There is a restaurant in Pennsylvania whose claim to fame is that they have “the world’s second best wings”. (I’ve seen the giant sign on the side of the building and recently found them online). “The world’s second best wings” - that kind of changes your outlook on their wings doesn’t it? Sure, these aren’t your average, run-of-the-mill wings, but then again they aren’t the world’s best wings either – they’re only the world’s second best. If they were the best, one would be really excited about them. But since they’re the runner up … not as much.
You see, when priority is diminished, fervency is diminished.
If Jesus is our ultimate priority, we are going to be enthusiastic about Him. But if He is a little lower down on our list – if other things in our lives crowd Him out and displace Him - we won’t be as enthusiastic. When priority is diminished, fervency is diminished.
Discipleship only happens when we have a compelling vision of Jesus that makes Him our ultimate priority and therefore stirs our hearts to love, worship and serve Him fervently. To gain this vision, we are considering the “I am” statements of Jesus in the Gospel of John. Last week, we read of Jesus declaring that He is the Messiah to the Samaritan woman. This week, we’re looking at Jesus’ conversation with Martha and in particular Jesus’ declaration, “I am the Resurrection and the Life.”
Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.”
As the ESV Study Bible comments, “Jesus does not merely say that he will bring about the resurrection or that he will be the cause of the resurrection (both of which are true), but something much stronger: I am the resurrection and the life. Resurrection from the dead and genuine eternal life in fellowship with God are so closely tied to Jesus that they are embodied in him and can be found only in relationship to him.”
Jesus is the resurrection: He has authority to call life back from the dead; He Himself would conquer death; and he would be the firstfruits of a new creation. Truly, “whoever believes in Him, though he die, yet shall he live.” But Jesus is also the Life. The one who lives and believes in Him will never die.
There is a life to be lived in Christ.
And the life that He gives is eternal life. As Jesus said in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” And as the apostle John wrote, “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son … He is the true God and eternal life” (1Joh 5:11, 20). We often think of eternal life as something that is strictly in the future – when we die or when Jesus comes, then eternal life begins. But that’s wrong. Eternal means “without beginning or end; lasting forever, always existing.” Therefore eternal life begins now. It is a present experience.
And this life that Jesus gives is resurrected life. As the apostle Paul declares in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” We live in Christ and therefore His resurrected life is ours. Paul states in Ephesians 1:19-20 NLT, “I pray that you will begin to understand the incredible greatness of his power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God's right hand in the heavenly realms.” The mighty power that raised Christ is at work in us.
And this life that Jesus gives is life to the full. Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Paul describes this fullness of life best (in Eph 3), “I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit. And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love. And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.” Jesus gives us life to the full.
Jesus gives us life. Jesus makes us alive. And therefore, as followers of The Way – as disciples of Jesus, we ought to follow fervently – with an intensity of spirit, with enthusiasm, with a deep-seated faith and love – as those who are truly alive!
Many of us want that. We want to be able to express externally what we feel inside. I want to offer one thing that might help - a pass, if you will, allowing you to be fervent in following and worshiping the Lord; a pass that frees you from ungodly inhibition; a pass that frees you from inappropriate reservation; a pass that calls you to live, pray, serve and worship fervently.
This “pass” is found in Ephesians 5:18-20: “be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
As believers, we have received the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we are set free to be filled by the Spirit and experience that filling by making music in our hearts to the Lord. I don’t know exactly what that phrase means, but it sure sounds like fervency to me – a deep-seated faith and love that expresses itself in worship, in study, in service and in life together. With our lives we are called to make music in our hearts to the Lord – to allow that "music" to well up in us and spring forth from us. And so, take that pass and follow hard - follow fervently - after Jesus!
He is the resurrection and the life. So come to life in Him. Live in Him and experience eternal life, resurrected life, life to the full.
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