WHAT TICKS YOU OFF?
3-17-13 New Liberty Christian Church, Veedersburg, IN with Rich McQuinn, Minister
TEXT: LUKE 19:45-48
INTRODUCTION: What are some of the things that tick you off in life? It is an honest question. Is it those who cut you off at the street corners, or those that pull into the parking space you have patiently waited on? Or a reduced grade in school or not getting a raise or the gossip trail at work about you or a finder bender you got into by rushing to your appointment. Do you get ticked at those who leave you by death? When you are trying to do good things and they turn out wrong. Or when your son or daughter marries the wrong person or for that matter when you enter into a relationship that doesn’t go right.
Psychologist can tell a lot about you by just watching your actions to see what really ticks you off. Watch those who stand in line more than three minutes at McDonalds, you will see what I mean.
When things do not go right like you have planned---impression without expression leads to depression. Earl C. Hargrove taught me that over 50 years ago in a psychology lesson.
Is it a sin to get ticked off? Study that for a moment. Do you get angry when your friends use Gods name in vain? Or when a government or nation deliberately goes against the teaching of the Bible? What about those who are hurting and taking advantage on, or as the case of this week ABC reports that 6000 boxes of Girl School Cookies were ordered and got the troops joyful that they were going to make their goals and feed the hungry, only to find out it was a foul, a prank and the order came in, but no one claimed it. It was false. Would that make you ticked? Good side of this is that the small towns came together and by Saturday night 3000 of those boxes were sold and tomorrow has not yet come.
Did Jesus ever get angry? Lets look at our test today
“…Jesus at the Temple
45 When Jesus entered the temple courts, he began to drive out those who were selling. 46 “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be a house of prayer’]; but you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”47 Every day he was teaching at the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying to kill him. 48 Yet they could not find any way to do it, because all the people hung on his words .all the people hung on his words.” all the people were very attentive to his speaking.”
This was the predominant characteristic of his followers: they were captivated by his teaching! That’s the meaning behind the word “hung” – it means “to be very attentive to; captivated by.” It is only used this one time in the New Testament, but it is used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament four times, three of those times in Nehemiah. Each time it is translated ‘attentive,’ and describes an intense sense of attention to someone’s words, voice, or person. This is how the common people responded to Jesus and his teaching –they were riveted on his message!
I. HE WAS FOUND IN THE TEMPLE– Luke 2:41-50,
41 Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. 42 When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. 43 After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. 44 Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. 45 When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”49 “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” 50 But they did not understand what he was saying to them.
This is when His ministry for mankind was first formulating. He was about HIS Fathers business in the temple as a 12 year-old boy, says, “Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.” Even as a boy he was a captivating teacher!
You know the story of course. Jesus was left behind in Jerusalem as His parents left town. It was a few days later when they discovered that neither one had Jesus in their possession.
Do you have Jesus? No I thought you did. How did we miss HIM?
Those are questions that all of us could raise? Today do you have The King of Kings and Lord of Lords in your life? Have you lost Him along life’s pathway and you did not realize it until you were prompted? We must always go back to our roots and begin again in our search for Jesus. How precious a gift when we have Him and how great the loss when we LOSE HIM.
-Of course they found Him in the Temple. Get this: They marveled at His words. He spoke with authority. It was His House, His Words, He came to seek those lost. Even at that early age of 12 people were amazed at what He had to say.
II. JESUS WAS REJECTED AT THE TEMPLE Luke 4:14-30
14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15 He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.
16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free,19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.
23 Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’”
24 “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27 And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”
28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. 30 But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.
His supernatural ability to communicate God’s words continued right up until the end, for Luke 20:19, which is part of the last week of his life, says, “…they [teachers of the law and chief priests] looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. But they were afraid of the people.”
And why were they afraid of the people? Because the people listened to Jesus so attentively, hanging on his every word! They were amazed with his authority! To kill Jesus without some kind of consensus, as contrived as it would have been, would have been political suicide for the leaders! In the words of the 21st century, Jesus had the people “in the palm of his hand.”
III. JESUS DRIVES OUT THE ROBBERS LUKE 19
…HIS authority over the temple in Luke 19:46. He cleared out the dwellers who weren’t supposed to occupy it, and declared it to be “my house.” In fact, the construction of the Greek language in 19:46 suggests that “my house” is the emphatic portion of the verse. That’s ownership and authority!
… HIS authority over the leaders in Luke 20. You see, the religious leaders saw him as a threat, but the people saw Him as the truth! The religious leaders saw things through their wisdom, but the people saw things through Jesus’ words. And it is precisely because they welcomed his authority – because they accepted HIM as truth – that the people, not the religious leaders or law teachers, “hung on his words.”
That same battle rages today in the life of every human being: Are the words of Jesus a threat or truth? Do we hang on His words or do we hate His words?
Look at this carefully. He got ticked! Why? Remember it started when He was 12. He grew up in the Temples. He taught, preached, healed, and had conversations in the Temple. He loved His people and was not going to let things stand as they were.
There were crooks in the church. Now that is not new is it nor was it new news then, but enough is enough. How much of a bad deal can you take? Do you get ticked when the underprivileged get ran over or taken advantage of. Do you stand up for the weak or those who can not defend themselves?
It is not all bad to get ticked, or angered. Get angered for righteousness reasons. For those events that make fun of God and His people. Do you get angered at law makers who go against the scriptures and say a man can marry a man and a women can marry a women and we have about 10 states of the 50 states we have in the United States who make it a law that these folks CAN marry each other. I say we are to love those folks but hate the sin. Jesus loved even the Pharisees but He did not like their pride and sins.
Are we pretending to be a Christian and just coasting by in this life and never taking a stand. Enough is enough, Jesus had enough. He went in the Temple as if He were a mad man and drove out the sinners, thief’s .
One more item to consider here. In every incident the crowds left Jesus marveling at His Words. They held His words in their hearts. The greatest Man in the history of the world came to earth to give us an example of how much God really does love us. Jesus showed us the way to Heaven and that the way was clear for all of us to follow.
It is simple. If you believe and confess with all of your heart that Jesus is The Christ the Son of the Living God and ask Him in a public setting that you want Him in your heart, then you are on the road for eternal life. You will want to learn more about the Christian Life, Church membership, Tithing, Lords Supper, Baptism and witnessing to others.
So lets end how we began. What ticks you off? I pray that your anger is not against each other, or that you got caught in a lie, but that your anger is for that we live in the best communication history of the world, but we are failing in getting the Gospel to all parts of the world. Think about that.
Go into all the world, teaching them to observe all things I have given to them. Go preach, teach, baptize and keep on teaching.
AMEN and AMEN
