Sermon Tone Analysis

*Sermon Worksheet & Manuscript*

*Robert L. Hutcherson, Jr.*

*Quinn** Chapel A.M.E.

Church*

*                                        Sermon Preparation~/Delivery*

                                                      *John 17:20-26*

*/“That The World Shall Know - Extreme Makeover: The Quinn Chapel Edition”/*

*The Rev. Karla J. Cooper, **Pastor*

*May 20, 2007*

\\                                              *Seventh Sunday of Easter*

\\ Sermon Worksheet & Manuscript

*TEXT*

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/"Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.

O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.

And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them."

(John 17:20-26 KJV)/

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*BODY*

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*How many of you would like God to bless your life?

Should you ask God to bless your life?

Or is that selfish?*

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*Bruce Wilkinson's bestselling book, The Prayer of Jabez, elaborates on an obscure figure mentioned in 1 Chronicles, arguing that we should seek God's blessing always.

In 1 Chronicles 4:10 we read,*

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*Jabez called upon the God of Israel, saying, "Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from harm so that it might not bring me pain!"

And God granted what he asked.*

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*Why did God grant what Jabez asked?

What is the reason for God's blessing?

There are many ways we can answer that question with Scriptural support: He loves his people.

He delights to do them good.

He is good.

But there's one fundamental reason that God blesses His people, and this reason is closely related to the missionary calling of the church.

Today's text, Psalm 67, gives us that reason.*

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*During this morning's message, we'll consider three questions about the Psalm.

Here is the first:*

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*Why Should God Bless You?*

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*This Psalm begins in a way that sounds similar to prayer of Jabez (actually, it more closely echoes the blessing that Aaron and his descendants said over the people of Israel, as recorded in Numbers 6) - but Psalm 67 goes deeper than the prayer of Jabez, telling us why God blesses his people.

Let's look at the first two verses of the Psalm:*

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*God be gracious to us and bless us, And cause His face to shine upon us -- Selah.  2 That Your way may be known on the earth, Your salvation among all nations.*

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*The Psalmist asks for blessing so that God's ways may be known on the earth.

The Psalmist is saying, in effect, "Bless me, so that I might glorify you; bless me so that I might show your power, your love, your majesty, your goodness to all nations."*

*Notice what the Psalmist is /not /saying:*

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* ·        He is not saying, "Bless me so that I can be comfortable."*

* ·        He is not saying, "Bless me so that I don't have to work hard to make a living."*

* ·        He is not saying, "Bless me so that others will be envious of me."*

* ·        He is not saying, "Bless me so that I can be successful in the eyes of the world."*

* ·        Now listen carefully: He is not even primarily saying, "Bless me so that I can bless others."*

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*This last is a biblical reason for God's blessing, as He makes explicit in His call to Abraham (Genesis 12).

By all means, God blesses us and gifts us so that we might serve and bless others.

But still, this is not the underlying, fundamental reason for God's blessing.

God blesses us first and foremost so that we can bring glory to His name.

We have a biblical mandate to praise the Lord!

It is not a matter of opinion.

It is not a debatable issue.

Praise Is Appropriate, Praise Flows From Experience, Praise Frustrates The Enemy, t Takes The Focus Of Our Problems, It Acknowledges God, It Provides An Atmosphere Of Faith*

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*Let's look into this further first of all in this Psalm itself, then in other parts of Scripture.*

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*Much Hebrew literature is structured with a central point in the middle, and ideas that parallel each other the further away you get from the center.

This structure is sometimes subtle, but in Psalm 67 it is particularly obvious: note that verses 3 and 5 are not only parallel but identical.

Verse 4 is thus the literary center of the Psalm, and as such is emphasized (for an important reason we will come back to).

Moving further away from the center, we would then expect to find that verses 1 and 2 are in parallel with verses 6 and 7.  Let's read these last two verses:*

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*6 Then the land will yield its harvest, and God, our God, will bless us.

7 God will bless us, and all the ends of the earth will fear him.*

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*The Psalm begins by asking that God will bless us, and ends by underlining that He will indeed bless - in part through an abundant harvest of food - then concludes by once again giving the reason for the blessing: That all the ends of the earth will fear Him, revere Him, hold Him in awe.*

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*So this Psalm Begins and ends with the statement that God's blessings lead to His glory.

That is the reason God blesses us.

But this idea is not limited only to Psalm 67 - you can find it throughout the Scriptures.

There are many passages we could cite, but this morning let us look briefly at only two.

The first is 1 Kings 8:60.

The Israelites have just completed the building of the temple.

King Solomon offers a lengthy prayer, in part asking that God would meet His people's needs.

He then gives the reason why God should bless His people in this way: "so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God and that there is no other."

Solomon asks for blessings, so that all people everywhere might know that there is one God, that all other so-called gods are fakes, and that Yahweh, the God of Israel is that God.

He asks for blessing so that the true God might be glorified.*

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*The second passage concerns Jesus Himself.

On the night before the crucifixion, Jesus is faced with a dilemma.

All of His humanity rebels at the thought of the spiritual and physical suffering of the cross.

How should He pray to God? What should He ask for?

Does He say, "Father God, bless me!

Save me from this horrible death!"? John 12:27-28 records for us Jesus' thoughts and prayer at this time:*

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*27 "Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say?

'Father, save me from this hour'?

No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.

28 Father, glorify your name!" Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and will glorify it again."*

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*Jesus does not ask for physical safety or comfort; He does not ask for worldly success or status in the eyes of others.

He instead asks for what?

For God's glory.

And God responds: "I have glorified my name in your life, and will glorify it even more in your death" Jesus rejected the blessing of a longer life on earth and being kept safe from oppression, for He knew that those blessings would not lead to God's greatest glory.

We need to say with Jesus, "Lord God, if this blessing is not going to lead to your glory, don't give it to me!"

So Psalm 67 and indeed all the Bible emphasizes that God blesses His people for the glory of His own name, so that His goodness, mercy, and love would be recognized and praised by men and angels.

This is a fundamental biblical truth, but unfortunately we don't hear this very often in our churches.

It becomes so easy for us to think of God as a heavenly social worker, the One who's up there to serve us, to provide for us, to comfort us, to care for us.

We turn our focus on man's needs, so that we perceive God as a tool to meet our needs.

But God is at center of everything.

It is His glory that drives his purposes.*

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*This shows the deep biblical understanding of those ministers of the gospel who met at Westminster in England 350 years ago to develop a common confession and catechism.

(As many of you know, a catechism is a teaching tool, where the student learns questions and the answers to each of those questions.)

The first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism is, "What is the chief end of man?"

And the answer is: "The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever."

This is a wonderful summary of biblical teaching.

God does not exist to meet our needs; rather, we exist to glorify Him.*