“Middle-Man”
Text: Zephaniah 3:17
The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.
He will quiet you with his love, He will rejoice over you with singing.
I. Introduction
I despise the middle man! Don’t look at me like that you do too! We despise him because he causes the price to go up. So we look for deals straight from the factory. We will go to factory direct stores to bi-pass the middle-man. We want to save a few bucks so we order through the internet in an attempt to get around the middle-man.
Probably one of my least favorite activities of all time is to visit a car dealership. Have you ever tried to go find a car on your lunch hour? I did that one time. Told the middle man that I only had 1 hour and not to waste it. I looked at the cars and made my selection and after 1 ½ hours of looking and talking he dropped the bomb on me. “I will have to go and talk to my manager.” And of course the manager comes back with a figure that is so far from where I wanted to be that I had to get up and leave. I wanted to yell – why have I wasted an 1 ½ hours with you if you can’t get anything done. You should have just introduced me to the guy who makes the decisions in the first place and I could have been out of here in 10 minutes. Everyone tries to avoid the middle-man.
But maybe that’s the problem this morning! Maybe we have brought our disdain and our dislike of the middle-man into the house with us this morning and every Sunday morning. Maybe our avoidance of the middle-man becomes a blockade and an obstacle to freedom in our daily lives! What do I mean? Let me drop some Scripture on you today that will set up a challenge of your view of the middle-man!
II. Middle-Man Resume
A. Exodus 25:17-22
“And thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof. And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat. And make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end: even of the mercy seat shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends thereof. And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be. And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.”
God shows up in the middle of the cherubim.
B. Numbers 2:17
“Then the tabernacle of the congregation shall set forward with the camp of the Levites in the midst of the camp: as they encamp, so shall they set forward, every man in his place by their standards.”
Tent of meeting or tabernacle, the symbolic dwelling place of God, is to be erected in the middle of the camp.
C. Daniel 3:24-28 - “Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came forth of the midst of the fire. And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king's counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was a hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them. Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.”
King apparently disposes of 3 rebellious teens only to discover upon closer investigation 4 men walking in the middle of the fire.
D. Habakkuk 3:2
“O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O Lord, revive thy
work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.”
Where does God do His work of renewal? In the middle of the years.
E. Zephaniah 3:15
“Jehovah hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy:the King of Israel, even Jehovah, is in the midst of thee; thou shalt not fear evil any more.”
When God is in the middle your fear is driven away.
F. Mark 6:47-51
“And when even was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land. And he saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them. But when they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out: For they all saw him, and were troubled. And immediately he talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid. And he went up unto them into the ship; and the wind ceased: and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered.”
Boat is being tossed in the middle of a great storm. Jesus shows up.
G. Luke 23:33
“And when they came unto the place which is called The skull, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand and the other on the left.”
Jesus was crucified between two thieves. In the middle. Hung between Heaven and earth to provide forgiveness for our sin.
III. In Our Middle
I am here today to tell you that we cannot and should not try to avoid THE middle-man. Forget about the moments of frustration and angst that the guy at the car lot or the checkout counter gave you! We don’t need to avoid this middle-man! Too often we try to bypass this middle-man too! We turn everywhere, but to Him. We run to sister so and so, or our best friend, or to a bottle, or to a drug, or to a distraction. We avoid the middle-man!
But I came to tell you that God is the middle-man. He has the great habit and tendency of showing up right in the middle of things. He’ll show up right in the middle of our distress, our chaos, our hopelessness, our lost years, our trouble, our storm, our fear, our fire, our test. And not only does He show up, he shows up strong and mighty on our behalf. He shows up ready to do miracles for us.
He is not some removed, unconcerned cosmic creator who is unaware and unfeeling towards his creation. He is the God that wants to get right in the middle of our everyday life.
What are you in the middle of right now?
I’m here to remind you that the middle-man is ready to show up for you. Right in the middle of everything that you have been going through. Right in the middle of your struggle and fight. He wants to interrupt the nightmare of your life.
He will show up right in the middle:
of a bad report from a doctor - Middle-man can show up and declare you shall live and not die. I’m Jehovah Rapha your healer.
of your lack- the middle-man can show up and declare I have good plans for you, plans to prosper you. I am Jehovah Jireh your provider.
of your sleepless nights - Middle-man can show up and declare Peace be still, I am the Prince of peace, Jehovah Shalom.
of your brokeness - Middle-man can touch you and make you every whit whole.
of an attack - Middle-man can step in and become your buckler and shield.
of our weakness - Middle-man steps in and becomes our strength.
of our pain - Shows up and declares I am the Balm of Gilead.
of your fire – he has been in the middle of fire before. He is flame retardant!
of your flood – overwhelmed – he has been there before. He knows how to walk on wild waves.
of betrayal – he has already felt the cold kiss followed by the stab of a cold blade.
of broken relationship – he makes Ann Landers look like a novice.
of Sin – he hung in the middle to deal with it.
of hell – Got good news if I make my bed in hell He is right in the middle of hell itself.
He will show up in the middle of our mess. However, there is a responsibility on our end.
IV. Middle-Man Pre-Reqs
Deuteronomy 23:14
“For the LORD thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee; therefore shall thy camp be holy: that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee.”
Holiness proceeds help. Repentance proceeds resource. Righteous aren’t forsaken and beg for bread. Does that mean unrighteous are? We must clean our act up so that the middle-man can walk freely in our camp and defeat our enemies. Our lack of repentance restricts the access of the Middle Man!
Psalms 22:3
3But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
Praise precedes presence. Begin to praise him and see if the middle-man doesn’t show up in the middle of your crisis. He moves into our praise. Our praise is to God what a flame is to a moth. He can’t ignore it. He is drawn to it.
The reason He doesn’t show up in our issue is because so often we refuse to repent and we refuse to praise. Repent and praise and see if the 4th man doesn’t walk into your furnace. See if the peace speaker doesn’t calm your storm!
How do you find Him in the middle? How do you single in on Him when you are surrounded by chaos and confusion? Watch for His quiet and listen for His singing! That’s right in the middle of your storm, your pain, your loss He actually walks into the middle of that mess and begins to sing! Can you hear a God song this morning? He is singing hope over you! He is singing healing over you. He is singing destiny over you!
IV. Closing
You may say, “I’m in the middle of something. It is tough, painful, stressful and I need the middle-man to show up. You say, “I have some things to clean up. I want the middle-man involved in my life but I realize I have to get my camp cleaned up.” I say repent and open up your mouth and begin singing praise this morning and when you do listen carefully for the harmony because He will in turn sing over you.
What are you in the middle of today? The Middle-Man is here for you today!
