Sermon Tone Analysis

Prayer

Blessed Lord, You have caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning.

Grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn, and take them to heart that, by the patience and comfort of Your holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life.

… through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

BETHSAIDA; BETH-RAMTHA; LIVIAS-IULIAS A town on the northeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee.

It was a small fishermen’s village, known under the name of Beth-Ramtha, and formed part of the Perea.

In the early Roman period Herod Agrippa conferred on the place the rights of a polis, naming it Livias in honor of Livia, wife of Augustus (Josephus, Antiq.

XVIII, 27).

When Livia changed her name to Julia the city was also sometimes called Iulias (Josephus, War II, 168).

It was later annexed by Nero to the kingdom of Agrippa II.

In the New Testament it is named Bethsaida.

It was the home of Philip, Andrew and Peter (John 1:44; 12:21).

Jesus healed the blind there (Mark 8:22) and it was one of the cities which he reproached (Matt.

11:21; Luke 10:13).

Eusebius (Onom.

58:11) locates it in Galilee, near Lake Genezareth.

Bethsaida is identified with et-Tell, east of the River Jordan.

We know, from v. 35-40, that Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptizer.

The connection of Philip with Andrew and Peter makes it likely that they knew each other, and perhaps worked together as fishermen.

The Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, record that Jesus returns from the 40 days in the wilderness and begins preaching about the Kingdom of God, in the process, calling Andrew, Peter, James and John to formally follow him as disciples.

16 Καὶ παράγων παρὰ τὴν θάλασσαν τῆς Γαλιλαίας εἶδεν Σίμωνα καὶ Ἀνδρέαν τὸν ἀδελφὸν Σίμωνος ἀμφιβάλλοντας ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ· ἦσαν γὰρ ἁλιεῖς.

17 καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς, Δεῦτε ὀπίσω μου, καὶ ποιήσω ὑμᾶς γενέσθαι ἁλιεῖς ἀνθρώπων.

18 καὶ εὐθὺς ἀφέντες τὰ δίκτυα ἠκολούθησαν αὐτῷ.

19 Καὶ προβὰς ὀλίγον εἶδεν Ἰάκωβον τὸν τοῦ Ζεβεδαίου καὶ Ἰωάννην τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ καὶ αὐτοὺς ἐν τῷ πλοίῳ καταρτίζοντας τὰ δίκτυα, 20 καὶ εὐθὺς ἐκάλεσεν αὐτούς.

καὶ ἀφέντες τὸν πατέρα αὐτῶν Ζεβεδαῖον ἐν τῷ πλοίῳ μετὰ τῶν μισθωτῶν ἀπῆλθον ὀπίσω αὐτοῦ.

Value of Character

Not all movement is “sheep-stealing.”

Sometimes one person can disciple you to a certain level, and then another person takes you farther.

Just like elementary school teachers aren’t in competition with middle or high school teachers, no minister or ministry should see itself as being in competition with another.

Value of Character

Value of Character

What is our role in the Mission of God?

What is your role as a disciple of Christ?

Value of Character

Fame is a vapor, popularity is an accident, and money takes wings.

The only thing that endures is character” (attributed to O. J. Simpson, former professional football player).

There is no one to whom you will minister, who wasn’t first seen by the Lord.

there are no accidental incidents in the Kingdom.

It is incredible, when you stop and think about it - God knows the plan that He has, and your role in it, and this church’s role in it, right on up the chain.

Nobody can do it all, nobody has all the answers, and even when we get it right, we still “know in part, and prophecy in part.”

Paul didn’t write, “By grace you are saved through knowledge” in .

What do we have as Lutherans?

We have a history of defending the Gospel against efforts to dilute it with justification by works.

We have a history of defending the “once for all delivered to the saints” nature of the Christian faith against innovations - also known as heresies.

We have a history of writing hymns that not only entertain, they edify - they build you up in your most holy faith.

As Confessional Evangelical Christians, we are Christ-centered rather than man-centered, Law and Gospel-focused over Moral Therapeutic Deism.

We depend upon God’s revelation over man’s intuition.

We understand that:

In the first place, then, Law and Gospel differ as regards the manner of their being revealed to man.

Man was created with the Law written in his heart.

True, in consequence of the Fall this script in the heart has become quite dulled, but it has not been utterly wiped out.

The Law may be preached to the most ungodly person, and his conscience will tell him, That is true.

But when the Gospel is preached to him, his conscience does not tell him the same.

The preaching of the Gospel rather makes him angry.

The worst slave of vice admits that he ought to do what is written in the Law.

Why is this?

Because the Law is written in his heart.

The situation is different when the Gospel is preached.

The Gospel reveals and proclaims nothing but free acts of divine grace; and these are not at all self-evident.

The Law may be preached to the most ungodly person, and his conscience will tell him, That is true.

But when the Gospel is preached to him, his conscience does not tell him the same.

The preaching of the Gospel rather makes him angry.

The worst slave of vice admits that he ought to do what is written in the Law.

Why is this?

Because the Law is written in his heart.

The situation is different when the Gospel is preached.

The Gospel reveals and proclaims nothing but free acts of divine grace; and these are not at all self-evident.

That is what defines you as a Lutheran, not your hymns, not the structures of worship, though they all convey what we believe.

The content of our Character - the who we are - is what shapes what we do.

We tell others to “repent and believe the Gospel,” because God has granted us the gift, through Word and Sacrament, to “taste and see that the Lord is good.”

We only want for others, what God graciously gives to us:

That glory might, at first glance, not seem glorious - When Jesus talked about being “entering into His glory,” He wasn’t talking about the Resurrection or Ascension only He was talking about the Cross as well.

In the words of Pastor Bonhoeffer:

It is laid on every Christian.

The first Christ-suffering that everyone has to experience is the call which summons us away from our attachments to this world.

It is the death of the old self in the encounter with Jesus Christ.

Those who enter into discipleship enter into Jesus’ death.

They turn their living into dying; such has been the case from the very beginning.

The cross is not the terrible end of a pious, happy life.

Instead, it stands at the beginning of community with Jesus Christ.

Whenever Christ calls us, his call leads us to death.

In Christ, even death, our enemy, has become our servant, for death brings us into His presence, in baptism, in Holy Communion, and at the hour of our death.

Nothing shall separate us from His love, even though it may separate us from the love of the world, from fame and acclaim.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Discipleship, ed.

Martin Kuske et al., trans.

Barbara Green and Reinhard Krauss, vol.

4, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2003), 87.It is laid on every Christian.

The first Christ-suffering that everyone has to experience is the call which summons us away from our attachments to this world.

It is the death of the old self in the encounter with Jesus Christ.

Those who enter into discipleship enter into Jesus’ death.

They turn their living into dying; such has been the case from the very beginning.

The cross is not the terrible end of a pious, happy life.

Instead, it stands at the beginning of community with Jesus Christ.

Whenever Christ calls us, his call leads us to death.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Discipleship, ed.

Martin Kuske et al., trans.

Barbara Green and Reinhard Krauss, vol.

4, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2003), 87.