Pentecost XXII
October 21, 2018
A slap on the head
I need a couple of volunteers this morning... Oh... let's see...
Doug and Duane ---
Come up here and stand on each side of me...
Any of you watch NCIS?
Doug knows what's coming.
Sometimes I wonder if Jesus ever wanted to just do the head slap that Denozo gets every once in while from Gibbs? In this case, a double head slap!! For James and John!!
Ok you guys can sit down. They were chosen at random, you know~~
Look at the last few phrases of your gospel this morning...
let me read from the Passion Translation...
You are to lead by a different model. If you want to be the greatest one, then live as one called to serve others.44 The path to promotion and prominence comes by having the heart of a bond-slave who serves everyone. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come expecting to be served by everyone, but to serve everyone, and to give his life as the ransom price in exchange for the salvation of many.”
Over and over and over again with the disciples and with us, Jesus deals with our ego needs to be first, to be greatest, to be seen, to be known -- we constantly have to check our intentions and motives for working "for the Lord." Is it truly "for" HIM, or is it subtly for me?
This weekend at the healing seminar I met a new friend who asked a great question:
How do we know that when we get to the end of the road, we won't be among the ones that Jesus said "He never knew?" You remember the end of the sermon on the mount in Matt 7 - there are the scariest words in scripture...
Jesus Warns of Pretenders
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the realm of heaven’s kingdom. It is only those who persist in doing the will of my heavenly Father. 22 On the day of judgment many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, don’t you remember us? Didn’t we prophesy[j] in your name? Didn’t we cast out demons and do many miracles for the sake of your name?’ 23 But I will have to say to them, ‘Go away from me, you lawless rebels! I’ve never been joined to you!’[k]
24 “Everyone who hears my teaching and applies it to his life can be compared to a wise man who built his house on an unshakable foundation.
Here Jesus is warning of false prophets and spiritual pretenders. As my new friend asked the question, the Lord said to me, "the pretenders are the people who take my glory to themselves."
Look at the opening verse of our Hebrews passage this morning, - it's one of my favorite "word" verses... again I'm reading from TPT:
12 For we have the living Word of God, which is full of energy,[j] and it pierces more sharply than a two-edged sword.[k] It will even penetrate to the very core of our being where soul and spirit, bone[l] and marrow meet![m] It interprets and reveals the true thoughts and secret motives of our hearts. 13 There is not one person who can hide their thoughts from God, for nothing that we do remains a secret, and nothing created is concealed, but everything is exposed and defenseless before his eyes, to whom we must render an account.[n]
Jesus himself is the "living Word of God" and what the writer of Hebrews is saying here is that it is Him with whom we deal when it comes to our "true thoughts and secret motives!
I've always been a bit fearful of that passage in Matthew, because I know well how self-deceived and self-aggrandized I can get - how I am most of the time. Pastors and people in ministry have to constantly take their spiritual inventory according to the Word of God, to allow the light of the Word to penetrate down to those places of thought and motive and to bring purity there. We must be careful not to touch God's Glory for ourselves.
When we start taking a census of the powerful things that God has done through us, we are in danger of moving into that realm! That's not to say that we can't share testimonies of His power, but the emphasis needs to be in the fact that we are, in Paul's word, "broken, clay pots" that only shine because the glory of God shines through the cracks. We're all "cracked pots!" And God's power is seen to NOT be from us.
So what is our stance on these things and how do we proceed. Jesus gives us a strong clue right after his warning when he starts talking about the house build on bedrock.
He says, "everyone who hears and applies my Word - who hears and does." It's that last step of OBEDIENCE to God's word and His way that makes us a "keeper" in God's kingdom.
Paul said his goal was to "know Christ in the power (dunamis) of His resurrection and in the fellowship (koinonia) of His sufferings." (Phil 3) When we share in Christ's sufferings for doing good (works of power) in His Name, it tends to burn out the dross of our ill intentions and our impure motives.
Over the years I've had many opportunities to walk away from the pastorate. Pastors do that today in the thousands each month! My call to this work that I received when I was 10 years old has been tested in fire so many times I've lost count. I've had to stop myself and take stock of who I am doing this for many times! It is a constant fight, that all ministers, professional and lay, must contend with.
So what? What now?
Let's read on a bit further in Hebrews:
Jesus, Our Compassionate King-Priest
14 So then, we must cling in faith to all we know to be true. For we have a magnificent King-Priest,[o] Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who rose into the heavenly realm for us, and now sympathizes with us in our frailty.[p]15 He understands humanity, for as a Man, our magnificent King-Priest was tempted in every way just as we are, and conquered sin.[q] 16 So now we come freely and boldly to where love is enthroned,[r] to receive mercy’s kiss and discover the grace we urgently need to strengthen[s] us in our time of weakness.[t]
So what did you just hear?
1. Cling in faith to what you know to be true - HIS WORD
"HOLD FAST" TO OUR CONFESSION~ What is that?
That... We have a magnificent King-Priest, Jesus Christ who rose into the heavenly realm for us! We are never more in danger than when this belief slips to a back burner in our consciousness!
2. Clearly comprehend WHO is in Heaven, making Intercession for us! JB PHILLIPS puts it this way:
For we have no superhuman High Priest to whom our weaknesses are unintelligible—he himself has shared fully in all our experience of temptation, except that he never sinned.
3. So... therefore ... because of that! We get a bowl of lettuce!
4:16 Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with fullest confidence, that we may receive mercy for our failures and grace to help in the hour of need.
Turn with me to Heb 10 for more lettuce!
19-25 So by virtue of the blood of Jesus, you and I, my brothers, may now have courage to enter the holy of holies by way of the one who died and is yet alive, who has made for us a holy means of entry by himself passing through the curtain, that is, his own human nature. Further, since we have a great High Priest set over the household of God, let us draw near with true hearts and fullest confidence, knowing that our inmost souls have been purified by the sprinkling of his blood just as our bodies are cleansed by the washing of clean water. In this confidence let us hold on to the hope that we profess without the slightest hesitation—for he is utterly dependable—and let us think of one another and how we can encourage each other to love and do good deeds. And let us not hold aloof from our church meetings, as some do. Let us do all we can to help one another’s faith, and this the more earnestly as we see the final day drawing ever nearer.
Friends, we're in this together, as we say in our marriage vows, "for better or worse."
One of the greatest dangers in the modern church is the ease with which we leave. One of the greatest pains I ever experience is when someone leaves our church, for whatever reason, good or bad. But our consumer culture "churchianity" that is a mile wide and an inch deep has set us up for what we see now all across western Christianity.
We are in a culture that will be standing before the throne of Jesus and he will say "I never knew you!"
Please eat your lettuce! Inwardly digest the steps that God has given us in His Word to
DRAW NEAR TO HIM WITH PURE HEARTS
HOLD ON TO OUR HOPE
ENTER INTO A COMPETITION TO ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER, GIVING HONOR TO EACH OTHER AND SPURRING ONE ANOTHER ON TO LOVE AND TO GOOD WORKS. CHEERING ONE ANOTHER ON!
DON'T SKIP OUT ON WORSHIP AND KOINONIA FELLOWSHIP IN THE CHURCH - OUR MEETING TOGETHER FACE TO FACE.
SPEND YOURSELF LOVING ONE ANOTHER, AS JESUS LOVES YOU AND HAS SPENT HIMSELF FOR YOU!
Now a final "lettuce"...
Let Us... PRAY...
Eternal God, Heavenly King. You have made a way through the curtain of Jesus' body, torn in two, for us to come, to draw near in faith. But even the drawing near we need help with Lord! We love to do our own thing ... we love to get the glory ... we love to hear the praise ... Forgive us and help us to never touch Your glory or Your praise!
We come to you in time of need, asking for your mercy and for your grace to help. We want to "know you" even as we are known by You! Let us experience Your love in its fullness, the depth, height, width and length, even though we have no capacity to comprehend it.
Bring us close to You, Lord Jesus and enwrap us in your arms of love. We want to hear in the depths of our hearts Your Words - I KNOW YOU - I LOVE YOU - YOU ARE MINE.
In Jesus we ask, seek and knock...
for the sake of His Kingdom and the fame of His Name.
Amen.
