Abundant Life

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

And now, here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg.

The Holy Gospel according to St. John, chapter 10, verses 1 -10. Jesus said, Truly, truly, I say to you, He who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber.

He who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens the sheep, hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers. This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

So Jesus again said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers. But the sheep did not listen to 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 comes only to steal, to kill, and to destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. In the name of Jesus. Brothers and sisters, what a wonderful text. It says here that the thief comes to steal, to kill, and destroy, but Jesus has come that we might have life and have it abundantly.

And we all know what that means. Buy yourself some Powerball tickets, we're all going to be rich. No, actually, it doesn't mean that at all. But here's kind of the sad thing. And that is, there are many pastors and preachers today who are fulfilling the prophecy given in 2 Timothy chapter 4 regarding the preaching that would come in the end of days.

And they twist this passage that we have just read, this wonderful text about our good shepherd who has come to give us, his sheep, life and life abundantly. And they turn that into a teaching that God wants you to be prosperous, God wants you to be rich, God wants you to be healthy, God wants you to be affluent, God wants you to be the head and not the tail, and for you to prosper here in this lifetime and you can always tell who the most holy people are by the type of watch that they wear.

Timex, not so blessed. Rolex, you betcha. But that's not what this text is saying. Let me remind you what Paul's prophecy is in 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 3. He says, And I hate to say this, but the prosperity preacher who takes this text from John 10 and turns it into, well, a promise that Jesus is going to make you rich, he's fulfilling this prophecy.

He's scratching itching ears. And unfortunately there are far too many congregations who have put these types of fellows behind the pulpit all to their own eternal demise. But this text isn't saying that.

There's another way also that this text is twisted and that is that when Jesus say, they basically mean that to say that Jesus is saying, you need to learn how to hear that still small voice of God apparently speaking in the wind.

And that's not what this text says either. And so as we return to the context first of our gospel passage, which is in John chapter 9, we're going to work through this text and figure out what exactly is meant when it says that my sheep hear my voice as well as what it means to have abundant life in Christ.

It's not what the prosperity preachers are saying. So with that, we are going to return to the gospel of John chapter 9 for our context and we're going to go all the way back to verse 24. And if you recall back at the end of March in the season of Lent, this was the story of the man who was born blind from birth and Jesus healed him by making mud with spittle and put it on his eyes, sends him to the pool of Siloam and he comes back seeing and now that he is seeing, he is immediately persecuted by the Pharisees, the religious leaders of the time.

And it's important for us to note this. The religious leaders, these Pharisees are not believers. They do not represent those who care about sound doctrine. These are fellows who care nothing about sound doctrine.

They do not believe in Jesus. If they truly believed in the God they said they believed in, they would trust in Jesus because Jesus is the very God who they claim they believe in, yet they deny him. So we must understand this, that the Pharisees are false teachers.

They arose during the intertestamental period between the Old and the New Testament because when you read all of the Old Testament, you can read from Genesis to that Italian prophet Malachi. That's not how it's pronounced.

It's really not. And you will never in all of those passages of Scripture hear a word, a breath, a hint about the Pharisees. They came up during the intertestamental period. They were usurpers. And if you were attending our Sunday school class, you will note that we've been talking about the three different primary false teachers.

Cain, a fellow who is going through the religious motions, but he has no faith. So you kind of think of dead ritualism if you would. And then you have those who abandon themselves for the sake of gain.

That's money. Those are the ones who are in Korah's rebellion. And for sure the Pharisees are part that because Scripture tells us they were lovers of money. And oh, they love to sit at the most important seats, at the best and most important parties.

They love to be welcome into the streets. They were in it for the fame and the fortune. But the other thing that they were a part of, and that is the third type of false teacher, and that is they were part of Korah's rebellion.

They had rebelled against God's established offices within Israel and they had literally taken over them and were teaching that God not only gave Moses on Mount Sinai the written Torah, which are the five books of Moses, but that he also gave Moses the oral Torah.

And this oral Torah becomes known as the tradition of the elders and they set another book, if you would, alongside of the Bible. And by doing so, they end up diluting the Bible altogether and as Jesus says, they make void the Word of God.

And it was their teaching that is being rebuked here. The teaching that the reason why that blind man was born blind was either because his parents had really blown it bad or he himself had sinned. So keep that in mind.

Jesus here is going to flip the tables on this pharisaical false doctrine. Now, that is not to say that we are not born dead in trespasses and sins. We are. But what happens to us in this life is not karma.

It's not karma. It's something different. And sometimes God is up to something, even in the midst of our sufferings. If you're not sure about this, please consult the entire book of Job. So we return to John chapter 24 and it says, for the second time, the Pharisees called the man who had been born blind and they said to him, give glory to God.

We know that this man is a sinner. Talking about Jesus. He answered, whether he's a sinner, I don't know. One thing I know, I was blind. Now I see. Love how this guy I mean, he's put into a situation where he has faith in Jesus and he's just stating the facts.

I don't know whether or not he's a sinner. But I was blind and now I'm seeing. And they said to him, what did he do to you? How did he open your eyes? He answered them, I've already told you you would not listen to me.

Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples? And they reviled him saying, you are his disciples, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we don't know where he comes from.

The man answered, why, this is an amazing thing. You don't know where he comes from. Yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. God listens to him. But if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him.

Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing. Mic drop at that point. Boom. So they answered him and here comes their false doctrine.

You were born in utter sin and you would teach us as if they were not. They too were born dead in trespasses and sins. And we see here by their behavior that they are breaking every one of the commandments of the first table.

They do not love God with their whole heart. They are blaspheming God and taking his name in vain. And they surely do not understand what it means to keep the Sabbath day holy. So they reviled this man by throwing their false doctrine in his face and basically saying he is not worthy to teach them because they are holy and he is not.

And so they cast him out. They literally excommunicated this fellow all in the name of God for being healed by Jesus. So Jesus heard that they had cast him out and I always love this tender moment in scripture where we see the great love of Christ.

This fellow has done nothing wrong. He was healed by Jesus and now he finds himself excommunicated for daring to defend Christ's healing. And so Jesus seeks him out and keep in mind he still has not seen Jesus with his own eyes and Jesus finds him and says do you believe in the son of man?

He answered who is he sir so that I might believe in him? Jesus said to him you have seen him. It is he who is speaking to you. And it is just wonderful. First time he knows that he has seen the man who actually healed him.

And he said Lord I believe. And he worshipped Jesus. And now comes the beginning of the discourse that forms the context of our gospel text. He says for judgment I came into this world that those who do not see may see.

And those who see may become blind. So some of the Pharisees near him heard these things and they said to him are we all so blind? Jesus said to them if you were blind you would have no guilt. But now that you say we see he doesn't say they actually see he says because you say you see your guilt remains.

Truly truly I say to you he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way that man is a thief and a robber. Who is Jesus referring to? Is he referring to the devil? No. In the immediate context he's referring to the Pharisees.

They did not enter by the door. They jumped the fence. They're trespassing in the sheepfold. That's what Jesus is saying about them. And that's what all false teachers really do. So they jumped in. They came in another way.

And Jesus says to them they are thieves and robbers. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. Of course that's his sheepfold. He's going to enter by the door. How many of you climb in the window when you go in your own home?

No we all go through the front door because we got a key, right? It's the burglar who goes in through the window and I hope you have firearms to protect yourself in such circumstances. But that's a different story altogether.

So he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and he leads them out. What a tender picture that Jesus paints of his great love and care for you.

It says here that he knows the name of each of his sheep. He knows your name. He's bled and died for you. So it says when he has brought out all of his own he goes before them. The sheep follow him for they know his voice.

A stranger they will not follow but they will flee from him for they do not know the voice of strangers. Now a little bit of a note here. Notice in verse 6 it says this figure of speech. This is a figure of speech.

Jesus is kind of using a parallel of sorts if you would or even a parable to describe his care for the sheep and in contrast that to the false teachers who care nothing about Christ's sheep. And he notes that they hear his voice and they follow him.

And this is actually pointing to a very common practice that still exists to this day in the Middle East with shepherds who still practice this kind of sheep herding. And it basically goes like this. That usually you've got a shepherd who's got a flock.

You've got another shepherd who's got a flock. And you've got another fellow who's got a flock. And then it starts to get to be around evening time and so they put all the flocks together into one big sheep pen overnight.

And to protect from the wolves, the shepherds usually are the ones who are literally sleeping at the gate, at the door, the portal itself. And then when the morning comes, the shepherds have breakfast, enjoy a cup of coffee and then get to work and that requires them to separate out the different flocks because this mega flock is actually comprised of three different flocks.

And how would you do that? They all look exactly the same. It's like, are you my sheep? No, you're not my sheep. I'm all confused. The way it works is, and it's quite a fascinating thing, you can actually see this being done on YouTube.

It's really amazing. One of the shepherds will go out and he'll wander out maybe 100 yards or so and he'll start calling his sheep. And his sheep recognize his voice and they go from munching on the grass kind of doing sheepy things to all of a sudden paying attention like this and they walk out towards their shepherd.

The other guy does the same and then voila, you've got the three flocks separated again. That's what Jesus is pointing to. This is the actual thing that's going on here. My sheep hear my voice. They follow me.

They will not follow a stranger. So if you were to travel to the Middle East and you were to wander out and hang out with these shepherds and you say, why don't you let me give it a try? I'd like to separate your sheep.

Hey, you ornery sheep, come on out here. Come on, pay attention. Hey, sheep. They just totally ignore you. Like you didn't exist. And that's a common understanding of what's going on here. So that forms the basis of what Jesus is saying.

Notice that Jesus is not saying here, my sheep hear my voice. So now you've got to learn how to hear the voice of Jesus floating on the wind. Tune in to K-G-S-U-S. I don't know. Tune in your radios.

No, that's not what this is saying at all. So this kind of begs the question, where do we go to hear the voice of Jesus today? Do you travel to the highest mountain? Climb Mount Kilimanjaro? Get into the lotus position and go, om.

No. He does not promise to speak to you there. Do you travel to the lowest depths of the ocean? There and maybe float around with the Titanic and things like that at the bottom of the sea. And there meditate and ponder the vastness of space.

Is that where you will hear Jesus' voice? No. He has not promised to speak there. Where has Jesus promised to speak? It's actually quite simple. He said to his disciples who became the apostles, the one who hears you, hears me.

The one who hears Jesus, hears the one who sent him. That's the Father. Ah. So where can I go to hear the apostles, the ones that Jesus sent? There's only one place. One. And one place only. The written Word of God.

And so when you open up your Bible and you read it, you are hearing the voice of Jesus. So if you desire to hear God's voice, read your Bible. If you desire to hear it audibly, read it out loud. It's kind of that simple.

And if you want me to read it for you, that's what I do. Come to church every Sunday and you will hear the Word preached and you will hear the voice of Jesus while you're listening to Pastor Rosebro. Not because he's so holy, but because I don't know if you've noticed Pastor Rosebro is a total hack.

It seems like all he ever does is plagiarize the Word of God. Go back and figure it out. It's like that whole sermon. Most of it was like just Bible. Right. You got it. Funny response now. So note the irony here in the text.

My sheep hear my voice. So there Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees and he's speaking, we would say, he's speaking easy English to them or something, right? Well, actually he was probably speaking Aramaic.

But he's speaking their language and here's what it says. This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. Why? Because they're not his sheep. That's the reason why.

So there Jesus is talking words, words, words, words, words and all they're hearing is wah-wah, wah-wah, wah-wah, wah-wah. It's not registering because they ain't his sheep. So Jesus does this. Alright, let me try it this way.

Truly, truly I say to you, I'm the door of the sheep. All who come before me, came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. Now Jesus is not referring to Moses being a thief and a robber.

He's not referring to Isaiah being a thief or a robber or even that Italian prophet, Malachi. He's referring to the Pharisees being the thieves and robbers. He says, I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.

Don't run too fast over those words, will be saved because that's what we need. And so you'll notice that salvation is, well, in the balance depending on who it is you're listening to. Are you listening to Jesus or are you listening to the thieves and the robbers?

So the one who listens to me, who enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal, to kill, and to destroy. Who's the thief? The false teacher. But I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

Now, this begs the question, what does it mean to have abundant life? Well, I would argue that whoever put the lectionary readings together for this Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Easter, did a fine job, an amazing job of giving us some cross-references that make us understand and consider what it means to live the abundant life that Christ is promising.

Let's take a look at Acts 2, 42 -47, our first reading. And I would posit that this is a picture of the abundant life that Christ gives. Here's what it says. So remember by context here, this is the great day of Pentecost, Peter has preached his amazing sermon after they had received the Spirit, began speaking in other languages, and then 3 ,000 people came up and said, brothers, what do we do?

Because they were cut to the heart by Peter's preaching. And he said, repent, be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins. The promise is for you, it's for your children.

This is the context. And so they were baptized, and here's what happens with all these new believers. They devoted themselves to the Apostles' teaching because that's where Jesus' voice is heard, the fellowship, the koinonia, the love for each other, the breaking of bread, which is the Lord's Supper, and the prayers.

This is what they devoted themselves to. All came upon every soul. Many wonders and signs were being done through the Apostles. And all who believed were together, and they had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need.

You want to know what the abundant life looks like? Well, it involves being devoted to hearing the voice of Jesus in the Apostles' teaching, love for each other, the Lord's Supper, prayer, and rich in good works, so much so that if necessary there's a willingness to sell your own personal property in order to help meet the physical and financial needs of your brothers and sisters in Christ.

That is abundant life. It's not about possessions for me, rich in wealth for me. It's about rich in love and good works for you. That's the abundant life. Another picture of the abundant life is found in our epistle text in 1 Peter 2.

And I would have you consider these words that Peter writes for us. He writes in chapter 2, verse 19,. This is a gracious thing when mindful of God, when one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. Notice the words.

This is a gracious thing. The abundant life that Christ is giving is one where you love and serve your neighbor in good works, even to the point of selling your own possessions, and also it is a gracious and abundant thing when you suffer and endure sorrows for doing good, for preaching Christ.

For what credit is it if when you sin you are beaten for it? We all know our children, you know, when they would misbehave and get a shellacking, they were not being persecuted for being good. No. But here we are seeing if you, when you do good and you suffer for it and you endure, listen to these words, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.

The abundant life that Christ is offering also involves suffering, sorrows for doing good. For to this you have been called. Notice that this is a calling and we're all called to this. You have been called because Christ also suffered for you.

We all say Amen. Therefore, leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but he continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. And by his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and the overseer of your souls.

So the abundant life that Christ is offering involves participating in Christ's sufferings. Because he suffered for our sins, we too have been called to suffer. And it says in this text that this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.

And if you think about it, this is exactly what Psalm 23 is getting at. That Psalm that we all know by heart, probably even from the King James version. Let's walk back through that Psalm, Psalm 23 and watch what it says.

The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. Who among us, who among us is truly in want? None of us. Each of us have our needs taken care of because the Lord is our shepherd. He doesn't promise to make us wealthy.

He promises that we will not want. So he makes me lie down in green pastures, and I would argue that, well, green pastures are the place where sheep are fed. Here, brothers and sisters, here are the green pastures of Christ.

Today, Christ, your good shepherd, has brought you to this pasture to rest, to feed you, to take care of you. He leads me besides green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. Think baptism. And he restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness, not for my sake, but for his name's sake. And even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. The valley of the shadow of death, well, consider that to be this life.

Jesus isn't taking us around the valley of the shadow of death. He's taking us right through it. And if you've spent any time down in this valley, you know there are some pretty dark and creepy places.

And there's some pretty hairy spots. And Christ is with us the entire way. And even in the midst of all this, we do not fear. We do not need to fear evil. And the reason why is because Christ is there with us, leading us through.

And his rod and his staff, they comfort us. And his rod is used to guide us and, if necessary, to discipline us. Sometimes sheep have a tendency to wander. And it says here, you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

And here is that table, right here. That's it, right there. And the question then comes up, who are our enemies? Because I don't know if you've noticed, our enemies are not sitting in the fellowship hall right now, waiting for us to take the Lord's Supper.

If you think enemies are your human beings, you're wrong. Scripture over and again says our battle is not against flesh and blood. There is not a single human being on this planet who is your enemy. Now, somebody may have made themselves your enemy, but you are not theirs.

Our enemies we cannot see. It's the devil and his horde of demons. And so the Lord prepares a table for us in the presence of our demonic enemies. And there he feeds us. He anoints our heads with oil and my cup overflows.

And surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And indeed it does, because of Christ, our Good Shepherd. And then when this life is done, and we have finished traveling through the valley of the shadow of death, then we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

This is the abundant life that Christ promises us. This is the abundant life that we have as Christians. You'll notice, this abundant life has a completely different standard by which it judges abundance.

It's not based upon a number in your bank account. It's based upon your love for God and your love for others. And the willingness to endure wrong, because like that man born blind, we too should expect persecution from people who are even religious, who would try to tell us there's no way Jesus is good.

But like him, we can also say, I was blind, but now I see, because that's what Jesus came to do. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

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