Sermon Tone Analysis

This morning we are continuing our study in the book of Acts.

If your new to MCF, it would be good for you to know that we practice a form of preaching called, “Expository Preaching”.

What that means is we believe the Bible is best taught by taking books of the Bible and then breaking them down from beginning to end, chapter by chapter, verse by verse, in order to understand what it means in our lives today.

With that said, we are currently doing that through the NT book of Act.

A book that was written to tell us how the church was started and also gives us the template for how Jesus intends His church to accomplish the mission of taking the Gospel to the entire world.

So, if you haven’t been with us, I would encourage you to go online to mcf.life where you can listen to all the messages leading up to today.

You may recall last week, Luke took a moment to highlight what you might call the “Warning Label” of Christianity.

He did it by telling us the story about a couple named Ananias and Sapphira.

A couple who had claimed to be All IN.

A couple who said they were fully devoted followers of Jesus.

But in all reality, they were just faking it.

They weren’t really All IN.

And the proof of that came as Ananias and Sapphira sold a piece of property and gave a portion of it to the church, while at the same time keeping back a portion for themselves.

And as we learned, the problem wasn’t that they kept a portion for themselves.

The problem was they had promised to give all of the proceeds to the church.

But after the sale, they apparently changed their mind.

And so instead of giving it all, they only gave a portion, while at the same time giving everybody the impression they had given it all.

And as a result of their deception, in shocking act of judgment, God struck them dead.

So, why did God strike them dead?

Two reasons:

First, as we learned, when a person pretends to be All IN, they are in essence robbing from God.

Because while they promised to give God their all, the truth is, they were holding back.

They were keeping back from God what they promised, which in God’s eyes equates to embezzlement.

And the truth is, a lot of church goers still do this today.

People who say they’re All IN.

People who say they’ve committed their life to Jesus.

But then they hold back or in some cases, hold on.

They hold back from trusting God financially.

They hold back from giving God their time as they devote it to other things.

They hold back from giving God their talents as they use them for their own desires and needs.

They promised to give their life fully to Jesus, but they hold portions of it back.

And then some hold on.

They hold on to sinful desires.

They hold on to sinful living.

They hold on to the worlds version of living.

They said they were All IN.

They said they were abandoning their old life, by instead they continue to hold on.

And the problem isn’t that their holding back or holding on.

The problem is they aren’t doing what they promised God they would do.

Instead, they are embezzling it back.

And unfortunately for people who do that, it brings death into their life.

Death into their finances, death into their relationships, and ultimately, death into their relationship with God.

The second reason God strikes Ananias and Sapphira down is because by pretending to be All IN, they were misrepresenting Jesus.

In other words, they were presenting a version of Christianity that doesn’t line up with the Bible.

A version that says, “You can have your cake and eat it to.”

A version that says, “You can live for Jesus on Sunday, and live like the world M-Sat.”

A version that presents Christians as hypocrites, paints a false portrayal of Jesus, and potentially pushes people away from Jesus.

And so to show how much this displeases Him, God uses Ananias and Sapphira as an example to the early church of what happens to people who misrepresent His Son.

It brings death into their life.

And again, many Christians are guilty of this still today.

Christians who act one way on Sunday and live another way Monday-Saturday.

Christians who have one foot in the church and another in the world.

Christians who live out a version of Christianity that isn’t in the Bible.

And for Christians who do that, it leads to death in their life.

And again, many church goers are guilty of this as well.

People who act one way on Sunday and live another way Monday-Saturday.

People who have one foot in the church and another in the world.

People who live out their own version of Christianity.

A version the Bible does not support.

And for people who do that, it bring death into their life.

Because now instead of living with a blessing on their life, they are living under a curse as they misrepresent the son of God.

So, how do you avoid faking your faith and avoiding this kind of judgment in your life?

Two ways:

First, if you’re not going to be All IN, then just be All OUT.

In other words, it’s better to not follow Jesus than to pretend too.

The fact is, God will deal with the non-believer less severely than he will the pretend believer.

In fact, for the pretender the Apostle Peter says:

Peter says, “Better they would have never pretended”.

But there’s a second way, and a better way to avoid faking your faith.

The best way to avoid judgment period is to be All IN, and then be willing to confess and repent when you haven’t been.

The fact is, being All IN doesn’t mean being All PERFECT.

Being All IN means your committed to not only following Jesus on Sunday, but your also committed to it Monday-Saturday.

Knowing there will be times you’ll fall short.

But in those moments having a willingness to confess and repent as you reengage your faith.

At the end of the day, you stay All IN by being committed to daily growth that comes through faith and repentance.

So, that’s the warning label for Christianity.

And the warning simply states, “WARNING!

Don’t pretend to be All IN if you’re not.

Faking will lead to death in your life.”

So, again, if you missed last week, I would encourage you to listen to the message because I think it’s a warning that all people who seek faith in Jesus need to give thought to.

So

Today however, our subject matter isn’t as severe.

In fact, today’s message has more of a positive tone as it focuses on the positive results of a church being All IN.

And what we’re going to learn today is that the road to being All IN for a church is a process.

A process that at first might appear counter intuitive, but in the end produces results that bring growth and health to the body.

So, to help us get our minds around where we are going this morning, I want to begin by building some framework for how this process works, and to do that, I want to begin by asking you a medical question.

Medical Question - How many of you are familiar with the cancer treatment known as “Chemotherapy”?

I think we’ve all probably heard of it.

In fact, Chemotherapy is probably one of the most common forms of treatments for most types of cancer.

So, a good question might be, “Why is it so popular, and how does it work?”

Well, it’s popular because chemotherapy kills cancer cells in the body.

A process that is accomplished as Chemo is injected into the bloodstream, allowing it to treat cancer cells almost anywhere in the body.

And what makes it so affective is that it targets cells that are in the process of splitting into 2 new cells.

Which is important because cancer cells spread through replication and multiplication.

So, what the chemotherapy does is identify those cells, and then kills them.

Mission accomplished.

However, there is an initial downside to the treatment.

The downside is chemo not only affects unhealthy cells, it affects healthy cells as well that are constantly growing and dividing.

Such as:

Your hair, which is always growing.