2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1
Mark 3:20-35
In 1982, David Pawson was invited to speak in New Zealand. His had a reputation as a bible teacher, so people the people of Wellington were surprised when he said that he had a prophecy. He carried two burdens that God had given him for our nation. One burden was as follows:
God wants New Zealand back.
He wants New Zealand back as
a nation that will be a model to the nations
of a people who are living under the government of GOD.
God intends New Zealand to be one of those nations
where he demonstrates his Kingdom.
God wants New Zealand back.
He is wanting his people to reign with him.
Don't wait for eternity to begin to reign with him
He is looking for a queen to reign with him now,
because New Zealand has a king an his name is King Jesus.
This country needs a change of government.
New Zealand is a nation that could be brought
under the government of God
and be a light to the nations.
This burden was not understood; his second burden was simple:
God want's to bring revival to New Zealand for the first time.
God will bring revival through economic ruin.
According to this prophecy New Zealand would need to go down in order for it to come up in a Godly way.
In the Christian world everything is different to the other world.
Jesus the greatest man who ever lived is approached by his family and addressed in a very derogatory way 20 Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. 21 When his family[a] heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”
The greatest theological teachers on earth at that time reacted this way.
22 And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.”
They were wrong – Jesus was correct. Blood is thicker than water but Spirit is thicker than blood and God is greater than academic learning.
As the title of this sermon says down is up and up is down.
It is not the way it seems. It is not what you might expect.
Jesus was not living to the beat of the drum of his family nor the theological lawyers but to the drum of his Father in heaven. This was causing huge crowds to gather around him. I was talking to someone from a church that was struggling the other day and they were saying revealed to me that when the church tried to be like the world it failed foundered on the rocks of compromise.
For us to grow -we have to have a point of difference, and we do, we will touch thousands of lives as Jesus did. You need to remember that Jesus was one person and his life had an incredible impact. But in order to be who God had called him to be he became someone different and outside his family culture. In their eyes he was down but in God’s eyes he was up. Finally his Mother Mary finds herself at the foot of Jesus cross – she is down looking up at Jesus and maybe as Jesus grafts the Apostle John into this family that thought he was mad – maybe there Mary could flash back to this moment and in the horror of it all she could grasp the fact Jesus wasn’t insane – the world was insane. In the same way
James his brother would have been with them he didn’t get it but later he did and he “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him,” he wrote (James 1:5
Jesus was busy – he was popular and he was run off his feet – the lifestyle of Jesus was such that his family thought it was unsustainable and they went to take charge of him. I can remember many years ago that Heather and I were so busy and frenetically busy in our ministry that we were approached by a family member and firmly put in our place.
Our busyness is not always a good thing – People doing the Boundaries course in our church will tell you that we need to establish personal boundaries around ourselves so that we can live a balanced Christian life.
So what was going on in Jesus life?
To think about that lets go to an unexpected story – the story of the New Zealand Gold rushes
\There was a gold rush in Otago, Coromandal and here in Waikaia and elsewhere At the peak of the rush Switzers (the town’s original name) had a population of around 2,000 including a large number of Chinese miners.This area was frenetically busy because this was the miners chance to set themselves up for the rest of their lives. They were drawn not so much to Gold but a secure future.
It certainly wasn’t a time for sitting around it was a time for frenetic busyness.
And in this season of Jesus’ life there was something much more valuable than gold.
But it was hope for the future and when people looked in the eyes of Jesus they saw hope. Lepers saw healing, the blind could see hope and the deaf could hear it – for those with longer vision they saw life stretching forward into eternity and they flocked to Jesus – the Gold rush was on and like a gold rush it looked mad but it was the world’s moment of redemption.
When God calls you to something it might break many conventions and rules – and our families might not understand it but if it is that divine call on your life and you are the deliverer of redemption then don’t expect to be understood.
... The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.john 1 verse 5. kjv
What was Jesus driven by.
He makes it clear.
38"For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 39"This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.…
Mark 10:45 For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
So what was Jesus doing?
Doing God;s will/ and dying to himself in the doing of God’s will.
The family smelt the death of self and rushed to rescue him they failed to understand that the death of self is a beautiful smell to God if it means that they are living for Christ.
The perfume of death to self, reached it’s climax on the cross and the perfume of love reached up to heaven where the angels rejoiced at the smell of redemption.
In the world where down is up we can learn that when we do God’s will and learn to die to ourselves we see stunning results.
Do God’s will and learn to die to yourself – your agenda – slow or fast will flow from that.
Remember the words of the book of Ecclesiastes. For everything there is a season.
22 And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.”
– Jesus is being misunderstood. We must expect that as well.
The result of Jesus life is massive –– It has been estimated Christianity has approximately 2.4 billion adherents living today , out of about 7.2 billion people.
Dr James Francis wrote in 1924
Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty. Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher.
He never owned a home. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put His foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place He was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself...
While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. One of them denied Him. He was turned over to His enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves. While He was dying His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth – His coat. When He was dead, He was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.
Nineteen long centuries have come and gone, and today He is a centerpiece of the human race and leader of the column of progress.
I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that were ever built; all the parliaments that ever sat and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has that one solitary life.
Astonishing – so Jesus Gets short term fame and acceptance by a growing army of followers and rejection as well but the flow on effect on this is exponential and ends up today with 2.4 billion adherants to his teachings. There is nothing on earth like it
But here is the point if you will pick up and follow Christ you too will see exponential growth –you may not see it on earth but in heaven as well. What I am saying when you are feeling you are achieving little or nothing then be encouraged people are listening and being affected. You can join the Jesus movement and when you get to in heaven look on the incredible domino effect that your life produced.
An example of this would be the thousands of Christian missionaries who entered China from 1806 on many died and many died disillusioned by their results.
But God did not forget their prayers and their labours. Experts now predict that despite the fact that Officially, the People's Republic of China is an atheist country many of its 1.3 billion citizens seek meaning and spiritual comfort that neither communism nor capitalism seem to have supplied.
1976 signalled the end of the so called Cultural Revolution.
Less than four decades later, some believe China is now poised to become not just the world's number one economy but also its most numerous Christian nation.
Prof Fenggang Yang, a leading expert on religion in China, believes that By 2030, China's total Christian population, including Catholics, would exceed 247 million, placing it above Mexico, Brazil and the United States as the largest Christian congregation in the world, he predicted.
"Mao thought he could eliminate religion. He thought he had accomplished this," Prof Yang said. "It's ironic – they didn't. They actually failed completely."
It has been said that The blood of the Martyrs is the seed of the Church.
Paul writing in 2 corinthians said 4:13-5:1New International Version (NIV)
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
. You need to understand that your faith and witness are not in vain – It is inevitable that if you follow Christ and speak what he wants you to speak that you will produce fruit.
Isaiah 55:11King James Version (KJV)
11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
Getting back to what we see in Jesus – He received criticism all around him from his family and the teachers of the law – But he saw results all around him people crammed in to hear him.
In the world of down is up – expect trouble yes but expect it to be surrounded by stunning fruit!!!
That is the deal.
The other night I met one of our ex students from 3D mission training – to say that she was a prominent and possibly a difficult student would perhaps be an understatement. By her own admission she was angry, argumentive and caused us incredible trouble. But she not only admitted that the course had changed her life – but she said she wanted her daughter to do the course next year. At the time I was pretty disillusioned but now I am very much heartened that although there was no apparent fruit at the time the long term outcome was God was at work.
We don’t always see the results though but we need to be assured that God will bless us in this upside down world.
Thirdly – even though not every one will respect or love you Many will but friends will come from the strangest places.
I never ever expected my family to turn on me but one member did – Jesus once said A mans foes will be the members of his own household Matthew chapter 10 verse 36.
Jesus family had all the concerns that families have.
One he had left his security behind an apparantly flourishing carpentary business.
Two Jesus was on a head on collision with the orthodox leaders of his day. There were people who could do Jesus a great deal of harm and he was seemingly deliberately heading for trouble with them.
Three He had started a little society of his own and it seemed very odd. There were some fisherman, there was a ex tax collector, There was a fanatical nationalist, No sensible man they would be thinking would have a bunch of friends like that!!’
He had thrown away society, He had thrown away saftey, He didn’t care what people thought (summary from william Barclay.)
But Jesus had many friends – His friends were outcasts – ex rebels – prostitutes – taxcollectors and sinners. But they were changed by love. They were reliable and would lay their lives down for their friends just as Jesus said they would.
As you journey on with Christ you will find many great christian friends with very coloured pasts. When you begin to exude the love of Jesus people will gather around you not for what you have to offer but What Christ has to offer through you.
Billy Graham had millions gather around him – Corrie ten Boom thousands and who knows how many strange and interesting people have gathered around Heidi Bakker of Mozambique.
When you follow Christ, like Him, you will discover real friends who love and care for you .
We live in an upside down world but take courage.
Learn from Jesus –
In an upside down world:-
In the world where down is up we can learn that when we do God’s will and learn to die to ourselves we see stunning results.
There will be stunning results from your efforts. You need to understand that your faith and witness are not in vain – It is inevitable that if you follow Christ and speak what he wants you to speak that you will produce fruit.
When you follow Christ, like Him, you will discover real friends who love and care for you .
