Altered States pt.2
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Altar
Altar
I got to show you the coolest picture!
Then Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padan Aram; and he pitched his tent before the city. And he bought the parcel of land, where he had pitched his tent, from the children of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for one hundred pieces of money. Then he erected an altar there and called it El Elohe Israel.
Genesis
Altered States
Altered States
Altar
Altar
WITH AN “A”
Alter
Alter
WITH AN “E”
Altar-vs-Alter
Altar-vs-Alter
Altered States
Altered States
Old Testament examples…cutting themselves, blood, guts & fire!
Seems primitive
Altered States
Altered States
Black Church ‘Shoutin’
Let’s be careful because we can do the same thing...
Then Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padan Aram; and he pitched his tent before the city. And he bought the parcel of land, where he had pitched his tent, from the children of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for one hundred pieces of money. Then he erected an altar there and called it El Elohe Israel.
Altered States
Altered States
We can do the same thing
Bible School Prayer meeting trying to impress a girl with my loud praying
Altered States
Altered States
Black Church Shout 2
Sure we can do the same thing...
Altered States
Altered States
“Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven.
Matthew 6:1
“Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don’t make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won’t be applauding.
“When you do something for someone else, don’t call attention to yourself. You’ve seen them in action, I’m sure—‘playactors’ I call them—treating prayer meeting and street corner alike as a stage, acting compassionate as long as someone is watching, playing to the crowds. They get applause, true, but that’s all they get. When you help someone out, don’t think about how it looks. Just do it—quietly and unobtrusively. That is the way your God, who conceived you in love, working behind the scenes, helps you out.
“And when you come before God, don’t turn that into a theatrical production either. All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for stardom! Do you think God sits in a box seat?
Matthew
“The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They’re full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God.
Altered States
Altered States
Gen 34:1-5
Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her and lay with her, and violated her. His soul was strongly attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young woman and spoke kindly to the young woman. So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this young woman as a wife.”
And Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter. Now his sons were with his livestock in the field; so Jacob held his peace until they came.
Altered States
Altered States
Jacob-Alone
FROM THE “PLACE OF CHANGE” TO THE “PROCESS OF CHANGE”
FROM THE “PLACE OF CHANGE” TO THE “PROCESS OF CHANGE”
Then Shechem said to her father and her brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you say to me I will give. Ask me ever so much dowry and gift, and I will give according to what you say to me; but give me the young woman as a wife.”
But the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father, and spoke deceitfully, because he had defiled Dinah their sister. And they said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a reproach to us. But on this condition we will consent to you: If you will become as we are, if every male of you is circumcised, then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to us; and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people. But if you will not heed us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and be gone.”
gen 34:11-17
Will not their livestock, their property, and every animal of theirs be ours? Only let us consent to them, and they will dwell with us.”
Altered States
Altered States
Hypocrisy
TAKING THE “ALTERATION” INTO YOUR OWN HANDS IS DANGEROUS
TAKING THE “ALTERATION” INTO YOUR OWN HANDS IS DANGEROUS
I like to call this Self-Altering
Now it came to pass on the third day, when they were in pain, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each took his sword and came boldly upon the city and killed all the males. And they killed Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah from Shechem’s house, and went out. The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and plundered the city, because their sister had been defiled.
gen
WILL YOU STAY ON THE ALTAR UNTIL GOD DOES THE ALTERING?
WILL YOU STAY ON THE ALTAR UNTIL GOD DOES THE ALTERING?
Altered States
Altered States
I've been reading Brennan Manning’s book entitled, “Ragamuffin Gospel.” In it he describes a rather solemn scene between a surgical physician and a young couple.“I stand by the bed where a young woman lies, her face half paralized, her mouth twisted in palsy, somewhat clownish. A tiny twig of the facial nerve, the one to the muscles of her mouth, had been severed. She will be this way from now on.
I had followed with religious fervor the curve of her flesh; nevertheless, to remove the tumor in her cheek, I had to cut the little nerve.
Her young husband is in the room. He stands on the opposite side of the bed and together they seem to dwell in the evening lamplight, isolated from me, the moment is a private one.
Who are they, I ask myself? He and this wry mouth I have made, who gaze at each other so generously, so lovingly. The young woman speaks.
''Will my mouth always be like this?' she asks.
"Yes, I say, it will. It is because the nerve was cut." She nods and is silent. But the young man smiles.
“I like it,” he says, “It’s kind of cute.”
All at once I know who he is. I understand and I lower my gaze. One is not bold in an encounter with a God moment. Unmindful, he bends to kiss her crooked mouth and I am so close I can see how he twists his own lips to accommodate to hers, to show her that their kiss still works.”
Altered States
Altered States
Since reading this story, the image of the young husband contorting his mouth and twisting his lips for an intimate kiss with his palsied wife has gripped my heart.
I thought about how God symbolically did the very same thing for us, when He fashioned Himself in the form of flesh, and became “man” through the image of His Son, Jesus Christ.
What a love story. The God of the universe, bent down from Heaven, leaned toward mankind, and expressed His love to a very disfigured people.
He contorted Himself (so to speak) in order to manifest His vast love to a fallen generation. “For God so loved the World, that he gave His only begotten Son.”
How do we respond to such a beautiful expression of genuine love to a handicapped humanity? We respond by recognizing that we were created from the clay of the earth, by the hand of the Great Potter Himself.
In His foreknowledge, He knew that we would become marred and afterward, we would be in need of His unconditional love.
What is our response?
We simply receive the gracious gift of love, and allow Him to mold and make us into His beautiful image. The following poem seems to sum it up very well:
Our Sovereign King is so pleased
When with gladness He sees
His likeness brought forth
By His kisses received
If you have never known the unconditional love of this King, He wants you to know that His desire has always been toward you and that even now, He longs for your response. Most importantly, He wants you to know that His kiss still works.
Don’t wait another moment. Come and receive the “Kiss” of the King.