2010 02 21 Ashingdon PM Communication
Hebrews 1:1-4
Have you ever miscommunicated your thoughts when trying to tell them to someone?
Most of us have, and then the following confusion can be very irritating, if not dangerous.
Sometimes, miscommunication can be very frustrating.
‘A man called his neighbour to help him move a couch that had become stuck in the doorway.
They pushed and pulled until they were exhausted, but the couch wouldn’t budge.
“Forget it,” the man finally said.
“We’ll never get this in.”
The neighbour looked at him and said, “In?”
Then again, there are times when miscommunication leads to absolute bewilderment.
And then again, there times when we just do not understand at all.
The problem is that we use two words interchangeably, but they mean two different things. They are ‘communicate’ and ‘information’.
The word communicate means to ‘give out’, while the word information means to ‘get through’.
Most of us are very good at ‘giving out’, but not all of us are good at ‘getting through’.
An American Food company started selling baby food in Africa, they used the same packaging as in the USA--with a cute baby on the label.
They did not have a lot of success and many jars were returned to them unsold.
Later they found out that in Africa because many people cannot read
most companies put pictures on the label of what is actually inside the jar.
When Pepsi started marketing its products in China a few years back, they translated their slogan, “Pepsi Brings You Back to Life” pretty literally.
The slogan in Chinese really meant, “Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back from the Grave.”
And, the Vauxhall Nova never sold very well in Spanish speaking countries. “No Va” means “It Does Not Go” in Spanish....
But, sometimes, miscommunications can be downright dangerous.
This notice was found in a newspaper:
ยทยทยท ‘In our book, “Skydiving Made Easy”, please make the following correction:
On page 12, we have omitted point 4b.
POINT READS 4a Altitude awareness is the skydiver’s most important task until the parachute opens.
And point 4c “check your altitude then look directly below your feet and observe your position over the ground.”
Please ensure you add in point 4b - ‘PULL RIP CORD’.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.’
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Sometimes, we just fail to express ourselves properly, and the results are disastrous.
Many times, Christians do not properly convey their message, either.
Lets get into the word: HEBREWS 1:1-4,
1 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
1st point. GOD KEEPS KNOCKING
I think this is the perfect example of what I said a moment ago. All this time, God was ‘giving out’, but the hardness of our hearts kept Him from ‘getting through’.
From the very beginning, God wanted us to focus on Him; to love Him and be obedient to Him, but what did we do?
We kept focusing on what we wanted; what we desired; and what we thought – all to the total exclusion of God.
We have hated the very same people we were supposed to love.
We concentrated more on killing those same people we were supposed to be trying to bring to Christ.
We have coveted from the same people we were supposed to reach out and give to.
God started out by having a personal relatioship with Adam and Eve. The Bible states that He would come down to the garden during the coolness of the day and walk with them.
Think about that for a moment.
How awesome would that be?
Every person here should be seeking – a personal and intimate relationship with God, through His Son, Jesus.
But what did Adam and Eve do?
They ignored what God had told them, and instead, they concentrated on what they wanted.
God spent the next several thousand years trying to get everyone’s attention back on Him, but the curse had already been instilled in us.
We became selfish and bitter against God.
We ignored the prophets that God sent to warn us, and just went to war against one another.
We chose to kill rather than listen.
What did God do next?
He did not just shake His head in disgust and walk off. He decided to take drastic steps.
He sent His Son, down here to be our blood sacrifice.
Could we ever love someone enough to let our child be a blood sacrifice for them?
I don’t know about you, but I know that I would hide my son rather than have him be sacrificed for others that hated him.
Why did God do this?
EPHESIANS 2:4 tells us that because God loves us so much, and because He is so rich in mercy,
He made us live again through Jesus – even when we were spiritually dead in our sins.
That is why God sent His Son for us – because of His great love for us. He sent His Son in response to our failure to communicate with God.
It is only through Jesus that we find the primary message of the entire New Testament. It says it best in HEBREWS 1:3 –
‘The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word.’
In other words, everything we ever need to know about God, we will find fully in Jesus Christ.
If you would like to know what God thinks,
how He feels or what He looks like,
just look towards Jesus.
Everything Jesus is represents the perfect image of God the Father.
Verse 4 continues by telling us that Jesus went to Heaven and sat at the right hand of God, and that He became superior to the angels.
Jesus is fully God. He is part of the Holy Trinity.
He was at the beginning and He will be at the end.
And, if your desire is to be closer to God, you must first recognize that you need to have a personal and loving relationship with the Son.
1 JOHN 5:21 tells us that he who has the Son has life, but he who has not the Son does not have life.
Let me repeat this very important truth to you:
The only way you can get to Heaven is through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Too many people sitting in churches across the world today are going through all the motions; pretending to be Christians when they don’t have any understanding at all what a real Christian is.
Why are they like that?
Because they are focused on how important they are rather than how important Jesus is to them.
The Pharisees were religious leaders of Jesus’ day.
They were all caught up in following the rules of religion.
They went to the synagogues regularly; tithed their share – even while ignoring the needs of their families; and they loved to wear all the proper garments of their positions.
They would enjoy the status and notoriety they would get when they walked in the marketplace, and they really liked getting the best seats at restaurants and theaters.
See, they made sure they ‘looked’ like Godly people, but they never bothered to make sure they ‘were’ Godly people.
1 SAMUEL 16:7 says that men look at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart.
Jesus is not about the rules or the looks.
He is all about the heart.
He is all about relationship.
There is nothing more that He wants from you,
but there is nothing less that He will settle for from you.
God has been busy trying to give information out to us, but we have refused to let that information get through because of our hardened and selfish hearts.
2nd point. GOD KEEPS LOVING
What would you think the biggest problem in our walk with Christ is?
I will tell you what it is:
It is the lie from Satan that we are not worthy of God’s love.
He wants you to give up so you will just quit trying to walk with Jesus.
Satan is the author of all lies, and the instiller of all confusion, so why do we waste time listening to him?
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Let me explain something about the way God thinks.
Let us say that you know a person who is very free in letting you know that he hates you.
Pretty soon, being human, you are going to start hating him, aren’t you?
That is how a lot of people think God feels,
but He doesn’t.
God knows many people either hate Him, or at best, just ignore Him and never acknowledge Him in their lives.
The start of EPHESIANS 2:4 says. “BUT BECAUSE OF HIS GREAT LOVE FOR US…’
We may not love or acknowledge God, but He loves us so much He will never give up on us.
JOHN 3:16 says that
‘God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.’
JOHN 3:17 says,
‘For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn it, but to save the world through Him.’
And, finally, JOHN 3:18 says,
‘Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.’
God has been giving out information to us, but we have not let that information get through to our hearts.
For thousands of years God has kept trying to communicate His love
The sad thing is that many people do not understand the concept of His love,
because we do not let Him get through to us.
We can busy ourselves with the art of looking like a good Christian, or we can drop the pretense and actually start worshiping the Lord with our hearts.
3rd point. GOD KEEPS GIVING
God gave us minds that rely heavily on logic, so let’s use some logic for a minute.
If we were not important to God, would He have tried for thousands of years to communicate to us that we are important to Him?
The answer is NO.
If we were not important to God, would He have sent His Son specifically to die upon the cross so that we could be forgiven of our sins?
Again, the answer is NO.
Listen, you know that you are very important to God, or you would not be here in church this evening.
In GENESIS 1:26-27, we are told that God created us in His own image and that He put us in charge of everything on this planet.
He did that because He not loved us and felt that we were important to Him.
In GENESIS 1:28, we read that God blessed the human race.
Again, if we were not important to Him, we would have received none of His blessings.
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Have you ever met a control freak?
You hear about some people being referred to as ‘control freaks’.
Those people have such a need to be in control they will end up causing a good situation to go bad, just so they will have the control.
They feel that if they are not in control, they will just totally fall apart.
Friends we need to surrender control of our lives to God.
If we try to keep all that control, it’s like we actually walk Jesus to the door of our heart and throw Him out!
Jesus must have the central place in our lives.
In MATTHEW, it says we cannot have two masters, that we will love one and hate the other.
How terrible if we love ourselves and do not surrender control to Jesus.
This week, I was listening to a talk show on one of the Christian radio stations that broadcast via the internet.
It was a Christian show and this lady called in and was berating the host, saying that there was no way she was ever going to be stupid enough to believe in Jesus, as He was nothing but a man.
She said that she knows where she is and she knows how to get to where she is going.
This woman is a very prideful woman.
She is holding on to her own control and she actually hates Jesus by denying His deity.
In many churches, its sad the number of people who sit in the church pews or seats and go through the motions, but have such a hardened heart because they refuse to surrender to God’s love and control.
And if you are one of those people right now, you know it.
You feel the tug of God trying to get through to you, but you are quick to deny Him the chance.
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A preacher once went to a barber to get a haircut.
All through the haircut, the preacher wanted to witness to the barber, but the barber kept talking non-stop and gave the preacher no chance to interrupt.
Later, when the preacher was paying for the haircut, he asked the barber if he was a good man.
The barber said he was.
The preacher then asked if the barber believed in God, and the barber affirmed that he did.
The preacher then asked if the barber thought he would go to heaven, and the barber said that he would because he was such a good man.
The preacher then told the barber that he could use a haircut, too.
The barber agreed, but said that he had just been so busy he didn’t have a chance.
The preacher said, “Don’t worry, you have a few minutes now, so sit down and I will cut your hair for you.”
The barber quickly told the preacher that he couldn’t do that because he wasn’t trained to do it.
The preacher assured the barber that he would truly do his very best to do it right,
and the barber laughed at him and said,
“Your best is simply not good enough to do it right.”
The preacher responded by saying,
“That is right. And trying to be the best person you can is simply not good enough to get into Heaven.”
As we close, I want you to think for a moment.
Where are you RIGHT NOW in relation to Jesus?
Are you the one who has total control over your heart?
When is the last time you honestly spent any time really praying to get closer to Jesus?
Do you feel uncomfortable as I talk about your relationship with Jesus?
If you do, that is just God trying to get through to you.
You now have the information and are fully accountable for it.
What is your decision going to be?
Are you going to submit your heart to Christ, or are you going to keep the control?
There are no other choices and there is no gray area.
I encourage you make the right choice.
