4th April 2011

John 11:45-57 – The Plot to Kill Jesus

• ”Is God Sentimental?”
• An emergency, special [illegal] meeting is held by the Jewish leaders.
• Jesus has just performed a miracle that only the messiah could and now things are getting very serious.
• So the Jews are concerned that if Jesus grows in popularity that their ministry and nation will be taken from them.
• In their minds, this cannot be right because God appointed priests and God chose the Israelite nation.
• Can we make the same mistake?
• Can we as leaders thing that because we know God commissioned us or has had some hand in the setting up of our nation therefore think it is so important to Him?
• What is important to God is the Kingdom.
• He sets things apart for the sake of the Kingdom. When they no longer serve the Kingdom’s sake then He is fine with them disappearing.
• God is not sentimental in that regard.
• Even though the Temple was designed by God and was the most important church structure on the planet – God was fine about it being destroyed a few years later.
• And when it was destroyed so was the Sanhedrin. a leadership team that helped for many years the people govern themselves under God’s rule.
• Can we fall into the trap of thinking our ministries are important to God, our organizations or our church?
• How prideful we can be.
• If God can happily allow the Temple be destroyed what makes me think He will think twice about my ministry, Pais or church disappearing if it no longer serves the purposes of the Kingdom?
• God is perhaps sentimental when it comes to people and relationship but definitely not to ministries.
• We must not make the mistake that because God was once involved that He always will be. Or because what we once did was important it always will be.
• I must always make sure I am not looking back as a way of estimating but of comparing it to Jesus.
• Something sobering to think about today.