Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro --

Brennan Manning, The Ragmuffin Gospel, Multnomah, 1990, pp. 91-2

“A story is told about Fiorello LaGuardia, who, when he was mayor of New York City during the worst days of the Great Depression and all of WWII, was called by adoring New Yorkers “The Little Flower' because he was only five foot four and always wore a carnation in his lapel.

He was a colorful character who used to ride the New York City fire trucks, raid speakeasies with the police department, take entire orphanages to baseball games, and whenever the New York newspapers were on strike, he would go on the radio and read the Sunday funnies to the kids.

One bitterly cold night in January of 1935, the mayor turned up at a night court that served the poorest ward of the city.

LaGuardia dismissed the judge for the evening and took over the bench himself.

Within a few minutes, a tattered old woman was brought before him, charged with stealing a loaf of bread.

She told LaGuardia that her daughter's husband had deserted her, her daughter was sick, and her two grandchildren were starving.

But the shopkeeper, from whom the bread was stolen, refused to drop the charges.

"It's a real bad neighborhood, your Honor." the man told the mayor.

"She's got to be punished to teach other people around here a lesson."

LaGuardia sighed.

He turned to the woman and said "I've got to punish you.

The law makes no exceptions&md;ten dollars or ten days in jail."

But even as he pronounced sentence, the mayor was already reaching into his pocket.

He extracted a bill and tossed it into his famous sombrero saying: "Here is the ten dollar fine which I now remit; and furthermore I am going to fine everyone in this courtroom fifty cents for living in a town where a person has to steal bread so that her grandchildren can eat.

Mr. Baliff, collect the fines and give them to the defendant."

So the following day the New York City newspapers reported that $47.50 was turned over to a bewildered old lady who had stolen a loaf of bread to feed her starving grandchildren, fifty cents of that amount being contributed by the red-faced grocery store owner, while some seventy petty criminals, people with traffic violations, and New York City policemen, each of whom had just paid fifty cents for the privilege of doing so, gave the mayor a standing ovation.”

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That standing ovation, that recognition of grace, is what the Bible tells us will resound forever when God completes salvation.;

In fact, we are told in Ephesians that such was the intent.

As we continue our series “the Gospel According to Genesis” I wanted us to look this morning at because here we learn about the grace of God, which is a main component in the engine that drives salvation history.

“The setting of this narrative is Jacob’s deception to receive the blessing, Esau’s plan to kill Jacob, and Rebekah and Isaac sending Jacob to Haran (27:1–28:5).

The conflict begins when Jacob is about to leave the Promised Land: “Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran” (28:10).

After all his plotting and lying to receive God’s promise of the land of Canaan, Jacob is leaving the land, and Esau remains behind in the Promised Land.

Has Esau won out after all?

“Jacob is a fugitive now outside all the protections of conventional meanings and social guarantees.”

Grace Comes at God’s Initiative —

The ladder connects heaven and earth, with angels ascending and descending.

God is not absent from this earth (as in deism); God is connected with his creation.

The ladder is a symbol of this connection.

The Hebrew of “resting on the earth’ is literally “placed toward the earth.”

This should bring to mind the Tower of Babel.

God’s initiative is the difference and the hope.

Grace Comes in the form of Promises —

The ladder connects heaven and earth, with angels ascending and descending.

God is not absent from this earth (as in deism); God is connected with his creation.

The ladder is a symbol of this connection.

God is connected with his creation and is determined to bless it.

God’s initiative is our hope.

God’s initiative should give us hope.

If God began it he will complete it.

If you have had a genuine saving experience of God’s grace, then you can rest in the fact that He will bring your salvation to pass.

Grace Comes in the form of Promises —

This is where God’s grace invites us in to participate in what He is doing with his grace.

Grace Comes and Changes Us (Slowly) —

And jof all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.

“and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.”

(28:22)

Grace Comes Most Fully in Jesus Christ —