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Sermon Outline - life should mean life
John 10: 1-18
‘The thief comes only in order to steal, kill, and destroy. I have come in order that you might have life – life in all its fullness’ (John 10: 10 GNB)
Jesus has been using a parable contrasting the shepherd who legitimately enters ‘the sheepfold by the gate’ with the thief who ‘climbs in some other way’. They do not understand so he adds: ‘I am the gate for the sheep’ and later ‘I am the good shepherd, who is willing to die for the sheep’. Between these two great ‘I am’ sayings comes our text.
We can understand the compare-and-contrast approach of this more easily if we consider the symbols of simple arithmetic:
The thief (for our purpose today, the bringer of disease and distress and death) steals, kills, and destroys. These can be represented by the ‘-’ sign of subtraction or the ‘÷’ sign of division.
Jesus comes to bring us life, abundant life, life in all its fullness. These can be represented by the ‘+’ sign of addition or the ‘x’ sign of multiplication.
Note that both the ‘+’ and the ‘x’ form a cross! Everything God has for us depends on a cross. Jesus told his listeners ‘I am the good shepherd, who is willing to die for the sheep’ and he did so not long afterwards, on the cross of Calvary.
Because God has so loved us, letting his Son pay the ultimate price, we should be willing to pay the price of adding to the lives of others and of multiplying health for them. Life should mean life – ‘life in all its fullness’.
Consulting Medical Adviser, CARE (Christian Action Research & Education)
