Sunday: Spoiled Brats in the Kingdom guest post T.W.

Facing What Makes You Uncomfortable Like a Man

How many of you remember the Mexican comedy El Chavo del Ocho, an off shoot of the well known Mexican comedy El Chapulin Colorado. In the show El Chavo del Ocho, Mister Villagran played a character named Quico, who was an adult who dressed up like a kid. In fact, he played the part of a spoil brat, who was always crying about this or that. Some of us in the Kingdom of God is like Quico. Though we should be all grown up in God, we still sometimes act like spoil brats.



In the 7th chapter of St. Luke, beginning at the first verse, we see that the Lord was very busy! From the time he entered into Capernaum, it started. And a certain centurion's servant, was sick and ready to die. And eventually Jesus healed the servant.

Jesus, then, while walking along, came upon a funeral, and pall bearers were carrying the only son of a widow woman to his grave. The Bible says that Jesus had compassion on the woman and raised the young man from the dead. This act caused the people to be very amazed, and fearful, and many began to glorify God. But there were those who also rejected Jesus. Their goal was to discredit and destroy Jesus.

Luke 7:30 But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him.

The Lord indicated that these men were like children in that they were not mature enough to stand on their own. They found it necessary to try and get everyone else to "play their games with them". And they also took the position of, "no fair," if anyone refused to play with them. This is the attitude of many in the Kingdom of God today. They have taken "a light-hearted attitude" concerning some very crucial topics, that of their God, and that of their souls.

Listen to what the Lord says about these men or people:

Luke 7:31 And the Lord said, Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation? and to what are they like?

It is clear that the Lord is talking about men, adults, man-kind. He says, "....the men of this generation?" And like always, the Word of God transcends time. It speaks to us in every generation, for all times. In observation of the behavior of many people, the Lord seems to reflect in his thoughts, in the latter part of Luke 7:31, "and to what are they like?" Then the Lord answers His own question; and who better to answer it.

Luke 7:32 They are like unto children sitting in the marketplace, and calling one to another, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned to you, and ye have not wept.

When we here the expression, "...in the marketplace," we must picture an "outdoor market", in another land. This is not an indoor super market in big city, U.S. In this market place, there are booths with fruits and vegetables, meat, beans, rice. And there are men or women manning these booths. The children are running all around entertaining themselves by playing games. Lets look at the first game they play:

"....We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced." They are playing a game which involves some type of celebration. Part of the children will supply the music, and the others should dance to the music. But one half of the children have noticed that the other half is "not playing fair." Again the children scream, "....We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced." "No fair!" This is all that is on these children minds. But, remember, the Lord is not talking about children at all, He is talking about men, who for whatever reason, have not taken life seriously. They have taken the position of spoiled brats in the Kingdom. Many times in our congregations, we find people who seem to think that life is just a big party. "If it feels good, do it." "I am only hurting myself." and so on. "God means for His children to be rich!" And these people want the other people to go along with them, "no questions asked."

Now, let's look at the second game the children are playing while in the Market Place: "we have mourned to you, and ye have not wept." These children are playing a 'funeral game'. This is the game of death. In times past, when someone close to you died, and there were not sufficient mourners around, the family would sometimes hire people to mourn, or ask people to help them mourn. But there is something more serious going on here. It is the attitude of the children toward death. Many children in our culture, in the United States, have gotten a false concept of death. It is like they see on the cartoons. One cartoon character shots the other character full of holds. The character who got shot drinks water, and the water comes out of the holds....."ha, ha, ha, ha!" The next scene, the character who got shot in the last scene is alive and well. No problem! That is the way a child may see death. Is it possible that this is why, for the past 30 years we have had so many of our young people killing each other. For whatever reason, our young people have decided that death is no big thing. Neither is dying, and spending eternity separated from God. It is just a game!

So the second illustration the Lord gives in the St. Luke 7:32, ".....we have mourned to you, and ye have not wept." This is the way the game is played, one kid shoots the other kid, and the shot kid falls downs and plays dead, then the mourners come and cry for the shot kid, "boo-hoo-boo-hoo-hoo." But the Lord is saying that some of us are acting like spoiled brats. We are playing with thing, with which we should not play.

And how do we as Saints of the Most High respond to respond to those around us who have gotten these childish concepts about life, salvation, or God. Are we prepared to help them grow up in God.

CONCLUSION

Let me share this testimony with you. Some years ago, someone wrote me a letter about my method of sharing the gospel. The person suggested that I should start my sermons out with a joke. Many pastors do this to get the audience laughing, and relaxed. The person went on to tell me: "You are too serious. You need to lighten up a bit." So I took the matter to God in prayer. I asked the Lord if that was true: that I was too serious? Should I joke before preaching?" The Lord so graciously answered me. He told me this: "Many preachers are cracking jokes in the pulpit, while My (God's) people are on their way to hell." The Lord also told me this: "If it had not been serious, I would not have died." Amen?

Pastor T.W.

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