Sermon Tone Analysis

*NEAR TO THE HEART OF GOD *

*Luke 7:11-17*

*I like this sermon from Lee Eclov – I’d stick with the theme found in pt.1 (Walking with God…)  Change the other points to match this.

May need a little more research also…*

* *

*/Introduction: /*

 

A.

Illus.: When I was a kid in the mid-50s Parker Brothers came out with a game just for

 

church families like ours.

It was called “Going to Jerusalem.”

Instead of your playing

 

piece being a top hat or Scottie dog, like in Monopoly, in this game you got to be a

 

real disciple.

Little plastic guy with robe, beard and staff.

You started in Bethlehem,

 

and made stops at the Mount of Olives, Bethsaida, Capernaum, the stormy sea,

 

Nazareth, Bethany—and if you rolled the dice well—all the way to a triumphal entry

 

into Jerusalem.

Never got to the crucifixion or resurrection.

Along the way you‟d look

 

up answers in the little black New Testament provided with the game.

It was the kind

 

of safe gaming adventure perfectly suited for a Christian family on a Sunday

 

afternoon walk with Jesus.

Hold that thought.

B.

Our text today, which you‟ve heard read, is *Luke 7:11-17*, the story of Jesus raising to  life the only son of a widowed mother from the little town of Nain.

This story is in our Bibles for two reasons, I think.

1.

The first reason is to show how Jesus was establishing his credentials as the Messiah the nation of Israel had been awaiting.

That‟s what makes the exclamation of the people in v.16 so significant... Immediately after this story, John the Baptist’s disciples come with a question from John: /“Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?” /And Jesus points to the evidence: *v.22-23... *

 

2.

The second reason this story is here is to give us as Jesus‟ disciples a picture of what it is like for us to represent Jesus in our world today.

In *John 14:12 *Jesus told us as his disciples that we would do greater works than he did.

I wouldn’t have guessed back then when I was playing “Going to Jerusalem,” leaning over the card table jiggling the dice in my hand, that traveling with Jesus wasn’t meant for plastic disciples looking up verses in a little black Bible.

If we’re gong to walk with Jesus as his disciples in this world we may need to change our expectations.

Let’s step into this story.

*V.12... *Oh, this is very awkward.

A Jewish funeral was very loud—piercing cries and wailing.

The crowd with Jesus probably heard it before they saw it.

They grew quiet as any of us would.

We move to the sides of the road out of respect.

Bowed heads.

Averted eyes.

But it is even sadder than it seems.

The woman, draped in black with an ashen face, was already a widow.

She had already made this journey once before following the casket of her husband.

And now, her son—her /only /son—has died.

They say a parent should never have to bury their children.

There may be no grief on earth quite so profound.

She has no one left.

The whole town felt her sorrow.

*V.12 *says, /“A large crowd from the town was with her.” /Quite a coincidence, isn‟t it?

That Jesus should happen to meet this crowd, this mother, this casket.

Had Jesus been a few minutes earlier the mourners would have still been at the house.

A few minutes later, the body would have been laid to rest in the cemetery.

But in the providence of God, Jesus and his disciples /happen /to meet the death march.

It is no coincidence that...

 

 

 

*I.

WALKING WITH JESUS WILL BRING US FACE TO FACE WITH HEARTBREAKING NEEDS (7:11-12) *

 

A.

Most of us, I suspect, try /not /to run into sorrow on the street.

We try /not /to meet beggars and broken people.

I have it on the testimony of many, many people that when someone’s life is broken, when sin has steamrolled over someone, or pain has barged into a life, or death has looted a home, it seems like their friends /avoid /them.

Who of us hasn’t discreetly sidestepped someone else’s heartbreak?

/“They want to be with their family,” /we tell ourselves.

Or, /“I//‟//ll call in a few days.”

/Or /“I wouldn//‟//t know what to say.” /Or /“We weren//’//t all that close.”

/And that’s with people we know.

In our story, we watch that widow’s grief as complete strangers.

And frankly, when we draw near such sorrow, we’re relieved to be strangers.

/Not my problem this time.

There are enough tears in life without stepping into them uninvited/.

B.

But the Spirit of Jesus will surely lead us to harassed and helpless people.

Remember what Jesus told us in *Matt.

9:36-38...*?

You know, we tend to think our faith is on the line when someone questions what we believe.

My generation of Christians, especially, are inclined to see the front lines of the gospel as

2

 

arguing the evidences of our faith.

But where our faith is really on the line is when we meet the harassed and helpless.

The proof of our faith comes in the way that Jesus touches the lives of broken and needy people.

There is a sudden death at our next door neighbor’s.

You get this call out of the blue about taking in a couple of needy kids.

You make friends with a woman at work and the next thing you know she’s telling you her tale of woe.

You get to know an immigrant family and before you know it you‟re eating strange food and scrounging for furniture and your Saturdays are shot to pieces.

Illus.: Around 7 p.m. on the evening of Friday, May 31, 1985 an F3-magnitude tornado swept through Beaver County, Pennsylvania, where we lived.

We were at church for a meeting, and when we got word of the storm, thinking the worst was over, we went to the home of some friends.

He is a surgeon, and we‟d barely gotten there before one of his colleagues was at the door.

The emergency alert system had kicked in and all physicians were summoned to the Medical Center.

The devastation was worse than we‟d imagined.

Roy ran for the car and the three of us were left standing there, wondering what to do.

Then I thought, /“I//‟//m a pastor.

Maybe I should go, too.”

/But I absolutely did not want to go.

I was frightened.

/“I//‟//d probably be in the way,” /I thought.

/“What could I possibly do?” /I thought.

/“They//‟//ve already got people lined up for these things,” /I thought.

But finally, with /great /reluctance, and in no hurry, I also went to my car and drove to the hospital.

It turned out that the hospital was the only place where worried people could think to go.

It was Friday evening.

Kids were out driving around and parents couldn‟t find them.

Phone lines were down.