Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro

A series leading into Jesus’ death.

Exploring the big ideas of the sermon that sealed his death via the Pharisees.

Main Point:

Sometimes we get caught up in how to be religious, instead of being who God has created us to be.

Woe to us.

The small things

Scripture:

Pharisaic teachers normally taught that knowing Scripture took precedence over obeying it, because knowing it was the prerequisite for obeying it; but they themselves would have agreed that one must obey it and not just learn it.

Rabbis were also affectionately and respectfully called “Abba,” or “Papa”; they addressed their disciples as their children, and the rabbis’ authority and honor placed them on a higher level than the disciples.

Jesus says that only God is to receive such superior respect; all other Christians are peers.

Like beatitudes (see Mt 5:3–12), woes were an Old Testament form of prayer.

The prophets commonly employed them, and they are akin to “alases” or, perhaps here, curses (“Cursed be …” in contrast to the blessing formula, “Blessed be …”; cf.

“Child of hell” means someone destined to go there.

The problem here is not making converts (28:19) but teaching them wrongly.

Jews were no longer allowed to pronounce the sacred name of God in this period.

By swearing lesser oaths, some people hoped to avoid the consequences of swearing by God’s name if they could not keep their vow or if their oath turned out to be mistaken.

As people swore or vowed by things related to God instead of by God himself, more and more things became substitutes for the divine name and thus became roundabout ways of seeming to swear by God while hoping to buffer the consequences.

Application

Stay centered on the most important things.

Don’t put unnecessary burdens on others.

Examine why we do what we do.

Whose face are we shutting the door in?

Exclusion due to our own burdens?

Cards, Smoking, Single motherhood, Abortion.

We act like God won’t forgive them, and because of us they will never realize he does.

The disciples we make end up in dangers of the fires of hell if we don’t get this straight.

Stay centered on the most important things.

Challenge

What burden was put on us that wasn’t of God?

What burden do we put on others by us?

What are the most essential things to stay focused on?

No cards, dancing, or movies

Don’t smoke, drink, or have sex before marriage

The bigger things