A Full Life

As we’ve been looking at this new year and seeking to start it right, as a little recap...we’ve been talking about putting the first things first, realizing that God has placed priorities in our lives that we are to follow...First is to love the Lord with our whole heart soul mind and strength then second is to love others as we love ourselves. Then two weeks ago we talked about going deeper in the Lord. We walked about going beyond the surface level things in our lives and really allowing God to go deeper and uproot things at a core level, then out of abiding with Jesus, we bear his fruit.

You can go check those sermons out on podcast apps like apple or spotify at CITC/BA Insights or from our website churchinthecity.org if you want to go back and listen.

But today, we want to continue to build into this foundation of starting the year off right and continuing to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all of these things will be added. From Matthew 6:33 “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

In context there, we know that Jesus is saying not to worry about temporal things of life...things like clothes and what we’re going to eat. But we can also take this and apply it to all areas of our life as we seek to go deeper in the Lord and pursue Him passionately with all we are!

But...Simon, you might say...we live in a hard world...things are falling apart around us. Life is tough. The world is a dark place...Yeah, I get it! We all face trials and tests every day right?

Listen, here’s a great scriptural encouragement for all of us today right from the mouth of Jesus Himself....

John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

Jesus Himself encourages us that the enemy wants to kill and destroy but Jesus came that we would have life...to the full. Really that’s what we’re talking about as we start this year. Getting back to the foundations. All of us. Resetting our hearts, soul, and minds so that we can move on with God. And the reality is we all have to constantly reset our lives back to the simple gospel. Back to the foundations. Back to connection with Jesus. Back to time in God’s word and in prayer. Back to our first love.

You know what a bummer is....to live life, eeking out one day at a time, just trying to making end meet, caught up in the demands of life, always being blown this way and that by situations. Isn’t that tiring? Isn’t that exhausting? Is that how we are to live? No!!!

Jesus said He came that we would have life to the full.

So the question is...what is this life to the full? What is God’s definition of a “full” life?

This word used in the in the NIV as full in the Greek is “perissos”. It means full, abundant, beyond, extraordinary, more.

As we see Jesus is painting a picture of a kind of life in which is teaming, overflowing, beyond what we have, extra ordinary....doesn’t that sound great? I mean Jesus is offering the kind of life we all would want and imagine! Sounds fantastic. It is!

But maybe not for the reasons that the world may think. Jesus wasn’t talking about being rich, or famous, or pretty, or handsome, or popular, or glamourous. That’s not the kind of abundant full life Jesus offers.

What is this full abundant life?

It’s more than what this world can offer, way more!! Jesus is offering salvation. He’s offering treasure in heaven. He’s offering eternal life with him. That’s what abundance life truly is.

This is in contrast to what the world can offer. Jesus said do not store up for yourself treasures on earth where moth and Rust destroy. A full life includes heavenly rewardsWhat are heavenly rewards? Why are they important? 1)Where your treasure is, they’re your heart will be.

there will actually be treasure in heaven for us. 2 Corinthians 5:10. 1 Cor 3:12-15. Col 3:23-25

The big idea here that Jesus is making is that through him and life in him, we are able to enter into something so much greater than anything in this world has to offer. Because even at it fest this stuff will only last while we’re here. But when we are living with Jesus right now, wheat immediately began to experience, the abundant overflowing goodness of life with God. Some of the things we can experience our peace that goes beyond understanding, being more than a conqueror, living above our circumstances in situations, not letting our bank account determine our worth, receiving a brand new identity, to complete and total forgiveness of our sins and shortcomings, the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit to help us do things we can’t do by ourselves, to have something to live for so much bigger than anything in this life, to have a Destiny, to have a vision and a goal

Fullness is an invitation

Does anyone want this kind of life? Well, the reality is....this full abundant life comes in the form of an invitation that must be accepted by the receiver!

What do I mean? This full abundant life that Jesus offers...He offers to everyone....He invites everyone to the table...

2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

God’s desire is that all will come...

The invitation gets sent out to everyone, but NOT EVERYONE ACCCEPTS it!!! Wouldn’t it be sad to miss out on it? Imagine getting to heaven and for the first time seeing completely clearly and being able to understand that we had access while on earth to living in abundance and fullness the entire time through Christ.

Saying yes to this invitation is simply humbly welcoming Jesus to come into every area of our lives and allow Him to transform us. It does mean something else has to go. We have to let go of our own life. We literally have to lose our life that we would gain this abundant life.

Matthew 16:24–25 “Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.”

Listen, Jesus isn’t mincing words here is he? He’s laying it down....Saying, listen...if you want to live this life here on earth for yourself, you will lose it all in the end. But, if you accept Jesus invitation into the full abundant life he wants to give, you will realize a complete and wonderful life that you never knew was even possible. Complete and ultimate fulfillment.

John 12:24–25 “Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”

You know what? So many of us are afraid of death. Death makes a lot of us uncomfortable. Being a pastor for a while now, Iv’e been to my fair share of funerals and memorial services. I can say that a lot of people feel uneasy with death. We don’t like it. We don’t like to think about it or talk about it. But death, ironically, is a part of life.

Jesus want us to live in fullness, but ignorer for that to happen, we have to accept the invitation to die. Die to ourselves. Die to lesser things. Die to our ego. Die to our own ideas of what’s right and wrong and how we should live and treat other people. To truly follow Jesus means a sweet kind of a death.

Yeah I said a sweet death. Why? Because it’s a death unto something. A death so that there can be a re-birth. And we are re-born into the eternal kingdom of God, which transcends all of the junk and pain we face here on earth.

2 Corinthians 4:17–18 “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

The Christian who contemplates death with joy is a living sermon. Fear Of Death, Volume 55, Sermon #3125 - Hebrews 2:15

Charles Spurgeon

Think about that....this is the kind of stuff that makes us followers of Christ a peculiar people. Joy in death? on the onset that sounds strange....but for us...for the family of God, we realize...we are already dead to the old man and alive with Christ. We realize that though for all of us our mortal bodies will fade away but we will live eternally with Jesus through our faith in Him. Today, right now, we are transformed people, peaching the gospel of hope and life to a dying world.

Embracing Jesus invitation into a full and abundant life frees us from the bonding of today. The trap of the circumstances we find ourselves going through. This full life is truly fulfilling.

Imagine not having to strive to get people to like you because you know you are fully loved and cherished by God. Imagine not having to worry about people pleasing because you’re so in love with the Lord, you live to please and serve Him. Imagine the absolute joy of knowing that your debt is 100% paid off and you get to come into the very presence of the Creator of all things anytime you want.

If this sounds good to you then it’s time to die.

Time to die again!