Sermon Tone Analysis

INTRO/ATTN:

Police visited Vladimir, a resident of Berlin Germany.

They confiscated his air raid siren because neighbors were complaining about it’s piercing wail.

Which may leave you asking the question, “Why did Vladimir have an air raid siren to begin with?”

It’s simple: Vladimir was tired of his wife’s loud argument, so he came up with a way to silence her.

CNN reported that he wired a 220 plug to his ceiling and hooked up an old air raid siren.

He explained (if there really is an explanation for such a thing!):

My wife never lets me get a word in edgeways, so I crank up the siren and let-er-rip for a few minutes.

It works everytime.

Afterwards, its real quiet!.

What did his wife of 32 years have to say about all of this?

She actually said something like, “Well, if you were married to a stubborn mule like my husband, you’d get loud too!”

Boy!

Those relationships can be tough, can’t they?

You may have even realized the need to work on your relationship, but you find that, no matter how many times you resolve to do things differently, it’s much easier said than done.

One husband, aware that his constant arguing with his wife was ruining their relationship, tried to explain his inability to stop provoking her by looking at her and saying:

“Change don’t come easily.”

“Doesn’t” she said, correcting his English.

Misunderstanding her, he said, “Doesn’t what?”

“Come easily,” she said.

“Change doesn’t come easily.”

“So you are agreeing with me?” asked the husband.

The wife answered, “Yes, but . .

.”

“ Then why didn't you just say, ‘I agree’?” he asked.

“But I . .

.” started the wife, but he cut her off.

“We're always arguing,” he said.

“I'm not arguing”.

“Yes, you are.”

“No, I'm not.”

“Then what is it we're doing?”

“Honestly, I have no idea,” she said

Driving his point home, the husband said, “ Well whatever it is, I'm sick of it, and it needs to change!”

To which his wife quipped, “To quote a wise man, ‘Change don't come easily.’”

Still not getting it, the husband said, “Exactly!”

Sound familiar?

Another married couple had a quarrel and ended up giving each other the silent treatment.

A week into their mute argument, the man realized he needed his wife's help.

In order to catch a flight to Chicago for a business meeting, he had to get up at 5 a.m.

Not wanting to be the first to break the silence, he wrote on a piece of paper, "Please wake me at 5 a.m."

The next morning the man woke up only to discover his wife was already out of bed, it was 9 a.m., and his flight had long since departed.

He was about to find his wife and demand an answer for her failings when he noticed a piece of paper by the bed.

He read, "It's 5 a.m.

Wake up."

Conflict can be humorous, but that’s usually when its happening to someone else.

All of us can recognize and be amused by foolish pride that displays it’s presence so readily in the lives of others.

I can shake my head in amused amazement at your refusal to concede some minor point, but, when my point’s on the line, it suddenly becomes pretty important.

If we are not careful, we sacrifice our relationships on a thousand altars of insignificant disagreements and, when the chips are down, we find ourselves alone without the support our obstinance has sacrificed.

BACKGROUND

Which may be why Peter, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote about the importance of the “s” word.

I’m talking about that word not of us want to say and fewer of us want to do.

I’m talking about “submission.”

By the way, the “s” word is definitely related to the “h” word: “humility.”

Peter tells us in 1 Peter 5:5 that these two words are the keys to maintaining and developing the relationships that see us through difficult circumstances.

He writes:

5 Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders.

Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”

6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

Now, to really understand the context of this paragraph, you have to remember that Peter was writing a war plan.

He was preparing these people for the battle of persecution they were about to undergo.

To these endangered people he writes these words to let them know that, in the middle of battle, they’d better have some close comrades on whom they can depend.

Otherwise, the enemy will divide and conquer.

In order to build these relationships, they must mutually submit.

NEED

Now, when you hear that, you might really be uncomfortable.

Rugged individualism defines Americans.

Dependence is for the weak.

Only weak-minded sycophants submit.

That’s what our culture teaches us and because that is true, I want you to really listen this morning.

It could be that the culture has corrupted your thinking and you aren’t even aware of it.

It could just be that the next few moments could begin a re-programming of your world view that could make the difference in your survival as a sold-out follower of Christ.

And if our thinking is skewed, surely our actions will be compromised.

In fact, the thought that we must fight out battles alone and fend for ourselves by ourselves is the opposite of what Peter teaches us here.

There is an action which we can take, which many people miss, to practice the kind of submission that allows us to stand against the onslaught of our world.

So I want you to listen to what Peter tells us to do here in this passage.

TRANSITION

If you and I are to build the strong relationships that make us unshakable in the midst of persecution and trouble, we must practice that “s” word: We must submit.

The question is “how?”

How can we, in a world that values pride over humility and independence over submission, how can we biblically submit?

Peter tells us, here, two actions we must take.

In the first place, if we are to submit

DIV 1: THERE ARE SOME THINGS WE MUST BELIEVE THAT

EXP: ORDER IS NON-NEGOTIABLE

Quite frankly, this is where the battle begins: In our thinking!

And the first thing, Peter tells us in these verses contradicts the prevalent philosophy of our time.

You see the first thing you must believe in is the order God has established.

1 Pet.

5:5 says: Likewise you younger, submit yourselves to your elders.

Now, we might have a little more tolerance for this particular manifestation of God’s order.

God has established the necessity of leadership within the body of Christ and, in that order, the younger, less experienced members of the body of Christ, are to yield to the wisdom and leadership of those whom God has ordained to lead.

Most of us would have no problem with that in theory.

But when it is time to practice it, its another matter.

Our society has taught us that all opinions, no matter their truthfulness, have equal validity.

Everyone is right and no one is wrong.

The only person who might be wrong are those who think others are wrong, for then they have become intolerant.

This is precisely why the public school system is in such disarray and Johnny can’t learn.

It’s simple.

Johnny can’t learn because to even say Johnny needs to learn is to say that Johnny’s ignorance is somehow inferior to his teacher’s knowledge and that, in our relativistic culture, is something which, at worst cannot be challenged and, at best, must be tip-toed around.

Peter will have none of it.

In the church he says that the elders are in charge and the younger members, and those who are not in leadership are to submit.