Living Life to the Full: Sermon One (LTF-01)
Through the Eyes of God
Psalms 139:13-14
This morning I want to welcome you at the start of a brand new series that we have entitled Living Life to the Full. In Genesis 2:7 the Bible says that "the Lord God . . . breathed into man’s nostrils the breath of life and he (that is man) became a living being." Now watch this - I want to show you something that you may have missed. When God breathed into man, it was not simply that the breath of God filled His lungs, it was that the life of God filled his being. Let me say that again. When God breathed into man, it was not simply that the breath of God filled His lungs, it was that the life of God filled his being. What type of life? The same life that was in God. When God breathed into man, the very life that was in God became the same life that was in man. You see my friend, since the dawn of creation it has always been God’s intention that the definitive meaning of man’s existence here on this earth, the qualitative measure of his experience here below should be no less and no other than the very life that has been in God for all eternity.
What does that life look like? That life looks like Jesus Christ. Again, Jesus Christ did not come to model for us how God would live on the earth if He were man. He came to show us how we should live on the earth when we are in right relationship with God. That is why He said, "I came so that they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of." [The Message]
What the Greek says there is that Jesus came to give us abundant life. Some Christians live as if Jesus came to give them ‘not enough’ life - they are always short, always unhappy, always in crisis, there is always something going wrong. Nor did He come to give us ‘just enough’ life. Yet some people live at the ‘just enough’ life level - all they have is what they need - they never have enough to give others, they are making it but just, surviving but just, they have enough, but just. My Bible tells me that God wants you to have abundant life. What is abundant life - it is living with ‘more than enough’ life. Now watch this - it is big - Jesus did not simply come to give us more than enough life. This word abundantly is translated in other passages ‘more abundantly’ or ‘exceeding abundantly.’ In other words, it is more than abundantly - it is ‘more than more than enough.’
I love being around more than more than enough people. Do you know what I mean? They have more than more than enough love, more than more than enough peace, more than more than enough joy. Do you know people like that? You cannot shake them, you cannot break them. They may not be millionaires - but some how they always have enough to share. They may not be have mansions - but some how they always have enough room for you. They may be very busy - but some how they always have enough time for you. How many of you know that God is the God of more than more than enough.
And that is the life God wants you to have. That is the type of life God created you for. That is the type of life God breathed into Adam way back in the Garden of Eden that was lost to sin. That is the type of life Jesus came to give - and that is they life that God has for you and me today, the more than more enough life.
It is a life filled with meaning and contentment, filled with design and purpose, filled with happiness and peace. It is the life you were created to live. Satan, the Bible says, came to kill, steal and destroy. Kill, steal and destroy what? The life you were meant to live. That is why life seems empty, meaningless, full of regrets and shame. That is why you are sometimes your experience is defined by fear, insecurity, and self-doubt - you don’t like yourself . . . or anyone else. The devil is a destroyer - and when we yield to him we begin to destroy our own lives and rob the lives of those around us. May I suggest to you that the degree to which we see ourselves through the eyes of God is the degree to which we are able to relate meaningfully and wholesomely with others.
So how do we get back to that life? How do we get there from here? Good question.
1. Understand the Promise of God
Every promise of God is an expression of His nature. I said every promise of God is an expression of His nature. Now how many of you know that God is a good God?
Jesus said in our passage, "The thief comes" - that is a good place to pause - how many of you know the thief comes? Jesus did not say we will never have any challenges or hard times, or that life will always and only be a bed or roses - "the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy" - but he is not the only one that comes - "but I have come that they may have live and have it abundantly."
The world does not understand this about God folks - but my Bible tells me that God is a good God.
And when this good God had finished making mankind He said, "It is very good!"
This good God, according to the book of James, gives good gifts to His children. seek Him.
"You (God) have granted him the desire of his heart and have not withheld the request of his lips." Psalm 21:2.
"Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose hope is in the LORD" Jeremiah 17:7.
We sometimes hear that God is the Punisher of those that fail Him but my friend, Hebrews tell us that God is the rewarder of those who seek Him.
It is not that God looks and loves blindly, it is that God looks and loves kindly.
Paul says that "My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory." (Phil. 4:19)
He can say that because God is El Shaddai - God all powerful - God who is big enough. Some people live as if God is El Cheapo - but He is not - He is El Shaddai - the God of more than more than enough.
1. Understand the Promise of God
2. Make the Life Swap with Jesus.
You may have watched ‘Wife Swap’ on TV. Well this is Life Swap. It is the choice we make to give our sin, our pain and our failures to Jesus Christ and in return we get His peace, His joy, His power and His righteousness. I give Him who I am and He gives me who He is.
Jesus did not come to simply give us a higher moral standard, or a better philosophy of love, or a more optimistic approach to life. He came to give us a new life. It is not a matter of simply changing the way we live life - it is a matter of changing the life we live. May I say that again? It is not a matter of simply changing the way we live life - it is a matter of changing the life we live. Jesus did not come to teach you and me how to live our lives more comfortably - but how to live His live more completely. As the preachers of old said, "It is not the changed life, but the exchanged life of God." That is why Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:21 "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."
Paul understood the plan and purpose of God - that is why he said, ‘I have been crucified with Christ - and it is not longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.’ (Gal. 2:20)
What you and I must learn to do is to let the life that was in God become the life that is in us. Let Him take our pain, our shame, our fear, our weakness - let Him take our sins and our sinfulness - and swap it out for who He is and what He has done. The reason that is important is that you and I cannot live the abundant life - but He can - and He wants to live the abundant life, the more than more than enough life in you and through you.
1. Understand the Promise of God
2. Make the ‘Life Swap’ with Jesus.
Proverbs 23:7 "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he."
That is Bible for ‘your success or failure is directly linked to the way you think’ - so if you want to be someone different, start thinking something different, start believing something different. So here is the deal - and this is essential to living the life your were created to live. You must learn to see yourself the way God sees you. How does God see you?
Psalm 139:13-14 "For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well."
You see my friend, as His child, you can and should love yourself, not in the selfish, self-centered way that produces self-indulgence, but in a balanced, godly way that simply affirms the goodness of His creation.
You are not who you are when you are weak. You are not who you are when you fail. You are not who you are when you sin. You are who your are through the eyes of God. Who you are is not defined by your past but by your purpose, not by your circumstances but by your calling, not by your failure but by your future.
When God looks at you He does not see you in the weakness of your failures, but in the fullness of His purpose. When God looked at baby Jeremiah in the womb He did not see a baby, but He saw a prophet to the nations. How does that work? God sees you in Christ in the perfection of His obedience and in the fullness of your calling and purpose.
Precious believer - I cannot think of any good reason to see myself any other way than the way God sees me. And in the eyes of God your success starts when you begin to see yourself through His eyes.
Christian - God loves you and wants you to love yourself the way He does. The secret to living the life you were created to live is seeing yourself through the eyes of God, and the unique place you fill and contribution you bring to your world.
Start looking at yourself through God’s eyes, and you’ll start seeing yourself as someone who is loved and cherished, unique and beautiful in His sight. The truth is that you are a rare, one-of-a kind, precious person. You have a God-given destiny to fulfill, a unique calling that only you can accomplish. In order to reach our full potential, we must learn to accept ourselves as God sees us.
I dare you to look at yourself through the eyes of God, to see yourself as He sees you.
1. Understand the Promise of God
2. Make the Life Swap with Jesus.
3. Look at Yourself through the Eyes of God.
4. Live out of His Abundance
God did not intend for you to go through life feeling miserable, lonely, sick and defeated. You cannot live out of God’s abundance while you are looking in the grossly distorted mirror of the words, actions and opinions of those who have hurt you in the past. You see my friend, God did not intend for you to simply get by - He designed you to be an overcomer.
God is not the God of not enough, just enough or even more than enough. He is the God of more than more than enough.
What hinders people is not the lack of abundance but the lack of right believing.
Jesus said, "You will know the truth and the truth will set you free." Did you get that - it is not hearing the truth that sets you free. It is knowing the truth - believing the truth - walking in the truth.
Prov. 4:20 "My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings."
What is that saying? I need to incline my ear to the Word of God. I need to get the Word of God in my hearing.
Elsewhere Paul says in Rom. 10:8, "But what does it say? ‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’ - that is, the word of faith which we are preaching."
How do I get the word of God in my heart - by getting it into my mouth. By speaking it, confessing it, saying it. How does it get in my mouth? By being in my ear.
This God of abundance poured His love and Himself into you - and He says, "You are MY own handiwork, My own workmanship, recreated in Christ Jesus, born anew that you may be and do all I created you to be and do. I predestined and prepared your paths ahead of time that you should walk in them - living the wonderful life which I prearranged and made for you to live."
Precious believer - it is time to start to think and speak of yourself the same way God does, to see yourself the way He sees you, to describe yourself the way He describes you. The life you are rediscovering has no room for self-hate, self-derision or self-inflicted insults. If you want to rediscover the life you were created to live, start to seer yourself through the eyes of God.
I want to invite you to take the next 9 minutes and watch this life changing video. You may never forget it.
Louie Giglio - Laminin
www.YouTube.com - search Louie Giglio - Laminin
Precious believe - here is what God says over you:- "I love you! I call you by name and pursue with everlasting love constantly. I formed you in the womb - you are fearfully and wonderfully made. If you were to think of yourself as I think of you, O how different you would be. I want you to love yourself as I so love you!"
Would you pray with me please?
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