"Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” - John 17:3
Jesus defined eternal life in terms of knowing Him. "Eternal" not only describes life in terms of quantity, but in terms of quality; not just in terms of length, but in terms of depth. Contained is the idea of the abundant life that Jesus spoke of in John 10:10. "Eternal life" is a life characterized by experience with God.
One experiences God at the point of salvation, but if that is the sum total of one’s experience with God» he is missing out on the abundant aspect of eternal life. God has wonderful things in mind for each of His children.
" ’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ’plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.’ " - Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)
But how do can we experience God in the fullest sense of what he desires for us? We look to Jesus.
"Let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus." - Hebrews 12:1-2 (NLT)
As we look to Jesus in seeking to know how we can experience God in our daily lives, there are two points for us to keep in mind:
1. Jesus is our Way.
"’I am the way, the truth, and the life!’ Jesus answered. ’Without me, no one can go to the Father.’ " - John 14:6 (CEV)
There is a big difference between receiving directions and traveling with the director. The Lord doesn’t just give us directions for how to live and then leave us alone to figure out how to follow them, He is with us for the journey to guide us along the way!
Many of us, in thinking of walking with God, say "Lord, what would you have me do? When? With whom? How? Where? And please tell me the outcome in advance."
What we should say instead is, "Lord, tell me what to do one step at a time and I will do it as I follow you."
"The Lord had said to Abram, ’Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I mil show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you} I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.’ So Abram left, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there."- Genesis 12:1-5 (NIV)
Note that when Abram started, he did not know his final destination (v. 1), but God got him there anyway (v. 5). How? Abram simply focused on walking with God and the Lord led him one step at a time.
Often in seeking to walk with God, we want to know the end from the beginning. But God will bring to pass what we need to know, when we need to know it.
Notice the "I wills" of God in verses 1-3. God basically told Abram, "I will bring to pass what needs to happen in your life at the time it needs to happen and in the way it needs to happen. All you need to do is focus on following me."
Warren Wiersbe, in his commentary on the life of Abraham, points out that at different times in the Genesis narrative, Abraham’ tent and altar are mentioned. Wiersbe suggests that when Abraham’s tent is mentioned, that speaks of his attitude toward the world - that he’s just passing through, because this world is not his home. The mention of Abraham’s altar speaks of his attitude toward God - that the focus of his life is his relationship and walk with God.
Any time in the narrative where Abraham steps outside of God’s will, his tent and altar are not mentioned. Why? Because every time he steps outside of God’s will he has done so because his primary concern is no longer on walking with God, but on things related to this world!
The same will always be true of us, too. Every time we get outside of God’s will for our lives it is because our primary concern is no longer on walking with God, but on things related to this world.
The early church saw Jesus as their way to experience God. That is why they were called "followers of the Way" - Acts 9:2 (NLT). If we would experience God the way the early church did in the book of Acts, then we, too, must look to Jesus as the way. We must look to Jesus if we are going to know and do God’s will and experience God in the fullest sense of what He desires for us!
2. Jesus is our Example.
"Jesus said to them, ’My Father is always at His work to this very day, and I too, am working.’ Jesus gave them this answer: ’I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; He can do only what He sees the Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all He does. Yes, to your amazement he will show Him even greater things than these."
-John 5:17; 19-20 (NIV)
There are four things for us to note about our Lord’s example of how he walked with the Father:
A. Our Lord’s awareness of things - v. 17
Jesus lived with the awareness that the Father was at work around Him and called Him to take advantage of the opportunity to join Him.
"Look carefully than how you walk! Live purposefully and worthily and accurately, not as the unwise and witless, but as wise (sensible, intelligent people), making the very most of the time (buying up each opportunity), because the days are evil."
- Ephesians 5:15-16 (Amplified)
Like Jesus lived each day in communion with the Father, we must seek to live each day in communion with Jesus, so that we might recognize the opportunities given us to partner in His work, and thus, experience to the full the eternal nature of the life that is our through faith in Him.
"But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak of His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you." - John 16:13-15 (NIV)
"We must learn to cultivate the upward gaze so that we might recognize the work God is doing that He calls us to cooperate with Him in." - Watchman Nee
B. Our Lord’s attitude toward things - v. 19a
What Jesus says here reminds us of what he said about us in John 15:5. where he tells us that if we abide in Him (focus on walking with Him), we will be fruitful, but on our own, we can do nothing!
Two psychiatric patients had become friends through their mutual contact with the same doctor. Once they saw each other at the doctor’s office and one asked the other, "Are you coming or going?" The other one responded, "If I knew that I wouldn’t be here!"
Apart from daily communion with Christ we cannot know whether we are coming or going. We can do nothing apart from Him. As someone once put it, "He who guides himself has a fool for a follower."
C. Our Lord’s approach to things - v. 19b
"We are laborers together with God." -1 Corinthians 3:9 (KJV)
Do you remember when they had old fashioned Sunday school picnics? It was before air-conditioning. They said, "We’ll meet at Sycamore Lodge in Shelby Park at 4:30 Saturday. You bring your supper and we’ll furnish the tea."
But you came home at the last minute and when you got ready to pack your lunch, all you could find in the refrigerator-was one dried up piece of baloney and just enough mustard in the bottom of the jar so that you got it all over your knuckles trying to get to it. And there were just two stale pieces of bread.
So you made your baloney sandwich and wrapped it in some brown bag and went to the picnic.
And when it came time to eat you sat at the end of a table and spread out your sandwich. But the folks next to you — the lady was a good cook and she had worked all day and she had fried chicken, and baked beans, and potato salad, and homemade rolls, and sliced tomatoes, and pickles, and olives, and celery, and topped it off with two big homemade chocolate pies.
And they spread it all out beside you and there you were with your baloney sandwich. But they said to you, "Why don’t we put it all together?" "No, I couldn’t do that, I just couldn’t even think of it," you murmured embarrassedly. "Oh, come on, there’s plenty of chicken and plenty of pie, and plenty of everything — and we just love baloney sandwiches.
Let’s just put it all together." And so you did and there you sat — eating like a king when you came like a pauper.
And I get to thinking — I think of me "sharing" with God. When I think of how little I bring, and how much He brings and that He invites me to "share," I know I should be shout¬ing to the housetops, but I am so filled with awe and wonder that I can hardly be heard.
I know you don’t have enough love or faith, or grace, or mercy or wisdom — there’s just not enough to you. But He has — He has all those things in abundance and says, "Let’s just put it all together."
From "Come Share the Blessing" by Bob Benson
D. Our Lord’s appreciation of things - v. 20
Jesus knew that all the Father wanted to do through Him was centered around a love relationship. The same is true for us.
"The person who has my commands and keeps them is the one who (really) loves me; and whoever (really) loves me will be loved by my Father, and I (too) will love him and will show (reveal, manifest) myself to him. (I will let myself be clearly seen by him and make myself real to him.) - John 14:21 (Amplified)
As I focus on my love relationship with Jesus, I will come to see him more clearly; and as I see him more clearly, I will know how and where to walk with Him; and as I walk and work with Him in obedience to His call, my love relationship with Him will grow even deeper!
Conclusion: The question is not "What does God want me to do for Him?" but "What does God want me to do with Him?’ It’s not, "Lord bless what I am doing," but "God, let me do what’s You are blessing!" Let’s not make the mistake of the church at Ephesus:
"You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first." - Revelation 2:4-5 (NIV)
