GREATER THAN JONAH OR SOLOMON
PPT 1 Series Title (JESUS)
Pray without ceasing eyes of your understanding be opened... Explain what Paul prayed for without ceasing.
Ps 27:4 One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD, And to meditate in His temple.
One thing conference set up around that theme.
Goal of this series is that God would peel back the curtain and show us Himself. He shows many His outergarments, and many are blind even to that. For example: The heavens declare the Glory of God, but they ascribe it to evolution.
Bombardier Beetle -- This lowly creature defends itself in a very interesting manner; its body has two sacks of chemicals that explode when added together, but are benign when kept separately. Thus, the first capability is that this beetle has two separate sacks that keep the chemicals separate until the beetle needs the chemical to protect itself.
The second capability is that the beetle has an asbestos type lining in his "firebox" in which the chemicals are added. This "firebox" lining keeps the chemical explosion from destroying the body of the beetle when it explodes outward. There is no way that evolved, that is design, not evolution.
The heavens declare the glory of God, but most don't see it. The heavens are the hinderparts of God, in that in a small way they reveal Him. But God doesn't show more than that to everyone. You have to press in to see more. Stay thirsty my friend.
PPT 2 Message Title
In this message we will see a woman who was so intrigued by the things she heard of a king in a far off land, that with great effort, and great expense, she travelled to find out if all she heard was true. She left enamered and awed by the wisest and richest man who ever lived. Yet Jesus unequivocally states, "A greater that Solomon is here." How and in what ways was Jesus greater than Solomon, and what practical applications does that have for us? Also what lessons can we learn from Jonah about evangelism.
PPT 3-4 Text
Lu 11:29 And as the crowds were increasing, He began to say, "This generation is a wicked generation; it seeks for a sign, and [yet] no sign shall be given to it but the sign of Jonah.
Lu 11:30 "For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so shall the Son of Man be to this generation.
Lu 11:31 "The Queen of the South shall rise up with the men of this generation at the judgment and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.
Lu 11:32 "The men of Nineveh shall stand up with this generation at the judgment and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.
This passage of scripture blows away everything most preachers believe about church growth. If only I could preach better, if only I could fine tune the message, if only we had better facilities, if only we had a pre-school, or a gym, or whatever. Those things are not bad. But the ultimate truth is that its the condition of the hearers heart, and not the speakers ability or facilities that matter.
I am only going to deal briefly with this text itself, because I want to use it as a text that points us to another portion of scripture. First I want you to note that Jesus was doing all kinds of signs, He turned water into wine, He created food when he feed 5k+, yet He said He would do no sign. I think He said that because no matter what He did they still wouldn't believe. The story of His life and how they ultimately murdered Him bears that out. They saw signs, they just didn't want anything to do with Him, unless He fit what they wanted.
Jesus in the passage before us says the problem is not with Me, but you. He illustrates that two ways.
First with Jonah. Jonah was an uncaring, worthless preacher. He ran from the call of God, He preached one message and one message only. Yet 40 days and Nineveh will be destroyed. He preached a harsh judgmental message. He didn't have a food giveaway, he showed no compassion for the people he was sent to minister to, he didn't try to win them with love, he didn't give bikes away or candy away or school back packs if they would only somehow come to church. His message was harsh, rough, and delivered in an uncaring way, and yet the whole city state of Nineveh repented. To show you how bad and uncaring he was the scriptures say He got mad when they weren't destroyed. The men of that generation will condemn this generation, Jesus says, because they repented at the preaching of a terrible preacher, and you got the best one there has ever been and you aren't repenting.
How did those people ever respond to Jonah's message? Delivered in a caustic way with no bribes attached? It's not about the messenger, God's word is like a seed that can flourish anywhere the soil will receive it. It doesn't matter if the messenger scatters it even with hatred in his heart, (exactly what Paul says in Philippians 1:15-18) when the seed meets good soil conditions it will flourish. That is why Jesus says Lu 11:32 "The men of Nineveh shall stand up with this generation at the judgment and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.
Jesus is a much greater preacher that Jonah and in some ways His results were less effective than Jonah's. All Nineveh repented, just a fraction of Jerusalem did. It isn't about the messenger, it is about the message and the soil in which it is received.
Next Jesus goes on to talk about the queen of the south, whom we know as the queen of Sheba, let's read about her.
PPT 5-7 text
1Ki 10:1 Now when the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to test him with difficult questions.
1Ki 10:2 So she came to Jerusalem with a very large retinue, with camels carrying spices and very much gold and precious stones. When she came to Solomon, she spoke with him about all that was in her heart.
1Ki 10:3 And Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was hidden from the king which he did not explain to her.
1Ki 10:4 When the queen of Sheba perceived all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built,
1Ki 10:5 the food of his table, the seating of his servants, the attendance of his waiters and their attire, his cupbearers, and his stairway by which he went up to the house of the LORD, there was no more spirit in her.
1Ki 10:6 Then she said to the king, "It was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom.
1Ki 10:7 "Nevertheless I did not believe the reports, until I came and my eyes had seen it. And behold, the half was not told me. You exceed [in] wisdom and prosperity the report which I heard.
Earlier we noted Jesus is greater that Jonah. In fact when it comes to preachers they were polar opposites. Jonah didn't care, Jesus was always being moved by compassion for people. Jonah told them they were going to die, Jesus focused more on the fact that those who believe on Him would never perish but have eternal life. Now we are going to move on and see how Jesus is greater than Solomon.
Solomon brought water in abundance into the city. Think of that in the context of the desert environment of Israel.
Jesus offers living water. Think about that in the context of empty lives.
Solomon built with stone and brick. Hewn out of the rock far from Jerusalem. No tools used on site, a knife couldn't pass between the massive stones of the temple complex. A few still stand after 30 centuries. Amazing!
Jesus builds with living stones, (people) hewn from rocks far from His kingdom (those lost in darkness and sin). He gives to His sheep eternal life and they will never perish. His kingdom will never suffer decay. More amazing!
Sheba found out that Solomon was more than she heard. (The half was not told me)
Jesus exceeds all any of His servants could ever say about Him.
Now I want to wrap up with a few quick practical observations.
1. Jesus is greater than any earthly king, and should evoke more wonder than any marvel of man.
Before Abraham was I am. John 8:58 ) He is eternal.
I and My Father are one. John 10:30 He is coequal with God.
He that comes to Me shall never hunger and He that believes of Me shall never thirst. John 6:35 He is the source of true satisfaction.
Come unto Me all you who are burdened and I will give you rest. Mt 11:28 He is greatest source of comfort the world has ever known. Every other religion in the world you have to earn it, Christianity you simply come and receive it.
2. Jesus' servants should inspire people to follow God.
Sheba heard something about Solomon. How shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard? We should be God braggers. Naaman and his Jewish servant girl. He got healed of leporsy because a little Jewish slave told his wife he could get healed in Israel. That little girl wasn't a theologian, wasn't a pastor, wasn't a scholar, she just pointed people in the right direction. A witness only has to witness what they themselves have seen and heard. God takes seeds sown in weakness and raises them in power.
Sheba was amazed at Solomon's servants deportment. The way they carried themselves. The way we live should point others to Christ.
PPT 8 text
1Ki 10:4 When the queen of Sheba perceived all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built,
1Ki 10:5 the food of his table, the seating of his servants, the attendance of his waiters and their attire, his cupbearers, and his stairway by which he went up to the house of the LORD, there was no more spirit in her.
I have no intention to use this text to preach a clothes line sermon (i.e. believers should dress a certain way), but simply use it to say that their ought to be something different, something amazing about the way we live that inspires others. (We have peace in storms, confidence in trials, families that love, ethics that are observable)
3. Sheba realized the greatness of the house was not the house, but the King who lived in and provided the house.
It is with shame that we must confess, that too many ministers have been obsessed with the gold of the temple. They have lost sight of the true riches. They talk too much about the gold settings around God's table, and how if you serve God you will be financially blessed, and have lost sight of the inestimable value and beauty that is in Christ Himself. Jesus is greater than the gold of the temple. When men preach more about gold than Christ, they are simply telling you what they really get excited about. And if gold is what they really get excited about they are very shallow as followers of Christ, and why are you wasting time listening to them.
Those kind of preachers grow de-evolved Christians. Christians who move from worshippers to mere thanksgivers. Christ is greater than the things He gives. A worshipper is not controlled by circumstances, a thanksgiver only praises when they get what they want. Too many preachers talk about Christianity in terms of the good you can get from it. There is much benefit to be received, but our focus should always be that the God of the temple, is greater than the riches of the temple. The treasure of heaven is Christ, and not all the external rewards it brings.
Sheba came to test Solomon with hard questions. She communed with him with all that was in her heart, and she left saying I wasn't even told half of how great you are. Jesus is greater than Solomon.
So in our bible lesson today we see in one instance how the packaging is irrelevant, it is the condition of the soil, and the preaching of the Word. We live in a day and age where men are consumed with packaging, and would tell us we should never preach of judgment. We should never say certain things are wrong, or speak of hell and judgment, but that is untrue to the scripture. Jonah did everything wrong, and still had a revival. Why? because it is the condition of the soil and the self contained power in the word of God, and not simply the condition of the messenger, or the style of delivery. The people of Nineveh would condemn the first century generation because they had a much better preacher than the Ninevites did, and they failed to repent and come to Christ.
And we saw in the other story that people who truly seek after God as the Queen of Sheba did, such people will find that Jesus is better that words of men could ever tell. The Queen of Sheba would stand up at the judgment and condemn that generation, because they had a much better preacher than the Ninevites, and a much better representative of God than Solomon was, and yet they still didn't hear and repent.
So I close with a couple questions.
Are people in far off lands hearing wonderful things from your lips about the Jesus you serve?
Are you more interested in the benefits of the kingdom, or the King Himself?
Lastly is there a Queen of Sheba here today? By that I mean is there one who will with an honest heart say, "preacher I have heard you talk about this Jesus, and I want to know Him." "I want to know someone with whom I can commune with, with all my heart."
