Dakota Community Church
April 5, 2009
When the Crowd Turns
John 12:12-16
The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,
"Hosanna!"
"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
"Blessed is the King of Israel!" Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it, as it is written,
"Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt."
At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him.
As Jesus makes His triumphal entry into Jerusalem and the crowds embrace Him and celebrate His coming I can’t help but wonder what He must have thought of their adoring cries, knowing that many of the same voices would soon be raised against Him.
Life is good when the masses are behind us, when their cheering approval is ringing in our ears; but what about when we find our message has fallen out of vogue? What are we to do when the cries turn from “Hosanna!” to “Crucify”?
It seems that western civilization is increasingly anti-Christian.
Read articles on suspended Nurse, British Airways flight attendant, and de-baptism.
What happens when the crowd turns against us?
Marginal believers waiver, there is no social encouragement to remain in the faith.
Church attendance declines, offerings decrease, workers become overburdened from carrying too much of the load.
Leaders begin to look for innovational ways to attract followers. This doesn’t sound like a bad thing but it really is.
1. The audience is not sovereign.
In the book “Marketing the Church”; which I read while still a youth pastor in the early 1990’s, George Barna declares that “The audience, not the message is sovereign.”
This incorrect assertion has resulted in a kind of people driven ministry orientation that has drastically undercut the strength of the Body of Christ.
Rather than leading based on the Word of the gospel we have reduced our churches to entertainment centres that cater to demanding baby Christians that never grow up and continually hold leadership hostage to their whining whims and tantrums.
This method cultivates a finicky membership that insists upon hearing myths rather than hard truth.
Tell me what I want to hear, tickle my ears, make me happy or I will find someone else who will.
Ironically this is the very thing Paul warned Timothy about in the early days of his ministry.
2Timothy 4:1-3
In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
When the message falls out of vogue we are not to alter it.
We are to preach the word in every season, you are to be fed the Word in every season.
I often feel the need to apologize for including so much scripture in my messages because there is an almost tangible pressure to entertain and amuse.
Recently Margaret came up after a service and in her lovely accent rebuked me, “You know you shouldn’t apologize for using the scriptures, it’s the scriptures that feed the people.”
How true and how sad on my part.
The gospel does not need a warm up act, it does not need help, it is a universal message with universal appeal and when people reject it they do so because they are sinners and they do not want to come into the light.
This crowd pleasing mentality of ministry has resulted in wave after wave of Christian ministry fads that drain resources and keep us locked in a consumer mentality requiring the latest style be implemented or risk losing the audience.
Just to name a few: Toronto Blessing, Promise Keepers, Seeker Sensitive, Purpose Driven, Emergent, Left behind, Passion of the Christ, Jabez, Extreme Prophetic, Lakeland Revival…
What is supposed to be happening in church?
Ephesians 4:11-15
It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.
We need to get back to preaching the gospel, to teaching the Word, so that the Body will mature past this perpetual infancy.
Hebrews 4:9-13
There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
2. The message is alive with power.
For the word of God is living and active.
The King James says “quick and powerful” – The Word of God is alive with power!
It has the ability within itself to bring life to the spiritually dead. When were you first brought to life by the Word of God, when was the first time you were affected by it power when it was just you and your Bible? For me it was when my mom had challenged me to read the New Testament. I wasn’t going to church with the family yet but I had already begun to question my positions.
Matthew 5:11-12
"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
I was laying on the bottom bunk in the room I shared with Chris and as I read those words my heart melted and I wept with the realization that my life was in His hands and I would follow wherever He lead me.
John 6:63
The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.
1 Peter 1:23
For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.
James 1:18
He chose to give us birth through the word of truth that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
Proverbs 6:22-23
When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you. For these commands are a lamp, this teaching is a light
2 Timothy 3:16-17
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
No other book has that effect. It rebukes us. It chastens us. It comforts us. It guides us and gives light to our path. It preaches to us. It restrains our foot from evil. It frowns on us when we sin. It warms our hearts with assurance. It encourages us with its promises. It stimulates our faith. It builds us up. It ministers to our every need. It is alive and dynamic.
John 6:68
Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
Mark 13:31
Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
Isaiah 40:8
The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever."
Psalm 119:89
Your word, O LORD, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens.
1 Peter 1:24-25
"All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever." And this is the word that was preached to you.
We don’t have to make it come alive. The Word of God is alive and powerful!
The gospel doesn’t need my help, it doesn’t need me to be witty or cute, to tell jokes and personal illustrations to help it along.
Tell all your friends, “Come on down to Dakota because our preacher isn’t that sharp or funny, he’s not good looking and he isn’t going to make it on the stand up circuit - but baby he’s opening the bible and feeding us with the word of truth.”
It’s the gospel that opens hearts, it’s the gospel that brings conviction of sin, it’s the gospel that brings repentance and faith, and it’s the gospel that we need to hear and receive whether it’s in season or not.
3. The gospel pierces and penetrates.
Hebrews 4:9-13
There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
Not only is the message alive and powerful; it pierces and penetrates the hardest of hearts.
The word of God is sharp no matter which way it makes contact.
Where did we get the idea that we need to soften them up?
What made us think that special music or dramas would be more penetrating than the word itself?
There’s a story in the biography of George Whitefield about a man named Thorpe, who was a bitter opponent of everything that is holy.
George Whitefield had severely crossed eyes, and these guys used to refer to him as “Dr. Squintum.” They called their little gang “The Hell-Fire Club,” and they disrupted meetings, mocked Whitefield on the streets and in public places, and generally tried to make his ministry a reproach in their community.
Thorpe got one of Whitefield’s published sermons and took it to the local pub, where the “Hell-Fire Club” was gathered to drink together and make sport of Whitefield.
Thorpe was apparently pretty good at doing impressions, and he had all Whitefield’s mannerisms and gestures down pat. So he stood in the center of this pub and crossed his eyes and began to deliver Whitefield’s sermon. In the middle of the sermon he came to:
Luke 13:3
I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.
The Word of God pierced his heart, and he suddenly stopped and sat down, trembling and broken-hearted. Right then and there, he confessed the truth of the gospel and gave his heart to Christ. His aim was to taunt and ridicule, but he accidentally converted himself!
What are we to do when the gospel is out of vogue?
What do we do when the masses are staying away in droves?
What do we do when the shouts of Hosanna become demands to Crucify?
We preach Christ crucified!
We preach the repentance and the forgiveness of sins.
We preach the living, powerful, penetrating Word of God which always accomplishes what it is supposed to.
Sources:
www.christianglobe.com
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090330/lf_afp/lifestylebritainreligionatheismfeature
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/4537452/Nurse-Caroline-Petrie-I-will-continue-praying-for-patients.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-410299/Christian-BA-employee-legal-action-suspension-wearing-cross.html
http://www.fightingforthefaith.com/page/2/ - March 16, 2009 edition
“Programs Get Your Programs: Exposing the Flaws of a Fad-Driven Church” by Phil Johnson
“Spurgeon’s Sermon Illustrations” By Charles Haddon Spurgeon, David Otis Fuller page:25
PowerPoint available (Free of charge) on request dcormie@mts.net
