The Smell of Bread Rising

Text: Matthew 13:31-33
Focus: Evangelism
Function: To help people see that church growth is one person at a time.
Form:  Bible Study

Intro: 

This chapter is a rapid succession of parables that are given to illustrate principles of the Kingdom of heaven that are important to God. There are 7 Parables about the Kingdom of Heaven.

The first 2 are about how God plants the Kingdom of heaven. The first, deals with the fact that God plants all good seed, but some people ignore it, others get distracted, some are excited for a while and the majority grow up and reproduce others

The second one we looked at last week and it stresses how important each and every individual is to God. It gave us principles for protecting one another, especially the weakest among us.

The 5th and 6th speak about the incredible value that the Kingdom of heaven is for us. It is like a hidden treasure, that is worth everything we have. It is like a fine pearl that is so beautiful, and such a great investment that it also is worth everything we have.

The 7th  empathizes the ending of the one we looked at last week. It restates that God is the one who does the judging, not us.

Today, we are looking at the 3rd and 4th. In this list, they are my favorite because they describe the miraculous way that God causes the Kingdom of God to grow.

You already heard the two parables that illustrate the principles of the growth of the Kingdom of God when they were read.

The illustrative stories are simple: First: The smallest seed becomes a bush so large that it is oftentimes mistaken for a tree and second: a little bit of yeast multiplies and transforms loaf after loaf of bread.

Let us look at those two.

The mustard seed principle:

I don't know if Jesus had a mustard seed in his hand when He told this parable. I am sure the disciples understood just who small a mustard seed is.

I know for my sake, I like Grey Poupon mustard, and it is riddled with the little specks of mustard seed. Wikipedia says the are between 4 to 8 hundredths of an inch.

Jesus' point being that although they grow fairly large, they start out very small.

The disciples were 11 when Jesus rose from the dead and now the Kingdom of God is the largest faith in the entire world.

The Church of the Brethren was 8 people when it started out, and now it has 120,000 members. John and Charles Wesley, who started the Methodist Church were just two men, and now the Methodists number around 12,000,000.

The principle behind this parable is that the growth us up to God and God does big things with small numbers.

God will still do big things with us.

God makes everything new, all the time. Jesus promised us that He would be with the church, our church, until the end of this age. Jesus has not given up His covenant with us. He has not given up on His promise with us.

The disciples were getting ready to take on a monumental task. They didn't have the Internet, billboards, TV and radio advertising, publishers to manage perceptions, or marketing consultants to create the proper image.

All they had was faith in God. They had faith that God would fulfill His promise to them.

So, principle number one about the growth of God's Kingdom, through us, is this: Do not look at the size of our resources, look to God who promises.

The second parable, the yeast making bread rise, gives a principle about the specific mechanism about how that works.

I wonder just how much of a mystery yeast causing dough to rise was to the peoples of Jesus' time.

It wasn't like they had microscopes to understand cellular mechanics. They didn't know about germs. I am sure through their science they knew that mold was generally bad and yeast was generally good. They may have figured out that the two are related. But to see into the biology of all that, to know the difference between a virus and bacteria was something that was beyond their science.

So, Jesus is explaining to them a mystery. I don't think they thought it was magic. But they could not yet place a finger on it and explain why.

It was something wonderful to them.

I don't know how the Holy Spirit works in the heart of individual people. I don't know what has happening inside my the day I gave my life to Jesus.

I do know this. I had a broken life, I was at my end, and God's Spirit whispered into my heart that if I trusted Him, not only would He forgive me, but He would heal my brokenness.

Am I completely healed? Not yet. Part of me is doing pretty good, much better than I was, but I still need God to fix me. Our faith just keeps on growing.

So, to the disciples the question must have been: How did yeast just keep on getting bigger and bigger? How come one small bit of yeast, given time transform not only one batch of dough, but several?

Jesus mentions this. It is used to transform 3 batches. The same amount transforms one, and given time, as many as you want.

Jesus is pointing out that the effect of one to another cannot be readily stopped.

We know from our science that the effect isn't a loaf at a time, but that the yeast spreads through the loaf, rather quickly, but it spreads from one individual cell to the next.

And that is how the Kingdom of God is intended to grow.

I remember a big evangelistic crusade when I want forward to recommit my life to Christ Jesus.

I heard the preaching, my heart was convinced, my spirit responded and Jesus came inside of me.

Evangelism worked in this big group setting whereby the preacher proclaimed the message and we were invited to respond and then we were invited to join the community.
When Cornelius, the Roman Centurion was converted in Acts 10, Peter was in the middle of his sermon when all of a sudden Cornelius believed. Peter never finished that sermon, he never gave an altar call. The yeast of the Holy Spirit took heart in Cornelius' soul and he became a Christ follower.

But there is something very significant in this parable. This idea that the growth happens on a cellular level. There is a metaphor for us in this concept.

I mentioned the times when I went forward in Church as a response to a very powerful sermon.

I heard a sermon, I made a decision to trust Christ Jesus and then, after I went into training, took classes, made an application to join, they invited me to a relationship with them.

But when I read this scripture, how there is a natural progression from one cell to another, I see something.

They are already part of the same lump of dough.

When Jesus is telling us how evangelism is supposed to work, He is talking to each and every one of us.

He is talking about how we, as Christians, bring a blessing to the people around us.

I am working PT sales for a local roofing company. It has been a HOT WEEK up on those roofs!

My clients, when they find out that I am a local pastor as well, immediately, almost all of them ask me to pray for them about something.

People are hungry for spiritual things.

Many of them don't know who they can trust.

But we, when are doing our work as a cell in a lump of dough have the unique and direct blessing of being a blessing and an agent of change for those who are around us.

Instead of hearing a message, accepting a call and then applying to membership, I believe Jesus is teaching us, to build a relationship first, then be open to the questions that bring transformation, and then, a person becomes converted.
When I study this parable, it reminds me to rethink our method of evangelism.

I do appreciate the big meetings with the powerful preacher. I remember one, and we had a really big name come in. And during the altar call, no one seemed to want to respond.

I remember feeling my heart well up inside of me so I went up on the stage and joined the evangelist.

And I looked at the people, I have been the pastor there for over 5 years and I repeated the appeal the evangelist just made.

And several people came up to ask for prayer.

The evangelist, afterwards said this to me: It explains what I mean about building a relationship first. He said: “the people came because they know you, the trust you. Me, they don't know me. I can preach up a storm , but they came forward because they know you. It is relationship that people are truly transformed.

The yeast is only going to spread through the lump of dough from one cell to another. Every cell is important. Jesus is telling the disciples that evangelism will work through relationship. It is true that in the first few weeks of the church, thousands of people believed as a response to powerful preaching. But as a principle, Jesus isn't counting on the preacher alone to grow the church. The growth comes when we make intentional relationships with people.

We build a relationship first, we are all part of the same lump of dough. We directly affect those around us and then, and only then does the transformation happen.

People wonder who they can trust. Well, they can trust you. They know you and you are credible people. You are believable.  And the Holy Spirit is in you, he is that yeast, that transforming agent in your lives.

I was talking to Johnnie March. He is a pastor in London, England at a church that is directly across the street from the famous department story, Harrods.

They run the “Alpha Course.” And they share it. Kathy and I attended an Alpha Course to check it out, and although the Church is Anglican, they have made a Roman Catholic version. They don't care about the name above the door as much as they do introducing people to Jesus.

The alpha course is a very basic introduction to Christianity. It is simple stuff. It is theology that could be understood by a 5th grader.

Johnnie told me of a woman who attended the small group that he was leading. She told them the first night that she didn't even believe if there was a God, she was at best, an agnostic and maybe even an atheist.

After the course of was over, she decided to take it again. At the end of it, she told Johnnie that she still wasn't going to be a Christian. He asked why she kept attending and she answered: “I love the community, the way I feel a part of something.”

A few weeks later, the church was doing an outreach in a poorer neighborhood. It was sort of like us collecting school supplies, except they were passing out free school supplies in this neighborhood in the name of Jesus as a ministry of their church.

A couple of people started an argument with them about Christianity. And the woman started defending Christianity. She started telling them things that she not only learned, but apparently believed from her instruction in the alpha course.

After the people left, Johnnie, with a wink in his eye said to her: “I thought you weren't a Christian.” To which she replied, with her own look of wonder, “I guess I am a Christian.”

That is the point. Believers were patient with her, loving and accepting and eventually, the yeast, through their community transformed this woman.

Growth, renewal and change, the rising of the loaf happens on an individual level.

Since Jesus has came into your lives, He has made a difference in you.

There is no hiding that change. It gives you hope, it gives you peace in the midst of trials, it gives you comfort in the midst of pain, it gives you grace in the midst of failure and it gives you the character to admit your need for God and each other.

And that is how God wants the Church to grow.

CONCL:

Precious Babes

Text: Matthew 13:24-30, 36-42

Focus: Protecting the Babes in Christ

Function: a discussion about holiness

Form: GOK

Intro:

Here is an age old saying for which if I had 50 dollars for every time I heard it, I might be able to retire very early.

Actually, I exaggerate, but the saying is one preachers hear often, and most parishioners, especially those who are inviting people to join this family of God, hear often enough as well.

You have probably guessed it by now: “I would go to church if it weren't for all those hypocrites in there.”

And, I confess I have been guilty of preaching “You gotta be a better witness for Christ, or people will see you, disbelieve and end up lost for eternity, and it might be your fault” or “be better Christians, make your walk equal your talk.” Or “If people were more friendly, more people would come to church.”

Don't worry, I am not going to spend the next fifteen to twenty minutes making you feel guilty, or less because you are still not yet perfect.

But this passage is about false Christians, or Christians who don't live up to the standard Jesus set, and the way they are treated by the rest of the Church.

How do we treat people who do gross sins? How do we treat people who just don't get it? How do we treat people who try as hard as they might, they just never quite get over their addiction, their struggle, their greed, their unforgiveness, their jealousy, their gossiping, their lack of self-control and etc?

Are we to kick them out?

This parable is directed to the Church and Jesus, through a story, is helping us understand what His priorities are.

The parable is about God sowing His own field and the Devil coming into his field and creating all kinds of problems for the health of the plants, the productiveness and success of the crops by spreading weed seeds among the wheat seeds.

It must be a pretty cruel enemy who would take the time, at no profit to himself, to work hard to create problems for someone else.

And the fact is, there are weeds among us. There are preachers on TV who make millions of dollars feeding on the fears of Christians, or who mix the good news of God's kingdom that covers the entire earth with a national political message that confuses financial and political interests with the redemption of the world.

In the 80's, It seemed that Churches were faced with scandal after scandal as preachers claimed to be pure and holy and righteous and then committed terrible acts against God, their wives and their parishioners in the bedroom.

It happened in local churches as well. I remember a friend of mine in the youth group whose father confessed to extorting money from the church we attended. I remember all the nasty things said about both him and my friend.

We understand that this is a place where we need to aspire to higher standards of conduct.

And it is tricky. I remember my grandmother's story about inspiring other people. In the 1930's my grandmother used quiet and gentle words of wisdom as she approached the ladies gossip circle at her church, at the holiness church, that she attended.

A woman from a rough background came to Christ. She had been a flapper. For those who don't know, it referred to a certain style of dress in the 20's that was provocative. She was used to wearing bright red open toed sandals with bright red lipstick.

In a holiness church, everyone needs to dress plainly, not attracting any attention to oneself. It was a rule, but sort of unwritten. Every woman was to wear a black mid-healed boot that laced up all the way past the ankles for modesty's sake, and all the women began to gossip about her lack of modesty, my grandmother said: “Let the Holy Spirit be the one to change her heart, the more you talk, the more she will resist.”

Can you imagine that?

Ladies gossiping about the color of someone's shoes?

Jesus gave us the parable of the wheat and the weeds.

My grandmother was concerned for the welfare of this woman, not the way it made the rest of the women feel.

She was that tender stalk of wheat and over zealousness can damage that stalk of wheat.

Jesus is saying, if you go around pulling all the weeds that are in the rows, you are going to damage the wheat, especially the tender shoots that are just now growing.

Wait till the harvest to separate the wheat from the weeds.

Let God be the judge.

Because God loves everyone, and Jesus would not be calling some people wheat, and some people weeds, many think the weeds are the individual sins that creep into the lives of every single one of us. And the way others criticize us.

Brother Paul said: “Who are we to judge another believer's faith? God is the one who makes people stand before Him, not us. And they will stand because God is able.” Romans 14:4

Jesus isn't saying that weeds don't cause a problem.

The weeds choke out the life and vitality of the wheat, they steal its resources, get in the way of its sunlight, absorb the water that is to fall on them and take nutrients from the soil.

Sin keeps us off track. One of the actual, literal meanings behind the word sin is “to miss the mark.”

Those of you who garden know just how much easier it would be if there was no such thing as weeds.

For some, the task of pulling weeds takes away any desire they might have for planting a garden.

It isn't easy. It causes problems. It gets in the way of everything and we would be much more successful if we didn't have any weeds.

But Jesus said: Leave them alone if stopping them damages the plant.

Jesus isn't saying that the weeds are okay. He isn't saying that the weeds are just as important to Him as the wheat. He isn't saying that it is okay to be a weed, instead of a wheat because they are all God's creatures.

Nope, weeds are a part of the curse.

They stink, sometimes they burn, they cut the gardener and sometimes they actually kill the crops.

And that first phrase that I mentioned “I would be in church if those Christians were more... ...and you can fill in the blank” is a true statement because sometimes it is the weeds that do terrible damage to one of the tender plants.

But this story tells us this: God is more concerned about the tender plant surviving than He is for us doing the job of pulling the weeds and deciding just who is in and who is out.

How do people who are seeking God perceive us? Do they see us as merely weed pullers who point out faults? Or do they see us as the ones who are tenderly caring for the plants?

Does this parable break down in the mind of every gardener in this room because you take a noble pride and pleasure in how diligent you are to your own garden and you would be embarrassed to show a garden full of weeds?

No, it doesn't break down. The gardener is concerned with one thing: the health and vitality of the crop.

And Jesus is concerned with one thing, the health and vitality of every person who comes to Him, especially the young and fragile.

I told you the story in 2008 when I first came here about Cat, the waitress at the diner, but let me remind you.

It was the day after the movie: “The Passion of the Christ” opened. I went to a preview screening given to local clergy at the downtown cinema in the small town where I was a pastor. I was overcome by what Jesus did for me. And the next morning, at the local diner, I was telling the story to Ruth, a waitress who professed a very strong Christian faith.

Cat, a young, almost skinny, but hard looking blond woman also served at the restaurant. There was something about her that let you know she was not to be trifled with, that although her name was Katherine, if you offended her, you were going to feel the pain of razor sharp claws when she was done with you.

She heard us talking and starting inching closer to us to listen, but she kept acting like she wasn't interested.

At this point, in the conversation with Ruth, I was weeping because the emotional impact of the movie was still overwhelming me. To Cat, I was no longer a threat, and she had some very serious questions for God.

From a distance, she asked: “are you a preacher?” to which I said “yes.”

After a few minutes, she got a little closer and she informed me that her uncle was a preacher. I said: “that is good.”

A few minutes later, coming even closer she said: “My grandfather was a preacher.”

I decided to resort to a little humor and I said: “Does it run in the family? Are you going to be a preacher?”

She laughed nervously, but a few moments later she came and stood directly in front of me at the counter and this time she was doing just a little bit more than weeping and she said: “I was 16 and involved in my church's youth group when I got pregnant. They threw me out of the church because they didn't want that kind of girl there.”

And then, her eyes just got hard and you could see the years of bitterness that had built up inside of her.

My heart ached for her, but I was flabbergasted.

How would you answer?

Can I condemn the leaders of her uncle's Church? Her uncle? Can I tell her she got what she deserved for not waiting? Of course not.

The Holy Spirit was filling me up inside with compassion for her. I was already in an emotional state as I was contemplating the movie. I remember feeling an incredible compassion for the pain. It was like I could see all the reasons behind all the hardness that she displayed every day in that diner.

And with words that come from God, not me, I simply said to her: “Cat, on behalf of God, the Church and all preachers, I sincerely apologize and ask for your forgiveness from us, for what they did to you.”

Here I am. In front of a woman who has in one way confessed her own sin to me, but I was the one confessing and asking forgiveness.

Listen, the words of Jesus in this passage mean a lot.

NEVER DAMAGE THE CROP WHILE TAKING UP THE WEEDS.

There are those fear mongers I mentioned earlier who preach that if we don't take a stand against (and you can name the sin) then we aren't being faithful witnesses.

And there is some place where we are called to have standards. My morning devotions I read 1 Corinthians 5 about a man who was living with his stepmother and the church was bragging about the freedom they had in Christ. And Paul tells them, listen, you got to have some standards! Grace is not a license to acts that even unbelievers consider wicked. You missed the point. And then Paul goes on to tell them, not in their best interest, but in the best interest of the man, to pull that particular weed so that the man would either see the error of his ways and repent, or he would be outside of the prayer protection of the community of believers and perhaps he would die before his sinning went so far as to cut him off from grace completely and for eternity.

But that Church that was entrusted with the care for Katherine, Cat for short seemed to have missed the point. I can picture the conversation in that church when their leadership decided to kick this young woman out of the church (Of course, they may not have kicked her out, she may have misread a noble and caring attempt to held help her). But I can imagine that conversation.

They missed that Jesus loved Cat and all the people who would be affected by their discipline of her.

One other time, I took a job in sales, in between pastoral placement. The youth group had an effective outreach and this young woman, who claimed to be into witchcraft, started attending. At that time, our own children were way to young for the youth group. But several parents refused to let their children come to church because the church was reaching out to this young woman, and they were more afraid of her negative influence on the kids.

Jesus would not have us afraid. Instead, He would have us living by faith that the gospel will and can transform her, even weeds.

Listen.

The angels do the weeding of the garden, at the end of the age, not us.

It is a false notion that we have to prove to God that we are truly His by the way we condemn the actions of others.

The truth is, we prove we are his by providing water, nurture and care for the young plants. And don't ever take the risk of hurting one of God's new creations.

In God's plan, the weeds get the same soil, they get the same chance, they get the same rain and they get the same sun.

Do not be so set on “standards” that we damage the root in the process of weeding the garden.

And if this passage is indeed about individual actions of believers instead of individual people, who knows, maybe God will save and change them.

God's Word: It is a Mystery

Text: Matthew 13:10-17
Focus: The Bible
Function:  To help people to understand the importance of scripture.
Form: 

Intro: 

Last week, a neighbor friend of mine said this to me: “well, my husband is one of those baptists and they believe the bible...”

I was taken back, a little. It almost sounded as if she spoke from prejudice against God's Word.

God's word has been continually mis-spoken and mis-represented through the ages.

God's word has at times, been used to bash people over the head, or to gain some sort of power of people.

But that isn't the intent of it.

God gave us His word in order to draw us to Him, back into His family.

And I suppose the reason it gets misused is because there are many times that it is a mystery.
My theology professor used to say: “the Bible is given by God for every on to understand God, even 1st graders, but it isn't a 1st grade primer.”

Last weed we saw that God's Word confronts the status quo, today we will see how God's Word is designed to be a mystery.

Again, Jesus answers a question in this passage.

The disciples are wondering if Jesus is merely speaking to them in riddles, or why He just doesn't tell them more plainly, in lectures, as if Jesus were a college professor.

There are only two recorded sermons by Jesus in the entire accounts from the gospels. And both of them were delivered to the crown while they were on a mountainside.

There is the classic “Sermon on the Mount” in Luke 6 and Matthew 5-7, at the beginning of Jesus' 3 year ministry, and then there is the sermon given from the Mount of Olives in Matthew 24 near the end of Jesus' 3 year ministry.

Now we know that Jesus did lots and lots of teaching, but just like most Rabbi's, He wasn't into giving lectures, His desire was to make people understand by thinking about what He was saying and finding ways to apply it to their own lives.

So, He uses parables, illustrative stories designed to make a person think out the truth for themselves.

Now, we have all had teachers who are more effective than others. Some teachers give that lecture, teaching out of one learning style and it is up to the student to adapt. If the student doesn't, or can't adapt, the teacher can console themselves with the fact that they did their job and it was the student's fault. It might be right because ultimately, success is in the hand of the student.

Or, the teacher can say to themselves, “my job is to get the lesson across in a way that the student can understand, whether or not it is my style.

And Jesus understands that in the narrative, the story, people can identify with a story, place themselves in the story and learn the lesson in a meaningful way.

There is a lot of wisdom in teaching that way. If people are willing to listen with a positive attitude and they trust you, it can be very effective because the truths they learn are truths that they have decided to own for themselves.

But if they do not trust you, and are not willing to listen with a positive attitude, then the stories and lessons can be used against the teacher.

So Jesus answers their questions about why He speaks to them with parables, illustrative stories that make one think.

And it isn't just because people can relate better to stories. There is an additional reason:

God is willing to let them have a hard heart. (Place hard heart on Marisha)

To us, the parables are a blessing  Jesus says: ”to you has been given the mystery...” to those who want to hear.

Those who have, will get more. The wisdom from God's word just keeps on growing.

But to others, it is a source of frustration because those who cannot understand will become even more dull of understanding.

So, the parables themselves are a mechanism to fulfill this principle.

It isn't that God wants to take away anybody's ability to see His truth in them for God is not willing that anyone should perish...

But God is willing for people who choose to reject Him to flee away.

Here is the thing: God stands against the  arrogance of the proud.

For those who claim to be wise, but are not willing to follow the loving, self-sacrificing, giving on behalf of others, caring for the least of these lifestyle that Jesus was teaching and all the while claiming to be Godly because they claimed to understand the mysteries of God, God is willing to let them perish.

People have eyes, but refuse to see. (Place blindfold on XXXX)

People have ears, but refuse to hear. (Place earmuffs on XXXX)

They cannot understand and the problem is a root problem, must worse than blindfolds, much worse than ear muffs.

The problem is here, at the heart. The heart is hard, the heart is dull, the heart is made of wood.

The key is in having an open heart.

We are using younger people to illustrate this today.

Jesus said, unless we can humble ourselves and become like children, we can never see the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:3).

Is Jesus saying that we become innocent, gullible, or ignorant?

Does believing in Jesus, trusting Him and His word mean that we suspend logic?

Not at all! The key is humility.

The key, is right here, in the heart.

Having a soft, or an open heart. (Give Marisha the pillow heart)

This is what humility and trust does for us. This is what the Holy Spirit does inside a person. The bible, in Ezekiel 36 tells us that the Holy Spirit transforms a heart of stone into an heart of flesh, a soft heart.

I know. I was the original skeptic. I saw things happen in church when I was young that made me really question the reality of it all.

We are saved, and supposedly transformed, but my daddy used to say to me when I was a young pastor: “Phil, just because you are working with Christian people, it doesn't always mean you will be working with Christian attitudes.”

Before that, I had rejected my faith. And then I saw the very real and providential hand of God in my life. You know the story, I was managing a restaurant when it was robbed, I was beaten almost to death and then God miraculously saved my life. I could not deny the reality of faith.

But I was a skeptic. And I remember that first Church I attended. I questioned everything. And finally one day God spoke to my heart and said to me: “Trust me.” Read my Bible for the treasure that it is.” Let me show myself to you.
And then, the Bible came alive to me.

(GIVE binoculars to XXX and ear trumpet to XXX) Play with them and see how much better they hear and see.

When that heart is changed, then all of a sudden the stoppers come off the ears and instead of just normal hearing, it is like it gets amplified. Jesus said, the one who has, will be given more.

And the eyes, the blinders will come off and with the Holy Spirit's help we can see even more clearly.

The key right here is right here, in the heart.

The disciples were also concerned that Jesus used parables. They knew He had enemies who were just waiting to twist His words into alternative meanings.

And Jesus was giving them ammunition to do that.

When Jesus was at trial, one of the charges was that Jesus was going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in 3 days. That temple that Herod built to 70 years to finish. It was much more glorious than the one Solomon built.

It was an incredible monument and to destroy the temple was to act against God Himself.

But Jesus, when He spoke was using a metaphor. The Temple he was referring to was His body and they used those words to condemns Him.

So, the disciples were wondering why Jesus provocative stories, that were misused by His enemies were still being told. They were thinking if only Jesus could speak very precisely, He would never get into trouble with His words.

But the scripture says that God will let someone take it wrong if they want to.

The key, again is right here in the heart.

Having a heart that wants to hear, wants to see, wants to care and wants to serve God.

It starts at conversion. Trusting Jesus to save us. Making the choice to enter back into God's family and then becoming people who get to enjoy that treasure.

CONCL:

10And the disciples came and said to Him, "Why do You speak to them in parables?" 11And He answered and said to them, "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. 12"For whoever has, to him shall more be given, and he shall have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. 13 "Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.  14"And in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, 'You will keep on hearing, but will not understand; And you will keep on seeing, but will not perceive; 15For the heart of this people has become dull, And with their ears they scarcely hear, And they have closed their eyes Lest they should see with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart and return, And I should heal them.' 16"But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. 17"For truly I say to you, that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it; and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

God's Word: It confonts the Status Quo

Text: Matthew 11:1-19

Focus: Doing God's Word.

Function: To get people thinking about what Jesus actually said.

Form: GOK

Intro:

Jesus clears up some confusion in this passage.

At this point, Jesus' cousin, John, has already baptized Him. John, the one Jesus is speaking about has seen the Holy Spirit fall on Jesus, and he saw it as a dove falling on Jesus. At the same time, He heard this great sound from Heaven, God the Father telling John, and the crowd around Jesus to listen to Jesus. Before that, when John laid his eyes on Jesus, he told his disciples that Jesus was “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Apparently, as a prophet, God showed him this. And before that, both his mother and his Aunt, Mary the mother of Jesus, have told him about Jesus' miraculous birth.

And here it is, a year or two later and John sends the people who follow him to ask Jesus if Jesus is really the Messiah. Why?

Now John has seen this miracle, heard from heaven, and apparently he already knew who Jesus was. So why is he asking Jesus if Jesus is the Messiah?

Because Jesus didn't fit the bill. People didn't really want to listen to Jesus.

Wouldn't it be easier if God just did what WE wanted? If God just listened to us? If God just agreed with everything we say, or do?

What if God was just a sort of magic “yes man” who always took our cause over everyone else's?

Of course, how could God do that?

If two teams had preachers who prayed for their victory before a sporting event, which team's prayer does God answer?

How can God choose between two people, two thousand people, two million people and the list goes on?

But God isn't one of us. God has plans and purposes that are much higher than ours.

John shouldn't have questioned. In this passage, Jesus says that until now, John is the best man ever. Ever. And even this man, John, still had human expectations out of Jesus.

But, in this passage, John isn't the worse. There are others who are completely ignoring both Jesus and John.

Jesus is chiding John for not getting His message yet, but He is very critical of those who rejected both Jesus and John.

He makes His point by saying that people listen with selective hearing. People make up excuses to not listen to God's Word as it is taught.

He illustrates it with the difference between Him and John.

This John, by the way, is John the Baptist. John the Baptist lived a very Spartan lifestyle. He was a vegetarian, he lived in a cave in the desert, he dressed in clothes made from animal skins, and he never drank anything alcoholic.

Jesus points out that they ridiculed him for his simple lifestyle, even accused him of being crazy or demon possessed.

And then Jesus comes along, with a different lifestyle, a “friend of sinners,” a man who ate and drank with them and they accuse Jesus of being a drunkard and a glutton.

They didn't want to listen to either, so Jesus calls them out.

So, we have two things here. The prophet, the good man, the godly man, the man that we want to be considered like, the believer, but he still doesn't get Jesus' radical message.

That is one end, on the other are those who refuse to listen to the Word of God no matter how it is presented. If it comes from someone who acts completely religious, John the Baptist, or someone who is more laid back about those rules of eating and drinking, Jesus.

There are two verses that get to heart of this story. Verse 6: “Blessed are those who take no offense in me”

And verse 15: Whoever has ears, let him hear.

The verse “don't be offended at me” is directed to the faithful, the people who want to obey God, the people who are humble and willing to be changed, people who believe.

The verse: Whoever has ears, let them hear is directed at both the faithful and the people who claim to hear, but find ways to refuse the lesson.

The NT talks about those kinds of people in a little more depth in 2 Timothy. These are instructions to people, the likes of me, preachers who have the responsibility to proclaim God's truth to their congregations. Listen to these words, 2 Timothy 4:1-4: ¹I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: ²preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. ³For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, ⁴and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.

Ear ticklers. I don't know what is worse. The people who hire ear ticklers, or the preachers who are willing to compromise God's word for what is convenient, preaching only what people want to hear, not what God is telling them for the day and time.

Jesus refers to this idea in this story about John. People claim to listen, but they don't really hear. They do not want to hear.

How many have heard this passage talked about in the last 20 years? I have heard many takes on this concept. “There are too many ear ticklers out there...” Ear ticklers are preachers who condone sin, who say “anything goes.” They don't have the courage to stand up to a man when he is sinning and tell them he is wrong.

I had a preacher who prided himself in how strict he was in all the rules. He made sure we knew that if we were members of his Church, we were the ones who were the most willing to be faithful to God's word -because he preached what he called “a hard word.”

The Church was almost a cult. He preached against everything, divorce, homosexuality, Democrats, abortion, women wearing makeup, believers wearing jewelry, watching television, rock and roll music, Country music, long hair, women wearing pants, birth control and even Walt Disney because there were monsters and monsters must be from the Devil.

I am not making this up. We loved Jesus and had a good time studying the Bible, singing in nursing homes and praising the Lord. We felt good belonging there. But then one day, one of the men in the Church came up to me upset pointing out that God was going to be angry with us because he found a cookie monster book in the nursery and if we permitted it to be there, we were not taking a strong enough stand against sin, and God was going to be angry with us and etc.

And remember, John the Baptist abstained from almost everything that was called secular. So, this man thought he was doing good.

When that guy was so offended against this, I began to think to myself if this is what God intended the church to be about. Did God want us pointing out all the faults of others as if we were somehow better, more faithful people?

You remember when the Twin Towers fell, too many preachers said it was God's judgement on America because we allowed the Homosexual agenda, or abortion, or welfare or undocumented aliens to come into the US.

But, did God judge us because we were having our ears tickled?

There are a lot of people who say: by not taking a stand against sin, we are allowing it and if we allow sin in any form, we are on a slippery slope to destruction.

They point to the fact that Churches are in decline. There are a lot of reasons for that. Many people say that they are in decline because the are too soft on sin and God isn't blessing them.

They take this passage about ear ticklers and use it to prove that we are in decline and it is certainly the end times.

Don't say amen too quickly. Many people will say: “it is hard to fault that logic.” “The ear ticklers are ruining the Church and this nation.”

And others may be saying: “That doesn't sound like the Pastor Phil that I know. He isn't soft on sin, he has proven that by his actions. But his trial sermon was about shining a light to the gospel, not merely proving ourselves by taking a stand against something. Pastor always preaches: Take a stand FOR the good news, not take a stand AGAINST sinners.”

Let me read for you James 1:27. “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”

People who say that we are guilty of ear tickling look at the end of that verse and say: “Too many preachers don't preach enough about the sin of being stained by the world.”

Again, they say things like: “The Homosexual agenda or the liberal agenda is destroying us.”

But look again at the verse: “pure religion...” is two fold “...moral purity...” mentioned second and “taking care of others...” mentioned first.

This week, or own denomination is facing the possibility of a split over how we apply moral purity.

I was talking about that this week with a couple of friends of mine. One of them, a very smart fellow who is watching the Churches in the way they practice love, said this: “We tend to substitute moral outrage for social justice since the latter is hard and the former all too easy.” (REPEAT)

You see, keeping oneself “pure” is a lot easier doing justice.

For example, last week, Kathy and I were in the middle of a painting project in our home. We have a neighbor who has fallen on times much harder than ours. He loves God, but his wife has been struggling to get into her career field as a teacher. The man is a hard worker, but with this rough economy, they can barely keep above water.

Right in the middle of our painting project, he called me up because one of their cars is not running at all, and the second car had a major problem with it, could I help?

I wanted to tell him how much difficulty I was in myself. It wasn't convenient for me to drop everything and help him out.

But, moral outrage is easier than caring for others.

I was reminded that serving God isn't about service in our convenience. So, while he was working, his wife brought the car over and in the middle of the painting project, Kathy and mom got blessed by getting to know a whole new person, a sister in the Lord.

But again, it is easier to substitute moral outrage than do justice. We have been lead to believe that Moral outrage makes us look like we are truly Christian. But if at the end of the day, if we have not given ourselves on behalf of others in the service of Christ, it really makes no difference.

Listen, I am not promoting sinful lifestyle here.

But I gotta tell you. I have been wondering if this problem of ear tickling hasn't crept in the other way. If it hasn't crept in through the back door.

Listen. Moral purity is no good if our faith does not lead us into service of the poor. He first mentions taking care of widows and orphans in their distress.

Here is the problem, in our national debates: Christians have been taking a stand for righteousness, and ignoring justice.

Ear ticklers can say to people “as long as you pray the sinners prayer, you are getting to heaven and Matthew 25, where Jesus condemns people to hell because they refused to clothe the naked, feed the poor, visit the prisoners and etc. doesn't count anymore” are doing a great disservice to Christianity.

Listen, they cannot be separated!

It is another form of ear tickling to say “as long as you take up moral outrage against impure actions, you are a Christian.”

Jesus said, at the end of the age the angels will send people who do not do these deeds straight to hell.

There is no religious creed, prayer of faith that will deliver people if they have not lived a life that cares for others.

How many times have you heard people say something about a preacher: “well, he doesn't seem to take a strong stand against sin. He speaks to much about caring for the poor. He seems to be telling people just what they want to hear.”

Listen, it is easier to get people into moral outrage about the sins of others than it is to get people caring as much for the least of these.

And remember, from our passage, even John the Baptist was confused when Jesus message confronted the Status Quo. Even though he saw the Holy Spirit fill Jesus, he heard the voice from heaven, he heard the story of how Jesus was born, this message of Jesus was not what he was expecting.

Let us take our cues from the actual teachings of Jesus, as hard as they may be.

Jesus said: Take up your cross and follow me.

I was trying to influence some of my fellow colleagues this way last week when one of them implied that he someone had labeled him as a gay basher. He consoled himself in the way he said he was being persecuted for expressing his moral outrage.

And I wonder, what cross is harder to bear? People would rather hear “the problem with the world, the church, this family, this city, this nation, or whatever is all those sinners out there flaunting God's laws.”

They would rather hear that over “we are the solution to the world's problems. If we take up the cause of Christ. If we get our hands dirty with plight of others. If we take the time to be inconvenienced by the suffering around us, then God we will be shining a light instead of cursing the darkness.”

Listen, God has invited us into His family. He has invited us through Christ Jesus. It may not be easy, but it is wonderful. I invite you to come as well.