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Sermon Reources available here...

                      

A Closer Look at No A man mentioned to his landlord about the tenants in the apartment over his. “Many a night they stamp on the floor and make a huge racket almost until midnight.” When the landlord asked if it bothered him, he replied, “Not really, I'm usually up practicing my saxophone till about that time most every night anyway.”

It's possible to become so self-centered that we don't realize the problem we're complaining about in others is actually caused by us! Before complaining about how someone is treating us or how his or her bad habits are affecting us, we should first take a long hard look in the mirror.In last week’s sermon we looked at the temptation of Jesus and the three things He said no to. All of these serve as a model to Christ followers. In short He calls us to abandon the idea of self-gratification, self-promotion and even self-induced power.

While the Bible clearly teaches in many place that we should learn to control these issues in our lives there is also positive result that occurs when you model your life after JesusLove is the ultimate reason that we learn to say no.

There are at three reasons we say no to ourselves that I want to look at with you today.

1. People who say no to self learn to not run from suffering.

“He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that He must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me Satan!” He said. “You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”Then He called the crowd to Him along with His disciples and said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whosoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whosoever loses his life for me and the gospel will save it.” Mark 8:31-35.

I think of all the subjects I have taught on since coming here the idea that people suffer would have to be the most often mentioned. The fact is that we will suffer. Christ following does not spare you from the things in life that come our way. I am afraid that we spend a great deal of time trying to “ward off evil spirits” so that we can have lives filled with wealth and health. Jesus never promised any such life.

We’ve bought into the teachings of the day.

Brennan Manning, in his book “The Wisdom of Tenderness” writes, “Recently several prominent Christian leaders opined that we’re in the midst of a great spiritual awakening, similar to those of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. What’s one to make of such buoyant optimism? At least this much can be said: when the best-selling Christian books of the past year celebrated self-centered prayer, end-time agitation, and fictitious conversations with God in the green room of Armageddon, we may assert confidently that a national spiritual awakening is not imminent, that silence and solitude are the first casualties of sappy spirituality, and that the superfluity of much useless information and knowledge has been given pride of place over wisdom and personal authenticity.”

Look more closely at the exchange of words between Jesus and Peter. Peter was rebuking the Lord for saying that He was going to have to suffer and die. At least Peter had enough sense to know that if you’re going to rebuke God you ought to take him aside! Jesus sharply responds to Peter with the startling words, “You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” We must be very careful to not allow ourselves to buy into the concept that godly people don’t suffer. Sometimes we say no to ourselves in order to suffer as we lay out our lives for others.

“When Robertson McQuilken resigned his university presidency to care for his wife, friends urged him, ‘Muriel doesn’t know you anymore, doesn’t know anything, really, so it’s time to put her in a nursing home and get on with life.’ When a student asked Robertson if he ever tired of caring for Muriel, he replied:

‘Tired? Every night. That’s why I go to bed.’

‘No, I mean tired of . . .’ and she tilted her head toward Muriel, who sat silently in her wheelchair, her vacant eyes saying, ‘No one at home just now.’

‘Why, no, I don’t get tired. I love to care for her. She’s my precious.’

Robertson chose love over self-fulfillment. However, many people end a relationship if it isn’t meeting their needs.”

2. People who say no to self love to serve.

“’My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Abba, Father,’ Jesus says, ‘everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.’” Mark 14:34-36

This is Memorial Day weekend and we pause to remember those people who said no to themselves in order to serve others. They gave the last full measure of devotion.

Many experts predicted that today’s generation of young people would not be able to fight in the Iraqi conflict. We witnessed bravery and self-sacrifice right across our television screens.

Pat Tillman Turned down an NFL contract with the Cardinals for 3.6 million to join the Army Rangers after September 11, 2001. When he witnessed the falling towers he made up his mind to join his brother who was already a Ranger. Both of them have served in Afghanistan and Iraq. Tillman now makes about 1500.00 a month.

Jesus is our ultimate model of saying no to what He was feeling in order to bring us salvation.

Robertson McQuilkin attended a workshop one day in where an expert told the listeners that there were only two reasons people keep a family member at home rather than in a nursing facility. Of course Robertson had chosen to stay home and take care of his wife but he listened as the young lady share that the only two reasons were economic necessity and guilt. He engaged her in conversation afterward and tried to elicit some other possible motives. She insisted that there were only two. Finally he asked, “What about love?” “Oh,” she replied, “We put that under guilt.”

Have we sunken so far as a nation and culture that are only motive for serving others is guilt?

God is calling us to do His work. He has always looked for a people who will serve Him and others out of love.

We are called to do the same thing. As a church we are being called to respond to this community. It will mean saying no to yourself in some areas if you really believe that we are here to share the gospel.

3. People who say no to self live without the need to save themselves.

“Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, ‘You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!’ In the same way, the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. ‘He saved others,’ they said, ‘but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” Matthew 27:39-43

There will be times when because you say no to self you will be ridiculed or belittled by others.

You may be called on to do things for that will not match the standards that are set by the culture we live in.

In God’s kingdom things are very different.

Less is more.
Simplicity is celebrated more than complexity.
Money is not the ultimate goal.
The way up is down.

In fact we must realize that there is a higher goal than any we can achieve on this earth. It is illustrated in the following story.

“Some years ago Daniel Curry, a Methodist circuit rider, lost his way on the Nebraska prairies. The night came. It was too late to go much further. Curry dismounted, unsaddled and hobbled his horse, built a little fire, cooked the little supper he wanted, arranged his saddle blanket and saddle, and prepared to sleep. By the light of the fire he read his Bible, lifted his heart and soul to God in prayer, stretched out on the blanket, pillowed his head on the saddle, and slept. He dreamed that he died and that his soul knocked on the pearly gates of glory. The angel opened the gates and asked his name and reason for being there.

‘My name is Daniel Curry,’ answered the preacher. ‘I have come to claim the mansion in the sky that Jesus promised me years ago.’

The angel leafed the pages of a book on the table by his side. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said, ‘but your name is not in this book. There is no place for you in heaven.’

‘I don’t care whether my name is in your book or not,’ spoke Curry. ‘I know it is in the Lamb’s Book of Life, and I am coming into heaven.’

‘Do you want to argue it out with God?’ asked the angel.

‘No,’ said Curry, ‘not unless I have to. But if you will not let me in any other way, take me to God.’

The angel stepped to Curry’s side, and with a rush, soared into the air carrying Curry with him. On and on flew the angel with the speed of thought. Curry kept his eyes open against the rushing wind. Suddenly he began to see a blazing, brilliant light, as of a thousand suns rolled into one. It blinded him. He closed his eyes to the glare. The angel sped for the very heart of that illumination. Suddenly he stopped and gently lowered himself and Curry to the pavement. The preacher looked down. He was standing on something that resembled crystal glass. He looked up. Curry was stricken with terror. He was face to face with God. His knees gave way and he lay down on the ground. From the figure on the throne came a voice—stern, clear, solemn: “Who are you and what do you want?”

Curry tried to rise, tried to speak, but fear had entered into his very bones. He could neither move nor say a word. Again came the voice: ‘Who are you? What are you doing here?’Unnamable dread, horrible fear took possession of Curry’s soul. His strength was gone. His mind refused to work. He could not speak. Again came the voice. ‘Speak. Who are you? What do you want?’

Then there came the sound of sandaled feet, the soft murmur of cloth rubbing against cloth. Someone came to his side, bent over him, lifted him to his feet. An arm stole across his shoulders. He looked over and saw a hand with a diamond-shaped scar. From the majestic figure on the throne came the repeated question: ‘Who are you? What are you dong here? What do you want?’

The figure at Curry’s side spoke, gently as the summer breeze, sweetly as the lullaby of a mother to sleeping child. The words flowed up: ‘Father, this is Daniel Curry. Whatever sins he has committed, whatever transgressions may blot his record, whatever iniquities may stain his past, charge them all to Me. Daniel Curry confessed Me before men, and lived for Me and for others, and I am now confessing him before You, my Father in heaven.’”

2003/05/25