Unit One: A Few Covenant Essentials 

Lesson Three: The Life

Ever wonder why people go to church? It would have to be something very important for so many people to give up so much time on a bright, sunny Sunday morning. And it is. It’s as important as life itself.

It isn’t about rules of what to do and what not to do, although that can be very important. It isn’t about being seen in all the really cool places, like Sunday School, though that can be a good thing.

Being in church is about one thing. It’s about life.

That small truth gets forgotten sometimes. At one point in the church’s history there was a huge reorganization, which we call the Reformation. Many of the kinds of churches that we know today were formed during the Reformation.

And one of the big issues at that time was life. People discovered that they were playing some kind of church game, keeping rules, wearing cool clothes, singing cool Gregorian chants, and completely missing the fact that Jesus came to bring life.

This is so important that many churches like ours have written it into our list of basic can’t-forget-them beliefs. And we like to study the scripture to see what kind of life God is offering.

Let’s do that now. You can hear that message all through the Bible, but we’ll begin with John 10:10. I’ll print the second half of the verse. You can read the whole thing in your Bible some day, but this is all we need for right now.

We’re asking what kind of life Jesus is offering to people. So here’s the verse:

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.    

John 10:10b   (NIV)

When I learned this verse, the Bible that I was reading called it an abundant life. That’s a word that deserves a dictionary. What is abundance? I’ll let you know what I think it is.

Abundance is having a lot of something. The New International Version of the Bible says it is life to the full, which is backwards talk for a full life. So any way you say it, this should be a lot of life.

Let’s add another definition, and this one comes from a verse that is very familiar to a lot of people. Some people say that this verse could be the entire message of the Bible condensed down to a few words. 

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. 

John 3:16

What kind of life is it? Count twenty-five words from the beginning of the verse, or eleven words after the comma. Or if you like things simple, count two words from the end of the verse. What’s the word?

What does it mean?

In a way, it still means a lot of life, but it’s talking about time.

Let’s do another. The book of Second Corinthians has something to say. I’ll include it here, but you can look it up in your Bible, if you like.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!             

Second Corinthians 5:17   (NIV)

If a person trusts in Christ, or lives for Christ, they are a particular kind of creation. The old person is gone, and something else has come in its place. What is it?

Check your answer with mine. Jesus is offering a new life. It’s a new kind of life, and it’s new for whoever receives it. It’s not an option. The Bible will tell you that life has to be new. It isn’t just a cool thing to do. It’s the answer to a problem.

Let’s find out just exactly what the problem is. 

… for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God … 

Romans 3:23    (NIV)

We don’t talk much about sin these days, but the Bible says it is a real problem. Sin includes thoughts and actions that don’t live up to God’s expectations, so the definition can include a lot of stuff.

According to Romans 3:23, who has a problem with sin?

Let’s find out where that leads us.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

Romans 6:23    (NIV)

This verse talks about sin and about life. They are apparently very different things. I’ll ask you to find two words in this verse.

Look for a word that describes the effects of sin.

Now look for a word that describes how we receive life. It may not give you a description of the process, but there is a word that describes how it comes to us.

There is a strange conversation in the third chapter of the gospel of John between Jesus and some other guy. Jesus tells this dude something that has become a catch phrase for the church. 

In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."  

John 3:3    (NIV)

It may sound strange to us, but Jesus expected the dude to understand the idea.

Why are you surprised? Didn't you know that you had to be born again? It hasn't exactly been a big secret or anything! 

John 3:7    (NIV)

Okay, I kind of got carried away on verse 7, but not by much. You can read the whole thing in your Bible. It ends up with John 3:16, one of the coolest verses ever put into the Bible.

But here in verse three, what does Jesus ask the guy to do? I’ll give you some of the loopy letters. You fill in the rest. 

                       b __    b __ __ __     __ g __ __ __

If you are as confused as the dude was, don’t worry. There is an explanation. And here it is.

Sorry, dude, but before you can even think about heaven and church and all that stuff, you have to be so radically changed that it will be like a completely new life, as if you are a whole new person. And this time, you have to let God shape you into a person who lives for Him.             
John 3:5    (paraphrased)

So there you have it. The Bible says that new life is possible for everyone. In fact, new life is the plan.

Everybody needs it, and anybody can have it. It’s abundant, and it’s eternal.

That’s why we have church, and that’s why we do all this other stuff, too.

It’s all about life.

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