Sermon Nuggets Thur July 17, 2008
Theme Make Plans
Verses John 11:49-57 Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, "You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish."
51 He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one.
53 So from that day on they plotted to take his life.
54 Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the Jews. Instead he withdrew to a region near the desert, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.
55 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover.
56 They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple area they asked one another, "What do you think? Isn't he coming to the Feast at all?"
57 But the chief priests and Pharisees had given orders that if anyone found out where Jesus was, he should report it so that they might arrest him.
DECIDE A PROCEDURE
A procedure is the combination of steps needed to carry out the plan. The procedure is the way we seek to hit the target.
For the believers who plan is to follow Christ, the steps in doing that might include prayer, Bible reading, church attendance, and service to others. Other procedures might be devotions every day at 6 am, or writing a prayer journal. A procedure can be as different as individuals and as different as churches. The way we might decide to have worship is different than the way another church may decide. So much of worship and styles of worship is frankly cultural depending on the people who gather together to honor God. I do not believe one is necessarily right or wrong, but the procedure becomes the steps to carrying out your plan.
If the purpose is to glorify God and one plan to do that is worship, the procedure to glorify God through worship might be to have songs and hymns that point us all to our Lord and sing praises to His name. We might also seek a procedure to tell people at what time we gather, to have a clean sanctuary, to include an elevator so others who have difficulty walking can join in worship. Our procedure might include people who are more gifted musically to play instruments, or sing. Others might be invited to share stories about God’s work in their lives and situation. An important procedure is to allow opportunity for people to give of themselves in offerings and tithes since God says that is honor to Him. Other procedures can be added or changed as deemed important at the time, such as art to focus on God’s truths through banners, or power point pictures to focus on the grandeur of His creation. Maybe to sit in silence and quiet prayer might be a procedure on a communion Sunday, or reading a passage of the Bible in unison.
Since the purpose of the Sanhedrin was to have power, their plan to keep that power was to eliminate their threat by killing Jesus. But they now needed a procedure. They were plotting the steps to carry out their plan. The first step was to arrest him. They had to have spies out to carry out this procedure- to look for him, tell then where he might be found, so they might gather up soldiers and have him brought before them. They further needed a procedure to carry out the plan to have accusations brought against him to insure His guilt and bring about a death sentence so they could have the public support and not make him a hero by a simple assassination. They must come up with false charges that sound reasonable enough to have him convicted to die.
Unfortunately there are many who function with that thought in mind. It takes shrewd people who operate schemes when people who are innocent look guilty and people that are guilty look innocent. Caiaphas was such a person. Crafty, shrewd and aware of ways to look so very right, yet his heart was deceptively evil. But you cannot fool God.
Pastor Dale
