“…I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly.”
“The glory of God is man fully alive.” - Saint Irenaeus
I had gone off to a quiet place to relax for a little while and read. I was sitting in the shade, a view of the mountains in front of me. It was not quite mid-morning and on this day the temperature hung around 75 degrees.
I picked up my new book, “Waking the Dead”, by John Eldredge, and began to read. I wasn’t very far into it when I came upon this quote by Saint Irenaeus. Mr. Eldredge used it as an introduction to a new section of his first chapter. As I continued on, what I read inspired me. So I want to share this short excerpt from his book with you as introduction to my sermon today.
“When I first stumbled upon this quote, my initial reaction was… You’re kidding me. Really? I mean, is that what you’ve been told? That the purpose of God – the very thing he’s staked his reputation on – is your coming fully alive? Huh. Well, that’s a different take on things. It made me wonder, What are God’s intentions toward me? What is it I’ve come to believe about that? Yes, we’ve been told any number of times that God does care, and there are some pretty glowing promises given to us in Scripture along those lines. But on the other hand, we have the days of our lives, and they have a way of casting a rather long shadow over our hearts when it comes to God’s intentions toward us in particular. I read the quote again. ‘The glory of God is man fully alive,’ and something began to stir in me. Could it be?”
(“Waking the Dead” – John Eldredge, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2003, pg 10)
As I read on I found in the author a kindred spirit. He said things I’ve been feeling and saying for a long time. Just a little better and more colorful. Which is why he now has a successful book on the market and I do not.
But as he began inserting illustrations using heroes of mythology, and quoting C. S. Lewis, I knew I had found a friend.
I knew that if I read too closely though, I’d be tempted to just copy his book and preach it to you. So after I typed the excerpt that I read to you a minute ago, I closed his book and opened the Bible.
I encourage you to get Eldredge’s book and read it. For today, I want to take a slightly different path; almost parallel but not quite to the one he took.
We’ve started in the same place, but will take a different route, asking virtually the same question, “Could it be, that the glory of God is in me coming fully alive?” and another, “What is ‘fully alive’? and yet another, ‘Do I have this life?’
JESUS’ WORDS IN CONTEXT
“…I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly.”
Jesus has given sight to a man born blind. Chapter 9 of John’s gospel is one of my favorite chapters of scripture. In it we witness a beggar, and by man’s reckoning worthless; one to be pitied or scorned, but certainly not respected. This beggar is seeing for the first time in his life because Jesus touched him.
He says so. “The man who is called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam, and wash’. So I went away and washed, and I received sight’.”
For that brief bit of honest testimony the man is brought before the religious leaders, drilled with questions, maligned as a liar, and finally excommunicated.
In the process though, this humble man proclaims Jesus to be a prophet, preaches a sermon to these Pharisees that, if they had any conscience at all should have shamed them miserably, and in the end we see him bowing before Jesus and calling Him ‘Lord’.
Now lest we move on too quickly and miss an important side point here, I want you to look with me at verses 39 and 40 of chapter 9.
“And Jesus said, ‘For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.’ Those of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things, and said to Him, ‘We are not blind too, are we?’”
Friends, don’t ask questions of Jesus, unless you’re certain in your own heart that you really want to hear the truth. Because that’s what you’re going to get.
These guys set themselves up and Jesus used this, probably very disingenuous question, as an invitation to deliver His discourse on the Good Shepherd.
Now that is just to set our text in proper context. I want to keep our focus sharp today, so let’s ask:
COULD IT BE THAT THE GLORY OF GOD IS IN ME COMING FULLY ALIVE?
It just seems a little presumptuous, doesn’t it? I mean, coming from any man, Saint Irenaeus. John Eldredge, myself, or anyone else.
It might be easier to say ‘amen’ to if there was some Scripture quote where God said of Himself, “My glory is in man coming fully alive”. I don’t think there is one like that though.
Now I never knew Saint Irenaeus. He died about A.D. 203. But I’m going to take a wild stab and just assume what he meant by his statement.
I don’t think he meant that God’s receiving glory was dependent on mankind or any man coming fully to life. I think what he meant was that when a man comes fully alive it is to God’s glory, because apart from Him there is no life initially, and no Godly and eternal quality to life afterwards.
I think it’s safe to make this assumption, because that would be the application that would line up best with the declaration of Jesus that He came that His sheep might have life, and have it abundantly. He brought it with Him.
I’m going to go back a little on what I said earlier and borrow once more from Eldredge’s book. But only because he listed some Scripture verses, doing the research for me, and I want to share those with you also. They support this theme of God desiring abundant life for His own.
John 6:48 “I am the bread of life”
Proverbs 4:23 “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.”
Psalm 16:11 “Thou wilt make known to me the path of life”
John 1:4 “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.”
Acts 5:20 “Go your way, stand and speak to the people in the temple the whole message of this Life.”
From what I can gather by my own observations, it seems to me that for many Christians the fundamental purpose and benefit of being a Christian is that someday they will go to Heaven.
Some eventually catch on that all their sins really are forgiven, and there is a great release from bondage the day that happens.
But very seldom do we as Christians manifest a behavior that we can say is ‘fully alive’, as opposed to the everyday kind of life we see in the world around us.
You won’t recognize a stranger as a Christian unless it comes up in conversation or you meet them in church. Of course, their presence in church doesn’t necessarily guarantee they are a Christian, but historically at least, it’s a good place to begin looking.
Now I’m not talking here about open sin or an un-Christlike demeanor. I just mean that for the most part Christians go through and respond to the circumstances of each day pretty much the same way non-Christians do.
And I have no intention of entering into some tirade here, listing ways you ought to stand out from the rest of society. But what I see when I read the Bible, is that those early Christians did indeed stand out very clearly.
Their lives brought glory to God, because when they came to Him in faith they came really alive. They went from just ‘living’ to ‘fully alive’.
“And everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. And all those who had believed were together, and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions, and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. And day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.” Acts 2:43-47
If you read through the book of Acts you keep seeing people praising God and just bubbling over with joy for the wonders they were seeing Him do. God, receiving glory, as men came fully alive.
So what was different about them? What separated them from the rest of the society they lived in – that is, separated in most ways except physically – so distinctly that people were either drawn to them, wanting what they had, or wanting to kill them?
Well, I think we’ve come to our second question:
WHAT IS ‘FULLY ALIVE’?
The best place to begin our search for the answer to that question is to go back to John 9 and 10.
In fact, a contrast might be in order now for the sake of clarity later.
The Pharisees were not. Not what? Alive.
Jesus might have been the originator of the line, “I see dead people”. He actually did say this to the leaders of the Jews in chapter 5 of this Gospel.
“You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life, and it is these that bear witness of Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me, that you may have life.” (5:39,40)
And you know what? Without trying or meaning to be unkind, I have stood before congregations of people and had that same line pass through my head. “I see dead people”.
In saying that, I am not attempting to assess their spiritual condition. But there just seems to be a lot of people in the church who show no signs of life, or the contentment and joy that come with the kind of Life Jesus gives.
Now when you have a church where, over time, these same people have moved into positions of leadership (or just control by intimidation), what you have is a dying church. They themselves are governed by and therefore govern with the dead letter of the law. Grace is excluded and there is no joy in Mudville.
Such was the religious climate of the Jews there in John 9.
Here was just another day around the Jerusalem temple. People coming and going with their offerings, religious leaders sitting in groups debating finer points of the Law, maybe discussing the latest signs they were seeing that indicated the imminent coming of Messiah. A couple of them huddled in the corner, writing the newest in their series of books titled, “Kicked Behind”… (because the Messiah was expected to come and kick some behinds…sorry)
Suddenly there is a bustle of activity as a large and growing group of people approach the temple. They seem to all have their attention focused on one man in the midst, who is grinning from ear to ear, shouting praises to God, and looking all around himself at the people, the sky, his own hands, the temple buildings, as though seeing all these things for the first time. Because he was.
Now the custom was that when someone was done with some period of purification, or had gotten over some illness that excluded them from temple worship, they would report to the Pharisees for confirmation that they were now cleansed and they could again begin to worship in the temple and bring their offerings there.
But like all dead-hearted religious people, the Pharisees were missing the point. They had a duty that should have been a joyous one for them; reinstating someone in their keeping, that is, someone whose spiritual well-being they should have been guarding faithfully, and joyfully pronouncing them clean and whole.
Instead they turn on the proverbial third degree. Then they turn and debate the qualifications of this man, Jesus, to do these things.
This is how absurd legalism is, Christians. He gave sight to a man who had never seen, and that man was standing before them obviously healed, and they were declaring that Jesus could not be from God because He healed on the Sabbath.
Would you shake your head in disbelief? Well, that spirit is alive and well and thriving in the hearts of religious people everywhere even today.
In sharp contrast to the deadness of the Pharisees, is the manifestation of new and abundant life in the man who has been touched by Jesus.
He is joyful and testifying joyfully to what has happened to him.
He is bold and willing to challenge the backwards thinking of those who think they know.
With the prospect of being excommunicated from the synagogue looming before him, he preaches this eloquent, faith-filled sermon.
“We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him. Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God He could do nothing.” (John 9:31-33)
Then it says, “they put him out”, meaning they kicked him out of the temple. Big…deal.
There’s plenty of churches around today, that a guy would need to get kicked out of, or better still, leave on his own, if he is ever to have any hope of meeting with Jesus.
When Jesus said that He came that they might have life and have it more abundantly, He was talking about His sheep. Those who knew or would eventually know Him.
Have you ever thought about who the thieves and robbers were that He referred to in verses 8 and 10 of chapter 10? Who are the ones who come to steal and kill and destroy?
The Pharisees who had just kicked an innocent man out of the temple. Those that came before them who had nothing but dead religion. Those who came after who have nothing but dead religion
The man healed of blindness found fulness of life that they could not give because they did not have it themselves. He found it outside the established place of worship, and he found it in a place where the legalists never go. At the feet of Jesus.
Jesus said that He came to bring life. That would have been enough for us. We were dead, and to have life, to have been given life when we were helpless to attain it on our own, would have been wonderful enough.
And Christians, I have to think that for most of us that has been enough. We’ve settled. Or we’ve just remained in our ignorance because we were taught that life was all we had by people who only had the basics themselves. We’re forgiven, going to Heaven; waiting for that ‘great getting up morning’.
But Jesus didn’t stop there, did He? He had abundant life to give, and that’s what He delivered. We just don’t know it, so we don’t live it.
Now I want to use money as an illustration, but please don’t think that I would ever equate money with salvation, or the life that Jesus gives.
There can be no real comparison. But for the sake of simple illustration, let’s suppose that a long-lost rich uncle dies and leaves me one hundred million dollars.
Ninety nine million goes straight to an account in my name, and a man delivers one million to my front door.
Now let’s see. I’m presently 53 years old. Let’s just assume I’ll live another 20 years. I hope it will be much longer, but I have to keep the math simple. I’m a preacher, not an accountant.
So I now have a million dollars in my hand, so even if I only live 20 more years, that breaks down to fifty thousand dollars per year. I guess that would be considered a pretty good income; still, I can’t go out and get crazy with it, huh?
So I hire an accountant to work out a budget for me, including the saving of some of that in an IRA or 401K or something just in case I do live more than 20 years, and then I go about living whatever lifestyle that allows.
And I never again think about the fact that I have 99 million dollars at my fingertips!
Again, money is not the perfect illustration, but in essence this is how we often live our lives even as Spirit-filled believers in Christ. We’ve come to the cross, we’ve believed He died for our sins, we believe we’re going to Heaven, but we forget that when He came out of the tomb it was in resurrection power, and He came out with resurrection life to infuse us with.
We are glorious beings, Christians, if we’d only look through His eyes and see it. We have a new kind of life that is not shared in by any other part of God’s creation.
We have it so He can be glorified. The so-called ‘life’ that the average person has doesn’t bring glory to God.
It’s this resurrection life that does. It’s the kind that sets hearts free to be filled with joy, to be bold to boast in Jesus Christ our Lord, to live noble courageous lives for our King that might even result in our being ostracized from traditional church, and booted out into the open air so we can really meet with Jesus!
Follower of Christ, listen to me! When you came to Jesus you were recreated as a being that is not of this world.
The enemy has maybe fooled you for a very long time into thinking the only thing that changed was your belief system, and the fact that you were logged into some heavenly book that will one day grant you access there.
But the truth is so much bigger than that.
You have been made into an eternal being who now has the wisdom and knowledge of the mysteries of God. They are revealed to you by the Holy Spirit who was sent to lead you into truth, and you carry in you the power to set other hearts free and lead them to abundant life.
I don’t know if these cartoons are around anymore, but when my daughter Briana was small she used to like to watch a thing called “He-Man”. He was pretty much a normal guy until trouble came around, then he would raise his sword skyward and lightning would come and strike the sword and turn him into a superhero type and he would yell, “I have the power!”
Well, you do too. It’s called the gospel. Not only that, you have the understanding of the things of God which men of this world do not have, that can answer their hardest questions and drive away their doubts and quench the fire of their fears.
You have in you the making of a champion! A rescuer.
That is, if you truly have this abundant life and are aware of it. So the first thing to ask yourself is,
DO I HAVE THIS LIFE?
Well, Clark, you just got done telling us we have it.
I know. But I want to make sure you know I’m talking only to Christians; so if you haven’t surrendered to Jesus and believed the gospel for salvation then you don’t have it.
But the real point is, even if you are a Christian, if you don’t know you have this life, and are not living as you’re ‘fully alive’, then it’s really as though you don’t have it. I mean, if it isn’t evident in your walk and in your worship then it’s sort of like that 99 million dollars, just sitting there doing nothing and helping no one.
If you will let Jesus open your eyes to this, if you will ask Him to reveal to you the abundance of life you have been given, if you will let Him make you ‘fully alive’, that is when He will begin to bring out the champion in you. That is when you will begin to fully realize your purpose; that is, His purpose for you.
That is when the mundane duties of life will take their proper place and instead of being what defines your every day, they will be kept in their proper place of priority and those things that are of an eternal value will now define your life.
Now I’m not advocating you go stand on the street corner with a sign that says “Jesus”, pointing to the sky. But whatever anyone thinks or says about those guys doing that, one thing is sure. They stand unashamed for Jesus.
Would you like to know that when anyone thinks of you they also think of Jesus, because you are so ‘one’ with Him that the two of you are hardly separable in the minds of others?
I’ll have to wait until I’m in Heaven to confirm this, but I’d just bet that for the rest of the life of this man in John 9, every time friends or family looked at him… or noticed him looking at them… they thought of Jesus.
Jesus said, “I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly” And He didn’t waste words. He didn’t use empty words. He meant what He said.
Ok, you have life in His name. Have you come fully alive? Have you laid yourself entirely at His feet in total trust, giving Him all and letting Him set your heart free? Don’t hold back, Christian. He wants you to enjoy a quality of life that is abundant, not dependent on the world’s abundance, but abundant in the Spirit and overflowing with grace.
Why? Because that kind of life brings glory to God. Man, fully alive!
