The Tinkling Of The Bells!

Sermon: “The tinkling of the bells!”(Topical)

Text: Seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God; let us hold fast [our] profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as [we are, yet] without sin. Hebrews 4: 14-15

PRAYER

One of the things that fascinate me so about the human experience, is the need for acceptance. In our everyday life’s we have this overwhelming urge to be approved by the people we come in contact with.

In school we must do our best in academics or we would be looked upon with unfavorable eyes, both from our peers and professors.

At the work place we must act with the utmost dignity and respect, or our fellow workers and employers would cast a cloud of division from among us.

In our homes we must keep a spirit of unity and happiness so everyone approves of your ability to govern your home well; (i.e. the bills, the food on the table, the clothes, the unity among family, etc.)

Even in the house of God, we must govern ourselves accordingly in the presence of the saints, or we might find righteous indignation, division, and separation among the brethren.

In our everyday lives we seek after approval from people. We long for someone to let us know that they are our friends and they have our best interests at heart. We have a list of things that we do to win someone’s love and compassion.

1. We buy them presents.

2. We give them money “out of the blue”.

3. We take them around when they need to travel.

4. We give out Holiday cards.

5. We cook for them.

6. We baby-sit the children.

7. We clean for them.

8. We call them just to see how their doing.

And the list goes on and on of the multitude of good deeds we do to win someone’s approval. I’m sure many of you sitting here today can think of the many things you do to stay on the good side of your boss.

Many of you have a list of things you do to stay in good graces with your Pastor.

You have a list of things you do to make sure your fellow Elders, Deacons, Church officers, and members are happy.

Even when it comes to family members, we do our best to make sure the family stays together and loves one another. The saying goes that blood is thicker than water. The things we do to fit in to our own families.

Now when we take all these things into account, we have done our best to be approved of the people, and have built ourselves a good reputation, we begin to use this status to our advantage. We begin to think of all the people on our “good” list and distinguish whose button’s we can push to get ahead of the game of Life.

Now, there are many things we do in order to get the things we want from people.

1. In some cases we bribe our way into getting what we want.

2. In some cases we use our power of influence to get our way.

3. In other cases we use politics to get our way.

4. In some cases we use the dirt we have on someone to get our way. For those of you who may not know what that means, it means blackmail.

5. In other cases we use other people to get our way. That means we use a scapegoat or a pawn.

And the list goes on and on of the sometimes, backstabbing, backbiting, conniving, and mudslinging things we do to get ahead in life.

But this morning I want us to centralize our thoughts on the one thing that I feel is a good thing that we do, at times, in order to get what we want. I want us to consider the one act that we do in order to feel accepted and important in the circles we keep, so as to get ahead with the plans in our lives.

Let us tarry awhile at the act of NAME DROPPING!

Most, if not all of us, know what this is. We are acquainted with someone who may have a little influence or clout, and we drop there name in order to get what we need.

1. We use this persons name to get that JOB we want.

2. We use that name to get into the top schools we want.

3. We use their name to receive a service we would not normally get on our own merits.

4. We use their name to get stuff on discount or sometimes free, what we normally would have to pay full price.