SERIES TITLE: The Life God Promised
SERMON TITLE: God Is Not The Thief
SERMON TEXT: John 10:10
John 10:10 - The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
I remember times in South Louisiana when the fog was so dense that I couldn’t see the hood ornament on my car from my seat behind the steering wheel. On two occasions the fog was so thick that State Troopers shut Highway 23 down to all traffic.
There are times when life is foggy. It’s like trying to see our image in the bathroom mirror after a hot shower. Paul expressed this dilemma when he wrote, "We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist" (1Cor. 13:12, TMB).
. Do you have a perfect understanding of what’s happening in your life or is it a bit like looking through a fog?
. Do you have a clear understanding of what God is up to or are you guilty of speculating?
Are you confused about where you are and what to do next?
. Do you know what you ought to do next, with a deep, settled confidence that it will work out?
QUOTE: Wallace Stevens said, "The way through the world is more difficult to find than the way beyond it."
For many of us life is like driving through dense fog in unfamiliar territory. The good news is that it’s difficult but not impossible.
The ship’s captain must rely upon his instruments, not his physical senses. The airplane pilot must rely upon his compass, horizontal indicator and altimeter. If he loses his instruments he must trust the directions given to him by the air traffic controller. Likewise, the believer experiencing life as a dark fog must come to rely upon God for direction. The big question is ARE WE WILLING TO TRUST HIM? Are we willing to place our life—past, present, and future—in His control? Are we willing to allow Him governing authority over our life?
We are told by people and scripture that God cares, but the experience of life causes us to doubt God’s intentions toward us.
· The three foot grave at the cemetery where my grandson’s body rests is a reality check.
· Joe’s untimely death left three children without a father and Mary without the husband she loved.
Events such as these erode our belief that we are part of something grand and good, and reduce us to a survivalist mind-set. Experience gives birth to the question, "Are God’s intentions towards me good?" If so, then why didn’t He…
· heal my mom, or
· save my marriage, or
· keep me from going bankrupt,
· or whatever?
QUESTION: Which is best, to interpret God through our circumstances or to interpret our circumstances through God?
Could it be that our conclusions are based upon distorted images seen through the foggy mist? We interpret God’s intentions through our pain or through our incomplete understanding—"now we see in part". We question, "If God is good and in charge, then why is this happening to me?"
ILLUS: When Lori’s marriage was falling apart a friend asked how he could pray for her. She replied, "That we would have eyes to see what’s going on." Isn’t that what we need? Eyes to see! Isn’t that what Jesus offers us—recovery of sight for the blind (Lu. 4:18)—the ability to see past the fog. I need to know the God who is, not the God I perceive through the foggy mist.
PRAYER: Jesus, take away the fog and the clouds and the veil, and help me to see…give me eyes to really see.
In John 10:10, Jesus tells us, "I have come that you may have life, and have it so full that it overflows."
Some have interpreted this statement of Jesus via the foggy mist and concluded that Jesus was referring to eternal life—because of the death of Jesus you can go to heaven when you die. While that is true it is not the truth shared in this verse. The term eternal means unending not later. Eternal life is not a life waiting for us after death, but unending life. Jesus is offering us life, and that life starts now.
· Jesus declared Himself to be "the bread of life" (Jn. 6:48).
· John tells us, "In Him was life, and that life was the light of men" (Jn. 1:4).
· The Psalmist declared, "I am confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living" (Ps. 27:13).
· Luke quotes Jesus as saying, "I tell you the truth, no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life" (Luke 18:29-30).
· Paul talked about a life available to us in this age: "Godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come" (1Tim. 4:8). To the Romans he wrote, "Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives" (Rom. 6:4).
God’s joy and my joy are tied together. He is committed to my being fully alive in the NOW.
QUOTE: Irenaeus said, "The glory of God is man fully alive."
To be fully alive is to be filled with God’s life and all that is a part of that life.
· It is fullness of peace and joy and righteousness.
· It is being filled with anticipation of the performance of God’s purpose.
· To be fully alive is to be filled with an awesome awareness of how much God loves us.
· It is to be totally convinced that, no matter our plight, God’s intention towards us is good, not evil.
· To be fully alive is to be free from the fatigue of laboring in our own strength by relying in His indwelling power.
· To be fully alive is to be totally free from our sinful past and all of its guilt.
· To be fully alive is to be awesomely aware of God’s plan and purpose for our future.
· Those who are fully alive are awake to God’s involvement in their lives.
· They exude a sense of wonder and awe.
· They inspire others to become men and women of faith.
· To be fully alive is to fully accessible to God—His power, His purpose and His plan.
What a difference it would make if we really believed that God is not committed to our destruction, but to making us fully alive!
TRANS: If this is so, then why is fullness of life so rare?
Please note that Jesus’ statement about life is married to His statement about the thief. These opposing ideas are two parts of one sentence.
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it so full that it overflows" (John 10:10).
God’s intention for you is fullness of life, but right now that life is opposed. God’s intention is life, but you must deal with an Enemy who has a different agenda.
We do not live in the pristine conditions of Eden. This is not Mayberry, USA. This is not Disneyland. The world in which we live is a combat zone, a violent clash of kingdoms, a bitter struggle against malevolent forces who are determined to keep us from experiencing life. We are at war.
In the beginning we were what G. K. Chesterton called, "statues of God walking about in the Garden." Man was endowed with strength and beauty, and great glory was bestowed upon him.
According to Psalm 8:5, God crowned man with "glory and honor". In the Garden Adam was fully alive, but one banished from his heavenly abode sought to turn man’s glory into shame (Ps. 4:2).
God took up the fight and went to war for Adam’s race. The birth of Christ was an act of war, an invasion—"God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself". God was and is at war. What is He fighting for? Our freedom and restoration. It is God’s intent to make man fully alive. In the meantime we are commanded to arm ourselves for war. The first piece of equipment is the belt of truth (Eph. 6:10-18). We must arm ourselves by getting a solid grip on the fact that God intends for us to be fully alive, but we are living our lives in a war zone. Failure to understand this will cause us to misinterpret 90% of what happens to us and around us. We will wrongly believe that God willed the divorce that tore your family apart. That is was God’s will for that four-year-old girl to be molested by her father. That the destruction of the Twin Towers on 9/11 was the perfect will of God.
God is not the thief, but He does use the acts of the thief to serve His purpose.
ILLUS: You remember the story of Israel’s son, Joseph. Joseph experienced rejection by his brothers. He was sold into slavery, lied about by Potiphar’s wife and forgotten in prison by one he had befriended. Later, when he could have exacted revenge on his brothers, he expressed his understanding of God’s purpose in all of this in a statement to his brothers, "You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good."
If Joseph had judged God through the foggy mist of his prison cell, he may have concluded that God was the thief. God caused the thief’s actions against Joseph to serve His purpose. He used the pit, Potiphar, and the prison to get Joseph to the palace and from there to sustain Israel in a time of great famine.
Before He promised us life, Jesus warned that a thief would try to steal, kill, and destroy. He warned us that there will be pits, Potiphars and prisons, but He also declared that there will also be palaces. Life isn’t an experience reserved for palace dwellers, it is God’s provision for us from the pit to the palace.
Ask Job and he will tell you that the thief is committed to your destruction. He will also tell you, God is not the thief, YOU CAN TRUST HIM!
What do you need to do to experience this abundant life now?
· Begin by faithing the finished work of Christ.
· Believe God’s intentions toward us are good.
· Without reservation place the outcome in His hands.
· Trust Him all along the path.
· Refuse to wrongly accuse Him of being the thief.
The thief intends to steal, kill and destroy, but Jesus’ intends for you to be fully alive! This abundant life is ours now, even in the midst of this war. Even when you’re going through difficult times, God’s intentions toward you are good, not evil. So, don’t wait until you get to the palace to experience His life. Don’t wait until you get to heaven to experience His life.
TRUST HIM NOW!
LIVE NOW!
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SOURCES:
John Eldredge’s books, The Journey of Desire and Waking The Dead, published by Nelson.
