Sermon Tone Analysis

lass=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt'>May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable to you, Lord – our Saviour and Redeemer – Amen 

Today is Father’s day of course, and as you all know *I am* very fortunate to be a father – 4 times over

            And father’s day always lands on Sunday – for me a work day

Well today, I thought I would do something different, today, being that I am a father on Father’s day I thought I would simply take it easy and there will be no sermon today…

            ...

By the response of some of you, and considering my job includes delivering the sermon

Maybe I should have thought this through a little… it reminds me of saying

                                                                        Don’t ask a question if you /know/ you won’t like the response

 

That, brothers and sisters in Christ, is a maxim

            In case you didn’t know what a Maxim is, I looked it up

Maxim: an expression of a general truth or principle, especially an aphoristic or sententious one

            Well, that might have created more questions…

Aphoristic: *1.* given to making or quoting aphorisms…

Well that’s not totally helpful… *2.* see maxim

            No, it didn’t actually say that…

 

I like maxims – I like the efficiency of words to sum up a big thought in a short sentence

For those of you that know Marion Weir, you know that she is great for sharing and knowing hundreds of maxims

Rarely does a Tuesday morning Bible study go by without Marion sharing a thoughtful maxim that ties up a long confusing discussion in a tidy, pithy statement

 

Here are some well-known maxims for you:

 

"To thine own self be true," (Shakespeare)

"Neither a borrower nor a lender be" (Shakespeare)

“Clothes make the man” (Shakespeare)

"Before you criticize another man, walk a mile in his shoes"(Shakespeare)

 

Do you know where those came from?...

Some might guess the Bible, Sunday morning and all…but in fact I’ll bet the English teachers in the congregation might know

Shakespeare – and all from Hamlet, and all from Old Polonius

     Seems that William wanted to share some wisdom and created a character to do just that

They all have a certain quality to them, and today – father’s day, I will claim it as a wise fatherly quality

 

Incidentally, I think Mark Twain improved upon one of those maxims:

            “Clothes make the man… Naked people have little or no influence on society.”

(Mark Twain)

 

Here are few more that although they have no specific author, you might claim that author to be your own dad

"No pain, no gain!"

"Money doesn't grow on trees"

“As long as you live under my roof, you’ll live by my rules.”

“Do what I say, not what I do.”

"Whenever in doubt don't!"

Maxims aren’t limited to the worldly realm solely

            In fact the Bible has a whole book that one might consider to be a list of maxims

It is the book of Proverbs – and it begins with: /The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel// //(Proverbs 1:1)/

And tradition tells us that it is King Solomon’s fatherly advice to his son, Absalom

                                                Here are some of the most famous:

/The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom” (Proverbs 1:7)/

/Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

(Proverbs 4:23) /

/Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.

(Proverbs 16:3)/

/Pride goes before a fall.

(Proverbs 16:18a)/

/Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise.

(Proverbs 20:1)/

/Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!

(Proverbs 6:6)/

 

As I said, I like maxims…However there can be a problem – consider the next two ‘truth statements”

Birds of feather flock together…  & … opposites attract

We can all think of situations where both are true and yet… they are contradictory

Therefore both can’t be true

That, of course, leads us to a very important principle – the principle of context or application

All the world’s great maxims are situational to either context or application – taken out of the situation their truthism could be up for grabs

Another problem with maxims is that *a* short statement could never contain all the wealth of the larger context from which it was plucked

                                    This problem is common issue with some Biblical interpretation      

It is something that /can /and/ does/ happen to two of our readings today

The story from the OT today, where we hear of the prophet Samuel commissioned by God to select a new King to replace Saul because the Lord says to Samuel /“I have rejected him from being king over Israel.

(1 Samuel 16:1b)/

In the story we hear of the prophet going to Jesse’s household and in seeing the oldest seven sons.

With each son, as Samuel looks at them, he thinks they will be a suitable candidate - yet the Lord does not select one of them – so they call for the youngest David – who is only a boy who was tending to the sheep – and, of course, he is selected

We are often tempted to reduce this whole long narrative to a simple single maxim

/Don’t judge a book by its cover/ … or… /God sees diffe/ren/tly/

Or we could even use the words of scripture and say “/Lord does not see as mortals see” (1 Samuel 16:7c)/

I am sure that Glenna wouldn’t have want to read this long reading, if it could be summed up by a single line

God provides much more to learn from the whole reading then a single statement could do justice

Consider the following layer of insight:

Being anointed by the prophet Samuel was for David not an instant rise to glory

It did not entail anything so direct as a receiving a crown and moving into a palace.

Instead, for David it meant entering a world of intrigue and danger.

He was just a boy and still had about 20 years before God installed him as King

He would serve Saul and at times have to dodge Saul's spear,

He had to stay alert to Saul's spying servants, and for nearly a decade outwit and outrun Saul and his army who were intent on killing him.

It meant life on the lam -- a life marked by fighting and waiting -- which would only end upon Saul's death, years later.

So living as God's anointed, "gripped" by the spirit of God was probably more lonely and terrifying than anything David could have imagined.

It was certainly more than “/Don’t judge a book by its cover”/

It was a life thrust upon him rather than one he chose for himself.

A life he couldn't escape, even had he tried.[1]

David had to live by the great maxim from the movie ‘The Godfather’

                                                            “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer”

 

The word of God is so rich with meaning on every page, every verse, and every word

We can read passages today and they will evoke in us a certain understanding and a year later an entirely different one

            We need to always be alert to the folly of reducing God’s inspired Word to a simple maxim

                        Our Gospel reading today, too, has fallen victim of often been reduced to maxim

                                                The first parable has been shortened to /“God’s in the growing”/

                                                            And the second – the parable of the mustard seed

                                                                        – “/from small beginnings can come great things”/

When I was in seminary, one of things that our preaching prof stressed was – “if you think you know for certain what a parable means then you are certainly wrong”

            Jesus’ parables were so rich in meanings that careful work in understanding them reveals only layers

 

Notice how the Parables leave outsiders mystified, but are an opportunity for further teaching of Jesus' /own/ disciples to learn on their /own/ with him.

All are included in Jesus' teaching, but it is those who follow him who are given further insight.

James Barry wrote a book years ago called The Little Minister.

It's the story of a young clergyman who is sent to a small town in Scotland to be the new preacher.

He is to take the place of an old man who had been minister in the village for many years.

Hoping to be complimentary, the little minister says to the old man,

“I will begin where you left off."