Sermon Tone Analysis
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Introduction
Happy Friday!
I have really been looking forward to this moment, getting to speak at chapel.
I’m thankful that Mr. Lo not only gave me this opportunity but also set me up perfectly this week in preparation for what I was going to speak about this week.
If you remember that two weeks ago, before the holiday, we spoke about having endurance through our struggles.
I would like to continue thinking about what he said.
My hope is that you all take away something today that will allow you to leave here with an increased joy and a hope.
So, that is why we are going to start with talking about pain.
You may be thinking how does pain have anything to do with joy?
Why talk about pain at all? It’s a painful subject.
I know for many people, pain is regular thing you endure on a daily basis.
Trust me I understand the pain of having no sleep.
Or the pain that comes from losing a loved one.
Or the pain of embarrassment.
Or the pain that comes from something that was expected and then suddenly dissolves.
So whether it be physical pain or emotional pain or spiritual pain, pain hurts.
Those of you who have run on a cross country team before understand this idea of pain well.
It is no mistake that the Bible uses the idea of running in a race as an example of expressing faith; it is painful to always express faith!
The original language of the Bible uses a word for race that can actually mean a lot of different things.
It could mean a race or a contest or a competition, but it is also possible for it to be more generally used as a struggle or a fight.
An example of this use is in which states, “Fight the good fight of faith.”
That doesn’t sound much like a race, but those of you who run know what I’m talking about when we think about running being like a fight.
A fight that seems to sometimes achieve very little.
I want to look at a particular passage from the Bible today that speaks of this race of faith.
And though I will talk about this race as a type of pain we must endure, I want to give encouragement to you today as well.
The passage we are reading today is .
Amen.
In order for us to understand this passage, I think it is important that we back up an examine what came right before this.
Why?
Our faith should be based on examples from the past
Because whenever a verse in the Bible says “therefore”, it is asking its listener to go back and observe what was just said.
In the case of , we need to go all the way back and look at .
What does talk about?
The whole chapter is devoted to explaining how people demonstrated faith before the time of Jesus.
This is commonly asked question: how was a person pronounced right before God before Jesus?
It is important for us to see that this explained in this chapter.
We have two questions that we must ask.
First, who is listed?
And second, what makes them faithful?
Let’s take a couple of these names and see what they say about them.
Abel
Noah- A man who demonstrated his faith be building a boat that was to hold a bunch of animals for the preservation of the creation.
Abraham- An old man who was married to an old barren woman and was promised to birth a great nation.
Moses- A man who chose to be mistreated not only by the Egyptians but then also by the people of Israel because of the promised land.
There are even more names I haven’t mentioned but the point is, that the author clearly wants us to see something in the lives of these people.
In fact, what we see immediately is that each of these people experienced hardship in their pursuit of serving God.
Nothing was easy for them and in some cases things seemed almost impossible.
The author is trying to get you to understand something: these people had lives just like us.
They woke up just like we did and expressed confusion about the world that they lived in trying to do the one thing that they did understand which was that there was a higher power in control.
This is what they hoped in.
Each person in this section is listed by two words which precedes their name: “By faith.”
Say it back to me.
What did they say?
“By faith.”
That’s right.
And it was by their faith that they obeyed God and were counted as righteous before God.
Let’s look at Noah.
Listen to this passage:
You see that Noah was living during a confusing time.
The whole world was in rebellion against God.
All of their thoughts were evil continuously.
What does God tell Noah? “Build a boat, I’m going to destroy the earth.”
Have you ever wondered why Noah was selected to build the boat?
Did he have the best boat-making skills?
Maybe, but I have a better answer.
He trusted God.
God looked for someone who was faithful to God.
He had faith that God was promising something greater than the world he was living in.
says it like this:
Over and over examples are given on how these people wer
And he did this because he was not satisfied with the world.
While everyone was running around being evil continuously Noah was saying “There has to be something better than this God.”
So these examples of faithful living reaches a great conclusion, right?
Because these people lived such a righteous life, they lived a rich and blessed life and all things in their life were good from that point on.
No.
Here is what the author of Hebrews says:
Wait, so they were faithful…yet they did NOT receive what was promised.
Namely, the author is saying they did not receive the greatest gift of all which is Jesus.
Yet though they didn’t receive the gift they lived faithful lives and were counted righteous because of the future promise of a savior.
When Jesus came he said this to the people,
These examples of faith were waiting for the promise to be revealed and that was they put their hope in.
They didn’t have Jesus, but they expected him.
Our faith should be based on the example of Jesus
So now these men stand as witnesses.
They lived the faithful life and the author wants to know what is expected of you if you are a believer in Jesus.
Now we need to recreate a picture for a moment to help us better understand what the author meant by this verse.
We nee
Illustration: Jump back in time with me a moment to the time of the ancient Greeks.
Does anyone know where the first olympics was held?
Athens.
Now imagine with me a moment the Panathenaic stadium which at one point was made entirely of marble.
It held over 50,000 people!
Now imagine yourself as a runner.
Can you see those 50,000 people looking at you.
There are so many that you cannot focus on a single persons face because just like the author said it is a cloud of faces facing.
These are those who have come before you demonstrating faithful obedience to the Lord.
They are all watching in anticipation and you will see why in just a moment.
So as you get ready for this race you suddenly realize something.
You are the only one with clothes on.
Yes, it is true.
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