Sermon Tone Analysis
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Series Review
This has been a thanksgiving sermon series.
This has been a challenge to stop thanking God for non-essentials.
Define necessity!
This has been a challenge to thank God for unseen blessings.
What has God given that we are not unlocking with a house key or eating at the dinner table, or putting on before we go to work in the morning.
This has been a challenge to thank God for spiritual blessings.
This has also been a challenge to hold off thinking of Christmas shopping, hold off on the holiday plans and just be grateful to God for the wealth he has given us.
I’m going to read the passage in its entirety, and instead of getting a shopping list, you get a “thank you” list:
Sermon Introduction
How many of you get excited about these things?
You are chosen!
You are adopted!
You are redeemed!
You are forgiven!
You have an inheritance!
And this morning, for the final sermon of our series: You are sealed!
Does that get you out of your seats?
Does that get an “amen” from the choir / praise team?
Let all the people say....amen!
“Guess what, you’ve been sealed!”
...you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession….
If that doesn’t sound like good news, if it doesn’t get you out of your seat, it doesn’t necessarily mean you are unspiritual.
It might just mean you’re not sure what that means.
Often when we hear certain words, we can’t really feel a certain way about it until we know what is means.
Last week on the day before we left for the confirmation retreat, I was diagnosed with scapular dyskenesis.
I made an emergency trip to the orthopedist because my shoulder made some loud, unnatural and painful pops, and I was a bit worried.
Have I torn something?
Have a dislocated something?
When the doctor gave me the news, I wasn’t sure if it was good or bad news until those words were defined.
Once he defined the terms, I experienced relief because I knew this was not as serious given the other possibilities.
It’s hard to celebrate something without knowing what it is.
You are forgiven.
That’s a familiar word.
Redeemed.
Maybe not as much, but we know the word, sing about it, and if you’ve been in a church long enough, you likely have a good idea about the word.
Chosen.
A familiar word.
Inheritance.
We know the word.
If someone were to ask you, what does it mean to be a Christian?
How many of us would use the word “sealed?” to describe what it means to believe in Jesus?
What does it mean?
What does it mean?
We think of sealing in functional terms.
Seal the envelope before mailing.
Ziplock bags.
Tupperware containers.
Air tight.
Closed.
But how does that apply to our being a Christian?
Ever reminded of Jesus when canning tomatoes?
First of all, being sealed by the Holy Spirit means
We are God’s prized possession.
He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us… 2 Corinthians 2:21-22
What is a seal?
We see this word in the Old and New Testament.
A seal was used to guarantee security and demonstrate ownership.
They were usually made of wax, embedded with the personalized imprint of someone with power and authority.
So one meaning is locking something up, closing it in.
In , the tomb of Jesus was sealed.
But there’s a lot more going on in these 2 verses than simply locking something up, or closing it in.
Pontius Pilate’s seal on Jesus’ tomb was easily broken, but it was an authoritative “do not open” sign.
Do not open this tomb, because I have placed my authority over this.
I for all practical purposes now own this.
It’s mine.
We also read in the Old Testament
We have a guarantee from God.
Because we are sealed by the Holy Spirit, and we are God’s prized possession...
We now have a guarantee from God.
…who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
Paul drives this home using the word "guarantee" in verse 14
(read verse)
When I was 17 years old I ran out of gas - my parent would never have given me a credit card - it was cash only arrangement, and cash would go towards keeping my car on the road.
But somehow I ran out of gas, so I ran up the street to buy a few dollars' worth of gas.
The problem was that they guy at the cash register insisted that I buy a gas can and then buy the gas.
I didn’t have enough money for both, but he eventually agreed to loan me his gas can, on one condition: I had to leave my driver's license.
Why?
Because it was a guarantee I would come back and return his precious gas can.
They knew that driver's license was valuable enough to me to give them a sense of security that I would come back with his gas can.
When God seals us with Holy Spirit, God is saying, “You are mine.
You are precious to me.
I am guaranteeing you of these spiritual blessings (the things we’ve been talking about in this series: I have chosen you.
I have adopted you.
I have redeemed you.
I have forgiven you.
I have an eternal inheritance waiting for you.
When I filled you with my Holy Spirit, that was my seal, my guarantee that you have these things and you will continue to get them.
Okay, theologically I now know I a sealed with the Holy Spirit.
I am God’s precious possession.
I am guaranteed all of the spiritual blessings we’ve been talking about - now, in the future and in the life to come.
How is this practical?
What difference should it make?
First of all let me say that it is hard to be thankful for something that you have not experienced.
If you have not experienced the transforming grace of God in your life, then it is hard to be excited about this.
I grew up in the church, and was headed out the door when I graduated from high school - it was if God closed that door and said, “Where do you think you’re going?”
I encountered God, salvation became real to me.
Jesus became personal knowledge, not just head knowledge.
It’s easier to be grateful for something when you’ve experienced it.
If Jesus is not personal to you, if Jesus is just a good person and not a transforming presence in your life, then...
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