Let me ask you a question: what would you be willing to do to live forever? I’m not talking about eternal life after you die. I’m talking about avoiding death altogether.
Human beings have always searched for a way to cheat death. In Hollywood, Florida, there is a church called the Church of Perpetual Life, and its focus is on extending the healthy human lifespan on this earth for as long as possible. The church’s motto is “Aging and death can be optional.”
What a great marketing slogan for a society that is rapidly becoming godless! The Church of Perpetual Life’s symbol is not a cross, but a phoenix, the bird in Greek mythology that rose from the dead and lives on perpetually. The church’s leader, William Faloon, teaches his congregation about health and age reversal technologies. To support their ministry, the church sells dietary supplements and a magazine on preventing aging.
And the church supports a cryonics conference. Cryonics is the practice—completely unproven, by the way—of freezing a person’s body and brain for decades, then unthawing them and bringing them back to life when medical science has found a cure for death. William Faloon hopes to build a cryonics chamber in Texas that can hold 10,000 bodies, so its members can be brought back to life sometime in the future. (1)
But these folks are not alone! Silicon Valley in San Francisco is home to the biggest technology companies in the world—like Google, Apple, Facebook and Netflix. And Silicon Valley is also the epicenter of the obsession to live forever. There are companies there funded by some of our brightest technology entrepreneurs who are determinedly researching treatments to turn back the clock on our aging cells.
James Strole is the director of the Coalition of Radical Life Extension, an organization which brings together scientists and researchers of what they call “physical immortality.” He says, “There’s millions of people now who won’t see death if they choose.” (2)
What does it mean when some of the smartest and richest people in the country are investing so much time and money into not dying? They are assuredly motivated by a desire to help humankind. But is there not also a bit of narcissism and fear mixed into their efforts? If you’re young, healthy, smart or successful, why wouldn’t you want to live forever, especially if you could turn back the clock on your aging body?
There was an ancient Greek philosopher named Epicurus whose teachings have become very influential. In fact, you could say that our society has adopted Epicurus as our societal guru. Epicurus taught that the pursuit of happiness is the “sole purpose of life.” (3)
I’d say our society is determined to live out this philosophy. But then, how do we explain the rising rates of suicide and depression and loneliness in a society that is so focused on the pursuit of happiness?
In contrast, let’s look at the tiny kingdom of Bhutan, which is located between Tibet and India. In 1972, Bhutan’s king created a Gross National Happiness Index because he believed the happiness of his people was vitally important to their well-being. But the people of Bhutan view the path to happiness a little differently than we do. One of the secrets to happiness according to their philosophy is to think about your own death five times a day. (4) That seems like a gloomy way to live to me, but different strokes for different folks.
So which philosophy makes the most sense to you: living for your own pleasure or contemplating your own death five times a day—or, perhaps, neither? Keep that question in mind as we look at today’s Bible passage, John 10:1-10.
In this passage, Jesus seems to be fed up with the Pharisees, the religious scholars. He believes that their focus on rules and religious traditions is leading people away from God, and away from what really matters in life. And Jesus tells them a story of a good and caring shepherd who has to defend his sheep against thieves and robbers.
Verse 10 is the key verse we are focusing on today. Jesus says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
In the New Testament, there are three Greek words that refer to life: bios, psuche and zoe. Bios refers to physical life. Psuche refers to the soul, the spiritual side of life. And zoe refers to eternal life, the life that flows from God alone. (5)
When Jesus says that he has come to give us life to the fullest, he uses the word zoe, eternal life. And he’s not talking about living forever on this planet. He’s talking about living life to the fullest in this world and then living life to the fullest in an even better world beyond the grave.
Eternal life is God’s greatest gift. This life may offer us many pleasures and joys, but it still leaves us hungry for some greater meaning or purpose. That’s our hunger to know God. That’s part of our DNA. We were created in the image of God. All the qualities that make up God—holiness, completeness, life in its fullest sense—all these qualities are a part of our makeup. We were created to know God and to live at peace with God. We were created for purposeful work and creativity and relationships.
All the blessings we see in the first chapters of Genesis—that’s the life we were made for. So when you get that empty ache inside that tells you this life is meaningless, please don’t give up. Please don’t try to numb the pain. Acknowledge that this life isn’t your true purpose. And let that ache drive you to search for the God in whose image you were created.
Sara Miles was a chef and journalist living in San Francisco. She was an atheist and had no interest in religion or “religious nuts,” as she put it. But one day, she wandered into a local Episcopal church while the priest was offering the Lord’s Supper. Out of curiosity, Miles went up to the altar and received the bread and wine. And it fed a spiritual hunger in her that she didn’t even know she had.
Since her encounter with Jesus Christ in participating in that sacred meal, Sara Miles has made a radical change in her life. For one thing, she has opened food pantries all over San Francisco. She’s taking her faith to the streets, ministering to the poor and homeless with food and comfort and the hope she found when she found God. (6)
God did not intend for us to waste our lives chasing after lesser pleasures. Eternal life, both in this world and the world to come, is God’s greatest gift to us. So what does a focus on eternal life do for us?
First of all, a focus on eternal life frees us from anxiety. Because eternal life will be life in God’s presence, we know we can handle anything that comes our way. God created us in His image. Through Jesus Christ, God gave His life to remove any separation between us and Him. This loving God wants to spend eternity with us. In Psalm 16: 11, King David envisions living in God’s presence. He describes it this way: “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
Anxiety is rooted in fear. And fear drives us to compare ourselves with others and to compete for resources. Fear drives us to protect our turf and control our circumstances at all costs. At its root, fear causes us to put our needs first above all else and so we remain in a constant state of anxiety.
Author Max Lucado was talking to a native Hawaiian man who shared with him that Hawaiians refer to non-Hawaiians as “haole.” Haole is a Hawaiian word for “no breath.”
The nickname was created back in the 1820s when European immigrants came to the islands. The native Hawaiian man explained: “Our forefathers thought the settlers were always in a hurry to build plantations, harbors, and ranches. To the native Hawaiians they seemed short of breath.” (7) Always in a hurry to build something bigger or acquire something better—does that sound like most of the people you know? We are the haole, the people with no breath.
In contrast to the haole, look at the life of the late Bob Pierce, the founder of the Christian relief organization World Vision. Millions of people all over the world have been fed and protected and educated and sheltered through World Vision. Pierce was once asked how he had created an organization with a worldwide impact. He said he had prayed, “O God, I give you the right to set the agenda for my life. From here on out, you're going to run the show. And you can change that agenda any time you want. But I pray that you will be pleased to use me for your glory in any way you see fit. Amen.”
Bob Pierce’s trust in God set him free from the anxieties of this life. And many thousands of people have been impacted by his decision to give his life to God’s work. (8)
We exhaust ourselves chasing after comfort and success and validation. And every pleasure and accomplishment slips through our fingers when we die. What if we could let all that go and focus the best of our energy and time and resources on loving God and loving our neighbor as ourselves? That’s how a focus on eternal life sets us free from anxiety.
A focus on eternal life also frees us for generosity. We’re not just talking about money here. We’re talking about a generosity of spirit that is motivated by love. If God loved us enough to give us His Son that we might have eternal life, then won’t that same God give us all that we need in this life? Knowing that our life belongs to a loving and generous God frees us to live with a generosity of spirit.
Pastor Adam Hamilton’s daughter Danielle and her husband JT once worked at a hospice center for AIDS patients in South Africa. One day, the hospice staff decided to take the hospice residents out for ice cream. None of them made much money, and the residents were very poor, so the staff saved up their money for this very special treat. The closest restaurant that served ice cream was a Kentucky Fried Chicken.
A customer at the restaurant noticed the hospice group and asked about their purpose there. When Danielle told them about their ice cream trip, the man immediately offered to buy all of the hospice residents some fried chicken too. Even though the man didn’t appear to have much money himself, he went up to the counter and ordered enough chicken for every resident. As Hamilton writes, “For most of the residents, this would be the last time they would eat fried chicken and ice cream, but in that moment there was great joy.” (9)
Generosity is rooted in faith and it overflows in joy. Who doesn’t want more joy in this life? This is the kind of life God created you to live. But joy doesn’t come from winning the biggest chunk of cheese in the rat race. Joy comes from focusing on the things that are important to God. A focus on eternal life frees us from anxiety and frees us for generosity.
When we look at the life of Jesus, we don’t have to question God’s existence and His purposes anymore. God’s purpose is for you to live eternally in God’s presence, where there is peace and joy and rest from all forms of anxiety and want. That’s what Jesus lived for and died for. Don’t you want to know there is something worth living for and dying for that is greater than this ordinary life? That “something” can only be found in giving your life over to Jesus and living in his promise of eternal life.
1. “The transhumanists who want to live forever” by Antonio Regalado MIT Technology Review, Aug 16, 2019, https://www.technologyreview.com/s/614078/transhumanists-live-forever/.
2. “Is Silicon Valley's quest for immortality a fate worse than death?” by Adam Gabbatt, The Guardian, Feb. 23, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/feb/22/silicon-valley-immortality-blood-infusion-gene-therapy.
3. Harari, Yuval Noah. Homo Deus (p. 30). Harper. Kindle Edition.
4. Quartz Obsession, March 26, 2019.
5. “Three Greek Words in the New Testament for Life, and How They Apply to Us,” https://blog.biblesforamerica.org/greek-words-for-life/.
6. Sara Miles, Take This Bread: A Radical Conversion, (Ballentine Books, 2008), Prologue. Cited by The Rev. Dr. Scott Kenefake, http://day1.org/6617-driveway_moments.
7. Max Lucado, Anxious for Nothing: Finding Calm in a Chaotic World (Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition).
8. Ray Pritchard, https://www.keepbelieving.com/sermon/if-god-is-good-why-do-i-hurt/.
9. Adam Hamilton, Why?: Making Sense of God's Will (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2018).