8.16.26 - I Am for the World - Pt. 5 - “The Resurrection and The Life”
“Discover and Do the Servant in You”
Servants of Jesus know how to serve people … Jesus!
Knowing the “I AM” statements of Jesus equips us to speak “Jesus” into others deepest needs.
I AM the Bread of Life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
John 6:35
I AM the Light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”
John 8:12
I AM the Gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out and find pasture.
John 10:9
I AM the Good Shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me… and I lay down my life for the sheep.
John 10:14-15
I AM the Resurrection and the Life
The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;
and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.
John 11:25-26
What about “death”, “eternity”, “what happens” …etc.?
Jesus speaks directly into our … questions, fears, longings, needs… concerning “death”, “eternal life”?
Biblically speaking “death” is seen in relational terms. Death = Separation
John 11: 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, 7 and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”… … …
17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.
20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
25 Jesus said to her,
“I am the resurrection and the life.
The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;
and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said,
“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked.
“Come and see, Lord,” they replied. 35 Jesus wept. 36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” 40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
Jesus is not just a words guy but a words-and-actions guy with deep compassion. He is at war with death.
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
25 Jesus said to her,
“I am the Resurrection and the Life.
The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;
and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.
Do you believe this?”
Sadducees Hellenist Pharisees
Material world is everything soul/spiritual good If we are good enough death is the end of soul/body body/physical bad soul goes to heaven resurrection someday
Secularism Plato/Greek Religious Gnosticism
Jesus comes crashing in with this revolutionary claim
“I AM the Resurrection and the Life.
The one who believes in me will live (eternally), even though they die (physically); and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.
Salvation into eternal life is for the whole being soul and body.
Life Eternal and Resurrection is through Jesus. He is the Resurrection – He is the Life
Any hope and assurance of Life eternal and Resurrection to Life is found in Him - not a system or a formula.
Jesus is inviting us into a “relationship” not a “transaction”.
“God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on petrol, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there.” C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.
John 17:3
Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
Our default is a “transactional” approach, “What do I need to do to get to heaven?”
Mark 10 “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” … …
“Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
Can you feel Jesus calling the man out of a “transactional” approach to finding “life” and into a “relational” approach to finding life…… “come, follow Me.”
This is such good news!
“The one who believes in me will live”
I AM the Resurrection and the Life
The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;
and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.
Do you believe this?”