Sermon Tone Analysis

ATTENTION

Ever heard of “SDL”.

No! I’m not talking about a daytime version of Saturday night live, I’m talking about a style of teaching.

It’s called Self-directed learning.

It came on the scene when Maurice Gibbons published a book titled, “Walk-about: Searching for the Right Passage from Childhood to School.”

The year? 1974, which just happened to be the same year that I entered the ninth grade at Jacksonville Junior High School.

Now in “SDL” the individual takes the initiative and the responsibility for what occurs.

Individuals select, manage, and assess their own learning activities, which can be pursued at any time, in any place, through any means, at any age.

Teaching emphasizes SDL skills, processes, and systems rather than content coverage and tests.

For the individual, SDL involves initiating personal challenge activities and developing the personal qualities to pursue them successfully.

And you are looking at someone has experienced SDL.

Let me rephrase that: You’re looking at some one who was victimized by SDL.

O yes, I walked into my Algrebra class and became part of an SDL experiment.

We were told that we were going to be “self-directed.”

We would move at our own pace, manage our own learning and assess our own learning activities.

If we wanted to do 10 problems that day we could.

If we wanted to do one problem that day we could.

If we’d rather sit there and play paper football that day, we could.

So here I am a ninth grade boy with friends to talk to and girls to impress.

(OK, I wasn’t too impressive, but its my story!)

So here’s my dilemma: algebra problems or paper football.

Hmm, wonder which I should choose?

Well, I’ll give you one guess!

That’s right, I became a super, paper bowl champ, and algebra waited until the 10th grade!

Now, I’m sure Maurice might say that I wasn’t handled correctly and maybe he’d be right.

My purpose is not to prove to you how bad SDL is, it is simply to illustrate this one principle: Every person you know needs limits; a lack of accountability sabotages excellence.

You see it on college campuses.

Kids arrive on most university campuses looking for an expression of the freedom that they think they lacked at home and the results can be disastrous.

And in the middle of the campus there’s usually a display with people sitting at a table offering credit cards to college students.

What a dumb idea!

Let’s see: Most of them are living on daddy’s dime.

They have no job and little income, but they’ve got a credit card with a $5000 limit.

And it is precisely that kind of freedom which often sacrifices their future.

You see it in the Walmart.

You walk in and you think someone is dying.

Loud screams are coming from several aisles away.

Bloodcurdling wails punctuate the elevator music and you round the corner in the toy section to see 3-year-old Johnny, laying in the floor, throwing a temper because his mom dared to suggest that the $50 toy might not be the best choice for her budget.

Now the child psychologist might eell you that Johnny needs more effective ways of self-expression.

I say that what Johnny needs are LIMITS!

You see, true freedom requires boundaries.

Real liberation demands limits.

It’s like that in our spiritual life as well.

We start talking about living a “radiant life” and how that depends on having an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, not on “rules” and some begin to think SDL. “Hey, I can go at my own pace.

No one can tell me what to do.

I’m a self-directed Christian.

Others may need to have a daily quiet time, but not me, I’m an SDL Christian.

Others may need to be faithful in church attendance, but not me.

I’m an SDL Christian.

Others may need to guard what they watch on TV, but not me.

I’m an SDL Christian.”

But here’s something you must never forget: SDLChristians are not radiant Christians.

No! Confident, radiant believers are disciplined believers.

You see that right here in Psalm 34.

The psalmist talks about our intimacy with God and then, right in the middle of the chapter, it almost seems like he goes “off message.”

Read it with me.

Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

Who is the man who desires life, And loves many days, that he may see good?

In other words, you want the good life?

You want the confidence we’ve talked about?

You want to radiate the glory of God? Here’s what you do:

Keep your tongue from evil, And your lips from speaking deceit.

(Uh-oh . . .

RULES! Wow I wanted this on the SDL) Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.

The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their cry.

The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, To cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.

Quite simply, there are some requirements to radiance that you can’t escape.

There are some boundaries you can’t violate.

Let me give you a couple of them right from these verses.

First of all, radiance requires:

DIV 1: CAREFUL LEARNING

EXPLANATION

v 11 says there, “Come my children, listen to me and I will teach you the fear of the Lord.”

O, man!

That sounds like it might take some effort.

“Hey, Rusty,” you might be saying, “I want to be radiant, but I don’t want to have to learn to do it.

Isn’t there some other way?”

Well, no there isn’t.

There are no short cuts to the radiant life.

It involves learning.

But notice how this verse speaks of learning.

It doesn’t just tell us to learn, it also describes how we learn.

It first begins with an attitude of humility.

Notice that is says, “Come my children. .

.”

Learning requires the teachable heart of a child.

No one successfully boasts of his PhD. in God’s presence.

If we are to learn from Him, we must become children.

Isn’t that what Jesus said.

He said, “ . . .

whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.”

Learning begins with an attitude.

It involves humility.

It also involves listening.

This is the action of learning.

He says “Come my children, Listen to me and I will teach you.”

Now in a way that has a lot to do with the humility that we’ve already mentioned.

I mean, having a teachable spirit would imply that you were willing to listen, but I think that listening goes beyond a willingness to a developed ability to hear God.

Why else do some believers seem to have a good handle on what God is saying to them while others seem to have no clue.

It may be that some have developed the skill of listening while others have not.

Part of careful learning is careful listening.

Hey!