Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

I’m going to begin with the end in mind: I’m going to challenge each of us in this room today.

We are going to be talking about rain, storms, and floods today—which is appropriate for this particularly wet Massachusetts spring.

A few things:

We all choose foundations for life

We all face various storms

We all experience consequences of our choice.

If you only hear and read truth, you won’t be ready for the storms of life : Whats the old adage?

You are either in the midst of a storm, just got out of one, are most likely headed into one in the near future?

This always bums people out but like any good human you know that *knock on wood*:

Even though I could tell any human these same things I want to urge us today that

If you only hear and read truth, you won’t be ready for the storms of life : Whats the old adage?

You are either in the midst of a storm, just got out of one, are most likely headed into one in the near future?

This always bums people out but like any good human you know that *knock on wood*:

When you get a lot of money out of somewhere thats when the car breaks down, the furnace breaks, or you get some random property tax bill.

The weather is always iffy when you plan an outdoor event and invite a bunch of people (not always but enough of us resonate with this)

The weather

The internet always acts up when you need it the most

I say all of this but it has also been in my experience where the Lord has come through during my storms.

Sometimes he comes through and drops a bunch of money in my lap… or health or jobs.

Other times: he chooses to show up in a different way and you leave that season sadder but wiser.

We have this thing deeply engrained in our brains that if he doesn’t show up and fix everything in accordance with our expectations that he has failed us in some way.

Or we have it in our heads that if we transition into a season of life and things are supposed to get easier but they actually got harder we feel like he’s failed us.

So, before I go off on a tangent lets get to the point today.

We are going to be reading from today:

So, Kevin ran us through the parable of Salt and Light last week.

This is all in the realm of Jesus’ Sermon on The Mount.

If you aren’t familiar with it please read through it (we’d be here all day going through it), but the high points:

Jesus starts with the blessings (which we call the beatitudes):

blessed are the poor in spirit, peacemakers, etc.

Jesus talks about his followers being the salt and light in this world

He tells us that he came to fulfill the law and not to abolish it

He addresses anger, lust, divorce, oaths, revenge and hate and always takes it a bit further.

He pushes his audience into seeing that simply not doing an action doesn’t mean you didn’t sin inwardly.

He pushed for a further and deeper examination at our wickedness and ability to do evil.

7:1–12 As with the rest of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is describing how to live as members of the kingdom of heaven.

He begins this section by explaining the dangers of a judgmental attitude (Matt 7:1–5).

He also emphasizes God’s goodness (vv.

7–11) and instructs His followers to replicate that goodness as they interact with others (v.

12).

It is at the end of his sermon on the mount where Jesus essentially asks the question: so what’s it going to be?

The way I just laid out?

Picking up your cross and following me?

Or the pseudo?

The feel good?

Your own foundation?

The main question at hand is: on what foundation have you built your house on?

Is your house built on the sand?

And when the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew it fell—and the fall was great.

OR is your house built on the foundation of rock?

On Christ?

And when the rains fall, floods come, and wind blows it doesn’t fall?

Transition: It’s important to note that this is the third time that Jesus has made this connection between choosing his way or the other way…a different way that isn’t fruitful and that, ultimately, if followed to its conclusion will not lead to eternal life.

The choices:

& Then our passage from today.

This closing section of the Sermon on the Mount provides a powerful illustration and an invitation to commitment.

Jesus calls us to action—to do or not to do.

To follow or to not follow.

One response leads to life, the other to death.

One produces good fruit, the other bad fruit.

1.

Two gates or ways (Matt 7:13–14)

2. Two trees or fruits (Matt 7:15–23)

3. Two builders or foundations (Matt 7:24–27; Luke 6:47–49)

Witherington argues that these illustrations

The closing section of the Sermon on the Mount/Plain (Matt 7:13–27; Luke 6:47–49) provides illustrations and an invitation to commitment.

In both the Sermon on the Mount and the Sermon on the Plain, Jesus calls His audience to action—to do or not do, and to follow or not follow.

One response leads to life, the other to death.

One produces good fruit, the bad fruit.

Three illustrations present this invitation:

: Two Gates

: Two Types of Fruit/Trees

: Two Builders

I want to focus in on two key truths:

Number 1: Hearing and understanding Jesus’ teaching is not sufficient, being his disciple requires action

7:24–27 The Sermon on the Mount ends with this parable, which attests to the reliability of Jesus’ teaching.

Wise people hear His words and respond in obedience; foolish people disregard His words, fail to act according to His teachings, and suffer destructive consequences.

We love to accumulate knowledge.

We read our Bibles, listen to podcasts, read books, go to groups and attend worship gatherings on Sundays and yet fail to be obedient to most of the truths extracted from Scripture.

We have a tendency to be hearers and not doers.

I would make the argument that if more believers were doers of the word then our world would be rocked.

Sarah and I were friends with a couple in Louisiana named the Browns.

Long story short, Weston Brown is a church planter.

He just planted a church in Bossier City LA but they ended up changing the plant to downtown Shreveport.

Thats like moving from a pretty nice part of Worcester to a sketchy part of downtown Worcester.

Weston said something to me a while ago that has stuck with me: in a city like Shreveport with about 192,000 in population (Worcester has about 200,000) and roughly 300 churches in and around the city why does Shreveport continue to be top in the nation for racism, sex trafficking and homelessness?

It is as if those 300 churches were missing the point…

Well Dennis… Jesus says you’ll always have the poor amongst you.

Well Dennis… sin will always exist in this world until Christ cracks the sky

These points may be true but I also think that believers across the board struggle with hearing and doing.

We like being comfortable.

We like our pockets of familiarity.

I’ve seen too many churches turn inward.

I fully believe that if a local body’s front doors close and the community doesn’t feel an impact that church/local body missed something along the way.

We are very good at providing Spiritual answers to physical questions and physical answers to spiritual questions.

I’m going to press deeper here: you don’t need 110 commandments to figure out life today.

Ask yourself if what you are doing is for the Glory of God.

Are you glorifying God in Word AND deed.

Hows your attitude at work?

How are you treating your spouse when no one is looking?

Or when you’ve had a hard day?

Are you glorying God with how you use your time?