Sermon Tone Analysis

Let me read something to you, the English is a little outdated, but I think we can get at this.

This is talking about people who get married in the right way “Then shall they be gods, because they have no end; therefore shall they be from everlasting to everlasting, because they continue; then shall they be above all, because all things are subject to them.

Then shall they be gods, because they have all power, and the angels are subject unto them.

” How does that impact you?

Does that change if I tell you that it’s a quote from Doctrines and Covenants, the formative doctrinal book of the Church of Latter Day Saints?

It doesn’t really have any impact on you, does it?

It shouldn't!

It’s written by a man who claimed, but did not have, special revelation from god.

It’s a book that espouses actions that you and I find repugnant and contrary to our morality and ethics.

It means nothing to you.

Runs off you like water off a duck’s back.

I would guess that you’ve already forgotten what I just read.

So, if that verse didn’t impact you at all, then let me ask you this: why do you quote a Bible passage to someone who doesn’t accept the Bible as true?

I mean, it happens so easily.

“All things work for the good!” “Homosexuality is an abomination.”

“Everything in moderation.”

Ok, that last one isn’t even in the Bible, but your mom probably said it enough that it felt like it was.

But sometimes the quotes are meant to be really upbeat, “A kind of love” or “a woman” or “a real David and Goliath story.”

And maybe it’s more than off-handed comments.

Maybe you get into a real conversation and open your Bible app for someone and talk about how narrow the gate is for heaven and wide the path is for hell.

Especially when you are sharing your faith with someone who doesn’t have the same faith, you can come across as if you are wielding the Bible like a sledgehammer - ready to crush any disagreement (picture of protesters).

You might even be a great ambassador for your Bible, able to conjure a passage for every objection from abortion, to homosexuality, to pride, to care for community and the environment, to money and power.

But, here’s what I’ve found as I look into the face of someone I’ve just judo-chopped with a particularly pithy and penetrating Bible passage: I’ve closed the door.

I’ve skipped over the really important work of listening to the questions that are really being asked, the real hurt or the real doubts.

Self-diagnosis: what are some signs that you’ve become a good ambassador for your Bible at the expense of being an ambassador for Jesus?

But, man, do I feel like an authority!

I’ve just beat my former friend into submission.

I haven’t gotten it wrong and I’ve eliminated for myself the need to actually think critically about my own faith and what I believe.

I’ve come across as confident, not thoughtful, self-assured, not critical, self-righteous, not compassionate.

And if you have become an ambassador of your Bible, it’s possible that you haven’t been a great ambassador for your Savior.

The two are not always the same.

Understand me, that’s not to say your Bible isn’t powerful and effective.

God promises it is.

He calls it a sword, living and active (), it is the power of God for those who believe () , it is the means by which someone comes to faith ().

Lay on top of that the fact that the Bible is the most accurately transmitted and translated books of history, bar none.

In fact, it is literally in a category of its own.

Listen to this quote from Josh McDowell,

Understand me, that’s not to say your Bible isn’t powerful and effective.

God promises it is.

He calls it a sword, living and active (), it is the power of God for those who believe () , it is the means by which someone comes to faith ().

Lay on top of that the fact that the Bible is the most accurately transmitted and translated books of history, bar none.

In fact, it is literally in a category of it’s own.

Listen to this quote from Josh McDowell,

One gets the impression from reading current scholars who deny inerrancy that some recent factual finds have forced them to the conclusion that they must now give up inerrancy.

Just the contrary is true.

More of the Bible stands confirmed today and more problems are explainable than has been the case for centuries.

Discoveries from the Dead Sea, from Sumeria, from Nag Hammadi, and more recently from Ebla provide more support than ever before for the position [Christians] have long held.

What impact does the power and reliability of Scripture have on your confidence as you read it and share it’s main message?

But hear this clearly, the Bible isn’t an authority to someone who doesn’t already believe it!

In the courtroom of their mind, the Bible is inadmissible, giving a Bible passage to that person is contempt of court.

Did you hear that in the story of the Samaritan Woman?

Look again at what she says when she goes back to to town?

She doesn’t share a Bible passage.

It’s not a ready-made answer.

It’s incredibly transparent.

Everyone in town knew what she she had done.

That’s why she was at the well by herself.

But what she had done was not who Jesus had remade her to be.

She couldn’t help but talk about it!

Look again at then at and .

What role does Scripture and Bible knowledge play in these witnessing events?

Which is the crux of this whole sermon series.

“The God Vacuum.”

This series isn’t strictly for you, not most of you, anyway.

If you have walked away from God in the past and are just now starting to poke around again, and you’re doing it here, at one of our sites or online, I’m so glad you’re here.

But for most of you, these messages aren’t to satisfy your idle curiosity, they are to equip you to go and talk to someone.

You know that Jesus has made you whole.

That his death and resurrection, that his perfection laid over the top of you has answered the biggest questions in life.

Questions of origin, meaning, purpose and destination.

Origin: you come from God. Made by him, fashioned by him, created with care and dignity.

More than that, you were remade when God made Jesus’ death your death, when he made Jesus’ resurrection your resurrection.

Through the power of the Word and through Baptism, you have been born a second time.

Recreated to reflect the image of God himself.

Meaning: Your meaning is independent of you.

In other words, it can’t be diminished because of a choice you make or lifestyle you’ve lived.

You have meaning because the ransom on your head, the bounty placed because you were a slave, has been paid by the holy precious blood of God.

Purpose: You have it and you know it.

You know it because if you didn’t have purpose, you wouldn’t be here.

We’ll look forward to celebrating your victory in heaven later this week.

Good works have been laid out for you like clothes on the bed.

Your purpose is to draw closer to God as you live out the gifts that he’s given you among friends, coworkers, classmates and neighbors.

Gifts of self-sacrificial love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Your purpose is to be the voice that calls others to a relationship with Jesus.

Your purpose is big.

It’s invaluable.

It’s uniquely yours.

Destination: Every human being passes through a single door.

A door that hides a mystery.

But not to you.

You know what’s on the other side.

A room that’s been set aside for you and all those who know Jesus as the lamb who was slain.

In terms of “where are we going” there’s no doubt for you, no uncertainty.

Jesus alone gives answers to the fundamental questions of the human existence.

Without Jesus, you are adrift in the slurry of worldviews and philosophies that don’t offer one single coherent answer.

You have the answers.

They don’t.

How can you keep it to yourself!

Which of these four fundamental questions is most difficult to answer for the people in your life?

How do you start that?

How do you get into that conversation?