The Day The Earth Stood Still

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.