John 10:1-10
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.
2 The
one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The
gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his
own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When
he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him
because they know his voice. 5 They
will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know
the voice of strangers.” 6 Jesus
used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was
saying to them.
7 So again Jesus said to them,
“Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All
who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to
them. 9 I
am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out
and find pasture. 10 The
thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life,
and have it abundantly.
Are you happy with your life?
I’m not asking if the things in your life are good. I’m not asking if your situation is
great. I’m asking about your state of
mind about your life.
James Thurber, in his
delightful story, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, tells about a man who is constantly day
dreaming about a better life.
One
moment he is, in reality, driving down the highway, listening to his nagging
wife, and the next he is in a fantasy world, commanding a ship at sea.
One moment, he is
standing in front of a store window smoking a cigarette, the next he is again
in his fantasy world, a hero smoking his last cigarette as he prepares to face
an enemy firing squad.
There
is a real contrast between Walter Mitty of the real world and Walter Mitty of
the fantasy world. In his fantasies,
Walter is heroic, brave, decisive, intelligent -- while in reality, he is meek
mild person who is constantly hen pecked by a nagging wife.
Poor Walter Mitty --
anyone who reads the story can't help but feel sorry for him -- he wants so
much to be something he's not. He wants
so much to have something MORE out of life.
But Walter Mitty is
not alone.
Paul Simon, in one of his songs, wrote,
I know a woman, became a wife,
These are the very words she uses to describe her life.
She said a good day ain't got no rain.
She said a bad day's when I lie in bed
and think of things that might have been.
Many of us are so dissatisfied with life that we often find
ourselves like Walter Mitty, dreaming of lives that are not our own, or like
the woman of Paul Simon's song, who sits in bed and thinks of things that might
have been.
The tragedy of this is
the universality of the problem.
So many people are so
discouraged about their lives.
In another of his
songs, Paul Simon wrote
I don't know a soul
who's not been battered,
I don't have a friend
who feels at ease.
I don't know a dream
that's not been shattered
or driven to its
knees...
When I think of the road
we're traveling on
I wonder what's gone
wrong.
I can't help it,
I wonder what's gone
wrong.
For some many people, life isn't what they would like for it
to be. Jesus understands that feeling
very well. In our New Testament lesson,
he made the bold declaration that he had come to change all of that. He declared that he had come to give ABUNDANT
LIFE!
Abundant Life!
I doubt seriously that
Jesus was talking about abundance of possessions, abundance of savings,
abundance of money, abundance of clothing, abundance of cars – or in his time,
chariots.
He was talking about
the real things of life - a life that is filled with peace, love, joy,
patience, and all of the other good
qualities of life to such a degree that he never runs out. One never runs out of peace, because he has
more than enough within his heart. One never
runs out of patience, There is always enough love and joy. One is living the Abundant Life.
What
an idealistic and unrealistic concept. When one first considers it, such a
perfect life as this seems totally far fetched and completely out of reach. Few people would dare say that they are
living the Abundant Life. The sad fact
is that many people, if they are truly honest, would admit to living just the
opposite of an Abundant Life. They
would admit to living an empty, unsatisfying, inadequate life.
Years ago there was a
movie with Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman.
The name of the movie was
PAPILLION, and it was about a man named Pappillion who had been
sentenced to spend the rest of his life on the prison on Devil's
Island. During his time
there, Papillion got into enough trouble to be thrown into solitary confinement
for one year. There being so alone for so long, Papillion's mind began to play
tricks on him. He began to fantasize.
Before long he could
not tell fantasy from reality.
One night Papillion
saw himself walking through the desert.
There he came upon 12 men seated around a 13th man, who was sitting a
little higher than the rest. This
represented the Judge and Jury who had tried Papillion found him guilty of a
murder, and sent him to Devil's Island. Papillion became very upset and went to the
Judge and yelled out at him, "I'm innocent! I'm innocent of the charge that you convicted
me of." The Judge looked down
rather apathetically and said, "Yes we know. We knew
all along. But you were guilty of
something far worse than murder. You
were guilty of living a wasted life."
Papillion barely
hesitated before responding, "Yes, I'm guilty, I'm guilty of wasting my
life. There is nothing more tragic than a person who wastes his life, who lives
an empty unsatisfying, inadequate life.
Such people go through life wondering if it is worth it to go on. They continually seek for the answer to the
meaning of life. They search for purpose
and goals, but never find them. Such
people rarely experience joy. Instead of
peace, they are constantly at war within themselves. Instead of love, they have a terrible feeling
of loneliness.
But what were those
words from the Scripture reading this morning?
Jesus came that we might have life, but only inadequately
No.... that is not
what....the Word of God says. It says
that Jesus came that we might have life and that we might have it abundantly.
The Abundant Life and
the Inadequate Life. Two very different
life styles1 one very opposite for the other.
And yet, many do not
experience either of these two life styles.
They do not experience the totally empty wasted life--Nor do they live
the idealistic perfect, ABUNDANT LIFE.
They find themselves
somewhere between the two, somewhere between the totally empty and the totally
full life. Perhaps this is where most
people are, living a life that is JUST adequate.
In the life that is
adequate, there are many happy times.
There are times of love. There are times of peace. But there are also times of depression, fear,
loneliness, and confusion. This is
perhaps the most dangerous type of life style, because it is possible to grow
content---hoping that in the final analysis, the good times would outweigh the
bad. And being content, a person night
fail to reach out for something better, for something more than just adequate.
But what were those
words again that I read from the Scriptures?
"Jesus came that we might have life, so that at least we could have
it adequately"? No it says that He
came to give us Abundant Life.
The abundant
life. The life in which one has all of
the fruits of the Spirit; love, joy,
peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self-discipline, and has them to
such a degree that he or she never runs out.
There is always more that what is needed.
Idealistic? Perhaps.
Out of reach? No -- not for the
Christian.
Jesus himself promised
us this type of life to us, so we can all be sure and know that we can indeed
live life in an abundant way.
And so the question is
-- How can we begin to live life
abundantly?
It is good at this
point to take another look at the Scripture. Jesus was telling a parable of
sheep being cared for and led by the shepherd.
It is clear to us that Jesus was speaking of his followers as the sheep
and of himself as the shepherd.
In
order for us to receive the abundant life, we must become sheep of the
shepherd, who is Jesus Christ.
This,
of course means that we must first of all be Christians. In order for us to be Sheep of Christ, we
must enter the way of life that we call Christianity. We must receive Christ as our Savior.
By receiving Christ as
our Savior, we have eternal life, but not necessarily abundant life, especially
if, after having received Christ, we continue to live, unproductive,
undisciplined lives. If we are to
receive the full blessings of our Christian lives, then we should let Christ
be, in addition to our Savior our Shepherd:
Answering his voice as he calls us and entering the gates of life which
he opens. We need to become obedient sheep, committed sheep, trusting in our
Shepherd, Christ. The abundant life CAN be ours, and it IS God's will for us to
live it.
Now mind you, the
abundant life is not the idealistic life that it may sound like. Friends and relatives will still become sick
and even die. It will still be possible
for tragedy to enter our lives.
Financial problems will not stop....even though we live the abundant
life.
So
what then is the difference between living life abundantly and living life
adequately?
It is a matter of a way a person is
able to approach life. It has to do with
a state of mind.
God does not always change
the situation in which we live life. Very often, however, God changes us and
the way we approach the situation.
The Abundant Life does not always
make everything that is around us peaceful, but it does give us the ability to
be at peace even during times of hardship and tragedy.
Our living the
Abundant Life will not change the way OTHER PEOPLE live.
Our enemy will still
be our enemy, mistreating us, and giving us a hard time. But it will help us to
love then and to be at peace with them.
As Christians, we have
eternal life. We have a quantity of
life that continues into infinity. Let us also live an abundant life, a quality
of life that God would have us to live.
Copyright 2014, Dr. Maynard
Pittendreigh
All rights reserved.
