Sermon Tone Analysis

March 7, 2012

By John Barnett

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God wants balanced, anchored lives in His Church to lead and guide others to spiritual stability and maturity.

As we open to Ephesians 4:14 this morning, remember how we all begin as believers.

Paul reminds us that we all start out as babies not just physically, but spiritually.

In Ephesians 4, Paul explained that one of the characteristics of our immature state is that we are unstable and tossed about.

Ephesians 4:14 /"*that we should no longer be children* (‘infants” NIV), tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,"/ NKJV

Think of this picture Paul paints for our minds.

Spiritually immature people are floaters.

Without the depth and stability of an anchor in the Word, they drift along with things, swept away with ideas before they even know if they are true or Biblical.

That is a strong reminder that spiritual maturity only comes as we are…

*Anchored in God's Word*

Well-balanced lives come from being anchored in God's Word.

As Paul states in this passage, the goal of the pastor/teacher is to help these immature, driven this-way-and-that believers in to becoming solidly anchored saints.

Note Paul’s solution in v. 11:

Ephesians 4:11-14/" And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,"/ NKJV

Those two verses, v. 12-13 speak to the goal of Christ's church this morning--bringing believers to spiritual stability in Christ.

Showing them how to think and behave in life so as to not be driven to and fro, and then modeling, teaching, and leading other believers to mature into grace-energized men and women with balanced lives.

How is this done within a local church?

First Paul introduces us to the concept of the “equipping church”.

This is something we all need to grasp so that we come to church and operate as a church in the way that God designed us to serve Him.

What exactly does an equipping church do?

Because we know God's Word teaches us that every word of God was inspired, we first study that word.

The word “equipping” is kartartismos and is a noun used only here in the New Testament.

But the verb form of this noun is very descriptive; and its meaning is most clearly seen in the way this word is used in our Bibles.

Turn there with me to the first use of this word in the New Testament, Matthew 4:21.

Matthew 4:21/" Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets.

He called them,"/ NKJV

Did you see equipping?

It is right there, only in this verse that word is translated “mending”.

If you want to circle the word “mending” in your Bible, and write nearby the word “equipping” you have just made a powerful discovery.

The Holy Spirit led Paul to use this word in Ephesians 4:11.

The verb kartartidzo is here translated “mending”, and the noun form is translated “equipping” in Ephesians 4:11.

Now the picture God's Word gives to us.

Jesus found his first disciples sitting and doing what fishermen do, looking through each part of their nets and stitching back up any tears, mending any holes, and fixing anywhere the nets had started to unravel.

Mending is what this word portrays.

To even broaden our mental picture, if we trace this word outside the Bible and into the culture of Paul’s day, this word is used for setting broken bones.

So mending nets and setting bones both speak of taking injured, damaged, or weakened things and getting them back the way they are supposed to be.

Can you see the connection?

An equipping church is all about…

*Mending Lives*

Now plug those usages into this famous passage about the purpose of Christ's church as we meet.

Believers are out in life getting frayed, torn, and ripped by all the troubles and struggles we go through each day.

And think about the band of men Jesus called to start His church—mostly fishermen weren’t they?

And another man was in the sewing business that was heavily involved, a leather worker/tent sewing man named Paul.

This picture of sewing, patching, mending, and repairing was so much a part of their lives.

No wonder they had such powerful fellowship back then.

They knew and felt in their hands what their task was to be.

Mending lives so that those lives can be engaged as tools in Christ's hands building up, helping, exhorting, and discipling others.

We each sustain some degree of damage through struggles at work, conflicts at home, and temptations nagging us when we are alone.

We also are often just like a net as it gets dragged along in daily use—we have sustained wear and tear to our lives just with the daily pressures and stresses of living.

But now comes the wonderful part.

This truth is what has strengthened Christ's church through all these centuries since Pentecost--when we gather obediently as Christ's church, He is present.

And when Christ is present is uses us to do his work of repairing one another from the injuries of life’s struggles.

• We gather to have the torn places in our lives mended with God's Word.

• We come together to see God fixing parts of life that have started to unravel like relationships, hope, confidence and assurance—by His Spirit, and through His Word, and using other believers.

Now with that picture in your mind, listen to the whole passage as we stand before God and He speaks to us in His Word:

Ephesians 4:11-14 /"And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,"/ NKJV

The church that offers these needed repairs is the church that is truly an “equipping” church.

How is your life?

Is it in need of a little mending this morning?

God's Word is available and in action this morning.

Why not pause now and then while we study through the Bible and ask God to sew your soul, mend your heart, get back to normal your emotions that are frayed, and so on.

That is what God wants to do here.

*Mended Lives Get Tied to God's Word*

What is the result of being mended?

You get tied to God's Word.

You see that His Word is the lamp that guides, the food that feeds, the comfort that cheers our souls--as it points us to Christ.

Being mended means finding that Jesus comes to us by His Spirit, through His Word and gives us the power to do what He asks.

This power to do what He has told us to do in the Bible is grace.

And God’s process of changing us on the inside I love to call “energized by grace”.

As we move on to Titus 2:2 this morning, we see what God is watching for in the life of a godly man.

We are examining the first of six character traits that describe a man God uses, a life that God rewards, and a grace-energized man of godly balance.

This verse should challenge each of the older men in this congregation to heed God’s call to maintain a balanced life in an increasingly obsessive-compulsive culture.

We’ve noted in Titus 1:12-13, that the Cretan culture was obsessed with the pleasures of the moment, and would grab them compulsively with no thought for the consequences.

Things are the same today.

We live in a culture that often goes from one obsession to another—wanting something or someone so badly that they sacrifice the permanent for the temporal.

We are surrounded by compulsive people who do things just because they felt like it at the moment.

There is no stability or balance, just a wandering, restlessness always looking for some new attraction.

Please follow along in your Bibles as I read this message from God to older men in the faith.

Titus 2:2 /"that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience;"/ NKJV

The word sober in Greek implies being unintoxicated.

But it portrays far more than distancing your body from alcohol.

There are so many powerful agents that can intoxicate and cloud the minds of men.

Paul is also saying, if you are God’s man you will be careful to stay unintoxicated by anything—whether comfort, convenience, security, money, work, sports, amusements, or alcohol.

So Paul tells us God has posted a want ad that reads:

*Wanted: Men of Balance in An Unbalanced World*

Grace-energized men live a balanced life while surrounded by people who are driven back and forth by fads, obsessions, trivial pursuits, lusts, and emptiness.

Paul first charges Titus with training the godly, “older” men.

These “older” man are defined in God's Word as men who are over 50 years of age.

This age group of men often at their peak of earnings, at the top of their careers, and thinking more-and-more each day about what really matters in life.

These older men are making decisions about the significance and the lasting impact of their lives.

If you are a man age 50 or older, and missed the message last Sunday evening please consider this.

We studied God’s clear and direct call to all 50 plus year old men who are believers, to invest their lives in Christ's church, and not waste these best years of their life.

If you missed that challenge from God's Word—I’d encourage you to go and check that CD out and prayerfully consider how you are spending these strategic days of your life from God’s perspective.

God wants men of balance.

The foundation of God’s man that doesn’t sway with the winds of life, and who life is not driven by the waves of the culture beating against him each day—is founded upon God’s promises.

We only have two possible operating systems, God’s or ours.

We were born with ours.