The Day The Earth Stood Still
Mark 15: 1-20
Introduction: 1951. Price controls are introduced to curb high inflation.
1951. The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I premiers on Broadway
June 25, 1951. CBS presents the first commercial color TV broadcast. It lasts for four hours. There were no color TV sets owned by the public at this time, so only CBS executives and engineers viewed the accomplishment.
1951. The Korean War began.
Fear of a nuclear threat.
Movie: "The Day The Earth Stood Still"
*Based on short story "Farewell To The Master", by Harry Bates
*Synopsis– "Someone comes along and preaches peace, love, and understanding, performs a number of miracles, goes beyond self-interest, puts his life on the line to save the world, and gets betrayed and executed for his trouble. Then he gets resurrected, preaches his message once more, and then disappears in the general direction of upwards." ( Http://www.tauspace.freeserve.co.uk/day_the_earth_setup.htm.)
Triumphal Entry– Roaring crowds
acceptance of Christ
praises
Vanquished Exit– Crowds now cry "Crucify Him!"
What would cause such a change in the demeanor of the crowds?
The inherent nature of humanity
I. Humanity Is Inherently Evil.
Genesis 6:5 The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (RSV)
A. Contradiction To Popular Ideology.
Humanism & New Age Philosophy
Nobody likes to see themselves as bad, or evil. Nobody wakes up and says, "I’m a really rotten person– I hate the moral failure I am." We want to see ourselves as loving, kind.
Saturday Night Live, Stuart Smalley, "Daily Affirmations". "I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggonit, people like me.
Jesus said, "Love your neighbor as yourself." (Matthew 22:39; et.al.)
People who hate themselves are abnormal.
Humanism– takes a positive self image and transposes it into a positive moral image. We are naturally inclined to good, but corrupted by our environment:
bad home life
rough childhood ........corrupt us perverting our
deaths/divorces/molestations goodness
Man is capable by himself of making the morally correct choices.
This simply is not true.
B. Having a positive self image does not mean the same thing as having a positive moral image.
I may feel like a good person; try to be a good person, but this does not make me a good person.
Who has never lied a day in their life? Stolen?
The problem with this popular ideology of Humanism/ Humanistic Thinking is the standard by which right and wrong are determined.
C. Nature of Sin
According to Humanism sin is an overt, aggressive act, or behavior, which results in harm.
According to God’s word sin is anything which hinders the love relationship between us and God and between us and others.
Sin is the self turned in. Instead of loving God/ others we love ourselves more than anything. Not that we don’t love others, but that we love self more. If you get hurt as a result of my self pursuit, I’m sorry, but I can’t let you get in the way of my pursuing self pleasure. I’ve got me to look out for.
Advertisers play to this self-love:
Burger King "Your way, right away, at Burger King now"
McDonalds "What you want, is what you get, at McDonalds today"
Mitsubishi people care how you look attitude in selling vehicles
Egocentric: We are the center of our universe; gods of our own world; legends in our own mind.
Mark 15:10 "For he perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up." (RSV)
Christ stood in the way of their self interests.
"By what authority..." (Matthew 21:23; Mark 11:28; Luke 20:21)
"By what right do you judge me"
"Who are you to tell me how to live"
Transition: Contradiction to this self pursuit is the life of Christ.
Philippians 2:5-8 "Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Jesus Christ, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross." (RSV)
II Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come." (RSV)
Romans 6:6,11 "Our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin...So you should consider yourselves dead to sin and able to live for the glory of God through Christ Jesus." (New Living Translation)
II. Jesus Christ Is Our Righteousness
There is a distinction between those In Christ– those who have an active, loving relationship with Jesus Christ, and those who do not love Christ.
Five Characteristics can be found in those who love Jesus.
1. Strong Faith- Habakkuk 2:4 "Behold, he whose soul is not upright in him shall fail, but the righteous shall live by his faith." (RSV)
"Look at the proud! They trust in themselves, and their lives are crooked; but the righteous will live by their faith." (NLT)
II Corinthians 5:7 "for we walk by faith, not by sight." (RSV)
2. Obedience- John 14:15 "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." (RSV)
John 8:31 "If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples" (RSV)
3. Character- Ephesians 4:15-16 Instead, we will hold to the truth in love, becoming more and more in every way like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. Under his direction, the whole body is fitted together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love." (New Living Translation)
Ephesians 3:18-19 "may you have power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fulness of God." (RSV)
4. Love- John 13:34-35 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (RSV)
I Corinthians 13:4-7 "Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (RSV)
5. Hear God’s Voice- John 8:47 "He who is of God hears the words of God" (RSV)
Transition: Joshua 24:14-15 "Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River, and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. And if you be unwilling to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." (RSV)
III. We Must Choose For Ourselves How We Will Live Our Lives
Ezekiel 18:23 "Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the Lord GOD, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?" (RSV)
John 3:17-21 "For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does what is true comes to the light, that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been wrought in God." (RSV)
Living With Convictions
by Rev. Brian Houston
What are your convictions in life? You need to know because your beliefs or principles that you choose to uphold in life will establish a pattern or precedent. You cannot be neutral - you have to make a stand in life.
To live IN the world or OF the world
We may live in the world, within its natural sphere, but we are not called to be of the world. To be of the world means being of its substance, yet as Christians, we are called to be godly. Our challenge is to learn to be in the world, without the world being in us. Living with conviction means having a great impact on the world, yet not being influenced by its shallow value system.
To live with CONVICTION or by CONSEQUENCE
The difference between being in the world and of the world is either living by conviction or by the consequences. Proverbs 16:25 describes how there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is death. Living by consequence means putting your trust in what seems right, but living with conviction is living according to what is right - living His way!
Faith comes out of conviction. For instance, someone with a life-threatening disease who believes that it is God’s will to heal them will choose to stand in faith instead of putting their trust in a negative medical report. Their approach to their illness will come from a position of strength and hope in the power of God. Their conviction opens the door for a miracle.
To live to CONFORM or to TRANSFORM
The Word tells us not to be "conformed to this world, but transformed by the renewing of our minds." (Romans 12:1) Conviction won’t allow you to conform to the world’s negativity or cynicism, but instead it will transform you into an agent of change. As Christians we should be influencing and changing the condition of the world we live in.
To worship the CREATURE or the CREATOR
Humanism and New Age Thinking direct attention to self. The result is that absolutes and convictions disappear, and no-one holds fast to anything. Instead of it all being about God, it becomes all about ’Me.’ When one’s life is focused on the creature rather than the Creator, it becomes more about materialism instead of the blessing of prosperity, about receiving instead of giving. When you put the Kingdom first, your life becomes more about Him and less about you.
Reject the world’s mediocrity and poor-thinking, and build your convictions according to the Word of God. Make a stand, knowing what you believe, what persuades you and what you are committed to in life.
(http://www.hillsclc.org.au., ©2001 Brian Houston)
