Keep Calm, Carry On and Live like Jesus

Keep Calm, Carry On and Live like Jesus

Jab 1 Opening: The shirt I am wearing today says “Keep Calm and Carry On”.......Keep Calm and Carry On was a motivational poster produced by the British government in 1939 in preparation for World War II. The poster was intended to raise the morale of the British public, threatened with widely predicted mass air attacks on major cities. Although 2.45 million copies were printed, and although the Blitz did in fact take place, the poster was hardly ever publicly displayed and was little known until a copy was rediscovered in 2000 at Barter Books, a bookshop in Alnwick. It has since been re-issued by a number of private companies, and has been used as the decorative theme for a range of products.

preparation for World War II. The poster was intended to raise the morale of the British public, threatened with widely predicted mass air attacks on major cities. Although 2.45 million copies were printed, and although the Blitz did in fact take place, the poster was hardly ever publicly displayed and was little known until a copy was rediscovered in 2000 at Barter Books, a bookshop in Alnwick. It has since been re-issued by a number of private companies, and has been used as the decorative theme for a range of products.

This is similar to the Victorian belief in British stoicism – the "stiff upper lip", self-discipline, fortitude, and remaining calm in adversity – the poster has become recognized around the world. It was thought that only two original copies survived until a collection of approximately 15 was brought in to the Antiques Roadshow in 2012 by the daughter of an ex-Royal Observer Corps member. -You know we will see this idea in our scriptural text today......Maybe the British government read this text as well...but seriously Keep Calm, and Carry On is what we see time and time again in the life of Jesus.

It doesn’t have to be 1939 pre-war time for us to be able to understand stress.....Amen?

Jab 2 Who here has ever accidentally or on purpose gotten into drama or stress at work, home, or anywhere else? Maybe you got to work and you asked the wrong person the wrong questions. For some people this might be a constant way they decide to live their life. Life is just never in their favor.....it seems as if the world is against them. We never know the stressors that are in people’s lives. I have learned as a pastor that even though people maybe be in a similar stage in life everyone sees that time in their life in a different way. So we can pretty much all agree that people we know are living in stress of some kind.

In fact.....

Jab 3: Statistics from a study done by the American Psychological Association. Older adults (72+ years of age in 2017), on average, have had the lowest stress levels among the generations since the survey began.2 The stress levels of older adults (classified as “Matures” in the Stress in America survey) this year remains the lowest (3.3 on a scale of 1 to 10) among the generations, but their stress levels increased slightly from last year (2.7 in 2016). This increase was greater than the change in stress levels for the other generations.

generations since the survey began.2 The stress levels of older adults (classified as “Matures” in the Stress in America survey) this year remains the lowest (3.3 on a scale of 1 to 10) among the generations, but their stress levels increased slightly from last year (2.7 in 2016). This increase was greater than the change in stress levels for the other generations. As they have since 2014, Millennials continue to have the highest reported stress levels, with this year’s survey finding an average stress level of 5.7, a slight increase from 2016 (5.6). For Boomers and Gen Xers, stress levels decreased slightly since 2016, to 3.9 (from 4.1) and 5.3 (from 5.4), respectively

Since 2014, Millennials continue to have the highest reported stress levels, with this year’s survey finding an average stress level of 5.7, a slight increase from 2016 (5.6). For Boomers and Gen Xers, stress levels decreased slightly since 2016, to 3.9 (from 4.1) and 5.3 (from 5.4), respectively

ince 2014, Millennials continue to have the highest reported stress levels, with this year’s survey finding an average stress level of 5.7, a slight increase from 2016 (5.6). For Boomers and Gen Xers, stress levels decreased slightly since 2016, to 3.9 (from 4.1) and 5.3 (from 5.4), respectively

Hook: We can fool ourselves to think we are in the most stressful time period in world history because of various political climates, environmental factors, and recently a global pandemic... things that do suggest our world lives in stress. Jesus also lived in a stressful time as well and in the text we are looking at today Jesus is using a parable to tell address some major issues that was happening in his part of the world.

I have already used the word stress several times and I will continue to so. There is a another word that sounds similar , tension, I will be using both tension and stress frequently

Explanation: , 24 Here is another story Jesus told: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field. 25 But that night as the workers slept, his enemy came and planted weeds

among the wheat, then slipped away. 26 When the crop began to grow and produce grain, the weeds also grew.

The weeds that the Bible talks about in the greek is called “Tares” and these weeds actually look like wheat until the kernel develops and then you can see that it’s not wheat but it is a weed. So when Jesus told this parable the wheat had been growing for a while and it looked good until it showed itself in a mature plant and it was a weed.

-The religious leaders who should have been the ones who were excited for the Kingdom of Heaven to come through time were the people who were the opposition for Jesus in His ministry.

-Other times in Jesus ministry where he planted seeds and did his great works there were people who were there that should have been excited, but they asked him to leave and some tried to throw Jesus off a cliff.

-It wasn’t until it was time for the maturity of the person to show that it was seen in them that they were not actually people who wanted to see the kingdom come in their world.

Parable of the Wheat and Weeds Explained 36 Then, leaving the crowds outside, Jesus went into the house. His disciples said, “Please explain to us the story of the weeds in the field.” 37 Jesus replied, “The Son of Man is the farmer who plants the good seed. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed represents the people of the Kingdom. The weeds are the people who belong to the evil one.

There were people who were sent to follow Jesus and listen to his words and object to all that seemed to be against the law of Moses. Jesus and his followers were under steady pressure from the religious and political people of that day. The people which represent the weeds in this story are people who did not follow Jesus.

In this time Jesus was telling the parable it was almost guaranteed the people who followed Jesus’ way of life would experience intense rejection by those who didn’t follow Jesus or those who opposed him. Similar to the tough times the Christians in Rome experienced in the first part of the books of Acts. Jesus was not talking about people who followed Jesus and just bothered one another some times. Jesus was referring to the people as weeds those who would persecute and sometimes imprison or kill Christians.

Jesus was telling the parable it was almost guaranteed the people who followed Jesus’ way of life would experience intense rejection by those who didn’t follow Jesus or those who opposed him. Similar to the tough times the Christians in Rome experienced in the first part of the books of Acts. Jesus was not talking about people who followed Jesus and just bothered one another some times. Jesus was referring to the people as weeds those who would persecute and sometimes imprison or kill Christians.

-The desire of this group was to cutoff those who were not following the Law exactly. -Distinction was the ultimate goal because when they achieved having this separation then the church, in their eyes, would be holy and unscarred by the affects of sin.

-In this time you could see how it could be so stressful to have people who were not yet committed followers of Jesus in community because they wouldn’t know if they were going to ultimately betray them to the Jewish officials or use them as a political tool toward Rome. So these are the “weeds Jesus was talking about.

27 “The farmer’s workers went to him and said, ‘Sir, the field where you planted that good seed is full of weeds! Where did they come from?’ 28 “‘An enemy has done this!’ the farmer exclaimed. “‘Should we pull out the weeds?’ they asked.

29 “‘No,’ he replied, ‘you’ll uproot the wheat if you do. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. Then I will tell the harvesters to sort out the weeds, tie them into bundles, and burn

them, and to put the wheat in the barn.’”

Tension (power in the text) “‘Should we pull out the weeds?’ they asked.

29 “‘No,’ he replied, ‘you’ll uproot the wheat if you do. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest.

Lets back up and read that again.....Some of the gardeners here today are cringing....leave the weeds in the field with the wheat?

If you want to talk about tension here it is in the Bible plain for us to see

39 The enemy who planted the weeds among the wheat is the devil. The harvest is the end of the world, and the harvesters are the angels. 40 “Just as the weeds are sorted out and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the world. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will remove from his Kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. 42 And the angels will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father’s Kingdom. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!

This was a real part of the church Matthew was in as well and scripture gives us a description of what happened but not a prescription about how to take care of it.

More reading

His response to job was TRUST ME.....BE WITH ME.....DONT TRY TO BE ME!!!!!

1. God doesn't ask you to do things that only He can do!

-God doesn’t expect us to change our situation that we find ourselves in, but to be his presence in that place…It can be hard especially in the times we find ourselves in these days. God calls us to be his hands and feet, and voice

-When Jesus nudges us through his Spirit to talk with someone about him or to speak a message of hope in these troubling times. He is waiting for his representative to present what He has already shared with them through the spirit. Jesus speaks to all people all the time and in this time of tension he will call on you to be his voice

-and you better know that seed in their spirit has grown because someone was faithful to plant it in their life.

2. God asks us to depend on him for everything because he sees what we need.

2. If we try to do things only God can do we will end up hurting people.

-what if the one person or situation we want to pull out of our lives is a way that God was communicating his grace to us?

Transition How do we live in community with people during times that can be extremely stressful?

Application

1. Pray- for those people or situations that are in your life that bring this tension or persecution into your life.

It is very difficult to be angry or constantly upset with someone who we are sincerely praying over their life.

2. Be ok living in tension-Whether the weed in your life is a person or this great unknown situation...... Don’t try to fix everything or explain away everything with your faith people in our world today need to connect with others during this time and many people, whether they have a relationship with Jesus or not, need a sense of peace.

We are getting ready to take communion in a few minutes and the night that Jesus had this last meal with his followers you better believe that Jesus was living in stress and tension. One guy was going to hand Jesus to the Jewish leaders to be killed and the rest of them would scatter, hide, deny they knew Jesus. Jesus was not able to explain any of this other than he knew this is what needed to be done. There was no nice way to answer this question for Jesus......we see in the Bible that Jesus asked for a way out, but was still obedient.

AS we listen to The Holy Spirit speaking into our lives through our thoughts and scripture, and other people, we can live in this time of our world that is stressful and be a non-anxious presence in a very anxious world.

people in our world today need to connect with others during this time and many people, whether they have a relationship with Jesus or not, need a sense of peace. AS we listen to The Holy Spirit speaking into our lives through our thoughts and scripture, and other people, we can live in this time of our world that is stressful and be a non-anxious presence in a very anxious world.

Being ready to give a reason for your faith....as scriptures tells us is different from: THERE’S MY OPENING ATTACK!!!

Trying to explain things we can’t understand or using phrases like everything happens for a purpose, or God is trying to teach us something......doesn’t communicate to a world the love and peace that Jesus has to offer us when we live in relationship with him.

Or my tendency is to avoid.....that’s easier, BUT ITS NOT WHAT JESUS HAS CALLED US TO DO!

3. Be the Manifest presence of Jesus in your world this week - We have a great opportunity in this time of our world where people are becoming more open to a message of Good News and Hope. And we as the body of Christ still carry the greatest message of Good News and Hope the world has ever known.

Closing

Why? You are God's plan A there is no plan B we are Gods plan to communicate his words to people

As the end of the scripture tells us there is a separation of those who have a relationship with Jesus and those who don’t.

We will be separated as those who have a relationship with him which has been identified as having and those who don’t have a relationship with him and his presents including his spirit will be removed from them and that is the definition of hell.

Some may already have a feeling that they are living in hell in these days, but we can bring the presence of Jesus as we connect with people through phone conversations, zoom, FB or all the other ways we connect with people.

In order for people to know how Jesus would have lived we need to keep calm, carry-on, and live like Jesus