Many people are prepared to accept that God exists, even that He has the ability to bless us – or at least bless other people. But when they look at their own lives, well the reality doesn’t appear to match up with the promise. What’s going on here?

The Blessing of Here and Now

I sometimes think that Jesus would have benefited from the services of a good Public Relations consultant - you know, a spin doctor to dress up some of the difficult messages He had to get across. Take this one for instance: Matthew chapter 16, verses 24 and 25:

Jesus told His disciples, “If any want to become my followers let them deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it and those who lose their life for my sake, will find it.”

I mean, that picture of a cross is a brutal one. It’s a picture of being nailed to a cross and dying a gruesome death.

If any want to become my disciples then let them deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me.

I mean, "Give me a break! Who wants to follow someone like that? I want to be healthy, wealthy and wise. I want to live on easy street! Take up my cross?? You have to be kidding me." Yes, Jesus could have used the services of a good P.R. consultant to get some spin on His message – to make it more palatable. No wonder it says in John’s Gospel that many turned away from Him. Have a listen: John chapter 6, beginning at verse 63:

It is the spirit that gives life; and the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But among you there are some who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that would not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one comes to me unless it is granted by the Father.” Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him.

Yep, Jesus definitely needed a spin doctor. And you know something? I so often hear people speaking about Jesus – whether it’s a preacher preaching or a person telling me what Jesus is doing in their lives and what I hear is not about this gritty, authentic Jesus who was prepared to lose followers, in a world where the measure of a Rabbi’s success – a key performance indicator, if you will – was the number of followers or disciples he had.

But Jesus was prepared to lose followers because He wouldn’t play by the world’s rules. He never let them squeeze Him into their mould. You know, they were looking for a Messiah; a King like David; a powerful warrior to raise up an army and drive the Romans out of this, their Promised Land.

That’s what Israel was believing for, when Jesus came on the scene. After He miraculously fed the five thousand with five loaves and two fishes, the crowds wanted to grab Him and appoint Him King. Can you imagine that? He has been wandering around out there in the fields, speaking to and wooing the crowds, performing some amazing miracles, here he is – this obscure carpenter from Nazareth … Nazareth of all places; “Does anything good come from there?” And finally, Jesus hits the big time! He is pulling some serious crowds! Finally, they recognise how good He really is and they want to make Him King. Woo hoo!! So what does Jesus do? John chapter 6, verse 15:

When Jesus realised they were about to come and take him by force to make him King, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

He withdraws! "Jesus … Jesus, what’s the matter with You? You’ve made it – success at last. What are You doing?" He didn’t need just a spin doctor; He needed a couple of good strategic planning consultants, as well. And He continued His journey … His inexorable journey to that ugly, brutal cross, where He was nailed and left to suffocate, hanging by the nails through His hands and His feet. He tells us why He did it. He tells us in this outrageous promise, why He did that. Listen again with me – John chapter 10. Verse 10:

The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

He did this contrary to the thief, this thief who comes only to steal and kill and destroy. He did it that we may have life … real life and have it abundantly. Literally, it says in the original Greek language that sits aback of our English translation – "super-abundantly".

Now, He wasn’t talking here just about eternal life. Sure, He came that we could have eternal life and that’s something we are going to be looking at later, but He is talking about our lives here and now. And in this passage He is painting a stark contrast between the imposter and the truth. Let’s listen to a bit more of what He has to say. John chapter 10, beginning at verse 1:

Truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his sheep by name and leads them out.

When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

So again Jesus said, “Truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep.

I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep.

Do you see the contrasts in this passage: the real shepherd and the impostor; the true shepherd and the stranger; the good shepherd and the hired hand; Jesus and the thief who comes only to steal and kill and destroy? One sharp contrast after another. The real thing is Jesus and the impostor is the devil – the thin hollow promises of this world. And it’s only the True Shepherd who brings abundant life and we know Him because He’s the One who is prepared to lay down His life for the sheep.

So we can bow down to the impostor, just as the devil said to Jesus when he dangled the kingdoms of this world under Jesus nose. Luke chapter 4, verses 6 and 7:

To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then,” he said to Jesus, “will worship me, it will all be yours.

We can bow down to that, but the thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy. Or we can obtain this abundant life by living out this truth:

Jesus answered therefore, “It is written, worship the Lord your God and serve him alone.

That’s where the abundant life, that Jesus came to bring us, is to be found. The choice, however, the choice is ours and it’s a choice that has not just eternal consequences – it has those for sure and we are about to look at them after the break – but it has here and now consequences as well. Jesus was talking about a shepherd and his flock, about the protection and the peace and the safety that we can have in His flock, here and now.

Man, people are letting the devil plunder their lives, rob them of life, rob them of abundance, when all along, life in all its abundance is available here and now, through Jesus. And I ask myself, "Why would you do that? Why would you want to waste your life, dancing with the devil, into a Christ-less eternity, suffering all the pain of that deceptive dance along the way, when Jesus came to give us life and to give it to us in all its abundance? I mean, why would you want to do that?"

The Blessing of Then and There

Well, we had a look earlier at the blessing that God wants us to have, here and now. But the days of our lives tick by very quickly, don’t they? You wake up and it’s Monday morning and the whole week is ahead and before we know it, it’s Friday again, heading into another weekend. And whether you just prayed that prayer with me during the break, or whether giving your life to Jesus is something you did years ago, or whether it’s something you still haven’t done yet, our time here on this earth is running out with every tick of the clock.

It seems to me that the weeks are slipping by ever more quickly. You blink and they’re gone and before you know it, another year is gone and we are into the New Year, and pretty much, we’ll blink and this one will be gone too. It’s like a video of a merry-go-round and someone speeds it up and before you know it that little merry-go-round is spinning around at a million miles an hour, and one day "BANG" with little or no warning – it stops! This little merry-go-round, called my "life" and your "life" stops – dead!

Life on this earth w...