The Life And Death Of This Age (Matthew 5; Luke 6)

Last time I preached, we looked at eternal life. Let’s do a quick refresher. Around the time Jesus lived, the rabbis were discussing the difference between two kinds of living.

·      hayei olam (Hi-YAY Oh-LAHM) was the Hebrew phrase for eternal or everlasting life. It referred to living in a way that focused on matters of eternal importance. It was about a quality of life.[1]

·      hayei sha’ah (Hi-YAY Sha-AH) was the Hebrew phrase for fleeting or earthly life. It was only concerned with short-term material needs of today: working, making money, eating, etc.

The New Testament language is going to use more stark language of eternal/everlasting life vs. eternal/everlasting death.  Aiōnios, the word often translated as “eternal” or “everlasting”, means “of the Age” or “pertaining to the age.” Like “hayei,” it focuses more on quality rather than quantity.[2]

There were other Greek words that focused unambiguously on the time factor: aidios, aperantos(unlimited), adialeiptos (unceasing), or ateleutos (endless). The writers of the Bible were inspired by God to choose aiónios instead, so there must be something important here.

Think of the Bible as talking about the Now “the life/death of this age” or the Not Yet  “life/death of that age to come.”[3] It’s going to tell us something about how we are participating in the life Jesus offers starting right now – or how we are participating in the ways of death, starting right now.

I suspect the best overview of this is in the Sermon on the Mount, with a focus on the Beatitudes. Jesus explains how to enter into aonios life, the life of the age right now, as a foretaste of the life in the age to come. The contrast is going to show us what participating in the death of this age looks like, which is also a foretaste of the death in the age to come. From Matthew 5:

Then Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place. When he saw the crowds, Jesus went back up the mountain. After he sat down his disciples came to him. Then looking up at his disciples, he began to teach them by saying:

·  Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them.

·  Blessed are those who mourn or weep, for they will be comforted and laugh.

·  Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

·  Blessed are those who hunger and thirst now for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.

·  Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

·  Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

·  Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God

·  Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them.

·  Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you and insult you and reject you as evil and persecute you and say all kinds of evil things about you falsely on account of me. Rejoice in that day and jump for joy, because your reward is great in heaven. For their ancestors persecuted the prophets before you in the same way.

The Greek word for blessed, makarios, was used by the Greeks for the kind of happiness and well-being the gods themselves enjoy. When Jesus talked about the makarios, the blessed ones, he meant those who participate in life with God, as God intended.

The “blessed” follow an interesting pattern. Starting with the poor in spirit, they seem to lay out a progression of how to move into deeper spiritual, relational, and emotional aonios life of this age. We are only going to cover the first three this morning, but I think you will see that progression emerge.

You might also notice that the qualities described and approved are the opposite of those that empires typically value. So as we go through the Beatitudes, we are also going to look at what characterizes participating in the death of the age.

We begin with the “poor in spirit.” These are the ones who understand their spiritual situation: they are broken. They are struggling with the chains of sin; they are in a spiritual battle against principalities and powers, and they have at times fought with the enemy instead of against him. But in spite of this, they are living in a blessed state, because recognizing the problem is the first step in inheriting the Kingdom of Heaven.

The first beatitude gives the correct diagnosis: we need a doctor, not just to save us from death, but to continue to heal us. We have to see this to find life. We see in Luke’s gospel.

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’

But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 18:9-14)

I think this first beatitude is meant to be one on which the others are built. If the original sin was pride; the original virtue – humility - is the opposite of it. And, I might add, a powerful way to engage in spiritual warfare.

Kingdom people recognize their own inadequacy and insufficiency apart from God. To quote from the first step in a lot of recovery groups, “We admit that we are powerless, and our lives have become unmanageable.”

This kind of humility or ‘poorness of spirit’ is not self-loathing. It’s not incessantly focusing on our weakness, or thinking of ourselves as less than we ought. We are, after all, image bearers of God. If we are a follower of Jesus, we are an ambassador, a son or daughter of God, a temple – so much language in the Bible explaining our worth.

Humility involves not thinking more highly of ourselves than we should. It’s being realistic about the broken and sinful parts of who we are. It’s knowing the limit of our abilities; it’s seeing where we are weak and acknowledging it. The poor in spirit are very much just…honest about themselves.

The opposite is pride. The proud live in a cursed state; they think they are grand, that they are all put together. They would say, if they were in a group, “I admit that I am powerful, and my life will be what I make it.”[4] They thrive on insulting and humiliating others. Everything circles back to them. In their minds, they are the smartest, the most capable, the expert on everything. For you gamers, everyone else is a boring Non-Playable Characters (NPCs).

They don’t see how they are damaged and enslaved by sin, how badly they are in need of righteousness, how painfully they land in the world, or how their unaddressed participation in the death of this age is hurting those around them.

If there is one sin which God hates more than another, and more sets Himself against, it is the sin of pride. Like a weed upon a dung-heap, pride grows more profusely in some soils, especially when well fertilized by rank, riches, praise, flattery, our own ignorance, and the ignorance of others…

Those, perhaps, who think they possess the least pride, and view themselves with wonderful self-admiration as the humblest of mortals, may have more pride than those who feel and confess it. (J.C. Philpot)

One of the hardest things to deal with is people who say, “I’ve got this!” when you know they don’t got that. The hardest kids to coach are not the ones who know they are terrible; it is those who can barely dribble who think they have a shot at the NBA. The hardest person to counsel…the hardest musician to train…the hardest spouse or parent to live with… they all follow this pattern. They have so much awesomeness to defend.

Here’s how C.S. Lewis describes God’s plan for the poor in spirit:

[God] wants you to know Him: wants to give you Himself. And He and you are two things of such a kind that if you really get into any kind of touch with Him you will, in fact, be humble—delightedly humble, feeling the infinite relief of having for once got rid of all the silly nonsense about your own dignity which has made you restless and unhappy all your life.

He is trying to make you humble in order to make this moment possible: trying to take off a lot of silly, ugly, fancy-dress in which we have all got ourselves up and are strutting about like the little idiots we are.

 I wish I had got a bit further with humility myself: if I had, I could probably tell you more about the relief, the comfort, of taking the fancy-dress off—getting rid of the false self, with all its 'Look at me' and 'Aren't I a good boy?' and all its posing and posturing. To get even near it, even for a moment, is like a drink of cold water to a man in a desert.

Only by stopping my attempts to rule in the Kingdom of Me, where I must increase while God and others decrease, can I participate in the life of this age. Only by being humbly and desperately dependent on the saving and transforming grace of God can we become what God has created us to be.[5]

Next come the mourners. The context indicates that they are mourning over sin and evil; they especially mourn their own, but they also mourn the failure of mankind to live righteously.[6] They have moved beyond being aware of the problem to bemoaning the broken state of the world. The godly remnant of Jesus' day wept because of the humiliation of Israel as a result of their sin, both personal and corporate. Weeping for sins, to the Israelites, was a deeply poignant[7] act that covered societal sin and those who participated in it.

Mourners are not only thinking about the situation the way God thinks about it; they are feeling about the world the way God feels about it. They call good; good; evil, they call evil. (Isaiah 5:20) God grieves over the sin and brokeness of the world (Ephesians 4:30; Mark 3:5), and they do too.

This mourning is not sadness that leads to despair (see 2 Corinthians 7:10). God has promised comfort to his people (Isaiah 40:1; 51:3; 61:2 – 3; 66:13).  Holy sorrow is part of repentance, conversion, and virtuous action.[8] We are blessed as this drives us to the comfort of salvation. When know we are sick, and we want the cure, and we find the right doctor, we will be okay.  The life of the age commences.

In contrast, “Cursed are the hardened.” They know there is a problem – maybe - but they refuse to address it. They convince themselves that they will be okay, or that it’s not their problem. They have nothing to repent of, for sure. They define good in the world is that which benefits them; the evil, that which gets in their way. They detach the proper emotion from this reality, and off they go with a smile – or a scowl - fixed on their face.

They distract themselves or drown their emotions in a flood of parties, distractions, pleasures, and work. It’s a lifestyle of denial. They refuse to pursue empathy on behalf of the poor, the downtrodden, the weak, the marginalized. They don’t care about life in someone else’s shoes.[9] Even if they see the diagnosis, they don’t hate the sickness enough to care about the cure. #fruitofpride

Because - let’s be honest - the cure is hard. It requires mourning. If you know anything about Old Testament precedent, it was sackcloth and ashes, and fasting. Who looks forward to mourning brokenness and failure? And mourning might mean you care enough to get involved in a way that costs you something.

But….not mourning is hard too. The hardening of our lives has its own consequence. The things we use to drown our emotions will eventually drown us. The walls we build to wall off parts of ourselves we want to avoid will eventually be walls that separate us from others, because - let’s be honest - people who refuse to address their own issues are hard to be around.

Two paths, both of which are hard. Choose the one that leads to life. The beatitudes teach that we begin by embracing transformative sorrow to participate in the life of this age.

Counterintuitive, I know. But it’s the way to life, because God is at work in the midst of that process. In fact, the word used for “they shall be comforted” is parakaleo, from which we get parakletos, the Holy Spirit, our comforter who is also an advocate[10] for those whose mourning has led them to repentance and into salvation.

These first two beatitudes deliberately allude to the messianic blessing of Isaiah 61:1-3, the one Jesus read in his hometown to announce who he was. Here it is again – at least the portion Jesus read:

The Lord has appointed me for a special purpose. He has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to repair broken hearts, and to declare to those who are held captive and bound in prison, “Be free from your imprisonment!” 2 He has sent me to announce the year of jubilee, the season of the Eternal’s favor.

That’s where mourning is headed: gladness, victory, joy, and comfort. But it starts with mourning.

Then there are the gentle, or meek/humble.  The same word is used in the Greek in a variety of ways:

·  bulls that pull a plow

·  horses that pull a chariot

The meek are the ones who are willing to have their power harnessed into the service of the Kingdom. Our pattern for meekness or gentleness[11] is Jesus, who submits to the will of His Father.

Though Jesus set the pattern, we need this harnessing in ways Jesus did not in order for us to flourish in the life of this age. Unharnessed, we are wild and untamed.

The humble (the poor in spirit who mourn the effect of sin) know they need to be controlled, because on their own they will just tear things up. They know that they need a yoke; they know that if their life is harnessed in the right cause, they can be strong in the service of something greater than themselves. They began to gain a sense of what their life might mean to others.

In meekness, we see the beginning of a sense of community.

Because the meek are God-controlled, the Holy Spirit brings about the strength to have mastery over passions and emotions. Meekness is not passive weakness, but strength directed and under control to bring about good.

The problem with winter hurricanes and cyclones isn’t that there is wind; it’s that the wind is untamed and destructive. It leaves devastation in its wake. None of us look at that and think, “Well, wind is a terrible idea.” No, we look at it and say, “That much wind is a problem.”

·  If you physically bully people, the problem isn’t that you are too strong; it’s that you use your strength to break the world instead of fix it.

·  If you verbally abuse people, the problem isn’t that you can speak; it’s that you use the power of your words to bring death instead of life.

·  If your emotions lash out in a way that manipulates or wounds people, the problem isn’t that you have emotions; it’s that your emotions are unharnessed and destructive.

So it is with the things constrained by meekness. Holy Spirit-empowered meekness orders our lives for our good and the good of others. The life of this age flourishes when we surrender to God’s constraint to fulfill His design in ourselves and in the world around us. Participating in eternal life means participating in the lives of those around us in ways that reveal that goodness of the Kingdom of God.

In contrast, it is participation in the death of the age to remain wild, living an unharnessed or destructive life. The wild don’t want authority over them; they want to do their own thing, follow their own heart, use their strength for themselves and not bring their lives into submission or service to others. They are all about the self. “I can do what I want. Nobody tells me what to do.” They are bullies who love to force themselves onto the world. #stillafruitofpride

When I taught my ethics class at NMC, a key question that kept coming up was this: “What would it look like if everybody lived like you?” or “Would you like other people if they lived by your standards?” It’s a way of talking about the Golden Rule: “Do to others what you would like for them to do to you.” This does not happen when we are not meek.

This is the opposite of the meek, who have a sense of their place and responsibility in community. They see how their lives are situated in the midst of the lives of others. The meek seek to live out the Golden Rule: they want those around them to live with constrained power that brings about the flourishing of everyone, so they do it too.

The law of meekness is: If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, not only give him drink (which is an act of charity), but drink to him, in token of friendship, and true love, and reconciliation; and in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, not to consume him, but to melt and soften him, that he may be cast into a new mold. (Matthew Henry)

One day the owner of the earth will pass an inheritance on to the meek. The ones who know what it’s like to be stewarded know how to steward well in turn, both in this age and the age to come. [12] 

The first three beatitudes lay a foundation:

·  honest brokenness over our sin

·  humble mourning that leads to repentance and salvation

·  harnessed servanthood that leads to flourishing.

We see here three requirements for entering into eternal life with God and building the kind of Kingdom God has planned.

FOR PART TWO, CLICK HERE
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[1] Consider, for instance, the “everlasting (olam) hills” in Canaan (Genesis 49:26), Aaron’s “everlasting” high priesthood (Exodus 40:15), Phinehas’ “everlasting” priesthood (Numbers 25:11–13), “everlasting” atonement rituals for the Israelites (Leviticus 16:34), etc. These “everlasting” ordinances were only for a time.

[2] In Matthew 25:46, Jesus speaks of “eternal punishment” (kolasin aiōnion) and “eternal life” (zōēn aiōnion). The Greek word aiōnios  derives from aiōn, meaning an age or era.

Classical and biblical usage shows that aiōnios often means “pertaining to an age” or “age-enduring.” The New Testament itself speaks of “long ages” (aiōniois chronois, Rom. 16:25) that have come to an end. It often is used in ways in Scripture that clearly do not mean “unending,” such as the phrases zoē aiónios – “life of the Age” (commonly translated "eternal life") or kolasis aiónios – “punishment of the Age.

[3] “In the New Testament the history of the world is conceived as developed through a succession of aeons. A series of such aeons precedes the introduction of a new series inaugurated by the Christian dispensation, and the end of the world and the second coming of Christ are to mark the beginning of another series. . . . He includes the series of aeons in one great aeon, ὁ αἰὼν τῶν αἰώνων, the aeon of the aeons (Eph. 3:21); and the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews describes the throne of God as enduring unto the aeon of the aeons (Heb 1:8). The plural is also used, aeons of the aeons, signifying all the successive periods which make up the sum total of the ages collectively. . . . This plural phrase is applied by Paul to God only.” (Vincent’s Word Studies)

[4] Psalm 10:4 “In his pride the wicked man does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.”

[5] The kingdom of heaven, where self-sufficiency is no virtue and self-exaltation is a vice, belongs to such people. (Believers Bible Commentary)

[6] They mourn over both personal and corporate sins (see Ezra 9:1–4 as an example from the Old Testament).

[7] Ezra 10:6; Psalm 51:4; Daniel 9:19-20)

[8] Orthodox Study Bible

[9] There is a weird flex right now in evangelical circles in which empathy is considered a sin. That feels like the fruit of pride to me.

[10] It’s not like God doesn’t know about our repentance and salvation. It’s an earthly analogy (the biblical audience knew what a parakletos was and did in society) to illustrate a spiritual reality.

[11] The same Greek word is translated “gentle” elsewhere.

[12] “The ultimate fulfillment of the promise to Abraham and his offspring that they would be ‘heirs of the world’” (Romans 4:13). (ESV Global Study Bible)

Now and Not Yet

Some books have a prologue; this sermon does too.

The rabbis and the writers of the New Testament understood the term “the Kingdom of Heaven” to have a dual meaning: 

• The rule of God in the present

• the reign of God in the age to come.[1]

Christians have long called this “the now[2] and not yet.” In Northern Michigan we know what this is like when it comes to seasons. When the first day of spring shows up on the calendar, the age of fulfillment has come, but the consummation is still in the future. Here is a biblical example.

“Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2)

Here are a few other examples where you are going to have to look up the address yourself :)

• We are already adopted in Christ (Romans 8:15), but not yet fully adopted (Romans 8:23)

• We are already redeemed in Christ (Ephesians 1:7), but not yet fully redeemed (Ephesians 4:30)

• We are already sanctified in Christ (1 Corinthians 1:2), but not yet fully sanctified (1 Thessalonians 5:23–24)

• We are already saved in Christ (Ephesians 2:8), but not yet fully saved (Romans 5:9).

• We are already raised with Christ (Ephesians 2:6), but not yet fully raised (1 Corinthians 15:52).[3]

The now and not yet. 

* * * * *

Last week we talked about what all the sermons in the book of Acts present. Today, we will talk about some really significant things that are not present in the speeches in the book of Acts.

Specifically, heaven and hell are not presented as motivators for following Jesus in the book of Acts. They are barely mentioned at all.

Hades is mentioned once in Acts 2, where Peter is quoting Psalm 16. There, Peter is just applying a prophecy to Jesus (“You will not abandon my soul to Hades/Sheol”). He’s not making a presentation about it.[4]

In the New Testament, heaven (Ouranos) can refer to the sky, outer space, or the third heaven (God’s dwelling place). Acts uses “heaven” language as shorthand for “where God reigns” twice: God “raised Jesus” and exalted him (Acts 2:33–36), and Jesus is enthroned at God’s right hand (Acts 7:55–56).[5]

Even the phrase “eternal/everlasting life” appears only in one speech (Acts 13:46-48), but the phrase “eternal/everlasting punishment” not at all.[6]

Clearly, what happens in the age to come is a very important part of the Christian worldview and is talked about by Jesus and others as recorded in Scripture. But in the midst of all the sermons and speeches in Acts, the life in the age to come – the “not yet” -  is not front and center, and punishment and reward in the age to come are not presented as motivators for following Jesus.

Acts focuses on the “now” part of the “now and not yet.”

Having said that, Acts absolutely does preach the importance of repentance with a coming judgment in view.

• Paul teaches that God “commands all people everywhere to repent” because God “has fixed a day” to judge the world through the risen Jesus (Acts 17:30–31). 

• Peter told Cornelius, “[Christ] commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead.” (Acts 10:42-43)

Clearly there will be a judgment that holds us accountable. Acts does not deny this at all. It just doesn’t record a detailed map of competing destinations in the afterlife, and it doesn’t incorporate a presentation of them into evangelism tools to reach their audience.

Why? I suspect that their audience had a grasp of reward and punishment that they took so seriously already that Paul and Peter didn’t need to raise the stakes for them as they considered whether or not to repent and follow Jesus. That is what we are going to examine.

When people in Peter and Paul’s audience were called to repent, they were generally trying to avoid “the wrath of God”.  HELPS Word-studies defines this wrath this way:

“Settled anger (opposition) proceeds from an internal disposition which steadfastly opposes someone or something based on extended personal exposure…a fixed, controlled, passionate feeling against sin . . . a settled indignation.”

So, God’s wrath isn’t God flying off the handle in a temper outburst. God is, after all, “slow to anger” (Psalm 86:15, etc).  God steadfastly opposes sin because He knows what it does (that’s the “extended personal exposure”). He has a settled indignation at the chaos it causes. He has a holy resistance to corruption. He loves His creation too much to let it be ruined without consequence.

In the framework of God’s Old Testament covenant with Israel, the wrath of God was more often than not very practical. Think of the OT blessings vs. curses within the covenant that mapped onto righteousness vs. sin. Wrath is God’s in that God warns us that sin will lead to consequences that God himself has ordained.

This was something the people of Israel had experienced already in this life, and the Jewish people continued to understand as seen in the writings of Paul.

Ezekiel 22:31 - “I will pour out my wrath…they have returned their conduct upon their heads, says the Lord God.”

Romans 1 -  “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people….  God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts… God gave them over to a depraved mind.” 

Galatians 6:7 - “Be not deceived; God is not mocked. What one sows, one will also reap.”

So what does the wrath of consequences look like? Two key results show up over and over again in the Old Testament; that pattern starts immediately in Genesis.

• loss of life (“if you eat you will surely die”)[7]

• loss of the land intended to give them life (exile from Eden).[8] To be exiled from the land is to be pushed back toward chaos and death. Wrath was the loss of life-giving space.

That pattern continues through so many stories. The wrath of God revealed as the wages of sin leads to death or loss of the land meant to give them life.

• The people go to Egypt for help during a famine instead of trusting God, and they lose their land (and a lot of lives).

• When they follow God out of Egypt, God leads them toward a land of Promise – and an entire generation dies outside the land because of sin.

• They make it to the land; when their sin overwhelms them, they are conquered and exiled.[9]

This is exactly the framework that the apostles in Acts assume when they warn about the consequences of “wrath” without needing to tap into imagery of life or death in the age to come. Their audience already knows the story: the wages of sin are death and exile from the blessing of the land God had provided for them.

I suspect this is why the afterlife isn’t central in Acts. There was plenty of material here already. When Jesus warned them about the punishment of Gehennah (literally right outside the city gates), they wanted to avoid it at all cost. They had seen what happened there to their ancestors.[10] They knew what that meant. The wages of sin were death and exile.

When John the Baptist said, “Flee from the wrath to come,” his audience had centuries of history that formed the legitimacy of this warning. So many times, God’s people had fallen into sin, failed to hear the prophets, and experienced the wrath of God through the consequences of their sin. It’s been an ongoing reality. That’s why Paul can write,

“The wrath of God is being revealed (present tense) from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness…” (Romans 1:18)

But that wasn’t the end of the story. The prophets had always insisted that the goal was always repentance, return, and restoration into a renewal of life. Here is just one (fairly famous) example.

This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. 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 hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.” Jeremiah 29:10-14)[11]

The Jewish people still thought of themselves as exiled even though they were back in their own land. Rome ruled them; they were convinced God’s Spirit had left them; the glory hadn’t returned to the Temple; and so many of the prophets promises had not been fulfilled.

And if they were still in exile, they were still under the wrath of God.

The apostles are convincing their audience that Jesus has conquered the power of death and exile. That’s why the focus is on Jesus’ resurrection/exaltation (He’s God!), the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (“The Kingdom is within you!”), and a new community of belonging (“You’re home!”).

In a sense, Jesus relives Israel’s history of death and exile by participating in it.

• Goes into Egypt (Matthew 2)

• Enters the wilderness (40 days)

• Crucified outside the city (Hebrews 13:12)

• Hung on a tree (Deuteronomy 21’s curse)

• Enters death (Hades)

On the cross, Jesus stepped into exile and overpowered it. He entered the realm of death and took away its power. Acts preaches that, because of what Jesus has done, the exile is over. The King has returned and sits on a throne in His Kingdom, which has now expanded to include all the nations. He is pouring out His life-giving Holy Spirit for renewal and refreshing. And he has even rebuilt the Temple, but this time it’s His people.

The age of exile is over because the risen King has come. A national and even cosmic restoration has begun.

Acts’ dominant evangelistic posture is a proactive summons into this new life of restoration and reconciliation. Repentance is a doorway into resurrection life and Spirit-formed community. The stress is on what it looks like to experience the Kingdom of God now.

• Forgiveness of sins

• Gift of the Holy Spirit

• Inclusion in a new community

• Participation in God’s renewing work

Acts invites its audience to align themselves with Jesus, because resurrection has already begun. They are no longer exiled from the true land that nourishes them with the true Water and Bread of life. The land – the Kingdom of God - is theirs to enjoy, beginning now. Paul told Timothy, 

“Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called.” (1 Timothy 6:12)

Every commentary I read said something like this: Believers have begun "eternal (aiṓnios) life" right now, experiencing this quality of God's life now as a present possession.[12]

Around the time Jesus lived, the rabbis were discussing the difference between hayei olam (Hi-YAY Oh-LAHM), meaning eternal life, which is contrasted with hayei sha’ah (Hi-YAY Sha-AH), which means fleeting or earthly life.

This wasn’t about before death and after death. Hayei olam was “lasting life,” and it referred to living in a way that focused on matters of eternal importance. Hayei sha’ah was about only being concerned with short-term material needs of today: working, making money, eating, etc.

We as followers of Jesus have hayei olam, and it begins now.  There’s more to come, but it begins now. Let’s go with John 4:14’s image:

“The water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

If you go to where the Boardman River pops out of the ground, and put your kayak in, you are on the Boardman river. But the spring is just the beginning. That river will take you somewhere. You are on the river “now” but you are “not yet” where it plans to take you. So, how do we start eternal life now?

“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (John 17:3)

Knowing has to do with being transformed into the image of Christ, having the Holy Spirit at work in us, absorbing the truth of God’s word, ordering our life around the things of God, seeking to see God at work in every situation… It’s an active, all-encompassing, total life surrender and make over. 

Eternal life starts with repentance, turning away from all that is sinful and unrighteous and turning toward the path of life made possible through Jesus.  It’s living in God's righteous path centered in God's will, making it our highest priority to further God’s interests and kingdom in every way by having eyes that see what Jesus sees, hearts that respond like the heart of Jesus, and hands that do what Jesus would do.

And if we do this as entire communities of people, the “now” gives us clearer and clearer images of the glory and goodness that awaits us in the “not yet.”

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[1] “The Kingdom Of Heaven In The Here And Now And Future.” Marg Mowczko, https://margmowczko.com/the-kingdom-of-heaven-here-now-future/

[2] “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst (or, within you).” (Luke 17:20b-21)

[3] https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/already-not-yet provided that list.

[4] The word “hell” did not exist when the Bible was written. Hell comes from a word with German roots, haljō, referring to a "concealed place" or the place of the dead. Norse mythology made it famous: “Hel” refers to both the realm of the dead and the goddess who rules it (no surprise – her dad is Loki.) “Hell” starts showing up in Bible translations around 1,000 AD. It eventually became a catch-all word that referred to Sheol (Old Testament realm of the dead in Hebrew); Hades (New Testament realm of the dead in Greek), ,Gehenna (the valley of Hinnom), and Tartarus. The individual words matter, because they meant different things to the audience in the book of Acts.

[5] Heaven is God’s headquarters. The emphasis in Acts is on exaltation and lordship, not relocation after this life

[6] You see “everlasting/eternal life/punishment” discussed more in the letters to the churches.

[7] Genesis 2. Also, “The soul that sins shall die” (Ezekiel)

[8] Genesis 3

[9] The Northern Kingdom was destroyed by Assyria and the people deported because of idolatry and injustice. (2 Kings 17) Jeremiah and Ezekiel record the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, and the people removed from the land.

[10] And, sadly, would happen again in A.D. 70.

[11] The author of Romans will note: ““We were enemies… we were reconciled… saved from wrath.” (Rom 5:9–10)

[12]  All the discussion that follows on eternal life as understood in the time of Jesus is from Lois Tverberg, writing in “Eternal Life, Here and Now.”

Harmony #84: Eternal Life (John 12:20-32)

When I was growing up, I got a lot of really good teaching about the life to come. I read books on Heaven; I read accounts of people who claimed to have visited. The hope of eternal life in Heaven was something to sustain and encourage us as we slogged through life, and rightfully so. The Bible’s image of the New Heaven and New Earth is glorious.

What I don’t remember hearing as much about was how God intended to have us participate in eternal life right now. We would sing, “This world is not my home, I’m just passing through,” which suggested life was a frustrating annoyance until we got to the good stuff after we died.

It turns out we are not “just passing through.” Jesus invites us to enter into and experience the life of the Kingdom now in very tangible ways. Life isn’t just an inconvenient means to an end. Jesus invites us to flourish in God’s good creation, filled with His Spirit, invited to become part of the “body” of Christ for the nourishing of the world with the lived out good news that God is love, and His love is for you.

I wish I had heard that more. I wish we had talked more about what that looked like. So, here we go.

Here is today’s text with commentary added to provide the context and subtext. I encourage you to read this passage on your own in its uninterrupted form just to be clear on the distinction J

Now there were some God-fearing Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast of Passover. They came to Philip, who was from the Greek are of  Bethsaida in Galilee[1], with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to observe Jesus.” Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus about the request.

 Jesus granted permission, then spoke to them all. “This is what’s happening. Listen carefully: truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.

 Anyone who delights in his life in this world more than in God will lose it, while anyone who thinks so little of his life, and so much of God, that he is willing to sacrifice it all for God, will keep it for eternal life.[2] Whoever serves me must follow me to where I am going; and where I am, my servant also will be.

 My Father will honor the one who serves me. Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. This is the fulfillment of the Father’s plan. Father, glorify your name!”

Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified my name, and will glorify it again.” Some in the crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.[3]

Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine: to confirm you in this great truth, that I am the Son of God, he whom God the Father has sent into the world, by and in whom he designs to bring glory to His name.[4] 

 Now is the time for judgment and condemnation on the power of sin in this world[5]; now the prince of this world will be driven out and decisively defeated for all to see[6]. And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will, like a fisherman dragging in his net, drag all the  people[7] of the world to me.”[8] (He said this to show that he would be lifted up by dying on a cross lifted up from the earth.)

* * * * *

Let’s pause for a Biblical Words Nerd Corner Moment.  This isn’t trivia; it’s clarity about the subject matter. The Bible has an interesting way of talking about things that last forever, or things that have ‘eternal life’ or are ‘everlasting’.

·  Animal sacrifices were to be offered “forever”- until the sacrifice of Jesus Christ ended the need for animal sacrifices (2 Chronicles 2:4; Hebrews 7:11-10:18).

·  God planned to dwell in Solomon’s temple “forever” - but it was destroyed (2 Chronicles 7:16).

·  The old covenant of the law is referred to as the "everlasting covenant" (Leviticus 24:8), yet 2 Corinthians 3 tells us it was transitory and has been replaced, and Hebrews 8:13 says, “In speaking of a new covenant, [Jesus] makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.”

Were the biblical writers confused? I don’t think so. I believe they were inspired to choose even their individual words in a way that captured what God wanted to reveal. So if we assume this was not a mistake, there must be something going on with the language that is important.

In Hebrew, the word translated in 2 Chronicles as “forever” is olam. It's all over the Old Testament. It can mean an ancient time, a future time, a lifetime, a span of time with an uncertain end, an age of the world, a dynasty, an eternity… It’s a very flexible word.

When the Hebrew was translated into Greek in the Septuagint, the (still inspired) writers had to make a choice about how to translate olam. They chose the word aionios.[9] You will usually see this translated in English as ‘eternal,’ ‘everlasting,’ or forever just like olam is in the Old Testament. However, it’s more complex than that.

Its primary meaning is that the end is not known. While in the belly of the big fish, Jonah said the earth bound him forever (olam/aionios), but it was only three days. It was a time span with an unknown end. The end is there; you just can’t see it until its there -– like when you look out over Lake Michigan at the dunes and can’t see an end to the water. It’s a mystery. We might say it goes on forever. A bored child might say, “We’ve been here for ages. When are we going to leave?” Think of the disciples’ question in our passage today:

Matthew 24:3 “Tell us, when these things will be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age (aion)?”[10]

When is this age – this ‘forever’ age? this ‘eternal’ age? – going to end and the next one begin? Clearly the disciples meant something other than ‘eternal’ when used a word often translated as ‘eternal’. They aren’t the only ones.

Hebrews 1:1-2  “…in these last days [God] did speak to us in a Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He did make the ages (aion).[11]

Hebrews 9:26 ”…But now He has appeared… at the consumation of the ages (aion),[12] for the removal of sin by the sacrifice of Himself.”

Ephesians 3:8-9 To me…this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages (aionon) has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ.

Colossians 1:19-20, 26 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross…the mystery which has been hidden from ages (aionon) and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints.

So there have been ages in world history (not eternities in world history) –and we aren’t done yet.

Ephesians 1:20-21 “…when He raised [Jesus] from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age (aion) but also in that age which is to come.”

Ephesians 2:6-8 “…raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages (aion) he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”

So, there have been a few ages; there will be more. The writers aren’t babbling incoherently about one endless eternity after another. They clearly mean something different. Meanwhile, both John and Paul show us what it looks like to talk about something being everlasting, covering all ages.

Revelation 1: 17-18  “I am the First and the Last, and I am the living One[13]. I entered the realm of the dead; but see, I am alive now and to the ages (aion) of the ages (aion) .”[14]

Revelation 22:5  “God’s servants will continually serve and worship Him… by His light, they will reign throughout the ages (aion) of the ages (aion).”[15]

Ephesians 3:21  “..to Him is the glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus, to all the generations of the age (aion) of the ages (aion).”

Clearly, John and Paul write of eternal life in the way we think of it, endless life in the ages of ages to come. But in today’s text, when Jesus said his disciples would get and keep eternal life, he was saying something about aionios life – life in this age, something we have now. How so?

It turns out that this word also describe a quality of life. It’s about who we are and what we do. HELPS Word Studies describes it like this:

An "age-characteristic"…the unique quality reality of God's life at work in the believer… Eternal (aiṓnios) life gives time its everlasting meaning for the believer through faith…thus believers live in "eternal (aiṓnios) life" right now, experiencing this quality of God's life now as a present possession.” (HELPS Word-studies)

When the rich ruler asked Jesus what he needed to do to have “eternal life,” and when Jesus talked to his disciples about eternal life, the phrase is aionios zoe[16], literally: “age life/life in the age,” the kind of life that comes from relationship with God beginning now and enduring throughout the age. They weren’t asking about where they were going to go when they died (though they had questions about that other places). Here, Jesus is talking about the life “more abundant” that Jesus offers us beginning now (John 10:10). A little later in the book of John, Jesus explained:

This is eternal life (zoe aionios): that they may know You, the only true God.”(John 17:3)

Earlier in the gospel, Jesus said:

“He who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life (zoe aionios), and doesn’t come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. (John 5:24)

Zoe aionios (“eternal life”) begins now with Christ in us, the hope of glory.[17] Back to the text we read this morning.

 “Anyone who serves Me must follow My path; anyone who serves Me will want to be where I am, and he will be honored by the Father…”

Those who are willing to sacrifice their life to follow Jesus will live in the aionios life God has given to them.

Bottom line: Though spiritual life or death, destruction or reward of the ages to come is always in our spiritual line of sight, we will live in and experience life or death, destruction or reward in this age as well. Jesus told his disciples to follow him now, embrace eternal life now, walk in the light now, in the midst of the darkness of this age.

Okay, we are out of the Biblical Words Nerd Corner.

How do we live in this life? As a response to the love God has shown us through Jesus, we are like the seed that falls to the ground: that which brings death and destruction – sin – must die if we are to rise into aionios life by following the person, teaching and the path of Jesus above all else. 

Dying sounds hard because it is. But we all have to let some things in out life die so that other things can live.

·   If I want to live healthy, I need to let my desire for fried chicken and mac and cheese die.

·   If I want to be a violin virtuoso, I will need to let my desire for 10,000 hours worth of other activities die.

·   If I want to really be known and loved, I need to let my desire to hide die.

 Maybe another way of saying it is that I am going to need to know which things need to be dead to me so that I might live.

If I am going to follow Jesus, my desire for things that compete for my allegiance and worship must die; my desire to be lord of my life must die; my sight must be fixed on that which brings and builds eternal life so that I can taste and see that the Lord and His Kingdom are good.

This dying to self is not simply the way for us to experience the fullness of zoe aionios, the life of heaven in this age.  It’s how we spread it to everyone around us.

Whenever we worship, somebody dies, and it will be either us or others.

If I worship my comfort, I will sacrifice my wife and kids. They will pay the cost of my comfort. “Stop bothering me. We will talk when I’m good and ready. No, you adjust your hopes and dreams and priorities because they don’t match mine.” I will sacrifice my friends. “I need you to show up on my terms.” I remain dead in my selfishness and sin, and I drag down those close to me.

If I worship my reputation, I will sacrifice any of you who don’t make me look good. “You think I’m wrong? You’re an idiot. You are winning an argument with me? I will lash out and try to humiliate you or keep beating this argument to death because I can’t be wrong.”  And I will remain dead in myself selfishness and sin and drag down those around me.

If I worship money, I will choose work time over relationship time and I will choose profit over people.  If I worship my health, I will make everyone else take second place to my diet and workout schedule. If I worship sex, all that will matter is my fulfillment and my happiness, and I will sacrifice the dignity and autonomy of people around me as I manipulate and pressure and use… And I will remain dead in my selfishness and sin and drag down those around me.

You want to know what you worship? Ask yourself whom you are willing to sacrifice; then ask yourself why.

So what do we do if we are caught in this trap? We must become that seed that falls to the ground and dies so it can be brought back to life and bear good fruit. Or, as Paul wrote, we present our bodies as living sacrifices, wholly acceptable unto God (Romans 12:1). Watch for a very important two words to show up J

In the same way you gave your bodily members away as servants to corrupt and lawless living and found yourselves deeper in your unruly lives, now devote your members as servants to right and reconciled lives so you will find yourselves deeper in holy living.  In the days when you lived as slaves to sin, you had no obligation to do the right thing. In that regard, you were free.But what do you have to show from your former lives besides shame? The outcome of that life is death, guaranteed.

But now that you have been emancipated from the death grip of sin and are God’s slave, you have a different sort of life, a growing holiness. The outcome of that life is eternal life (zoe aionios). The payoff for a life of sin is death, but God is offering us a free gift—eternal life through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, the Liberating King. (Romans 6: 19-23)

It begins with a commitment to Jesus. We acknowledge the reality of who Jesus is; we surrender the lordship of our life to Him; we commit to following his path rather than ours. Holy living leads to growing holiness, which leads to experiencing the gift of zoe aionios God has given us.

I remember thinking as a young man that I wanted to make a difference in the Kingdom of God. I really wanted my life to count. I saw some older folks who were godly and whose presence had really impacted my life. I knew it was because of Jesus at work in them, and I wanted that!

I took me years to realize I couldn't just want that. We rest in Christ, but we don’t lounge in zoe aionios; we are invited to participate. A call to follow Jesus will require putting one foot in front of the other in the same direction as Jesus if we want to go with Jesus where Jesus is going.

·  If I wanted the wisdom of aionios life, I had to prioritize certain things in my life that would lead to wisdom, like listening to and reading wise voices instead of entertaining but dumb ones.

·  If I wanted the self-control of aionios life, I had to demonstrate the fruit of self-control that the Holy Spirit was growing on my branches.

·  If I wanted the patience of aionios life instead of the anger that filled me, I had to follow Jesus deeper into understanding myself and maybe to a good counselor who helps me discover God’s healing.

·  If I wanted to move from lustful thoughts to the pure thoughts of aionios life, I had to change what was filling my mind and bring in some righteous material the helped me view people as God sees them.

·  If I wanted my marriage to embody spousal relationships in aionios life, I needed to increasingly learn and do biblical habits of loving and honoring and partnering with my wife.

There was no amount of wishful thinking that was going to change me in those areas.  There was, however, the power of Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit as the absolute foundation. Then, participation in aionios life: praying, studying the Bible, seeking counsel both casual and professional that steadied me in the path of righteousness, becoming accountable to others…and putting into practice what I learned.  Holy living, leading to holy maturity, leading me deeper into eternal life.

That is still my challenge and my goal. Every day I need to drop seeds of sin to the ground to die so that I might produce life and not death. Every day, even in small ways, I must willing reject that which brings aionios death and embrace that which brings aionios life.

It is in this path that we begin to truly see how the Kingdom of God, right here and now, is meant for our good and God’s glory. N.T. Wright gets the final word.

“Jesus's resurrection is the beginning of God's new project not to snatch people away from earth to heaven but to colonize earth with the life of heaven…The point of the resurrection…is that the present bodily life is not valueless…God has a great future in store for it.

What you do in the present—by painting, preaching, singing, sewing, praying, teaching, building hospitals, digging wells, campaigning for justice, writing poems, caring for the needy, loving your neighbor as yourself—will last into God's future.

These activities are not simply ways of making the present life a little less beastly…They are part of what we may call building for God's kingdom.

Our task as image-bearing, God-loving, Christ-shaped, Spirit-filled Christians, following Christ and shaping our world, is to announce redemption to a world that has discovered its fallenness, to announce healing to a world that has discovered its brokenness, to proclaim love and trust to a world that knows only exploitation, fear and suspicion...

The message of Easter is that God's new world has been unveiled in Jesus Christ and that you're now invited to belong to it.” 
― N. T. Wright

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[1] “Philip’s name is Greek; he came from the region governed by Herod Philip… with connections to the Decapolis, which consisted of ten cities that were Greek in character.” (NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible)

[2] Loves his life means “delights in his life in this world more than in God.” Hates his life in this world means “thinks so little of his life, and so much of God, that he is willing to sacrifice it all for God.” (ESV Global Study Bible)

[3] Think of a similar scenario at Paul’s conversion (Acts 9:7; 22:9).

[4] Matthew Poole Commentary

[5]  “By His coming death, Jesus will end the power of sin over Adam’s race, judging and condemning it.” (ESV Reformation Study bible)

[6] “At the cross, the devil will be cast out, that is, decisively defeated (see Luke 10:18; Heb. 2:14–15; Rev. 20:10).” (ESV Global Study Bible)

[7] HELPS Word-studies  3956 pás – each, every; each "part(s) of a totality…each (every) part that applies." The emphasis is on "one piece at a time."  

[8] “There is an allusion here to the ensigns or colors of commanders of regiments, elevated on high places, that the people might flock to his standard.” (Adam Clarke)

[9] There could have chosen a Greek word that only means eternal or everlasting in a way that matches what we think of when we use the English words. That word is aidos. However, it’s only used twice in Scripture, and never in the phrase we translate as “eternal life.”

[10] Some translations say “end of the world.” That makes it sound like the end of time, but aionios points toward a time with an end, not the end of all time.

[11] Some translations say universe, world or worlds. That just…not what it means.

[12] The CEV says “at the end of time”; Webster’s says “world.” That’s not what it means.

[13] Daniel 4:34

[14] This is often translated “forever and ever” captures the intent of “ages” plural. The Aramaic Bible says “eternity of eternities,” which nails the intent,

[15] That’s how a Greek writer described forever and ever. They doubled down.

[16] “All life (2222 /zōḗ), throughout the universe, is derived – i.e. it always (only) comes from and is sustained by God's self-existent life. The Lord intimately shares His gift of life with people, creating each in His image which gives all the capacity to know His eternal life.” (HELPS Word Studies)

[17] “Eternal life is having the kind of life that God has… It isn’t just lasting forever. It’s a quality of life that we come to have by participating in the Kingdom of God.” (Dallas Williard)

Eternal Life Begins Now (1 John 5:2-13)

A number of you were wondering about a follow-up to last week’s message: what do we do? I think John gives us the foundational, big-picture response in the very next section of his letter. The kind of faith that overcomes the world (and all the sin in it) is a faith founded on loving God and keeping His commands, and those commands demand that we love others as Christ loves them.

So as you wrestle with how you should spread gospel hope into a groaning world, don’t forget that God’s plan is for you to be a particular kind of person as you go there. This is our focus today. What do we do? We love and serve God, so that we can love and serve others as God would have us do. 

This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands.  In fact, this is love for God: to guard, preserve and keep his commands[1]. And his commands are not burdensome,  for everything born of God (*born from above)[2] overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God [and will therefore love him, which is expressed by keeping His commands]. (2-5)

You may have a translation that says “everyone born of God.” A better translation is “everything.” Both the commands and the reborn people who follow them are from God.  When John notes how “this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith,” I think he means for us to understand faith in light of what he just said: it’s loving God and carrying out his commands.  

He is the Anointed is the One who came by water and blood—not by the water only, but by the water and the blood.  So there are three testifying witnesses:  the Spirit, the water, and the blood.[3] All three are in total agreement.  If we accept the testimonies of people, then we must realize the testimony of God is greater than that of any person.[4] God certified the truth about His own Son.  Anyone who trusts the Son of God has this truthful testimony at the core of his being. Anyone who does not trust God calls God a liar because he ignores God’s truthful testimony regarding His own Son. (6-10)

Don’t get too hung up on the water, blood and Spirit trifecta. The Law said something was established by the testimony of three witnesses. John gives three witnesses to Jesus’ claim that he was the Son of God: His baptism, his death, and the witness of the Holy Spirit. 

And this is the truth: God has given us the gift of eternal life, and this life is in His Son. If you have the Son, you have eternal life. If you do not have the Son of God, you are not acquainted with that kind of life.  I am writing all of this to you who have entrusted your lives to the Son of God—so you will realize eternal life already is yours. (11-13)

This is where I want to land today. John looooves the phrase ”eternal life”. It’s used 41 times in the New Testament, and he uses half of them.[5]   

·      John 3:36  “ Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.”

·      John 4:14   “But whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

·      John 5:24  “ Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.”

·      John 6:47  “Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life.”

·      John 6:54   “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

·      John 10:28  “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.”

·      John 17:3  “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”

Paul told Timothy, “Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called.” (1 Timothy 6:12) I don’t think Paul was encouraging a fellow believer to kill himself.  Every commentary I read said something like this: Believers have begun "eternal (aiṓnios) life" right now, experiencing this quality of God's life now as a present possession.[6]  

(All the discussion that follows on eternal life as understood in the time of Jesus is from Lois Tverberg,[7] writing in “Eternal Life, Here and Now.” [8])

Around the time Jesus lived, the rabbis were discussing the difference between hayei olam (Hi-YAY Oh-LAHM), meaning eternal life, which is contrasted with hayei sha’ah (Hi-YAY Sha-AH), which means fleeting or earthly life. This wasn’t about before death and after death. Hayei olam was “lasting life,” and it referred to living in a way that focused on matters of eternal importance. Hayei sha’ah was about only being concerned with short-term material needs of today: working, making money, eating, etc.[9] 

This is what John is talking about.[10] We as followers of Jesus have hayei olam, and it begins now.  Let’s go with John 4:14’s image: “The water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” If you go to where the Boardman River pops out of the ground, and put your kayak in, you are on the Boardman river. But the spring is just the beginning. That river will take you somewhere. You are on the river “now” but you are “not yet” where it plans to take you.[11]

So, how do we start eternal life now? John is clear in his gospel: Knowing God is eternal life. Knowing has to do with being transformed into the image of Christ, having the Holy Spirit at work in us, absorbing the truth of God’s word, ordering our life around the things of God, seeking to see God at work in every situation… It’s an active, all-encompassing, total life surrender and make over. 

Eternal life starts with living in God's righteous path centered in God's will, making it our highest priority to further God’s interests and kingdom in every way by having eyes that see what Jesus sees, hearts that respond like the heart of Jesus, and hands that do what Jesus would do. Then, what starts now finds its perfection in life eternal in the world to come.[12]  

My best explanation of what this looks like practically is the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-11).  “Blessed are the…” There are two Greek words that Matthew could have used for blessed: one signifies “human happiness” while the other carries the idea of living the kind of life the gods live. Matthew chose the latter, makarios, to talk about participating in life with God. He chose to use a word about lasting life (hayei olam) over fleeting life (hayei sha’ah). 

There are numerous ways people have unpacked the Beatitudes, and that’s probably fair, because the Bible is multi-faceted and rich. This is a way of understanding them that rises to the top for me.

We begin with “blessed are the poor in spirit.” These are the ones who understand the situation: they are broken, part of the groaning creation that longs for redemption. They are spiritually in trouble.  But in spite of this, they are makarios, because recognizing the problem is the first step in inheriting the Kingdom of Heaven. The first beatitude gives the correct diagnosis: our spiritual illness makes us sick. To partially quote the first step in a lot of recovery groups, “We admit that we are powerless, and our lives have become unmanageable.”[13]

Next comes “blessed are the mourners.” They are not only aware of the problem, they bemoan the fact. They grieve their spiritual loss and the damage in the world. They are emotionally engaged now. They are thinking about the situation the way God thinks about it (“man of sorrows, acquainted with grief”[14]), and they have attached the proper emotion. But they, too are blessed, because they will be comforted. Salvation and redemption are at work in the world. God specializes at moving into these places.[15]

“Blessed are the gentle/meek/humble.”  The same word is used in the Greek for bulls who pull a plow or horses that pull a chariot. Or think of the image in Job of the war horse pawing as he waits for his rider before entering the battle. They are the ones who are willing to be harnessed into the service of the Kingdom.  They know that by themselves they are wild and untamed; they know that they need to be controlled, because on their own they will just tear things up. They know that if their life is harnessed in the right cause, they can be strong in the service of something greater than themselves.  They begin to gain a sense of what their life might mean to others.[16] 

The meek, the harnessed, are the ones who are blessed, because the owner of the earth is passing on an inheritance to those who know what it’s like to be stewarded, because they will know how to steward well in turn.   

The first three beatitudes lay a foundation: brokenness, humility, servanthood.  Three requirements for entering into life with God. There are no shortcuts. You can’t get around these. If you are in the Kingdom, but don’t feel as if you are experiencing life in the Kingdom, re-examine this part of your life.

* * * * *

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.”  This is a worldview shift.  While in sin, people hunger for riches, money, honors, and physical pleasures. They never consider spiritual riches, or may even think they are a waste of time. But the fruit of brokenness, humility, and repentance is the longing for spiritual satisfaction. "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled."

These hungry folk have understood the problem; they have mourned their condition, and realized the answer was to live a life in submission to God. Their strength has been harnessed in God’s service, but the harder they work, the hungrier they get. They are not content to just remain as they are. They want lasting life (hayei olam) over fleeting life (hayei sha’ah).

Now, for the first time, we see people actively seeking for God.  They are glad God pursued them, but they are now pursuing Him as well. They are not content simply to be.  These people are blessed, because God will “reward those who diligently seek him.” When we do as the Psalmist said and “taste and see that the Lord is good,” we do want more.  And what we get is a glimpse of what we will one day ultimately experience.[17]

Jesus’s next category is the first category that specifies righteous action: In one ’s relations with other people — when one reaches beyond oneself toward another — “Blessed are the merciful.”

Being merciful involves understanding the proper use of authority and power.  All that mercy requires is a position of the barest advantage over another, even for the most fleeting of moments. Whenever the merciful are in a situation where their actions can have an impact, they show mercy. With power comes responsibility, and the merciful are always thinking about how to pass on the mercy they were shown. They want to be a mirror of God to the world.[18] The merciful are blessed because the mercy that they show to others will be returned to them – perhaps by others, but by God for sure.[19]  

“Blessed are the “pure in heart.”. The pure in heart are blessed, because they not only mirror God’s life, they participate in it. They will catch clearer and clearer glimpses of God’s nature as they participate in His character, and it will increasingly define the primary instincts of their heart and mind. The pure in heart will see God, because the more we get out of the way, the more God gains clarity in our hearts and minds.[20]

“Blessed are the peacemakers,” those whose actions reflect a God who sacrificed himself to make peace with us.  This is a difficult move, because we are not just “peacekeepers.” Peace Makers seek out hostile environments, and they make peace, often at cost to themselves.  We think of it often as what happens in war zones, or in genocidal countries….but it can happen in your house...in this church…. at school, at work, among your friends… It cost Jesus a crucifixion; it will cost us too: 

• we have to sometimes bite our tongue and sometimes loose it

• we have to swallow our pride

• we have to check our emotions

• we have to give unmerited favor (grace)

• we have to both do justice and love mercy

• we have to be broken and spilled out… 

 …all for the sake of the high calling of bringing God’s peace into places that lack it. The blessed of God’s kingdom mourn the lack of peace and take righteous action to make peace.[21]

 “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness….when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.” In this group, we find those whose desire for righteousness has been translated into action. They are bold; they have to be. This will not be easy. Hardship, discomfort, and persecution may follow. They are dedicated to bringing Truth and Mercy and Peace and Life to everyone.  They are willing to pay the ultimate price for the sake of the Gospel.[22] Their reward in the life to come will be great. 

So that is what it means to participate in hayei olam (eternal life),  makarios (the life of the gods – or specifically, the life of God). Know Jesus – which must result in increasingly becoming like him.

Eternal life starts with living in God's righteous path centered in God's will, making it our highest priority to further God’s interests and kingdom in every way by having eyes that see what Jesus sees, hearts that respond like the heart of Jesus, and hands that do what Jesus would do.

* * * * *

Let’s #practicerighteousness this week. 

1.Look at the Beatitudes carefully and prayerfully, and identify one in which you know you need divine help.

2. Confess this to God – and to at least one other person 

3. Pray for God’s power to be made perfect in your weakness

4. Exercise God’s power (“practice righteousness”) purposefully in this area.

5. Stay in accountability for a season with the person in #2.

 __________________________________________________________________________
[1] HELPS Word Studies

[2] “Everything” is a better translation than “everyone.” So it’s people, but it’s also God-breathed words of revelation: the Law, the Prophets, etc. Note that in John 3:3 translations will use both “born from above” and “born again.” 

[3] John is riffing on himself J (John 3:3-5; 19:34; 20:20, 25–27).

[4] In both the OT and NT important issues were decided with the testimony of two or three witnesses (Deut 17:6; 19:15; John 8:17; 2 Cor 13:1; 1 Tim 5:19; Heb 10:28).The water is probably a reference to his baptism John the Baptist; the Spirit the descending of the Holy Spirit as a dove; “by . . . blood” a reference to his death. 

[5] Matt 19:16, 29; 25:46; Mark 10:17, 30; Luke 10:25; 18:18, 30; John 3:15 -16, 36; 4:14; 5:24, 39; 6:27, 40, 47,  54, 68; 10:28; 12:50; 17:2-3; Acts 13:46, 48; Rom 2:7; 5:21; 6:22f; Gal 6:8; 1 Tim 1:16; 6:12; Titus 1:2; 3:7; 1John 1:2; 2:25; 3:15; 5:11, 13, 20; Jude 1:21.  I don’t know where I got this list. Probably Precept Austin.

[6] Robert W. Yarbrough  says this relates especially to the quality of life in this age, and to both the quality and duration of life in the age to come. (Quoted at preceptaustin.com) Also, “"Eternal (166 /aiṓnios) life operates simultaneously outside of time, inside of time, and beyond time – i.e. what gives time its everlasting meaning for the believer through faith, yet is also time-independent.” (HELPS Word Studies)

[7] Read her excellent book, Walking In The Footsteps Of Rabbi Jesus

[8] https://engediresourcecenter.com/2019/09/24/eternal-life-here-and-now/

[9] The rabbis believed that the study of Scripture one of the most important ways you could partake in hayei olam. Jesus is likely critiquing this when he says, “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” (John 5:39-40)

[10] Paul also spoke about hayei olam in Romans. “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life… For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.” (Romans 6:4, 6-13)

[11] It reminds me of what God’s messenger told Daniel:  “As for you, go your way till the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance.” (Daniel 12:13)  You got inheritance from your father in those days. Daniel was already a child of God, experiencing the fullness of life as a child of God. There was an inheritance in store, but meanwhile there was life in God’s family.

[12] https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/bed/e/eternal-life-eternality-everlasting-life.html

[13] The opposite is pride. Cursed, or Miserable, are the proud, those who think they are okay, the ones who think they are all put together.   The hardest kids to coach are not the ones who know they are terrible; it is the ones who think they’ve got it all together.  The hardest person to counsel…the hardest novice to train… The Cursed would say, “I admit that I am powerful, and my life will be what I make it.” 

[14] Isaiah 53:3

[15] In contrast, “Miserable are the hardened.”  They know there are problems in them and around them, but they convince themselves that they will be okay, or that’s it’s nothing to be worried about, and they detach the proper emotion from this reality. They distract themselves or drown their emotions or convince themselves simply not to mourn the state of the world. They know the diagnosis, but they hate the cure. 

[16] In contrast are those who are miserable/cursed because they want to remain wild.  They don’t want a constructive or a structured life. They don’t want authority; they want to do their own thing, follow their own heart, put their strength toward themselves, not bring their lives into submission to others.  They are all about the self. It’s the difference between Sinatra’s “I Did It My Way” and the Lord’s Prayer of “Thy will be done.”

[17] But those who hunger after unrighteousness always want more too.  The difference is that what they are consuming is making them emptier.  They “Taste and see that X is fun, or entertaining, or gets me friends, or distracts me, or numbs me,” and don’t realize it is not good, and that it will never fill them, no matter how much they consume.  They are satisfied with the temporary illusion of fullness. Only one of these options is the life of the blessed. 

[18] In contrast, the miserable/cursed are the merciless, those who take every ounce of power they have and try to turn it into a pound.  Literally, they pound people with power. They are users of others to benefit themselves.  If the merciful think of their responsibility toward others, the miserable think of other people’s responsibility toward them. 

[19] Remember “forgive us our sins, even as we forgive those who sin against us”?

[20] The miserable, then, are devious, the corrupt in heart. They do not think like God, they do not feel like God, and they wallow in it.  Even if they do good things, it is not because they want to.  It is because they have to, or because they have found a way to blend self-serving acts with what appear to be good deeds. The devious in heart will not see God, because they are so busy seeing themselves.

[21] In contrast are the miserable/cursed, those who disrupt the peace. They have not experienced or don’t understand the mercy or peace God has offered them, so they don’t pass it on. They leave a trail of discord behind them wherever they go.  It’s gossip, unforgiveness, the love of drama, the creation of tension and anger when there was none. Instead of seeking out situations in which to make peace, they move into peace-filled situations and make strife. 

[22] In contrast are the miserable/cursed, those who persecute the righteous. They, too are bold.  They hate the message of Mercy and Peace, because it undermines their lives.  They are glad to make the righteous and even the unrighteous pay, because they hate the message and the messenger.