Jesus answered them, I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me. 

John 10:25 

Christ lived as He preached. The enemies of Christ were mad against Him and sought to draw Him out for accusation. One of the points on which they challenged Him was, ‘If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.’ Christ responded with the words of our text. In His answer, He pointed to His works. What works were they? The Scripture says, Christ ‘went about doing good.’ John detailed some of the good Christ had done. He had turned the water into wine to preserve the joy of a wedding feast. He had sought out an outcast from society to transform her life. He had healed a paralytic, fed the hungry, defended a woman from her accusers, and healed a man who had been born blind. These were the works which Christ was doing. They spoke eloquently of His association with God and the ways of God. They are the same kinds of works that are the evidence of those who are associated with Him. The life that is most clearly Christlike is the life that most closely imitates His actions towards those who have a present need. Christ spoke clearly and his works bore witness to His identity. 

Our Kind and Gracious Savior, 
we rejoice at the works which You have done. 
We praise You that they are the great pattern for us, 
in our imitation of You. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. 

John 10:11 

Christ is The Good Shepherd. Having thus identified Himself, he goes on in the rest of the passage and explains what it means. He was saying that the proof of His being the good shepherd was to give His life for the sheep. Here is the epitome of love and the meaning of Christ’s mission to give life more abundantly. He would make a full sacrifice of Himself in order that His sheep might live abundantly. He went on later to say, ‘I give to them eternal life and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand.’ There is no life more abundant than eternal life, secure in the arms of the Good Shepherd. Christ had a wide vision of those whom He would redeem. He spoke of the ‘other sheep,’ who were ‘not of this fold’ that is, not of Israel and said, ‘them also I must bring.’ Revelation reveals that this would be, ‘a great multitude, which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues.’ It is for all these that Christ, The Good Shepherd, would give His life down to the shedding of His Own blood. In the sacrifice of Christ, we see the epitome of the outpouring of love. 

Our Gracious and Loving Savior, 
we rejoice that You are the Good Shepherd. 
We praise and thank you for your sacrifice on our behalf,  
to give us abundant life. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. 

John 10:10 

Life can be, and should be more than mere existence. Christ understands this because He, as God, ‘gives to all, life, breath, and all things.’ Because Christ intends for life to be more than mere existence, He came in order that, ‘they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.’ Who are ‘they?’ Christ speaks of them as ‘my sheep. He says, ‘My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.’ He is speaking of those whom He came to redeem. John describes them in Revelation as, ‘a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples and tongues.’ This means that Christ redeems very many and in a very inclusive manner. Hence the Gospel should go forth and Christ set forth to all people everywhere. This is at the heart of the Great Commission and is the purpose of preaching. The end result of that is a personal knowledge of Christ and of God the Father Who sent Him. This is the abundant life. Christ said, ‘and this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.’ Christ is essential to this life. He came to give life and died to guarantee it. Christ is the key to abundant life.  

Our Glorious Living Christ, 
we rejoice that You are the way, the truth and the life. 
We praise You that all that You have done 
has been with the intention 
that we should live abundantly. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. 

John 10:10 

Christ came to give, preserve, and promote life. His behavior in word and deed was active testimony to that. All that He said and did, demonstrated His utmost dedication to life, even to the point of snatching life out of the jaws of death. He raised the son of the widow, Jairus’ daughter, and Lazarus from the dead. The words He spoke were the words of life. When it came to the final moments, His personal self-sacrifice was what would guarantee life for all who would believe in Him. The message He communicated was, ‘I have come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly.’ He contrasted His purpose to those who came ‘to steal, to kill, and to destroy.’ To follow Christ is to believe what He said and to do as He did. The contemplation of Christ leads to the imitation of Christ. Love engenders love, and hatred engenders hatred. Without love, and the active demonstration of it, life becomes hollow, hopeless and horrible. Christ has never varied from His purpose to bring life. His message is still the same. His actions are still the pattern. His purpose has not changed. 

Our Gracious and Loving Savior, 
we rejoice that You are the Lord of Life. 
We praise You that You have done all that is necessary 
to bring life, to a great multitude 
which no man can number.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning