Based on Acts 2:43-47, 1Peter 2:19-25, John 10:1-10, Psalm 23
We are reflecting today on the subject of abundant living. This is a topic that is often fraught with misunderstanding – especially in the U.S. In this culture, we are surrounded by abundance…and abundance of things, an abundance of food choices, an abundance of access to healthcare and life-extending medicines, an abundance of educational opportunities, to name a few of the more obvious abundances. This is in contrast to much of the rest of the world and so we hear how much the average citizen of the U.S. consumes versus the rest of the world. This higher consumption is often characterized as excessive – taking more than our fair share of the world’s production of things – and that makes us appear greedy and self-interested. It also raises the question among those of us who proclaim that we follow Jesus the Christ, is this what he meant when he said he came to give us life and the ability to live abundantly?
How would you define “abundant living” in the context of what Jesus said? Jesus was never focused on material wealth, and the first disciples and converts to the faith “sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need” and they held everything in common as described in Acts 2. They had a different understanding of abundant living based on the work of the Holy Spirit and the grace of God.
How does that resonate with you and your understanding of God’s grace? If God’s grace (as we United Methodists believe) is the freely given gift of God’s unconditional love poured out abundantly on all people and all of creation – then how can abundant life be only for a select few who meet some arbitrary criteria of faithfulness or who can live excessively as promoted by the kingdoms of the world?
Not surprisingly, John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, had something to say about the subject of abundant living. I haven’t brought up the teachings of John Wesley in a while, but I think that he can be quite helpful as we begin to reflect about our unique perspective as United Methodists on this issue. At the end of the letter to a benefactor named Ebenezer Blackwell in December 1751, Wesley summarizes his teaching on how the people called Methodists are to go about abundant living. He wrote that in order to live abundant lives as followers of the Christ, each Methodist should respond to God in the following four ways: “…God loves you; therefore, love and obey God [him]. Christ died for you; therefore, die to sin. Christ is risen; therefore, rise in the image of God. Christ liveth evermore; therefore, live to God until you live with him in glory….”
I will unpack those four points after we spend some time with what our scripture readings today teach us about living abundantly as Easter people. The writer of Acts follows the miracle of 3000 people being baptized in one day with verses that state how it was that this new faith community lived. They held all things in common, worshiped daily, broke bread and gave to all who were in need. In response to their discipleship, God blessed them with an abundance of new converts every day.
The writer of 1Peter helps us understand that we will have suffering in this life, but that we are still to do good with and for others. When we die to sin and live for righteousness then we are following the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls. This is what Psalm 23 has to say as well. When we follow the LORD, who looks after us like a shepherd, then we will know what it means to be protected, guided to fertile land with abundant rest; One who walks with us when we are in dark places and provides for us always. We discover that following the LORD gives us an abundance of love and goodness throughout our lives.
Jesus is riffing on the theme of God as Shepherd in a conversation with some Pharisees. Jesus has just accused these Pharisees, leaders of the Temple, of being blind to the needs of their people; of not being proper shepherds. He launches into a parable about how he has come to lead the sheep as in Psalm 23. He differentiates his leadership with that of the Pharisees and Sadducees as good shepherd versus thief or robber. Jesus makes this distinction plain stating boldly, “…the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly….”
John Wesley taught repeatedly in his sermons and writings about God’s grace giving us all we need to live abundant lives. His thoughts on how we go about abundant living broke down into four distinct actions. We pick up his teaching with abundant living requiring that we seek to love God every bit as much as God loves us. Wesley taught, “Our response to that love, however, isn’t mere acceptance but rather love of God demonstrated in obedience and adherence to God’s own design for our lives.” Jesus said, ‘If you love me, keep my commands’ (John 14:15, NIV). Love of God and neighbor are the greatest commandments, meaning that the love with which we respond to God is, “love ruling the whole life, animating all our tempers and passions, directing all our thoughts, words, and actions” (Sermon 84: “The Important Question”). Wesley taught that God’s grace can transform us to live lives of obedience to the two Great Commandments.
The next requirement for abundant living is that in response to Jesus’ death for us, we are to die to sin. A Wesleyan theology of the cross stresses that justification (being found not guilty of our sins by God) releases us from the power of sin as well as the guilt. “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11, NIV). The good news is that we are not only free from sin and death for the next life, but that we can be free from our enslavement to sin right now! This freedom opens us up to deepen our relationship with God and with each other in ways that improve the common good. We then find ourselves free to share from our God-given abundance just like those first disciples and converts did.
The third point of this Wesleyan abundant life teaching speaks directly to living as people of the Resurrection. It states that since Christ was raised from the dead and is alive and available to us, we should rise up and be the image of God alive in our world. While some Christian doctrines focus on believers rising at death for a trip to heaven, the Wesleyan view is that we can be raised to new life in the present. The goal of life, or the “one thing needful” in Wesley’s words in the sermon by that name, is to be raised in Christ and to grow each day nearer to the mind and heart of Jesus.
The final point of John Wesley’s teaching on abundant living flows directly from Christ being alive in the present. It is for us to live in God’s grace throughout our lives so that we can live with God in glory once we die. Our lives have their full meaning and purpose in Christ. In contrast to our current narcissistic culture of expressive individualism, Wesley’s fourth spiritual law reminds us that Christ didn’t merely come to save us individually from sin and death but also to save us communally. When we live in beloved community then we realize the abundant life of the Kingdom of God that is breaking into the present world and that is lived out into the world. Our “chief end,” as the Westminster catechism says, is to “glorify God and enjoy him forever.” Wesley’s evangelistic message encompasses both glorifying God with our lives in the present and enjoying God forever when we “live with Him in glory.”
Hopefully it is clear that John Wesley was all about bringing people to Christ here on earth so that they could live abundant lives for God and other people. John Wesley’s Methodist reform movement was always more concerned about getting heaven into people while they were alive, than contemporary Christian doctrines that were more focused on getting people into heaven after they died. United Methodism follows the teachings of John Wesley that growing into the mind and heart of Jesus is our one true vocation. When we concentrate on living in that way, then we naturally find ourselves helping out all those who have need and pointing them in the direction of the Good Shepherd who came that all might have not only life but have lives defined by abundant living. Thanks be to the God who makes possible our abundant living! Amen.