Let the Shepherd Lead

Originally Proclaimed: 06/09/19

Intro:

• Recently I decided to watch reboot of the series the Twilight Zone.
  • The episode told the story of a stand-up comedian who was challenged by a more seasoned, famous comic to share more about his personal life in his act. However, he was warned that there would be a cost.
  • As the comedian began to share about his personal life to the delight of the audiences, he found that the aspects of his personal life he used in his act were erased from existence. Upon this realization, he began to use this as a weapon to eliminate those whom he feared.
  • The show ended when his girlfriend confronted him about the man he had become, so that in his final show he told a series of jokes about himself. As the show ended, the comedian himself disappeared.
• Just imagine, if sharing did lead to that sort of severe consequence how quickly people might switch from connecting with others by sharing personal stories to guarding carefully what they might share with others.

Hook:

• But most of us, unlike the comedian in the Twilight Zone do not have to be encouraged to share about our lives.
  • In fact some of us fall into a category of individuals who “overshare”. We will tell people more details than they need or want.
  • For instance, a recent Facebook post shared with me said it this way, “If you live in a pastor’s home – you have the right to remain silent because anything you say or do may be used in a sermon illustration.”
  • Social Media has only accelerated our tendency toward oversharing. When a post begins with “I don’t normally share these things on social media” we can be sure that what follows overshares.
  • And like our pastors, when we use our personal life as illustrations or conversation starters without permission, we can very quickly isolate ourselves and achieve the opposite of our desires.
• In today’s passage, Jesus gives us three warnings that help us to know when oversharing is a problem.

Message Points:

• Jesus at this point in the gospel of Luke has thousands of people gathering together trampling one another according to verse 1 of Luke 12.
  • This mass of people all pressing against Christ and the disciples, demanded help and healing with great urgency.
  • Jesus knew that when the disciples encountered these crowd situations they would be tempted to focus on  “people-pleasing” above everything else.
    • They might fear what the people in the crowd would think, say or do to them.
    • They may come to the place where the like the attention and fear losing it. Or they may hate the attention and desire to avoid it.
    • All of these fear should be considered as a part of what we have called the fear of man.
  • Thus, Jesus begins to speak to His disciples offering them guidance to avoid the fear of man which leads to “people-pleasing”.
  • He tells his disciples not to be like the hypocritical Pharisees, putting on shows to please people while secretly despising those around them. He also warns them that their secret actions will be brought to light.
• Then as we see in today’s passage, He continues to warn them about a specific kind of fear of people.
  • Verse four alerts us to Jesus’ beginning a new idea with the phrase “I tell you”. Then he calls the disciples his friends. This is important to realize because Jesus loves these men and wants what is best for them.
  • Then He tells His disciples in verse four not to fear those who can merely kill the body, but do nothing else.
  • This should not be overlooked because, most people overshare due to some form of anxiety.
    • In a Wall Street Journal article from 2013 references experts who say that we overshare in an attempt to control our anxiety. This practice is called, “self-regulation” which means that we use all our brain power worrying about making the best impression possible, but end up having less brain power to filter what we say. ( https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887323826804578466831263674230 )
    • Forbes also has an article about this topic, saying that “some people have adopted the idea that ‘being honest’ and ‘owning your story’ means sharing your deepest darkest secrets with the world.” The article makes a distinction between oversharing and authenticity saying that “authenticity is about being brave enough to be yourself and genuine enough to live according to your values.” Oversharing because of anxiety over people not sympathetic to us, anxiety over the need to fast-track relationships, or anxiety over genuine conflicts; does not make us more authentic, but shields us from authenticity. ( https://www.forbes.com/sites/amymorin/2016/10/22/there-is-a-clear-line-between-oversharing-and-being-authentic-heres-how-to-avoid-crossing-it/#452b26b256e3 )
    • Anxiety can motivate us towards a great many things, not the least of which is oversharing with others. Especially when we feel threatened, that fear can motivate us to respond by trying to share more than we should.
  • In Jesus’ example the ultimate anxiety of death is the focus. Thus we can only expect that our fears about what people can do to us – what they can do to injure, harm, and even kill us – motivate us to do all sorts of things to avoid death and please those we fear.
    • Maybe we share more of our life story to gain sympathy.
    • We may share in an attempt to have the person we fear to give us the opportunity to impress them.
    • Or it could be that we try to share as much as we can, simply trying to delay the inevitable.
  •  But no amount of oversharing or people pleasing will be able to keep us from our ultimate end.
• Jesus wants us to recognize this first major warning, that Oversharing will not keep us from death (12:4-5).
  • Death is our enemy from the fall forward. It is the consequence of original sin, looming in each of our human experiences.
  • But let’s look at verse five. Jesus continues to warn his friends to fear the One who has the authority judge the dead as worthy of eternal punishment in Hell.
    • The Greek word is Gehenna, referring to the Jewish concept of the place of fiery final punishment.
    • Gehenna is a transliteration of the Hebrew “Hinnom Valley”, a valley in Jerusalem  where the trash and rubbish of the city was continually burning.
    • Thus as the writers of the New Testament tried to communicate the torment of eternal judgement this was the word they used.
  • Notice verse five speaks of the one who has the authority to cast into Hell. No person, not the devil, nor anyone else in all Creation can judge a person. Of course Jesus is speaking about the authority He has as God.
  • Thus Jesus’ warning is to desire and learn to please God.
  • One of the greatest obstacles to pleasing God is our persistent desire to please people.
    • When we connect  with other people, because we want to please them to the exclusion of connecting to our God in Christ, it is a problem.
    • Just as he does with money in Matthew 6:24 or Luke 16:13; Jesus is saying that we cannot serve two masters with this warning.
• Then Jesus continues to offer guidance to his friends speaking about the price of five sparrows.
  • The word for sparrows being discussed here actually could refer to any small bird that would be used for food. Sparrows were not commonly eaten by Jews, but the fact that Jesus quotes an exchange rate indicates these birds were purchased in a market.
  • Five of these small edible birds were being sold at this time for two small copper coins called assaria. It was the wage given for around 45 minutes of work in that time That is why we translate it as penny, however there was one smaller unit of currency in the Roman world.
  • But then look at what is said in verse six, not one of those birds is is forgotten by God.
  • The fear of being forgotten is one of the other anxieties that might motivate people to overshare.
    • An article from Psychology Today says that there are five reasons people might overshare. ( https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/what-mentally-strong-people-dont-do/201607/5-reasons-we-tell-people-more-we-should )
      • When people have a false sense of intimacy with others, they may overshare as reflex, talking about what is important to them.
      • Those who meet strangers and take solace by oversharing, tell their story in a “safe” or “non-judgmental” person.
      • People might overshare as they try to fast-track a relationship so that they can be known better.
      • Others overshare because they have no close relationships so they ignore boundaries in an attempt to share their issues.
      • Some overshare because they realize that when they share more, people tend to sympathize more and pay more attention.
    • As you can tell these five reasons all have to do with people being heard and telling their story.
• Thus Jesus alerts us to another warning, Oversharing will not secure our eternal legacy (12:6-7).
  • Jesus by comparing us to sparrows gets to the root of the reason we might overshare. We are driven to connect with others because we fear that no one will remember us.
  • No matter how much we share, and how much people might like us, that will not change our legacy.
  • Just a few weeks ago, we heard in worship the words to a Casting Crowns song that answers this fear. The first verse and chorus says
    • Make it count, leave a mark, build a name for yourself
      • Dream your dreams, chase your heart, above all else
      • Make a name the world remembers
      • But all an empty world can sell is empty dreams
      • I got lost in the light when it was up to me
      • To make a name the world remembers
      • But Jesus is the only name to remember
    • And I, I don’t want to leave a legacy
      • I don’t care if they remember me
      • Only Jesus
      • And I, I’ve only got one life to live
      • I’ll let every second point to Him
      • Only Jesus
  • Jesus wants his disciple to understand the message of that song and in songs like “His Eye Is On the Sparrow” so in verse 7  He shares this with his disciples.
    • Notice first he tells his disciples that even the number of hairs on our head have been numbered by God.
      • Whether we have full heads of hair, or much less – notice that God has taken the time and trouble to number all the hairs on every head.
      • He perfectly remembers us, our entire legacy – good and bad.
    • And lest we begin to panic thinking of all the things we may have done to displease God, Jesus continues. He tells us to “fear not” because we have more value than sparrows.
      • We do not need to overshare trying to connect with others because we fear that we will not be remembered or valued.
      • And furthermore if the legacy we have right now is bad, we do not have to fear that we must transform that legacy on our own as we connect with others.
      • God’s love for us and value for us is so great that He agreed to redeem us at the price of His own Son.
• That leads us to consider a final warning. Jesus tells us that we can never overshare our commitment to Christ (12:8-9)
  • When we are afraid because of what people might do to us we have a tendency to try to overshare in an attempt to connect with those who oppose us.
    • When we are afraid because we think people might not remember us, we have a tendency to overshare in an attempt to connect with those who will carry on our legacy.
    • But in both of these cases we share all about ourselves to the exclusion of the most important person to our eternal destiny and legacy.
    • Focusing on us functionally denies Christ.
  • So Jesus ends this passage by again alerting us to a new saying,  with the phrase “I tell you”. Then he issues a major principle.
    • In verse 8 Jesus tells us that everyone who acknowledges him before men, the Son of Man will acknowledge before the angels of God.
    • Jesus has taken pains to make sure that we know that acknowledging Him and Him acknowledging us is actively sharing about our relationship with others.
    • This is one of the main reasons that we as Baptists have an invitation at the end of our services. It offers anyone who is present the opportunity to acknowledge actively and publicly their relationship with Jesus Christ.
  • To deny Christ as verse 9 describes is to begin to talk about ourselves and focus on having relationships with others as if that would help us to avoid death or have a legacy.
  • Friends there is only one way to avoid the sting of death and have an eternal legacy. That way is to turn to Jesus Christ. He will raise us in the same way he rose from the dead and grant to us an eternal legacy of life.
  • If we have that relationship with Christ then we cannot help but acknowledge Him before others.

Conclusion:

• Friends we do not have to worry about having parts of our life erased if we share them with others like in the Twilight Zone.
• But the truth is if we share our relationship with Jesus Christ with others, acknowledging him before men, then we will find ourselves blessed with eternal life and

• Will you acknowledge Christ today?