Society of MORE…
  • Stuff
  • Food
  • fun
  • entertainment
Stats on our Society of MORE
  1.  There are 300,000 items in the average American home
  2. The average size of the American home has nearly tripled in size over the past 50 years
  3. British research found that the average 10-year-old owns 238 toys but plays with just 12 daily
  4. The average American woman owns 30 outfits—one for every day of the month. In 1930, that figure was nine
  5. Some reports indicate we consume twice as many material goods today as we did 50 years ago
  6. Americans spend $1.2 trillion annually on nonessential goods—in other words, items they do not need
  7. Homes in the U.S. contain more TVs than they do people.
Addicted to buying MORE of what we don’t need…
According to Experian, the average total consumer household debt in 2023 is $103,358
  • Up 11% from 2020 (average $92,727)
We See through a LENS of MORE
Our culture is programmed to base our value and quality of life on your access and accumulation of MORE
Series: THE PROSPERITY GOSPEL
  • A “gospel” of MORE
  • Listen to last week for more

THE PROSPERITY GOSPEL:

That individuals who exercise true faith in Christ will surely attain physical, material, and financial prosperity in this life.

Some of its key tenets are:
  • Present day inheritance
  • Health and Wealth
  • Name it and claim it
This is really dangerous…
We often try to make a gospel based on our CULTURAL IMAGE (What we think is most important)
  • Prosperity
  • sexual ethics
  • Justice and rights
  • Power and political
Any Gospel besides the one that Jesus preached is a FALSE GOSPEL…
Today, looking at a verse that many have heard…
John 10:10b
I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.
Gospel of Prosperity is going to find a keyword that bolsters its claim
  • ABUNDANCE
Life in Abundance:
  • Abundance of Friends
  • Abundance of Experiences
  • Abundance of Happiness
  • Abundance of material possessions
This fits perfectly with a SOCIETY OF MORE
How do we discover if this is correct?
  • We are a faith of TRUTH
  • Not a faith of lies
    • Our enemy is all about lies
Last week we said this…
Scripture says what it means to say, not what we want it to say
We cannot believe in a Gospel message that would have excluded the first teachers and early followers
Biblical Hermeneutics
  1. Historical context and setting
  2. Literary Style
  3. Observations of Surrounding Context
  4. Drawing application

 

1: Historical context and setting:

  • Letter written by John (Disciple Jesus Loved)
    • Traditionally John, son of Zebedee, one of the 12 disciples
  • John’s account of the life and teaching of Jesus
Gives us why this account was written
John 20
30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
This account was written so that we would know that Jesus is the Messiah
  • He is God, come to rescue humanity
To answer the next few questions, we need to read more of this passage.
John 10
1 “Truly I tell you, anyone who doesn’t enter the sheep pen by the gate but climbs in some other way is a thief and a robber. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought all his own outside, he goes ahead of them. The sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 They will never follow a stranger; instead they will run away from him, because they don’t know the voice of strangers.”
 
6 Jesus gave them this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them.
 
7 Jesus said again, “Truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them. 9 I am the gate. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10 A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand, since he is not the shepherd and doesn’t own the sheep, leaves them and runs away when he sees a wolf coming. The wolf then snatches and scatters them. 13 This happens because he is a hired hand and doesn’t care about the sheep.
14 “I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep.

2: Literary style

Jesus is using apologies to convey a truth about us and Himself
This means we…
  • Understand what he is teaching is literal, but the apologies are not.
Analogy is Sheep and Shepherd
  • He is the Shepherd
  • We are the Sheep
    • Does not mean we go and eat grass (kale…)
Analogies help us understand powerful truths through word pictures and concepts.

3: Observations about Surrounding Context

Jesus has just healed a blind man in the previous chapter
  • Discussion and disagreement about who Jesus is/where his authority comes from
They have a discussion of SPIRITUAL BLINDNESS
Jesus says…
John 9
39 Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, in order that those who do not see will see and those who do see will become blind.”
This then leads Jesus into his discussion about Him Being the Good Shepherd

4: Application

In a society like that in the Bible, Sheep are:
  1. Very valuable
  • Source of families’ wealth and provision
  1. Completely helpless
  • Cannot protect themselves
Sheep had to be protected from 2 things:
  • Prey animals (wolves)
  • Thieves/robbers
Something else to know…
A shepherd knows his sheep
What is Jesus saying?
He is like a Shepherd
  • He knows his sheep
  • He protects his sheep
  • He cares for his sheep
Who’s the sheep?
  • WE ARE
If we are like sheep, what does that mean?
We are DEPENDENT and NEED SHEPHERDING
  • We need to be cared for because we don’t do a good job ourselves
How are we Dependent?
Dependent in our Understanding
Over or underestimating what we know
When I was 12, I was a fool…
  • Your present self thinks your past self was a fool
  • Future self will think your present self is a fool
Sheepness = Thinking you are getting over what you don’t know
Understanding that we will always need someone to help us
  • We constantly think we’ve arrived
  • We are utterly dependent
As our Shepherd, Jesus:
  • Protects us
  • Provides for us
  • Guides us
  • Knows us
He has seen all of you and yet still laid down his life
So, what is ABUNDANT LIFE?
Life full of:
The Love of Jesus
  • God gave his one and only son for us
The Hope of Jesus
  • The God is good and goes before us
The Power of Jesus
  • Over sin, broken, and eventually death itself
The Purposes of Jesus
  • To live a life on purpose for a purpose
Everlasting life of Jesus
  • Salvation through the sacrifice and grace of our God

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