intends for us.
That sort of bold claim raises the question: How? How does Jesus give us life to the full?
The answer is in the very next chapter of John’s gospel, chapter 11.
Jesus’s mate Lazarus has been very sick and then died and Jesus has deliberately been too late to make him better. Imagine that. Your mate is sick and you know that you can make him better but you wait until he dies to go to the family
Martha, one of Lazarus’s sisters goes out to Jesus as he eventually arrives in town and she says to Jesus, “What happened? If you’d been here sooner my brother wouldn’t have died” She knows Jesus isn’t just a man. She knows he could have healed Lazarus
In verse 22 of chapter 11 Martha says to Jesus, “But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask”
Jesus says to Martha, “Your brother will rise again”
Martha says, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day”
And in Jesus' response to Martha he teaches us how he gives real life.
Jesus says:
I am the resurrection and the life. Everyone who believes in me will live even though they die and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. (John 11:25)
Jesus gives life to the full because he is the life and he shows that he has the power to give life by bringing Lazarus back from the dead.
But Jesus isn’t just on about giving people life now – he’s all about giving us life even after we die
He is the start of the new life. When Jesus is resurrected from the dead he is resurrected to new life. He’s the first one to come back from the dead and have a new resurrection life that lives forever. It’s a life that never dies.
and Jesus says that life, that new life, can be yours too.
When Jesus dies on the cross for our sins he opens up the way for us to be forgiven and he also gives us new life. So now we can know that even though we die, we will live.
As surely as Jesus was resurrected from the dead so sure is it that we also will be resurrected to new life.
Some Big Questions
Do you know what life is all about?
Do you know why you are here and where you are going when you die?
Can you answer the big questions of life?
Are you sure that what you’re living for is going to work out in the end?
Do you know what life is all about?
Jesus says, “Everyone who believes in me will live even though they die”.
That is, every person who trusts Jesus with their life, trusts his death on the cross for forgiveness of sin and trust his resurrection for eternal life - every person who puts their trust in Jesus will live even though they die.
Jesus said, “I have come that they might have life – life to the full”.
If you want life to the full then put your trust in Jesus.
If you’d like to chat to someone about this please contact us. We’d love to help you.