What motivates us to live the lives we do? What drives our decisions? Ernest Becker, in his book, The Denial of Death, argues that one of the reasons we do what we do is because of death. Writes Becker: “the idea of death, the fear of it . . . is a mainspring of human activity.“
Oh, I know that when we are young, we don’t believe it’s possible that we will die. Teenagers may realize that obituary columns exist in the evening newspaper——but they hardly believe their own mortality. That’s why young drivers often weave through traffic at speeds that make more experienced drivers shudder. That’s why youth can mess with illegal drugs and think they are guaranteed immunity from an overdose. After all, when you are young you are immortal. That’s why when someone their own age fails to cheat death, they are stunned by the tragedy.
But the older we get the harder it is to deny death. The reality of death sinks into our subconscious mind and shapes our attitudes, opinions, and decisions. We will do all we can to add a few years to our lifespan. We will empty our bank accounts to pursue a medical miracle. The specter of death petrifies us. For what is more important than life!
But we sense that life can’t merely be defined in a physical sense. Life is more than just proper chemical reactions taking place within the cells of our bodies. We all know people who come back from their yearly physical with a clear bill of health, and yet they say—“What’s wrong with me—I’m not really alive.“
Life as we want to live it isn’t defined just in biological terms. It’s a matter of the mind and spirit. Depressed people seek a good counselor to help them put back the pieces of a life that’s falling apart. And if a good psychologist can’t help you, maybe what you need is a cruise on the Caribbean or some new electronic gadget. I suspect that the craze for the latest and best in technology, the reason we are motivated to put that new wide screen hi—def 60 inch television set on our credit card is because the thrill it brings will help us feel a little more alive. The reason we buy that new recreation vehicle or are willing to make payments on a new SUV doesn’t have to do with needing basic transportation. It has to do with a sense of ?being alive’ as we feel the power of 300 horses under the hood.
How about religion? Religion, you would think, is a primary source for people seeking life, isn’t it? And it’s true. In fact, the Christian faith centers in the word LIFE. Read the gospels and you will find offered nothing less than life ETERNAL! How’s that for an offer? Eternal life! Who wouldn’t be tempted by that kind of gift?
But what really is this thing the Scriptures offer? What really is eternal life?
ETERNAL LIFE: TOWARD A DEFINITION
Perhaps you heard of the Spanish explorer, Ponce de Leon. He was the Spaniard who searched fruitlessly throughout Florida and the southwest, looking for the fountain of youth. One drink from that fountain, it was said, assured unending well—being. Those who drank from the fountain of youth would never die.
Now, most people when they talk about eternal life are thinking of the kind of life Ponce de Leon was seeking. Eternal life for most people is life that has a beginning, but no end. And it would be fair to say that the life the Bible offers DOES have no end. It IS eternal, after all. But I don’t find a stress in Scripture merely on the QUANTITY of the life it offers—but the QUALITY.
KNOWING GOD
Consider John 17:3, where Jesus gives a definition of eternal life that may well shock you. “Now this is eternal life,“ says Jesus, “that they may know you, the only true God.“
This is a rather remarkable definition of eternal life, isn’t it? Jesus doesn’t define eternal life in terms of an open—ended timeframe. Instead he defines eternal life in terms of a RELATIONSHIP. Eternal life, says Jesus, is first and foremost about KNOWING GOD!
Now, what does it mean to KNOW GOD? Well, I would imagine it begins by knowing something ABOUT God. We can’t really know God unless we know what he is like.
There are all kinds of ideas about the divine in our world today. Some think that the world is filled with all kinds of petty dieties that need to be appeased and satisfied. In fact, a great many people around this globe today still live in fear of the gods—they think the gods must be appeased lest they be offended. It is often a great relief to such people when they discover that there is only ONE true God—a God who isn’t fickle or capricious, but a God who has spoken a word of mercy and grace through his Son. Other people think of divinity in purely impersonal terms. God in just an impersonal life—force that fills the universe. It’s a surprise to such people to meet a God whose name can be known—and who knows our own individual names. It is a staggering thing to discover a God who is actually seeking a relationship with people like us.
Yes, it is obviously important to know what kind of God we are dealing with. Jesus says that eternal life is to know God. And the God he is talking about is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The God who has revealed himself through the pages of Scripture. Jesus wants us to understand that eternal life has everything to do, not with generic definitions of the divine—but with THIS God—the God who has pulled back the curtain of eternity and shown himself in his Son, Jesus Christ.
But Jesus doesn’t merely say that eternal life means knowing ABOUT God. A lot of people know ABOUT this God. They have some basic understanding of what the Bible teaches. And they think that just having a few facts straight about God, you’re saved. For example, a great many people think that if you just believe God exists—that’s enough. But James reminds us that even the demons believe in God’s existence—and they tremble! Now, if you have your doctrines straight about God, I congratulate you. But don’t think that just because you can pass a theology quiz about the nature of God, that you’ve arrived at where you need to be.
You see, the knowledge of which Jesus speaks in this passage isn’t merely facts and doctrines, as significant as they may be. The knowledge of which Jesus speaks is the knowledge that comes from being in relationship with another.
You know, what brings us the greatest joy in life are relationships—relationships with friends, children, spouse. Oh, I know those relationships can also be sources of deep pain too. But the reason relationships can bring so much pain into our lives is because we prize them so highly. We keep cultivating our relationships, even when they are hard, because we know that without those relationships, real life is impossible.
Now, Jesus tells us that eternal life has everything to do with a relationship. Those who have received eternal life are those who are in relationship with the God of eternity. Eternal life is knowing God! Knowing him deeply, personally, intimately. Trusting him as a valued friend.
Now, this is an interesting definition indeed. For right here Jesus wants us to understand that the key component of eternal life is not longevity. I don’t know anyone who would want to live forever without the promise of a different quality to human existence. Would anyone want to live to the age of 200 if normal aging processes weren’t slowed—or stopped altogether? As the years grind along you wouldn’t be living, you’d merely be existing. In fact, you would be experiencing a living death. There is no joy in merely existing forever. Real life means to experience joy, and peace, and wholeness. Real life—eternal life—means living in community with God!
KNOWING GOD, KNOWING JESUS
But how can that happen? How can I live in community with God? How can I know a God from whom I am estranged by the brokenness of my failure and sin? Jesus goes on in this text to make an audacious claim. He states that eternal life isn’t merely knowing God. It’s knowing the Christ whom God has sent!
Right here Jesus forges an unbreakable link between himself and the Father. Jesus is the one sent by God. He has come on a mission from the Father. Elsewhere in John’s gospel, Jesus makes the same claim: “He who has seen me has seen the Father . . . no one comes to the Father but by me.“ Jesus declares that it is only through faith in him that anyone can come to God. Now how can this be?
Well, it’s important to see the setting of Jesus’ words here in John 17. Jesus is on his knees pouring out his heart to God in a prayer that sometimes has been called the high priestly prayer. This prayer is a prelude to Calvary. On Calvary Jesus will deal decisively with human guilt. Jesus will take on and defeat the powers of death. On the cross, the roadblocks to a deep and meaningful relationship with God will be swept aside. Jesus will fill the role of the great high priest by linking earth and heaven. Through him, a close relationship with God will again be possible.
Today, I ask you to wrestle seriously with the claim that Jesus is making here. The truth is, everyone wants to live. Everyone wants a quality of life that brings peace and blessing. In a real sense, every religion is seeking life—real life. But there is only one religion that goes beyond a search for the divine to a relationship with God that makes all the difference in the world. Only in Jesus Christ can we enter into a relationship with God that brings life—eternal life.
If you have not yet placed yourself in the hands of Jesus by trusting him fully and completely as the real bridge between yourself and God—I implore you to do so today. Nothing is more important this very moment than to place yourself in his care. Nothing is more important than to trust his promise of life! Medical science may be able to extend your lifespan by a few years. Modern conveniences may give you a comfortable lifestyle. Good friends can add laughter to your leisure time. But you will always have a sense of emptiness until you move into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, his Son. You were created for this. You were created for community with God. Don’t be satisfied with cheap imitations of life. For eternal life is this—to know God and the One he has sent, Jesus Christ, his Son.
ETERNAL LIFE: BEGINNING NOW
Now, let me tell you something important about this life of eternity that Christ offers. Eternal life begins today. A lot of people think that eternal life begins sometime in the future—maybe at best after you die and go to heaven. But that isn’t what Jesus says. Jesus says, “This is eternal life—to know God!“ If you know God through Jesus, life begins here and now. You don’t wait for tomorrow. You don’t wait for heaven. Eternal life is now!
Have you experienced that life through your relationship with Christ? In the midst of crisis, have you experienced a strength that is beyond anything that you could marshal from your own resources? In the midst of sorrow, have you experienced a comfort that defies your present grief? Have you ever opened the Scriptures and been given a peace that seems to lift you out of your present struggles into a world of shalom? In the midst of terrible challenge have you found the courage to press on for the sake of Christ? Have you ever been stepped on by others—hurt deeply——and found the strength beyond yourself to forgive—and let go your bitterness? Then you know what it means to live—really live—today! Then you have tasted the real life that comes from being in relationship with God.
AND MORE TO COME
And if you have tasted those things, then you know that with regard to eternal life, there is more to come. For those who taste the life of God today know that physical death has lost its sting and that even greater life with God awaits us. Most of us shiver at the word ?death.’ We have discovered our mortality as we grew older, and we tremble.
But if you know God today through faith in his Son, Jesus Christ, then death need no longer terrify you. The grave on Easter morning was open. The way to life has been cleared. Says the Apostle Paul: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or nakedness or danger or sword? . . . . No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.“ (Rom. 35— 39)
That is our confidence. It was the confidence of Martin Luther, the great Reformer, who for years wrestled with doubt and uncertainty. He was convinced that in the midst of life, we die. And then he discovered what it meant to know God in a deep trust relationship with Jesus Christ. Luther discovered that he had it backwards. Not in the midst of life we die. No, in the midst of death, we live!
Life! All of us want to live! And here is the good news! That Easter life is something that begins here and now! And continues on with God forever, in an eternity of community with him.
Writes the Psalmist: Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. You have made known to me the path of life; You will fill me with joy in your presence, With eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Robert Heerspink
Rev. Robert Heerspink is a native of west Michigan. He completed his undergraduate studies at Calvin College and holds the degrees of Master of Divinity and Master of Theology from Calvin Theological Seminary. He has also received a Doctor of Ministry degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Bob was ordained a minister of the Word in the Christian Reformed Church of North America in 1979, and has 26 years of parish experience, having served four churches throughout west Michigan. He was appointed the Director of The Back to God Hour in 2006. Bob has written several resources related to congregational stewardship, including the book, Becoming a Firstfruits Congregation. He is a regular contributor to TODAY, the monthly devotional of The Back to God Hour. Bob is married to Edith (Miedema) and they have three children. His hobbies include reading fictional and historical works, watersports, and occassional golfing.
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