THE ULTIMATE MANIPULATION

INTRODUCTION

The Church with a sign over it that says “Jesus Only”

Jesus Only Strengthens, Jesus only Secures

Yet, their lives contradicted the sign.

jobs, possessions, people, achievements of the past, family, hopes for the future, our nation - all ranked closely in the raw pressures of life.

To Make it only Jesus, He would have to become more than one of many gods

The Worship of Many Gods Has Been Around for Years

The Egyptians had many Gods

The Israelites built a golden calf while Moses was on the mountain.

1 Kings 18:21 NIV84

Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” But the people said nothing.

Elijah almost lost his life and sanity over the peoples confusion

The Ultimate Manipulation of Christ is the idolatry of people and things on an equal status with Him

The Apostles had face numerous obstacles in the preaching of the Gospel, but they had never faced being treated as a god, the ultimate manipulation

Acts 14:8–13 NIV84

In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed and called out, “Stand up on your feet!” At that, the man jumped up and began to walk. When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!” Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.

They thought they were gods and they would spare nothing to worship them

They had been so intent on fitting Paul and Barnabas into the personified catagories of their previously established deities that they had not heard what they had said about Christ and salvation

Many Politicians, monarchs, general, and preachers who have manipulated the populace to follow them but have ended up being manipulated by the mob

Paul refused to be one of Lystra’s gods

Acts 14:14–18 NIV84

But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: “Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them. In the past, he let all nations go their own way. Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.” Even with these words, they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them.

He wanted the people to know he had the same weakness, inadequacies and appetites they had

We are not to impress people with piety, but present our impressive Christ who has dealt with our spiritual poverty

His purpose is to proclaim one God who is Lord, creator, and source of all

The Most Effective way of evading truth is to deal with it rather than having it deal with us.

They cheered Paul as Hermes and refused to come to grips with the true God he proclaimed

They did not really want to learn what their new god said’ they wanted him on their terms.

Paul never got around to preaching salvation because the people were too determined to keep him within the confines of their religious perspective

How does that compare to us here in America

Most of us have come to Christ with rigidly set priorities

We accept him as Savior out of our need for further security, assurance of his love for daily pressure now and the promise of eternal life for the future

Like the people of Lystra, we keep our other gods, Idolatry of Christ as a historical figure makes us fanatic about the celebration of his birth and death

But idolatry is always adoration at a distance

It is manipulative

We get want we want and need, but avoid the penetrating transformation of our lives

We whittle Christ down to our size and fit him into the portfolios hold our accumulation of gods.

We deal with him to keep him from dealing with us

There is not more clever way of capturing and domesticating a truth than accepting it and rehoning it to fir our preciously held ideas and convictions

We do that with Christ all the time We all long for wisdom and insight, personality prowess and attractiveness, effectiveness and influence

So we accpt him and his love to enable us to get on with our predetermined goals. By our worship and adoration, we avoide the radical reorientation of our natures and the direction of our lives.

When Jesus was born there was no room at the inn, But today, we not only have room in an inn, but a penthouse away from reality

Jesus is a VIP to be honored, but not believed in or followed.

In America he is a custom but not the Christ’ a captured hero of a casual civil religion, but not the Lord of our lives.

We have not really grappled with the questioned they asked at his birth, “What shall we do with the child that is born.

Lystra answer that question by Take Him In, Accept him as the greatest man who ever lived, Revere him as the most penetrating psychologist who ever analyzed lives , Mark the calendar BC & AD, plan your customs around his birth, death, and resurrection,Speak of the gentle Jesus, meek and mild, paint portraits of him. fill libraries full of line and verse about Him. We will have done everything with human skill and duration - except one - made him the absolute Lord of our Life.

He wants nothing less than we become new creatures in him. He must become the only Lord of our life, the only guide of our activities

Sometimes we put the communicator on a pedestal

Pastors, parents, friends, teachers, who have brought us the good news are made our security

Sometimes we have given the messenger more honor that the message.

Paul learned what every Christian leader is eventually forced to discover: there is no rage like the rejected manipulator. If he cannot fit Christ or his spokesman into a comfortable compartment for his own ends, he will turn in angry retribution

Acts 14:19–20 NIV84

Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe.

Example of a church pastor who resigned under conflict. On asking the church officer what happened he said”He did not fit.. He preached a Christ that rocked our foundation. Everything we hold dear in society and the church seemed in question. He did not help us to live our lives: he made us to question all our values, The people could not take it. Besides that he told us about his needs.” The officer did not realize the self incrimination he had delivered. Neither Jesus nor Paul could have preached in that church either. They would not have “fit”

We Must Go Thru Many Hardships to Enter the Kingdom of Heaven

Acts 14:21–28 NIV84

They preached the good news in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said. Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust. After going through Pisidia, they came into Pamphylia, and when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia. From Attalia they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work they had now completed. On arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. And they stayed there a long time with the disciples.

Preaching in Lystra still had results

Timothy came from their and would have been about 14 years old

Conclusion

We are forced to Wonder what would happen to and through us if “Jesus Only” faith of Paul were ours and, as he did, we could use all that we have are are to bring glory to Christ and not to ourselves.