A Father's Heart // An Abundant Life in Jesus, Part 2

With all that life throws at us, not to mention our own foibles and quirks, it’s easy to end up with quite a distorted view of what God our Father means when He talks about His blessing in our lives.  What Jesus means when He talks about giving us an abundant life.

 

The Child in the Father’s House

We are chatting together this week on the programme about living out the abundant life that Jesus promised us, a life overflowing with His grace and mercy and love and peace and joy and blessing. By that we don’t always mean abundant finances or complete safety. God has a tendency not to wrap us in cotton-wool but to be with us out there in the middle of life – in the good times and the bad – with His presence, which is what gives us that sense of overflow; that sense of abundance.

It’s funny how most of us, in our heart of hearts, desire a life that’s, well, perfect, blessed in every way: every relationship perfect, finances perfect, home-life perfect, our own sense of self perfect … everything perfect. But life just isn’t like that. In fact, as you and I think back on our lives thus far, chances are that there are very few times, if ever, where we could tick the box in every part of our lives as having been perfect.

And yet somehow, we yearn secretly, even subconsciously, for this time in our lives when everything will be just perfect. And the mere fact that it isn’t can be so disappointing to many. And yet, I come back to the fact that Jesus promised this abundant life, not wrapped away somewhere in cottonwool, but out there in this precarious, sometimes threatening place that we call ‘life’. This is in fact, what He said – beginning at John chapter 10, verse 1:

Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.
So again Jesus said to them, “Look, truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.

The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

As we saw last week, the life of a shepherd and the lives of the sheep back there in the first century, were indeed, precarious. As the shepherd would take his flock out onto the rocky plateau of Israel, in search of pasture, there were many threats – thieves, wild animals – and it wasn’t unusual for the shepherd to have to defend his sheep; sometimes with his own life.

And interestingly, in that beautiful prayer that Jesus prayed just before He was crucified, He actually said this about you and me, to His Father: John chapter 17, beginning at verse 12:

While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them and not one of them was lost, except the one destined to be lost so that the scripture might be fulfilled.

Verse 15:

I am not asking you to take them out of this world but I ask you to protect them from the evil one.

In other words: Dad, let’s not take them out of all these situations and wrap them up in cotton-wool but rather, let’s be with them and protect them from the evil one.

Do you see how different God’s perspective is? His promise is for an abundant life not a perfect one. And I have to tell you, as I have sat and thought about that a lot; it makes an enormous amount of sense. I’m a father; I have children – I love them very dearly. When they were young they lived with my wife Jacqui and me in our house, under our care and protection and with our provision. And that’s right: that’s why God gives us children, that’s why He gives children parents.

But there comes a time, in fact, it starts quite early, where as they grow up, we as good parents give them more and more responsibility for themselves, because one of the main parts of growing up is shifting the responsibility for their care from their parents to the children, as they become capable of accepting that responsibility. It’s not always easy. It’s one of the reasons that those teenage years can be so stressful because often teenagers – I know this was true of me – want to behave like children but still be treated like adults.

In other words, they still want parents to do all the things that the parents ever did for them when they were little children, whilst at the same time, giving them all the freedoms that an adult has. Now there is tension, with a capital "T". They, in effect, want the best of both worlds – the perfect life. Sound familiar?

And it’s the same often, in our relationship with God. We want Him to fix everything; make everything perfect in our lives, whilst at the same time, we do things that don’t honour Him that have consequences. And yet He is the perfect Father. Have a listen again to Romans chapter 8, beginning at verse 12:

So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh — for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.

For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father”, it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ — if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

One of the most beautiful passages in the Bible, because it puts everything into perspective to me. Sometimes in the cut and thrust and the hurts of life, we lose our heavenly perspective; we lose sight of the fact that God is indeed our Father. In fact, Jesus called Him, “Abba”, which literally means, “Dad”. If we live our lives for Him; if we choose to be led by the Spirit of God, rather than by the desires of our own flesh, then we are indeed children of God and deep down, if we will let Him, the Spirit of God witnesses to us that we are His children – the children of the living God – and that means something. It means what Jesus prayed for you and me, back there in the Garden of Gethsemane. It means God’s protection from the evil one rather than being wrapped in cotton-wool.

I have to tell you, I for one would hate to be wrapped by God in cotton-wool, because I want to experience life and all that it’s meant to be. That means sometimes we get hurt; that means sometimes it’s hard; that means sometimes we are challenged. But, all along, God is our Father.

Fathers know this – when our children are growing up, we don’t stop being their fathers. We don’t stop being there to help and advise when they need it. We don’t stop caring and one day they will receive their inheritance from us. And it’s the same with Dad, God! We are and always will be His children and His protection is always available to us.

Can I tell you something? Somewhere in that knowledge, deep within, lies the source of abundance in my life – His abundance, not mine – His abundance in my life. He loves me, He wants me to know Him and to honour Him and to be all that He made me to be. To experience every day that He wrote down in His Book for me, before any of them ever existed. That’s where the abundance begins – in our relationship with God; out there in the middle of life.

See that story that Jesus told of the shepherd and his sheep: they were out there in this dangerous place, not wrapped away in cotton-wool, not sitting in a business class seat in a plane but out there in the cut and thrust of life. And it’s out there that the knowledge of the faithfulness of my God, my Father gives me a sense of abundance that nothing else can give me.

 

Above and Not Below

We are looking today at the promise that Jesus made to give us an abundant life. Here it is in case you missed it earlier in the programme, John chapter 10, verse 10:

The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy. I came that you may have life and have it abundantly.

It’s a beautiful promise and it’s one that’s always … it’s always really touched my heart. It’s a promise from Jesus that I take seriously. He came so that you and I could have life and not just have life, but have it abundantly.

Now, "abundance" is an amazing word, isn’t it? It means "plenty"; it means "overflow" – a very large quantity of something. But what if I told you that the original Greek word used here for ‘abundance’ in John chapter 10 verse 10, literally means "super-abundance" – more than abundant; over the top abundance? Because that’s exactly what it means. That’s Jesus promise.

And yet the promise is made here as a point of comparison – the promise is the second part of the verse. The first part of the verse is about someone else – the thief, he’s called here in the story:

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.

And, in fact, as we have seen, this whole story where Jesus teaches us that He is the Good and True Shepherd of us, the sheep, is about the authenticity of who Jesus is as that Shepherd, verses the sham of the thief. Question is: why did Jesus make this beautiful promise in such a context? Well, of course the thief in the story is the devil and the original Greek word for the devil is "diabolos", which is the word from which we get our English word "diabolical". It means a slanderer; a false accuser.

And elsewhere in the New Testament, in Revelation chapter 12 verse 9, the devil is also called "the deceiver" – someone who tricks people and leads them astray; away from the right path; away from truth, into error. That’s the devil, here in the story – the thief who comes only to steal and kill and destroy.

And so here Jesus presents us with an alternative – the thief or the True Shepherd. Now, you might say to me, "Well, that’s no real alternative at all, is it? Who wants a thief who comes only to steal, kill and destroy? I’ll have the Good Shepherd thanks, who came to give me a superabundant life." Of course, it’s an obvious choice in the light of Jesus parable of the Good Shepherd here – He means for it to be an obvious choice because it is so obvious when you stop and think about it.

Problem is we often don’t stop; we often don’t think about it because the devil doesn’t always come to us looking like a thief. You know, like in a black beanie like he just broke out of prison. Quite on the contrary, in fact Second Corinthians chapter 11 verse 14, says:

Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

Isn’t that true? The whole point of temptation is that it’s tempting; it’s seductive. Evil comes to us, wrapped in a wrapper that cries out to us, "Go on, open me, follow me, take me. I’m good, I’ll bless you." The very first deception and temptation of Adam and Eve in the Garden was exactly like that. Evil was dressed up as having benefit. That’s why it’s so diabolical – that’s why the devil is a liar and a deceiver and so we are seduced by his lies and all of a sudden we are in the hands of a thief who truly came only to steal, kill and destroy – to rob us of the superabundant life that Jesus came to give us.

Do you see the power of this parable? God wants to bless us. God wants to heap His superabundant blessing into our lives, but like any father, when His children are rebelling, He can’t bless us because the blessing would reward the rebellion. When my children played up sometimes when they were young, the tap of father’s blessing turned off. Sometimes they were punished by the removal of a privilege – no internet access for three months. Why, was I being mean? No! Because I was teaching them right from wrong and the basis of that lesson is that blessing comes when you do right and you lose it when you do wrong.

Parents do that because, a) they love their children and b), we are wired by God to be like that. One of the very worst things that we can do – and you see it a lot these days – is to continue to bless our children when they are doing wrong. I want you to have a listen on one of the best explanations linked between obedience and blessing that I ever found in God’s Word. It comes from Deuteronomy chapter 28, beginning at verse 1. If you have a Bible, can I encourage you to open up here – this is a really powerful passage – listen carefully to what God says to His people. Deuteronomy 28, beginning at verse 1:

If you will only obey the Lord your God, by diligently observing all his commandments that I am commanding you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth; all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the Lord your God.

Blessed you shall be in the city, and blessed you shall be in your field. Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your ground, and the fruit of your livestock, both the increase of your cattle and the issue of your flock.
Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed you shall be when you come in, and blessed you shall be when you go out. The Lord will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you; they shall come out against you one way, and flee before you seven ways. The Lord will command the blessing upon your barns, and on all that you undertake; he will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

The Lord will establish you as his holy people, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways. All the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you. The Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in the fruit of your womb, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground in the land that the Lord swore to your ancestors to give you.

The Lord will open for you his rich storehouse, the heavens, to give the rain of your land in its season and to bless all your undertakings. You will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow.

The Lord will make you the head, and not the tail; you shall be only at the top, and not at the bottom—if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am commanding you today, by diligently observing them, and if you do not turn aside from any of the words that I am commanding you today, either to the right or to the left, following other gods to serve them.

But if you will not obey the Lord your God by diligently observing all his commandments and decrees, which I am commanding you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you. Cursed shall you be in your city, and cursed shall you be in your field.

And then he goes on to list this whole bunch of not very nice curses. Do you see the causal link between obedience and blessing? Do you see that? And disobedience and the removal of that blessing - just as in any relationship between a parent and a child. But the thing that really strikes me here is the magnitude of the blessing – look at verse 2 again of Deuteronomy 28:

All these blessing shall come upon you and overtake you if you obey the Lord your God.

Don’t you love how the blessing will come upon you but it will also overtake you – they will chase you down the street? This is the superabundant life that Jesus spoke about. Verse 13:

The Lord will make you the head and not the tail – you shall be at the top and not the bottom if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I am commanding you today, by diligently observing them.

Friend, listen God wants to bless us. And that doesn’t always mean being rich and wealthy. Jesus wants to bless us with a life that is superabundant and rich so that His blessing chases us down the street and overtakes us. Do you get it? But that blessing happens when we are close to the Good Shepherd, safe in His care. It does not happen when we follow the thief and let him plunder our lives through deception and temptation because remember, the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy but Jesus came that you and I might have life and have it abundantly.

Our Dad in heaven truly does want us to be the head and not the tail; the top and not the bottom. I mean, what dad wouldn’t want that for his children?

 

A Different Perspective

You know what I think happens as we grind away at life or at least, life grinds away at us? I think we lose our sense of perspective. We hear these promises from Jesus about an abundant life and then we look at the reality of our own lives – all the trials and temptations tearing away at us – and we come to the conclusion that, well, it may have been possible two thousand years ago to have this so called "abundant life", it may even be possible for other people but this promise definitely is not for me; I mean, can’t be! Look at my life, I mean, really!!

I said it before and I am going to say it again: His promise is for an abundant life not a perfect one. His promise is that we can have His blessings in the middle of the ups and downs of life. Deuteronomy 28, verse 2:

All these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you if you obey the Lord your God.

Verse 13:

The Lord will make you the head and not the tail. You shall only be at the top, not the bottom if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I am giving you today by diligently observing them.

And how does that work? Well, Jesus told us – John chapter 17, verse 15:

I am not asking you Dad, to take them out of this world. I am asking you to protect them from the evil one.

See, we are blessed not by God taking us out of this world and wrapping us in cotton-wool, we are blessed in the middle of our lives, just as they are at the moment. We live in an "aspirational" world – by that I mean we are always hoping for something better out of life; we are always expecting things to improve. Sometimes they do but sometimes they don’t and sometimes it takes much longer than we would like and so people … many people spend much of their lives grumpy and down and complaining and, before you know it, life has slipped away and we haven’t enjoyed the life that God has given us.

Friend, God’s Word says that the joy of the Lord is our strength – Nehemiah chapter 8, verse 10:

The joy of the Lord is our strength.

Friend, it’s time to start enjoying what we have – like those sheep in the story of the good shepherd. They still had to walk miles over rocky plateaus in search of pasture. Some days it was hot, some days it was cold, some days it was wet and windy and blowing – it wasn’t always comfortable. But no matter, that’s life; it’s how it is. The point was that they were safe because they were with the good shepherd; the one true shepherd who they knew was prepared to lay down his life for them. And so they had peace and security and the deep knowledge of the life-giving love of their shepherd.

Friend, that’s what an abundant life is. So often in my life, in the past and yes, even now, I am confronted by circumstances that are difficult; circumstances that sometimes are painful; circumstances that I certainly wouldn’t have chosen for myself. And the temptation … the temptation is either to curl up in a ball in the corner and give up or to come out punching and hurt other people. Have you ever felt like that? I do some days.

I was sitting with a man just yesterday, over coffee, chatting about this very thing. He was going through some difficult things and I shared with him how, in my life – because I choose to spend time each day with Jesus; because I choose, albeit often imperfectly, to believe in Him with my life – I have this constant joy. Okay, sometimes I’m downcast, but it can’t last long because the joy of the Lord is my strength.

Friend, God is such a good God! He is the True Shepherd and He laid down His life for us. It’s a totally different perspective on life and it’s a perspective that, to me, has only come as I have developed a real, intimate relationship with Jesus. I believe it’s a gift from Him. I believe it’s the normative Christian life. I believe that it’s not just for the so called ‘super-spiritual’ but it’s for everyone and the reason so many are missing out is because they haven’t taken the step of faith to believe this promise from Jesus with their life.

Listen … listen very carefully, Jesus meant it for all the sheep. He meant it for you, He meant it for me. Listen … John chapter 10, verse 10:

The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy. But I,” said Jesus, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

Friend, that is God’s promise for me and for you!!