The Meaning of Life
16th August 2006
What is the meaning of life? Is there a meaning? Is there (as Douglas Adams put it in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) an answer to the ultimate question of Life, the Universe and Everything?
Where would we go to find such an answer? Or is life just meaningless?
John 1v1-4
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
In him was life, and that life was the light of men.
The Greek word 'logos' is translated here as 'Word' but it doesn't just mean a single word (like 'it' or 'marmalade'). It means 'utterance' or 'message'. So the first verse could be (better) translated as:
In the beginning was the Message, and the Message was with God, and the Message was God.
Not a message - THE Message! The ultimate answer. The final reality. The Message has always existed with God. The Message contains LIFE and the life of the Message was the LIGHT of mankind.
Has God spoken to us about the things that really matter? OH YES! His message was there in the beginning. It was with God. And it was God!
This message from God is not just a Message - it's a person - it's God Himself. It's Jesus Christ - God come in the flesh! Verse 14 of the same chapter says:
The Message became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Jesus Christ is the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything! He's not just the person to go to to get the answer. He's not just someone who can tell you the answer. He Himself IS the answer!
The reason I'm alive is Jesus. The reason I have been forgiven my sins is Jesus. The reason I will live forever in Heaven is Jesus.
Jesus is the ultimate revelation of who God is:
Colossians 1v15
He is the image of the invisible God...
Hebrews 1v1-3
In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways,
but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom
he made the universe.
The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being...
John 1v1-18
No-one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father' side, has made him known.
So, if you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus. Read the Gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and believe what they tell you. They'll tell you what Jesus said and did. And this is the greatest revelation there is about the nature of God.
And they'll also tell you about coming to know Jesus personally for yourself. And when you know Jesus, you'll know the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything, because He is the Answer! We could re-translate the first verse as:
John 1:1
In the beginning was the Answer, and the Answer was with God, and the Answer was God.
Of course God is the answer. When you think about it - God the creator and ruler of the universe is the reason for everything. He's both the cause and the motivation for al that we are and all that we do. And, of course, without God there is no meaningful answer. How could you understand anything about the nature of reality without understanding about the One who created that reality for His own reasons.
But although the Message is REAL and ETERNAL, most people missed it when Jesus first came into the world. Even most of the Jewish nation, set apart specially for God, missed it.
John 1v9-10
The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.
He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognise him.
He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.
And, even today, most people from every nation miss God's utimate message:
John 1v5
The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
How many people have given up even hoping that there is an Answer? How about you? Dare you believe that God wants to communicate with you? Can you understand that the best way He could explain to you what He is like and what is important to Him (and therefore, important to us) is through a person, not merely a piece of text?
And how great a blessing it is to receive God's Message:
John 1v12
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God
And how wonderful it is to become a true child of God. Verse 16 says:
John 1v16
From the fulness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.
One last word. You may have heard of the name "Jesus" for many years. You may have laughed at the church and its funny ways. You may think that what Christains have to say is irrelevant and irritating. Sometimes, you're right. But - what if Jesus actually IS who the Bible says He is? What if the old stories are actually true? What if YOU can know Jesus personally? What if you can become a child of God? Don't let yourself be so prejudiced against the church that you miss out on understanding God's Message to you! You're life could be revolutionised through God's amazing redemptive power.