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Tropical Sands Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

The Meaning of Life What is the meaning of life? I'm told that a lot of people come to church to find the meaning of life, and some people spend their entire lives searching for it. But most people would say that Jesus was not trying to learn the meaning of life. If anything, He knew the meaning of life and was trying to pass it on, so we could stop trying to define life and get on with living it. I think we can learn the meaning of life by looking at what was important to Jesus, and what was not important to Him. Let's hear the word of the LORD: And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread." And Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone.' " And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, "To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. 7 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours." And Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.'" And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written,"He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.'" And Jesus answered him, "It is said, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.'" And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time. -- Luke 4:1-13 So based on this passage, we can see that some of the things we think are important were not important to Jesus. The first temptation addresses appetite. We are told Jesus ate nothing during those 40 days. Here, Jesus says that man doesn't live by bread alone. Elsewhere, He says that life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Life was important to Jesus, but food and clothing were not. He did eat, and He wore clothing, and He even encouraged us to provide them for others, but He says more than once that satisfying our appetites is not the meaning of life. The second temptation addresses ambition. The devil showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and said that Jesus could rule over them if He would just bow down and worship the devil. We are told that one day, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus was Lord, but He didn't want that when He walked this earth. In another story, Jesus went into hiding to keep a mob from making Him King, and He washed the feet of His disciples to set an example of leadership. So power, authority and prestige are not the meaning of life. The third temptation addresses proving God, or testing His love. Satan uses scripture to suggest that Jesus prove God's power and promise by jumping off a wall of the Temple. In religious circles, we are famously guilty of going out on a limb and counting on God to catch us when we fall. We even call it, "A leap of faith." Satan is telling Jesus to take what some of us would call a leap of faith. Jesus reads the scriptures to say that we shouldn't ask God to prove Himself: "Thou shalt not put the Lord thy God to the test." We should love God even if He provides no proof at all. Job 9:23 says, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him." I like this from the prophet Habakkuk, 3:17-18: "Even though the fig trees have no fruit and no grapes grow on the vines, even though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no grain, even though the sheep all die and the cattle stalls are empty, I will still be joyful and glad, because the LORD God is my savior." That's the kind of love Jesus had for God, and that's the kind of love we should have as well -- to love God for who He is, not for what He can do for us. So the meaning of life is not to receive the blessings and enjoy the benefits of God, and certainly not to prove Him by testing Him. That's the kind of Love that let Jesus go to the cross. So the meaning of life is not to prove anything about God. Life is a miracle all by itself; we shouldn't need miracles within the miracle to trust God. Proving the power or existence of God is not in itself the meaning of life. The Bible says that God doesn't have to prove anything! The first letter of the Apostle John says, "God is Love, and whoever lives in love lives in union with God and God lives in union with Him." If God is love, then God is Perfect Love. Love for others is greater than love for oneself therefore there must be someone or something other than God. Love is greater still when it goes to someone who is not forced to love you back, therefore there must be creatures like us, who can accept or reject God's love. The meaning of life is the perfect love of God. We exist, not in order to Love God, although that's a very good idea, but because He loves us. Life is the expression of God's perfect love, a love that must be expressed to be perfect. Consider John 3:16. Many of us know it, so let's say it together: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but shall have everlasting life." Jesus also said, "I come that you might have life, and have it more abundantly." Think about that. Life is the love of God expressed, and Jesus came so that we might have life -- the love of God -- and have it more abundantly. Whosoever believes that God demonstrated His love by sending His beloved Son into the world will indeed be more abundantly aware of the love of God, and the love of God is Life itself. Mission accomplished! Moses called the Law a choice between Life and Death. Following the Law kept the people of Israel alive. But in Jesus' day, the law was being used to bring more death than life. It was used to oppress, condemn and exclude others. If Jesus seems a bit legalistic Himself, it was about how we treat others, not how we obey a written Law. Paul called the written law the Law of Sin and Death. It was good insofar as it promoted life, and bad insofar as it was used to bring about death. Jesus looked beyond the method and went straight to the goal, which was Life itself. Jesus came that we might have life! And in the Golden Rule, Do unto others as we would have them do unto us, Jesus was saying that all life is important, not just our own. If God gives Life as an expression of His love, then giving love and life is our expression of Love for Him. What inspires Week of Compassion, or Celebrate Recovery, or our visitation to the sick and the lonely? We are inspired to share the love of God, and that love is Life Itself. When we respond to pain, trouble, sickness and death in a way that gives life, we are also expressing the Love of God. We promote and encourage the lives of people, the life of the church, and the life of friendship. We avoid and discourage things that kill -- drug abuse, violence, jealousy, greed, and so on -- for the same reason. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. Everyone wants the good life, but followers of Jesus Christ want to give it away. That's why we provide company, friendship and encouragement. That's why we provide food, medicine and clean water. That's why we hate violence, war and disease. Jesus didn't come to turn stones into bread, or to gain power and prestige, or even to prove or demonstrate the power of God. He came that we might have life, and have it more abundantly. He came to show us the meaning of life. He came to show us the love of God. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Joel Tucker Tropical Sands Christian Church February 25, 2007