Sermon Tone Analysis

Generational Worship

rom15.1

Rom14.

This is a lot to take in… I want to give you this quick overview and a glimpse into the church at Rome so we can find true Gospel encouragement for our church today...

It is clear from hearing the text of read, that there was a lot of problems between the Jewish Christian and the Gentile believers.

People were being brought into their gatherings that had various opinions of worship.

They had traditions, styles and preferences for worshipping God.

Some were good and others were not so good, yet the big picture was not what divided them, it was what unites them.

Put your focus on what Unites us rather than what Divides

Within the church, the Apostle Paul was giving clear instructions to not pass judgement on matters of conscience and preferences… If eating certain foods or abstaining from certain foods is a thing for you, whether for religious reason or just dietary restrictions, You will not be judged or treated differently in the church.

If there are certain festivals and holy days you wish to observe, or you disagree with others observing, as long as they do not violate the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, then where ever you land on those issues, you will not be judged or treated differently kn the church!

I will venture out to bring this to a more applicable topic for our church… IF your tradition is singing hymns or you have no tradition in the types of songs we sing, as long as it is not a gospel issue, then where ever you land on that, you will not be judged with in the church...

Why?

So while everyone who is a regenerate believer is accepted by God, and God’s kingdom is not about your preference, but righteousness (which comes from Christ), Peace (Peace with God obtained by the blood sacrifice of Christ) and Joy (Gods indwelling presence in his believers) in thew Holy Spirit!

So rather than focusing on what will divide us, vs 19 commands us to PURSUE what makes for Peace and mutual building up...

Listen… The only thing that will make peace and build up others is CHRIST!!!!

No man can bring true peace, and nobody in of themselves can truly bring about MUTUAL Upbuilding.

Only Jesus can do this.

Let me show you what I mean… Lets start with some practical examples, and then bring it in to the church...

Raise your hands if… You like Football vs you do not like football (including indifferent), if you like baseball, hockey, soccer, nascar, motocross...

You like theatre and musicals vs you do not… you love movies… Romantic comedies?

Action?

Documentaries? sci-fy?

Star wars… Lord of the Rings… The hobbit… Harry Potter???

You like country music vs you like Rap

You love the outdoors vs hate the outdoors...

You are gluten free...

Lets look at the church now… Please do not use this as a reason to get offended...

Raise your hand if this is the first church you have been a part of… 2nd, 3rd… 4th… 5th

Raise your hand if you have been baptized?

(quick david write down the names of everyone not raising their hands) if you haven’t… if you have been more than once?

Raise your hand if this is the first church you have been a part of that does not pass the offering plate?

Raise your hands if you like to the welcome time because you are an extravert, now how about the ones who are introverts and you do not like it...

Raise your hand if you liked 2 services better than one… now you who like 1 service better.

How about those who like the Location of the Church vs those you do not like where it is located.

Raise your hand if you think that attending church means dressing in your best vs it doesn’t matter...

Raise your hand if you love to sing hymns… Now how about those who do not know hymns, aren’t used to them or don’t like them?

Raise your hand if you have been a Christian for less than a year… 2yrs… 5 yrs… 10 yrs… 20… 30, 40 50, 60, 70...

Now all the things I just mentioned are not central Gospel issues… NONE of them are important compared to other things… All these things are about opinions ,preferences and traditions… All these things can divide a church… Now lets see what we agree on… Raise your hand if you recognize that you are a sinner in need of a savior and Christ is the ONLY one who could save you from your sin! Raise your hand if your believe in the God the Father who created everything and still rules everything… you believe in God the Son who came to earth and took on flesh to live a perfect and innocent life and suffer and died a sinners death to do for you what you could not do for yourself… Maybe you need to stand to your feet if God has brought you out of Darkness into his marvelous light!

And you believe in God the Spirit who was drawing you to himself and he came in and cleaned you up on the inside, and he illuminated scripture to you, and he daily fills you fresh and new as you call upon him for your daily source of strength… he is you comforter and counselor, your help and the ever present presence of God inside of you that strengthens you in your inmost being...

Stand and raise your hands if you believe that the wrath of God was poured out on Jesus the Son of God so that you wont have to stand and be judged and sent to hell.

Raise your hands if you believe that on the cross Jesus took your sins and gave you his righteousness.

And finally give God some praise if you believe you will be united to him for all of eternity because he not only called you but secured a welcome for you in the saving work of his Son Jesus and that work was applied to your blackened darkened heart by to magnanimous extravagant love poured out on you by the Holy Spirit!!!!

In light of all this, does it matter How long you have been a Christian, how you dress, how many churches you have attended before coming here, whether we pass a plate or drop offerings in a box in the back, Have fellowship times that are too long or too short, whether we are located in the city or in a field, or have 1 service or 2, or if we sing new songs or old songs????

The answer is no and it shouldn’t be something that divides us because these things are about preference, tradition and opinion...

If we understand the Gospel and know who we are in Christ and how valuable the gathering together of Gods people is as a distinct body of believers that Love each other and grow with each other, then we are the stronger brothers that Paul goes on to speak about, let’s read the 15th chapter of romans now.

Now granted Paul was talking to a church of Jews and Gentiles who were dividing over their various beliefs and opinion, but again it wasn’t as important to look at who they were and what they were dividing over as much as it is to see how to not do that and what we should be united over...

To them and to us He declares that we who are stronger in the faith, we who understand the Gospel, we have an OBLIGATION to bear with the failings of the weak...

That means that we should never look at another generation and think, “I can’t be with all these young people because I just don’t like their style, or vice versa, I don’t want to be in a church full of older people because they don’t like what I like.”

We do not have the right to judge our brothers and sisters based on their political views… Those are not matters for the Kingdom of God, they are affairs of this world and we are warned to not be entangled in them within the church.

Rather we are commands by Paul to bear with the failings of the weak, or those who don’t always get it in the church.

They complain about the music and how someone is dressed, they don’t like the color of paint or think we should do more for social justice, or want the pastor to talk about the elections instead of teaching about Biblical election, etc… They are weaker in their understanding of Gospel issues… And listen to me, YOU ARE NOT BETTER THAN THEY ARE BECAUSE YOU GET IT...

In fact, Because you get you need to go first in serving them, because like Paul said it is not about pleasing yourself!

Paul speaking to those who know the Gospel and consider themselves as the stronger brother say, Let us Please his Neighbor… WHY?

Why should we do this?

For our own good?

NO NO NO!

We do this for their good!

We do this to build THEM up!

What does this look like?

Share your testimony about the house...

If we cannot treat our brothers and sisters in Christ this way, then we cannot treat our neighbors in this world like this...

We need to see the generations within our own church doing this...

But why should we do this?

The willingness of Christ to suffer and die for the benefit of others should serve as an example to those who first heard this in Rome and it should serve as an example to us as well!

Jesus is our example and our motivation

Not that we can be just like him, but that we should desire to live like him in showing this world who he is and that he is alive within his people who profess to know him.

If we would desire to show the beauty of Jesus in all of life in all the world, we should strive to live like he did now that we have been forgiven because of the work that he has done for us.

Our motivation is to be like him, not to earn the salvation he purchased for us, but because the salvation he purchased for us has already been applied to us and we are now changed...

Jesus is our motivation… Pleasing Christ and living like Christ...

mark10.

The example that we are pointed to is this… not to ever get to the place in our church where we feel as though it is time others serve me, rather look for opportunities to serve others.

Those who are truly able to understand the Gospel look for opportunities to serve others, just as Jesus has served them!

From this one verse we see so much...

Whatever was written, has also been translated as saying, “Everything that was written”, meaning the whole of scripture, all of it is written for our instruction...

In the church we call this “Plenary Inspiration”, meaning every bit of scripture is designed by God for us, and includes lessons and application for us!

That scripture will bring endurance and encouragement to us.... Why do the scriptures bring encouragement to us, and cause us to endure?

Because the Bible is not about us, it is about God, more specifically about Jesus… That is … Jesus told them that All Scripture was about him… and what he did will cause us to endure life and in fact be encouraged… but for what?

If we use scripture properly it will infuse HOPE in us!

Listen when we read scripture, when we listen to scripture preached, and when we sing scripture it brings HOPE!

If we want to divide over our own personal preferences we will not be able to have hope infused when we hear multiple generations sing of the glorious triumphs of the cross together.

If we divide over silly traditions of men, we rob ourselves of sitting under the authority of the word which corrects all who hear it, and we fail to grow together into a body of Love.

Are you seeing how we are to act with each other???

lets re-read these verse before moving on...

Looks like Paul is causing us to look at ourselves instead of trying to correct others… and this is for our own good and the Unity of the church… the next two verses become a prayer that reveal what our churches should look like in light of this...

Listen to me brothers and sisters in Christ...

Jesus is redeeming for himself a bride from every nation, race, tribe, and tongue… and his bride comes in all shapes and sizes and that includes ages...

This prayer is especially powerful when seen in our context where we have younger believers and older believers...

The the God of ENDURANCE and ENCOURAGEMENT… Can we just stop there for a moment… do you know that if you are in Christ, if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, that you serve the God of endurance, who never changes and always sustains his people… He is also the God of Encouragement, meaning that encouragement finds its roots and origin in him… without him there is no such thing as encouragement…

May that God, our God grant us to LIVE in such HARMONY with one another...

If you are not feeling conviction from this, you are either new to the faith or have a hardened heart...

Because in the church we should be living in such harmony with one another, in accord or connect to Christ, that TOGETHER we would with ONE VOICE GLORIFY GOD!

I called this sermon Generational worship because we have some problems singing together as a church, and yet the scriptures are clear about this… we are to be united with each other in Christ and with ONE VOICE GLORIFY GOD!

That means our confession of Faith, when we pray, and when we sing… it is with one voice… it is in unity...

What makes the church distinct from the world is when outsiders come in here and see people of all different race, colors, ages, genders, and any distinction they can make, living and worshipping in total unity with one voice!

There is not one voice in political parties, there is not one voice on sports teams or amongst it fans, there is not one voice in our neighborhoods, on our jobs, in our schools, in our government, or anywhere in this world… yet there is to be ONE VOICE GLORIFYING GOD IN HIS CHURCH, and that is what makes us distinct!

There is to be ONE voice glorifying God in his Church

When we with one voice praise and worship our God, when we with one voice proclaim that Salvation is found in none other than Jesus Christ, for there is no other name under heaven and on earth on given unto men by which they must be saved… when we proclaim this together, when we sing this together, we show true Unity!

When the stronger brothers and sisters in faith bear with the failings of the weaker, and make an effort to build each other up in order to proclaim this message with one voice and worship our God with one Voice we are distinct form this world… we actually have a message of Hope to offer them.

And if this is our instruction then...