Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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ME: Intro
As you may know,
I enjoy myself a good Marvel movie.
Most recently, Disney+ has released Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,
Which does a fantastic job at memorializing Chadwick Boseman,
The actor who played Black Panther,
Who sadly passed away before they could finish this sequel.
If you are like me,
And you never really read the comics,
Then the Marvel movies are the only introduction we really have to these super heroes.
So, the first Black Panther movie was how I learned about the Black Panther.
And I really admired this character.
If you haven’t seen it,
A quick synopsis is that the Black Panther is the king of the nation Wakanda.
Wakanda has what is believed to be the world’s only source of this powerful substance called vibranium.
Vibranium gives them advances in technology from medical advancement to military weapons.
But out of concern over the destruction that other nations might cause to obtain vibranium from Wakanda,
They hide it from the rest of the world.
So, the Black Panther movie is about King T’Challa,
The Black Panther,
Becoming king of Wakanda after his father’s passing.
Initially, he tries to maintain Wakanda’s secret.
But realizes how much they can help the world with their vibranium technology.
So, in the very last scene in the movie,
Slide
King T’Challa stands before the United Nations and says this,
“Wakanda will no longer watch from the shadows.
We can not.
We must not.
We will work to be an example of how we, as brothers and sisters on this earth, should treat each other.
Now, more than ever, the illusions of division threaten our very existence.
We all know the truth: more connects us than separates us.
But in times of crisis the wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers.
We must find a way to look after one another, as if we were one single tribe.”
Now, T’Challa was referring to the entire world.
But I couldn’t help but hear this and think of how applicable this is to the church.
Slide
No part of the church can watch from the shadows.
We can not.
We must not.
We must work to be an example of how we, brothers and sisters of Christ,
Should treat each other.
Now more than ever, the illusions of division threaten our very existence.
But we know the truth,
More connects us than separates us.
And in times of crisis the wise build bridges,
While the foolish build barriers.
But then the very last line of his speech is where the church differs.
Because we do not need to find a way to look after one another.
God has shown us the way to look after one another,
Because we are one single body.
And that is what we are looking to clarify about membership this morning.
That is, where we get this idea of membership.
Slide
It comes from the NT teaching that the Church is the Body,
And one of the key passages that teaches this,
1 Corinthians 12:12-31.
If you spend enough time int he NT,
You will notice that there are a lot of metaphors.
The Apostle Paul talks about the eyes of our hearts being enlightened.
If you were to go down to the doctors office right now and get a scan of your heart,
I guarantee you that you will not find any eyes on your heart.
But metaphors like this,
Help us to understand deep and profound truths,
That very often,
Are beyond our feeble human capacity.
Therefore, when the NT talks about the church and its members,
The metaphors climb to a whole ‘nother level.
Peter calls us living stones that are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood.
That is three different metaphors in one sentence!
So, when we read about the church in the NT,
We find ourselves reading about one giant metaphor.
The NT says the church is the flock of God,
Last week we talked about the church being branches on a vine,
It also calls us a bride, a temple, God’s building, a people, exiles, a holy nation, a royal priesthood, salt of the earth, the elect, and the body.
On and on the metaphors go,
One after another after another.
So, in light of this, how can we summarize what the church is?
Slide
One pastor, Jonathan Leeman, gives a pretty good description:
“The assembly of believers that Christ instituted for the specific purpose of exercising the keys of the kingdom and making disciples through preaching and the ordinances.”
The one addition I would make is that Christ instituted the church by His blood.
This description already starts to help us see the value in the NT metaphors of the church.
Because although this is a true and good description.
It doesn’t fully express the activities that are made uniquely and wonderfully possible by being a part of this assembly.
The relationship building, the intimacy of this assembly is portrayed beautifully by the NT metaphors.
So, this description commissions and empowers us.
But the metaphors,
The bride, the temple, the family, and the body,
Put into practice the commission that comes from the description.
We live out our bride-ness, temple-ness, family-ness, and body-ness,
Through the structure of this assembly.
The one NT description of the church that is not a metaphor,
Is the Kingdom.
Christ’s Kingdom is really a kingdom.
The church, however, is not literally a bride in a dress,
A temple made of bricks,
A biologically related family,
Or a human body.
These are metaphorical descriptions of the church.
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