Sermon Tone Analysis

Paul has moved from principle to application.

The biblical format is first doctrine then deed, first creed then conduct, first belief then behavior, and first revelation then responsibility.

Without principle, exhortations would be simple platitudes, dull statements without support or cause.

So Paul says, I Appeal to you....therefore.

On these principles…in light of the first 11 chapters

Response to God’s mercy/grace to undeserving people

Present yourself a living sacrifice

Call to action, from knowledge to belief

Specifically, to the surrender to the Lordship of Jesus

Do not be conformed, but transformed....renewed mind

Right thinking leads to right action

Right thinking from submission to God’s authority/word

We begin to recognize His good and perfect will (desire) for our lives

WHAT IS GOD’s DESIRE?

Romans 1:5 We have recieved grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith, for the sake of His name among all nations.

GOD’s greatest desire, greatest concern, greatest aim…is that His name be glorified

Remember FROM HIM, THROUGH HIM, TO HIM are all things

Believers make much of God through the gifts He has given...

Don’t think too highly of yourselves

Your gifts are not by your own strength, wisdom, power

God given to serve others and glorify Him

Don’t think too lowly of yourselves

There are no little people in God’s kingdom

No matter what your ability, it is God given for His glory

No matter if you are behind the scenes, or in front of a spotlight what we do, we do for His renown.

Now, Paul moves from our gifting in these special areas of service, to our daily interactions (ethics), and he links them with verse 9, so that everything we do, should be seasoned with love.

The service and daily interactions of believers should be seasoned with love.

Literally = Let love be (any-poke-ree-tos) without hypocrisy

Hypocritos - Hypocrite - fake, actor playing a part on stage

Prefix a, an or anti .....means not or without

atypical - not typical

anomaly - not normal

An-hypocritos - without hypocrisy

What does Paul mean here?

What does hypocritical love look like?

How does genuine love differ?

How does our mind need to be transformed/renewed when we consider how we are to love others?

When we look at scripture, what does it reveal about hypocrisy?

Let love be... authentic.

Authentic - Not fake, not phony, but reliable and trustworthy

Part of Jewish Culture was praying the “Shema”

Deut 6:4 Hear Oh Israel the Lord our God, the Lord is One

Three times daily, morning, evening, night

Linger in the street, or synagogue = BEING SEEN

Not concerned with God, but concerned with gaining the acceptance and approval of other people.

So hypocritical love, is ”love” given for some form of personal gain...

Showing compassion so our generosity will be applauded.

Making sure what we do is seen, or heard about

Hypocritical love used to prove our own worth

Ourselves/ Others - look at my genenoristy, my sacrifice…my goodness

God - Look at all that I do, God must be proud, or God must really need me

Showing compassion so others are in our debt.

Manipulation....you owe me, remember how I helped you?

Functional Savior - You need my advice, my help, my guidance…let me help you fix your problems…

Relationships that seek to control or cause dependence, relationships that make us feel powerful or needed.

In short, we view other people as commodities

I will give you “love” if you give me something in return

So many marriages end in divorce because of hypocritical love

Men will “love” a woman - sex, trophy wife, cook and clean

Women will “love” a man - security, children, big house

No commitment, no faithfulness…when you are no longer providing what I need, or if someone else can do it better, I’m out

So hypocritical love reveals our selfish desire to be admired, and to be served by those around us.

Let love be... objective.

Our thinking is either objective or subjective

Objective thought - unbiased, without personal opinion, based on facts and truth

Subjective thought - based on feelings, opinions, preference

Example :

Pretend I had a 10lb dumbbell up here sitting on the stage.

Caydence comes by and says, that is a dumbbell, later Peanut comes by and says that is a dumbbell....Objectively, it is a dumbbell no matter who walks by they can say what it is.

But subjectively, if Caydence picks up the dumbbell, she might say, this is really heavy where as Peanut could pick up two or three of them and say these are not heavy at all.

What does that have to do with love?

Both texts, Jesus is calling out a heart problem, of prejudice.

Matt - He condemns (WOE), pharisees b/c they go to great lengths to appear right with God, but do not show mercy and justice to those in need.

Why does he eat with those sinners?

Why is associating with those people?

We are Pharisees, from Abraham…look at our pedigree.

Mark - Jesus and his disciples are called out for not observing a traditional ceremonial hand washing before they ate.

We could do a sermon series on how man made traditions and opinions ruin and divide people…but

Jesus is pointing to their hearts…they care more about what others think, say or believe than what the truth of scripture says.

So because you don’t look like us, because you don’t act like us, because your sin is obvious but we can hide ours…

you are not worthy of our love or compassion

but you do deserve our judgement and wrath

Are there people groups, who you have subjectively, deemed unworthy, unfit, or unreachable.... even on God’s behalf?

For things like...

The color of their skin

Because they used an EBT card to buy groceries?

Their addiction to drugs or alcohol

The clothes they wear

Because their moped was slowing down traffic

Their prison record

Their weight

Their gender identity

Their sexual orientation

Subjectively, throughout history and even now, there are a lot of different opinions and reactions to some of these groups I have named....but let’s recap the objective truth of the bible...

d.

No matter what group we want to place someone in, not matter their differences or our personal preferences, we all have this in common....we are made in the image of God, so we are all equal in dignity, value and worth, because we are image beares of God

e. We’ve seen this before…this is another common ground all people

i.

Not only are we all image bearers of God

ii.