“What is Adventure Without Life?”

Message Title:  What is Adventure without Life

Text: John 10:10 (NASB) “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

 On the most basic level, life is an adventure for everyone because no one knows the future.  Proverbs 27:1 “Do not boast about tomorrow because you do not know what a day will bring forth.”

Jesus said, “I came that they might Have life.”

What is life?

• 1 John 5:11 – Life is in the Son; 1 John 5:20 – Jesus is the true God and eternal life; John 17:3 – This is eternal life that they may know You; John 14:6 – I am the way the truth and the life; Colossians 3:4 – Christ is our life.

Jesus is essentially saying, “I came that they might know me, the One who is life and as their knowledge of me grows their lives will be filled and overflowing with what is true life.  A rich and real relationship with me.”

John 6:53, Jesus said, without a relationship with Himself, we have no life within us.

In Christ, God redirects our hunger to the One who can satisfy it.

We have no guarantees of protection from human ailments or human adversity.  But we have Jesus’ promise of an abundant life, despite them.

David wrote, “As for God, his way is perfect: The Lord’s word is flawless; he shields all who take refuge in him. For who is God besides the Lord? And who is the Rock except our God? It is God who arms me with strength and keeps my way secure” (Psalm 18:30-32)

At another time he wrote, “How long will You hide Your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?” (Psalm 13:1-2).

No Psalm is a picture of where the psalmist was at all times.

The life adventure in Christ is about God’s faithfulness and creativity in helping us through these ups and downs of life.  The relationship we develop with Him in the process is the abundant life.

 Another word for “abundant” is “full.”  The New International even translates John 10:10, “I came that they might have life to the full.

Fullness is about the inner quality of our life.  The fullness Jesus is speaking about and which the Bible refers to in other places in the New Testament is not a mystical spiritual substance but the life of God Himself.

It is inside-out living.  John 7:38 – from our innermost being will flow rivers of living water”

Fullness of life is spoken of in terms of

• peace that surpasses understanding, (Philippians 4:7)
• love beyond knowledge. (Ephesians 3:19).
• It is reflected in the disciples having been painfully flogged and yet leaving rejoicing. (Acts 5:41)
• You hear it in the hymn, It is Well with My Soul.
• We see it in the resilience of our faith

Because Jesus is the Life, the more we get to know Jesus the more of what is true life we experience.

The best thing about heaven is not going to be the place, as dazzling as it is.  The “It” will be the eternal life that courses through our immortal bodies.  And that life has a name. Jesus.

The directives Jesus gave.  The truths that He taught.  The life that He gave for us.  These are the means to experiencing life more abundantly.  His commandments are connected to Hi stated purpose for coming, “I came that they might have life…”

He is liberating us to experience the life we have. And thank God, because what is adventure without life?