SERMON - JESUS SPEAKS (part 4)

 SELECTIONS CONCERNING JESUS—THE HUMBLE SERVANT OF MAN

"I must be about my Father’s business… I must preach the Kingdom of God, for therefore am I sent… 

God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power: Who went about doing good and healing… 

Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men… Why call Me good? There is none good but One, that is, God…

Rejoice and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven… You are the light of the world... Love your enemies… I will come and heal him… the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head…

Daughter, be of good comfort… Son, be of good cheer; your sins be forgiven you… I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life…

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness… Peace I leave with you… love ye one another, as I have loved you… Neither do I condemn you… He departed again into a mountain Himself alone, to pray… 

Be not afraid only believe… You are My friends… You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself…

For the Father Himself loves you… In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit… I have spoken openly to the world… 

Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved… I have compassion on the multitude… Jesus wept…

Let the little children come to me… Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest…

With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you… he poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel… 

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings… And when they [and Jesus] had sung an hymn…

Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from Me: nevertheless not My will, but Thine, be done… 

And being in agony He prayed more earnestly: and His sweat was as if were great drops of blood falling down to the ground… 

Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do… 

IT IS FINISHED… they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread, Jesus said to them, COME AND DINE" 

(Excerpts from the Gospels).

Jesus identified with our humanity when He said: "Simon, Simon… Martha, Martha…

" Jesus was profoundly human. He was after all, the humble servant as the Son of man. But He was also the wise and powerful Son of God. Jesus spoke gently with the meek, but His speech EXPLODED with the wicked.

It is only when Jesus confronts the religious leaders that His tone of voice and choice of words changes dramatically from how he spoke to the people in general. Jesus came to expose evil and hypocrisy like no one had ever done before. His voice was the "voice of a trumpet." God told Isaiah to:

"Cry ALOUD, SPARE NOT, lift up your voice like a TRUMPET, and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins" (Isa. 58:1).

Likewise, as a servant of God I cannot expose the evil and hypocrisy in the Church and in this world with a song in my heart, a smile on my face, and a chuckle in my voice! 

Sorry, but that won’t get the job done. I laugh considerably more than almost anyone I know. But try to palm off the evil and vile doctrines of the Church to God’s "little ones," and my countenance changes instantly!

There is a time for humor and there is a time to get serious. Sarcasm can be serious business. Well did Isaiah prophesy of such:

"Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us SMOOTH things, prophesy DECEITS" (Isa. 30:10).

I would rather sound a little angry or sarcastic than to teach smooth and deceitful things. Even Isaiah used colorful language, "speak unto us smooth things." Could this be the origin of "smooth talkers?"

I'm not sure why it is automatically assumed that if one sounds angry there is something wrong with his message. When speaking of immoral and evil things that hurt and deceive people, it behooves us to be ANGRY about such things. 

Anger does not have to be a sin. God’s anger is mentioned a couple of hundreds times in Scripture. Many of the teachings of the Church are not only evil, but they are stupid and foolish. Sarcasm is often the perfect exposer of stupidity.

SARCASM—OLD AND NEW

I have two favorite Scriptural sarcasms which I find to be sheer genius. One in the Old Testament, and one in the New. The first is from I Kings 18:21-39. Elijah told the people that they should choose two bullocks and place them on two altars of wood. He then said:

"And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord: and the God that answers by fire, let him be God"

They all agreed, and so the priests of Baal went first:

"And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O BAAL, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they LEAPED upon the altar which was made.

And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is on a journey, or peradventure he sleeps, and must be wakened.

I think we should read this verse from The Living Bible:

"About noontime, Elijah began mocking them. ‘You’ll have to shout louder than that,’ he scoffed, ‘to catch the attention of your god! Perhaps he is talking to someone, or is out sitting on the toilet, or maybe he is away on a trip, or is asleep and needs to be wakened.’"

And the priests of Baal, being as stupid as stupid can be, obeyed Elijah’s mocking sarcasm:

"And they CRIED ALOUD… there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded."

Remember that God Himself inspired Elijah to mock the priests of Baal with these jeering and demeaning epithets. He went so far as to suggest that maybe their god was "sitting on the toilet" or so exhausted he "fell asleep." And they were too stupid to even know that Elijah was making public spectacles and fools out of them. But Christians assure me that God doesn’t mock. Excuse me, but I did find this scenario IN THE BIBLE! And let’s not forget this:

"ALL Scripture is given by inspiration OF GOD [as in: ‘Elijah began mocking them… perhaps he {the god of Baal}… is out SITTING ON THE TOILET], and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness" (II Tim. 3:16).

This is not just Elijah taunting the priests of Baal; this is GOD HIMSELF telling Elijah under inspiration: Tell the priests of Ball that "…perhaps your god is out SITTING ON THE TOILET." God in heaven Himself inspired Elijah to speak that delightful phrase to these pagan priests. What a remarkable insight into the personality of God Almighty.

And ALL these events were preserved for us:

"Now ALL these things happened unto them for examples: and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come" (I Cor. 10:11).

(Closing prayer)

Abba, We come to You as there is no other god save You. You are our hope and only You can see what is in our hearts and in our minds. It is with love and devotion that we say You are our God and There is no other.

Father we ask that You preserve our thoughts of You and keep us in Your love.

Lord, We read the words of this sermon knowing that You are above all things and You are our provider. For this we say thank You for caring.

We say this prayer in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, Who is One with You and the eHoly Spirit, One God forever and ever...

Amen, amen and amen...

--

Pastor Lee S Gliddon Jr
God's Word Christian Ministry
Conservative Patriot http://conpats.blogspot.com