Sermon Tone Analysis

*“Effectiveness as a Church” \\ Matthew 16:21-28*

\\ Intro: It is exciting that in this month we will have three babies born in the church.

I can   remember when my kids were born.

I was so careful and cautious.

We left the hospital        in Bay City, placed them in the car seat.

Propped them up with towels and little blankets.

I’m driving up M53 at 35 miles per hour with the emergency flashers on.

There was such    a sense of caution and protectiveness.

It’s a decade and a half later and now we are             approaching driver’s training.

How things change!

I was in control of the wheel and now             I’ll be turning the wheel over.

It reminds you that growth is a process of letting go and    surrendering control to changing realities.

Target: The heart of effectiveness and growth as a church is that we surrender control to the      deeper reality of God’s love and life-changing power.

I want to look at the underlying

            reality that has made Christianity expand through the centuries.

Matthew 16: 21-28 (p.694)

*What do you need to know?  *

            1.

Last week we saw Jesus ask Peter: Who do you say I am?  Then Jesus makes a                                       startling announcement, the church.

This would be God’s new community,

                        different from Israel to expand his kingdom in the world.

/21 //From that time on/…(there comes a new emphasis in Jesus’ teaching…)

            2.

After announcing the church Jesus goes on to reveal what is most essential to the                                   effectiveness of the church.

/ Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

“Never, Lord!” he said.

“This shall never happen to you!”/

            3.

When God is commanding us or telling us something, those are two words that                                      shouldn’t go together.

“Never” and “Lord.”

/23 //Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan!

You are a stumbling block to me/ (you are making it harder to do what I need to do.

You are making this harder than it needs to be.)/; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” /

            3.

Here is the key problem in effectiveness as the church.

When God moves, Satan is                                there for a counterstrike.

(Illus.)

Dan Hansen’s comments…I’ve got to learn to handle that better!   

            4.

Here is how we handle it better…

/24 //Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

/

*Effectiveness is a journey.

*

            1.

It is not an event, it is a destination.

We spoke last week that as a church we gather.

We worship, fellowship, teach from the Bible.

We are the filling station.

Then                                    we scatter to be the church to spread God’s influence in the world.

We are not the              church one day of the week, Sunday.

We carry over being the church on Monday,              Tuesday, Wednesday…(“follow” is present tense: daily)--24~/7 as we scatter.

*Effectiveness means continuing to surrender control.

*

            1.

Jesus says in this journey we are to deny ourselves and take up our cross.

Before                                   looking at what this means let’s look at what it doesn’t mean.

a.

It doesn’t mean we give up something like some people do to observe Lent, like

                                    some bad habits or television or trans fats.

This is not about an external

                                    behavior but an internal transformation.

b.

It doesn’t mean we become a fatalistic doormat where we lose self-

                                    assertiveness and let life and people walk over us.

In fact, if you fully                                            surrender your life, if you become a holy, devoted follower of Jesus, often                                                 it will require courage in fighting the status quo.

c.

It is not a person or a situation, like “my boss or my sickness is my cross to                                             bear.”

It is not your ex spouse or difficult boss or a bully at school.

The                                         cross is not a place of suffering, it is a place of death!  

(Illus.)

When Jesus spoke of the cross everyone in his audience knew what he was referring to.

John MacArthur writes: /“…the cross was a very concrete and vivid reality.

It was the            instrument of execution reserved for Rome’s worst enemies.

It was a symbol of the            torture and death that awaited those who dared raise a hand against Roman authority.

Not many years before Jesus and the disciples came to Caesarea Philippi, 100 men had             been crucified in the area.

/

                        d. It is a death to selfishness that brings an increase of God’s love and life-

                                    changing power to others.

It means that when Satan prompts us to                                                             selfishness with things like /bitterness/, /hate/, /revenge/, /fear, jealousy/ we                                             surrender those feelings to Christ by responding in the power lo love.

e.

The cross is God’s free love to us…we express that to others.

(Illus.)

When my daughter was younger…can I have some of them.

No dad they are mine!

I

            gave her the money.

I can take them from her if I wanted.

I can take my credit card and

            get 300 bags.

As Go has poured kindness on us we don’t just hold it to ourselves.

When             God has poured our patience toward us, we don’t selfishly hold it to ourselves.

When         God has poured our forgiveness we don’t selfishly hold it to ourselves.

*What do I need to do? *

*Follow Christ’s example.

*

*            *a.

As a community of Christ-followers, the way we connect with each other reflects                                  something quite different than what is experienced other places.*

*As a community                                     we model the priorities of Christ.

We are not primarily concerned about the                             human institution, but that Christ is seen in the quality of our relationships.

/(Illus.)

In Outlive Your Life, Max Lucado writes: Long before the church had pulpits and                                         baptisteries, she had kitchens and dinner tables.

Even a casual reading of the New                          Testament unveils the house as the primary tool of the church.

The primary gathering                           place of the church was the home.

Consider the genius of God's plan.

The first generation                 of Christians was a tinderbox of contrasting cultures and backgrounds.

At least fifteen                                    different nationalities heard Peter's sermon on the Day of Pentecost.

Jews stood next to                           Gentiles.

Men worshiped with women.

Slaves and masters alike sought after Christ.

Can                                    people of such varied backgrounds and cultures get along with each other?