Week 1: Abundant Life

Evan Puig

So You May Have Life • Sermon • Submitted 4 months ago • Presented 4 months ago

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I’ll never forget one of my first ministry classes in college at PBAU. It was basically an introductory class to ministry and the dean of the school of ministry was my teacher for it. His name was Randy Richards and he served in ministry for years, mainly he was a missionary in Indonesia before going into the academic world. But I really won’t ever forget that class because he always had the most incredible stories and examples. One time in particular, he was talking about sheep. We were looking at the same passage we will be in tonight and talking about being pastors of sheep in God’s flock. But Dr. Richards went off on this whole tangent about sheep being the dumbest animals in the world. We all were thinking the sheep illustration was so nice and sweet and helpful. But he stopped us and was like NO, don’t you guys realize sheep are stupid!? Now, I need to tell you this is all coming from an old man with grandchildren ok? But he is like- being a sheep isn’t necessarily a compliment. They are dumb and nearly blind. There is a reason they need a shepherd so badly. They are totally defenseless, they will walk right ff the edge of a cliff, and they’ll follow each other off into the middle of nowhere and die if no one stops them. He then finished his tangent by sharing a story of a shepherd who had a sheep that kept wandering off and getting stuck and almost dying so he had to break the sheep’s leg and then fix it, to teach the sheep to never do that again. I later learned that that story is actually just an ancient myth but these were the wise words from Randy Richards.

We aren’t going to talk about breaking sheep legs tonight, but we are going to look at a story where Jesus compares himself to a shepherd and in turn, compares us to sheep. And as we just heard described by Dr. Richards- sheep desperately need a good shepherd to experience a good life.

Everyone is seeking a good life in this world. You can look at anyone and pretty quickly see the ways in which they are trying to find satisfaction, joy, peace, purpose, and community. Especially in a new year, people download mindfulness apps, join gyms, try a new diet, start a new hobby- all in hopes of making their life better this year.

And to be clear- none of those things are necessarily bad- but theres a reason why most of those same people will quit those things shortly after or still be searching for more next year. We can’t find the life we were created for on our own in this world.

Only the good shepherd can give us good life! Turn with me to John 10.

Most of you are probably familiar with this passage and that’s good. It is so important for understanding what it means to be a follower of Jesus! But we are going to kick off our new series with it tonight because it is ultimately like the turning point in the Bible where all of the other examples and images of Life throughout the Bible come together. In the weeks ahead we will be looking at the pictures of the tree of life, the water of life and eternal life that we see all throughout the Bible! But to kick us off tonight let’s look at John 10 and see Jesus talk about how he came to give us Abundant life.

John 10:1–11 CSB

“Truly I tell you, anyone who doesn’t enter the sheep pen by the gate but climbs in some other way is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought all his own outside, he goes ahead of them. The sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will never follow a stranger; instead they will run away from him, because they don’t know the voice of strangers.” Jesus gave them this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them. Jesus said again, “Truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them. I am the gate. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

In order to understand this illustration we must understand what shepherding sheep was like for them.

In the desert, at night sheep were often herded into their pens which were walled enclosures that either backed up against a cliff face or were at the end of a canyon. These pens had waist-high stone walls topped with thorny branches to keep them in and predators out. Such a pen was entirely for safety so that the sheep would not become prey to wild animals. It would have one small doorway (or opening) in the wall served as the only entrance and exit. The shepherd would either close this area with dry thornbushes or would lay down in the opening and serve as a guard in the opening throughout the night.

It’s so important to realize here that Jesus isn’t just coming up with this illustration out of nowhere. Jesus uses the picture of the shepherd and his sheep for 2 reasons. One reason is simply because it was relevant- shepherding sheep was common in that culture and those around him would be able to appreciate his illustration.

But more importantly, Jesus is referring back to the old testament where the prophet Ezekiel used the same illustration to warn the leaders of Israel that one day the messiah would come and call his people away from the religious leaders because they were bad shepherds! This is where Jesus begins in verses 1-6. Jesus is calling out the religious leaders of that day but more importantly he was calling his sheep to himself.

The first thing we see in this story is that

1. Jesus calls us away from the false life of this world.

In this illustration Jesus says there is the good shepherd and there are thieves and robbers. And the life of the sheep depends on who is leading the flock.

Jesus was speaking to the Jewish people and their religious leaders. The jewish people should have been able to trust and follow their leaders to experience a good life as the community of God’s people.

Unfortunately, the leadership had become corrupt and no longer was leading the people to follow God but was leading for their own personal gain. Ezekiel 34:3-4 puts it this way

Ezekiel 34:3–4 CSB

You eat the fat, wear the wool, and butcher the fattened animals, but you do not tend the flock. You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick, bandaged the injured, brought back the strays, or sought the lost. Instead, you have ruled them with violence and cruelty.

This is what Jesus is addressing.

The leaders of their day promising to bring the people a good life but only leading them to suffer and struggle to survive.

These unhealthy leaders were using their positions and power not to help people follow God and find life but rather they were building themselves up, getting rich and more powerful at the expense of God’s people.

If you look at many leaders today especially out in the world but then sometimes even in churches-

unhealthy leaders always have the message of Just do this, just buy this, just follow me, watch this, and you will have a bigger, better, happier, richer life!

What they are doing is promising life that they cannot actually offer. No one can do anything, give you any advice, or show you anything that can give you real life that satisfies your soul.

Jesus says these leaders jump the wall to the pen, they sneak in and manipulate the sheep.

But on the other hand- we see the good shepherd in verse 3 calls each of his sheep by name- he knows them, and when they follow Him he leads them away from the false teachers and into a new life with him. It says that these sheep that follow Jesus even run away from the strangers voices.

When we know the voice of our shepherd we don’t listen to the voices of strangers.

When we have life in Jesus we don’t have to fall for the lies of this world anymore.

Jesus’ first call to his sheep is away from the false life that this world tries to promise us.

2. Jesus promises a life of protection and provision.

Jesus changes up the illustration.

First he is comparing himself to the shepherd, now he calls himself the GATE!

Again, go back to our understanding of ancient shepherds and sheep pens. The gate was just an opening in the wall. the good shepherd would function as a literal gate by laying down and blocking the entrance with his own body.

This has two implications for us:

Jesus is the only way to experience life in God’s flock.

As Jesus said, He is the way, the truth and the life, no one can come to the Father exept through him. HE is the gate- the only way new sheep could enter the flock are to go through JEsus. The only way to have the life of God is through Jesus. Again like we said, only the good shepherd can give good life!

2. Jesus will offer protection and provide for his sheep. If the shepherd IS the gate, at night Anything that wanted to get into the sheep would have to go through the shepherd! And Jesus is king of Kings and lord of Lords, he conquered death, hell and sin. If we want anyone to have our backs and protect us- it should be Jesus.

Once you enter the life of Jesus, he promises to protect you. This doesn’t mean you won’t ever face attacks in this world, it doesn’t mean you wont struggle or even suffer. This is a broken world, sin is all around us, and people will hurt us. However, Jesus is bigger, better and stronger and you can know that nothing and no one can defeat you when Jesus is your Shepherd.

Jesus will use even your greatest struggle and hardship, to bring life and victory somehow. It’s crazy how I have seen Jesus use peoples stories of brokenness, and suffering, addiction, and all out evil and turn them around for good.

Jesus protects his sheep, and can use even our greatest struggles to bring about new life and victory in our life and the lives of others when we let him!

But notice, Jesus doesn’t keep his sheep locked up in a pen. No, he called them out and he is the gate that opens up and as a good shepherd leads them out into the world around them to go to green pastures for food and flowing water to drink. The life of Jesus means we never go hungry or thirsty, He is a generous God who gives generously to his children!

Ask any old person you can find who has been following Jesus for a long time and I promise you they will talk about how god always provided for them.

Even when I was with my grandmother- you know Tutu, I’ve mentioned her before, in Tampa a few weeks ago, she asked what I was preaching on the Sunday we got back and I told her it would be about trusting God’s Will and living God’s way. And she basically started preaching to me- she was like oh you of course. You have to trust God and live how he tells you- that’s how he provides for you and takes care of you and gives you everything you need. And as Tutu always does at the end of conversations she encourages me and reminds me God’s got you, keep following Him and He will take care of you.

Isn’t that incredible? About 80 years of following Jesus and that is what Tutu says to me EVERY SINGLE TIME I talk to her. Remember God will always take care of you!

Jesus is the good shepherd how protects and provides for his sheep.

This means we don’t have to kill ourselves trying to survive. We don’t have to stress out of our minds about what college will accept or reject us, we don’t need to freak out when we lose our job unjustly, or when we get hit by a surprise bill to pay, or when our friends abandon us. God is good, He will protect us and He will provide for us!

Jesus promises a life of protection and provision!

And the awesome news is that he doesn’t just give us enough to survive, no- he gives us enough to truly thrive!

He says I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.

In contrast to the bad shepherds who steal and kill and destroy for their own gain, Jesus is the good shepherd who gives, and protects, and provides from his own life for us, his sheep to have abundant life.

So, what is abundant life? (Greek: perissos)

Abundant: extraordinary, beyond normal, or complete.

What Jesus is saying is only I can offer you the fullest, complete life that is beyond anything you can achieve for yourself in this world.

Only Jesus can offer the full and complete life that is beyond anything you can achieve for yourself in this world.

How so?

3. Jesus offers us a more than enough life through the Cross!

It really all does come down to the fact that Jesus was willing to lay down his life for the sheep. Jesus lived a perfect life as our example and as a perfect sacrifice. He then went to the cross and died the death that we deserved for our sins. And he rose from the dead conquering sin, death and hell for us for eternity.

Now, when we turn to him and accept his sacrifice for us, and enter a relationship with Him, we receive this real life.

This real life is marked by being intimately and personally known by our Heavenly Father. We are no longer enemies of God separated by our sin, we are his children and He gives us his personal, Spirit to live in us forever.

We are set free and no longer slaves to our sins. We are servants of Jesus and get to walk in His life for eternity. We can begin to grow in living holy, righteous, GOOD lives!

And abundant life again suggests that we have more than enough- why? So we can share with others. God has filled you with an overflowing amount of life if you are in Jesus and that is meant to overflow into the lives of everyone around you! But you have to walk with Jesus and let his life be in you and flow out of you!

That’s why we have to spend time with him in the Bible and prayer and worship together like this, because that’s how he changes us from the inside out and helps us experience more and more of His life!

Only the good shepherd gives good life. So we must always only go to Jesus and find the life that only He can offer!

There’s 2 big reasons I wanted us to start by looking at this topic of LIFE this year.

First, This year as you look ahead at 2024- realize that Jesus didn’t save you and give you this life for you to then live a life that is boring, or lazy, or sinful, or unintentional, or non-impactful. No, he came so that you may have life and have it in abundance. The life of God living in you leads to miracles, it leads to transformation is leads to salvation, it leads to this world being turned upside down by the Holy Spirit moving in and through you! So this year, pursue the life of Jesus and let him live in and through you! Then and only then will we see your families, your schools, this church and this world be radically impacted by the Gospel!

Let’s see what this year looks like when every single student and leader in our ministry is fully surrendered to let the abundant life of Jesus flow in and through us!

The second reason is because of the other things we will be digging into this Spring. After we finish this series we will be talking about relationships and gender and sexuality as a ministry. So, we all have to be on the same page that we trust Jesus to give us life. We have to truly trust that only the WAY of Jesus brings good life. SO we will keep unpacking why and how we can trust God to define what it means to have a life that is truly good, complete and satisfying!

So, keep coming back, bring your friends, and let’s dig deep into the life that Jesus has for us this year!

Let’s pray. Heads bowed and eyes closed.

If you are here and haven’t ever trusted the good shepherd to give you life you can do that today. Jesus’ invitation to come and follow Him is open tonight! Come to the shepherd and find the abundant life he has for you! To do that you have to turn away from the life you have been chasing yourself and trust that Jesus’ life is better! Turn away from your sins and follow Jesus and lord today and you will receive his Spirit of Life within you to forgive you of your sins, give you a personal relationship with God and a brand new life in His kingdom!

Is there anyone here today who needs to be saved tonight? Will you raise your hand so I can pray with you?

For the rest of us, if we are in the flock of God these are promises we get to cling to and trust and find hope in each and every day. Ask God to help you see any ways that you haven’t been trusting him to protect you or provide for you.

Ask God to help you rest in His life as your good shepherd.

Finally, ask God to show you how he wants abundant life to flow in and throuhg you this year!

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