The Blessing of Righteousness, Peace and Joy // An Abundant Life in Jesus, Part 3

Most of us want to be happy, so we go looking for happiness …. everywhere.  No stone left unturned, only to discover that we can’t find lasting happiness.  Because at the end of the day – happiness isn’t what we’re looking for.  It’s joy that we’re after.

 

The Blessing of Righteousness

Over the last few weeks we have been having a discussion on this programme about the promise that Jesus made; an outrageous promise, in fact, of an abundant life. Here it is, have another listen, John chapter 10, verse 10:

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

And I guess that the reason that it’s so outrageous is that firstly, Jesus is saying that His purpose in coming to this earth, in stepping out of heaven into the physical dimension, taking on flesh, becoming a man, dying on the cross, rising again – all that – the reason He did that was what? “That we may have life and have it abundantly.” And it is for us because this promise is made in the context of a parable, where Jesus is the Good Shepherd; the True Shepherd and we are His flock. It’s a beautiful picture with a deep and rich meaning to the agrarian audience to which He said it, back in the first century.

"An abundant life", but what does that mean? I had a student ask me that once when I was lecturing at a Bible College. I was rabbiting on about this "abundant life" thing as though the idea of an abundant life was completely obvious to everyone. And one of the students, a woman in her sixties, asked me, she said, "But Berni, what is an abundant life?" You know something, I think that is a really, really good question.

A little while ago we aired a teaching series called, “Financially Secure Once and for All”. It was all about the fact that God means us not to find our security in money; in wealth but in Him. However much we may have or may not have when it comes to financial wealth.

Now, I was interested in the response of one man to that. He sent me a sharp email, declaring that he couldn’t support anyone who preaches the prosperity doctrine. You know that false idea that if you believe in God in the right way and give lots of your money away to whoever is preaching that day, you will be rich. God will make you healthy, wealthy and wise, with a big house, big car, and a great job – on easy street! It’s a false idea and we should have nothing to do with that because it puts our own wealth at the heart of things, rather than God’s glory. And that is not – simply NOT what we are called to do.

Anyhow, the point of me telling you this story is that, the moment I open my mouth about financial security, the man who wrote me that sharp email, assumed that I was talking about monetary blessing from God. But that was, in fact, the complete opposite of what I talked about in that teaching series. What I was talking about ‘God security’ irrespective of the size of the bank balance, we might or might not have.

And I wonder whether that isn’t the obvious thing to fall into, precisely the same wrong assumption when we start talking about "an abundant life in Jesus"? That abundance must mean, well, healthy, wealthy and wise – easy street! And so people look at their lives and think, "Well, you know, I don’t fall into the healthy, wealthy and wise category. I’m on struggle-street, not easy street. My life definitely is not all good or hunky dory, therefore this promise must either be false or for someone else." Do you see my point? We can be like that man who sent that email – we judge Jesus wrongly; we judge what He said from a worldly standpoint, rather than from a godly one.

Back in the early church in the first century, a controversy arose about what foods they could eat and what drinks they could drink. Remember