St Matthew, Chapter 11, verses: 18, This Generation.

Our paragraph topic is:  (The inconsistency of the Jews) Part 2. 

Christ continues to characterize this current generation because of their selfishness.  They want everyone to dance to their tune.  They want everyone to cry to their sorrows.  They want to be in control of everything.  They are selfish people who have had power to long and are unwilling to consider that the Messiah has come among them to change everything.  John preached about the coming.  The scriptures foretold about the coming of the Messiah.  Yet the Jews of this generation have their own plan and will not consider that the Messiah has come as a man in their midst to change all mankind.

They have no wisdom.  They have no knowledge.  They have no understanding, only that they want everyone else to dance to their tune and cry to their sorrows.  John was written about in the scripture.  John preached from the Jordan and thousands came to hear him.  John baptized many and preached repentance.  John paved the way for the coming of the Messiah and yet they did not believe.  Christ says that they characterized John as a lunatic.  He says,  "For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a devil!" 

The people knew that John was anointed of God.  They heard him preach.  They believe that the Messiah had come.  But the rulers and the rich, and the educated, and the religious, and the Pharisees and the Sadducees did not believe.  They rationalized that John was possessed and out of his mind.  They said that John was insane and people should not follow him.  They had to turn the people least all believed in John and his teachings.   They had to do something before they lost control and the people no longer danced to their tune and cried to their sorrows.

What should I compare this generation to, Christ said?  Shall we compare them to the blind.  They live in an evil world and yet do not see.  They stumble through life leaning upon the one who lives in darkness.  They believe in their own capacity to live without knowing true life.  They cannot see the light.  This generation is like a moth drawn to a flame.  They are utterly attracted to the glitz and glamour of a world that is dying and has no life of its own.  Are you in the world?  Do you look out from your position in the world and wonder about those who do not follow your passions for the worldly life?  Do you hunger for something more than the world has offered you, having conquered the passions of this world?  Do not be lost with this generation.  Do not be blind.   Open your eyes and see the road that you are on before it is too late.  God is patient and yet your cup of wrath continues to fill.  Repent before the thief comes to steal your life.  God loves you and is merciful and forgiving.  Christ paid for your sins and will forgive all, if you just ask and believe that he will.  Come take his hand and be healed!!

St Matthew, Chapter 11, verses: 16 - 17, This Generation.

Our paragraph topic is:  (The inconsistency of the Jews) Part 1. 

Christ has just finished telling the crowd about the greatness of John the Baptist.  He called to the crowd saying,  "He who has ears to hear, let him hear. "   For he told the crowd that if they can receive it, John the Baptist was Elias who was to come.  It was written in the scriptures that Elias would come again before the Messiah.  And now Christ is reminding the crowd of what was written has come to pass.  But he stops there to talk about the people of this generation.

He says,  "But to what shall I liken this generation?"   He asked, what can he compare this generation to that the people might understand.  The scriptures have spoken of this time.  John came and spoke of this time, but the people do not believe.  They do not hear, they do not read, they do not believe.  They are worse than unbelievers, because in the face of all the evidence they still do not believe what is right before their eyes.  You see, this is a selfish generation.  They want things to happen their way.  And if it does not come, the way that they expect, then they will not turn, they will not understand, they will not see, they will not comprehend, and they will not believe.

Christ compared them to children playing in the market who want everything to follow their plan. Christ says,  "It is like children sitting in the market place, who call to their companions, and say, 'We have piped to you, and you have not danced; we have sung dirges, and you have not mourned.' "   This generation is selfish.  They want everything to go according to their plans.  They have played songs and no one has danced.  They have sung dirges and no one has come forth to play funeral with them.  They want everyone to dance their tune and sing to their tribulations.

Will we be the same generation when Christ returns?  For different from those years, we live in a selfish environment.  Everything is about us.  We want more money for us.  We want more cars for us.  We want more house for us.  We want more clothes for us.  We want everything for us and do not consider others.  We want to succeed in this world and to succeed, the world tells us that we have to look out for number one, ourselves. 

For who is going to provide for us if we do not provide for ourselves.  We are raised on the principle that makes us believe that we must be selfish.  It is a cold world out there and if you do not look out for yourself no one else will.  You will be used and abused by the world if you do not provide for yourself, is the principle that we believe.  Yet Christ came and died for all, because we could not save ourselves. 

Are you a selfish person?  Do you have to have things your way?  Must the world dance for you and cry for you when you want it to?  Come, let us not be of that generation that is selfish.  Let us turn our hearts to God and love each other as we love ourselves.  Let us open our minds and open our hearts and open our eyes to see that we are all children of God, created in his image no matter what color, what shape, what hair, what eyes, what background, what income, what ever we use to categorize ourselves that we may segregate and make comparisons.  God is our father and we are his children.  We are all his creations, children of light.  So let us love one another as he loves us.  We are spiritual beings in a physical body that is dying before our eyes.  What we see before us is not who we are, and who we are today is not who we will be in heaven.  Put off the cloak of selfishness and put on the cloak of love and you will understand who you really are.  

St Matthew, Chapter 12, verses: 13 - 15, John is Elias.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Christ's witness concerning John) Part 5. 

Christ has spoken about the assault on the kingdom of heaven that has taken place since the coming of John the Baptist.  The war is on.  The evil one knows that Christ has come to turn the tide of the battle.  Out of desperation the evil one has taken the lead and increased the attacks on the kingdom.  The evil one has stepped up the assaults to the point of becoming violent with the people.  People are being possessed more.  People are being afflicted with more diseases. Believers are dying at the hands of possessed people who are driven to violence by their evil spirits.  And Christ comes on the scene.  But first there was John who preached to the people to repent.

John was a great prophet.  Christ attests to his greatness by telling the people that of all men born of women, none is greater than John.  Christ tells the crowds, "For all the Prophets and the Law have prophesied until John."   Now that John is here the prophesies come to conclusion.  The Messiah has come and the war has begun.  Before the coming there was no battle.  Before the coming the devil had free reign.  Before the coming the people had no defense against the onslaught of the enemy.  But John came and prepared the way and Christ came and gave the people the sword of God to do battle with the enemy.

John was the great one.  He was Elias as had been written.  Christ said,  "And ifyou are willing to receive it, he is Elias who was to come."   So the scriptures had been fulfilled.  The scriptures were complete.  Elias had come just as prophesied and now the Messiah was here.  His mission was to preach the message of the kingdom.  His mission was to establish the church here on earth.  His mission was to anoint his followers.  And his mission was to die for the sins of the world.  John fulfilled his mission.  Christ fulfilled his mission.  And sword of God came to earth to separate the believers from the unbelievers, the saved from the damned, the just from the unjust, and the followers of Christ from the followers of Satan.

Christ told the crowd, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."   We all have ears but we all do not hear the words of Christ.  We all receive with our ears the message that is preached, but we all do not understand the meaning of the message.  Can you hear the message?  Can you understand the message of the kingdom of heaven?  When we go to school the purpose of education is to advance.  But when we go to church the results of the spiritual education is to become stagnant.  Why do we not hear?  Why do we not understand the message and become college graduates in our spiritual education rather than retarded children?  He who has ears to hear let him hear!   Preachers preach from week to week on the same problems, the same issues, the same sins.  Yet we do not grow in godliness.  We do not grow in spiritually.  We do not hear the message of the kingdom and the gift that God has given us.  With all the years that religion has been around and all the churches, we should have millions of spiritual giants.  But instead we have millions spiritual midgets filling the pews of churches each week trying to figure out the message of Christ.  Thank you Father for your patience.  Thank you Father for your love.  Thank you Christ for your sacrifice.  Thank you Holy Spirit for your coming to teach all.  More is needed and more will  be revealed!