Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Introduction
Over the last few years, we have seen the demeanor of people in America and in the Western world changing.
And much to the chagrin of conservatives, there has been all this talk of safe spaces and trigger warnings and such.
Rather than trying to understand where this came from or why it has come about, many have simply gone to name calling—like “snowflakes”; and even I have done this myself.
Over the last couple of years, I have seen things a little differently.
Not a lot differently, but a little bit.
Over the last couple of years, I have experienced the triggering effect, the violent anger that has come from it, as well as the fear that nothing is safe, no where is safe, and very few people are safe.
And over the last couple of years, I have been seeing why that is so.
And while I can only speak for myself, I do believe that this is the underlying cause for many around the world.
I had built a house—a life—on what I thought was solid rock, but found out was simply hardened earth.
In my life, I have had some pretty bad storms: pain from people in churches, pain from people in school, the loss of my dad a week after I graduated high school, Katie’s miscarriage, and so much more.
And I kept on going, not knowing that the hardened earth was slowing being chipped away and eroding.
I am not saying that I wasn’t a believer.
I truly believe that I was.
But my foundation—that which I should have been building my house—my life on—was not as solid as I thought it was.
And that became apparent within the last two years.
This morning, as we open the text, we are looking at that passage that talks about building a house and the need to build it on a rock-solid foundation.
And as we study this text, I want us to see three elements of building a stable home.
The first element is building with the proper mindset.
The second element is building with the proper motives.
Finally, we see that we must build on the proper material.
Proper Mindset
Proper Motives
Proper Materials
Proper Mindset
Proper Motives
Proper Materials
Build with the Proper Mindset
The first element to building a stable home—a stable life!—is that we must first have the proper mindset.
Jesus asked the question:
Those are the proper words, but an improper mindset.
We ought to call Jesus Lord.
He is Lord.
He is our Rabbi and we are his disciples.
He is our King and we are his subjects.
He is our Lord and we are his slaves.
To call Jesus Lord is not just a sign of respect.
It is a sign of humility for us and exaltation for him.
To call him Lord is great.
It’s right and true.
But if it isn’t followed up with obedience then it is meaningless.
If you’ve ever been in charge of something; it doesn’t matter what.
It could be that you’re a CEO of a company, a manager on duty at a restaurant, or in charge of the children you are babysitting.
But as the person in charge, you expect—rightly—to be obeyed.
The supervisors and managers are to carry out your orders.
The staff at the restaurant is to comply with what you say.
The children go to bed when they’re told.
And if there is rebellion in the ranks, it is beyond frustrating.
It’s infuriating.
Now I don’t believe that Jesus is yelling at his disciples.
But he is confronting them with the rebellion that is deep in their hearts.
That treasure that we talked about last week.
It is a continuous product of disobedience coming from the hearts of his followers.
All three of the verbs in this one sentence are in the present tense, active voice, and indicative mood.
The indicative mood just simply means that this is a fact.
Jesus is indicating that this is happening.
It’s active—meaning that it is the disciples who are doing the action.
Which means that the disciples are the ones not doing what Jesus is telling them to do.
It is present, meaning that it is not something that they had done in the past but no longer are doing.
It means that they are still doing it.
It’s a consistent problem with the disciples.
So these disciples are at consistently and actively calling Jesus Lord, but also consistently and actively disobeying him!
They’ve got the right words: “Lord, Lord.”
But their mindset that they can call him one thing while contradicting that with their actions is all wrong!
How can we build a stable house—a stable life—when we don’t build according to the architects instructions?
If we are going to build, we must build with the proper mindset.
Here we have the right mindset.
Do you see the three facets of the right mindset?
Before I name them, I just want to point out that all three of these facets are present, active, participles.
Again, just as before, these are present—showing that it is consistent.
It’s active and so the person is doing the action and not having an action done to them.
The participle aspect here is just simply that this is describing who they are!
It’s what we call attributive participles.
It is describing an attribute of the person.
We often see these translated with an -er at the end of a verb.
A farmer is one who farms.
A cleaner is that which cleans.
In today’s world, we have influencers—those who influence.
In this case, all three of these facets of a right mindset, are pointing to what kind of people they are.
They are comers.
They come to Jesus.
Being present, this is a consistent coming.
Being active, we find it is the disciple doing the action.
No one is dragging them to Jesus.
They come on their own accord and they come to him consistently.
They are hearers.
They listen to Jesus.
Being present, they are consistently listening to Jesus’s words.
Being active, they are the ones listening.
No one is making them listening.
They voluntarily do so.
They are doers.
They do what Jesus tells them—consistently and without others making them.
If you’re familiar with James’ letter to the scattered church, you’re probably thinking this sounds a lot like what he wrote.
That’s the right mindset.
Many of us have the right words but the wrong mindset.
I’ll call him Lord.
I may even come to him often and may even listen to him at times.
But when it comes to doing—to building my home, my life—I have it covered.
James says you’re deceiving yourself.
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