Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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WHAT? What are we talking about today?
QUESTION | "What comes to mind when you hear 'justice for all?'"
Welcome to our new series, Justice for All!
When you hear that phrase, what comes to mind?
INSTRUCTIONS: Give a few students a chance to respond.
When you hear the word "justice," you might think of the American pledge of allegiance, or the Justice League Snyder cut, or court TV, or maybe a Metallica album.
But does anyone think about love?
QUESTION | "What's something extreme a fictional character has done for love?"
We'll come back to the idea of justice in a minute, but for now let's talk about love.
Think about some of the love stories from your favorite books, movies, or shows.
What's something extreme one of those characters did for love?
INSTRUCTIONS: Give a few students a chance to respond.
Whether you're into love stories or not, there's something about them we can all relate to.
We all want to feel loved by other people, and these extreme gestures of love we see in stories definitely accomplish that.
STORY | Talk about a time you saw love expressed in an extreme way.
We've all seen extreme gestures of love portrayed in books and on film, but sometimes we see them happen in real life too.
In 9th grade, I had a crush on this 10th grade girl in my school band, Erica Elrod.
She was a woodwind (clarinet) and so was I (Saxophone)
It was meant to be...
Except I was scared to get within ten feet of her.
After all, she was a 10th grader and waaayy out of my league.
At my school in 9th grade, they taught us poetry… thought it was lame but wutevs.
But I got a realllly great idea: I was going to write a poem to tell her my feelings.
So I did...
And I got some of my friends from band to hand it to her...
I think she actually like the poem even though it was the cheesiest thing in history.
Then, Erica came up and talked to me… super nervous, lump in my throat.
“That was really sweet but I have a boyfriend.”
CRUSHED.
Sometimes we do ridiculous things for love.
But there's a not-so-ridiculous truth underneath these ridiculous gestures.
Deep down, we all understand that . . .
Love isn't just an emotion you feel.
Love isn't just a word you say.
Love is something you demonstrate with your actions.
STORY | Talk about a time you wanted revenge against a loved one who hurt you.
But sometimes the people we love don't do this very well — at least, not in our opinions.
Sometimes the people who are supposed to love us don't show it with their actions.
Have you ever wanted to get even with someone who hurt you?
I mean, they hurt you, so it's only fair if they experience some pain in return, right?
I've get it.
I've been there.
When we're hurt, we want revenge!
We want consequences!
We want justice!
QUESTION | "What is justice?"
Now that we've sort-of defined love, let's see if we can sort-of define justice.
What do you think?
What is justice?
INSTRUCTIONS: Give a few students a chance to respond.
Talking about justice can be tough.
When we try to define, many of us define justice as . . .
A punishment.
We see it as the thing that happens to people when they're caught doing something wrong, like prison.
Revenge.
We see getting justice as the same thing as getting revenge against someone who hurt us.
A trend.
Some see justice as a trendy term that gets thrown around in politics, at protests, or on social media.
Sometimes our desire for justice is well-intentioned, sometimes it's misguided, and sometimes it's a little bit of both.
But when we realize our idea of justice is actually just about revenge, there's a good chance we've gotten it wrong.
There's this saying, "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."
It's a reminder that, when we're all trying to get revenge every time we're hurt, the cycle of pain never ends.
But what's the alternative?
What do we do when something unjust happens to us?
How should we respond when someone really hurts us?
How do we balance forgiving others with standing up for ourselves?
And is it possible that "getting justice" is about more than just punishing people who've hurt us?
For the next few weeks, we're going to talk about what God says justice is (and isn't) — and we'll see what justice and love have to do with each other too.
SO WHAT?
Why does it matter to God and to us?
OBJECT LESSON | A Coat of Many Colors
For the next few weeks, we're going to talk about justice by taking a look at a family from the Old Testament (that's in the Bible) that not only experienced, but also carried out, unspeakable injustice.
*Pic of Joseph*
At the center of this story is a guy named Joseph.
Joseph was the second youngest sibling in a family with eleven brothers.
As one of the younger of the bunch, the Bible seems to suggest Joseph was kind of a tattletale.
His father often asked him to "keep an eye on" his older brothers.
By the way, Joseph's older brothers were actually his half brothers.
Yep, Joseph was raised in a blended family.
Joseph and his younger brother, Benjamin, had a different mother than their older brothers, and this created some serious sibling rivalry.
Joseph's brothers were convinced their father, Jacob, loved Joseph more than them.
And guess what?
They were right.
Jacob's favoritism created an "us versus them" mentality in their home.
INSTRUCTIONS: Before your teaching time, find yourself a fancy coat or robe!
It could be a neon windbreaker, your grandma's old fur coat, or something you found in the church prop closet.
When you introduce the idea of Joseph's coat, put it on or show it off.
There was already tension in the family, but Jacob re-enforced this "us versus them" mentality by giving Joseph a custom-made coat!
Imagine if your parents bought your little brother Jordans, and made you wear knock-offs.
Jacob's gift spurred a lot of jealousy and made an even bigger mess.
Don't we all want to be a part of a family or friend group in which there is unconditional love?
We want to be accepted for who we are — free from all prejudice, biases, and favoritism.
But Jacob didn't do that.
He allowed his personal preferences to impact how he loved his children.
Many believe Jacob preferred Joseph simply because he liked Joseph's birth mother better than the mother of his other children.
Maybe you've even experienced this in your own life — being treated unfairly simply because of who you came from.
Whatever the reason, Joseph's dad created an unhealthy family dynamic.
But to be honest, Joseph didn't help the situation.
Let's see how Joseph added to the unhealthiness.
SCRIPTURE | Genesis 37:1-11
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