It Is Time To Start Living!

John 10:10

Many who call themselves Christians have never known what it means to be a Christian.
They just drift along with whatever direction the wind blows.
It seems that their only purpose for living is to satisfy their wants, and their lusts of the flesh,
and their insatiable hunger for pleasure.

Here is a man who works 40 hours a week, buys a little food and some alcoholic beverage,
so that he can eat and drink over the weekend, and relax in his easy chair and in a hath-drunken stupor,
exclaims: "This is really living!"

Take a look at young man who has no other purpose in life than to work hard so that
he might earn enough to buy a fast car, and live a fast life with a fast crowd in the bars
where he is robbed of his physical energy, and then, he says, "This is really living!"

There is a young woman who has ignored the Christian way of life, and has accepted the Hollywood formula
for abundant living, and measures the values of life in terms of popularity and looking-good.
She says, "This is really living!"

A couple moves into their new townhouse; they brag about their unfaithfulness,
and they joke about those who lare faithful to their spouses; and then, they claim that: "This is really living!."

There are people who will spend all their spare time chasing anything for everything
that can give them a thrill, and then shouts:"This is really living!."

When a person feels weak and empty, and then, goes to the medicine cabinet where he keeps his drugs,
and after he has swallowed a few pills to relax, he says: "This is really living!"

Someone has asked the question: "Is a person really living when he has no purpose in life other than
to eat, and drink, and wear expensive clothes, and later be placed in an expensive casket,
and then be buried in an expensive grave plot?"

Do you think that God's only purpose in creating us was that we might grow up, and live....., die ....
Do you think that this is the only purpose for our existence?
Are we to conclude that material things, things we can see and touch, are all that really matters?
My answer to those questions is a definite, "No"!

I have read a very wise statement that says:"We live in deeds, not years, in thoughts, not breaths,
in feelings, not in numbers on a speed dial."
Yet, after a span of years on this earth, all many people will have to show for their life is
a birth certificate affirming that they did live, and they have death certificates assuming that they died.

A person's life cannot be meaningful unless that person has received Jesus who is "life."
There is no life outside of Christ.
A person may gather up all the riches of this world and never possess even one of the
riches of God.
A person cannot enrich his life by constantly investing in the non-essentials of this world.

Jesus said in John 10:10: "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it
more abundantly."

Some years ago, a Broadway musical, named "Pippin," encourages the the listeners
to squeeze all of existence into the brief years of this life.
It is entitled, "No Time At All."
The song expresses the panic of growing old and missing the delight of living.
Its refrain is, "Oh, it's time to start livin."

Though we might not agree the with the values which the lyrics and chorus defines as living,
but we can respond to the urgency to start living which they do communicate in these words:
" Oh, it's time to start livin,
Time to take a little from the world w'r givin;
Time to take time, 'cause
Spring will turn to Fall
In just no time at all."

The phrase, "Take time to smell the roses" is a phrase that we have heard often.
It is possible to live so fast and furious that the enjoyment of life is lost.

But what does it really mean to start living?
The only satisfactory answer must include the present and eternity, or else we will feverishly try
to cram life into the brief span of this portion of eternity.
All of us will live eternally either in heaven or hell.
What we do with our life now determines how and where we will spend eternity.

God's will is that we really live, both now and forever.
Jesus Christ came to live, reveal, and to give us both the abundant life here and the eternal life
in heaven.
We should want both.

Many Christians would probably admit that they are certain they have eternal life, but they are not
experiencing what they suspect that Jesus meant by the abundant life.
Even after becoming a Christian, they continue to be wracked with worry, depressed with doubt,
pressured by conflicting problems, and dissatisfied by what their relationships provide.

As one church member said to his pastor, "I'm not as worried about dying in the end
as I am about being half-dead right now!"

In a much more profound way than the "Pippin" song expresses, Jesus Christ came
and comes to say, "Now is the time to start living."

Christ would not advise that we take advice that the world gives us, but He would advise us
that it is "time to take time" to discover that the will of God for us is life in Him,
and He in us.
Christ wants to free us so that we may experience the liberating truth that whatever enables joyous,
adventuresome, and courageous living -- now and forever -- is the will of God.

There are difficult and painful things that we must go through which will enable us to grow up
as mature Christians.
It is time to enter into the full joy of fellowship with Christ, and it's also time to listen carefully
to what He said about giving ourselves away lavishly to the needs of others.

The will of God is that we turn over to Him full control of our life, and then we will start
to really live.
In order to do that, we need several things.
We need an assurance that we belong to Christ, and that He lives in us.
We need to give our total dependence to His providential care.
We need to have an unreserved commitment to live life to the fullest because we know
that we are alive forever.

Jesus promised all of these things in one of His clear statements of the will of God.
The occasion which prompted His clear revelation was a conversation with the people
who had witnessed the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000.

Jesus discerned that they wanted further signs and proofs.
What more proof did they need than the miraculous multiplication of the five loaves and two fish?
Like so many of us who are in a frenzied search for guidance, they wanted further specifics
of what they were to do if they were to do the works of God.

Jesus was very direct with them:
"This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent."
Then, Jesus continued.
He made a bold messianic claim, and offered bread that satisfies:
"For the bread of God is He who comes from heaven and gives life to the world."
Notice, the emphasis on life!

The people responded, " Lord, give us this bread always."

You and I want to live, and not miss the reason for which we were born.
That life is Christ Himself.
"I am the bread of life.
He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst."

Stay with that momentous statement for just a moment longer.
Christ is all that we need in every moment of this life so that we can know life at its highest,
and then, enter into an even greater fullness of life beyond the grave.

If eternal life was all we had, that would be wonderful, but God has given us so much more.
Christ is our Good Shepherd.
Remember, that sheep are dependent on the shepherd for safety, for provisions, for the path to follow,
and where to rest.
When we quote David's assurance from Psalm 23:1: "The Lord it is my Shepherd."
And then, we hear Jesus say, "I am the Good Shepherd." (John 10:11)
This is the key to the unfolding of God's ultimate and daily will.

Jesus states very clearly why He came to earth and died and rose again, and why He says
to you and me in John 10:10: "I have come that they may have life,
and that they may have it more abundantly."
Knowing and doing the will of God is companionship with the Good Shepherd, Jesus our Lord.
We must accept His shepherding of our lives each hour of every day.

Martin Luther once said that true Christianity consists of personal pronouns.

There is a wonderful story of a little girl who is fast asleep.
When her mother and father checked on her before they retired for the night,
they noticed a wonderful serene look on her sleeping face.
They also noticed that she had one hand clutched around the forefinger of her other hand.

After breakfast, they asked her why she fell asleep holding on so tightly to her forefinger.
"Well," she responded, "I repeat the 23rd Psalm before I go to sleep,
like you have taught me.
I keep saying it over and over again: 'The Lord is my Shepherd.'"

She continued by saying, "That is five words. I start counting with my little finger,
and when I reach the word, 'my,' I am at my forefinger.
I like 'my' best of all!
He is 'my' shepherd.'"

I pray that you and I will never become so sophisticated that we are unwilling to grasp
our forefinger in personal, childlike assurance.
Jesus is "my" Shepherd.
He leads me through each step of the abundant eternal life that He came to give me,
and He continues to provide that abundant life every day of my life.

There are many Christians who are not abiding in Christ who have become resistant
to what they know to be God's will for them.
They have closed God out.
Christians like this must get re-acquainted with his or her Shepherd.

Our Good Shepherd knows the pasture that we need for rest, and He knows where we need
the flowing stream of spiritual refreshment, and of the right path we need to take.
Out of His love for us, He will temporarily withhold what we want in order to give us what we need.

It is reassuring to know that the Lord is the same yesterday, today, tomorrow, and forever.
It is equally reassuring to know that our Good Shepherd sees the decisions and choices
that we are going to have to make.
It is reasonable to assume that He wants us to be ready for whatever comes.
That's His task as our Good Shepherd.

Think of a time when you came to a really tough decision, and knew immediately what you were
supposed to do.
Remember, how pleased you were in being able to be decisive?
The probability is that the Lord had been getting you ready.

Time with Him will clarify your values.
His abiding presence will give you a healthy sense of self-esteem.
You will feel good about yourself and your future.
Your mind will be free of guilt over unconfessed sins.
This is the way our Good Shepherd wants us to live consistently.

The will of the Lord is that we should live now and forever in being perfectly consistent
with the three basic desires that He has placed within us.
We all want to reach the maximum in realizing our potential.
We want to enjoy the years of our life to the fullest.

Life as Christ lived it, and life as He lives it in us is the only way to satisfy our real desires
and His demands.
He is God's will for us.
That will is perfect in that it ensures our potential, accomplishes our purpose, and assures us
of of that life abundant and eternal.
Christ dwelling in us is the maximizer of all our potential.
As the wisdom of God, He inspires our thinking.
As the power of God, He infuses us with the willing, energizing strength to seek and to follow
His guidance.

The Good Shepherd's ministry in our lives will help us face the opportunities and the challenges of life
with His power.
And nothing is impossible for Him.

No one can enrich his spiritual life unless he knows how and what to add and to subtract from his life
and how to divide what he has for the good of others.

Man plus God always means victory.
Man plus God means purposeful living.
As Christians we must know how to add, but we also need to know when we have added
the wrong digits have come up with the wrong answers.
We know how to add more gadgets in our lives and more power in our cars, but we haven't learned
how to have more of Jesus Christ in our lives.

It is sad to say that many Christians measure their spiritual lives in terms of material possessions.
Many Christians have been deluded by the demons of hell into thinking that material success is
a stamp of God's approval for their way of living.
The Christian may be a successful according to the standards of the world, and, still yet, be a failure
according to the standards of God.

Abundant living is not merely successful living, it is also victorious living.
A Christian may have success in the midst of evil, but no one can be victorious over evil
without having Christ in his life.
Jesus didn't come that we might have success.
He came that through him we might attain that victorious life.

One day a young man went to Jesus asking how he might have that kind of life.
He wanted to know what good thing he could do to have that life which is eternal.
This young man was successful.
He was rich, and he was a ruler.
According to the thinking of a carnal-minded man, that is success.

He had succeeded in adding to his material possessions which were astounding,
but he did know how to subtract.
He was rich in things, money, pride, prominence, and position, but he was spiritually bankrupt.
He had a a hunger in his soul that he had neglected.
He had lived for things, and just to have things.

What he possessed had excluded God from his life.
Jesus said to him: " The spiritual poverty of your life is chronic, and in order for you
to have that eternal life that you are seeking, you must go and sell what you have,
and give it to the poor, and come and follow me."

What this young man had was corrodIng his soul, and was making it difficult for him to have
this relationship with the eternal God.
It was time for him to sell out, and give himself completely to God.

This is true today for people who have allowed the perishable things in their life to become
more important than the unchanging God of grace to come into their heart and life and give them
that life which is eternal.

If you are familiar with this young man that came to Jesus, then you know that he kept
his perishable riches, and his fleeting success, and said, "No" to Jesus.
In this case he was saying, "I really don't believe you."
He walked away from what he could have had which was an everlasting life of peace and joy
in heaven instead hung on to an everlasting death in hell.

That is the tragedy of it.
When we singing these songs in our churches:
"I'd rather have Jesus and silver or gold."
"Have thine own way, Lord."
"I surrender all."
Do we really mean what we sing, or is it just a lie?.

In Colossians 3:1 Paul wrote, "Seek those things which are above."
If a Christian can say that in Jesus, "This is really living," then, he must have a life
that is above reproach, and not filled with those things that God has said to put away.

Finally, our fear of death and the desperate need of an assurance of life eternal are more
than satisfied in the risen Christ.
He defeated the power of death and rose from the grave.
Because He lives, we also live, and we will live forever.

Death for you and me is behind us
It occurred when we surrendered our lives -- mind, emotion, will, and body -- to the Lord.
"You He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins." (Ephesians 2:1)
And now we are free to live life -- the resurrected life -- the abundant life -- by the power
of the Lord Jesus within us.
Now is a time to start living!

Abundant living is that quality of life that enables us to go the second mile.
Many Christians faint in the day of adversity -- on the first mile.
They never reach the second mile of which Jesus spoke.
Too many Christians have a tendency to conform to the ungodly environment around us,
and conformers can never be transformers.

To know what it means to have an abundant life, we must go the second mile.
It's on the second mile that we discover true spiritual strength and values.
The second mile strengthens our soul.
It is on the second mile that we learn how to jump the hurdles of all the hazards
we encounter in life.
It is on the second mile that we know in reality the One whose yoke is easy
and whose burden is light.
It is on the second mile that we get that second breath, and receive added strength
and resources when material things have failed us.

God gave us an abundant life, and expects us to share that life with others.
No one has discovered the true value of life until he shares this life.
No one has learned how to share until he has learned how to turn loose.

We are accountable to God for this life that we have in Christ.
We are not our own, we have been bought with a price.
God did not give us an abundant life so that we could drift aimlessly through all the years,
and die, and leave behind us monuments such as superhighways, beautiful golf courses,
beautiful buildings, etc.

When we come to the end of our earthly life, we will stand before our great God,
and give an account of our stewardship.
We will give an account of what we have done with the life that God has given us.

God will not be interested in hearing about our scientific achievements, and how much money
we have amassed.
God will not be interested in hearing about our academic achievements and awards
that have been heaped upon us.

I don't know about you, but I want to be able to tell God that I used my life to tell others
about Jesus, and I want to be an example to others, and show them that Christ lives in me.
I want God to see that I comforted those who were sad
I want Him to see that I encouraged those who were discouraged.
I want Him to see that I fed someone the bread of life.
I want Him to see that I guided some wayward sheep back to the fold.
I want Him to know that I was a friend to someone who was friendless.
I want Him to see that I have become more and more like Christ.

I certainly don't want to stand before my God with a bowed-down head, and say,
"I have played the fool."
Or "I have wasted my life on things that were perishable."

Jesus is our example.
Jesus can say that He was used His power to make devils flee, and the sick to be healed,
and the lame to walk, and the dead to live again.
Jesus can say that He sat on a curb by a well and used that meeting to give living water
to a woman so that she would never a thirst again.
Jesus can say that He called together a few dedicated men and trained them to be His disciples,
and they would be used to turn the world upside down for God.

Jesus can say that He was given a cross, and that He used it to bridge the chasm that separated
men from God, and left words for all generations to come, saying, "If I, be lifted up from this earth,
I will draw all men unto myself."
Jesus was given a borrowed tomb in which to be buried, and on the third day,
He rose from that tomb so all who follow Him could have eternal life.

Because He lives, I live.
Because He lives, I have life more abundantly!
Because He lives, I will live forever in my eternal home with my Father in heaven.
This is really living!

Then Jesus Came

"One sat alone beside the highway begging
His eyes were blind the light he could not see.
He clutched his rags, and shivered in the shadows.
Then, Jesus came and bade His darkness flee.

Unclean, Unclean the leper cried in torment,
The deaf, the dumb in helplessness stood near;
The fever raged, disease had gripped its victim
Then, Jesus came and cast out every fear.

And so today, we find the Savior able
We can not conquer passion, lust, or sin.
Our broken hearts have left us sad and lonely,
But Jesus comes to dwell Himself within.

CHORUS:
When Jesus comes, the tempter's power is broken.
When Jesus comes the tears are washed away.
He takes the gloom and fills the life with glory
For all is changed when Jesus comes to stay."

if you have never trusted Jesus as your Saviour, you are dead in your sins.
You need life, and you can have life only in Jesus.

Do not look to Christ for the beginning, and then, somewhere else for the ending!
Christ has come that you might have more life.
Come to Him by faith.

Jesus said in John 14:7: "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one can come
unto the Father but by me."
Jesus is the only way to have life.
Jesus came to give us life, and to give us life more abundantly!

"There is a song in my heart today
Something I never had;
Jesus has taken my sins away;
O say but I'm glad!

Oh, say but I'm glad; I'm glad.
Oh, say but I'm glad; I'm glad.
Jesus has come and my cup's over run;
Oh, say but I'm glad; I'm glad!"

Sermon adapted from several sources by Dr. Harold L. White