Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

In a few weeks we will meet with for the EMC for a convention in Winnipeg.

The speaker who will teach us on Friday, Saturday and Sunday is Ron Sider.

The conference has offered the book he has written to church leaders and I have just finished reading it.

It is a very disturbing book.

The title of the book is, “The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience.”

The subtitle is, “Why are Christians living just like the rest of the world?”

In the first chapter of the book, Sider says, “Whether the issue is divorce, materialism, sexual promiscuity, racism, physical abuse in marriage, or neglect of a Biblical worldview, the polling data point to widespread, blatant disobedience of clear Biblical moral demands on the part of people who allegedly are evangelical, born-again Christians.

The statistics are devastating.”

What are those statistics?

Regarding divorce he says, “the percentage of born-again Christians who had experienced divorce was slightly higher (26%) than that of non-Christians(22%).” Regarding materialism he reports that “American Christians live in the richest nation on earth and enjoy an average household income of 42,000.

The World Bank reports that 1.2 billion of the world’s poorest people try to survive on just $1.00 per day.

At least one billion people have never heard the gospel…if American Christians just tithed, they would have another $143 billion available to empower the poor and spread the gospel.”

In regards to sexual promiscuity he indicates, “Nationally, 33% of all adults have lived with a member of the opposite sex without being married.

The rate is 25% for born again folk.”

It is shocking to discover, as statistics reveal, that in regards to domestic abuse, “Theologically conservative Christians…commit domestic abuse at least as often as the general public.”

And in regards to devotional practice, “…born-again Christians spend seven times more hours each week in front of their televisions than they spend in Bible reading, prayer and worship.”

These are disturbing statistics!

Brothers and sisters, we need to talk about these things.

I don’t think we can dismiss them by saying – that is the other guys or those are American statistics.

These things impact us and we ought to be concerned!

*I.* *God Wants Us To Live Holy Lives.*

As I read this book I was challenged again to realize that we need to reinforce in our hearts and lives that God wants us to live holy lives!

Why is holy living so important for those who claim to be Christians?

*A.* *It Fits Who We Are*

Every once in a while, someone mentions that they have been to see a doctor and that he was very insensitive to them.

This is not what we expect.

The nature of the medical profession and the sensitive stuff that doctors deal with causes us to expect not only scientific competence, but also human compassion.

It fits with what seems to be a reasonable expectation.

In a similar way, holiness is a reasonable expectation for those who are Christians.

It fits with who we are.

This is stated in Scripture in I Peter 2:9, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

That suitability of holiness for Christians is reinforced when we realize that the price to make us holy was bought at a huge cost.

Paul says it well in I Corinthians 6:19, 20, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?

You are not your own you were bought at a price.

Therefore honor God with your body.”

It is the blood of Christ that has made us holy and it is fitting for us to continue to walk in that holiness.

Therefore we need to be holy because it fits with who we are.

*B.* *It Is The Way To Life*

When we lived up north, I sometimes did some moose hunting.

One day a friend and I had been driving in the bush looking for good places for hunting.

It was near the end of the day and time to head back home when we came to a fork in the bush trail.

We did not know where the two trails went and so chose one.

As we drove along, the trail got worse, leading us through soft areas where we almost got stuck.

We eventually realized that we would have to turn around and go back because the trail was dwindling out.

We came back to the fork and chose the other path and within a short distance were on the main road once again.

Had we been able to have a satellite view of the two paths before we embarked on them, we would have saved ourselves a lot of time and trouble because we would have known that the first path did not lead where we wanted to go.

In our life we stand in a fork on the road.

One path leads to death, the other to life.

But, unlike the bush trail, there is no mystery about which one leads where!

We know that holy living leads to life and sin leads to death.

Romans 6:23 says that “the wages of sin is death and the gift of God is eternal life.”

If we walk down the path of sin, we end up in trouble, in fact we end up dead.

If, on the other hand, we walk in holiness, we will end up on the path that is life giving.

Why would we knowingly choose the path that leads to destruction.

Holy living is important because it leads to life.

*C.* *Without It We Will Not See Him*

There are many different types of keys which can be used to open doors.

Years ago, many doors had skeleton keys which unlocked the door mechanically.

Today, when we go to a hotel, we often get a key that looks like a credit card, which uses a digital code to open a door electronically.

In the future, we may open doors with voice recognition software, or iris or fingerprint detection.

I suspect that there are already places which are using this method.

What is the key to heaven?

The Bible tells us that holiness is the key to heaven because those who are not holy will not be able to get in.

I Corinthians 6:9-10 says, “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” Galatians 5:21 has a similar list and concludes, “those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

In fact, Revelation 21:8 warns that “…the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur.

This is the second death.”

So for these reasons – because it fits with who Christ has bought us to be, because it is the way to life and because if we are not holy we will not see God - there is powerful motivation for holy living.

*II.* *Holy Lives*

So what does it mean to live holy lives?

What are the specifics of holy living?

There are many passages in Scripture that speak about this.

I mentioned the list in Galatians 5:19-21 where we read, “The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.”

I invite you to look at some other Scripture that mentions some of the specifics.

We live holy lives when we honour God with our bodies.

I Corinthians 6:18 says, “Flee from sexual immorality.”

I have actually heard about a couple claiming to be Christian who were living together and thinking that there was nothing wrong with it.

When we read Jesus words we know that not only sex outside of marriage, but also lustful thoughts are inappropriate behavior for someone claiming to be in Christ.

We also live holy lives when our money honours God.

Matthew 6:24 says, “No one can serve two masters.

Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.

You cannot serve both God and Money.”

Materialism is such a prevalent temptation for people today that we have to guard against it in a special way.

We will be living holy lives when our relationships honour God.

John 13:34 says, “A new command I give you: Love one another.

As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”

This excludes all racism, prejudice, hatred, un-forgiveness and so on.

Holy living also happens when our values honour God.

Matthew 6:33 puts it in perspective when it says, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

The Bible has much to say about how we live holy lives when our mouths honour God.

James 3:9, 10 raises the difficult challenge, “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness.

Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing.”

Then he warns, “My brothers, this should not be.”

In other words, if we want to be holy people, we need to learn to control our tongue.

Although we could speak about many other lifestyle issues that give evidence of holy living, let one more suffice for now.

Holy living happens when our self is surrendered to God. James 4:7 is simple and direct when it says, “Submit yourselves, then, to God.”

*III.*

*Holy Living*

The Bible is not mysterious about the requirement to be holy people and it is not mysterious about what constitutes holy living.

The only real question is, “are we doing it?”