‘There’s more to life…..’.
Many years ago, I was walking along the road in
Bringing two big mugs of tea through, he sat down and suddenly said
‘There’s more to life….than this’, he said, ‘There’s more to life … isn’t there ?’
Now – at that point, almost none of the young men his age had a job. Nine
out of ten of his friends were unemployed, and many of his friends were using
drugs of all kinds….
‘There’s more to life … isn’t there ?
I think he had reached one of those moments when we begin to ask questions
of our own life, of where we are going, of what life is about …. some don't talk about it, keeping their discontentment to themselves; some
grumble, some get angry, some blame themselves or blame others.
‘There’s
more to life… isn’t there ?
In his case, these weren’t a few idle words,
said with a yawn…
He was looking for, searching for what’s at the
heart of life….
‘There’s
more to life … isn’t there ?
You know, the Bible has an answer to this age
old question and other questions like it – and it is a resounding triumphant yes !
Yes, there is more to life, than humdrum
routine, day in day out.
Yes there is more to life than the ordinary run
of affairs.
The Bible’s firm, rock steady declaration is
that there is another dimension to life, one that intersects this one, a life that runs
through and over and above and beyond this life – and that is - the life that
God gives us.
The
Bible’s firm, rock steady declaration is that our deepest needs and longings in
this life can only be met by the life that the living God gives.
In
the Church calendar, there are three readings for this Sunday morning. Two of
them are quite familiar to us. The reading from Deuteronomy
about the manna in the desert, and the reading from John’s gospel, about the
feeding of the five thousand. But there is another reading, from Paul’s
letter to the Philippians. All three, however, have this in common – they have
an answer to that question – there’s more
to life isn’t there ?
Of
these three readings, one features a whole people, another
a crowd, and the other a man………
A whole
people:
There is more to life, isn’t there ?
Moses’ answer is yes ! Look, he says to the people of
and
you will see in that life, threaded through your days, you will see there God’s
care,
you will see there the life that the living God has given you.
I saw a collection of photographs recently, collected by the Living Memory Association on computer. There were pictures of children in the back green, a wee boy in a cowboy suit leaning against a dyke, a woman on her way to the laundry with her washing in a bundle on pram wheels, a mother looking out of the window at the back of a tenement, with the washing hanging out on a long pole. For everybody watching, it brought back memories. Memories of ordinary life.
Deuteronomy is about memory of
a richer, deeper kind – this is memory about God’s grace, God’s care, God’s faithfulness in the past.
So Moses reminds the people of the past long years in the desert, but he doesn’t so much point to the hard, difficult, precarious life in the desert, or the oases, or the times of drought. What does Moses pick out from the desert years ? He points to God’s loving care.
Remember, says Moses, remember that that journey began when God called us out of Egypt, when God called out us out of slavery and into glorious freedom; and for over forty years on that journey, our children were born in the desert, our lives were shaped by the desert – but through all of this God cared for us, spoke to us, guided us and – when there was nothing to eat – He gave us manna, through difficult desparate times…. His hand was guiding and shaping us……… the times of uncertainty, the times of hunger and of plenty, looking back all of these were in His hands.
Memories of God’s wonderful
faithfulness in the past – we have them too.
As the old chorus says Count your blessings, name them one by one,
and it will surprise you what the Lord has done…… looking back over our
lives we too can see the never failing grace of God in Jesus Christ, in our weakness
upholding us, in our sorrow comforting us, in times of despair redeeming us
There’s more to life, isn’t there ?
Moses’ ringing answer is Yes –
we read these words in Deuteronomy - we cannot live on bread alone, but on every word that the Lord says, every
word of comfort, every word of encouragement, every word of guidance, of
faithfulness and grace………..
Oh yes….. there is more to life…. thanks be to God !
A crowd:
There’s more to life isn’t there ?
This passage in John’s gospel is
about that very question. Here you can
see droves of people streaming to hear Jesus. Gathering like a football crowd, you
can imagine the crush, the excitement. Scholars tell us that there were not
just five thousand men, that’s only a way of counting – the
number was likely to be much more than that – over ten thousand men women and
children. That’s way more than the stadium at Sepphoris in
This is a big crowd. Streaming
here and there, crowds……
Just like the crowds on a
Friday or Saturday night round Lothian Road…….. in
These were crowds looking for
a glimpse of Jesus – in the ordinary way that people will pack the streets to
see a celebrity…
The Gospel declares that Jesus
took 5 loaves and 2 fishes, gave thanks and in the
creative power of God gave the crowd enough to eat, there was plenty left over
- twelve baskets. But this passage is about much more than His miracle, feeding
so many…..
It’s about the more there is to life. For there is more to life than bread, than food, more to life than
its ordinary day to day ways……
And its this life, that Jesus speaks
of……..
You are looking for me, he
told that listening crowd, because you ate the bread, and had enough to eat…..
but
the bread of heaven is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the
world
I am the bread of life –
whoever comes to me will never go hungry……..
and
here we are at the very heart of the answer, to that question,
There is more to life isn’t there ?
the
declaration of John’s gospel, is a glorious Yes !
and
that more, that life
is found in Jesus, Jesus Christ !
And it is in meeting Him,
knowing Him, living life in communion with Him
that
we have that life…… !
it is
in Him that those great crowds, to be seen on a Friday or Saturday night in the
city,
with
all their hopes and longings, have life………and in Him that we have life !
A people, A
crowd,
A man
There’s an advert on the
television for an insurance company……..
its very simple, it just shows
a man sitting at the door of a garden shed, in complete contentment with his
feet up smiling happily toward the setting sun……..
he
has apparently got good insurance……… hence the smile on his face….
If only life were as easy as that….
Martin Luther once said………Next to
faith, this is the highest art: to be content in the calling in which God has
placed you. I haven’t learned it yet.
But listen to Paul………..
He speaks of a secret he has
discovered,
which
means, he tells us………..
that I have learned to be content whatever the
circumstances ! I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have
plenty – I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation ! Whether well fed or hungry !
All the more striking because
he was, at that moment, in prison,
Of course there were many in
the same prison, hardened criminals,
who would
say – it’s all one to me – I don’t care if I am in prison or out, if its bread
and water, or the best meat…….
But Paul, is speaking of
something else, not a hardened attitude, but a contentment…..
Lewis Smedes once wrote………
Why do we call grace amazing?
Grace is amazing because it works against the grain of common sense. Common
sense will tell you that you will never meet the standards of a holy God;
pardoning grace in Jesus tells you that it's all right in spite of so much in
you that is wrong.
Realistic common sense tells
you that you are too weak, too harassed, too human to
change for the better; the grace of Jesus Christ gives you power to send you on
the way to being a better person. Plain common sense may tell you that you are
caught in a rut of fate or futility; the grace that is in Jesus promises that
you can trust God to have a better tomorrow for you than the day you have made
for yourself.
There is more to life isn’t there ?
Yes, and that’s Paul’s
secret……..
For me, he writes, to live is Christ.
I can do everything through Him.
There is more to life isn’t there ?
Yes – and where the source of
that life is,
we
already know……
life is Jesus Christ
AMEN.