Are you living or existing?
It seems like a lot of times in our lives
We are simply existing instead really living life for all its worth.
We get up, go to work or school, or we begin our daily routine,
Whatever it may be and we simply go through the motions.
One day seems to blend into the next
If we would all be completely honest I think we it’s fair to say
That there are times when every one of us feels like our lives have lost their purpose.
We feel empty inside,
And the problem is that we’re not even really sure why.
Jesus Tells us that His Purpose is to give life in all its fullness (John 10:10).
So if this is the case
Why are we not experiencing the fullness that He promised us?
Why does it seem like we are just existing
Instead living for Jesus?
That’s what I want to talk about today…
How we can learn to live within Christ’s abundance…
How we can learn to live like Jesus.
We are going to look at John 17:1
In this chapter we see the prayer that Jesus prayed the night that He was betrayed and arrested.
This is the prayer that was at the beginning of what was going to prove to be a very long night.
And In this prayer Jesus prayed for himself, for his disciples, and for those who would become his disciples in the future. (That’s us)
What I want us to look at are the opening words of Jesus’ prayer
And I want to allow these words to challenge us
Challenge us to live our lives to its fullest by daily living for Christ.
Text: John 17:1 When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son so he can give glory back to you.
Now when Jesus prayed this prayer
He was about to come “face to face” with the cross.
He was about to make what until now had only been promised through prophecy
And now He was going to make it” a reality.”
Jesus was not simply “going through the motions”
And by doing this He was living His life to the fullest
He was fulfilling his life’s mission.
As we look at this text we there are 3 qualities of Christ-likeness
Three qualities that I feel can transform our lives
Transform them from just “existing” into “really living.”
1) We Must Live with a Dependence on the Father
Jesus is our example—he lived depending on His Father.
As the Son of God he didn’t have to—
He chose to
He chose to do this out of submission
And by doing this He show us how we are suppose to submit our lives to God.
The first word of His prayer is, “Father.”
I want to quickly look at how Jesus placed his dependence on his Father in heaven.
The author of Hebrews tells us:
Heb 5:7 While Jesus was here on earth, he offered prayers and pleadings, with a loud cry and tears, to the one who could deliver him out of death. And God heard his prayers because of his reverence for God. Heb 5:8 So even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered. (Hebrews 5:7-8)
Early in his ministry we see a pattern of dependence
And it’s is revealed through Jesus’ prayer time with his Father:
Mk 1:35 The next morning Jesus awoke long before daybreak and went out alone into the wilderness to pray. Mk 1:36 Later Simon and the others went out to find him. Mk 1:37 They said, “Everyone is asking for you.” Mk 1:38 But he replied, “We must go on to other towns as well, and I will preach to them, too, because that is why I came.”
Notice that Jesus understood that prayer should come before preaching.
And What is true for preaching
Is also true for anything that we do for Christ.
Prayer is the place where we acknowledge our dependence on our Heavenly Father.
Lk 5:15 Yet despite Jesus’ instructions, the report of his power spread even faster, and vast crowds came to hear him preach and to be healed of their diseases. Lk 5:16 But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer.
As more and more people sought Him out,
Jesus realized just how important it was for Him to draw His strength from His Father.
Throughout his life Jesus showed his dependence on the Father
He showed His dependence by going to him for strength, for direction, and for approval:
Before He selected the twelve he spent the whole night in prayer
After the feeding of the 5,000 He spent the evening in prayer
Before He raised Lazarus from the dead he went to his Father in prayer
And in the Garden of Gethsemane he prayed “Father, Thy will be done.”
His first words from the cross were, “Father, forgive them,”
And His last were, “Father, into Thy hands I commit my spirit.”
If Jesus was dependent on His Father while he was here on earth,
Then we have to realize that we must also be dependent on the Father in our daily lives.
Jesus’ own testimony provides a wonderful picture of just how important being dependent on the Father is.
Listen to how The Message paraphrases Jesus words in John 5—
“I’m telling you this straight. The Son can’t independently do a thing, only what he sees the Father doing. What the Father does, the Son does. (John 5:19 The Message)
Today we need to evaluate ourselves and ask the question
Are we trying to be “independent” in our spiritual life?
If Jesus couldn’t fulfill his Father’s plan without
being dependent upon Him for his strength,
Then how could we?
If we want to have better handle on how to stand up for Christ
We need to spend more time kneeling before the Father.
II. We Must Live with a sense of Divine Purpose
Jesus’ identified his dependence on His Father when he called in prayer,
And when He did He revealed his sense of divine purpose
We see this hen he said, “the time has come.”
Jesus knew what was ahead—
He had come to earth for this moment - this time—this purpose—
He had come to give his life as payment for the sins of the world.
Before he called his first disciples to be his followers,
Jesus revealed his divine purpose.
Mk 1:14 Later on, after John was arrested by Herod Antipas, Jesus went to Galilee to preach God’s Good News.
Mk 1:15 “At last the time has come!” he announced. “The Kingdom of God is near! Turn from your sins and believe this Good News!” (Mark 1:14-15)
From a wooden manger where He was laid after his birth
to a wooden cross just outside of Jerusalem where he died—
Jesus had one purpose:
And that was to save humanity by giving his life as a payment for ours.
Jesus’ divine purpose was to give his life away—
And our purpose isn’t any different.
Jesus said that his followers must be willing to lay down their lives:
Mt 16:25 If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find true life.
Mt 16:26 And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the process? Is anything worth more than your soul?
God has a purpose for each one of our lives—
But we can’t discover that purpose without willingly lay our life down before Christ.
Jesus said that the “time has come” and that’s what I’m saying today
The time has come” for all God’s people to submit themselves to God’s Son
And when we do we can accomplish His purpose through our lives.
III. We Must Live with a Desire to Glorify God
Living with a sense of divine purpose means that we really are living
Living with a desire to glorify God through our lives.
In the Upper Room the night he was betrayed
Jesus realized that “the time had come”
The time had come for the glory of God to be revealed.
That glory was the glory of God’s mercy and His grace—
His willingness to forgive and forget—
His promise of eternal life to everyone who would just believe in His Son
If we want to find glorify God through our lives
We have to realize that it begins with our willingness to embrace
What Christ did for us on the cross?
We glorify God through our worship, and through our witness.
Paul told the believers in Corinth:
1Co 10:31 Whatever you eat or drink or whatever you do, you must do all for the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31)
If you look up the word glory in a Bible concordance
You’ll quickly learn that glory is something that belongs to God.
We don’t deserve glory, He does,
And because of this we should live our lives
With a desire to bring Him glory every day!
So How do we glorify God?
We glorify Him by living for His Son each and every day.
And that’s where we find the difference between really living and just existing!
Conclusion:
Where are you today?
Are you merely existing—
Just going through the motions day by day?
Or, are you really living for Christ?
Jesus has set an example for us,
And now it’s up to us to follow that example.
So the challenge that we are faced with today:
Am I living with DEPENDENCE on the Father?
Am I living with a sense of DIVINE PURPOSE?
Am I living with a DESIRE to Glorify God?
If you can’t answer “YES” to all of each of those questions
Then take this time to ask the Holy Spirit to renew your life in Christ.
If you’ve never given your life to Jesus Christ
Take this time and realize that “the time has come,”
Surrender yourself to the Lord and receive the gift of His salvation.
And For those of us who have already given our hearts to Jesus,
We must ask ourselves
Are we truly allowing Him to be the Lord of our daily lives?
