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About Jesus - Steve (Stephen) Sweetman The
Real Meaning Of John 10:10 In the mid 1990's a
pastor asked me to preach a Sunday morning message on Jesus promising to
bless us with a life of material and financial abundance.
It was his understanding of John 10:10.
Regretfully I agreed, but I'll tell you this.
I will never make that mistake again.
Read John 10:10 in the Christian Standard Bible.
"A
thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they
may have life and have it in abundance." If you understand
abundant life through our western-world's hyper-materialist lens you'll
misunderstand Jesus. Look at
who Jesus spoke to on this occasion. Take
Peter, for example. He had an
established fishing business that Jesus actually asked him to shut down.
Would Peter have wondered how closing a productive business would
make him financially prosperous? Did
he think Jesus would become real famous and make him a wealthy prosperity
preacher of a mega church? If
this was his thinking, he would have been very disappointed.
Whatever questions
circulated through Peter's mind, I don't believe his lack of material
prosperity in his life became a nagging disappointing obsession.
If Jesus promised Peter and the other disciples material and
financial prosperity, Jesus failed to deliver on His promise.
How, then, could Peter or anyone else ever trust Jesus to provide
anything He promised, and that includes salvation?
Just why I would agree
to preach material prosperity mystifies me to this very day.
I have never believed in that heresy.
Maybe I'm too submissive to ecclesiastical authority.
There is a time to just say "no.
I can't do that." Leaving
that mystery behind, I am convinced of this.
On the Day of Pentecost Peter understood Jesus' promise of
abundance to be spiritual abundance. It
was then when he was abundantly blessed with the entrance of the Almighty
Creator God into his very being. His
life and the lives of those with him, in one brief moment of time were
transformed into what Paul called "a new creation" in 2
Corinthians 5:17 or what Jesus termed as being "born again" in John 3:5.
It's what being a Christian is all about.
It's not that Jesus
despises financial prosperity. It's
a matter of prioritizing our lives as Christians.
If you work hard and financial wealth comes your way, be thankful.
If Jesus chooses to bless you with wealth, thank Him as you use it
to fulfill His will in your life. I can't say what crossed
Peter's mind the day tradition suggests Roman soldiers nailed him to a cross because of
his association with Jesus. That
must have been a horribly painful thing to endure.
I sincerely doubt that he questioned Jesus by muttering such words
as these. "So this is
what your abundant life has come down to.
My physical pain and mental anguish sure don't feel very abundant
to me." No, the moment
Peter faded away into eternity was the moment eternal abundance enveloped
him beyond our capability to comprehend.
It's the ultimate realization of abundant life.
It's the real meaning of John 10:10.
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