INTRO.- ILL.- During the 1964 Presidential campaign an elderly woman was said to have told a reporter that she intended to vote against Senator Barry Goldwater because “he’s the guy who’s going to get rid of TV.”
“But, madam,” said the reporter, “I think you’re making a mistake. Senator Goldwater is talking about getting rid of Tennessee Valley Authority, TVA.” “Well,” persisted the woman, “I’m not taking any chances!”
Many people don’t care for politicians. And if that woman didn’t like Goldwater back in the 60’s I’m sure she’d find plenty to dislike about politicians today!
ILL.- Will Rogers had plenty to say about the high and mighty politicians of his day.
Congress is so strange. A man gets up to speak and says nothing, nobody listens and then everybody disagrees.
Never blame a legislative body for not doing something. When they do nothing, they don’t hurt anybody. When they do something is when they become dangerous.
It looks to me like any man that wants to be President in times like these lacks something.
They’ve already started arguing over who will be the speaker at next year’s conventions. What they better worry about is who is going to listen.
Be thankful we’re not getting all the government we’re paying for.
Our constitution protects aliens, drunks and U.S. Senators.
There’s no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you.
I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.
About all I can say for the United States Senate is that it opens with a prayer and closes with an investigation.
There should be a moratorium called on candidates’ speeches. From now on, they are just talking themselves out of votes.
The promising season ends on Election Day. That same night, the alibi season begins and lasts for the next four years.
Our government is the only people that just love to spend money without being compelled to, at all. But the government is the only people that don’t have to worry where it is coming from.
Last year we said: "Things can’t go on like this!" And they didn’t -- they got worse.
Lord, the money we do spend on government, and it’s not a bit better than the government that we got for one-third the money 20 years ago.
When it comes to a showdown, Washington must never forget who rules -- the people.
Brothers and sisters, there are definitely many people in politics who consider themselves to be high and mighty. They are also found in other places as well, such as Hollywood. And I’m not sure, however, that many people in Hollywood are any smarter or better than the politicians in Washington.
PROP.- Our text is about old King Herod, who, no doubt, considered himself to be high and mighty. Consider these thoughts about the high and mighty of all ages: 1- They throw their weight around 2- They portray themselves as great 3- They seek the praise of men 4- BUT...They are no match for God
I. THEY THROW THEIR WEIGHT AROUND
ILL.- A farmer got pulled over by state trooper Jon for speeding, and the trooper started to lecture the farmer about his speed, and in general began to throw his weight around to try to make the farmer uncomfortable. Finally, trooper Jon got around to writing out the ticket, and as he was doing that he kept swatting at some flies that were buzzing around his head. The farmer said, “Having some problems with circle flies there, are ya?”
Trooper Jon stopped writing the ticket and said, “Well yeah, if that’s what they are—I never heard of circle flies.”
So the farmer said, “Well, circle flies are common on farms. See, they’re called circle flies because they’re almost always found, circling around the back end of a horse.”
The trooper said, “Oh,” and went back to writing the ticket. Then after a minute he stopped and said, “Hey, wait a minute, are you trying to call me a horse’s rear?”
“Oh no, officer. I have too much respect for law enforcement and police officers to even think about calling you a horse’s rear.”
Trooper Jon said, “Well, that’s a good thing,” and went back to writing the ticket. After a long pause, the farmer said, “But it’s hard to fool them flies though.”
Brothers and sisters, some people do like to throw their weight around with others. They might be a lawyer or an officer of the law. It might be a politician, Hollywood actor, a rich person, etc.
ILL.- The Prime minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi, is worth 12 billion dollars and is quoted as saying, "There is no one on the world stage who can compete with me."
He sounds like the kind of guy who would definitely throw his weight around. Often people of wealth think they know everything and have all the answers, so all people had better listen to them.
ILL.- I once had a church secretary whose father-in-law was worth $27 million dollars. I used to joke with her and say, "You’d better treat him nice and don’t forget who your preacher is." That man was something of a know-it-all. He not only thought he knew everything, he also liked to boss everyone around. He told her to clean her house, etc. He even had to gall to call me, her preacher, to tell me to go have a talk with her about some things! WHAT NERVE!
19After Herod had a thorough search made for him and did not find him, he cross-examined the guards and ordered that they be executed. Then Herod went from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there a while. 20He had been quarreling with the people of Tyre and Sidon; they now joined together and sought an audience with him.
Herod cross-examined the guards and ordered that they be executed. WOW! If that isn’t throwing your weight around, I don’t know what is!
Any time someone is in a position of authority and power it’s a temptation to order people around and sometimes even abuse them.
What about us? We may not have much authority but any misuse of authority or abuse of our power is wrong! Jesus came not to be served but to serve. What does that mean? It doesn’t sound like He abused anybody and He didn’t, except for the Pharisees who were abusers of others.
Phil. 2:3-4 "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others."
I Peter 5:5 "All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble."
If anything, we need to be humble toward one another, because there is something about everyone that is better than us!
However, if we’re always thinking that we are better than others and smarter then we may be hard on them and perhaps even be abusive in speech, etc. AND THAT’S WRONG!
Now what about having to deal with someone who throws their weight around? What do you do? Sometimes you just take it and go on. You pray that God will have mercy on them because they don’t know any better than to throw weight around. "Father, forgive them because they don’t know what they’re doing."
II. THEY PORTRAY THEMSELVES AS GREAT
ILL.- A fellow heard about an operation which would enable him to get a new brain. He went to the hospital where the surgery had been perfected and asked the doctors what was in stock. "Well," they said, "here is an excellent engineer’s brain--a finely honed, precise bit of gray matter. It will cost you $500 an ounce."
"What else?" the man wanted to know. "This," they told him, "Is a lawyer’s brain--a collection of shrewd, tricky little gray cells. It is $1000 an ounce." "Is that all you have?" "No," they said. "Here is a doctor’s brain, packed full of anatomical knowledge. It is $5000 an ounce."
"I don’t know," the fellow said. "Don’t you have anything else?"
The doctors looked at each other then motioned for the man to step over to a covered container. "This," they said in hushed tones, "is a legislator’s brain. It costs $250,000 an ounce."
"Wow!" exclaimed the fellow. "Why so expensive?" "In the first place," the doctors told him, "it is hardly used.
"In the second place, do you realize how many legislators you need to get an ounce of brains?"
Legislators would not appreciate this story! Some people in our world portray themselves as being great whether they are or not.
21On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people.
Some people put on the dog, so to speak, or put on a show and try to appear greater than they really are. But as some have said, "They put their pants on just like everybody, one leg at a time."
ILL.- In one “Peanuts” comic strip one of the female small fry came to Charlie Brown and said, “Yes sir, Charlie Brown, Abraham Lincoln was a great man. Charlie Brown, would you like to have been Abraham Lincoln?”
“Well, now, I don’t think so,” he replied slowly, “I am having a hard enough time being just plain old Charlie Brown....”
One Christian put it this way “When I die I will not be asked, ‘Why were you not like Peter or Paul or another great leader in the church?,’ I will be asked, ‘Why were you not yourself?’ ”
God does not expect to fill the shoes of someone else. He does, however, expect us to be the person he wants and not project ourselves as being something we’re not or someone we’re not.
Romans 12:3 "For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you."
III. THEY SEEK THE PRAISE OF MEN
21On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. 22They shouted, "This is the voice of a god, not of a man." 23Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God...
Have you heard preachers, while preaching, say "amen" or perhaps say, "Do I hear an amen?" What is that? Is that not priming the pump? Is that not patting yourself on the back? Is that not seeking the praise of men?
ILL.- Dr. Enest Mellor wrote: Recently my wife and I sat charmed at an outdoor performance by young Suzuki violin students. After the concert, an instructor spoke briefly on how children as young as two, three and four years old are taught to play violin. The first thing the children learn, he said, is a proper stance. And the second thing the children learn--even before they pick up the violin--is how to take a bow. "If the children just play the violin and stop, people may forget to show their appreciation," the instructor said. "But when the children bow, the audience invariably applauds. And applause is the best motivator we’ve found to make children feel good about performing and want to do it well."
Adults love applause too. And a certain amount of this is needed to give encouragement to others. Whenever someone does something good or something worthy of praise, then applaud them. Offer a compliment or kind word of encouragement.
ILL.- For example, Elaine said something recently about the fact that cleaning house gets old. AND IT DOES! It has to be done but it does get old. As soon as she said those words, I said, "Yes, but you sure do a very good job!." And she does! Elaine keeps a neat and clean house. I’m blessed but I need to bless her with applause, so to speak. I need to commend her, compliment her and spend money on her!!!
We all need to be givers of applause when people do well in life! But the other side of the coin is SEEKING after that applause.
Why do we do what we do? Is it for the applause of men? Or is it simply because we want to please God, do well in life, and give good service?
Col. 3:23 "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men."
Did you get that? AS WORKING FOR THE LORD. Everything we do in life is to be done for the Lord, not for men, and not for self. We’re here to bring honor and glory to Him!
ILL.- In a concert in Chicago, Harry Lauder, Scottish singer and songwriter, sang to an overflowing audience. At the conclusion, the audience stood and applauded loudly. After the applause subsided, the audience said in unison, “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” Showing splendid humility, Lauder replied, “Don’t thank me! Thank the good God who put the songs in my heart!”
That’s it. We should always give God the praise, the honor, the glory!
IV. BUT THEY ARE NO MATCH FOR GOD
ILL.- In Feb 1964 Muhammed Ali fought Sonny Liston in Miami Beach, FL and KO’d Sonny in the 7th round and won the World Heavyweight Title. In May 1965 Ali fought Sonny Liston again and KO’d him in the first round to keep his title. And Sonny Liston became world heavyweight champion in 1962 by knocking out Floyd Patterson in the first round. Liston was one considered to be one the most powerful punchers in the history of the heavyweight division. And yet, I would say that as good as Sonny Liston was he was no match for the great Muhammad Ali.
And man is no match for our all-powerful God! Not Muhammed Ali or any of the greatest boxers who ever lived! And not any of the famous or infamous world leaders. Not Vladimir Putin of Russia, not the former dictator of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, not Osama Bin Laden, not Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, and certainly not old King Herod!
I Cor. 1:25 "For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength."
Hot dog! We serve a God who is stronger than man! If God had a weakness He would still be stronger than any human person.
And if God ever had a bad day or a weak day, He’d still be so far beyond mankind there would be no comparison or competition.
21On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. 22They shouted, "This is the voice of a god, not of a man." 23Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died. 24But the word of God continued to increase and spread.
Isaiah 42:8 "I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols."
Warren Weirsbe said, "Instead of Peter being killed by Herod, it was Herod who was killed by Peter’s God! Herod contracted some affliction in his bowels and died five days later, according to the Jewish historian, Josephus."
This is another one of those old testament kind of events like Daniel who was saved from the lion’s in that den, and those three Hebrews boys who were thrown into the fiery furnace but were not consumed or burnt up. Or the people of Israel crossing the Red Sea. Or David who overcame the giant Goliath, etc.
Only in this case it was Herod, the evil one, who did not give God any glory and God killed him.
Herod was killed because he did not give God the glory for anything good in his life. Could this be a lesson for the high and mighty today? Could it be that no person attains any great position in life (political, financial or otherwise) without God’s help? And if so, then God deserves the glory, the praise, etc.
And if a person doesn’t give God His rightful praise could that person be destined for certain trouble? I’ll let you think on that and answer those questions.
And here’s a question for us. What if we don’t give God His rightful praise for all the good things that He gives to us?
CONCLUSION----------------------------
ILL.- “By the way,” remarked President Lincoln one day to Colonel Cannon, a close personal friend, “I can tell you a good story about my hair. When I was nominated at Chicago, an enterprising fellow thought that a great many people would like to see how ‘Abe’ Lincoln looked, and, I sat for a photograph. It was soon selling in all parts of the country.
“Soon after, I heard a (news) boy crying them for sale on the streets. ‘Here’s your likeness of “Abe” Lincoln!’ he shouted. ‘Buy one; price only two shillings! He will look a great deal better when he gets his hair combed!’ ”
No doubt, some politicians would look better with their hair combed, etc. However, we should not be so concerned about their looks as much as their hearts. And what would do them all a world of good would be to surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ.
No matter how and mighty any person becomes in this life, they still need the Lord Jesus Christ! And the same is true for us.
