Jesus the Life Giver

A fellow who had been reared in the city bought a farm and several milk cows. In the feed store one day he complained his best cow had gone dry.

"Aren't you feeding her right?" asked the storeowner.

"I'm feeding her what you've been selling me," said the man.

"Are you milking her everyday?"

"Just about. If I need six or eight ounces of milk for breakfast, I go out and get it. If I don't need any, I don't get it--I just let her save it up."

The feed storeowner had to explain it doesn't work that way. With cow's milk, like God's presence, you take all that's there, or you eventually have nothing. Asking for God's power in six-ounce doses, or asking sporadically only at our convenience, may mean that for us, the source dries up.

Jon Foreman once reflected “"Just as drowning cannot be equated with swimming, mere existence is not the same as abundant life. We have been offered a new way to live – a new way to be human." ~ Jon Foreman

John 10

In John’s Gospel Jesus makes an extraordinary claim that in him we can find life and life abundant. Jesus’ call to us is a step towards a different kind of life for followers of Jesus. A life that is centered in him that is overflowing with goodness, grace, and the presence of Christ. That is actually the literal translation of the word abundant- Greek perisoss (pear-eee-sauce) meaning overflowing measure, or vehemently full.

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Jesus can give life because he is the source of life

You cannot give something that you do not have- a central truth of life. I was going to bring a million dollars to revival tonight and give it away to a lucky person who is hear; but when I went to the bank the teller was quick to inform me that I did not have a million dollars, thus I was not able to give it away.

Jesus can give us abundant life because he is the source of life. 1 John 1:1–4 “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.”

Jesus does not need to create, conjure up, or produce life; because all life is found in him. All of the life and goodness of God was manifest in Jesus- he put on a human body and came to Earth.

Colossians 2:9 “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,”

Think of it, way back in Genesis 1 when God was creating the world and giving life to all that is around us--- all of that life giving power, the power to carve our seas with his hand, to breathe stars into space, all of that power is in Jesus.

And what does Jesus do with all the life that is in him? He does not hoard it, or keep it, or negotiate with it- he offers it to us open handedly for us to receive as a gift.

Jesus can give life because he conquered death

Jesus said to John in Revelation 1:17–18 “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”

Any college basketball fans here today? March Madness is one of my favorite times of the year. And one of my favorite things to see is the way that ESPN and other networks start to build Basketball Team’s resumes to predict where in the bracket they will fall. They will get on and say “Well UVA beat Florida and VCU, but they lost to UNC and Texas; and their strength of schedule was graded at a 8.7.....” They begin building this resume on why certain programs deserve to be in the tournament.

If we were to build a resume for Jesus on why he can be trusted as your Lord, and why he is able to give abundant life the resume might read something like this:

Taught from the Scripture with authority

Healed diseases; made the blind see, and the lame walk.

Did miracles like multiplying bread and fish, turning water to wine, and walking on water

LITERALLY ROSE FROM THE DEAD.

Case closed- right? He just can give us abundant life because he beat the only that that can take life- death.

Acts 2:24 “God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.”

It was not possible for death to hold him. The chains of death were wrapped upon him, and he broke them loose and set himself free; and now that same Jesus offers that same freedom for us!

But what is abundant life?

What abundant life is NOT

Abundant life is not about quantity- Jesus himself only lived 33.5 years

Abundant life is not about quality- many Christians live in poverty and pain even after giving their lives to Christ

Abundant life is not about things- in fact, Jesus told a rich young ruler that he should sell everything he owned if he wanted to follow him.

Abundant life is a life overflowing with the presence and person of Jesus. This presence and access to Jesus leads to both a depth of life here and perfect life hereafter.

Remember where we started this morning, Jesus IS LIFE. You add Jesus to anything and it comes more alive- fully alive.

Friends, Jesus cares about you right here and right now, and offers a life to us that is abundant. The Christ centered life is about more than just getting by- that is why Jesus himself told us that if we seek the Kingdom of God and his righteousness all these things would be added to us- Jesus is deeply involved and concerned with us on this Earth. His presence invites us to depth of life that looks past material or temporal things and invites us to connect with him.

The challenge is of course, that many Christian’s get the equation wrong. The formula for abundance in this life is not our lives+Jesus= abundance. No, the formula is Jesus+ our lives=Abundance. We should start with Jesus.

In Galatians 5 we are told that the fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self control. These are the fruits of abundant life.

But the promise of abundant life is just not for here and now- because goodness knows our entire culture is based on here and now- this moment- live for right now. But Jesus’ abundance is so much more than that.

Revelation 21:4 “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.””