Oakham VOX

We can find four qualities within Jesus’ communication that accomplishes His ability to make Himself accessible to everyone….

1# NARRATIVE_ Everyone loves stories and Jesus’ teachings are full of kind Samaritans and forgiving fathers.

2# SIMPLICITY_ Jesus always offered truths in small bite-sized pieces. Even with this simplicity, the pharisees never understood and even His disciples (who lived with Jesus for 3 years listening, watching and learning) missed the point.

3# FAMILIARITY_ Jesus ALWAYS communicated through familiar examples. Many parables and stories were based on fishing, house-building and farming.

4# CONCRETENESS_ Even when dealing with spiritual theological ideas, Jesus always kept grounded. He used physical, visual images . . . pigs trampling pearls, moths and rust, and eye plucking. Physical examples to back up His statements . . . a coin, a small child, a man with a withered hand.

X

I was thinking about this on the way to work this morning; Am I willing to die for Christ?

I mean this is the most literal sense, but also in the everyday, stuff going on inside of me, not actually physically dying sense too.

Our priority should be God, above all else. Not only should He be our priority, He should be our treasure, our reason for being alive, He should be our everything.

We are human, and we fall short of this every minute, even every second. We have thoughts, and passions that directly conflict with this all the while. If Jesus is your saviour, then God is working out His character in you, but it doesn’t happen in an instant, and we still struggle with sin every day.

I think you have to try and constantly ask yourself the question; Is what I’m thinking about, what I’m doing right now Glorifying God? Is it making much of Him? If the answer is no, then it’s time to die to it.

It sounds a bit extreme maybe, like, how is boiling an egg going to be glorifying to God anyway?

Well, I think much of it is about your attitude. I mean, you could thank God for eggs, you could thank Him for water, and gas to boil the water, and a pan, and the kitchen, and the house you’re in, right?

Again, it sounds like maybe this is going a little bit over the top, we’re boilding an egg!! But it’s all part of developing a constant relationship with God, and building within yourself a sense of His infinite worth.

1 Corinthians 10:31 says:

Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.

This verse is actually talking about eating and drinking! Boil your egg for Gods Glory!!

The dying part of all this comes when we are doing something we are enjoying, which we know full well isn’t going to glorify God. Sin can be ‘nice’. Our worldly flesh enjoys indulging it’self, and it doesn’t like it when we say no. This is when we have to die.

Luke 9:22-26 talks about us taking up our cross daily and following Christ. It goes on to say that if we want to save our life, we are going to have to loose it.

We say no to our flesh, and we look to Christ and declare: “I count you more valuable than this thing King Jesus so I’m going to die to it, and I’m going to find my satisfaction in you”.

The awesome thing is, as soon as we do that, God satisfies our soul. What we gave up was a lie anyway. It wouldn’t last, not forever. What kind of worth is that?

But God is forever. He will be ours forever.  With eternal pleasures at His right hand (Psalm 16:8-11).

This is the only way to conquer sin in our lives, by seeing and savoring that God is a greater pleasure.

This was Jesus’ way.

This word “dwelt” literally means “to pitch a tent“.

He spent time with them, ate with them, lived through the highs and lows.
This “drawing near” not only effected His actions, but His words also.

Parables are used by Jesus on nearly every page of the gospels and they formed the foundation of Jesus’ communication.
Parable is taken from the words “Para” (near) and “Ballo” (to bring) = “Near-bringers”.
Jesus never tried to discuss theology with the everyday people of Galilee. He used these “Paraballos”, these “near-bringers” to bring His principles and lofty ideas down into the dust of the market streets and desert roads.

In this day and age we have made the assumption that “clever people use big words”.

He sought to bring His communication closer and more accessible to everyone.

X

Matthew 8_15-13 tells of the remarkable faith of a Roman officer, but an emphasis is all given to Jesus’ character… His desire to meet people in their own space. At the drop of a hat He was willing to stop what He was doing, change direction and go to a complete strangers house.

Communication.

Jesus wasn’t like Robin Hood, steling from the rich to give to the poor.
Jesus gave to everyone.

No matter what the audience, Jesus delivered the message in their terms and on their turf.

X

“As we mature in Christ, we stop choosing between the good and the bad, and start distinguishing the better and the best.”

Communication doesn’t begin with words, it begins with a connection.

Community/Compassion/Communion/Communication are all rooted to “Com” [Latin] = “together“. The word “Communication” comes from the Latin word “Communicare” = “to share together“/”to make common“.

Many technological and scientific understandings have dumbed down the idea of “communication” as the transfer of information. The physical connection has become lost somewhere along the way.

From His first breaths in that dark, damp, smelly barn - to His final breaths on that dirty, blood-stained cross, His life (and death) were about reaching people.

X

I know personally, I have caught myself singing worship songs on a Sunday night, but my brain has been thinking about what to eat for supper, or whether to have tea or coffee after the meeting, or what I’ve got to do at work in the morning!

Singing these very serious words like “I surrender all to you” but obviously not meaning it.
Other times I have tried to have a quiet prayer time in bed and actually fell asleep mid-sentence! Could you imagine what it would feel like if someone fell asleep whilst you were talking to them?!

Here are some ways we can be more like Jesus . . .

1# ASK QUESTIONS_ Out of all the questions asked of Jesus, He only answered 2 ! The rest He answered with another question of His own. This is a useful way to dig below the surface of what is being talked about.

2# REMOVE DISTRACTIONS_ Turn off TVs, phones, computers, music. Multi-tasking always takes away from the main focus. By ’sacrificing’ these distractions, we are showing how important listening is.

3# BODY LANGUAGE_ Just as kneeling in prayer isn’t necessary, it helps to focus us and give us a humble heart. So too body language says a lot about our listening. Eye-contact prevents further distraction and suggests openness and honesty.

4# TAKE NOTE OF THE “MARGINS”_ Jesus was all about spending time with the “invisibles“, the poor, the alienated and the sick.

5# LEARN TO SEE_ Not visually, but to understand more about a situation or person. If we learn the family, culture or life-story of an individual, we can better understand and help.

X

This attentiveness may look like a passive quality, but in Jesus case it is not.

Jesus mainly paid attention to those overlooked by others. The homeless, the sick, the unlovely, the rejected. He reached out to people who had been told they were useless and gave them a use, worthless and gave them worth, undignified and gave them dignity, loveless and gave them love.

It’s the little details that Jesus cared about.

It is one thing to attune our eyes and ears to what is around us, but far more difficult to open our hearts.

Rob Bell tells a story of a Red Cross package arriving at a concerntration camp. All it contained was lipsticks. Even though lipstick was probably the last thing on the list of things they needed, it actually worked!
Women lay in bed with no sheets and no nightie, but with scarlet red lips. Wondering around with nothing but a blanket drapped over their shoulders, but with bright red lips.

Someone had turned them from numbers back into people again. The lipstick started to give them back their humanity.

X

Hey! I found an amazing image on the internet today. (The photo is in my pics on myspace)

The picture is of a star that has supernova’d and NASA got the picture this week, but the star actually imploded 140 years ago, its just the universe is that MASSIVE it took that long to travel close enough so that we coulds see it!

This reminded me of the Louis Giglio DVDs and the talk Roy Summers came and did at the church on space and stuff.

When I first tought about haw amazingly huge the universe is, it made think of how insignificant I am in the grand scheme of things. This began me questioning why God would bother with me.

I have come to realize that I have been taking the wrong out-look on this type of topic. God didn’t create all this to make me feel smaller, He did it show how much BIGGER He is!

To oftern we look at things from our point of view or through our eyes, but just step back and think what things look like to God the creator and our Father.

The universe is a showcase of how MASSIVE and AMAZING He is, if all this was created by Him, then how much more MASSIVE and AMAZING is He?!

Its a lot to take in, but think about it.

X