Sermon Tone Analysis

End of the Road

The message this morning is entitled, “The End of the Road.”

“Only One Life Will Soon Be Past.

Only What’s Done for Christ Will Last.”

As I come to the end of my road here in 2018, 2019 will show me the results of my ministry among you.

“What Ed has done will pass, what Christ has done will last.”

2019 will tell me a lot about my labors among you.

A sideline of mine is to photograph the ends of the roads in Maine.

One will see on highways signs that say “End of….”

Many roads lack those signs.

Last week we saw the picture of the beginning of Route 1 in Fort Kent.

The untold story is the other side of the sign.

Route 1 is also the end of the road.

Willie Nelson said, “I believe that all roads lead to the same place - and that is wherever all roads lead to.”

That is so deep it’s shallow.

It is so profound its absurd.

Help us Willie, where did this idea come from?

If all roads lead to the same place than I’ll get on Route 3 West and you get on Route 1 South.

You head south and I will head west.

Will we ever meet?

Willie Nelson was the same person who said,

My doctor tells me I should start slowing it down - but there are more old drunks than there are old doctors so let's all have another round.

C.S. Lewis spoke about the same roads as Willie Nelson.

He said, “We are not living in a world where all roads are radii of a circle and where all, if followed long enough, will therefore draw gradually nearer and finally meet at the centre: rather in a world where every road, after a few miles, forks into two, and each of those into two again, and at each fork, you must make a decision.”

The road we travel makes a real difference.

Robert Frost caught this in his poem, “The Road Not Taken.”

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

I sang that song in High School in chorus.

Yogi Berra gave this famous quote, “If you come to a fork in the road, take it.”

He also said, “If you don't know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.”

Have you ever thought about where your road is taking you?

Are you on the right road?

Are you on the road that God wants you on?

Is God with you on your road?

Jesus is God with us!

If you have Jesus, you have God with you.

If you are living for Jesus, following Jesus, God is walking with you.

Matthew connects the dots.

The Old Testament said,

Matthew tells us that Jesus’ coming was to fulfill Isaiah 7:14.

When Mary and Joseph are at the manger, God was with them.

When they fled to Egypt, God was with them.

When they came back to Nazareth or made various trips to Jerusalem, God was with them.

If you have Jesus, Emmanuel, God is with you.

When the disciples traveled with Jesus, God was with them.

When they faced the raging sea, God was with them.

When they were short on food with 5000 mouths to feed, God was with them.

Emmanuel.

When we walk on our own road, when we do what we think is right, when we live by our own understanding, we have no assurance that God is with us.

We have all been on roads we thought were right and found out we were wrong.

Proverbs tells us:

This is repeated.

This is a problem.

We think our way is right, our road is right, and we look though our own eyes.

The Lord weighs your heart.

Are you on the right road?

From your heart is Jesus your Lord and your Savior?

Is he your guide?

If so, then Emmanuel.

God is with you.

We cannot take any road we want.

There are side roads that are not the highway.

We take side roads because we have forgotten God.

God is not with us on the side roads.

Jesus said,

Don’t forget, the way that leads to destruction looks so right.

A lot of people are on it.

This road is ecumenical, it is broad, it is inclusive, it is popular, it is well traveled.

The ends of this road are destruction and death.

They are not the ancient roads, they are side roads.

They are not the highway, they are the dead-end streets with no sign of warning.

We have tried to walk this road, the road that Jesus is on, while we have been in Palermo.

When invited to be the pastor, we prayed and agreed that God wanted us here in Palermo.

So, we came.

I believe that when we made that decision that God was with us, Emmanuel.

On the first Sunday of every year I preached from Matthew 28:19-20.

Whereas the birth of Jesus and Matthew’s comment that Jesus would be Emmanuel, God with us, start the story of Jesus, Matthew 28:19-20 are the last words of Jesus that Matthew records.

God called us to make disciples and in as much as we have helped you to follow Jesus, Emmanuel, God is with us.

I believe Jesus was with this church when Fred Williams, Dave Jones and Dale Flynn prayed together about bringing the churches in town together.

Many towns talk about church splits, we had a church united.

Emmanuel, Jesus was here.