January 29, 2006

Lesson: Matthew 23.37-39

Sermon Title: Home Alone

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INTRODUCTION:

Perhaps we ought to being this morning with a little humor.

Fridge Faith (1)

A young boy in kindergarten loved to practice spelling with magnetic letters on the refrigerator: cat, dog, dad, and mom were proudly displayed for all to see.

One morning while getting ready for the day, the boy bounded into the room with his arms outstretched. In his hands were three magnetic letters: G-O-D.

"Look what I spelled, Mom!" the boy exclaimed, a proud smile on his face.

"That's wonderful!" she praised him. "Now go put them on the fridge so Dad can see when he gets home tonight."

Obviously, Sunday School was having an impact, the mother thought, happily.

Just then, a little voice called from the kitchen. "Mom? How do you spell zilla?" (As in Godzilla!)

  1. Can you feel it? Can you see it?

    1. What is it that you ought to feel?

      1. Do you feel the energy?

      2. Do you feel the compassionate love?

      3. Do you feel the tender mercy?

      4. Do you sense the helpless desire?

    2. Can you see him?

      1. He's a man, but more than a man!

      2. He is light, not darkness.

      3. He is truth, not tradition.

      4. He is life, not death.

    3. He has the power!

    4. To put it in the vernacular, "He's the Man!"

      1. He's healed the sick!

      2. He's opened the eyes of the blind!

      3. He's unstopped the ears of the deaf!

      4. He's raised the dead!

      5. He's created hope and destroyed despair!

  2. So there he stands helpless to prevent disaster

    1. Helpless?

    2. Yes! Helpless?

    3. And it here that we ought to pay strict attention.

    4. Because, we are not immune from the same kinds of attitudinal, theological, and religious diseases that affected the scribes and Pharisees.

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MAIN BODY:

  1. As he stands gazing at Jerusalem and begins a lament that reverberates with grief and desire.

    1. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem.

      1. It is not only Jerusalem.

      2. It is all the, then current, territory of Israel with all its inhabitants, scribes, Pharisees, and people alike.

    2. Jerusalem is the representative of all those who kill the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!

      1. Remember what we read last Sunday in Matthew 23:29-36 (NRSV)?

29"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous, 30and you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' 31Thus you testify against yourselves that you are descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 32Fill up, then, the measure of your ancestors. 33You snakes, you brood of vipers! How can you escape being sentenced to hell? 34Therefore I send you prophets, sages, and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town, 35so that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. 36Truly I tell you, all this will come upon this generation.

        1. Prophets and messengers were sent and they were mistreated.

        2. Apostles, Prophets, and messengers will be sent again and they will also be maligned, mistreated, stoned and executed.

      1. This people are in character and they are ridged in their attitude and determined in their course of action.

    1. How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings,

      1. This is an old illusion to the love, protecting care, and benefit of a relationship with Jehovah.

Psalm 17:8 (NRSV)

8 Guard me as the apple of the eye;
    hide me in the shadow of your wings,

Psalm 36:7 (NRSV)

7 How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
    All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

Psalm 57:1 (NRSV)

1 Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me,
    for in you my soul takes refuge;
in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge,
    until the destroying storms pass by.

Psalm 91:4 (NRSV)

4 he will cover you with his pinions,
    and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.

Malachi 4:2 (NRSV)

2But for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.

      1. Who would not to take advantage of these remarkable blessings.

      2. How does a hen gather her brood under her wings?

        1. She does not go running about trying to chase them into a circle.

        2. She clucks for her chicks and they come running.

The following beautiful Greek epigram, taken from the Anthologia, affords a very fine illustration of this text.

Beneath her fostering wing the HEN defends
Her darling offspring, while the snow descends;
Throughout the winter's day unmoved defies
The chilling fleeces and inclement skies;
Till, vanquish'd by the cold and piercing blast,
True to her charge, she perishes at last!
O Fame! to hell this fowl's affection bear;
Tell it to Progne and Medea there:--
To mothers such as those the tale unfold,
And let them blush to hear the story told!--
T. G.

        1. As Adam Clark puts it: (2)

"This epigram contains a happy illustration, not only of our Lord's simile, but also of his own conduct. How long had these thankless and unholy people been the objects of his tenderest cares! For more than 2000 years, they engrossed the most peculiar regards of the most beneficent Providence; and during the three years of our Lord's public ministry, his preaching and miracles had but one object and aim, the instruction and salvation of this thoughtless and disobedient people. For their sakes, he who was rich became poor, that they through his poverty might be rich:--for their sakes, he made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross! HE died, that THEY might not perish, but have everlasting life."

      1. Jesus came into the world to save.

        1. A Paul writes in 1 Timothy 1:12-15 (NRSV)

12I am grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because he judged me faithful and appointed me to his service, 13even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, 14and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 15The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners--of whom I am the foremost.

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  1. And you were not willing!

    1. The exercise of force is contrary to the principles of God's government.

      1. Jesus cannot save Jerusalem.

      2. He cannot force the people to accept him.

      3. He cannot coerce the people into doing what is necessary to prevent the destruction of the temple.

      4. In the February Newsletter I included in "Thoughts from here and there" an illustration.

        1. It was attributed to "the words inscribed on the tomb of an Anglican bishop in Westminster Abby (1100 A.D.)".

        2. It is important to understand that there was no Anglican Church in 1100 A.D. It was not formally organized until 1562 A.D.

        3. It makes no difference. The thoughts of the bishop are significant and worth contemplating.

"When I was young and free and my imagination had no limits, I dreamed of changing the world. As I grew older and wiser, I discovered that the world would not change, so I shortened my sights somewhat and decided to change only my country, But it, too, seemed immovable. As I grew into my twilight years, in one last desperate attempt, I settled for changing only my family, those closest to me, but alas, they would have none of it. And now as I lie on my deathbed, I suddenly realize: If only I had changed myself first, then by example I would have changed my family. From their inspiration and encouragement, I would then have been able to better my country and, who knows, I may have even changed the world."

        1. I cannot put God into your head!

        2. I cannot put Jesus in your heart!

        3. I cannot make you love God, yourself, or any other person.

      1. Jesus cannot walk into Jerusalem and take over, as much as he might have liked to do that.

        1. It is not a matter of cohesion.

        2. It is a matter of choice.

        3. Their choice has been made.

  1. Because their choice has been made Jesus adds: 38See, your house is left to you, desolate.

    1. When Jesus was twelve years old, his parents found him, after three days, sitting in the temple among the teachers listening to them and asking them questions.

      1. In response to his parents expressions of concern Jesus replied in Luke 2:49 (NRSV)

49He said to them, "Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?"

      1. Jesus called the house, my "Father's house."

    1. Later at the time of the cleansing of the temple Jesus would declare It was his house.

      1. Mark records it this way in Mark 11:17 (NRSV):

17He was teaching and saying, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations'? But you have made it a den of robbers."

      1. It had been his house through apostasy and neglect for 2000 years.

        1. It is no longer his house.

        2. They do not want him there.

        3. He can do nothing to change the situation.

    1. It will be left desolate.

      1. They will be alone.

      2. As I was preparing this sermon I thought of alternative sermon titles:

        1. "My House Is Now Your House."

        2. "It's Not My House Anymore."

        3. "Deserters Deserve Devastation."

        4. "Living in Desolation."

        5. "With Deepest Regrets."

        6. "Wayward Chicks Eaten by Roman Eagles."

        7. "The Lonely Hen."

        8. "Deliberate Decisions Devastating."

      3. I chose the sermon title "Home Alone."

        1. Why Home Alone?

        2. What I was thinking of was the movie Home Alone released in 1990

Plot Outline: 8-year-old Kevin McAllister, played by Macaulay Culkin is accidentally left behind when his family takes off for a vacation in France over the holiday season. Once he realizes they've left him home by himself, Kevin learns to fend for himself, and eventually has to protect his house against bumbling burglars Harry and Marv, who are planning to rob every house in Kevin's suburban Chicago neighborhood. (3)

        1. As I look back on the development of this sermon title, I wish I had done a better job.

      1. There is another version of home alone that ought to be taken very seriously for the implications that it has for our own personal security and future.

        1. We can also be home alone.

        2. We can also attempt to protect ourselves against the bumbling burglars, Harry and Marv, and what they represent.

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  1. Jesus concludes this section with the words: 39For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.'"

    1. You will not see me again until I come again.

      1. In Matthew 26:57-64 (NRSV): 57Those who had arrested Jesus took him to Caiaphas the high priest, in whose house the scribes and the elders had gathered.

        1. 63...Then the high priest said to him, "I put you under oath before the living God, tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God."

        2. 64Jesus said to him, "You have said so. But I tell you,

From now on you will see the Son of Man
     seated at the right hand of Power
     and coming on the clouds of heaven."

      1. That may be a traumatic time for the scribes and Pharisees and for all that are not ready for his appearing.

        1. This is well described in Revelation 6:12-17 (NRSV) under the sixth seal:

12When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and there came a great earthquake; the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, 13and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree drops its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. 14The sky vanished like a scroll rolling itself up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. 15Then the kings of the earth and the magnates and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, 16calling to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb; 17for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?"

    1. Who is able to stand?

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CONCLUSION

  1. All will be enabled to stand who take refuge under the wings of Jesus Christ.

    1. This is the thought of that great old song "Under His Wings."

    2. William O. Cushing, circa 1896, based his poem on the words of Psalm 17.8

      1. "Hide me under the shadow of Thy wings." Psalm 17:8

Under His wings I am safely abiding,
Though the night deepens and tempests are wild,
Still I can trust Him; I know He will keep me,
He has redeemed me, and I am His child.

Under His wings, what a refuge in sorrow!
How the heart yearningly turns to His rest!
Often when earth has no balm for my healing,
There I find comfort, and there I am blessed.

Under His wings, oh, what precious enjoyment!
There will I hide till life's trials are o'er;
Sheltered, protected, no evil can harm me,
Resting in Jesus, I'm safe evermore.

      1. The refrain is:

Under His wings, under His wings,
Who from His love can sever?
Under His wings my soul shall abide,
Safely abide forever.

  1. The question for each of us this morning is: Under whose wings are we abiding?

    1. Under the wings of Jesus you and I are safe evermore.

    2. He cannot force us to this place of refuge.

    3. He calls like the clucking hen.

    4. We can only choose to respond so that we may find rest and safety.

Amen!

1. Retrieved from http://graceland.gentle.org/bag/page/8/

2. Adam Clarkes Commentary on the New Testament. First Edition. Copyright: Electronic STEP Files Copyright © 1999, Parsons Technology, Inc. Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

3. Summary written by Todd Baldridge Retrieved from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099785/plotsummary

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