Life More Abundant

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
- John 10:10 NKJV

When you think about your life, during what moments have you felt the most alive?
What were you doing?
Who was with you?
Where were you?
How much effort did it require?

“Life” includes the physical, intellectual, and spiritual. Physical life is regarded as abundant in a body that is full of vigor and in perfect health. Jesus’ miracles of physical healing gave an abundant physical life to those whose life forces were ebbing. But physical restoration was by no means the complete fulfillment of Jesus’ mission. Man also has intellectual and spiritual life, which must also be made alive and abundant, for “man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord” (Deut. 8:3). Important as the physical and the intellectual aspects of a well-rounded life are, no life is fully complete unless the spiritual nature is nurtured.
- Francis D. Nichol, ed., The Seventh-Day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5 (Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1980), 1005.

I believe that Psalm 103 paints a beautiful picture of a God who provides life and provides it abundantly.

 Bless the Lord, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
3 Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases,
4 Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
- Psalm 103:1-5 NKJV

Once again, I would like to highlight that this is not a new approach that Jesus ushered in, but rather it has been God’s modus operandi from the very beginning. The God of the Bible, the God we worship, is a God who desires us to experience life to the fullest, and keeping this in mind as we read the Bible helps us better interpret His will for our lives.

Jesus shares His mission of giving us a more abundant life in John 10. Context is always important when we interpret text and in this case, Jesus is speaking these words after a blind man He healed was excommunicated, or disfellowshipped. This took place in John 9 and I have an entire blog post dedicated to it entitled The Gospel as Judgment?

John chapter 10 has been surprisingly challenging for me to grasp. What I take away from it is that Jesus is setting Himself apart from the religious leaders of His time. Given the harsh words Jesus uses “thief” and “robbers,” it does not surprise me that so many are careful to trust organized religion. However, we cannot simply do away with organized religion since disorganized religion seems even more troublesome. I say that tongue-in-cheek but I hope you get the idea. Organization is not the problem, the main concern should be the reason or mission of the organization. In other words, what motivated the church to be organized? Is the church organized to build itself up? To accumulate power and wealth? Or is the church organized for a mission? To serve, and help those in need.

Distrust of organized religion, government, or large companies, that greedily exploit the people for profit is understandable. I have a limited voice regarding what happens in my denomination worldwide, but I have greater influence over what happens at my local church. If Jesus came so that we might have life and have it more abundantly, what should we do as His church?

“Authorities who seek to gain possession of the sheep are not the true shepherd.”
- Keener, Craig S. The Gospel of John. Vol. 2, Peabody, Mass., Hendrickson, 2003, p. 812.

We do not serve the church.
We are the church.
We do not come to be served,
but to serve others.
There are so many that I have talked to who stopped attending church because they were not treated as they expected to be. This reminds me of the story of a husband who did not want to go to church. It was Sabbath morning and his wife was telling him to get up and get ready to go to church. He just rolled over in bed and began to mumble complaints.

“But I don’t have any friends at church. The service is long and kind of boring. The music is not great, some of the people there are mean, and some are judgmental. I had a long week, I am tired, and I don’t want to go. Give me one good reason why I should go to church.”

His wife looked at him and replied.

“Well, for starters, you’re the pastor…”

I have heard this story a few times, sometimes it made me laugh, and sometimes it made me want to cry. No church is perfect. Even at a great church, you’re not guaranteed to have a great experience. Chances are you’re going to meet someone who rubs you the wrong way or disagrees with your political views or parenting philosophy. There will be people who have different tastes and ideas of how you should live, dress, talk, eat, vote, etc.

Why go to church?

So why do we keep coming to church? One of the reasons is to worship God. Another is to learn, to be instructed, comforted, challenged, and motivated. Another one is that we can do more as a community than on our own. I believe God is calling each one if us to join a church and be a part of what is good about it.

Is your church not friendly enough? Start a trend. Volunteer to greet. Choose to smile, and introduce yourself to those around you. Make a special effort to meet and talk to someone you haven’t talked to before.

Is your church not doing enough to serve the community? What could the church be doing? What do you need to begin doing? Find some other church members who have the same passion and begin, make a plan, and begin a new ministry.

This is part of my challenge in interpreting John 10. I understand that Jesus is the shepherd and that He gave His life for me.

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.
- John 10:11 NKJV

Part of the life more abundant that Jesus makes available for me is the eternal life that He died to give me. But I also believe that Jesus is our example and He calls us to live as He lived and that our mission as His followers includes doing our very best to also help those around us have a more abundant life. Part of that, of course, includes introducing people to Jesus, but it does not stop there. Life more abundant includes healthier relationships, a healthier body, and better education, it involves all areas of life.

Here are some questions I would love to pose to you.

What if a more abundant life is not found in idleness?
What if rest is found in meaningful service?
What if life more abundant comes from concentrated efforts in the right areas?

In order to work for God successfully, we must die to self, surrendering all to God. In words of great tenderness, Christ invites us, “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” When you respond to this invitation, when you learn what it means to find rest by lifting the cross and bearing it after the Lord, you will be true witnesses for Him. But until this lesson is learned, self will appear, and Jesus will be kept in the background.
- The Crucifixion of Self (published April 9, 1902 - Signs of The Times)

We experience life more abundantly as we serve, and those we serve also benefit and experience a more abundant life. It all flows from God, His great love, and His desire to save and bless us. I am not saying you should never rest physically, we all need to rest, and we all need to take breaks. What I am saying is that idleness is not the way. When all we do is rest and only live for ourselves we miss out on what living life more abundantly could be.

When we live focused on self we will never find a church that is good enough to belong to. Also, we will struggle to maintain relationships because no one treats us as we expect to be treated all the time. The more I focus on myself the more I feel sorry for myself. I can always compare myself to others and feel inferior. I can help others expecting to receive some reward and when I don’t I become sad. In a way, it all stems from pride. I believe that I deserve better from those around me than what I am getting so I grow resentful. I could begin to attack everyone who fails to treat me the way I believe I deserve to be treated and be lonely and bitter.

Once again, to be fair and balanced, we are created in the image of God and deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.

This is tricky. I do not want to offend anyone. I also do not want to encourage anyone to stay in an abusive relationship. So please take what I say with a grain of salt and contextualize it to your experience. So I will try to say it as carefully as I can. I pray that you do not misunderstand me. Here’s an example.

Let’s say I get home before my wife and there is a pile of dishes in the sink. Also, let’s suppose those dishes are mostly mine. I see that pile and I decide to wash them all. So I feed the kids, put them to bed, and wash all the dishes, dry them, and put them away. My wife then comes home tired from a 12-hour shift at the hospital and dealing with all kinds of stressful and challenging situations. She goes to shower and change and we eat dinner together. She is happy to be home, and the kids are in bed, but she never mentions how amazing I am for doing all those dishes. After all, she had not seen the pile of dishes that were there from breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Now imagine if I get upset with her for not praising me. Especially if I regularly expect her to do what I did when I am at work and she is home and I never praise her for being super amazing.

This is a hypothetical situation but it’s not too far from reality. How many people say nothing positive when all goes well, but are quick to complain when something goes wrong?

How often do we thank God for not having to visit the hospital? How often do we complain to Him when we find ourselves sick?

What if part of experiencing a more abundant life comes from our efforts to bless those around us?

I may expect to receive life more abundant while sitting at home and doing nothing. And yes, Jesus gives us eternal life and we do not have to earn it in any way. However, what if there are further blessings, especially this side of eternity, that I am missing out on because of my focus on myself? What if I could be experiencing an overflowing sense of joy and aliveness, but I am missing out because I have not ventured out of my comfort zone to help someone who is in need?

What if a sense of responsibility toward others is what is missing from my Christian experience? What if I am experiencing spiritual stagnation because I consider myself too weak, too shy, too young, too old, too busy, too important, or not important enough, or whatever my excuse may be for not being involved in helping others?

What kept me in church my whole life was being too busy being a part of the solution to be thinking about the problems. Service has just been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. My family has always been involved in helping others in some way or another. I don’t know another way to live. This can be difficult because I don’t always have healthy boundaries and have come close to walking away from it all a few times in life. Some of you know what I am talking about. You begin to help someone who always needs help with everything all the time and you can only do so much… then you begin to feel like you failed, you didn’t do enough. Guilt is not a healthy motivator. You should help because you genuinely desire to help. Your motivation should stem from the love you receive from God and a desire to alleviate the suffering of the one you’re serving. Also, pray for wisdom to know when to step back and recharge.

Another way of thinking about this is

Can you truly be satisfied eating from the banquet that God offers while those around you go hungry?

I don’t invite others to church for my benefit. I only invite someone else to church if I truly believe they will benefit from it. I share the gospel, the good news of salvation in Jesus, not because it benefits me. I do it to benefit the one I am sharing with. I have to truly believe that life is better with Jesus if I am to honestly and genuinely share Him with others.

Takeaway

My challenge for you is to make service a part of your spiritual discipline. Do not be satisfied with Bible study, prayer, and church attendance. I encourage you, I challenge you to add a dimension of service to your life at whatever level you can. Who can you help today? This week? What keeps you from doing it?