The Abundant Life of Jesus:
Part VII - How Long?!
John 10:10; and 10:7-15
We’ve been following a series of questions to help us thing
properly about the Abundant Life of Jesus, asking the
questions: Who, does What, When, Why, Where, How and
How Long! There’s power in each of these, check out previous
sermoms in the series, to fill in any gaps.
If you’ve been thinking about today’s question, "How Long?", you
might think about the idea of NOT QUITTING!
Not quitting, persevering, don’t give up, this is a good thing. A
man had a son who was having a hard time in Algebra and wanted
to drop the course, and take an easier math. Dad gave him the
"Don’t quit," lecture. "Hey, don’t quit, what would have happened if
Albert Einstein would have quit, or Thomas Edison, or Frank
Shorter, the last American to win the Olympic Marathon, or George
Kefunkle?"
At this the boy piped in, and asked, "Who??!!"
And dad said, "Right you don’t know who he is, you know why,
because HE QUIT!"
Well, I DON’T want to talk about persistence, as helpful as that
might be, I want to talk about living the abundant life, ALL
YOUR LIFE! How long? A life time long! I’ve been a Christian
35 years and it’s different.
I remember when I was little, we lived about a mile away from the
French Quarter in New Orleans and every year our family would
hike down during the parades of Mardi Gras and hike home. It was
relatively safe then, a real family outing, and my brother, Wilson
and I just love it, playing with all the other kids, excitement,
interesting food.
I was just about 3 or 4 years old then and I remember walking home
and I was so tired, I just sat down on a curb and fell asleep.
Now, I wasn’t really "little," I come from an Italian family where
"Skinny people were UNHEALTHY people." I was definitely
HEALTHY!,
Well I fell asleep and I remember waking up in my bed the next
morning. A miracle?
No, my dad. You see, I was tired, really couldn’t hardly go another
step, I needed someone big enough and strong enough to help me,
to actually carry little? me home. That someone was my dad.
Big enough, Strong enough!
That’s what we need, WE CAN’T LIVE THIS LIFE ON OUR
OWN! We need someone big enough and strong enough, when
we’re tired, when we want to quit, when we can’t go on, we
absolutely need Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!
Now, following through on much that we have said in recent weeks,
we don’t have to GO AND GET JESUS. He’s right here. His
strength is always working with us to help us live this life. He’s
like the dad that holds his son’s hands whcn he’s learning how to
help him walk.
Jesus is here; all of Jesus is here! The Lamb and the Lion, the Rider
upon the White Horse, the Bridegroom, the Rock, the Fortress, all
that Jesus ever was, or will be is HERE!
Let the Holy Spirit work with your mind and see, look around and
see Jesus! He is right here in this room. And he has a message for
YOU! Mt. 11:28, "Come unto Me," Jesus said, "I will give you
rest!" He’s big enough and strong enough to carry us and our
burden and to live the Abundant Life!
Illus. A pastor in Korea was riding a city bus when a lady got on.
She was carrying a big, and obviously heavy package. She juggled
the package to pay the fare then stood (no seats available), held on
and kept holding her package. The pastor (also standing) said,
"Lady, why don’t you let the bus carry your package? Put it down,
the bus is strong enough!" She smiled and did. What a relief.
Well, John 10:10 is in the context of Jesus’ teaching on the Good
Shepherd. And, of course Jesus is a really, really G O O D
Shepherd.
10: 14, Three points (1) I am the good shepherd
(2) I Know my sheep
(3) They know me.
1) I am the Good Shepherd.
This is in the context of the bad shepherds, the false shepherd, the
legalist, the fatalist, the religious person who is not a christian,
of whom the pharisees were the chief examples.
Legalists love rules and use them to control and hurt people.
Legalists are mean, expressing no love at all.
In John 9, Jesus healed a man born blind. A great miracle, the
Legalist, Pharisees, Bad Shepherds called the man in and said,
"You broke the rules,"
"But, I’ve been healed," he said.
"Who helped you break the rules," the bad shepherds angrily asked.
"But," the ex-blind man said, "I was born blind, Who do you
Think??? healed me?"
"You can’t talk to us that way," the bad shepherds said.
They eventually kicked the man out of the Church (Synagogue)!
Because the only thing that mattered was the rules. (Now rules are
fine, but they are not to be used as a weapon in church
administration.
In that context, Jesus said, "I am the good shepherd." Philip Keller
is famous for his comments from a Shepherd’s point of view, of the
23rd Psalm.
He tells, (I think it was him, you know after 30 years of sermons,
sources get vague and, although I do have a photographic memory,
I have no film) about a time he was visiting a neighboring
shepherd. They walked over by some cliffs when they heard a
sheep crying. They went to see and there was one of the neighbor’s
sheep, it had obviously been there some time, emaciated, starving,
hair matted, probably something broken and a real mess.
Philip asked if he wanted help getting him and the guy said, "No,
we’ll just leave him there, he’s been nothin’ but trouble and it’s good
riddance." Philip was appalled and asked if he minded if he got the
sheep. "No," he said, "go ahead, he’s no good and will be nothing
but trouble for you, too."
Philip got the sheep, took it home. He cleaned it, bound it’s
wounds, fed it and befriended it. The sheep seemed to know that
Philp was it’s savior and became as docile and good a sheep as any
shepherd could ever want.
Some time later the neighbor shepherd came to Philip’s for a visit,
Philip brought him to where the dying sheep was, now healthy and
fine looking. The shepherd didn’t even recognize him, and Philip
asked what he thought of THAT ONE, pointing to the, now
healthy sheep. Why, the man said, that’s a fine sheep, I would pay
good money for a sheep like that.
Mr. Keller responded, "That’s the sheep you threw away."
Now, that’s us. We’re the rebels, in trouble, starving ourselves
trying to eat the food of the world, and Jesus comes just keeps
loving us, over and over and over, because he’s a really gooood
Shepherd!
2) I know my sheep.
Jesus calls each one by name. In shepherding in Jesus’ time,
shepherds DIDN’T give every sheep a name. There were too
many, it would have been cumbersom. But, they did give a few
names. Those were the favorites, perhaps used for breeding,
definitely NOT destined to be lamb chops.
To Jesus, we’re ALL favorites! He calls us, each, by name. Have
you every heard Jesus call YOUR NAME! In salvation? When we
stray away? When we are rebellious?
Illus. There’s a prison cemetary in New York; prisoners who died
without a family were buried there. Some years ago, a man was
tried for multiple murders. In the court everyone just hated and
despised this man, and rightly so, he’d killed, malisciously, many
people. There was one person on his side, his mother, only one who
loved him.
He was convicted and sentenced to death. He died in the electric
chair and then came the burial. His home town wouldn’t let him be
buried there, for the shame of it so, he was buried in the Prison
Cemetary.
Years later, his mother was dying and she requested that she could
be buried in the prison cemetary, next to her son. This was the first
time anyone had ever requested such a thing, but it was granted.
She knew her son, and loved him, in spite of things.
Jesus knows us, he knows the dark parts of our lives, and he still
loves us and is IS, our Good Shepherd.
3) They know me.
During Jesus’ time, shepherds would come to large holding places,
one of which was near Bethlehem. Some, not all, but, some would
put all their sheep in one place. They would mingle, but there was
no danger of getting the sheep mixed up, because when the
shepherd would come, he’d call out, and ONLY HIS SHEEP, would
come. Amazing, they would sort themselves out.
Do you know Jesus’ voice? I know, sometimes the wolf’s voice
seems more urgent, and sometimes it sounds close to Jesus, they
threaten us, the wolves may come really close, but the Shepherd
won’t let them devour us, he may let them take a bite or nibble, and
it may seem like we’re being devoured, but, really, not.
And, as bad as you think things may be W I T H Jesus, they
would definitely be worse W I T H O U T Jesus.
I’ve performed about 35 weddings, and only once did we have to
delay the ceremony. A couple had a little girl in a wheel chair they
wanted to be in the processional, but they forgot the wheel chair. It
was a half hour away.
The groom, note, THE GROOM, said, "I’ll go get it." (We were
just a little worried, sounds like that Diet Pepsi commercial), but
the whole thing had to wait an hour.
We had to wait, can’t start the wedding without the groom! And we
can’t life the Abundant Life of Jesus, without Jesus! No way, we
must make sure Jesus is with us in every detail of this life!
But, the glorious fact is we don’t have to wait, He’s HERE!
Let me close this sermon, and series with my absolutely most
favorite story.
It seems a small boy got interested in God. He went to his mom
and asked if she ever saw God. Strange question, but she honestly
said, "No, I don’t think anyone has."
He went to his dad and asked if HE ever saw God? He said, "No, I
don’t think anyone has.
He went to church and asked the minister if HE ever saw God, and
he answered, "No, I don’t think anyone has, at least not since the
days of the Bible."
The Boy kind of gave up. One day he was out fishing with his
grandfather, not a particularly religious person. The sun was
setting and it was beautiful, so he decided to ask anyway.
"Grandfather, have you ever seen God?"
Grandfather was looking at the sun setting, seemed to get a tear in
his eye, seemed to be seeing something wonderful and said,
"Son, it’s getting so, I don’t see, anything else!"
