Abundant Purpose
January 21, 2019 · Pastor Miles DeBenedictis
In this teaching
Building on a series exploring Jesus's purpose statements, Pastor Miles teaches from John 10:10 that Christ purposed to give abundant life by destroying the work of the thief, and that we lay hold of this abundant, meaningful life by adopting Christ's evangelistic purpose as our own. The teaching closes with a call to write down and pray for three lost people.
- Jesus's twelve or thirteen "I have come" statements reveal a consistently evangelistic purpose, summarized as Christ purposing to save us from sin and its devastating effects.
- Sustaining meaning comes from a purpose greater than ourselves—one worth not only living for but dying for—and no purpose is greater than the purpose of Christ.
- John 10:10 reveals two opposing forces: the thief (the devil) who steals, kills, and destroys, and Christ who came to give life.
- Christ fulfilled his salvific purpose by destroying the destroyer at the cross, and in his purposeful death we find life—though, in the subjunctive mood, this is offered and must be received by faith.
- Abundant life is not long life, comfort, or wealth, but satisfaction, contentment, and the enjoyment of God's presence that endures into eternity.
- We experience life more abundantly by adopting Christ's purpose—bearing truth and shining light—which brings both meaning and opposition.
Then Jesus said to them again, "Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." ()
When you grasp why Jesus came, you discover why you are here—and find a life more abundant than your wildest dreams.
The Purpose of Jesus Frames Our Purpose
As we move into 2019, we are beginning the year with a series on the important topics of meaning and purpose. My proposition is this: when we properly understand the purpose of Jesus, it helps us frame and understand our own purpose in this world more meaningfully.
On a number of occasions in the Gospels, Jesus clearly articulates why he came through a series of statements that begin with the words "I have come." As you read through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, about twelve or thirteen times we see these clear words: "I have come for this purpose." Some of these have become theme verses of their passages.
In Mark, the theme verse is the first purpose statement we considered: the Son of Man "did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." In Luke, the theme verse is found in the story of Zacchaeus in —the Son of Man "has come to seek and to save that which was lost."
A Consistently Evangelistic Purpose
Along the way I have highlighted others. In , "I have come to save men's lives." In , "I have come to be a light to those who are in darkness." In , "I have come to bear witness of the truth." In , "I have come to preach the gospel." And in , "I have come to fulfill the Law and the Prophets."
When you look at every one of these statements, you discover that Jesus's purpose was consistently evangelistic. The Law and the Prophets—Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Micah, Malachi—were all pointing to one who would come to bring salvation to people who are lost. So we see point number one: Christ purposed to save us from sin and its devastating effects. This is gospel. This is good news.
When we grasp Jesus's evangelistic purpose, our purpose comes into focus. The place you live, the family you're part of, the job you do, the training you've had—all of it is ultimately used for this meaningful purpose, to be committed to the purpose of Christ.
A Purpose Worth Dying For
Much of the writing on meaning and purpose—secular or sacred—agrees on one thing: to have sustaining meaning in life, we need to be committed to a purpose greater than ourselves. Some of the most aspirational speeches in history call people to exactly that. And I can think of no greater purpose than the purpose of Christ.
Everyone we know is committed to some purpose they think will bring meaning. Look around our culture and you can identify them: making money, gaining fame—likes and subscribers on social media—experiencing pleasure, garnering power, leaving a legacy. But none of these comes close to the sustaining meaning found in the purpose of God in Christ Jesus.
There are some purposes people think are worth living for, but very few they will find worth dying for. Sustaining meaning is found in a purpose you can say, "I would be willing to die for this." This is why so many find deep meaning in becoming a parent—a love that says, "I'd be willing to die for these children." But the danger is that kids grow up and move out, and people lose their meaning.
I'd encourage you to read the old book Foxe's Book of Christian Martyrs, available free online. It outlines for the first eleven hundred to fifteen hundred years of Christianity the names and stories of people so committed to the cause of Christ that they gave their lives—from the first martyr, Stephen, in , onward.
"He Is No Fool"
My acquaintance Ed Stetzer, director of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College and pastor of Moody Bible Church, recently posted a photo of a journal page from October 28, 1949, written by Jim Elliot. In 1956, Elliot and four friends were killed as missionaries in Ecuador. The entry reads: "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose."
That was the mindset of a man committed to a purpose greater than himself. When we see our lives as an extension of Christ's purpose, we begin to engage as ambassadors, and everything else takes on greater meaning. The way you see your job, your training, your gifts, your family, your finances—it all changes when you realize you are committed to the cause of Christ. And that change makes this life all the better, all the more meaningful.
Christ Purposed to Give Abundant Life
All of this leads us to today's purpose, found in : "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." Simply put, point number two: Christ has purposed to give abundant life.
This purpose is set in contrast to one identified as the thief. The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy; in contrast, Christ comes that we may have life. Aristotle, 2,500 years ago, would have called this Jesus's telos—the end, the aim, the goal. Jesus's aim in coming as bearer of light, bearer of truth, and preacher of the gospel was that we would have life, and have it more abundantly.
Two Opposing Forces
First we must recognize that reveals two opposing forces at work in the world: the thief who does one thing, and Christ who does the opposite. The thief is not clearly identified in , but back up to –9 and you find thieves and robbers mentioned in metaphorical terms—the people of the world are sheep, Jesus is the shepherd, and there are thieves and robbers.
Commentators disagree on the particulars of who the thieves represent, but they agree that ultimately they are connected to the thief Christians call the devil, the enemy, the adversary. There is a force at work in this world that opposes the working of God. If God gives, this thief steals. If God aims at life, this thief aims at killing and death. If God builds and restores, this one seeks to destroy.
So wherever you see evil, brokenness, suffering, and malevolence in this world, you are acquainted with the work of the thief. We have done our best in modern American culture to shield ourselves from suffering, but it gets through the walls. The devil is revealed in Scripture as a thief, a murderer, a destroyer—the Greek word Apollyon—and a liar.
Life Offered, Not Inevitable
In contrast to this murderous, lying, thieving Satan, Jesus has come that we may have life. Notice the words "may have," which appear twice in . Circle them. In both English and Greek they are in the subjunctive mood, which deals with what is possible and desired but not inevitable.
In this world you will have tribulation—Jesus said so. It is the result of a broken, fallen world under the sway of the wicked one. But Jesus says, "I have come that you may have life," that you might experience what is possible, desired, even wished. The very fact that Jesus came to give it reveals that God desires that we experience abundance of life.
Suffering, sorrow, destruction, and death are real realities because of the fall. describes where brokenness and sin come from. Paul writes in that "through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all" humanity. The fall is the result of the work of the thief, the serpent, the liar who opposes God.
Crushing the Head of the Serpent
The very first prophecy of the Bible appears in , immediately after the fall. God says to the serpent, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise your head"—literally crush your head—"and you shall bruise His heel." So one would come through the seed of a woman to crush the serpent. The serpent would injure him, but he would crush the serpent.
How does Jesus make this life possible? Point number three: Christ fulfilled His salvific purpose by destroying the work of the destroyer. That word salvific means "leading to salvation." Jesus crushed the head of the serpent and destroyed the devil and his work on the cross when he said, "It is finished." By this he makes life available to those who are dead in trespasses and sins.
In Christ's Purposeful Death We Find Life
Point number four: In Christ's purposeful death we find life. Those words are there on purpose. Jesus's death on the cross was not an accident; it was God's purpose going all the way back to . The death of Jesus was purposeful.
Jesus knew exactly what was coming. In he tells his disciples, "You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified." And in , Peter preaches that Jesus was "delivered up by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God." calls him the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.
What is striking is that in Peter holds both together: "delivered up by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death." God's sovereign purpose and man's responsibility, both together. The Father purposed Christ's death so that we would live—and yet, in line with the subjunctive mood, not all people find life in that death, because they have not put their trust in Christ.
Life More Abundantly
But Jesus came not only that we would have life, but that we would have it more abundantly. The two English words "more abundantly" are one word in the Greek. That same word is used by Paul in : God "is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us." This is not just abundance—it is abundance of life squared, exponential abundance, life so much better than you could ever imagine.
So there is a difference between finding eternal life in Jesus where we were dead in trespasses and sins, and experiencing a life that is abundant. If you have trusted in Jesus today, you have life that is eternal—that is good news. But Jesus desires that you would experience something greater still: more abundant life.
What Abundant Life Is Not
Point number five: By adopting Christ's purpose we find life more abundantly. You would be hard-pressed to find anyone who does not desire life more abundantly, but we must define it according to what Jesus means, not according to our culture.
Abundant life is not merely a life that is long. One of the biggest areas billionaires in Silicon Valley are investing in is life-extension research. Knee replacements, shoulder replacements, pacemakers, medications—these are all life-extension measures, all well and good. But though you live four hundred years, you are still living in a broken, fallen world.
Nor is abundant life characterized by comfort and ease, or by health, wealth, and prosperity. These are high values in 21st-century Western culture, and some preachers with big TV shows promise them. But plenty of people who followed Christ did not live long, did not have comfort or ease or wealth—and yet they had abundance of life.
What Abundant Life Is
My friend the commentator David Guzik writes that abundant life "is a life of satisfaction and contentment in Christ." Look around our nation, full of people seeking comfort, ease, wealth, and long life—and what seems most lacking is satisfaction and contentment.
It is abundant life that is sustaining in meaning, that has the peace-filled knowledge that it endures into eternity. It does not end when you breathe your last; it is a life that now is and that is to come (). It is a life that enjoys the presence and fullness of God—"for in Him dwells all the fullness... and you are complete in Christ" (). It enjoys "every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places" (). One commentator called it "a life beyond our wildest dreams."
How do we lay hold of it? We receive life where we were dead by trusting in Christ, and we lay hold of more abundant life as we adopt the purpose of Christ. We have a purpose worth living for and worth dying for, and that is where the greatest meaning comes from, because meaning originates from a purpose greater than yourself.
A Path with Opposition
Let me conclude with two final considerations. Adopting Christ's purpose is the path to an abundant life with sustaining meaning—but part of that purpose is bearing witness of the truth to people who trust in lies and shining light to those who are in darkness. In doing so, we expose the work of the thief, and that makes waves.
Jesus said in , "This is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light." When you bring truth to those who trust in lies, you shake things up. People make lies their refuge: "There is no God," "There is no judgment," "All paths lead to heaven." When you confront that comforting lie, expect conflict.
There is a judgment that comes with this. Jesus said in , "For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind." In a culture that detests anything that divides or is narrow, if you bear truth to those who trust in lies and bring light to those who love darkness, you will be labeled a bigot. Yet this is the path to abundant life.
"I Did Not Come to Bring Peace"
This division may be part of the reason for Jesus's most striking purpose statement, in : "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man's enemies will be those of his own household."
If you adopt the purpose of Christ, it is the path to meaning, but a path with opposition, because there is a force in this world that opposes the working of God.
The First Step Is Prayer
The first step in adopting Christ's evangelistic, light-shining, truth-bearing, lost-seeking, selfless-serving, abundant-life-producing purpose is prayer. Take out the card in your bulletin. I want you to think of the first three individuals who come to mind whom you would like to see connected to God—people in darkness, lost, trusting in the cultural lies of our day.
E. M. Bounds, a great man of God, once wrote, "Where prayer is focused, power falls." Let me tell you how effective this is. We first did this just before Labor Day in 2017, and I wrote three names: Rick, Kim, and Daniel—my father-in-law, mother-in-law, and brother-in-law. My father-in-law is sitting right here this morning. My wife and I had prayed a long time without thinking it would happen, yet within three or four months of writing his name down, God moved powerfully, and I was able to sit with my father-in-law and share the gospel. Where prayer is focused, power falls.
So write down three names—maybe you can only think of one, and that's fine, but think bigger. There are many people who don't know Jesus, looking for sustaining meaning they will never find in money, pleasure, or power. It is found only in the purpose of Christ.
Here is the challenge. In , Jesus told his disciples to "pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest"—and a few verses later he sent the very men who were praying. So we will pray, and God will use you to reach these friends, family members, and neighbors.
Closing Prayer
Father, we come before You in humility, recognizing that Jesus said no one comes to the Father unless the Spirit draws them. Where prayer is focused, power falls, and we ask that by Your Spirit You would powerfully move in the lives of these individuals right now, wherever they are. You know where they are; reach into their lives.
We lift these people into Your hands—Gary and Jenna, John and Janet, Timberlee and Chris, Sonia and Dusty, Theresa, Ashley, Jill, Alex, Dwayne, Paula, Kevin, Mary, Diane, Brandon. We trust that You desire to reach them with the good news of the gospel, and we pray You would move mightily for Your glory and for the salvation of those who are still lost.
You came to seek and save that which was lost, to give Your life a ransom for many, to bring light to those in darkness and truth to those who have trusted in lies. Would You use our testimony and our witness to bring this glorious gospel to those who are dead in trespasses and sins, that they would have life.
You make all things new. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away and all has become new. We thank You for the new life we have where once we were dead in sin. And we ask, Lord, that we would enter to a greater extent in 2019 into the experience of the abundance of life. As we grasp Your purpose in this world, cause us to see more clearly why we live where we live and work where we work—that You have placed us to be a light to those who are in darkness. Work in and through Your church. As You said to Nicodemus and to the crowd in , "Today salvation has come to this house," do a work, we pray.
Now may the Lord bless you and keep you; may He make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; may the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you His peace. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of His Holy Spirit be with you all. In Jesus's name, amen.
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