Sermon Tone Analysis

Me

I know it is a weird hobby… But Danielle and I love listening to true-crime podcasts and watching true-crime shows.

Heck, one of my favorite TV dramas is actually Criminal Minds, which isn’t necessarily true-crime, but most of the scenarios thought up for the show are things that are very much plausible.

A while back we were listening to a particular true-crime show that we really like and they were talking about a killing spree that occured in the neighborhood Danielle grew up in in South Mobile County.

And it was a killing spree that occured in her neighborhood when she was a kid and while she was home.

Now, the actual details of the account are pretty different then the way Dani had remembered it all these years, but it was a pretty messed up situation no matter what.

As most stories like this go, it all started with a dude who apparently couldn’t make a good decision if it would have saved his life… After a night of an over the top bender involving cocaine, LSD, and a lot of alcohol, Jason Oric Williams returned home early in the morning to the trailer park he was staying in, had a phone call with his ex-wife that I can only assume didn’t go all that well—but that is probably also because he was blitzed off of coke, acid, and booze… But, he then grabbed a rifle and working his way up the street he killed four people and injured three others.

He then stole a car and ran to MS where he was ultimately caught.

Danielle and her sister were actually home when this all went down, and a neighbor called to make sure they were safe and to tell them to hide and not answer the door for anyone.

Due to this, Dani’s memory of the incident was that the guy was walking down the street knocking on doors, and if someone answered he shot them in the face.

This was one really messed up case… And honestly anytime a life is taken senselessly it is hard to wrap my head around it, no matter the circumstances.

We

We can all think of crazy news stories similar to this that we’ve seen over the years.

I mean, for most of us we don’t have to think back too hard to remember the events of September 11, 2001… Over twenty years later and we still struggle with the idea of understanding how in the world someone could have had such little regard for human life.

Most of us have seen the crazy stories out of Mobile of random bodies being found all around the city.

Or of the gang violence and folks gunned downed near the mall.

Maybe we’ve lost a loved one in a terrible drunk driving accident.

Or heard of a neighborhood break-in that resulted in the senseless death of a neighbor.

Or any number of unexpected situations.

No matter what, there is likely not a single person in this room that hasn’t had to face the reality of mentally wrestling with the evil inclination of humanity.

God

This week we read Parasha Noach, Genesis 6:9-11:32.

It begins with the Lord saying that Noah was the only righteous and blameless man among his generation and that all flesh had become corrupt upon the earth.

He then instructs Noah to build an ark of gopher wood that he, his wife, and their sons and their wives would board as remnants of mankind along with remnants of all animals.

In chapter 7 we see a little further discussion of the remnant of the animals on the earth which would come on board, seven of every clean and two of every unclean animal.

Then, in Noah’s 600th year the flood waters begin.

The Lord sealed up the ark so that no one else could get on and the waters couldn’t breach the boat, and all flesh on the earth aside from Noah’s family perished in the flood.

In chapter 8 we read of Adonai remember Noah and the waters of the flood beginning to recede.

Then we see Noah, after coming out of the ark, builds an altar and offers sacrifices to Adonai.

This is followed by the Lord making covenant with Noah.

In chapter 9 the Lord blesses and further lays out the covenant, gives the rainbow as a sign of the covenant and instructs Noah and his family to be fruitful and multiply.

The remainder of Genesis 9 through Genesis 10 we read of the development of the 70 nations from Noah and his offspring.

In the beginning of chapter 11 we read of the Tower of Babel and the confounding of the languages of mankind.

The latter part of chapter 11 is the generations from Noah to Abram.

In this we go from the development of the 70 nations to the foundations of the nation of Israel through whom the entire world would be blessed.

Now, we’re going to turn our attention to a very specific part of Parasha Noach in which we learn a pretty powerful principle of faith…

At its core, sin is anything that diminishes the image of G-d in our lives.

(Repeat)

So let’s dive into the text a bit together today.

Now, keep in mind, obviously Genesis doesn’t cover all of the history of the human experience from creation to Jacob entering Egypt… But what the Torah does cover here is for a very distinct purpose and brings us to the overarching narrative of the development of the redemption of humanity through Yeshua HaMashiach.

So, as we saw in Parasha Bereshit when Cain killed Abel Genesis 4:8-12

The Lord takes the murder of another human being very seriously… Cain kills Abel out of jealousy of his offering.

The Lord approaches Cain and says, “the blood of your brother is crying out to me from the ground.”

And then in Parasha Noach we read again:

To this regard The Mechilta says—

How were the Ten Commandments given?

Five on one tablet and five on a second tablet.

This means that “Do not murder” corresponds to “I am the Lord your God.”

The Torah is telling us that one who sheds blood, it is as if he has reduced the image of the King.

To what is this analogous?

To a king of flesh and blood who entered a country and put up portraits of himself, made statues of himself, and minted coins with his image.

After a while the people of the country overturned his portraits, broke his statues and invalidated his coins, thereby reducing the image of the king.

So too, one who sheds blood reduces the image of the King, as it is written (Genesis 9:6): “One who spills a man’s blood . . .

for in the image of God He made man.”

The Lord tells Noah that murder is not only wrong but that Adonai will avenge the blood of those murdered.

Why? Because, as the Mechilta describes it, each and every human being who has every lived and breathed the Breath of Life was created in the image and likeness of HaShem.

When one takes the life of another human being it is in essence a means of snuffing out a bit of the image of God from among us.

In fact, I would take this a bit deeper and point out that murder is just a single aspect of the overall effects of sin.

As we saw with Parasha Bereshit, sin entered humanity and the slippery slope just continued to get worse and worse.

First it was Adam and Chavah eating the fruit… But that introduction of sin into mankind gave way to murder… That gave way to so much more depravity.

Ultimately setting us up for where humanity finds ourselves in Parasha Noach in which we have spiraled the toilet bowl so rapidly that God says in Genesis 6:5-12

As I said a few moments ago, the core of what we see in Parasha Noach is the harsh reality of sin and the evil inclination.

Mankind was created in the image and likeness of God, sin damages the image and likeness of God in our own life.

The reality of what we see in Genesis 9 in the covenant being made with Noah is that murder, which is one of the Big 10 found in Exodus 20 in case you forgot, is really just a symptom of a much larger problem.

At its core, sin is anything that diminishes the image of G-d in our lives.

This, I believe, is what we see in Yeshua’s discourse in the Sermon on the Mount as we see in Matthew 5:21-24

Murder is an outward express of an inward reality… But, Yeshua hones in on this premise just a little farther in Matthew 5:27-30

Both murder and adultery are addressed in the Torah, but so are hatred, anger, and lust… Yeshua isn’t saying anything new here… But what He is saying is that sin goes much deeper… Sin is an outward sign of an inward problem.

Yeshua tells us that if we allow Him to handle the internal then the external can never be a problem.

For each external sin there is an internal temptation.

This New Covenant is only found in the Salvation provided in Yeshua HaMashiach.

In this New Covenant we are washed clean of our sins, we are redeemed and restored.

And beyond this the in-dwelling of the Ruach HaKodesh in our hearts is the etching of the Torah upon our hearts.

It is through the Word Made Flesh residing in us and our submission to Him that we can experience the transformation of the heart that allows for our avoidance of the external sins.

The enemy wants nothing more than to diminish the image and likeness of God in His creation.

When we give in to sin we allow this very reality to occur.

He wants sin to run rampant in our hearts, he wants sin to be the very cause of our death before we can ever find redemption and salvation.

And even more so, when we become disciples of Yeshua we become a very important threat to the kingdom of the enemy.

The world around us who do not know Messiah Yeshua are already fallen and broken, they are generally comfortable walking in sin and contrary to the heart of God.

But, as talmidim of Yeshua, if we sin it is a tremendous victory chalked up in the enemy’s court.

He loves nothing more than to try and turn the redeemed into the fallen.

But our Haftarah parasha for Noach gives us tremendous hope as we see the promises of Adonai spoken of Israel in the midst of a prophetic book specifically calling Israel out on all our many sins and failures.

And we see the cry of Paul’s heart with regard to our fallen nature and the power of our true redemption in Messiah Yeshua in Romans 5:12-18

Sin came into the world because of the fall to temptation by one man, and through the sacrifice of One Man, Yeshua HaMashiach, righteousness of life is made available to all.

Through the Sacrifice of Yeshua we are able to be restored to the image and likeness in which we were first created.

We are able to experience a reversal of the efforts of the enemy to destroy us and the image in which we were created.

When one commits murder, one is taking the life of an individual created in the image of God.

As such to commit murder is to snuff out the image of God within His creation.

But, murder is but a single symptom of the greater reality of sin and evil inclination…

We see definition after definition of sin all throughout the Tanakh and the Brit Chadashah, whether we talk of the covenantal commandments given to Noah, the Aseret HaDibrot given to Israel at Sinai, the continuation of the mitzvot of HaShem found throughout the Torah, or so much more.

But for me, the definition of sin is so much more simple… My core definition of sin is this...

At its core, sin is anything that diminishes the image of G-d in our lives.

As I discussed early, we so often see all the terrible things that happens in this fallen world and we find ourselves with the constantly lingering question of “Why?”

And the truth is that the answer is as simple as the enemy wants to destroy the image of God in His creation.

But Messiah has offered His life to restore and renew His creation in covenant relationship with our Creator.

You

(Call Worship team back and unmute)

So, what issues are there in your life that you look back at and are stuck with the question of “Why?”

You may be thinking, “why do you constantly find yourself hurting those closest to you?”

Or, “Why do you find yourself lustfully staring at every attractive man or woman that walks by?”