“The Danger of an Undercurrent”
Luke 19: 28-40
Introduction: Have you ever been to a party where it seemed like almost everyone was having a good time and enjoying themselves, but there was that one person who kept driving the group downward?
Illustration: “Debbie Downer” Saturday Night Live did a skit called “Debbie Downer” in which an actress plays the part of a girl who could always find negative in a situation. Listen to what she says when she was with her family at Disney Land:
Brother: Whoo-oooo! I loves me some Steak and Eggs!
Debbie Downer: Ever since they found Mad Cow Disease in the U.S., I’m not taking any chances. It can live in your body for years, before it ravages your brain.
Sister 2: I want to go to every country in Epcot, and greet them in their own native language! "Hola!" "Konnichiwa!" "Hi!"
Debbie Downer: Do you guys care about that train explosion in North Korea?
Even Pluto the dog is not exempt from Debbie
Debbie Downer: Oh.. hey.. hey, Pluto, hi. Boy.. it must be fun to work here.. although, the biggest drawback to working in a theme park is that you must live in constant fear of deadly terrorist attacks.
The musical jingle for her skit goes:
"You’re enjoying your day, everything’s going your way
Then, along comes Debbie Downer!
Always there to tell you about a new disease
A car accident or killer bees.
You’ll beg her to spare you, "Debbie, please."
But you can’t stop Debbie Downer!"
This morning we are going to talk about something called a “negative undercurrent”
Illustration: “The River” When you walk out to the river the water seems to be moving very slowly. But there is a strong undercurrent that, if you are not careful, can quickly take you down stream and far out of sight before you know it.
This is the same way undercurrents work within groups. On the surface of the group (i.e. church group, youth group, peer group, etc.) everything looks fine, but if underneath the surface there are people who are vying to take others downstream, it can affect the entire group
***The text we read today deals with a group of people who were very positive in the beginning but were influenced into evil by an undercurrent of negativity
Understanding the story:
Jesus had just raised Lazarus from the dead and many people were now ready to follow Him as the Messiah. Raising Lazarus from the dead from a very public display of His power which caused the people to begin to see Him for who He really was. Jesus went from Lazarus’ house into Jerusalem for the Passover celebration.
Jesus came into town riding on a young donkey and everyone who had heard about His miracles and teachings came out to celebrate His arrival. They threw palm branches in front of Him which symbolized ‘victory’ and they yelled ‘hosanna’ which came from a Hebrew prayer which meant ‘save us now’!
In the midst of all of the commotion there stood the Pharisees, the religious men of the day. And we see in Luke’s Gospel that they were not very happy with Jesus being called Lord. Luke 19:39 says, “And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, "Teacher, rebuke Your disciples."” Which basically meant, “Teacher, tell your disciples to shut their mouths”.
Jesus confidently replied, “If these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.” This basically meant, “Today is a day of celebration, for God’s Messiah has come and someone is going praise Him today, if not the people, then the rocks will.” And the people continued to shout praises to His name.
The amazing thing is this happened right before Jesus’ crucifixion – These people changed from those who ‘hailed Him’ to those who ‘hated Hated’ in a very short amount of time
There are some truths I want you to notice about this event:
1) Time of the Change
a. This event happened less than a week before Jesus’ crucifixion
b. In fact if Jesus was nailed to a cross on Friday as we are told, this event was only five days before on Sunday (Today is Palm Sunday, which we celebrate this event)
c. It took less than a week for the people to totally turn against Jesus
2) How Drastic the Change
a. Comparing the change
i. Listen to what the people yelled on Sunday:
ii. Luke 19:38 “’Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!’ Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"”
iii. Compare it to what the people yelled on Friday:
iv. Mark 15:12-14 “Pilate answered and said to them again, "What then do you want me to do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?" So they cried out again, "Crucify Him!" Then Pilate said to them, "Why, what evil has He done?" But they cried out all the more, "Crucify Him!"”
b. What a drastic change!
c. The same group of people went from literally professing Him as King to crying out for His death
3) The Reason for the Change
a. The Pharisees were angry that Jesus was beginning to acquire a healthy following – to call another religious man ‘King’ was stripping away their authority
i. These were men of influence within the society, so their opinion weighed a little more than most
ii. They began influencing the people negatively concerning Jesus
b. These men were acting as the ‘negative undercurrent’ within the group
i. Little by little this undercurrent was able to influence the people to turn against Jesus’ teachings
ii. Because there influence was so strong, by the end of the week almost everyone had turned against Him
c. Quote: The undercurrent of the Pharisees swept the minds of the people down the sad stream of denial toward Jesus Christ
What can we learn from these three truths?
1) It doesn’t take long for a negative undercurrent to influence people
a. Illustration: “Pastor Almost Destroyed by Youth Pastor” I met a man whose ministry was almost destroyed by an undercurrent. He had a youth minister working for him who he confided in about problems within the church. After a while it became apparent that the youth worker was not doing his job so he was asked to leave. Before leaving he called everyone in the church and told them that the pastor had been talking about them behind their backs for years. The next week at church only half of the congregation showed up, and those who did came because they were angry.
b. This was done in one evening
c. Even a single negative undercurrent can sweep away a group
2) Negative undercurrents of people can drastically change the dynamic of a group
a. Illustration: “No singing” Imagine us trying to worship God by singing. There might be one or two who have banded together and said amongst themselves, “We don’t like to sing”. So whenever the group comes to a point where they sing, this smaller group causes disruptions or makes comments that begin to make the rest of the group not want to sing
b. Whether this group realizes it or not they have begun an undercurrent spirit of anti-worship
c. What could be an awesome worship dynamic is destroyed by those who desire not to be a part of it
3) Negative undercurrents are usually comprised of selfish people who desire power and/or attention
a. Illustration: “Quarterback Syndrome” If you have ever played on an organized sports team like football or softball you learn something very fast: Those who desire to be the pitchers, quarterbacks or team captains have one thing usually in common; pride. This is not always bad on the field of play because a team leader should be confident in his/her abilities. The problem lies in those who do not make pitcher, quarterback or captain, but believed they should have. They desired a powerful position within the group, yet did not attain it and then often, because of pride, can become the undercurrent that brings the team down
b. Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall.”
What we should know about dealing with the undercurrents in our lives:
1) Recognizing the Work of a Negative Undercurrent
a. Jesus knew that the Pharisee’s hated Him and what they were trying to do to Him
b. Mark 8:31 “And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.”
c. We need to be watchful for those that are trying to undermine our relationship with God
2) Realizing the types of Undercurrents
d. Worldly Undercurrent
i. This group will try to keep you away from God’s church and His people
ii. They always have something better for you to do when you should be doing what God desires of you
e. Religious Undercurrent
i. This group resides within the church but still desires to take you away from the things of God
ii. Whenever worshipping or studying is at the front, they vie for attention and create disruptions
3) Resolve to Avoid Undercurrents
f. Mark 16:6 “Then Jesus said to them, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees."”
i. Jesus was telling us in this verse exactly what I have just said, “recognize their work” and “realize their types” and “avoid their influence”
g. How do we avoid the influence of a negative undercurrent?
i. Avoid being part of the undercurrent
ii. Avoid those who perpetuate the undercurrent
iii. Avoid accidentally starting an undercurrent
h. Basically ‘beware of those who are among us who try to keep us from doing what God wants us to do’
CONCLUSION: Let me end with a story…
Illustration “Mining Town” There was a town in the Midwest where almost everyone in the town were coal miners. The town produced much of the coal used in industrial plants all around the United States. The town lived happy on the surface, everyone was very friendly and the social scene was good. But underneath the ground of the city the miners were steady digging, taking away more and more of the structural integrity of the ground. Finally it happened… Right in the middle of downtown there was a huge cave-in. This cave-in began small and then spread all around the city where the miners had dug. Many people lost their lives and homes in this cave-in that was the result of years of chipping away the foundation of the town one piece of coal at a time.
This story is a picture of what happened to Jesus on Palm Sunday – everyone was happy in a big social scene of promise, but there was an undercurrent steadily chipping away at the people one by one
This same thing can happen in a church group or even a youth group, when a few people with an agenda of discord undermine the purpose of the group
***We all have an undercurrent working in our life. There is always someone who wants to break down the group or individual rather than build it up.
Maybe you know someone who is trying to undermine your relationship with God
Or maybe you are being a negative undercurrent for someone else
We need to avoid these within our families, our groups and in our lives and seek to be positive currents helping our families and churches move toward good, rather than negative undercurrents which try to grag them toward bad
(Let us pray)
