Sermon Tone Analysis

Into

Please Bow with me in prayer.

Father, it is by your gospel that we are even able to come to you.

Jesus, we thank you for dying on the cross in our place to bring us to God, and Father it is for that reason, that we bow before you in prayer this morning.

Father, out of your glorious riches strengthen us with power by your Spirit in our inner so that Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith.

Illuminate us with your word, Help us to understand more about you.

In Jesu name, we pray, amen.

Monday is Memorial Day.

We take Memorial Day to honor and remember all of the brave soldiers who have given their life for this great country.

There have been around 651,000 battle deaths.

Roughly 42 million people have served in the US Military.

I suppose almost every person that enlists knows that there is at least a chance that they may lose their life in service to this country, but they do it anyway.

They do it anyway because they love their country.

They love the people, and they love protecting them.

They love freedom, and the American dream and they know that it is worth protecting.

People do incredible things in the name of love, right?

?

Jesus said, "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends."

However, it gets a little complicated.

It is not as simple as it appears.

In every one of those conflicts that took one of our soldier's lives.

One of our soldier's that loved their country, there was another soldier, on the other side of the line, that loved his country as well.

Take the Civil War for instance.

Now there were vastly different ideas of civil rights.

One idea is absolutely right, and one is absolutely wrong, however, in that conflict, each side still has a love for their country.

It would be unfair to say that the soldiers of the North loved their country more than the soldiers of the South loved their country.

Each side loved their vision for the country equally.

The conflict erupts when one side loves their vision of the country, or their preferences for the way things operate, more than they love the Gospel.

Think of two types of love here.

There is a horizontal love between people and country, and things, and society.

But there is also a vertical love.

God's love some to us.

He demonstrates his love for us in this, while we were still sinners Christ died for us.

says, "This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."

When we have faith in that vertical love, then we are able to develop a horizontal love for our brothers.

, "Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."

Therefore, when our horizontal love of one another is driven by our vertical relationship with God, we have a right version of love.

In our Civil War example, if an individual has a saving knowledge of God, they will understand that love is sacrificial and is not limited to race, and they will exhibit a love that is willing to die to self and comforts and pleasures for what is right and true and good.

There certainly was love on the other side.

This side did not base their love on this idea of dying to self.

Thier love was not based on their love God, and the idea that the Gospel is available to anyone who places his faith and trust in Jesus Christ, regardless of race.

But instead, their love was based on their preferences for their comfortable life.

They based their love on their own vision of the country.

Please Bow with me in prayer.

Father, it is by your gospel that we are even able to come to you.

Jesus, we thank you for dying on the cross in our place to bring us to God, and Father it is for that reason, that we bow before you in prayer this morning.

Father, out of your glorious riches strengthen us with power by your Spirit in our inner so that Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith.

Illuminate us with your word, Help us to understand more about you.

In Jesus name, we pray, amen.

Please Bow with me in prayer.

Father, it is by your gospel that we are even able to come to you.

Jesus, we thank you for dying on the cross in our place to bring us to God, and Father it is for that reason, that we bow before you in prayer this morning.

Father, out of your glorious riches strengthen us with power by your Spirit in our inner so that Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith.

Illuminate us with your word, Help us to understand more about you.

In Jesu name, we pray, amen.

Monday is Memorial Day.

We take Memorial Day to honor and remember all of the soldiers who have given their life for this great country.

There have been approximately 651,000 United States Soldiers killed in battle.

Roughly 42 million people have served in the US Military.

I suppose almost every person that enlists knows there is at least a chance that they may lose their life in service to this country, but they do it anyway.

They do it anyway because they love their country.

People who enlist in the military love the people of the United States, and they love protecting them.

They love our freedom, and they love the American dream, and they know that it is worth protecting.

People do incredible things in the name of love, right?

?

Jesus said, "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends."

Jesus said, "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends."

If we look at a broader picture of the love of country, is not as simple as it appears.

In each conflict that took one of our soldier's lives, there were also casualties on the other side.

Just as our soldier's loved our country, the soldiers on the other side probably equally loved their country.

That is why we have wars.

Monday is Memorial Day.

We take Memorial Day to honor and remember all of the soldiers who have given their life for this great country.

There have been approximately 651,000 United States Soldiers killed in battle.

Roughly 42 million people have served in the US Military.

I suppose almost every person that enlists knows there is at least a chance that they may lose their life in service to this country, but they do it anyway.

The idea that our vertical love must be in line before we are even capable of correct horizontal love is not only found in those passages from John, but it is also in the passage from Ephesians tht we have been studying.

Let's look at the Civil War for instance.

Inherent to this war were vastly different ideas of civil rights.

One viewpoint without dispute is absolutely right.

The opposing viewpoint is absolutely wrong.

Also present in that conflict is that each side had a love for the same country.

It was just that each side had a love for their own view of their country.

They do it anyway because they love their country.

People who enlist in the military love the people of the United States, and they love protecting them.

They love our freedom, and they love the American dream, and they know that it is worth protecting.

People do incredible things in the name of love, right?

?

Jesus said, "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends."

If each side loved the same country, and the one viewpoint is completely wrong, why was there a conflict?

Why wasn't it able to be worked out?

If we look at a broader picture of the love of country, is not as simple as it appears.

In each conflict that took one of our soldier's lives, there were also casualties on the other side.

Just as our soldier's loved our country, the soldiers on the other side probably equally loved their country.

That is why we have wars.

To answer that question we need to think about two types of love here.

One love, we will call a horizontal love.

It is the love between people and country, and things, and society.

But there is another love, a vertical love.

It is God's love for us.

, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

And, says, "This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."

When we have faith in that vertical love, then we can develop a horizontal love for our brothers.