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Zion Bread of Life Christian Church

Sunday Sermon – Success vs Abundance

Sunday, 3^rd December 2023

Rev Daniel Xi An Poon

We know that Jesus did not born exactly on the Christmas Day, but this is a season for us to get together as a family, to outreach to the people in need, and to spread the love of Jesus. In our church, we have been doing a lot of outreach in the past, such as having Christmas carolling and giving out gifts in the hospital and in the neighbourhood. For 2024, God has given us the vision of ‘Abundance Life’ however the world tells us something different. The world tells us that it’s more important to have a ‘Successful Life’. What is the difference between success and abundance?

II Peter 1:2-4 says, “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

Peter told us that we must know the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Why do we come to church on Sunday? Why do we read the Bible? Why do we pray? Is it because we are told to do as Christians? Peter reminded to have the real knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ. So often we make offering and we sacrifice our time to come to church, only because we want to have the blessings. It seems that everything is just an exchange. God has given us the freedom, He wants us to enjoy the process and to have a relationship with Him. But we might still feel depress and unsatisfied even after we believed God and baptised.

The reason is even after we believed God and followed God, but our view of life still stays the same. After we become Christians, we must change our view of life, because it is different to the values of this world. The view of life is mainly reflected in three aspects: life purpose, life attitude, and life value. As human being, we will continue seeking to be loved, to be valued, to be worthy, and to be significant. We do many things and create an image for ourselves so people will love us. Gradually, we become tired and burdened, because what people do and what people say about us affect our emotions and decisions. We want to be at the top, not at the bottom, we want to see the end results, but we are wearing ourselves out.

If we seek a successful life, then we will focus on the quantity, we always want more, to achieve more, and to never feel enough. To have an abundance life, it’s never about the quantity, but the process. God wants us to experience abundance with Him, not just use our own strength and wear ourselves out. Furthermore, we rely on our position, we want people to know our qualifications, our titles, and our position, we want people to recognise us. But living an abundance life, we must first know our identity, and to know that we are loved by God. We are children of God, no matter what happens, there is a Father in Heaven, Who will take care of us.

The world values teach us to seek praises of people, we want others to know how good we are and how capable we are. We don’t allow people to tell us our mistakes, because we think people’s praises determine who we are. But from the eyes of God, as long as we follow God’s Way, even when we walk astray, God will bring us back to the right track. It’s not about never making mistakes, but about always follow God closely. When we make mistakes, we need to pay the price, but God’s love is the same of us no matter what. Our values are not based on people’s praises for us, but how God looks at us.

In the definition of a successful life, people seek good impressions from others. We want people to see how hard we work for our spouse, our family and our workplace. We create an impression for ourselves by doing many things, but we lose ourselves, who God first created us to be. God doesn’t want us to walk in front of Him, He only wants us to follow Him, and He will give us an abundant life. When we follow God, then we will not burn out, blessings will come naturally, and the way will be opened for us.

Another value is our achievement, the world’s perspective on achievement is different to the perspective from the Kingdom of God. We only see where we are in the present, we only see what we have right now, but God sees into the past, the present, and the future. God is an eternal God, and He wants us to gather treasure in Heaven. In Galatians 5:22-23, Paul taught us, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” The fruit of the Spirit includes many characters, including self-control. This is what we must have in our freedom given to us. God gave us freedom so we can make decisions of our actions, and to choose to stay away from sin. Having the character of self-control helps us to live an abundance life.

John 10:10 says, “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.” Are we being honest to ourselves? Do we only want a successful life according to the world’s perspective? Or do we want to receive the abundant life God wants to give to us?