Sermon Tone Analysis

RECORD

For the past couple of weeks we have been doing a series of messages on the theology of one of the most beloved hymns of all time, How Great Thou Art

In the first verse we saw how the cosmos is a constant reminder of how great God is and in the second verse we saw how nature is a constant reminder to us of God’s love and care

And that brings us to the third, and in my opinion, most exciting, verse in this hymn

Let’s look at the lyrics of the third verse,

And when I think, that God, His Son not sparing;

Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;

That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing,

He bled and died to take away my sin.

Now you have to understand that as a preacher I strive every week to make my messages relevant and fresh

But that is sometimes hard to do, especially considering that some of you have literally heard thousands of sermons

For as the great wise man Solomon said,

Ecclessiastes

And so as I began to study and pray and prepare for this message I was asking God for a fresh word, a different perspective of Calvary

When God spoke into my spirit a truth that I needed to hear, a truth that that I want to share with you this morning in the same manner that God used to explain it to me and hopefully you’ll understand

Over the past several months I have developed a new love for steak

Don’t get me wrong I have always liked steak but now I have this new respect and desire for it

I’ve learned new ways to prep it and to cook it and I am enjoying it that much more than I ever have before

Now I don’t have steak for dinner every night but I would say over the past couple of months I do steak once or twice a week

What does that have to do with preaching or the cross?

I’m glad you asked

I’ve always considered preaching to be like feeding the congregation, offering up a dish that nourishes your soul and feeds you spiritually and thus I try to keep the menu varied and fresh

But just like I eat a variety of things at home, except onions, onions were part of the fall!, my go to, my staple dish, my meat and potatoes if you will, is steak

It is the cornerstone of my cooking, the base that is always there and that I can always turn to

I never tire of it and it doesn’t matter really how it is prepared and garnished (except for onions, onions are of the devil!) it always feeds me and nourishes me and I always want to come back for more

The cross is the steak of theology, the staple of preaching and teaching

We can preach on the end times, or on money, or on wisdom (a series I’m currently working on for the fall) but it is always good to come back to the steak, to the meat of God’s Word as it were

Paul said that the crucifixion was the sum of his preaching

And later in that same letter he said it was the sole focus of his ministry

1 Corinthians

And so with that in mind this morning I am not going to try and reinvent the message or come up with a new and dazzling method with which to present it, I just want to give you the “steak” the core issue, the central theme that one thing that Christianity could not be Christianity without, the cross

More specifically I want to give you 3 reasons “WHY” this is the steak that we always need to come back to time and again

The first of the 3 reasons is, just as the hymn says, because of God’s love

We all know what the most famous verse in the book says,

But

But what does that mean?

How is it that the cross has anything to do with the love of God?

If love is to be the central theme of any Christian’s life, and I believe that it is, than the cross absolutely must be our central focus because it is the symbol of God’s love

Well once again I believe that there are 3 ways in which the cross is a physical representation of the love that God has for us

The first of those three is that the cross is a confirmation of God’s love,

God could go on and on for centuries proclaiming His love for us but the cross is God’s love in action

It is, as the old saying goes, putting your money where your mouth is

Secondly the cross is the culmination of God’s love,

1 John 4:7-10

If a new home and family through the bonds of marriage is the culmination of the love of two people, than it can clearly be seen that the cross is the culmination of all God’s love and all that He had done for us in the past

Thirdly, the cross is the cost of God’s love

When it came time for the sacrifice, God did not send a prophet, or even an angel, God held nothing back but gave us His everything when He chose not to spare His Son

He could have, He had every right to, but His love demanded that the ultimate price be paid and the reason is also the second reason why the cross should be our core issue, because of our sin

Apart from the cross of Calvary every single one of us suffers from the very same condition, sin…which had made us dead

Ephesians 2:1-

I hope that sinks in, before the cross we were “DEAD” that was our condition!

Not sick with sin, not overcome with sin, we were dead in our sin

But Hallelujah because of the cross this passage doesn’t end there but continues on to say

Ephesians 2:4-

And because sin was our condition, sin was also our condemnation,

Because of our sinful condition we stood condemned before God the righteous judge, and the sentence was eternal damnation, Hell!

I’m sorry we’re not supposed to use those terms any more, they’ve been deemed offensive

You better believe that they’re offensive, Jesus describes it eternal suffering, whaling and gnashing of teeth, of fire and brimstone, where the torture never ends

But because of the cross,

I hope that this is getting you excited, I once was dead but now I’m alive, I once was condemned but now I am free and the third thing is that sin was our curse

In Romans chapter 6 Paul describes our predicament in this way, that we used to be “slaves to sin”

we were owned by the sin that was destroying us and had to be loyal and obedient to it, that’s the situation that Paul describes

Pretty bleak isn’t it?

But because of the cross,

Romans 6:5-

And let me give you another one of my favourites

Galatians 2:20-

The reason that the cross is and should be the central doctrine of believers is because of God’s love, and because of our sin but there’s one more reason, because of Christ’s obedience

Now it is at this point that I’m afraid I am going to have to disagree with the lyrics of our song which says, “That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing”

“Willingly” absolutely but “gladly” I’m not so sure

Listen to Mark’s recollection of what happened after the last supper,

Mark 14:32-

Mark 14:32-36

Luke, who was a physician of the day tells us that Christ was in so much anguish during this that “His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground” a rare medical condition known as hermatidrosis

Here’s how it is described on Wikipedia, “Hematidrosis is a condition in which capillary blood vessels that feed the sweat glands rupture, causing them to exude blood, occurring under conditions of extreme physical or emotional stress.

Severe mental anxiety activates the sympathetic nervous system to invoke the stress-fight or flight reaction to such a degree as to cause hemorrhage of the vessels supplying the sweat glands into the ducts of the sweat glands.

It has been suggested that acute fear and extreme stress can cause hematidrosis”

Let me read for you from Tricia McCary Rhodes’ devotional book, Contemplating the Cross, (Pages 22-23)

“The hour is late.

Stillness settles like an eerie cloud over Jerusalem.

As He enters the gate in the wall around Gethsemane, Jesus motions to Peter, James, and John to come with Him.

The others sit down quietly to wait - for what they do not know - as the 3 follow into the recesses of the Garden.”

“Jesus moves slowly, perhaps stopping to lean against a gnarled tree trunk.

White knuckles protrude from tightened fists and His head hangs in weariness.

Peter, James, and John glance at each other, wondering what to do.

Their teacher has never been like this before.

They saw Him cry when His friend Lazarus died, and only a week ago as He entered Jerusalem.He sobbed out loud over the neediness there.

Yet that was a strong cry - laced with sadness perhaps but not despair.”

“This is different.

Overwhelming sorrow consumes the Christ.

Through clenched lips, He utters: ‘My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death...’ a beleaguered bellow from the depths of His being”

In The Suffering Saviour Meditations on the Last Days of Christ author F. W. Krummacher surmises that it was not the impending physical torture that brought Christ to such despair but rather that it was during this time in the garden that Jesus was fulfilling the words that Paul would later write to the Corinthians,

2 Corinthians 5:

Krummacher says that as the horror of sin and the abomination of our transgressions were divinely imputed to Him who had never known sin

He writes, “They present themselves, to His holy eyes in their naked deformity, in their unutterable abominable nature, and in their soul destroying power.

In sin, He sees apostasy from the Almighty, daring rebellion against the Eternal Majesty, and base revolt against the will and law of God: and surveys, at one view, all the horrible fruits and results of sin, in the curse, death, and endless perdition.

How was it possible that the pure and holy soul of Jesus, at the sight of such horrors, should not tremble and shudder, and be seized with a nameless abhorrence, of which we, who are so deeply infected with sin, have no conception?”

Yet in spite of it all, Christ was still willing to be obedient to the plan of the Father, that He might redeem all of humanity

In fact during His arrest when Peter began to put up a fight, Jesus told him to stop, because if He really didn’t want this to happen, He could call more than 12 legions of angels to put an end to it all (Matthew 26:53)

But He didn’t, He walked to the cross just like the Father asked of Him