Subjected to Violence
To watch the sermon Subjected to Violence | Matthew 11: 11-19
Download the Discussion Guide: Download
Download the 5 Day Devotional: Download
All right, well, good morning. Excited for today? We are continuing into our study on Matthew chapter 11. So just so that you guys can get ready, we are going to be in verses 11 through 18. That's Matthew 11, 11, 18.
So if you have your Bibles in your app or in your lap, come join us there. 400 years. 400 years of what had been called the silent years. From Malachi in around 430 BC till John the Baptist in about 20 BC from Malachi to Matthew was 400 years. And in that time, while it was silent was that not a single prophet had been heard of and not then the voice of God had not been heard or spouted directly through a messenger for 400 years.
Do you imagine that, like, 400 years is crazy? I have trouble using a toaster oven because it takes too long. I have trouble waiting for a six year old to finish a sentence. I'm buying a house right now. And 24 hours from putting in an offer to them saying, yes, we'll accept that.
It was the longest, most grueling time I've experienced lately. My first child was when my wife was in labor with him. It was 47 hours. That was intense. And I wasn't the one doing anything, just like bringing ice chips.
But that was a grueling 47, 400 years of nothing. We complain nowadays about somebody texting us and getting left on read. I'm usually the guilty party on the other side of that. Sorry to everybody in this room who texts me on a regular basis. I will get better, I hope.
400 years. The interesting thing is that this is a prophecy that was given to us in Amos, chapter 8, verse 11. It says that the days are coming, declares the Sovereign Lord. When I will send a famine through the land. Not a famine of food or thirst or water, but a famine of hearing the word of the Lord.
He gave them a prophecy to let them know that for some allotted point of time they would no longer be hearing the audible voice of God. Can you imagine that also being the last thing that one of the last things that you're left with is like, hey, I'm a ghost. You for a bit, like, we've been having these great conversations. It's been a relationship we've been working on, but I'm just not going to be there. And 400 years just thinking about, okay, well, what could we have done better?
He told us this was coming, but now we've got this thing that I have to think about of, like he told us. And then he left Us, like the guy in Jurassic Park. He's just not there anymore.
This doesn't mean that God wasn't moving, though obviously he was still moving through his community, but simply that until John appeared, breaking the silence as the forerunner of the Messiah, the living mouthpiece of God, the prophet was no longer to be found. The one that brought words of warning, encouragement, promise and direction to Israel had gone quiet. Yes, there were Pharisees and Sadducees, teachers and experts in the law. And what they could do is they could say, this is what he has said, this is why he said it, and this is why it's important.
But it's like reading somebody's diary of things that had happened. There was no current presence, no current word being spoken to these people for that pointed or that allotted time. And the difference is that when a prophet speaks, it also carries a divine audible authority, not just opinions. And what we've found out, reading about, if you've read the Bible at all about the Pharisees and Sadducees had some opinions about stuff worth their opinions. I'm not going to discredit them.
They were doing their very best with what they had for 400 years of silence and upkeep and anything like that. They're like, this is what has been working and we're going to make sure that we don't mess up again. But some opinions threw into that. All right, we're going to dive into our first verse here. So if you have your Bibles open and you're at Matthew 11:11.
Can I get a mm? All right, let's get into it. We'll read our first verse, Matthew 11:11. Truly, I tell you, among those born of women, greater than John the Baptist has appeared. But the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
Jesus just said, no one greater than John the Baptist has appeared, at least in the kingdom of heaven. But the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. He is not diminishing John in any way. He's just redefining what we look at as greatness. John stands at a pivoting point of Scripture.
Jesus makes this amazing claim that though among those that had been born of all time, until John the Baptist, no one greater had come. Of course, we can be a little defensive when we say, like, well, what about Noah? He walked with the Lord. That seems pretty great. I'm like, to me, that seems like he's a pretty amazing person.
What about Abraham, who walked before the Lord like he was in it, like, it's Abraham what about him? Surely Moses. What about King David? Jesus makes a bold claim and says that no one born of woman has been greater until John. John stands as the greatest figure.
He has pedigree, position and performance, born of a priestly family, called as a prophet and committed to a life of holiness. Yet the reason that he is the greatest is because he was the actual forerunner of Messiah. All the prophets prophesied up to the point of, there will be a guy that's going to say something, and then right after he says that Messiah will be here.
They aspired. They knew that was going to be the greatest time, that that was the greatest honor, to be the one, the prophet that is saying, here he is. So that is why John the Baptist was the greatest at that point, because he was the forerunner of our Messiah. Yet even with all this, Jesus says that the least in the kingdom is greater than John. And why is this?
Because the kingdom is no longer about pedigree or position. It's about presence and participation. With the king. It didn't matter who you were. It just mattered how close you were to him.
John lived at the edge of the kingdom, announcing what was to come. But even the newest, most unnoticed disciple now lived in a reality that John could only prophesy about.
Somebody that just came into the faith that dove in headfirst, that was caught up in this movement of the kingdom that we're going to talk about. That person had something that John could never have, and that was a life united with the king, living with Messiah.
John is the final and greatest figure of what we can see as the old covenant world. And I know that's a bold claim, but we're going to dive into this. John lived at the pivot. He could point to Jesus, but those who entered the kingdom now lived with Jesus.
He could declare that Messiah was near. But those who trust Jesus were actually near to him and participated with him in his life. John prepared the road, but he never walked into the kingdom. That was only fully possible after the death and resurrection of Christ and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
This was the beginning of a Jeremiah 31, 31 prophecy of the new covenant. When he prophesied, remember, we're looking at John the Baptist. He is a prophet of the Lord. He is the first one to show up in 400 years. We have all the prophecies up until Micah to point to him as the final prophet.
And it's saying in these prophecies leading up to what is going to be the kingdom that comes when there is A new messiah, that he is going to create a new covenant that is greater than the one. And unlike the one that was given to them in the Exodus.
And John the Baptist is at that pivot from what was to what is and what was coming. The kingdom is greater. The kingdom in it, greatness is measured by proximity to the king. So presence and participation replace pedigree and access replaces achievement.
As somebody that is really prideful about their own achievements, and I try not to be. I know that humility is a commandment and it's something that we should honor. So I try not to be. But I mean, my ego gets the best of me from time to time. But I have lived in moments of my life where the achievements that I've made, the achievements I've achieved, I don't know why my brain was thinking that, but the things that I've achieved are what define me.
I've done these great things. I can do this. I can do this. But as I mentioned last Saturday that there was a point in my ministry that even though I was working full time, international ministry chief minutes up to here, my relationship and my presence with the king was lower. And it wasn't until I lifted that and balanced it back out to where it should be, that's where the pivot made.
The pivot was changed. And that's how the kingdom is measured, is not by my achievements, but my access and proximity to the king.
A new believer fumbling forward in faith. A quiet disciple who simply trusts. A child who whispers a sincere prayer. These people live in a covenant John never experienced. Not because they're holier or wiser, but because they existed at the turning point and after the turning point of history, after the king has arrived, after redemption has been accomplished, and after the Spirit has been poured out.
Luke 18:16. Jesus calls the children to him and says that this is what the kingdom is made of, of children. A child with no resume, no reputation can surpass a prophet as great as John the Baptist, as greater than Isaiah, greater than Elijah. They can now surpass them. And it's simply because it's not about what you know, but about who you know.
Like you come in as a. And we're trying to force people. I grew up in a matter of faith, in a church experience where sometimes, and I don't know if you guys have experienced this before, but somebody would come in and the second they found out about Messiah and their life was changed, they'd be so on fire for it and people would kind of diminish that flame and that fire, because they're like, wait until you've kind of earned your credit as a Christian. When they've already had the credentials. They know who their Christ is.
But we're going to say, oh, but you need to learn this and you haven't read this book. And what about these prophecies that nobody really understands because even the scholars disagree on half of them. But we're going to expect somebody that walks in the faith to then earn their achievement when God is saying, it's not about what they know, it's about the fact that they know me. Now, greatness in the kingdom was not inherited, achieved, or earned. It is received.
It is relational, and it is rooted in the fact that you live on this side of the pivot. 1 Peter 1 talks about how the prophets were jealous of this time yet again. Fit in. First Peter. Love that book.
And somehow I can always work it in. First Peter talks about how the prophets would be jealous of what we have today.
So Jesus point becomes unmistakably clear. John was the greatest representation of what was the old covenant, the prophetic era, the era of anticipation. But anyone who belongs to Jesus is a part of what is the kingdom, the era of fulfillment, the age of God's presence dwelling within his people as he always wanted it to.
For this reason, you and I can be viewed as greater than the greatest.
Yet remember, humility is a thing. We can't be arrogant in that. Be like, I'm greater because I don't know anything at all. Like, still be humble in us. What's funny is that looking at this, we're only one verse in, we've got seven more verses to go.
This could be a whole sermon in itself. And you're like, some of you might be going like, okay, that's cool, I'm good with that. Like a 10 minute sermon. Let's go. I have leftovers at home.
I want to go eat. You know, like working on turkey for days. Okay, let's get in. I hope you guys are ready. It's going to get even crazier from here.
Let's strap in and let's read God's word. So we're going to pick back up Matthew, chapter 11, verses 12 and 13.
From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been suffering violence, and the violence have been seizing it by force for all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. This section gives us the title of today's teaching, which is subjected to violence, which first of all can give you two different outcomes. You can read that and be like, wow, I think that that's pretty. That's going to be pretty interesting. I wonder what they're going to unravel for us today.
Or you're gonna look at that and be like, maybe I should stay home. Like, that does not sound fun. And to be honest with you and truthful of who I am, looking at that title, I'd probably be in the second group. Be like, that's not my favorite thing. Okay.
But with that, I appreciate you guys that are all here. So either you're faithful or you just don't read the emails and saw what the title of the teaching was. Either way, I appreciate that you guys are here. And for everybody that's joining us online, I don't blame you. It's fine.
And I'm glad that you're watching with us today. When Jesus says the kingdom of heaven has been suffering violence and the violent have been seizing it by force, he's not describing persecution, bullying, or destruction. This is the confusing thing about this verse is that looking at that, it can be one of those verses that you get caught on for some reason. Like your faith can be rock solid. And then you read this and be like, violent and suffering violence and the violent.
Are you saying that we're going to be overcome by violence? Is that what the scripture is saying? No, it's describing a force. He is describing a shock wave that just hit the world from the moment that the kingdom arrived. The word violence there is pointing towards something that is vigorous, explosive, something unstoppable.
When you see a floodwater break through and that water is rushing through with a violent intensity, that's what this is referring to.
It's the language of an era breaking open, a holy intensity that was happening. It's the language of something breaking in with such strength that everything around it must respond. From the moment that John appeared in the wilderness announcing, repent for the kingdom of God is at hand, a spiritual collision, an act, a moment, a motion, a sweeping up force arrived, something began. Everything that was just hit a wall of its limitations, and it pivoted. Like Ross screaming in a stairwell, there was suddenly a need to pivot.
Some people listened, some people didn't. And the prophetic era reached its breaking point. Heaven's rule was now no longer a distant longing. It was a pressing force. The old order, the old era gave way.
The prophetic era reached its tipping point. And heaven's rule was no longer a distant hope. It was here and moving.
Luke 16:16 echoes this reality. When it also refers to this, and it says that the law and the prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached and everyone is pressing their way into it. The same word appears in both of those verses, one for pressing and one for suffering. Violence.
It's that force, a heavenly collision, a violent rush of what was or what was coming.
The picture isn't people attacking the kingdom, and it isn't describing rebels attacking heaven and storming heaven. It is describing the strength and ferocity of the kingdom rushing into earth.
These people had just experienced something that they hadn't experienced in such a long time. For 400 years, they had silence. And suddenly when God came in to start speaking to them again, he was screaming. It was everywhere. It was undeniable.
The truth was being poured out by different actions. We looked last week at the beginning of Matthew, chapter 11. It said that people were being healed. The blind see, and the gospel was being spread. It was happening.
It was just coming out all of the time, everywhere. And this force is what it was saying that they are experiencing and suffering a violence, and that the people that are getting caught up with it are taking it, are tangibly grasping onto everything that they can with that force and just holding on.
From John the Baptist till now, something so strong, so compelling, so mighty was unleashed that the people were drawn in with an urgency and intensity.
We don't casually step into the kingdom. We should be pulled into it, compelled into it. The force of the kingdom is not human aggression. It's divine momentum. And this is the thing that we can sometimes risk.
And I'm gonna say something here, but there's no other teaching elders here, so Brent can get to me later. But this is sometimes what we can do when we politicize our religion and our faith, we start saying, no, this is an act of aggression. You need to follow the king. When it's like, they should just see it happening and be like, I need to do that. They need to see a kingdom in action.
They don't need to be told why they need to do it or that something's going to happen. It's saying that this is a force that comes in so strong, so mighty, so incomprehensible that you have no force when you experience it, but to get caught up in it.
Micah 2:13 says this. And yet again, we're seeing from Micah, who is prophesying about the things to come, that the one who breaks open the way, this is the same. This is the Hebrew version of the Word for suffering, violence and pressing that we're seeing in these other two verses breaks open. The way will advance before them. They will break out, pass through the city gates, and leave by it.
The king will pass through before them. The Lord is their leader. The King, Christ Messiah, the King of our hearts, will walk and pass through before them. The Lord is their leader, and they will break out. So when Jesus says the violent take it by force, he isn't praising aggression.
He's describing the ones who were swept up in the kingdom. Momentum.
And this is also what we see in Paul's words in Romans 3, 21, 22. They came crashing in with the same force that Jesus described, says, but now, apart from the law, God's righteousness has been revealed, attested by the law and prophets. That is the righteousness of God through faithfulness in Jesus Christ to all who believe. Paul is saying the same thing. Jesus is showing the law and prophets weren't wrong.
They were witnesses. They were pointing forward, testifying ahead of time, setting the stage. The law carried weight. The prophets carried authority. They formed the framework of what we call our faith.
The expectation, the longing. And they proclaimed that it was coming. But once Jesus arrived, through the words of John, the kingdom stepped onto the scene with full force. There was a shift and a distinction. The righteousness we longed for is no longer accessed through the law's systems, its sacrifices, its shadows, or its symbols.
The law attested to it, but it could never produce it. The prophets announced it, but they could never embody it.
The belonging to Christ alone that belonged to Christ alone and arrived with the words of John the Baptist. The kingdom is advancing, and we have to ask ourselves, are we going to stand still in stubbornness, or are we going to be caught up in the force of what's happening around us?
Only three verses in crazy stuff I did not expect when looking at this verse for so much weight to be hidden in a little nugget of scripture. But it's crazy when you're least expecting it. God can point out to something amazing. All right, we're going to continue on with Matthew chapter 11, and we're going to start back at verse 13. And this is why, because verse 13 is a hinge verse for this.
Because what we just read about all of the violent being seizing it by force. For the law the prophets prophesied until John. That part right there is the hinge point to lead us to our next verse in 14. So starting at verse 13, it says for all the law and the prophets were prophesied until John and now he says something crazy. And if you're willing to accept it, he, john the Baptist is the Elijah who is to come.
Verse 15, let anyone who has ears listen.
The age of promise just became the age of fulfillment. Luke 1:17 explains that John would come in with the power, the authority and the strength of Elijah to make ready and prepare a people for their king, to prepare them for the Lord. John is not Elijah reincarnated, but he carries the mantle of Elijah. So prophetic, fire, reforming, courage, a call to repentance, kingdom, urgency. He is the forerunner that Malachi promised.
If you've ever done Passover, which we have our teaching Passover every year. So if you haven't, I encourage you to experience that next year with us. But if you ever have seen a table set up for Passover, there's a tradition within that. There's an open seat and a poured cup at the end of the table for Elijah. This is a cup of expectance that Elijah, who will come as prophesied, would bring with him and herald with him the Messiah and the return of the King.
And the King, our Messiah, our Christ.
It is even taught for little children to run up to the door. And it's cute. Don't get me wrong, I'm not much for traditions. I've talked about that before. But it's kind of cute when you get a bunch of like four year old kids running up to a door and they call for Elijah, beckoning for him, Elijah, are you there?
Because the Jews lived in an era, in a time where they were still expectant. And even though, as we read that the king would be walking amongst her mist, some of them missed it and they carried that through them. And that tradition is still alive today. To have this cup for Elijah, to have it poured out for someone that Jesus just said, if you're willing to accept it, has already come.
Bold claim. Don't argue with me. It's Jesus we're talking about right here. You can read the same words. I encourage you to.
He's saying that John the Baptist was the Elijah who is to come. So that era of expectation, he's like, what are you expecting anymore? It's already happened. It's like when you go somewhere with your kids and they're like, oh, well, what's next? We're just, what are we doing after this?
When you get to a destination, like, trying to plot out the day, it's like, we just got to the store. Like, if you want anything more fun, stop asking. We got to our plan. This is the destination.
He's looking at them saying that it's already come. If you're willing to accept it, the role has already been fulfilled. Elijah has come in John and our Messiah, he herald, he foreran. I think that's proper English. I was homeschooled.
He foreran the Messiah. The seat at the Passover table symbolizes anticipation. John's ministry was the arrival, and Jesus himself is the fulfillment. This is why Jesus adds, if you are willing to accept it, because not many were. And we know that their hearts weren't ready because of what they said beforehand.
In John 1:24, John is out in the wilderness baptizing people. This is a setup for the scene where Christ shows up into the Jordan to get baptized. But the Pharisees walk up into the scene and they go, well, if you're not the Messiah and you're not Elijah and you're not the prophet, why are you baptizing? They professed with their lips something that Jesus just challenged, that they were not willing to accept it, that he could be the Elijah that was to come. They refused the idea outright.
They cling to their expectations and they missed the revelation of Christ. They hold to the symbols, but rejected the substance of what was in front of them, that the kingdom had arrived, that it was moving.
Jesus presses the question then, and it is also echoed now with us is that, will we accept what God has already fulfilled? Will we recognize what God has already done? And will we see the redemption already standing in front of us?
Are we a people that read the Bible when it's black and white and go, well, I mean, seems kind of cool, I guess, but like, we can argue semantics all day long, but at the end of the day, here's what's beautiful and frustrating about this verse. Every single person has the opportunity to avoid the force if we are willing to accept it. Jesus is saying, as much as I have laid down the proof, all of you have the right access and the ability to accept it or not. But because he doesn't want to force a relationship, he wants a faithful relationship founded in trust. If you are willing to accept it, here it is.
He doesn't say, this is the facts. He could have just had a mic drop moment, just walked in and be like Elijah, John the Baptist, and just walked off. That's it. He has every right and authority to do a. A cool moment like that, that would have changed and put everything on a trajectory that would have been who knows what, but could have been more intense than we could ever fathom.
But instead he still gives us the ability. And while it is frustrating to be like, why did you give me the choice? If I could have just done the right thing, it's also beautiful that he wants this relationship with us that isn't bound on him being forceful, but us being caught up in the force of what's going on.
It's not a love me, it's a love me.
The opportunity is for us. The kingdom is here and the kingdom is moving. The kingdom is a force to be recognized and we still have the ability to desire, to join in or doubt.
Can you imagine being in an argument with somebody and they pull out the line of if you're willing to accept it. I could only fathom going up to my wife and be like, well, if you're willing to accept it, I have taken out the trash, my children. Well, if you're willing to accept it, Dad, I have cleaned the bathroom. Like, oh, well, I'm not. So that's where my doubt would kick in.
Like, well, I see the evidence, I've walked in, there are stains on the mirror.
But he says this already, that he goes, let anyone with ears listen. Jesus is essentially saying, are you listening? Do you hear what I'm revealing? And will you accept what I've already fulfilled? Where has God already spoken?
But we are waiting for something else.
After laying out John's identity and the kingdom's arrival, Jesus turns and makes a sobering diagnosis of the generation that he was talking to. Join me in Matthew, chapter 11, 16, 17, where he says, to what should I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplace who call out to other children, we played the flute for you, but you didn't dance. We sang a lament and you didn't mourn in the context of the kingdom. Sorry.
Jesus turned to the crowd and paints a scene of invitation being met with indifference.
Joy is offered but ignored. Sorrow is expressed but dismissed.
It's the image of people who refuse to participate no matter what the call is. In the context of the kingdom breaking in, Jesus is saying this that the very generation that could witnessing the most powerful movement of God since creation is acting like children who won't join the game.
Stubborn and hot headed, like, well, that's not the game I wanted to play anyway. I wanted to play with dolls. I wanted to play this. Well, that's not the song that I would have put on the radio. Like some kid arguing over who has the ox chord.
I didn't like that song, didn't want to, didn't make me want to Dance like David danced, you know, like, it's just. It wasn't the one that they were wanting. And what a diss, to be honest, to be like, you're a bunch of children who just won't play along. It's like, what would Jesus do? Apparently, roast you like a Thanksgiving turkey sometimes.
But, like, he will. He'll pull out these words and call out these people exactly like they are. And yes, we can look at this and assess ourselves as this generation. We will look at that. And it's great to examine ourselves, but we also have to recognize the incredible words of what's being thrown at the generation.
Experiencing it right there. Like, we can read it. And that's crazy. But this was the guy. This was Jesus saying to them, this moment and this movement is happening, and you're all just standing over there like a bunch of frustrated kids on the sideline.
Ouch.
Ezekiel 12:2, yet again, I can read homeschool. Ezekiel 12:2 prophesied about this generation that Jesus was talking to. It says this, that the Son of man. It says this son of man, you are living among a rebellious house. They have eyes but do not see, and they have ears but they do not hear, for they are a rebellious house.
Jesus himself calls himself Son of man, was living in a rebellious house around a bunch of kids that didn't want to join the game. And why? Because they were stubborn.
John came with a message of repentance, the lament, and they refused to join. John came announcing the good news call that sort of a good song, and they refuse to celebrate.
Jesus just described a kingdom advancing with power, a people swept up in all holy force, the promise of the law and the prophets being fulfilled before their very eyes. Yet some remained unmoved and stand off to the side with their arms crossed, unwilling to enter it.
While many people are caught up in the force of the kingdom, pressed forward with fervency, expectation, and spiritual fire, the majority of that generation responded like uninterested children.
The point is not to shame them, but it was to reveal the tragedy of missing out on what God is doing because you refuse to participate.
It's not like you know better. Like, I used to have a dad that would say that he was like, you know better. It's like, come on. How different would it be if your approach goes from, you know better than this to come join with us. We're doing something fun.
That's the stuff you want to go do. You don't want to get dissed. You want somebody to welcome you in he's welcoming him. It's like you're still standing. Why are you still standing?
Come on.
Jesus comes in with our final verse for today and reveals that a resistant heart will always find an excuse to not join in Matthew, chapter 11, verse 18. Jesus says, For John came neither eating nor drinking. And they say he has a demon. What a verse to end on. But John came in neither eating nor drinking.
He was neither a glutton or a drunkard. And they still found reason with him. John lived with simplicity, holiness and a laser focused devotion. But instead of celebrating that, they demonized it literally.
They couldn't fit him into the category. So the answer was, well, something must be wrong with him. And since we can't fully express what that is, it must be a spiritual thing and must be a demon. His ministry was thriving. People were repenting.
Lives were being transformed. The hurting were finding hope. And the Pharisees were losing influence.
They couldn't explain his effectiveness and they refused to reproach it with humility, asking, what could we do differently? So they blamed the devil, just like the waterboy's mom, yelling and saying, well, that foosball is the devil. Because they don't understand it and they don't want to. They had the same approach that I can't explain it, so I'm going to demonize it because I can't deal with that myself.
This reveals something deep about the human heart that when we can't explain something, we often judge them and we don't discern, we assume. And instead of listening, we label.
We can also do this spiritually. Something happens that we don't understand and suddenly everything is demonic. Felt a little weird today. Must be spiritual warfare. That person is different.
They must have a spirit in them.
That ministry is growing. That must be some spiritual deception going on behind those walls. And while I don't mean to downplay demons and say that that can't be an option, it can.
I just get it from somebody with my Pentecostal background that there was always a demon under the doily and somebody always stole a mahanda. Like, it's just there was always something else to blame. I got her real good with that one. But there was something else. It's like the music couldn't just be something that we didn't like.
No, I don't like it. So it's got a demon in it. People are calling Skillet Skillet, saying they're demonic worshipers now. Skillet. Most Christian metal band I've ever heard.
Not listen to them all like Come on. But they're like, I don't understand it, and I don't like it. Must be a demon. They must have changed and flipped. Like, that goes from being a conservative Christian voice to all of a sudden he's worshipping Satan.
Because they don't like the song, but we don't understand it, and we can't describe why we don't like it, or we don't want to explain why we don't like something, and so we demonize something.
The fact is that Varna even helps us see this information and worship team. You can come back up. But Barna did a State of the church in 2023. Yes. Stats again, you're welcome.
That 54% of practicing Christians avoid topics that make them feel spiritually uncomfortable.
More than half will avoid topics just because it makes them feel spiritually uncomfortable. Just like, we're no better than the Pharisees at that point. Like, I'm not gonna go look at it and just go watch a guy that hadn't walked for years suddenly is up carrying a blanket. Don't like it. I can be like, how'd that happen?
Just be like, must have been a demon.
The greatest movement of God is happening in front of these people, and they refused to step in. And when they couldn't understand it, they blamed it on something that was out of their control.
That's the worst part of the demonization, is that we blame it on something that's out of our control, making it something that I don't have to deal with. I can't change. I don't have to change because this is something that doesn't involve me anymore. When God is constantly telling us to reflect on ourselves and see how we can be adjusted.
If the heart is unwilling, no method, no style, no tone, no approach from God will ever be enough.
Where have we become like this generation in the marketplace, critiquing the tune instead of joining the dance? Where have we resisted repentance because of what it required?
Where have we ignored God's invitation because it required a response that we just didn't want to give?
It's a sobering reminder that the kingdom calls for response, joy or repentance, celebration or conviction. Either way, it's participation.
John the Baptist. God broke the silence with the world. It was 400 years long.
AW Tozer said this, that God is speaking. Not God spoke, but God is speaking. He broke the silence. He is now speaking to us. And the problem is that not his silence, but it's our willingness to listen.
The kingdom is advancing, not quietly, not gently, but with a force.
And we're about to go into a time of worship. And worship is where we can stop resisting and start responding, where we shift from observers to participants, Where we join in the movement of God that is being unleashed.
So as we stand together, let this be a moment where we stop critiquing the sound and just start joining in with the song. Stand with us as we worship.