Sermon Tone Analysis

To Die For Me

STAND WITH ME AND LET’S READ

PRAYER

PRAYER

BE SEATED

King Louis XIV of France, who preferred to be called “Louis the Great” and had declared, “I am the State!” died in 1717.

His court was the most magnificent in Europe, and his funeral was the most spectacular.

In the church where the ceremony was performed, his body lay in a golden coffin.

To dramatize his greatness, orders had been given that the cathedral would be very dimly lit with only one special candle that was to be set above the coffin.

The thousands of people in attendance waited in silence.

Then Bishop Massillon began to speak.

Slowly reaching down, he snuffed out the candle and said, “Only God is great.”

—Jeff Arthurs, “Laying the Foundation for Peace,” PreachingToday.com

There is a particular praise song that I love to hear.

When it is playing I stop whatever I am doing to make sure I can hear it.

Unfortunately for those around me I end up singing along with it.

There is a particular praise song that I love to hear.

When it is playing I stop whatever I am doing to make sure I can hear it.

Unfortunately for those around me I end up singing along with it.

The song is quite stirring when you stop to pay attention to the words.

I am often convicted however when I sing it because the words are so powerful and full of commitment.

They should not be sung if they are not meant in the heart.

That song is Amazing Love.

I am accepted, you were condemned

I am Forgiven cause you were forsaken

I am alive and well, your Spirit lives within me

It's my Joy to honor You, in all I do I honor You

Amazing Love, how could it be that you my King should die for me Jesus, You are my King

That song really makes you question yourself as a Christian.

Have I really corona-ted Jesus as my King?

The meaning of the word coronation is: the act or ceremony of crowning a new monarch, a king, a sovereign.

That word sovereign is a real kicker.

To be King means that Jesus has complete authority over my life including my wants, my wishes, my time, my plans, my money, how I love and lead my family, how I live my life, how I do my work, the way I love, interact and minister to other people, so on and so on.

For him to be King means giving up every area of life to his control.

In all I do is it true do I really honor him or do I only pretend to honor him.

That means honoring him in the way he wants me to worship him, to spend time with him, the way He wants me to serve him, by seeking to operate His church according to His ways not my ways.

The way I love my family, and the way I love, interact and minister to other people, and that all of those things are done in accordance with His word and His will.

To make Jesus king means to serve Him.

To serve Jesus means to Follow Jesus.

The people surrounding Jesus on his entry into the capital city thought they were seeing the coronation of a King.

They would soon find out that following King Jesus would require a deeper level of following than most of them were willing to give.

Transitional Sentence/Keyword: I see in this text 4 levels of how people follow King Jesus.

The First 2 are carnal in nature and the last 2 are spiritual.

The last 2 will never be seen in the world, but unfortunately the first 2 can too often be found in the church.

A Casual Level

1.

A Casual level

In v. 13, they use the word "Hosanna" which is an Aramaic expression meaning "Save now' used literally and as ascribing praise to God.

The Jews were very familiar with the term from - which was sung each morning by the Temple choir during each Feast of Tabernacles - the feast of remembrance for how God carried them in the wilderness.

It had also come to be associated with the Passover - about how God saved the firstborn of the Jews from the angel of death in Egypt.

So, now Jesus comes riding in during the time of Passover.

The people were ready to be saved right then but in the way they wanted it, not according to God’s plan.

In this instance it was some cry of nationalistic hope of being saved from Rome, when sin was a greater problem than Rome could ever be.

When it came time to make a deeper commitment it was no farther than the edge of their lips not in their hearts.

These same people yelled "Crucify' Him".

A number of years ago Norman Cousins wrote an editorial in Saturday Review in which he reported a conversation he had on a trip in India.

He was talking with a Hindu priest named Satis Prasad.

What some people call a name dropper.

People who claim to be Christians, but never see them committed to His church (except some Sunday mornings) nor committed to serving him if its uncomfortable.

A number of years ago Norman Cousins wrote an editorial in Saturday Review in which he reported a conversation he had on a trip in India.

He was talking with a Hindu priest named Satis Prasad.

The man said he wanted to come to our country to work as a missionary among the Americans.

Cousins assumed that he meant that he wanted to convert Americans to the Hindu religion, but when asked, Satis Prasad said, "Oh no, I would like to convert them to the Christian religion.

Christianity cannot survive in the abstract.

It needs not membership, but believers.

The people of your country may claim they believe in Christianity, but from what I read at this distance, Christianity is more a custom than anything else.

I would ask that either you accept the teachings of Jesus in your everyday life and in your affairs as a nation, or stop invoking His name as sanction for everything you do.

I want to help save Christianity for the Christian.

"

The man said he wanted to come to our country to work as a missionary among the Americans.

Cousins assumed that he meant that he wanted to convert Americans to the Hindu religion, but when asked, Satis Prasad said, "Oh no, I would like to convert them to the Christian religion.

Christianity cannot survive in the abstract.

It needs not membership, but believers.

The people of your country may claim they believe in Christianity, but from what I read at this distance, Christianity is more a custom than anything else.

I would ask that either you accept the teachings of Jesus in your everyday life and in your affairs as a nation, or stop invoking His name as sanction for everything you do.

I want to help save Christianity for the Christian.

"

Clayton Bell, in Preaching, May-June, 1986

Many people get to a point where they want to be saved right then, but that is as far as it goes.

They call on the name of Jesus, use the name of Jesus in a prayer but are not committed to following Jesus any further.

What some people call a name dropper.

People who claim to be Christians, but never see them committed to His church (except some Sunday mornings) nor committed to serving him if its uncomfortable.

A Curious level

A Curious Level

v.18 - At this time Jesus was the people's choice for King.

v.18 - At this time Jesus was the people's choice for King.

He was popular because of what he had been doing.

Many had been healed.

Thousands and Thousands had been fed.

Many of these common people had seen or heard about the Lazarus event and they came out to see Jesus.

Public miracles hardly ever produce a lasting personal faith.

Following Jesus means doing so even when the miracles can’t be seen.

A man once appeared at my office door asking for some quick points on Christianity to help make sense of the dinner conversations he was having with his wife, a recent convert.

He made it clear that he was very busy and very successful and didn’t really have time to study her beliefs—just bullet points, if you please.

It would have been easy to hand him a book or pamphlet.

But instead, I said, “I can see you are a very busy and very successful person, so I don’t think this is a good idea.”

“Why?” he asked, frustrated.

“Because if I were to give you the bullet points and you were to really understand them, they might work in you so significantly that your life could really get messed-up.

You would have to rethink the meaning of success, of time, of family—of everything, really.

I don’t think you really want to do that, do you?”

It was an effort to raise his thirst, not to give him answers.

In his case, it worked.

—Mark Labberton, “Pastor of Desperation,” Leadership (Winter 2006)