Through The Eyes Of God Series

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.