Sermon Tone Analysis

Story about choosing the text

Read quote from Last week’s sermon.

Greg said, “Invite your friends, relatives, neighbors, and co-workers...

Were you here last week?

Last week I said, “Invite your friends, relatives, neighbors and co-workers to our annual Invite a friend service and Thanksgiving Dinner.

Monday morning I Came into the office and prayerfully began to consider what I would preach on this week.

As I usually do, I checked the lectionary to see what texts were chosen for this time of yer.

The lectionary is a book that has taken scripture and divided it up over a three year period.

Some, churches turn to the lectionary every week to decide what scripture will used for service.

Anyway I have a few, and I happened on the “Book of Common Prayer, 1979 version, for no particular reason at all, and turned to the text and it was turned to , and remember I had just preached Sunday so my words were fresh in my head, and I read,

Luke 14:12

Transition

Do not invite your friends and relatives?

Now that is a conundrum.

What do we do do with those two seemingly incompatible ideas?

Do we invite people, or Do we not invite people?

Is Church growth bad?

Is that even what Jesus is talking about?

In order to answer those questions we need to look at the the full passage and see what Jesus was talking about.

This morning turn with me to , and let’s see what Jesus said, and how it may apply to us as we prepare for the annual “invite-a Friend” worship and dinner.

So please join me in prayer as we begin.

Prayer

Luke chapter 14 can be broken up into several segments.

We can divide it up into the following sections.

can be looked at as several sections.

Luke chapter 14

1-6 Healing on Sabbath

1-6 Healing on Sabbath

7-11 Parable to the Guests

12-14 Parable to the Host

14-24 Parable to All

opens with Jesus attending a dinner at the house of a prominent Pharisee.

Luke

Luke writes that Jesus was being carefully watched.

There is something that is less than genuine going on here.

The Pharisees are up to something.

The Healing on the Sabbath

This situation that is going in , it is still quite common today.

It probably happens more than you realize.

For many years I was out in the business world, and I am well familar with this type of meeting, let me explain.

This happens all the time in Business.

There are three types of business meetings.

The first, is very straight forward and genuine.

You know what to expect.

It is a friendly meeting.

People are pleasant to one another.

There is not much of a negotiation necessary, it usually occurs over lunch, and so many fun stories are exchanged, that you barely get to the business.

Then there is the hostile type, again at least it is straight forward and you know what you are getting into.

You can be prepared.

Usually there is not a meal.

One group marches in and sits on one side of the conference table, the other side sits at the other and right from the beginning the negotiations begin.

But there is another type, perhaps the most insidious.

The ambush, the snake in the grass, the blindside.

This one is where one party really tries to gain the upper hand and take advantage of the other party.

It is hard to believe people do this, but believe me they do, unfortunately all to often.

They invite someone to lunch, and it starts pleasant enough, how was your vacation, been hunting, that kind of thing the, out of nowhere they make a massive, often exaggerated, and sometimes even false accusation.

It is designed to get them back on their heels.

A first punch.That is what is going on here.

The Pharisees are being a bit less than genuine.

Hey Jesus, old buddy, ya got a great ministry going there, why don’t you come to dinner, on the Sabbath?

Pharisees set it up to see what happens

Then this man, is brought in front of Him.

Some translations say dropsy, today we call edema.

It is a build-up of fluid in the body.

It is caused by an organ failure, like heart or kidney failure.

is placed right in front of Jesus

The Pharisees, you see are experts of the law, so what they are doing is testing Jesus.

, God has a law.

It says rest on the Sabbath.

If you are really God surely you are holy and from God you going to follow the law right?

Kick this poor guy out.

The Pharisees, you remember are experts of the law, so what they are doing is testing Jesus.

God has a law.

It says rest on the Sabbath.

If you really are God, or at least a representative of God surely you are going to follow the law right?

They are waiting to see if Jesus will kick this poor guy out.

In Jewish culture at that time, sickness, uncleaness, the unfortunate were often associated with sin.

It was often thought of as their, or even their parents fault for being in that position.

This sinner had no business here among the Holy Pharisees, right?

Jesus here is your opportunity to show how good and Holy you are kick this guy out.

On other occasions Jesus has healed on the Sabbath, so perhaps Jesus won’t kick out this sinner, perhaps he will heal Him.

Then the Pharisees can show that it is Jesus that is sinner for doing work orn the Sabbath.

Either way, the Pharisees are showing off their belief that they are somehow spiritually better than others.

Jesus, recognizing the situation instead decides to ask the lawyers a question.

He obviously sees right through their little scheme, perhaps letting them know he is on to them.

Kinda like church politics in the first century.

So Jesus ask them is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?

And cue the crickets.....

At this pointJesus decides to ask the lawyers a question.

He obviously sees right through their little scheme so he asks them, Is it lawful or not?

-Cue the crickets

They don’t answer

Jesus heals Him.

Jesus has compassion on this man.

Compassion over the the Pharisees and teaching us that it is always right to show compassion, even on the Sabbath.

Then Jesus asks the Pharisees another question.

Jesus Heals Him and sends him away

He asks them again

Nothing to say- just crickets.

Jesus cut right to there heart.