By
Tony V. Hammack
| Abundant Life Today Media |
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These notes are best when used in conjunction with the audio or video.
Matthew 10:34-39
34 “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to turn
“‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law— 36 a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’[c]
37 “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.
Polarizing - to break up into opposing factions or groupings.
It would seem that many in the Church today, in an effort to keep or attract large crowds, would avoid polarizing truth due to it’s nature. However, Jesus, the one we’re all following embraced and dove head first into speaking and living a life that polarized people.
Do we polarize just for the sake of being polarizing? No, we have to be people of truth and honestly share the concepts of life from God’s word in love.
Ephesians 4:15
Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.
Relevance
An Example to Us
- Gaderene Demoniac
- Lazarus
- The Old Testament Prophets
- The Cross
I believe God’s called me to be a pastor but in the midst of this calling is maybe a higher calling to identify things in the Church that will keep her from stepping into her destiny.
Fullness in Christ.
I’m called to identify these issues and challenge individuals and leaders to become more Bible centric and Holy Spirit centric in a church that’s seemingly becoming more and more people centric and thus more and more ineffective at reaching multiple generations for Christ.
Reformation is my goal. If you’ve ever read the book of Acts and thought, “Wow, I don’t see that going on at my Church, but I’d sure love to!” Then you and I are in the same vein of thought. Unfortunately for the Church, it seems that many are content to develop systems that attract people at the expense of experiencing God’s power.
Why polarization? Well, if you want to see a stark contrast between something in the life of Jesus and the lives of many in Christian leadership today it’s this subject. Perhaps if we address this issue it will move the Church of Jesus Christ more closely to the original, Jesus himself, and thus bring about a portion of this reformation.
Many leaders today seem to fear polarizing subjects. Why? Well, by their very nature they divide people. When the goal is to attract as many people as possible to the Church speaking about polarizing truth tends to push against this modern Goal.
Did Jesus want a big Church?
YES, YES, YES!!!!!
However his methodology was radically different from most anything you and I have ever experienced. Jesus, in our modern Church systems would be considered revolutionary, however we must make every effort to follow his example.
Luke 9:23-26
23 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? 26 Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
Who polarizes people?
People who are principled.
These people operate by a rule or code of conduct that governs their behavior.
People who are cameleon tend to not polarize. Politicians do not want to polarize the electorate because it will cost them votes. Leaders, who want to attract large crowds at the expense of polarizing truth, take on a political flavor that I find unChristlike.
Why would a leader in a Church not address polarizing issues?
- The crowd validates them as a leader
- How many are in your church?
- The money from the crowd is attractive
- The world and many in the Church judge a crowd as successful and with success comes influence / power.
Warning to the Teachers of the Law
Mark 12:38-40
38 As he taught, Jesus said, “Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, 39 and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. 40 They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.”
So, in the Church, if we’re not principled but more driven by a motivation to be politically correct lest we offend the crowd will we ever be able to have integrity within ourselves? Will we ever be able to address difficult issues? Will we ever be able to say, this is the direction we’re going to go? We’d love you to come with us but if not we bless you to go a different direction?
Will you also go? Peter and the other disciples couldn’t go because they were on board with Jesus due to the revelation that He was “the Holy one of God”. John 6:53-69
There is no Church in our country that I’ve ever visited and thought, man they’ve got it! There are some very cool things in the Body of Christ in the U.S.A. yet one thing I’ve noticed we seem to be sweeping under the rug are the manifestations of the Holy Spirit. Jesus, built his ministry around manifestations of the Holy Spirit!
John 4:48
“Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.”
Jesus Christ the Great Polarizer
The Gaderene Demoniac-
Luke 8:26-40
- For most of us we see this story and see a man who needed help and Jesus helped him and set him free.
- Jesus in this story, because of the supremacy of his Kingdom overturns the kingdoms of darkness.
- People attached to that kingdom will become angry with Jesus when he does this! The demoniac is free but the pigs are dead!!
Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead.
What we see is a great miracle but amazingly not everyone is excited about it.
The Pharisees have turned their hearts against Jesus and consequently the miracle only serves to further harden them against him.
They conclude that now they not only have to kill Jesus but they’ll have to kill Lazarus also because he represents the authority of the kingdom of God over their religious systems. John 12:10
The forefathers of the Pharisees also were guilty of killing the prophets. (Luke 11:47-48) Why would they kill them? Their message was true and polarizing so some people didn’t want to hear it. One way to silence a voice is by killing them.
The Cross
The Cross of Jesus Christ is the ultimate example of what happens to polarizing leaders.
Everywhere Jesus went he pushed people into the worship column or the “I hate him” column. I can’t see many people seeing Jesus’ ministry and saying, “ho hum”.
In Conclusion:
If any man would come after me, he must take up his cross, deny himself and follow me. What good would it be to gain the whole world and forfeit one’s soul or what can a man give in exchange for his soul.
Take up his cross… stand on principled truth that will polarize.
How about you? How about me? Does our life polarize people like Jesus did or have we conformed to a modern religious system where our main goal is fun and the comfort of people?
Jesus, help our generation get back to the roots of our founder.
Visit with us at Jubilee Family Church this Sunday at 10:15 AM (Central Standard Time U.S.A.) and Wednesday evening at 6:30 PM (Central Standard Time U.S.A.) If you can't be with us in person please visit via internet video on
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Jubilee Family Church45 Thunderbird Dr. Batesville, AR 72501 (870) 793-9124
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