Sermon Tone Analysis

Please turn in your bible to Ephesians chapter 2, where our attention this morning will be devoted to vv19-22.

Good morning fellow Saints

Good morning fellow Saints I am very excited to be up here this morning.

I am excited to bring to you God's goodness and kindness from His Word this morning.

seeking to make our worship of Christ more authentic.

Our fellowship more caring.

And it’s outreach more compassionate.

I am very excited to be up here this morning.

I am excited to bring to you God's goodness and kindness from His Word this morning.

Please turn in your bible to Ephesians chapter 2, where our attention this morning will be devoted to vv19-22.

What.

I. Am.

About.

To.

Read. is the innerant.

Sufficient.

Word of God Himself.

God is going to graciously address each one of us this morning.

:

19 "So then you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household, 20 "built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.

21 "In him the whole building, being put together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

22 "In him you are also being built together for God’s dwelling in the Spirit.”

()

Let's read from our hymnal and page 354.

Does that seem strange to you?

How does it make you feel?

Does it make you feel awkward at all? Think about the words…

When is the last time that we shed tears for Gods people?

Do my prayers regularly send on her behalf?

Is she the object of my care?

Do I toil for her?

Do I love the church?

These really aren't expressions of love that we are used to.

These are expressions of priority that we are not used to are we?

We're just not used to these kinds of expressions for the church or

expressions of this kind of priority to the church.

And I think it's telling reality that if we want to sing a song about the church that

expresses this kind of love and affection and commitment,

we have to go back a couple hundred years to find one.

If we believe this song and that it should be singing with authenticity.

That is believing that the church should be a top priority in our lives and that

it should be up most in our affections,

that immediately puts us in a position where we are swimming against the stream.

Not only in our culture in general but against the stream of the wider Christian culture

in which we live where the church esteemed

very little and irrelevant.

The church is often seen as an optional and voluntary society.

If that works for you… That's fine… For you!

But really spirituality is the rage of our day and

organized religion is mostly out.

Being in community... well that is hip

but actually belonging to a church is lame and oppressive and irrelevant and

who really needs clergy and authority structure and liturgies and sermons and worship services.

Well if we believe the holy Scriptures we all do!

[RC sproul quote]

“I doubt if there have been many times in our history when there has been as much anger, hostility, disappointment, and disillusionment with the institutional church as there is today.

It’s hard not to be critical of the church because in many ways the church has failed us.”

Some of that is justified I am sure.

But the response, very often, is to leave the church behind.

To give up on her… To dis her.

Instead of working to make her healthy!

No, I don't need to remind you but we do not follow these trends.

Why?

OUCH!

He goes on to say: “But if the church has failed, that means we have failed.

We are called to serve the church in the power of God the Holy Spirit.We, the church, have been made for this task by the indwelling presence and power of God’s Spirit.

Yet, we are called not so much to rise up but to bow down.

And if we bow down to our Lord, as Paul says in , the church will be the church, and our light will pierce the darkness.”

Some of that is justified I am sure.

But the response, very often, is to

leave the church behind.

To give up on her…

To dis her.

Instead of working to make her healthy!

No, I don't need to remind you but we do not follow these trends.

Why?

The answer is because we follow Jesus.

We follow Jesus… That's what it means to be a Christian.

And to follow Him is to be like Him.

And so to follow Jesus is to swimming against the cultural stream and unfortunately and

very tragically and many times

against the streams of the wider Christian culture in which we live.

Here's what I know to be true about Jesus.…

He loves the church!

It's his church.

And so it's his priority.

How much does Christ loved the church?

Look over in Ephesians five and we see how much Christ loved the church and gave himself for her (v25).

He loves the church so much that he gave his all for the church.

He died, bearing the penalty for our sins so that we could be the church!

And he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven and what happened next?

happened.

"And he (God the Father) subjected everything under His feet, and appointed Him as head over everything to the church"

So he's head of the church.

And if he's head of the church, you better believe that the church is His priority.

And what's he doing now as head of the church?

Well he told us when he was here on earth when he made this promise "I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it"

Christ is, as our head, building and protecting the church that he loves.

That's what He does.

He loves the church and so it is His priority.

Now, think about it.

Isn't it true that we, as the followers of Jesus, lovers of Christ and who are committed to becoming