A Matter of Choice
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Introduction
Introduction
What is it that you would like your life to become? Ten years from now what do you want your life to be? Close your eyes…can you see it? Can you feel what it is to become what you hope to be?
Now…What does your relationship with God look like ten years from now? What do you hope that to be? Close your eyes…can you see it? Can you feel what it is like to be what you hope to become in Jesus?
Now tell me this…What kind of change is necessary to become the person and Christian you hope to be in ten years?
Change isn’t something most of us like very much unless it is a change that we desire. Unfortunately so much of what constitutes change ends up being things we do not like very much at all.
Strauss–Howe generational theory — This is a social theory which states that all of history simply cycles through a repetitive pattern of four cycles. Each cycle is called a “turning” and represents a shift (HUGE Change) in societal norms. Each cycle lasts about 20 years and the entire process of four turnings takes place within 80-100 year period. To put it another way…every 20 or so years things radically change culturally.
First Turning — This is an era when institutions are strong and individualism is weak. Society is confident about where it wants to go collectively. America’s most recent First Turning was the post-World War II American High, beginning in 1946 and ending with the assassination of John Kennedy in 1963…the “Golden age” of many in this room…and that is just what First Turnings are usually termed to be “Golden”
Second Turning — This is an era when institutions are attacked in the name of personal and spiritual autonomy. Just when society is reaching its high tide of public progress, people suddenly tire of social discipline and want to recapture a sense of personal authenticity. Young activists look back at the previous High as an era of cultural poverty. America’s most recent Awakening was the “Consciousness Revolution,” which spanned from the campus and inner-city revolts of the mid 1960s to the tax revolts of the early ‘80s.
Third Turning — The Third Turning is an Unraveling. The mood of this era is in many ways the opposite of a High (disillusionment). Institutions are weak and distrusted, while individualism is strong and flourishing. America’s most recent Unraveling was the Long Boom and Culture Wars, beginning in the early 1980s and probably ending in 2008. The era opened with triumphant “Morning in America” individualism and drifted toward a pervasive distrust of institutions and leaders, an edgy popular culture, and the splitting of national consensus into competing “values” camps.
Fourth Turning — The Fourth Turning is a Crisis. This is an era in which America’s institutional life is torn down and rebuilt from the ground up—always in response to a perceived threat to the nation’s very survival. Civic authority revives, cultural expression finds a community purpose, and people begin to locate themselves as members of a larger group. In every instance, Fourth Turnings have eventually become new “founding moments” in America’s history, refreshing and redefining the national identity. America’s most recent Fourth Turning began with the stock market crash of 1929 and climaxed with World War II.
The theory has a great deal of data proving it right. If we look back on western history or even the history of the United States we see the pattern clearly played out. Examples of fourth turning, the crisis moments in the cycle, in American history include: Revolutionary War, Civil War, Great Depression and WWII, and the Economic crisis of 2008.
Every time a crisis moment occurs, society recovers, reinvents itself and moves forward dramatically different…CHANGE
Fourth Awakenings do not necessarily involve war but they often do, and who can look at our country or world today and not see the chaos which has so often led to such?
Hard to argue with this theory but those who came up with it are nothing special…no real genius involved here. How many times have you heard the expression “history repeats itself?” “The more things change the more they stay the same?” “There is nothing new under the sun.”
In many ways all of these quips are true. However, each subsequent generation experiences history, however repetitive it may be, for themselves. This is our first time through the cultural cycles of change. This is our only time to do so.
The question is simple, “How will we face the inevitability of change when it comes upon us in our own generation?” Change is coming to our nation, church and life…it is inevitable…How will we live when it does?
Will we have faith and be in the center of what God is doing in our day or will we grow bitter, angry and faithless as we cling to the idols of our cherished past?
The fellows in our passage today failed the test. They were faced with a monumental shift…a turning…a change. The Messiah was here and the miracles He did attested to the this fact. Jesus was and is the Messiah. But they did not have faith to receive and live their life upon this truth. The results were tragic
The Sanhedrin
The Sanhedrin
Jesus had just healed Lazarus and many Jews put their faith in Him as their Savior and Messiah. Others rejected Him and went running to the Pharisees with the news of yet another miracle done at the hands of Jesus.
The Pharisees were only a sect of the Jewish faith. They held a minority position within the political life of the nation. The Sadducees were the dominant party. But it was their combined power as the Sanhedrin wherein decisions took place. The pharisees knew it was time to call a meeting of the Sanhedrin and decide once and for all what to do about Jesus.
What are we accomplishing — The tone was near panic levels. A better rendering of the words translated here would be, “What should we do, because this man continues to do many miraculous signs?” They were beside themselves.
This was a genuine crisis moment for the men of the Sanhedrin — “The Jewish leaders react out of their fear of a two-part potential scenario: Jesus will become the leader of a revolutionary army of the general citizenry and then the Roman legions will come and ruthlessly crush this rebellion. They see this as a lose-lose situation: the people will lose their nation and the religious leaders will lose their place. By “place” John means the Jerusalem temple, which was both the international center and symbol of Judaism, and the economic engine that made Jerusalem prosperous. Without the temple the Sadducees in particular would see their income stream dry up overnight.”
“The Jewish leaders react out of their fear of a two-part potential scenario: Jesus will become the leader of a revolutionary army of the general citizenry and then the Roman legions will come and ruthlessly crush this rebellion. They see this as a lose-lose situation: the people will lose their nation and the religious leaders will lose their place. By “place” John means the Jerusalem temple, which was both the international center and symbol of Judaism, and the economic engine that made Jerusalem prosperous. Without the temple the Sadducees in particular would see their income stream dry up overnight.”
“John intends the reader to again reflect that this is ultimately a matter of faith. There no longer seems to be a question as to whether or not the miracles of Jesus were a sign of the powerful work of God in their midst. The question is whether or not the God of the Jews was more powerful than the mighty Roman Empire with its seemingly invincible armies.”
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John intends the reader to again reflect that this is ultimately a matter of faith. There no longer seems to be a question as to whether or not the miracles of Jesus were a sign of the powerful work of God in their midst. The question is whether or not the God of the Jews was more powerful than the mighty Roman Empire with its seemingly invincible armies
Bryant, B. H., & Krause, M. S. (1998). John (). Joplin, MO: College Press Pub. Co.
They were facing their crisis and although they believed God had come through in the past they had no faith He would do so in their own generation.
What are we accomplishing — The tone was near panic levels. A better rendering of the words translated here would be, “What should we do, because this man continues to do many miraculous signs?” They were beside themselves.
For all practical purposes what we are seeing here is a fourth turning…a crisis moment in the life of the nation and their religious institutions. The leaders of the day failed the test. They had no faith for a future. Rather than embrace the new thing God was doing in the life and person of Jesus they rejected Him despite the evidences that they were actually opposing God Himself and His plans.
They didn’t want to change and had no intention of doing anything which might disrupt the perceived security they enjoyed in the status quo.
The Choice
The Choice
Some years ago there was a movie called the Matrix. The premise of the movie centered around whether or not we really have choice and if so what it actually meant to have such. Choice, causality, and fate were all addressed in the movie. We ask the same questions all the time. Do we have choice or are we a part of a grand plan God is unfolding called history; are we simply playing our part whether we wish to do so or not?
"Agent Smith: Why, Mr. Anderson? Why, why? Why do you do it? Why, why get up? Why keep fighting? Do you believe you're fighting for something? For more than your survival? Can you tell me what it is? Do you even know? Is it freedom? Or truth? Perhaps peace? Could it be for love? Illusions, Mr. Anderson. Vagaries of perception. Temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or purpose. And all of them as artificial as the Matrix itself, although only a human mind could invent something as insipid as love. You must be able to see it, Mr. Anderson. You must know it by now. You can't win. It's pointless to keep fighting. Why, Mr. Anderson? Why? Why do you persist? Neo: Because I choose to."
Can we choose to cooperate with God’s will or are we simply playing a part which has has already been chosen for us? What choice do we have???
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
Did Jeremiah have anything to say about God’s plans for him?
Caiaphas might have a word for us on this matter. He saw the ministry of Jesus along with the other men of the Sanhedrin. He knew the miracles were real and the evidence was compelling. Yet his fear, prejudice and greed prevented him from placing faith in Jesus.
Yet, Caiphas was still used as the High Priest of God. He still became a witness of the truth concerning the identity and mission of Jesus. In verse 49-52 we see that the Holy Spirit used him to prophesy concerning the substitutionary atonement of Jesus. Whether he wanted to be a part of the change going on around him or not he was…He simply chose to be a tragic figure in the process rather than one of glory.
and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.
God had determined to use Caiphas as a prophet. The question is whether Caiphas had a choice concerning just how this was going to happen. But be certain of this…it was going to happen whether Caiphas wanted it to or not.
God will get glory out of our life too. We will live a life of faith or a life of fear and doubt; the latter providing a tragic contrast for what might have been had we chosen the former.
God is working around us and we are a part of the story He is writing. Whether we cooperate with Him or not is a choice we have been given…otherwise our faith degenerates into cold fatalism where we simply play the part of mindless robots walking our pre-appointed steps of life. We have a choice how we will participate in God’s plan…but God’s plan will unfold regardless of our choices!
Conclusion
Conclusion
Everything changes and there is absolutely nothing we can do about it. Our life, family, nation, world, our culture changes. Nothing ever remains the same.
God is continually at work, moving within the waves of change happening in the world around us. He has a plan for every moment; a plan which has existed before the creation of the world. The question is will you (will we) be a part of His plans through a positive witness of faith or a negative witness of fear?
Caiphas and the Sanhedrin were a witness of fear and unbelief…yet their fear and unbelief still gave testimony to the truth concerning Christ.
We can live in fear...clinging to the memory of the Golden days and the faith filled victories of the past or have faith for the day of crisis in which we live so that we might be a positive witness of faith which leads others to Jesus as well.
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But faith in the midst of change isn’t easy…it is often painful. It hurts and is terribly hard…even seemingly risky
August 9, 2017 91 Comments
Why Dying Churches Die
Why Dying Churches Die
The doctor told my dad he was dying. Our family physician was a kind man, a true friend of the family. But he was firm. Dad was on the short path to death. My father, then 58 years old, had been smoking for four decades. I suppose his time in the military in World War II proved to be the primary impetus to his taking on the bad habit. His peers smoked. There were hardly any voices suggesting the evils of smoking then. And it proved to be a relief and escape from the ravages of war he witnessed day after day. To be clear, our doctor had not declared to my dad that he was terminal. At this point, there was no cancer present. The only sign was an early onset of emphysema. But the kind physician could see all the signs. Dad had to make major and dramatic changes or he would die within a few years. Indeed, it might already be too late regardless of any changes he made. He never stopped smoking. Dad was diagnosed with terminal cancer at age 61. He died one month after his 62nd birthday.
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If we continue to do things as we always have it may seem the most comfortable and seemingly reasonable course of action in the moment. However, such short term thinking leads us away from faith and to fear and death.
The doctor told my dad he was dying.
Caiphas and the Sanhedrin saw God at work. They knew God was up to something because only God could open the eyes of the blind and raise the dead. But, they simply could not endure the pain or take the risk and have faith to be a positive part of what God was doing around them. They wanted everything to stay the same and were determined to make it so…to the point they were willing to kill for it.
Our family physician was a kind man, a true friend of the family. But he was firm. Dad was on the short path to death.
In the end these men became a tragic footnote in history. What will you be?
My father, then 58 years old, had been smoking for four decades. I suppose his time in the military in World War II proved to be the primary impetus to his taking on the bad habit. His peers smoked. There were hardly any voices suggesting the evils of smoking then. And it proved to be a relief and escape from the ravages of war he witnessed day after day.
Have you thought about the illustration at the beginning of the sermon and how it relates to your life personally. This social theory is really one which encompasses more than the culture at large; it is a theory about you and the life you live here on earth.
Faith is belief plus trust which always results in a changed life. CHANGE. Will you have faith to be a part of the change God intends for this generation or will you be run over by the change that is inevitably going to come?
To be clear, our doctor had not declared to my dad that he was terminal. At this point, there was no cancer present. The only sign was an early onset of emphysema.
Birth - 20 — For many this is a time when the institu
But the kind physician could see all the signs. Dad had to make major and dramatic changes or he would die within a few years. Indeed, it might already be too late regardless of any changes he made. He never stopped smoking.
Dad was diagnosed with terminal cancer at age 61. He died one month after his 62nd birthday.