Sermon 4-20-08

First Reading – 1 Timothy 6:3-8 If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, he is conceited and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain. But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.

Second Reading – Hebrews 13:20-21 May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Gospel – John 10:7-11 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. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Sermon –

How can you describe something when there is no word in the English language to describe it? That’s what we have been dealing with for the last couple of weeks. Last week we began talking about this awkward sentence in John 10:10 where Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.” Shouldn’t Jesus have said “to the fullest”? Or shouldn’t it be “have life more abundantly” as the King James Version describes it? “Abundant” doesn’t really capture the essence of the Greek word; last week we discussed that “abundant” means there could always be more. When the NIV was translated they took an adjective – “full” – and turned it into a noun – “the full” – in an effort to describe what God offers. The concept of “The Full” takes three to seven words in the English language to describe what Jesus wants you to have; it is the utmost extent, the highest or fullest state or degree that God wants you to have, it is “The Full”.

Since the weather has been no nice, we’ve had flies, bugs, bees, and hornets buzzing around so I went out yesterday and bought a fly swatter. A fly swatter is pretty simple, it swats flies and we may think that it can’t be improved. But my fly swatter not only swats flies, it could also be described as “The Full” because it has a little dustpan and you can take the fly swatter end and use it as a little broom to sweep up the dead bugs. Isn’t that awesome? And, if a dead bug lands in an area where you can’t sweep, my fly swatter even comes with little tweezers so the dead bug can be picked up and disposed of. This fly swatter is great, it’s “The Full”. And that’s what God wants you to have in your life – “The Full”. To get “The Full” Jesus says to make sure that we listen to His voice because there are a lot of other voices out there, voices of deception, and if you listen to them, you’re not going to have “The Full”.

Today we want to talk about two voices of deception that are very common in the Christian Church. The first one is the voice that says “Faith is just between God and me. It’s a private, personal thing.” If you listen to that voice, you’re not going to have “The Full”; faith is never a private thing. We have to listen to the voice of Jesus so let’s see what God says in the Bible. In Matthew 5:16 Jesus says, “Let your light shine before men that they may see your good works, see your faith, and be led to glorify your Father in Heaven.” And in Matthew 10:32-33 Jesus says, “Whoever confesses me before men, I will confess before my Father in Heaven. Whoever denies me before men, I will deny before my Father in Heaven.” God calls for our faith to be a public thing. In Matthew 38:19 Jesus says, “Go, make disciples of all nations baptizing and teaching.” He’s not calling for us to keep things private. And in Luke 24:46-48 He says, “Repentance and forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name.” Our faith is always a public thing.

You may wonder how this affects the fullness of our lives. Suppose you are out to eliminate those pesky flies and bugs from your yard. What are you doing to do? You could do two things. You could buy a pad of paper, that would work to swat flies, or you could buy the 3-in-1 Super Swatter; both are the same price. You would probably buy the 3-in-1 Super Swatter because the pad of paper isn’t designed to swat flies. What were you and I created for? Why did God choose you? Why did God save you? You were saved to be a witness, that’s what God created you to do. You live in the neighborhood you live in, you have the family you have, you have the job you have, you have the place in society you have to enable you to be a witness, so that repentance and forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in Christ’s name through you. In other words, if our life is going to be “The Full”, we have to do what God designed us to do and God designed us to be witnesses for Him. Then you will have life and you will have this concept of “The Full”. Anything else and we’re shortchanging ourselves. He designed us to do something and if we’re not doing it, we might get through life, but we won’t have “The Full”.

Suppose God gave you the cure for cancer, what would you do with it? Would you say, “This is just between God and me”? I don’t think so, you would get the word out, you would help other people be cured, and you would save lives! You would have a productive, full life where you would be making an impact on the world. We have something that is better than the cure for cancer; we have a cure for death, we have eternal life, we have reconciliation with God, we have peace with God through the blood of Jesus Christ. We have all those things. You can make an impact not only in this world but eternally, you will have “The Full”. If you say “My faith is just between God and me:, you’re shortchanging yourself, you won’t have “The Full”. God wants you to have “The Full”.

This next concept is from a book called “The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less” by Barry Schwartz. People think that if you’re going to have a full life, then you need a full array of everything, a full basement, a full garage, a full house, a full bank account, a full social schedule, a full weekend of activities. And maybe you will, but you won’t have “The Full”. Let’s hear what God actually says. In Philippians 3:9 God tells us through the Apostle Paul, “What’s more I consider everything in this world a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus my Lord…” and we get to know Jesus by reading His Word and hearing what He has to say in the Bible. Paul continues …”for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish compared to knowing Christ.” A full life is not a house full of stuff; a full life is knowing Christ. Then we’re approaching “The Full”, this concept that God wants us to have. In Philippians 4:12-13, Paul says “I know what it is to be in need and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation whether well fed, whether hungry, whether living in plenty or in want; I can do everything through Christ who gives me the strength.” The secret to a full life is Christ. Whether you have a lot or whether you have a little, it’s always Christ. And 1 Timothy 6:8-9 says, “For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.” If you have Christ, you can have a full life with just food and clothing; with Christ you have this concept of “The Full”.

We heard in the new this week that the candidates say people are bitter and that they are hanging on to religion. But wait a second – that’s the solution to the problem! If you want a full life, hang on to Jesus Christ. Let’s clarify this point from the Bible so that there is no confusion. Sometimes when God gives us lots of stuff we are drawn to Christ; there are examples of this in the Bible. Abraham was very wealthy and his wealth caused him to cling to God. He had faith; God was the most important thing in His life even to the point that he was willing to sacrifice his son. Another example of great faith is Job. His wealth caused him to cling to God. That’s why the devil said to God, “Take it all away and he’ll curse you.” And I can think of one couple who were just eking out a living, had $35,000 in credit card debt, who went to church only on Easter and Christmas, never went to a Bible Study and didn’t pray. Then they had kids and decided it was time to go to church. They wandered into my church one day and we just happened to be doing a sermon on tithing, God’s concept of giving 10% to Him. When they heard the sermon, they said, “Well, if that’s what we’re supposed to do, we’ll do it.” So they began tithing and God blessed them tremendously. The man was making over a million dollars a year n just a couple of years. Their wealth drove them to Christ and they started clinging to Christ. They started attending church not only at Christmas and Easter but every Sunday. And then they started attending a Bible Study or two a week. They started spreading the word, talking about God. Their wealth made them cling to Christ. And they will tell you to this day that they have “The Full”, not because of their wealth, but because of Christ.

For other people, wealth drives them away. We have too many things and too many things to do that distract us and our Church attendance drops off, our Bible class attendance drops off and we’re too busy on the weekend doing all sorts of stuff to come to church to hear God’s Word. So because Go wants you to have “The Full”, He’ll start taking some things away. God wanted the Apostle Paul to have “The Full” so He took Paul’s strength away and gave him a thorn in the flesh so that Paul had to cling to Christ (2 Corinthians 12:8-9). Paul found out that he was strong when he clung to Christ in his weakness; he experienced God’s strength and power and had “The Full”. But he wouldn’t have had it if God had not taken away his strength. In Exodus 16, Israel was delivered from slavery in Egypt and was wandering around in the wilderness. God did a great thing for them by delivering them from slavery in Egypt, but he wanted them to have more. God wanted them to have “The Full”, so He led them into the wilderness where there was no food and no water. And they were without food and water for three days! Then God stepped in and said he would provide for them on a daily basis. They actually saw God working in their lives on a daily basis, providing food and water. They saw God’s strength, God’s power, God’s willingness to provide, God’s love, God’s glory; they had “The Full”. But they wouldn’t have had that if God had not taken away. Sometimes God takes away so that we cling to Him. Politicians are saying that’s a bad thing. It’s not a bad thing, it’s a good thing. That’s one way God works because He wants you to have “The” Full. One of our favorite verses, 2 Samuel 14:14 says, “God does not take away life; instead He devises ways so a banished person may not remain estranged from Him”. He does that because He wants you to have life and He doesn’t want you to just have life abundantly, He doesn’t want you to have just a full life, He wants you to have something separate from life, an actual thing called “The Full”. That’s God’s gift to you.

Prayer –

Heavenly Father, Your grace is tremendous; you saved us, You promised us life in this world and You promised us eternal life in heaven. That would be enough, but then in Your mercy You added another thing called “The Full”. Lord, you know our lives better than we do, either add or take away things so that we cling to you, so that we experience “The Full”, and we pay this in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

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