Therefore Jesus said again, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers , but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." (John 10:7-10)
I have to challenge an increasingly prevailing viewpoint right from the start: sometimes newer is not better! I remember many years ago watching an episode of the old TV series “All In The Family” in which Mike and Gloria are unpacking a bag of groceries. As they do so, Mike pulls a can out of the bag and looks at it and then he looks at Gloria and says, “Look at this can. It say 'new and improved.' Everything you buy these days says 'new and improved.' What were we using before? 'Old and lousy?'” You sometimes get that feeling don't you? If you don't have the newest, most up to date of every single thing then you're behind the times. You may even be running the risk of becoming “old and lousy!” Apple started taking pre-orders for their first I-Pad on March 12, 2010. On March 7of this year (a little less than two years after Apple started taking pre-orders for the I-Pad 1, the I-Pad 3 went on sale. And people started scrapping their I-Pad 2's because now they were old and outdated. It's a little bit crazy. Just because something's newer doesn't mean it's always better. In today's Scripture reading, Jesus says “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Those are nice words, but they don't quite capture what Jesus was saying. Newer isn't better in this case. I want you to hear the version of those words that comes from the King James Bible: “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” I want to draw your attention to the word “abundantly.” It's pretty important.
I don't want to bore you with a lot of New Testament Greek, but this really is important if we're going to understand the passage the way John wrote it. The Greek word he used is perisson. I checked the word out, and to make a long story short basically it means “beyond.” It means to go above and beyond something. It means something that is “excessive.” Although I usually shy away from the King James Bible because of its dated English, in this particular case older is better, and “abundantly” is right! John in this passage isn't talking about something that's merely full, he's talking about something that's full to overflowing and yet is still being filled. That's how John is choosing to describe the life we gain from Christ, and here's where the King James Bible gets it right. Having life “more abundantly” means something a bit different than simply having life “to the full.” John is saying not just that God meets our needs but that God goes beyond our needs. It means that God gives and gives and gives to excess – of the things we really need to live life as God wants us to live life. That's why I've entitled my comments today “An Abundance Of Abundance” - because God doesn't just give, and God doesn't even just give abundantly. God gives us an abundance of the things He gives – and God gives that abundance abundantly!
But what is it that we gain abundantly from God? Maybe we have to eliminate some of the alternatives first. Usually, we make our own decisions about what we need, and then we devote ourselves to the pursuit of whatever it is that we've decided upon. When we do that, in a way we're playing God with our own lives; we've made ourselves our own god. We've decided that we know better, and the end result is that we enslave ourselves to the pursuit of these other things. I want to share another Gospel passage with you. This comes from Matthew's Gospel: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” So Jesus challenges His followers to decide what it is that's important to them. So many people make the wrong decision. There are so many things that people believe will make their life worth living or at least barely live-able if they can only have those things in abundance. But neither “worth living” nor “barely live-able” are abundant living. What earthly things do we “store up” - or at least depend on, in the wrong-headed belief that these are the things we need? If the name of the demon who inhabited the man who lived among the tombs in Mark's Gospel was “legion,” then there may be a demonic element to this, because there are a legion of things we depend on that aren't God!
Let me say that I don't throw around words like “demon” and “demonic” lightly – nor do I intend them as a joke. I'm quite serious. I have an open mind to what the New Testament means when it refers to demons – whether they're actual supernatural entities with an independent existence or whether it's a way of referring to those often everday things which by their very nature get in the way of our relationship with God. What I can't deny is that the New Testament refers to them – over and over and over again, and in a number of ways; not always with the word “demons.” When Paul speaks in Ephesians of the “principalities and powers” he's referring to the same things. And, in today's passage from John (echoed in that passage from Matthew that I shared with you), the “thief” Jesus referred to is, I believe, the same sort of thing. We may not know exactly what a demon is, but we know from all these references what a demon does. A demon steals from you. If something takes away your freedom rather than enhancing it, it's demonic. If something ties you to the service of a “cause” (however noble the cause may be) so that your identity revolves around the cause, rather than freeing you to be a disciple of Jesus and a child of God, it's demonic. If something restricts your life rather than allowing you to live it, it's demonic. And so many things do that - so many everyday things.
How many things are there that can control us and enslave us? Countless – or, dare I say it – legion! How many people depend on money to the point of serving it? Greed is a demon. What about health? By all means eat right and exercise properly, but some people become so fearful about their health that they lose their enjoyment of life because they're so afraid of losing their life or their quality of life. Hypochondria is a demon. Some people depend on food. For some, food becomes the only thing that calms them – we all know the phrase “comfort food.” And for others, food becomes a deadly enemy, and they do everything possible to lose more and more weight by avoiding it. At either extreme, both gluttony and anorexia are demons. Some people are totally dependent on drugs or alcohol to find their way through life and to ease some sort of pain from their past or their present. Addiction is a demon. Some people are obsessed with the pursuit of power and they'll go to almost any ends to achieve it, regardless of what those ends might be. Corruption is a demon. Some are dependent on numbers. We put our faith in numbers. We need numbers. We measure success by numbers. The church is especially guilty of that – almost obsessive about how many members we have, how many attend services. The “number” becomes a demon. They all become demons because they all draw us away from God; they all disfigure and defile our lives rather than enhancing them. They're all things that may make life more live-able, but they don't give us life to abundance. The only way to satisfy ourselves with them is to be enslaved to them - or at least to their pursuit, so that our entire life revolves around them. “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” By enslaving us to the pursuit of things that will never truly satisfy and that can never be a guarantee of anything, that's exactly what happens. But the good news is that there is a choice. We don't have to surrender to these demonic forces that are all around us, whatever they may be for each of us individually. We don't have to, because we can choose Jesus, and Jesus gives life and freedom.
“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. ” Or, as the King James Bible puts it: “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” Jesus offers us an abundance – and an abundance of that abundance. And what does He offers us an abundance of abundance of? Himself! He's the One Who frees us, Who liberates us, Who enhances our lives, Who gives us and dignity and respect. Anything that takes away from those things is the work of “the thief,” and if we find that our lives lack those fundamental qualities – then we're victims of “the thief” and if we seek to take away those things from others, then we're in league with “the thief.” But no more! It doesn't have to be that way! We live as children of God. God has given us Jesus. He fills us with His life and He releases us from the power of “the thief,” who only takes away from us and leaves us unimaginably and desperately needy. Jesus on the other hand fills us to overflowing with goodness and mercy and love and compassion and joy and peace and hope. Jesus grants us an abundance of dignity and respect – and He does it abundantly. This is life as God wants it lived – with an abundance of abundance of all the things that really matter and that set us free from all that steals and kills and destroys.
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