Sermon Tone Analysis

Big Idea:

We don’t deserve the gift of Jesus but God greatly loves us.

Intro:

Hey everyone,

After church last Sunday, Janelle came up to me and said, “You need to come home.

There’s a huge box blocking the door.

It’s heavy and I can’t move it.”

I’m thinking, “What the heck.

I don’t remember ordering anything like that.”

So, I get home and there is indeed a large box blocking the door.

The box is about 4ft x 4 ft.

And I can already tell there is no way this box is fitting through the doorway.

It was huged.

I walk around the side of it and it says, “Laz-y-boy.”

Come to find out… someone at church had bought me a brand new recliner for Christmas!

I didn’t even realize how nice a chair it was until I took a nap on it.

On Tuesday (which is my day off), I sat down, activated the reclining mode, and… as my friend Vin likes to say (using the words of the apostle Paul), “I was transported to the third heaven.”

I didn’t know a piece of furniture could help me have a greater experience of God!

Maybe that’s because I’ve never really had nice furniture...

Because most of my life I’ve been broke.

I have 3 boys and 2 dogs.

It would not be wise to buy anything nice in this season of life.

My last recliner was from Bob’s.

Hey - I’m not hating on Bob’s.

Most of my furniture is from Bob’s Discount Furniture.

It’s nice.

But it’s exactly what Bob says it is… DISCOUNT FURNITURE.

Some of yall who have been to my Life Group have experienced this… If you sit on the wrong spot of the couch, you could fracture your tailbone because it’s cheaply made.

And for my previous recliner, I not only got it from Bob’s… I went to the back of Bob’s… to the Bob’s Outlet!

This is where the already discounted furniture is clearanced because there’s something wrong with it.

And I had purchased a lopsided recliner.

Whenever I had watched TV in it, you have to tilt your head in the opposite direction to compensate for it.

And… when you activate the recliner… would make this “spring” sound - like BONG!

One time - a spring actually flew out of it!

Anyways, I ain’t never had no Laz-y-boy recliner.

And I know that was NOT an inexpensive gift.

And though it’s Christmas time, I don’t deserve this unexpected gift.

Actually, speaking of Christmas, I wonder how many of us realize that no one deserves anything for Christmas...

...Over the next two services (this one and our Christmas service on 12/23), I want to do a short Christmas sermon series titled, “The Unexpected Gift.”

And if you’ve been at The River Church for some time, you know that I don’t usually like to give the typical Christmas sermons.

If you will, I like to do some unexpected things during Christmas.

And for this series, I’d like to spend some time in Ephesians 2 (not a typical Christmas passage) to help us think about Christmas.

And for the first part of this series, I’d like for us to consider the statement that

“None of us deserve anything for Christmas.”

Some of us as parents understand this.

Despite the influence of Santa’s naughty and nice list on our Christmas culture, most of us don’t give gifts to people because they “deserve” it.

Now, some of our kids may have an inappropriate expectation of getting a gift, but the reality is we don’t give them gifts because they deserve it.

Christmas does not morally obligate us to give other people gifts.

Nor should we expect them for ourselves.

Christmas is about something GREATER… but that GREATER meaning does involve a gift (we’ll get to that later).

Now, for me to properly teach us about the GREATER meaning of Christmas, we need to spend some time understanding the statement, “None of us deserve anything for Christmas.”

Again, we typically don’t give Christmas gifts because people deserve them, but let’s go with this thought for a moment, especially since many of us (even as Christians) think about things through a naughty and nice list.

So kids, I’m sorry to tell you, you don’t deserve anything for Christmas.

I don’t deserve anything - even that Laz-y-boy recliner - for Christmas… AND I’m a pastor.

Why???

Because for us to truly understand Christmas , we must start by understanding that none of us are on the “nice” list.

In fact, from birth, our name has been written in heavenly Sharpie on the naughty list.

And even Santa’s magic can’t erase it.

I know this because God’s eternal and perfect word says so.

It says it in Ephesians 2… Paul speaking about our identity (who we are at our soul level)...

Remember when you were younger, and you’d do something wrong, and your sibling would say, “Ooooo Mom is gonna kill you!” Or “You’re dead when Dad gets home.”

That’s kinda like what Paul is saying here.

He’s saying...

“Because of your sins - all the times you’ve broken God’s law, all the times you’ve rebelled, rejected, or ignored God, all the times you’ve hurt other people who are made in God’s image and hurt people He loves - because of all those sins… God’s gonna kill you.

You’re gonna be in trouble.

You’re dead!”

It’s kinda like Paul’s saying you’re in trouble, but INFINITELY GREATER.

My mom is here visiting for Christmas.

And as a single mom raising two boys, she had to be strict to keep us in line.

And she was scary!

I still flinch when she lifts her hand.

My mom’s favorite Bible verse was...

But as scary as my mom was, God - the Holy One of Heaven - is scarier.

His eternal wrath against sin if infinitely more intense than my mom.

And when Paul says we’re dead...

He’s saying we’re dead as in “we’re in trouble.”

But he’s also saying, “we’re dead as in doomed!”

He’s reminding us there’s a very real FUTURE judgment where God will gather all people before His throne and judge them.

We read about it in the book of Revelation...

Bro - that’s scary.

God’s judgment is scary.

Now, you might be thinking...

“But wait… I’m a good person.

I’ve done a ton of good things in my life.

Like right now… I’m sitting in church!

That’s a good thing, right?

And I know I’m not perfect, but I’m pretty confident that my good works outweigh my bad works.

And if Santa had a naughty and nice list… I think I’d make it on the nice list.

Therefore, I’m probably on God’s good list too!”

So, let’s talk about that for a second… 2 things:

While Santa’s pretend naughty and nice list might work that way, that’s not reality.

God’s justice doesn’t work that way.

And honestly, I don’t think we WANT it to work that way.

Do we want that kind of justice for criminals?

“Oh, I only murdered that person that one time.

But I let everyone else live!”

Your good works don’t erase the severity of your sins when it comes to God’s holy judgment.

We might be giving ourselves too much credit when it comes to what list we’re on or whether our good works ACTUALLY outweigh our bad works.

So, let’s do a group test.

And we’re going to do a test using God’s law - or the 10 Commandments.