This Week's Sermons

Sermons for the Month
Necessary NO's
DATE: February 21, 1999
SERVICE: Lent I
TEXT: Matthew 4:1-11
"To all of you Saints here this morning, grace and peace to you from God our Father, from His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. AMEN

During every stage of our lives, our actions and attitudes are curtailed by a certain number of what might be called "necessary no's." If you have any toddlers around the house, you know how these "no's" seem to whirl around your ears like confetti at a New Year's Eve party.

-"No" you can't run into the street for your ball.

-"No" you can't reach for that beautifully steaming pot on the stove.

-"No" you can't have Peanut Butter Cup ice cream for breakfast.

-"No" you can't have a slightly squashed earthworm for lunch.

As we grow older, the "no's" get a little less pervasive but no less persuasive. Nevertheless, they still succeed in cramping our style.

-"No," we tell our 8-year-old, you are not old enough to ride your bike into town by yourself.

-"No," we reveal to our 13-year-old, you cannot stay out at the mall until it closes and then ride the bus home.

-"No," we preach desperately to our 16-year-old, you may not get involved in drugs or alcohol or be sexually active.

-"No," we break to our college-bound kids, we cannot afford a new car and tuition, adding, "Get a job!"

We drum these necessary no's into our kids' skulls while we have them at home, hoping and praying that our lectures and lessons will sufficiently sink in. If we've done our jobs successfully, we say to ourselves, little "guilt-bombs" of "no's" will detonate in their souls whenever they are confronted with potentially dangerous, ethically dubious situations throughout their lives.

Jesus was no soft touch either. But sometimes the disciples despaired of getting any serious dialogue going with their Master since he was always surrounded by rowdy, crowding, cuddling kids. Instead of telling them "no," Jesus would simply haul them into his lap or make them the whole point of his discussion.

Women of all types were also forever breaking in on the circle of learning Jesus' serious students wanted reserved for themselves. Instead of telling women like Mary to return to their real work - preparing meals, caring for the needs of their families and homes - Jesus encouraged women to listen in and learn. Instead of rejecting the embarrassing and unsanctified attentions of women like the one who poured costly ointment over his head, Jesus praised her for her unique insights and unhampered compassion. Jesus couldn't say "no" to invitations to sit down for dinner discussions and fellowship with disreputable types like tax collectors, sailors and prostitutes.

This being true, it's interesting to observe the times in which Jesus invoked a necessary no. In a sermon by George H. Morrison, Morrison looked at those few and far between times when Jesus did say "No," when he felt it was necessary to register a negative.
What did Jesus refuse to say? What did Jesus refuse to do? Morrison studied these silences of Jesus, his refusals, in order to understand what these "no's" were actually saying.
First, sometimes Jesus refused to work a miracle. Morrison notes the irony of today's Good News. Morrison claims Jesus refused the Devil's first temptation, to turn stones into bread because, "It was our Lord refusing for his own use the powers that God had given him for others. It was for others Jesus Christ was here. He came, not to be ministered unto, but to minister. The day was coming when he would feed 5,000 by a miracle. But by a miracle he never fed himself".
Jesus had one distinct advantage over us humans who wrestle with the temptation of giving in to "necessary no's." Jesus knew himself. At the moment of his baptism, Jesus had His essential self revealed and proclaimed. He was the "Son of God." Free from the assailing doubts of self-worth, Jesus had no need to practice acts of false humility, self-promotion or self-absorption. Jesus didn't need to change stones into bread just to show he could fill his stomach. What Jesus did need to do, and did so by refusing to succumb to the tawdry temptations the Devil strutted before him, was to demonstrate his genuine Sonship through his complete and utter obedience to God.
Maybe that is why we humans are so easily tempted by sin, why we are so given to compromise our integrity, demanding of others what we excuse in ourselves. We confuse humanity with sinfulness and once we do, we settle for way less than the faith Jesus has in us to be contagious Christians to the unchurched.
Second, sometimes Jesus refused to answer prayer. The words of Morrison remind me of what happened in those tombs one day, "the demoniac, cured, clothed, in his right mind, prayed Christ that he might follow him and serve him: And that was the only prayer that Christ refused. 'Go home to your friends,' said Christ, 'and tell them how much the Lord has done for you' (Mark 5:19)."
We are not here to enjoy Christ so much as to serve him. Have you ever noticed how the most popular TV sitcom shows seem to involve groups of people sitting around not working. The Friends crowd is always sitting around the coffeehouse, talking and not working. The late-much-lamented Seinfeld characters were always hanging around Jerry's apartment or their coffee shop, talking and not working. Characters on these shows would rather be seen dead than be seen actually doing something.
Jesus is our God, our Savior, our teacher, our healer, our friend. Jesus is not a TV show we just sit around and watch, laughing at his jokes, waiting for him to perform his next big miracle, or proclaim the next great truth that will enrich our lives. Jesus' words and witness call us to action, not atrophy. So sometimes Jesus has to refuse a prayer that seeks an easy way out, a sideline seat.
Morrison observed that, "Sometimes it is the prayer that God refuses that leads us to our service and our crown." Paul prayed, but Paul didn't get that thorn in the flesh he often complained about taken away. Even Jesus prayed - "Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me!" (Matthew 26:39) - and he didn't get the nails in his flesh taken out. Morrison reminds us that "the refusal of that prayer has saved the world".
Third, sometimes Jesus just refused to explain. In Matthew 21:23 the chief priests and elders come to him and demand to know "by what authority" he teaches and performs the miraculous healings they have witnessed. Likewise, before Pilate (Matthew 27:13-14), Jesus refused to answer "even to a single charge" that was levied against him by those bitter and vindictive priests and elders.
Jesus refused to answer the questions of the trouble seekers until they would answer a question he put to them. Jesus' question, "Did the baptism of John come from heaven or was it of human origin?" challenged those priests and elders by forcing them to look at what motivates their considered answers. As they mull over their answer options, the "truth" is never even considered as an issue. All that concerns these weak-willed "yes" men is how the crowd will react to their answer. Jesus refuses to dignify their question about his authority with the truth, because they do not seek the truth.
Jesus refused the draught or hyssop that was offered him on the cross (Mark 15:23). Jesus refused the cup, which would have deadened the pain and perhaps would have even drugged him to sleep. Morrison preaching in that grand sermon style of an earlier day said, "In the hour of battle the captain must be awake .... In the last storm and assault, it will not do for the leader to be sleeping. AND the crowning assault on sin, and death, and ... hell, was made by our mighty leader on the cross".
Just as Jesus refused to turn the stones to bread at the beginning of his ministry, so here at the end, Jesus refused the myrrh upon the cross. How can we say "No" to the powers and principalities of this world? By saying "Yes" to the ultimate power and authority, God. In fact, none of our "necessary noes" can be invoked without its accompanying affirming yes. Jesus said no to the Devil because he had already said yes to the Father. Jesus said no to the seductive words of the tempter because he said yes to the authority of Scripture.
You say to your child, "no, you cannot play in the street." That necessary no is only possible because you, as a loving parent, have already said yes to your commitment to safeguard the health of your child.

You say no to drugs because you have said yes to clean living.
You say no to temptation because you have said yes to self-control.
You say no to Satan because you have said yes to the Spirit.
You say no to racism because you have said yes to love.
You say no to oppression because you have said yes to justice.
You say no to crankiness because you have said yes to kindness.
You say no to revenge because you have said yes to forgiveness.
You say no to evil because you have said yes to God.

Let us pray: Merciful God, your Son was tempted as we are, yet without sin: Be with us in our weakness, that we may know your power to save; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
AMEN