WEBVTT 00:00:00.840 --> 00:00:08.759 Good morning everyone. Today we are kicking off our new series, The Good Life, and I wonder 00:00:08.759 --> 00:00:16.160 when I say The Good Life, what comes to mind? What is it that makes a good life for you? 00:00:17.140 --> 00:00:22.160 As I was preparing for this talk this morning, I was thinking what it would be for different 00:00:22.160 --> 00:00:29.199 people from different walks of life to have a good life. So I took to Instagram to get 00:00:29.199 --> 00:00:34.399 a well-rounded perspective and I asked the question, what does the good life mean to 00:00:34.399 --> 00:00:40.140 you? And I got a load of different responses so I'll share some of them with you. We had 00:00:40.140 --> 00:00:46.039 an all-inclusive hotel with a cocktail on the beach, might sound good to some of us. Knowing 00:00:46.039 --> 00:00:52.000 that I am enriched with every spiritual blessing in Christ, coffee and freshly baked goods in 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:58.260 the morning, contentment no matter how emotionally, financially or physically drained I am. 00:00:59.200 --> 00:01:06.000 Being joyful without guilt, self-love, and my brother very helpfully sent me a photo of 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:13.200 himself with his cat. And then my friend Amber referred me to the 70s TV show The Good Life, 00:01:13.920 --> 00:01:18.040 which some of you will probably know better than I, but it's where a couple tries to make 00:01:18.040 --> 00:01:23.659 their life more sustainable and less reliant on the world. And then Amber said that if we 00:01:23.659 --> 00:01:29.379 were to put a Christian spin on it, perhaps it would be about the good life relying on 00:01:29.379 --> 00:01:36.079 God and not the world. Knowing that God is there in the low points of life and can help 00:01:36.079 --> 00:01:43.019 us see his goodness in the middle of the darkness. I think there's actually some truth about the 00:01:43.019 --> 00:01:48.259 good life in all of these responses. There's a sense of freedom from pressures, from worries, 00:01:48.260 --> 00:01:54.840 from the fast pace of life. But if I'm honest, I'm still not quite sure how I would define the good 00:01:54.840 --> 00:01:59.680 life. So perhaps a great place for us to start is with Jesus in our passage today. 00:02:01.160 --> 00:02:08.340 As Ros read, our passage this morning is from John chapter 10 verses 1 to 10. And John's gospel 00:02:08.340 --> 00:02:15.180 is the final gospel account of Jesus' life in the library of the Bible, showing us who Jesus is, 00:02:15.180 --> 00:02:22.920 as the light of the world, the son of God, the word became flesh, divinity. John's gospel is a 00:02:22.920 --> 00:02:29.240 beautifully rich tapestry of stories from Jesus' life, including a bunch of miracles that he performed, 00:02:29.719 --> 00:02:35.300 healing the sick, turning water into wine, walking on the water, raising the dead, just to name a few. 00:02:36.319 --> 00:02:40.840 Miracles that point us to the truth of who Jesus is as the son of God. 00:02:40.840 --> 00:02:47.400 And John's gospel is also where we find his I am statements that tell us who he is, 00:02:47.740 --> 00:02:52.199 the bread of life, the light of the world, the resurrection and the life, the way, the truth 00:02:52.199 --> 00:02:59.360 and the life, the gate, the good shepherd, the vine. Our passage today comes sandwiched between two 00:02:59.360 --> 00:03:05.580 miracles, the healing of the blind man and the raising of Lazarus from the dead. And it includes 00:03:05.580 --> 00:03:15.100 Jesus' statement that he is the gate for the sheep. As I was exploring this passage and what it says 00:03:15.100 --> 00:03:19.760 about the good life, the thing that repeatedly really struck me was this overarching picture 00:03:19.760 --> 00:03:26.680 that Jesus is our shepherd. He says in verse 9 that he is the gate and the one that comes through him 00:03:26.680 --> 00:03:34.320 will be saved. In the biblical times that Jesus was speaking in, the idea of a shepherd laying down 00:03:34.319 --> 00:03:39.199 in the doorway of the sheep pen at night would have been a familiar concept to his listeners. 00:03:40.579 --> 00:03:47.379 The shepherd became like a gate in order to stop wolves and other dangers from getting to the sheep 00:03:47.379 --> 00:03:55.060 and causing them harm. The shepherd would be there ready to fight off anything that was causing harm, 00:03:55.139 --> 00:04:02.419 any wolves or any other dangers. His life was completely dedicated to the safety and the protection 00:04:02.419 --> 00:04:08.379 of his sheep. And in our reading today, that's who Jesus is telling us that he is to us, 00:04:08.379 --> 00:04:15.119 the one who dedicates himself to our defence. He invites us to be with him, to dwell with him, 00:04:15.219 --> 00:04:22.439 to hang out with him in his sheep pen. Not to keep us restricted, but to give us freedom within safe 00:04:22.439 --> 00:04:28.560 boundaries. As the psalmist says in Psalm 16 verse 6, the boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant 00:04:28.560 --> 00:04:37.920 places. Surely I have a delightful inheritance. The fence of our sheep pen with Jesus is good and safe 00:04:37.920 --> 00:04:47.439 and it leads us to a good life in Jesus. So Jesus says that he is our shepherd, he is our gate 00:04:47.439 --> 00:04:55.939 and he will lie down in the doorway of the sheep pen to protect us. He keeps us safe from the attack of 00:04:55.939 --> 00:05:00.879 the enemy. And I just love how we have this foreshadowing of Jesus on the cross, laying his 00:05:00.879 --> 00:05:09.399 life down for humanity so that we can enter the sheep pen of heaven. Jesus fighting the enemy so 00:05:09.399 --> 00:05:15.319 that we wouldn't come to any harm. In fact, if we look just a little further than our passage today, 00:05:15.459 --> 00:05:21.319 verse 11, Jesus says, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 00:05:21.319 --> 00:05:27.639 And this isn't something that Jesus said lightly, but something that he said knowing that he very, 00:05:27.860 --> 00:05:33.079 very literally, according to God's plan, would lay down his life for his sheep. 00:05:35.620 --> 00:05:42.560 And I'd love just to linger a little longer on this idea of God as our shepherd. See, I love looking at 00:05:42.560 --> 00:05:49.639 biblical imagery of Jesus as a shepherd. We see it threaded right the way through the Bible. In Psalm 23, 00:05:49.639 --> 00:05:56.879 the Lord is my shepherd. Or in the original Hebrew, the Lord is Ra, my shepherd and best friend. 00:05:57.699 --> 00:06:05.740 I lack nothing. He leads me beside quiet waters. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He refreshes 00:06:05.740 --> 00:06:13.699 my soul. Isn't this the good life? To be led and loved by a shepherd who knows what it is for his sheep 00:06:13.699 --> 00:06:20.199 to have full, abundant life. And so leads us into it, making sure that we have all we need. 00:06:21.420 --> 00:06:27.500 Leading us to rest and refreshment and being so close. Our shepherd, our best friend. 00:06:29.000 --> 00:06:37.120 He is a shepherd who is so intimate to and familiar to his sheep that we can know and trust his voice 00:06:37.120 --> 00:06:40.420 against any other. Isn't God so good? 00:06:42.740 --> 00:06:47.420 And then in verse 10, we have this comparison between the shepherd and the thief. 00:06:47.780 --> 00:06:50.860 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. 00:06:51.199 --> 00:06:55.420 But I have come that you might have life and life in all its fullness. 00:06:55.420 --> 00:07:04.240 The thief, the enemy, comes to steal and destroy and kill all the good things in our lives. 00:07:04.319 --> 00:07:09.120 But the shepherd, Jesus, comes that we can have life in all its fullness. 00:07:09.660 --> 00:07:11.540 All good things in abundance. 00:07:12.319 --> 00:07:14.920 In him, we have salvation to eternal life. 00:07:15.020 --> 00:07:17.160 Because he laid down his life for us. 00:07:17.240 --> 00:07:18.580 Because he loves us. 00:07:19.160 --> 00:07:22.319 And because he loves us, he doesn't hold out on us. 00:07:22.319 --> 00:07:24.879 Psalm 84 says, 00:07:25.180 --> 00:07:29.740 No good thing does he withhold from the one whose way of life is blameless before him. 00:07:30.459 --> 00:07:37.259 And Ephesians 1 tells us that he chose us from the beginning of time to be holy and blameless in his sight. 00:07:37.879 --> 00:07:44.240 He is the good shepherd who loves so deeply that he wants the very best for us. 00:07:44.240 --> 00:07:52.579 And I suppose it's this verse that most captures my attention from our passage today. 00:07:52.960 --> 00:07:55.519 The enemy comes only to steal and kill and destroy. 00:07:55.920 --> 00:07:59.340 But I have come that you might have life and life in all its fullness. 00:08:00.199 --> 00:08:02.840 This is actually one of my all-time favorite verses. 00:08:03.639 --> 00:08:07.819 Isn't it such great news that Jesus has come that we might have life and life in all its fullness. 00:08:08.579 --> 00:08:11.819 In abundance, pouring out to overflow. 00:08:11.819 --> 00:08:14.339 That makes me very excited. 00:08:15.959 --> 00:08:17.899 The enemy is clever. 00:08:18.540 --> 00:08:22.719 He'll try and trick us to creep in to use our weakness as a foothold. 00:08:23.519 --> 00:08:27.000 His only aim is to steal and kill and destroy. 00:08:27.899 --> 00:08:32.980 What the enemy offers us is the total opposite of what Jesus offers us. 00:08:33.860 --> 00:08:38.159 What the enemy offers us is a life stripped of joy, of freedom, of favor. 00:08:38.159 --> 00:08:48.559 But we have this good news because we have Jesus, the gate, the shepherd, who lays his life down in the gate of the sheep pen to protect his sheep from the enemy. 00:08:48.559 --> 00:08:57.239 I was watching a video on Instagram recently of this guy talking about how clever the enemy is. 00:08:58.019 --> 00:09:01.819 Because he doesn't say, hey, would you like this chain? 00:09:02.039 --> 00:09:07.219 This chain will lead you to death and destruction and brokenness and shame and all the bad things. 00:09:07.459 --> 00:09:10.299 Because obviously we would say no. 00:09:10.299 --> 00:09:18.500 Instead, what he does is he tempts us with this shiny link and he says, hey, you can do this without God. 00:09:18.759 --> 00:09:20.659 You can get by without God for this one thing. 00:09:20.719 --> 00:09:21.379 It would be okay. 00:09:22.199 --> 00:09:24.679 And one by one he offers us a link. 00:09:25.059 --> 00:09:26.759 One shiny link at a time. 00:09:27.199 --> 00:09:30.139 Until we've built our own chain and we can't get out. 00:09:30.139 --> 00:09:35.120 That's the way of the enemy, the devil, Diabolos, the liar. 00:09:35.279 --> 00:09:37.500 He lies with accusation and temptation. 00:09:39.179 --> 00:09:41.319 And he tries to separate us from Jesus. 00:09:42.679 --> 00:09:47.980 And actually that's not something just to briefly mention and lightly skip past. 00:09:47.980 --> 00:09:54.539 Because if we believe that God is good and he is real, then we have to accept that the enemy too is real. 00:09:54.539 --> 00:09:58.279 We see this in the world around us. 00:09:58.339 --> 00:10:00.719 We see it in the spiritual battles that we face. 00:10:00.799 --> 00:10:03.299 We see it in Jesus' own life in scripture. 00:10:05.019 --> 00:10:07.319 But Jesus is the gate for the sheep. 00:10:07.879 --> 00:10:09.959 He doesn't lead us to fend for ourselves. 00:10:10.639 --> 00:10:16.399 But as we've been discussing for the last few minutes, he is there ready to fight the fight for us. 00:10:17.240 --> 00:10:22.379 No one is more powerful than the one who conquered death on a cross. 00:10:22.379 --> 00:10:25.480 And Jesus offers us the way of truth. 00:10:25.840 --> 00:10:26.779 He offers us freedom. 00:10:27.259 --> 00:10:30.340 He breaks the chains and he brings us back to the good life. 00:10:33.779 --> 00:10:36.299 So let's go back to our passage in John 10. 00:10:36.679 --> 00:10:39.759 And look at this good life that we're offered in Jesus. 00:10:39.759 --> 00:10:43.899 In verse 9, as I already said, Jesus says that he is the gate. 00:10:44.159 --> 00:10:46.460 Whoever enters through him will be saved. 00:10:47.059 --> 00:10:49.600 They can come in and go out and find pasture. 00:10:49.600 --> 00:10:52.639 This is such good news. 00:10:52.779 --> 00:10:54.639 Jesus is such good news. 00:10:54.740 --> 00:10:57.040 He invites us into this safe place. 00:10:57.139 --> 00:10:59.960 Not a place of restriction, but of freedom. 00:11:00.240 --> 00:11:02.639 Where we can have intimacy with him. 00:11:02.720 --> 00:11:04.100 Be nurtured by him. 00:11:04.480 --> 00:11:07.840 Because we're in his glorious presence, which is always with us. 00:11:09.100 --> 00:11:11.879 To quote 1 Corinthians 3 verse 17. 00:11:12.120 --> 00:11:15.540 Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 00:11:15.539 --> 00:11:21.819 And that leaves me to conclude that maybe that is the good life. 00:11:23.179 --> 00:11:27.919 That he is a good God who loves in proximity and intimacy. 00:11:28.620 --> 00:11:35.459 Who promises us in James 4 verse 8 that as we draw near to him, he will draw near to us. 00:11:36.179 --> 00:11:42.419 Who, as it says in Psalm 139, knows us fully and loves us all the more. 00:11:42.419 --> 00:11:49.360 Who bends near to us so that he can shape us and mould us into the people that he created us to be. 00:11:50.959 --> 00:11:56.319 The good life is about the good shepherd who lays his life down for the sheep. 00:11:56.539 --> 00:12:01.339 Who makes himself known to us, calls us by name, goes ahead of us and leads us. 00:12:01.479 --> 00:12:06.019 Offers us his sweet salvation, undeserved but freely given. 00:12:06.019 --> 00:12:12.059 The good life is to be able to find peace in the chaos. 00:12:12.579 --> 00:12:13.620 Stillness in the storm. 00:12:14.079 --> 00:12:16.220 Rest in the fast pace of this world. 00:12:17.579 --> 00:12:20.159 Because life isn't about the agenda of the world. 00:12:20.379 --> 00:12:22.179 It's about locking eyes with Jesus. 00:12:22.659 --> 00:12:27.399 Taking hold of his hand and knowing that with him, we too can walk on the water. 00:12:27.399 --> 00:12:34.220 Just as we close, I'd love to gently encourage you. 00:12:34.319 --> 00:12:36.360 However life feels at the moment. 00:12:36.459 --> 00:12:40.139 Whether it feels really good, really bad or somewhere in between. 00:12:41.679 --> 00:12:45.039 Where can you see the goodness of the good shepherd in your life? 00:12:45.939 --> 00:12:51.620 How can you, despite the circumstances, grasp hold of the good life in Jesus? 00:12:51.620 --> 00:12:58.039 The good life is to know and be known by him. 00:12:58.899 --> 00:13:05.779 To know that in him there is healing and provision, life, sustenance, protection and security. 00:13:06.440 --> 00:13:10.340 It's what we see in his I am statements as he tells us who he is. 00:13:10.419 --> 00:13:14.060 It's what we see in his miracles as he shows us what he can do. 00:13:15.500 --> 00:13:20.000 A good life is a life spent with Jesus because Jesus is good. 00:13:21.620 --> 00:13:26.100 Jesus, thank you that in you is the good life. 00:13:27.259 --> 00:13:29.700 That in you is life in all its fullness. 00:13:30.659 --> 00:13:33.879 Thank you that you offer us freedom from the ways of the world. 00:13:33.980 --> 00:13:37.100 And you invite us to be with you in your glorious presence. 00:13:37.100 --> 00:13:38.320 Where we are safe. 00:13:38.860 --> 00:13:39.919 Where life is good. 00:13:42.179 --> 00:13:46.039 Lord Jesus, would you help each of us here, however life feels for us right now. 00:13:46.460 --> 00:13:49.940 Whatever our circumstances, to know that we can come to you. 00:13:49.940 --> 00:13:51.960 Find rest with you. 00:13:52.720 --> 00:13:53.940 Be at peace in you. 00:13:55.260 --> 00:13:57.560 Father God, would you show us your glory. 00:13:58.520 --> 00:13:58.960 Amen. 00:13:58.960 --> 00:13:59.120 Amen. 00:13:59.120 --> 00:13:59.180 Amen. 00:13:59.180 --> 00:13:59.220 Amen. 00:13:59.220 --> 00:13:59.260 Amen. 00:13:59.260 --> 00:13:59.280 Amen. 00:13:59.280 --> 00:13:59.300 Amen. 00:13:59.300 --> 00:13:59.320 Amen.