By: Wendy Duckworth Vance
Yeshua told us in John 10:10, "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." But what did He mean when He made this statement? Was He discussing material abundance, as many popular prosperity ministries would have us believe, or was He speaking of a different kind of abundance? While many will argue that he spoke of material abundance because we are labeled as priests and kings by the Word (Bible) and should, therefore, have wealth and perfect health to prove this status of "being blessed," I contend that this idea is not supported by scripture. Instead, I contend that the Word calls us to live as Christ-like a life as possible to demonstrate that we are children of God as illustrated in the Lord's admonition that "You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy" (Leviticus 19:2 ESV). Although some would argue that this verse does not apply to believers in Yeshua because it was spoken directly to the people of Israel during the giving of the law at Sinai, a closer look at Scripture would reveal that 1 Peter 1:15- 17 gives the same admonition to believers. So, it would seem that Christ's earliest followers, His disciples, understood that connection to and evidence of Christ's work in our lives has little to do with material belongings; instead, such evidence is found within our living in Christ-likeness or holiness.
If the people who walked with Christ did not equate "abundance" with material wealth or perfect health, where would we have gotten this idea? Were His followers wrong, and we, the modern believers, correct in our interpretation that God's love and blessings are manifested in material things and health rather than in the spiritual realm? Perhaps an even better question is, "What did Christ say?" He is, after all, the ultimate arbiter of truth as God in the flesh.
The best place to begin the understanding His statement is to look at the verses surrounding John 10:10. What was He discussing in the verses just before and after this well-known quote? Was He saying, “Yea though I walk through the valley of poverty and bad health, but fear not because if you believe in me…" No, that is decidedly not what He was talking about. If you look at the verses, it is clear that He is saying He will preserve/protect His sheep (His followers) who know His voice. And who or what is it that He is protecting us from? Is it from poverty or sickness? Again no, in verses 7 and the beginning of verse 10, He says that he is protecting us from robbers and thieves. To which some of you may respond, "See, it is about protecting our vast wealth because He talks about thieves." Yet another look at the verses reveals that these were the "shepherds" who came before Him. Who then were the shepherds of the people? The Sadducees and the Pharisees. He is saying that the previous leaders were robbers and thieves who had stolen from, killed, and destroyed God's flock through their leadership or, rather, lack thereof. Those leaders are the ones He states that He is protecting us from, that He Himself is taking over the tending and care of the flock.
So, what exactly was wrong with the previous leadership that caused the need for Yeshua to take the reins? Some would say that Yeshua was delivering us from the Law, that His death erased the Law, which bestowed freedom on the followers of Christ. This assertion, however, reflects a lack of understanding of the historical context. One must first understand that the leaders created man-made rules designed to build a wall around God's actual Law so that someone would not accidentally violate said Law. An example that I have often been taught relates to establishing the distance one could walk on the Sabbath before it would be considered work. We see other examples of these man-made rules in the complaints of the Sadducees and Pharisees of Yeshua's time as they are upset about Yeshua healing on the Sabbath or the disciples picking heads of grain as they walked through a field on the Sabbath. In other words, as Yeshua discusses in Matthew 23, the leaders tied heavy burdens on the people of God beyond what God Himself set forth as His standard of obedience. The failure of the false shepherds was in their manipulation of the Law for selfish gain, and taking advantage of their position for human praise. In short, He tells them that their outward show has nothing to do with holiness and that they are greedy and self-indulgent. He compares them to tombstones – all pretty and clean on the outside, but they are full of ugly, rotting bones on the inside. Their outward appearance may mean something when it comes to the praise of man, but it is meaningless in the Kingdom of God.
So, then, how can we think that having an outward show of wealth or health is a sign of God's blessing? Yeshua Himself declared that it was not. It is a show designed to garner empty, temporary praise from other temporal beings subject to the same fate of death and judgment rather than a seeking after the "weightier matters of the Law: justice and mercy and faithfulness." The "weightier matters" are matters of the heart in serving God and others, not how we serve or grasp gain for ourselves. And if you notice that when He speaks to them, He does not mince words; He straight up tells those who are self-seeking that they are not His sheep; therefore, eternal life will not be theirs. He says similarly in Matthew 6 that those who show their righteousness will not receive a reward in Heaven as the praise of men on Earth would have already rewarded them. The idea of selflessness, giving away to others rather than chasing self-gain selfish gain and recognition, is reinforced in Matthew 25:31-40 when Yeshua discusses who will be found worthy to enter eternal life at the last judgment. He notes that those who will join Him seek opportunities to put others before themselves and take care of those who are hungry, thirsty, foreign, in need of clothing, and in need of visitation while in prison. In Matthew 6:24, we are explicitly told that we cannot serve money and God because we will love the one and hate the other.
If then, Yeshua tells us that wealth and the esteem of man should not be our focus, and chasing this means that we have already received our reward, and that we would not, by the acquisition of these, be found worthy of Heaven, why would we believe that abundance in the context of John 10 would mean earthly wealth or health Abundance in John 10 cannot mean worldly wealth because that would contradict Yeshua's clear teaching in these other portions Not only that, but what great harm do we perpetrate when we tell people that God does not love them, they they do not have enough faith, or that they are not saved because they are poor or unwell? At minimum a loss of peace and the most extreme, some may just walk away. Lastly why would we emphasize worldly wealth when it could never compare to even just one look, one word, one touch from the One who created it all?
Today, I challenge you to reevaluate your view of abundance. Abundance will never be the things we leave behind or how buff, beautiful, or able-bodied we were in this life. Rather, abundance is about a deep and abiding personal relationship with Yeshua and the people whose lives we impacted, those we will meet again in Heaven because we put others before our own gain.
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