Lifestyle

Experiencing Abundance, Part Two
John 10:10

Let’s begin this morning with a little audience participation. Here’s how it’s going to work. I’m going to give you some incomplete sentences and I want you to complete them out loud so that we can all hear them. All right?

First sentence: My best friend is a person of great ________________.
Second sentence: I hope that I am known as a person of great _____________.
Third sentence: My Heavenly Father is a God of great _________________.

There are obviously lots of different ways to complete that sentence and if you were with us last week as I began this new series of messages, you’ll know that one of the words that fits perfectly at the end of that sentence is the word, “abundance.” My Heavenly Father is a God of great abundance.

All of the attributes that God possesses in both His character and His being; He possesses in great abundance. God doesn’t have just a little bit of anything. Everything that He is and everything that He has, He is and has in great abundance. He abounds in love. He abounds in grace. He abounds in mercy. He abounds in kindness. He abounds in goodness. He abounds in faithfulness. He abounds in joy. He abounds in wisdom. He abounds in power. He is a God of great abundance. What’s more, He absolutely delights in sharing the abundance of His life with His children.

God never intended for us to spend our lives walking around the perimeter of His abundance…on the outside looking in…wondering what it would be like to actually experience His abundance in our lives. He wants us to experience His abundance. He wants to lead us to and then secure us in that place where we can personally and consistently experience the free flowing abundance of His grace and His blessing.

In fact, He’s so passionate in that desire that He sent Jesus into the world to make it possible. In John 10:10 Jesus said, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” Or, as some translations read, “life in all its fullness.” That’s God’s desire for every one of us.

But as we discovered last week, God’s desire for us will go unfulfilled if we allow sin to take root in our lives, because sin separates us from God, who is the very source and hope of our abundance. Isaiah 59:2 says it like this, “Your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.”

So, how do we tear down this wall of sin that separates us from God and destroys any hope of experiencing His abundance?

First, we have to identify it. Under the guidance of God’s Spirit we examine ourselves, asking God to show us anything in our lives that is not pleasing to Him.
Then, we confess it. We lay aside our pride and humbly acknowledge to our Father that we have sinned.

Then, we repent. And that means, sincerely asking God to help us change our behavior so that we don’t continue to repeat that sin.

And, finally, we ask God to forgive us, trusting in the promise of 1 John 1:9, which says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” And with His forgiveness that wall of separation that our sin had so carefully constructed comes crashing to the ground and we are once again in that place where we can experience the free flowing abundance of God’s grace and blessing.

Now, since the lingering presence of sin in the life of a Christian produces such devastating spiritual consequences, I want us to soak on this subject for a while…even if it makes us a little bit uncomfortable to do so…so that we can get a handle on the myriad ways in which sin can work itself into our lives. Sometimes sin can be very subtle. So subtle, in fact, that we may not even recognize it for the sin that it is.

Consider, for instance, those sins that take place not so much in our actions, but in our thoughts. Am I suggesting, here, that God is concerned with more than just our outward actions? That He actually cares about the kinds of things that we think about? That’s exactly what I’m saying, and the Bible makes that point abundantly clear.

Romans 12:2 says, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

The big point to see here is that the process of transformation that God is constantly working to accomplish in us involves much more than just a change in the things we do. God is working to change the way we think. He is working, as Paul says here, to renew our minds so that we stop thinking the way this sinful, broken world thinks and start to think the way that Jesus thinks.

Colossians 3:1-3 develops the idea, saying, “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”

As brothers and sisters in Christ, our lives are now bound to Jesus. The way that Jesus lived His life should be reflected in the way that we live our lives. And that means that if this particular action is something that Jesus wouldn’t do, then it’s also something that we shouldn’t do. It also means that if this thought is one that Jesus would never welcome into His mind, then we shouldn’t welcome it into our minds either.

In 2 Corinthians 10:5 Paul said it like this, “…take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” The moment a thought that is in any way contrary to the abundant life that God desires for us, begins to creep into our minds, we are to take immediate decisive action to stop that thought in it’s tracks so that we are free to be obedient to Jesus and to continue to experience the abundant life.

Now, let’s get real practical and actually identify some of these sinful thoughts that ought to have no place in our lives as God’s children. This is not by any means an exhaustive list, but it will help us identify the kinds of thoughts that we’re talking about. These are thoughts that are completely inconsistent with the abundant life that God desires to pour into us.

--Let’s start with thoughts that are rooted in worry or fear. You may dismiss your habitual worrying as, “That’s just the way I am.” From God’s perspective it’s sin because it calls into question His goodness and His faithfulness. Worry and fear have no place in the mind of a child of God.

-- Another area in which we can be easily be drawn into sinful thoughts is by allowing our minds to be dominated with worldly thoughts and only minimally interested in spiritual things. Here’s a simple little test to help you see what I’m talking about. Ask yourself this question—How many of the conversations that I initiate focus primarily on worldly matters (work, recreation, health, finances, etc.) and how many of the conversations that I initiate focus primarily on spiritual matters (God’s word, God’s purposes, God’s character, my spiritual growth, your spiritual growth, my ministry involvements, etc.) We tend to talk about the things that fill our minds. If our minds are filled more with earthly concerns than with God’s concerns, we’ve sinned.

--A third area in which our minds are vulnerable to sin can be identified as impure or unclean thoughts. This is an area of thought that requires constant vigilance these days because we are bombarded with sexually charged images and messages virtually non-stop in our culture. Pornography is rampant on the Internet. Movies and television present a steady stream of crude sexual humor and immorality of every conceivable type. And welcoming those kinds of thoughts into our minds is sin.

Jesus made that clear in Matthew 5:27-28, when he said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

So, what can we do to protect our minds from all of these various forms of sin that can so easily creep into our thoughts? Well, the short answer is that we’ve got to do more than just get rid of our sinful thoughts. We have to replace those sinful thoughts with thoughts that keep our eyes focused on Christ; thoughts that keep us securely in that place where we can experience the free flowing abundance of God’s grace and blessing in our lives. So, what follows is a 5 Step Strategy for protecting your minds from sinful thoughts.

And the place to start is by consistently filling our minds with scripture. Psalm 1 says, “Blessed is the man…(whose) delight is in the law of God, and on his law he meditates day and night.” As we begin to expose our minds everyday to a fresh dose of God’s word, God will radically renew our minds by driving out those sinful thoughts that have no place in our minds and replacing them with thoughts that reflect His character. Philippians 4:8 gives us a picture of those thoughts. It says, “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy think about such things.”

Do you suppose God will bless us as our minds are filled with those kinds of thoughts? Absolutely. In fact, as we read a few moments ago in Psalm 1, He promises to do just that.

Next, to your daily study of God’s word add prayer. God delights in answering those prayers that are consistent with His will and having a renewed mind is God’s will for you. What’s more, because God never expects us to grow spiritually in our own strength, it is not only appropriate but critically important to ask Him, by the power of His Spirit, to renew your mind by driving from it all forms of sinful thoughts and then filling it with those thoughts that further His purposes and invite His abundance.

“Father, help me to immediately identify every thought that enters my mind that is not helpful to the work that You are doing in me…and once identified…give me a new thought to keep me in the flow of your abundance.”
Do you suppose God will bless us as we begin to invite His oversight of our thought life?

(3) Third, listen to Christian music in whatever your favorite style of music may be. Music is one the great gifts that God has given us to focus our hearts and minds on God and to give voice to the praise and worship that we long to give Him. The songs that we listen to and sing along with have a wonderful way of working themselves back into our thoughts at all hours of the day and night.

This past week I rediscovered a Christian CD that was a favorite of mine a few years ago, but I hadn’t listened to it in quite a while. It’s by Lenny LeBlanc. I kept it in the CD player in my truck and listened to it all week long. It blessed me even when I wasn’t in the truck.

We’ve just begun our second Season of Prayer and as I entered my Prayer Shower at 4:30 on Thursday morning, the water began to rush over me, I said, “Good morning, Father.” And, immediately, one of Lenny’s songs came rushing into my mind and I began to sing, “I was born to worship my Lord. That is why I sing. To give Him praise and lift up my voice is such a natural thing. So I testify of His mercy and love, glorify my Heavenly Father above. Just one thing that I’m sure of: I was born, you were born, everything was made to worship Him.”

Do you suppose that God blesses me when I begin my day with those kinds of thoughts in the forefront of my mind? Of course He does. And He’ll bless you, too, when those kinds of thoughts are uppermost in your mind.

Read Christian books and magazines. Whatever style or genre you prefer, as long as it’s the kind of book that keeps your thoughts focused on God.

I read a terrific book this week, The Little Woman, by Gladys Aylward. It’s an autobiography about her life as a missionary in China some 70 years ago. It’s filled with incredible stories of her faithfulness to God’s call and God’s faithfulness to provide everything she needed…exactly when she needed…in order to fulfill that call.

Do you suppose God blesses us as our minds are filled with those kinds of thoughts?

I’ve got an idea. Let’s be a blessing to one another. If you’ve read a Christian book that has been a real blessing to you, send me the title, the author and a 2 sentence synopsis of the book. Then I’ll figure out some way to make that list of recommended books available to any of you who would like to see them.
So: scripture, prayer, Christian music, Christian books…

Finally, spend time with other Christians who like to talk about the things of God. Christians who can’t wait to hear what God is doing in your life and can’t wait to tell you what He’s been doing in theirs’. Christian friends who love to talk about the ways that God is providing for their needs, blessing them as they serve Him and answering their prayers.

Christian friends whose love for God is evident because they talk so freely and easily about their relationship with Him.

Do you suppose God will bless you as you spend time with people who encourage you to keep your mind focused on God?

Proverbs 23:7 says, “As a man thinks in his heart, so he is.”

What does God see when He looks into my heart?

Ask yourself: How diligent am I in guarding my thoughts? How diligent am I in filling my mind with thoughts that are pleasing to God and helpful to His purposes in my life? Think back through the 5 strategies that I identified…scripture, prayer, listening to Christian music, reading Christian books and spending time with the right kind of Christian friends…and ask, “Where might I need to improve?”

I’m guessing that you will discover that there is a direct connection between what God sees in your heart and your faithfulness to protect and fill it.