Greetings Flag Branch members and friends and thanks for taking the time to join me, Pastor Jordan, for some Fine Points from Sunday’s service and message “Experiencing Fuller Life”.
As good as life is in many ways, suppose there is much more about it we are not aware of. Suppose we are capable of experiencing a far greater life than our current biological life permits. Suppose we die or experience death, because this life we now have was never intended to be permanent, but only a sample of what life really is and can be.
These are some of the possible explanations for Jesus claiming to be the door that leads to life unlike we know or experience it now. Jesus suggests that what we know and experience as life now falls short of what life really is or could be.
By saying He has come that we might have life and have it more abundantly, fully or completely, suggest we don’t have real, whole or complete life but only a sample, a trial or incomplete version of what life really is and consist of.
God did a very good job putting us in touch with this life as shallow and incomplete as it is. The reality and sensations and beauty and everything else about it is so amazing, it is difficult for us to image anything greater. And it is for this reason we find it difficult to seek or believe in something better.
A caterpillar would spend its entire life as a worm if not for the faith to spin the cocoon. But by spinning the cocoon, it allows it to be transformed into another creature capable of exploring a completely different world than the one it lived as a worm.
It did not know its’ new world existed nor was it given any proof or assurances of what the result of its actions would be. Yet by faith it spins the cocoon not knowing why or what will happen to it because this is what it believes it should do as the result of biological processes. If these biological processes didn’t instruct it so, the caterpillar will live out the rest of its life as a worm.
Human beings have no biological function or process that cause them to believe the gospel. Instead, we must decide for ourselves what to believe. We must decide if all we are and ever could be are worms and what we appear to be now or if we are capable of becoming more.
We must decide if all life is and can be is what we know and are experiencing as biological creatures here on earth or if what we are experiencing as life is not life at all in its complete and full form. This is also where Christian faith steps in. Jesus suggests and proclaims that He is the door through which if a person enters will find and experience this greater and fuller form of life.
We are faced with a monumental and eternal choice. Do we close our minds to the possibility that no other life than what we know and have experienced is possible or do we open our minds to the possibility we can become more than the worms we are.
Jesus is saying by and through faith we can be transformed and experience life like we never knew existed, never could imagine or even thought possible. All because we chose not to base all that was and is possible from the point of view of a worm and a worm’s limitations.
Believers were and are not biologically forced to spin a cocoon like caterpillars, but had and have the insight and faith to choose to spin one for the possibility and potential it holds in doing so. They believe in butterflies.
You can hear the complete sermon by clicking the sermon title above. You can also see and listen to our previous Sunday School, Missions and BTU sessions by clicking this link. Be sure to download our mobile app on your phones and mobile devices to get the latest news, updates and shortcuts to all of our ministries, functions and activities.
Click the SS Daily Bible Readings for an excellent devotional and preparation for the upcoming Sunday School study. Don’t forget to leave a comment or question down below. As always, remember to fear God and keep His commandments.
Pastor Jordan
