Part 6 - Matthew 11:15-19 - Why Don’t You Dance To My Tune! Series

Part 6 - Matthew 11:15-19 - WHY DON’T YOU DANCE TO MY TUNE!

Rome, who is only 1 year old, picked up a plastic spade and began playing it, pretending it was a guitar. It has the right shape. Anything can become a guitar in his hands. He has seen guitars at Church and as he danced he made sounds like he was playing one of the upbeat worship songs. We danced and sang with him.

Two of my grandsons had come to our house. It was a great time. Super heroes, wrestling matches and Rachel, their Mum and my daughter, reading them stories.

Sometimes, of course, there can be tears and complaints when the brothers don’t co-operate or participate with their games and they can be very stubborn and insistent, but mostly we laughed and played the afternoon away.

Sometimes, when the game becomes too demanding, I revert to being an ADULT and Rachel says, "Zion, don’t bother Pa. He doesn’t want to play right now."

So when Jesus compares His generation with children playing games I am right there with Him. I know the joys and occasionally the hassles of children and their games. What I notice is that JESUS DOESN’T DANCE TO THE TUNE OF THE RELIGIOUS EXPECTATIONS AROUND HIM.

Jesus says, "To what can I compare this generation? It is like CHILDREN PLAYING A GAME .... They complain to their friends, ‘We played wedding songs, and YOU DIDN’T DANCE, so we played funeral songs, and you didn’t mourn.’ ... But wisdom is shown to be right by its results." (Matthew 11:16-19 NLT)

What is Jesus getting at here? In the whole context of the passage, if I was to translate it into our culture I think Jesus is saying something like this... "You want Me to dance to the music you are playing, but you don’t realise that it is WAY OUT OF TUNE. I am waiting for you to ASK ME TO PLAY the music of eternity that was written for you by God Himself. I am waiting for you to dance and sing and live in harmony with Me."

I was speaking with a man recently who had been in a near fatal car accident and he said that God didn’t seem to care about His injuries. I asked him if he blamed God and He said something to the effect of "Yes, GOD IS TO BLAME. Why didn’t He intervene when I had that car accident, or when my friend died of cancer? How could He let something like that happen?"

It’s kind of like this - "JESUS, I PLAYED MY OWN MUSIC. WHY DIDN’T YOU DANCE TO MY TUNE."

Some time ago I spoke to a man who intended to divorce his wife and marry another woman he had been seeing. When I pointed out what the Bible says about marriage and divorce he said, "I know what the Bible says but God wouldn’t want me to be unhappy!" What he’s saying is "Jesus, LET ME PLAY THE MUSIC and You dance to it." When Jesus doesn’t dance to the tune, we get ANGRY. "Why didn’t you save my relationship? Why did you let my friend die? Why do I have to pay the CONSEQUENCES of my own actions and my own sin?"

THERE’S SOMETHING WAY OUT OF TUNE WITH TELLING THE CREATOR WHAT TO DO WITH HIS WORLD. Maybe I need to dance to His tune instead.

There’s a hymn that we used to sing that I never really liked. I always thought it was a bit strange, but in this context it makes sense. It is a hymn where Jesus says "I am the LORD OF THE DANCE"... "I’ll lead YOU all in the dance..." and that was long before MICHAEL FLATLEY touched the floor with his Irish music and dance production.

WORSHIP on Sunday was awesome at Hillsong Church. Tears were running down my face as we sang and danced together. Jesus simply says, "I am the LORD OF THE DANCE. Trust Me to know how to play the music of eternity in your life. DANCE TO MY TUNE."

God bless you Church as you acknowledge Jesus as LORD OF THE DANCE, today.

Pastor Ross