“I am the Door; anyone who enters in through Me will be saved (will life). He will come in and he will go out [freely] and will find pasture. The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows). I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd risks and lays down His [own] life for the sheep.
Is your understanding of being a Christian limited to only getting into heaven after you die? Yet this is the only benefit that so many, many, many Christians are aware of. Bible scholars will tell us that there are over eight thousand covenant promises in the Bible. Sadly, just as many confessed Christians are equally unaware of what a covenant is a sacred, binding relationship initiated by God. More on this in a future blog post.
With this blog post, I want to fuel your hope and to give your faith a target to aim for. There is so, so much available to us as heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus (Romans 8:17)
I first want to point out that Jesus calls Himself “the Good Shephard.” When we look at this word “Good” in the Greek, its meanings include, genuine, approved, precious, admirable, beautiful by reason of purity of heart and life, hence praiseworthy. And the meanings go on and on. What I love here is that His heart for us, as His sheep is that He wants the best for us to the point where He is even willing to die for us to get it. WOW!!!!
Next, I want to point out where He says, “…anyone who enters in through Me will be saved….” When we look at this word in the Greek it is “sozo,” which mean to be whole. This is very telling because we need to understand that without an active living relationship with God through Jesus we ARE SPIRITUALLY DISCONNECTED from our very Source of Life. Please get what I am saying that there is an entire additional aspect of life and existing beyond that of our physical bodies.
“God said, Let Us [Father, Son, and Holy Spirit] make mankind in Our image, after Our likeness and let them have complete authority…. So, God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them. And God blessed them and said to them, be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it [using all its vast resources in the service of God and man]; and have dominion ….”
God told Adam that if he ate of the tree of Knowledge, that he would die. And the death that God spoke of was that of a spiritual death, a disconnection from God, from Life Himself. So, with our confession of Jesus as Savior we are “born again.” We become whole, we return to spiritual life and the covenant benefits found in having a relationship with God.
The last sentence of John 10:9 is, “He will come in and he will go out [freely] and will find pasture.” The word “pasture” in the Greek, “nome,” reaches well beyond our thinking that sheep have a place to go and eat. It means figuratively that we will NEVER have any needs, that you will have growth, increase and that you will be very well supplied to have a fulfilled life. That the abundant life that He is talking about is found in our relationship with as our Shepherd.
“Therefore, let the whole house of Israel recognize beyond all doubt and acknowledge assuredly that God has made Him both Lord and Christ (the Messiah) – this Jesus Whom you Crucified.” Acts 2:36 (AMP)
Please notice the word “both” and the word “and.” Jesus functions in the role of Christ, Savior, our Messiah!!! His death, His surrendering to the cross for us, His sheep, and (more importantly) His resurrection served to reconnect us with God, our Source of Life. We become saved, sozo, whole. Yet, He still serves in His role as Shepherd, He is Lord!!! He still serves as The One Who leads us to the pasture where we can gain access to His promise of an abundant life. WOW!!! WOW!!! WOW!!! Sadly, for way too many Christians, their relationship with Jesus is limited to only acknowledging Him as Savior.
I want to be very clear, in His role as Savior, Jesus is our door to a relationship with God and our entry way into heaven. And it is in our obedience to His as Lord, to Jesus as our Shepherd that we gain access to the abundant life promised in John 10:10.
One of the most quoted verses in the world is John 3:16,
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (KJV)
God love for us is unconditional, it is a free gift. Nevertheless, He still created a place called hell. Why? Because we have the power of choice. If we want the benefits attached to God’s love and that of a relationship with His we are REQUIRED to confess and believe in our hearts that Jesus in His role as Savior surrendered to the cross for us and was resurrected, that He over came death by way of God’s Holy Spirit and IS STILL FULFILLING HIS ROLE AS LORD, His role as our Shepherd!!! In other words, we have a part to do, God requires action on our part for us to take part in the things that He has already provided. Yes, he provided freely, but we still must take action to receive what He gives us out of His love for us. Let us look at what Jesus says in Luke 6:46 – 49,
“Why do you call Me, Lord, Lord and do not [practice] what I tell you? For everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words [in order to heed their teaching] and does them, I will show you what he is like: He is like a man building a house, who dug and went down deep and laid a foundation upon the rock; and when a flood arose, the torrent broke against that house and could not shake or move it, because it had been securely built or founded on a rock. But he who merely hears and does not practice doing My words is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation, against which the torrent burst, and immediately it collapsed and fell, and the breaking and ruin of that house was great. (AMP)
In this passage from Luke, Jesus, Himself tells us the importance of serving, or being obedient to Him as Lord and the impact that serving Him as Lord (Shepherd) has on our lives.
He ties our being obedient to being the foundation of our lives!!! Remember that a building’s foundation determines not only the quality of the structure, but also how high the building can be. Also notice that Jesus says, “WHEN a flood arose…,” not if a flood comes. THERE WILL BE STORMS IN EVERY LIFE!!! And its in serving Jesus as Lord, being obedient, obeying His Words, that we survive that horrors and death that goes hand in hand with sin.
I will go into deeper detail with part 2 of Unlocking the Abundant Life, but for now let me key in on a few things.
· Jesus in BOTH Savior and Lord.
· Jesus as our Savior returns us to wholeness, to an active and living relationship with God, with Life Himself.
· Jesus, as our Lord and Shepherd desires to lead us to green pastures, to a life that reaches beyond anything that we will do without Him.
· Being obedient aligns us with God’s heart and His desires for us.
· True freedom, safety, and joy are found in obedience.
· Our obedience is an active expression of our love and appreciation of God.
The last takeaway is where we will pick up in part 2. Until then May God bless you in ways that are beyond your understanding.
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