N. T. Wright tells the story of trying to prepare for a hiking and camping trip. He went to an outfitter who took him around the store showing him everything he would need. The salesman recommended a good sleeping bag and a durable tent. He sold him a very good pair of hiking shoes. He convinced him he needed a proper stove and cooking kit. He piled things at the counter like maps, a flashlight, knife, and first-aid kit. He sold him all the packaged food he would need.
On they went through the whole store. The last thing he sold him was a backpack to carry all the stuff. In the pack they placed all the things he had bought for the trip. It was so heavy he couldn't pick it up. As it sat on the counter, he sort of backed up to it and placed his arms through the straps. As he was staggering out the door he happened to ask the man who sold him all the stuff, "What sort of vacations do you have, then? Where do you go?"
The man retorted, "Oh, I just go to the seaside. Bad back. Can't carry stuff like that."
Jesus' words came to his mind as he stumbled with all his gear toward his car: "They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them."
So here the Pharisees were, telling people all the things they needed to take on their spiritual journey and piling them on their backs, and all the while they were not carrying the pack themselves. They were haughty and proud and held people to obeying laws that they themselves did not obey. They did not obey them because they were above the law. The rules were for the common people, the little people. They could cheat because they weren't like everybody else. They owned the camping supply store and could tell everyone else what they needed, while they avoided wooded trails and lay at the seashore. Jesus says, "Do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach."
In Jesus’ day they had the Pharisees who could tell you everything you need to be obedient and in line with God, but couldn’t be more off track.
Today, we have all kinds of people, companies, clubs, groups, telling us what we need to be successful . . . and some of it is right on target for a certain area of life. Weightwatchers has proven to be consistently good at getting millions back to target weight . . .
You can find a great financial planner who will help you determine your money won’t run out before you do.
The company Crest has the solution for you to be able to keep your teeth in your mouth all the days of your life.
On and on we could go . . . and all these things are legitimate concerns . . .
But, there is only ONE place to find the solution that will change your life and your eternity! . . . In God’s Word!
There are three changes that come about when God is in it! And, seeing as He created the world and all that is in it, I think it is safe to say, when God is at work in your world, He turns your world RIGHT SIDE UP!
1. He SCATTERS the PROUD in the plans of their hearts!
a. Could be seen as the MORAL REVOLUTION in mankind!
Listen to this and see if this politician wouldn’t be one worth voting for . . . "We have been the receipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prospertiy; we have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us."
Now, that sounds like someone we could rally around, doesn’t it! He sees it . . . how God should be woven into the very existence of our society . . . and, where the credit should go.
For that reason he has no hope of being elected in today’s environment . . .
Well, that, and he has been dead for 150 years . . . those were the words of a speech made in 1863, by President Abraham Lincoln.
b. Christianity is the DEATH of PRIDE!
i. It’s NO LONGER ABOUT ME and what I want.
ii. It’s ABOUT GOD and what He wants!
c. When God enters in,
i. First we SEE GOD
ii. Then we SEE OURSELVES
1. IN LIGHT of the presence of God!
2 Corinthians 3:17-18
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
d. The revelation of God and oneself is the ultimate DEATH BLOW to PRIDE!
2. He CASTS DOWN the MIGHTY, and EXALTS the HUMBLE!
a. Could be seen as the SOCIAL REVOLUTION in mankind!
b. Christianity PUTS AN END to the WORLD’s LABELS and PRESTIGE.
Story has it that in the 16th century there was a wandering scholar by the name of Muret. He was the foremost scholar in speaking, interpreting and writing Latin in his day. He made such an impact in the Latin language in his day that his name was changed to Muretas, in recognition of his accomplishments.
He was also very poor, because he saw no value in money, or the things money could buy. As a result, he wandered from place to place, and was often mistaken as a vagabond.
In one Italian town he became sick. He was so sick that he was taken to the hospital. While lying in the hospital bed, a couple of his attending physicians stood off in the corner, conversing, trying to figure out what to do with him. To them he looked like a poor, worthless, wanderer, hardly worth their time in trying to mend.
In fact, one of the doctors, speaking in Latin so the patient wouldn’t be able to understand him, suggested that since he was just a worthless wanderer they ought to forgo the treatment to make him better, and instead, use him for medical experiments.
He looked up, and in far better Latin than any of them could speak, said, “Call no man worthless for whom Christ has died!”
c. The LIFE of ANY MAN is worth the DEATH of JESUS CHRIST on the CROSS!
i. No matter . . .
1. What their PAST holds
2. Or, what their CLOTHES look like
3. Or, how many TATTOOS and BODY PIERCINGS they have
4. No matter if they STINK so bad you gag when you hug them!
5. No matter the CONTENTS of their PORTFOLIO!
3. He has FILLED those who are HUNGRY, and SENT the RICH AWAY EMPTY!
An elderly man was desperately ill. Knowing the time for his departure was near, he called for his closest friends to come see him one last time. Attending him were his doctor, his pastor and his business manager.
The old man said, “I know you can’t take it with you, but who knows for sure? What if the experts are mistaken? I want to account for all possibilities. So I’m giving you each an envelope containing $100,000. When I die, I want you each to slip the envelope in my jacket pocket at the funeral service. Then, if I do need money in the life to come, I’ll be ready. And I’m giving the envelopes to you because you are my most trusted friends.”
Shortly thereafter, the man did die. Each of his three friends was seen slipping something into the deceased’s coat pocket as he walked up to the casket to pay his final respects.
Following the service, while these friends were visiting with each other, the doctor, with a sheepish look on his face, said, “Guys, I have a confession to make. You know with the cost of medicine today, I don’t make that much money. The hospital is desperate for funds. We can’t even replace the CAT scan machine that’s broken down. So, I took $20,000 for the new CAT scan and put the rest in the coffin.”
The minister cleared his throat and looked down at his shoes. He said, “I, too, have a confession to make. As you know, our church is seriously overburdened by the needs of the homeless.
I couldn’t just see burying that money. So, in hopes of helping the homeless, I took $50,000 out of the envelope and put the rest in his pocket.”
Looking sternly at the doctor and the minister, the businessman exclaimed, “I can’t believe what I’m hearing. I am astonished and deeply disappointed that you would treat a solemn trust so casually. He was our friend. I want you to know that I placed in his casket my personal check for the full $100,000.”
a. Could be seen as the ECONOMIC REVOLUTION in mankind!
b. Our society is built around AMASSING as much as we can get.
c. When God enters in NO MAN DARES have TOO MUCH while his BROTHER HAS TOO LITTLE!
d. When God enters in we learn that He BLESSES us so that we can BLESS OTHERS!
i. It NEVER STARTS with us . . .
ii. And, it should NEVER END with us!
During Superbowl XXXVII, FedEx ran a commercial that spoofed the movie Castaway, in which Tom Hanks played a FedEx worker whose company plane went down, stranding him on a desert island for years. Looking like the bedraggled Hanks in the movie, the FedEx employee in the commercial goes up to the door of a suburban home, package in hand.
When the lady comes to the door, he explains that he survived five years on a deserted island, and during that whole time he kept this package in order to deliver it to her. She gives a simple, "Thank you."
But he is curious about what is in the package that he has been protecting for years. He says, "If I may ask, what was in that package after all?"
She opens it and shows him the contents, saying, "Oh, nothing really. Just a satellite telephone, a global positioning device, a compass, a water purifier, and some seeds."
APPLICATION: When we find God we discover the order of things; what is important, and what is not. What the world calls normal is UP-SIDE-DOWN in the Christian’s LIFE! As we examine our lives, we need to ask ourselves, “Do I feel OUT of PLACE in this world? Because you should!
OUTLINE:
“Living In An Up-Side-Down World!”
Luke 1:46-56
When God is at work in your world, He turns your world R_____ S_____ U__!
1. He S_______________ the P_____________ in the plans of their hearts!
a. Could be seen as the M________ R______________ in mankind!
b. Christianity is the D_________ of P___________!
i. It’s N____ L_________ A_______ M___ and what I want.
ii. It’s A_________ G_______ and what He wants!
c. When God enters in,
i. First we S_____ G_____
ii. Then we S_______ O______________
1. I__ L____________ of the presence of God!
d. The revelation of God and oneself is the ultimate DEATH BLOW to PRIDE!
2. He C______ D______ the M________, and E_______ the H__________!
a. Could be seen as the S_________ R______________ in mankind!
b. Christianity P___ A___ E____ to the W_________’s L_______ and P____________.
c. The L_______ of A_____ M______ is worth the D_______ of J__________ C_________ on the C_________!
3. He has F_________ those who are H________, and S____ the R____ A________ E__________!
a. Could be seen as the E___________ R____________ in mankind!
b. Our society is built around A___________ as much as we can get.
c. When God enters in N___ M_____ D______ have T____ M______ while his B___________ H_____ T____ L__________!
d. When God enters in we learn that He B____________ us so that we can B________ O___________!
i. It N________________ S____________ with us . . .
ii. And, it should N__________ E_____ with us!
APPLICATION: When we find God we discover the order of things; what is important, and what is not. What the world calls normal is U___-S_____-D_______ in the Christian’s LIFE! As we examine our lives, we need to ask ourselves, “Do I feel O________ of P___________ in this world? Because you should!
