Your Abundant Life Begins Now :: John 10:11-16
[Prayer]
Lord Jesus Christ, you laid down your life for us so that you could take it up again, thus securing for us the forgiven our sins, life, and salvation. As you bestow these gifts on us in Baptism and the Supper, grant that we may always cling to you in the faith, trusting in your promises, and finally be brought into your heavenly kingdom in your name. Amen.
[Introduction]
Our Gospel reading today from John 10 began at verse 11, but I’m going to begin one sentence earlier, the second half of verse 10. There, Jesus says, I myself came in order that they may have life and have it abundantly. That verse is the heart of what is often called the Good Shepherd discourse. In the midst of his proverbs (10:6) on gates and gatekeepers ... thieves, robbers, and wolves ... shepherds and sheep ... strangers and salvation ... listening and seeing ... the Good Shepherd, our Lord Jesus, gives us one of his greatest promises:
HE CAME TO GIVE YOU ABUNDANT LIFE!
And now ... Hallelujah! He is Risen! ...
Given that we had a baptism today, I am especially glad this is our reading.
I. It is the Good Shepherd who gives us life in abundance, and that begins in Baptism.
As Jesus tells us earlier in the Gospel of John, baptism is necessary for salvation. The abundance of eternal life is the treasure that God promises to give us in Holy Baptism. There is nothing more abundant than that!
Jesus united himself with us in Holy Baptism: He gives us new birth from above (Jn 3:3). His baptism fulfills all righteousness (Mt 3:15). All of you who are baptized have put on the abundance of Christ (Gal 3:27). When the Word of God Made Flesh united himself with the water of baptism, our heavenly Father was well pleased (Mt 3:17). His Word and water now washes us clean. It makes us holy just as he is holy (Lv 19:2). It sanctifies us (1 Cor 6:11). And because of it, we now find Holy Baptism at the heart of our life together.
As scripture further teaches, Holy Baptism works the forgiveness of sins, and therefore, life and salvation ... in abundance. Holy Baptism is God’s work ... not ours ... and what he does is sure and certain. It reveals his dedication to us. Nothing is more sure and certain in all the universe than the name that God has placed on us in baptism ... the name by which God reveals himself to us.
Baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, we have God’s own pledge and promise that we are being delivered from death, hell, and the devil. In times of doubt, temptation, or failure ... especially in the face of death ... we can boldly say, I am baptized into Christ ... recognizing this present reality ... being certain that the comforting words of Romans 8:1 are true: There is therefore now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.
Both Peter and Paul teach us this truth rather abundantly all through their epistles. As Peter says so plainly ... baptism now saves us ... not as a removal of filth but as a pledge of good conscience into God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Pt 3:21). Paul expands our understanding of how baptism brings us abundant life in Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, and Colossians, and notably Titus ... where in chapter 3 ... he writes ... When the goodness and loving kindness of our Savior God appeared, he saved us, not out of works, the things which we do in righteousness, but according to his mercy, through the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ, our savior, so that being justified in his grace, we can become heirs according to the hope of eternal life (Titus 3:4-7).
II. Talk about abundance! Only the Good Shepherd could deliver that (v 16).
Listen to your Lord Jesus, who said, I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep (v 11).
Without the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus ... without our Lord shedding his innocent blood for us ... we would not have abundant life. In fact, we would simply be, as Paul says in Ephesians 2, dead in our trespasses and sins, according to the age of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all returned to, when in the overwhelming desires of our flesh, we were doing the will of the flesh and mind, being in nature children of wrath, like the rest.
But God, being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, even being dead in our trespasses, he made us alive together in Christ Jesus ... it is in grace you are saved ... and he raised us and seated us in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus in order that he could show in the ages the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness upon us in Christ Jesus (Eph 2:1-7).
III. Talk about abundance! As Jesus said, He lays down his life (for the sheep) in order that he may take it up again (v 17).
And oh, how we need a Good Shepherd to do that.
When Jesus spoke this word to the Pharisees in the temple during the Feast of Dedication, our Lord was prophesying about what he would do so abundantly well in just a few months ... allow himself to be betrayed into the hands of sinful men, be falsely accused, be mocked, be beaten, flogged, crucified ... by the thieves, robbers, and wolves who deny Gospel. Jesus was telling us that he would give up his life ... willingly ... quietly ... fulfilling all Scripture ... on a cursed tree, no less ... one of mankind’s most gruesome ways to murder True God and True Man.
The history of the church has many martyrs who have given up their lives for the safety and welfare of others. And I am sure we like to think we would do the same as Peter and Paul ... Matthew and Luke ... Andrew, Bartholomew, and Thomas ... James the son of Alphaeus and James the son of Zebedee ... Simon the Zealot, Philip, Jude. But all of these apostles have something in common with you and me that our Good Shepherd didn’t have ... sin.
Unlike all of us, Jesus was innocent. He laid down his life on his own terms (v 17). He absolutely followed the will of the Father, drinking the cup of wrath we deserve. This is the reason the Father loves the Son (v 17). He willingly carried his own cross to Golgotha, laid down on his own tree of death, stretched out his hands and feet to be pierced by nails, and gave up his life for you. As Jesus would say later, Greater love has no one than this that [a certain man] lays down his life for his friends (Jn 15:13).
When men deliberately lose their lives for the benefit and welfare of others, they can do no more than that. They cannot take up their life. But Jesus could and did. He takes up his life ... He is Risen! ... so that you will have life abundantly (vv 17, 11).
IV. The abundant life which Jesus gives is different than what the world promises.
Jesus doesn’t promise that life will be easy or trouble-free. Jesus doesn’t promise that we will always have what we want, let alone when we want it. Jesus doesn’t promise that by following him we’ll always have sunshine and laughter ... that we will never faces challenges in marriage. In fact, Jesus promises to lead us THROUGH the valley of the shadow of death (Ps 23:4).
Because that’s what the Good Shepherd does. He calls us to receive his abundance. He gathers us so that we can enjoy his perfect rest beside his water of life. He restores our very being by giving us righteousness. He does this to comfort us ... to anoint us ... to set the table for us ... all with the end result that our cup overflows with his means of grace.
His abundance is love that leads to love. ... Joy that leads to joy. ... Peace that leads to peace. Kindness that leads to kindness. ... Forgiveness that leads to forgiveness. His abundance never adds pain to the world. It always forgives. Always nurtures. Always shares. It is extraordinary and astonishing. It comes with promise.
[Conclusion]
And there is no better promise than that.
I am the Good Shepherd, Jesus said. I know those who are mine and those who are mine know me, just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father, and I lay down my life on behalf of the sheep. I also have other sheep that are not of this courtyard. It is necessary that I lead them. They also will hear my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd (vv 14-16).
So no matter where you are in your life ... listen for his voice. He will never fail you.
Then you will know your abundant life begins now ... in Jesus’ name.