A thief has only one thing in mind—he wants to steal, slaughter, and destroy. But I have come to give you everything in abundance, more than you expect—life in its fullness until you overflow!
John 10:10 (The Passion Translation)
Jesus made quite a few ‘I AM’ statements about Himself. As pastor Steve kicked of our new series of the ‘I AM’s’ of Jesus this morning (if you missed it then head over to our talks section and hit the play button), we start to understand who Jesus was and what He wants to do in your life.
I’m excited to see what the Holy Spirit will say to us throughout this series, as well as hearing from you what God is saying to you in these times of isolation. You see, above all things, over all things and in all things, Jesus should be the only one who you look to for who you are.
Whatever you are doing during lockdown, I hope that you are making use of this time given. We as a family are trying to stay in a routine that will help us through these strange times, such as puzzles, games, bible readings, cooking, baking, tik-toks (don’t ask), walking the dog and even learning to play instruments. One other thing we are doing is going through the full run of the Marvel movies (over 20 films) as a family and looking for threads throughout the entire catalogue.
All of these films are linked to build up to a final showdown in the last movie where, and if you haven’t seen the films there may be a spoiler ahead, the big bad, Thanos, looks to destroy half of all life (he kinda succeeds and revels in his victory). One line that He says to our heroes is that he “is inevitable.” That word inevitable means unavoidable – it will happen, it will come to pass. The thing is, out of a possible 14 million scenarios (you need to watch the films, honest), there is only one way that our heroes win.
One person sacrifices his life for all life. Not one, or just family, or a few, but the entire world. This person knows that the only way to defeat Thanos (the big bad) is to take the power he wielded and destroy that power so that people could live. Sound familiar?
We need to remember that this scenario, although fantastical because it is set within a made-up universe, is a story that truly, actually happened. The bible is a story that builds towards a point that would change the course of the world. God had a plan that involved the sacrifice for our sins in the form of His Son Jesus, who came to earth and changed history, took the power of death and made it defunct, and made a way for all people to truly and utterly experience hope and peace while on earth as well as the offer of eternal life.
In the Marvel universe, where our hero who gave his life stayed dead, Jesus rose again. Why? Because He said He would. Because He promised you and me that His words are true. They mean something. They stand for something. Jesus was inevitable - He is inevitable! What He says will come to pass, and will be unavoidable.
So, when we look at the ‘I AM’s’ of Jesus, let us take a moment to explore each one in turn, what it meant in that context when He said it (much like what Steve described this morning as ‘the gate’), and then bring it to our own lives and what it means to us, today, and how we can use them for a word in season and out of season in a time when the world needs a real hero. One who gave His life so that we could Truly live.
Blessings
Pastor Neil
RIP Tony Stark/Iron Man
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