The Abundant Life of Jesus
Part I - The Promised Life
John 10:10 -- "The thief cometh, to kill, steal and destroy, but I
have come that you might have life and this life MORE
ABUNDANTLY!
INTRODUCTION
A little girl once went to visit her grandmother in the country.
Things were fine until Sunday. This lady went to an very old
fashioned Church that kept the Sabbath by forbidding all work, fun,
levity, laughing and playing. The little girl woke up Sunday and
started right off playing and laughing, as little girls do. Her
grandmother immediately rebuked her for breaking the Sabbath.
Well, she quieted down, went to Church and later went for a walk
out by the barn. She went over to an old mule, a droopy eyed, sad
faced, long-eared mule. She looked at the mule for a while, then
said, "Mr. Mule, you look like you go to my grandmother’s
Church!"
I think a lot of people in Churches are living in a place, I call
"Depression Avenue." 201 Depression Avenue. You know the
place; it’s on the corner of "Despair" and "Self-Pity." We all
know the place, many of us live there, and many others spend
a lot of time there. It’s a place of darkness and gloom and doom,
where sounds of complaining, condemnation, accusation and
the "can’t’s" are heard. "I can’t do this, and I can’t do that;" You
know.
Well, the Lord Jesus, in John 10:10 is calling us to move!
Let the old place go. Let it be condemned and torn down as it
ought to be and MOVE! JESUS wants us to come and live with
HIM over on the beautiful, marvelous, hillside estate called:
ABUNDANT ACRES! It’s on the corner of "Joy and Thanks-
giving" surrounded by grace and mercy, overflowing with love,
laughter, light and abundance of every kind. There’s a gate
leading to a long driveway, and over the gate reads:
WHOSOEVER WILL, MAY ENTER
A smaller, sign says,
IMMEDIATE OCCUPANCY PREFERRED!
The sad fact is, however, that "Depression Avenue" is
teeming with people, crowded with sadness and sorrow, while
"Abundant Acres," has hardly a soul to claim it. Most people
would LIKE to believe it’s true, but CAN’T and so, eek out a
miserable existance to their dying day . . . in the darkness.
I say, LET’S MOVE!!! I, for one am tired of living a life
that is tossed about by every wind of circumstances that comes
along. I believe Jesus came to give us this Abundant Life, and I
mean to live it! How about you!
How CAN we do this? The Bible has the answer. We need
to understand: (1) The Promise, (2) The Picture, (3) the Problem
and the (4) Plan of the Abundant Life of Jesus.
(1) The Promise of the Abundant Life of Jesus
John 10:10 contains the word "More Abundantly." This is a
fairly unique word in the Greek. "Abundance" is already a "super-
lative." You remember English, "Comparatives and Superlatives?"
"Good, Better, Best?" Which is superlative? Best! Great, Greatest!
Here in John 10:10, the word is "More." It’s "better than the best!"
It’s "greater than the greatest." It’s "fuller than the fullest!"
And Jesus said, "I have come . . . ," remember how He
came? Remember the pain of the nails driven into His flesh, the
thorns pounded into His skull until his face was painted red by His
blood, remember how his back was ripped to the bone, by the whip?
Remember the PRICE HE PAID. And this was to give US LIFE,
MORE ABUNDANTLY!
How rude, and foolish for us NOT to live this life! It would
be like being invited out to a nice restaurant by someone wealthy
and who wanted to bless us with a wonderfully abundant feast. To
go there and nibble at the salad, or take a bite of a roll and say, "No
thanks, I don’t want your lobster, steak, whatever, I don’t even want
a doggie bag, THROW IT AWAY!" If we AREN’T living the
abundant life of Jesus, that’s what we’re doing to HIM!
Let’s give ourselves a test, to see how we’re doing at living
this Abundant Life of Jesus. On a scale of "1 to 10," "10," being
Life More Abundantly, and "1" being the worst, most unhappy
kind of life, where are YOU?
If you’re a "10," you are "more than a conqueror," you are
bold, unstoppable, in Jesus, you are doing great exploits, you are
in Control, you are Joyful, and Successful in every area of life. Paul
said, "Rejoice in the Lord always." (Doesn’t that bother you?
Doesn’t Paul know that bad things happen to good people? Doesn’t
Paul know that sometimes life has a way of DUMPING on us?)
If you’re a "10," however you ARE rejoicing ALWAYS!
But, if you’re a "1," you fail at EVERYTHING. You’re like
the guy that went out to kill himself. He took gasoline, a rope and a
gun, went to a tree that went out over a lake. He tied the rope on a
branch, put it around his neck, and doused himself with gasoline.
He then, lit the gas, jumped off over the lake, and shot the gun. The
gun hit the rope, he fell into the lake putting out the fire almost
before it got started, and, since it was shallow, didn’t drown. He
crawled out on shore, mutterring, "I can’t do anything right."
"1," you feel so bad, you want to die. You know rationally,
things may not be so bad, but you feel so depressed, you wish you
were dead. I’ve felt like this -- I think everyone has.
Well, where are you? Be honest. Are you an "8," living
pretty well, mostly happy? Are you a "6," pretty happy, but with
a lot of sadness. Are you a "4," mostly, unhappy, messing up,
failing. Are you a "2," nothing works out for you? Most people
put themselves below "5." If you’re not a "10," this Promise
is for you!
(2) The Picture of the Abundant Life of Jesus
Luke 5:1-11 and Gal. 5:22-23 together make a wonderful
picture of the Abundant Life of Jesus.
Luke 5, you remember is the famous story of the Peter. Peter
had his boat on shore and Jesus came and preached from the boat.
THEN, things really started happening. Jesus told Peter to push
the boat out for a catch (Imagine Jesus first public appearance, and
He chooses to go fishing as the most "spiritual" activity of the day?!)
Peter says, "But, Master, we have toiled all night and caught
NOTHING!" That’s a picture of following the "thief." There is
another, "calling" us in John 10:10. Jesus says, "The THIEF
cometh to KILL, STEAL AND DESTROY. We work hard and
get nowhere; we try so hard and do NOT overcome our bondages
and addictions. We’ve spent THOUSANDS to get peace and
are no better but worse. Following the thief, we, indeed, FISH
ALL NIGHT AND CATCH NOTHING.
Now watch what happens when the Lord of the Abundant
Life takes over. Peter cast the net, and WOW. A good catch
would be 10, a record catch would be 30, based on John 21, this
catch must be over 300 fish! Their nets were bursting and their
boats were sinking from the abundance!
Now, in Gal. 5:22-23, God says, "The fruit, harvest, catch,
of the Holy Spirit is, (now, this is what OUR nets are to be bursting
with, and our lives to be sinking under the weight of!). The catch
of the Spirit is: Love, (are your emotions bursting with love, is your
life sinking under the weight of it?), Joy, (are your emotions
bursting with Joy, Laughter, does your face get tired SMILING
ALL THE TIME?), Peace, (full of certainty, overflowing with con-
fidence, boldness, etc.?), Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Gentleness,
Meekness, and Self-Control.
SELF-CONTROL??? Are we actually, really supposed to
have self-control? Yes, Absolutely! Yet, don’t we all think, we
can’t! I don’t have it, and can’t stop this, and can’t overcome that!
Of course, everyone does in fact go fishing. But, most of us
fill our nets with pain, despair, hopelessness; and our nets are
bursting with darkness, depression and our lives are sinking under
the weight of it all.
Cheryl told me, that to talk this way is going to make every-
one feel bad! Because no one can do it. Well, that’s the next point.
(3) The Problem with the Abundant Life of Jesus
The Problem is, we sit there listening to this and we say, "I
don’t think SO!" "I CAN’T live THAT kind of life!" "I cannot
overcome everything in my life." "I cannot have joy all the
time." BUT JESUS SAID WE COULD! The problem is, we
can’t believe it; the solution is, we’ve got to believe it!"
We’ve got to switch our thinking. I’ve always had trouble
living the Abundant Life of Jesus consistently. I am living this life
more consistently, now, than ever. I am overcoming more now,
than ever. I am more joyful, more often, than ever! The beginning
is to begin to believe: I CAN!!!
This thought alone, is powerful and will move you from a
3 or 4 to a 6 or 7. I feel stronger, just to say: I CAN DO THIS!
Let’s think this through a bit. I found 4 reasons why we CAN DO
THIS:
1-Jesus said so. If God said it, that settles it!
2-If we can’t have this Abundant Life of Jesus, then it makes
Jesus the worst sort of Person. It makes him mean and cruel and
the kind of person that enjoys tormenting us. It makes Jesus like
kids I’ve seen that tease, meantease their baby brothers or sisters.
You know, you’ve seen a boy, take a sucker and hold it close to his
baby brother. The baby reaches out, the brother takes it away. The
baby cries, the brother laughs. He does this over and over, tormen-
ting the little guy, and laughing at his misery! Is this Jesus? Does
He hold out His Abundant Life, then pull it away? Does He do this
over and over tormenting us? Or is it, somehow, POSSIBLE?
3-It’s all over the Bible. Rom. 8:37, "We are more than con-
querors." 1 John 4:4, "Greater is He that is in us, than he that is in
the world." Phil. 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ who
strengthens me." Ps. 1, "whatsoever he doeth shall prosper"
Joshua 1, " . . . wherever you shall go, you shall have good success."
4-It’s the only way of fulfilling the Great Commission. The
world has got to look at the Church and see something better than
what they’ve got. The genuine joy, power, peace, true success and
prosperity that Jesus offers, should be like a beacon, or a magnet
drawing people for miles around. Any Church that really begins
to experience this Abundant Life will have to build a huge building
to hold all the people, because this is what they’re looking for!
(4) The Plan for the Abundant Life of Jesus
Now, are you still sitting there thinking, "I still don’t think
so." "I still don’t see how this is possible." Part of the reason is that
we don’t understand the Plan. It’s called: "A" "A." AA.
Awareness and Action. We’ll do "Action" next week. Today,
Awareness. * (Hearing & Doing might be better, here, Mat. 7:24)
Awareness, Knowledge, Wisdom, Revelation. Someone has
said, "Knowledge is Power." The better the Knowledge, the more
the Power. Let me show you WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT
WHO YOU REALLY ARE, and why, you can and should expect
to really live the Abundant Life of Jesus.
2 Cor. 5:17, "If anyone (anyone, you and I and everyone here)
is in Christ (this is a big "if," first, of course, settle your relationship
with the Lord Jesus, ask Him into your life). But, if anyone is in
Christ, he is a NEW CREATION! "Is!" Not, "will be someday."
The old has (not will), has passed away, behold the new has, HAS,
HAS come." God is saying that when Jesus came in, he brought
something so great, so awesome, it can only be compared with a
new Creation, a new heavens, and earth, a new, "Let there be light,
and there was light." This is AWESOME!
Creation. Let’s look at Gen. 1:26 and see another tremendous
aspect of who we are. God says, "Let us (the Triune God) make
man in Our Image." Hold it, follow the line here. Above, he talks
about making the sea creatures AFTER THEIR KIND. And the
birds, AFTER THEIR KIND. And the lions, tigers, cattle, etc.
AFTER THEIR KIND. But, when he come to man, God does
NOT say, "After their kind," because now, He’s doing something
INFINITELY greater. Making man after !!HIS!! kind.
Don’t take this too far, but God IS SAYING, that He made
us of the same "stuff" as He is made! AMAZING!!
Even better is Heb. 2:11. That says that "Jesus," hold it!
Let’s put this into context. Jesus, Col. 1:16, "in Him, by Him and
for Him, were all things created." John 1:1, "In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God."
All things were created by this Word. So, back there in Genesis,
when God said, "Let there be . . . ," THAT WORD WAS JESUS!
Somehow, it was Jesus Himself, actually putting His Hands on the
Sun, Moon and Stars. Molding in His own hands, to His own taste,
Saturn, Mars, Venus and ALL CREATION!
Now, Heb. 2:11 says that Jesus " . . . was not ashamed to call
them (us) brothers." My Brother is Jesus?! I wouldn’t have the
audacity to say this, it would be arrogant in the extreme, but God
said it. My Brother?! is the Creator of the Universe. He made me
awesome, Ps. 139, wonderful, marvelous, of the same "stuff" as
God, able, capable and powerful. Brilliant, able to to exceedingly
abundantly more than any of us ever gave ourselves credit for. And
then, on the Cross, He made me His brother! PERHAPS, we CAN
actually live the Abundant Life of Jesus!
I need to say a word about "sin," here. You might think,
"Boy, if we’re THAT great, how could we ever sin?" Sin isn’t
about how miserable you are, it’s about where you submitt, and
to whom. You can take your brilliance and strength and serve
lust, greed, pornography and the like. Or you can take your bril-
liance and strength and serve Jesus. People serving sin are smart,
figuring out amazingly creative ways to get pornography into your
home. If you watch TV or are on the Internet, you know; they’ve
figured out ways to barge into your living room and computer with
lust-filled commercials. Sin is not just victims in misery, Sin is
rebellion! But, we do not serve sin! Paul said, in Romans. We
serve One Who said, "I have come that you might have life, and
this life MORE ABUNDANTLY!"
