Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

My favorite earthly possession is my truck, and there’s really not a close second.

And, it’s quite an obnoxious truck, too.

Straight, turbo-back exhaust with no muffler on a 6.7 liter diesel has that effect.

And, Sara, my youngest, really digs it, which fires me up.

She loves to hear it loud, and she loves when I punch the gas.

Sometimes, she’ll say, “Drive fast, daddy!”

And, I mean, what can a man really do in that situation?

If we’re in the driveway or a parking lot and she says it, a lot times I’ll put my truck in neutral and rev the engine so that she can hear it, and so that Megan will be thoroughly embarrassed.

And, when I do that, you can hear the power; you can know the power is there; you can even be impressed by the power; but, you don’t get to actually experience it.

For a lot of people, the Christian life has been like revving your engine in neutral.

You’ve burned a lot of gas, you’ve heard a lot of stories, you’ve learned a lot of things, but you’ve never experienced this power for yourself.

You’re just in neutral.

You look back over the last year, five years, even 10 years, and you are, by and large, in the same place in your walk with God now as you were then.

You may have even rolled back a little bit.

You set out to follow Christ, but it feels like you’re sitting still or maybe that you’re stuck in first gear.

For a lot of people, the Christian life has been like revving your engine in neutral.

You’ve burned a lot of gas, you’ve heard a lot of stories, you’ve learned a lot of things, but you’ve never experienced this power for yourself.

You’re just in neutral.

You look back over the last year, five years, even ten years, and you are, by and large, in the same place in your walk with God now as you were then.

You may have even rolled back a little bit.

You set out to follow Christ, but it feels like you’re sitting still or maybe that you’re stuck in first gear.

What we find when we study the NT is that disciples are to be constantly maturing and growing in their faith.

Whatever rung of the ladder they are on, whatever step they have taken, whatever gear they are in, there is always another one for them take.

Their faith is fluid and dynamic, growing and increasing and maturing.

We aren’t to just hear of God’s power and learn about God’s power.

We are to be transformed experientially by his power.

Over the next three weeks, we’re going to look at what that process can look like in our church.

We’re going to look at our discipleship process and how we want to partner with you to shift to the next gear in your walk with the Lord.

Wherever you are is okay so long as you don’t stay there.

This process is: Connect.

Disciple.

Go.

We’re going to start by looking at the first gear, the first step of Connect.

God’s Word

Read

You Believe If You Do

v. 19, 21-24 “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus....since we have a great priest over the house of God....let us draw near…hold fast…stir up one another...”

Where we jump into Hebrews this morning, it is a turning place in the book.

Up until this point, Hebrews has shared some of the richest redemptive theology found anywhere in the NT, and now, it is the author’s desire for us to see how that impacts us in every day life.

He’s shifting gears from big picture teaching to every day living, from believing to doing.

What you believe must affect what you do, or you do not really believe it.

If it doesn’t change you, you don’t really love it.

If you don’t understand how it applies to your every day life, you don’t really understand it.

So, you’ll see this is exactly how our passage flows.

There are two ‘since’s’ followed by three ‘let us’s’.

Since we have been given access to God through Christ, since we have a great priest mediating for us, we must now come ever closer to God, hold ever faster to our assurance, and help our brothers and sisters in the faith do the same.

In other words, our new Christ-wrought reconciliation with God must produce these realities in our lives, or we don’t really believe it and love it in a way that disciples are called.

What you believe must affect what you do, or you don’t really believe it.

This morning, I want us to really focus on the last one of these three results of our new access to God.

In verses 24-25, I want us to see three responsibilities of our life together (headline) as Christ’s disciples.

“Inspire” One Another.

v. 24 “And let us consider how to stir one another to love and good works...” First, we are responsible to “Inspire” one another.

It’s really amazing how carefully worded verse 24 is.

You’ll notice that the author has been building here this idea of togetherness and corporate solidarity ever since verse 19.

‘WE have confidence in Christ.’

‘WE have a great priest in Jesus.’

‘Let US draw near to God.’ ‘Let US hold fast to the confession.’

‘Let US consider how to stir one another up.’

We see that there is a corporate, collective nature to what has happened to us in God.

WE have been saved to together.

we weren’t saved into a vacuum or on a desert island or as a lone ranger.

We are a part of a broader saving work that God is accomplishing through his Son.

Not only are we saved together, but now WE are to follow Christ together.

We are brought into the Kingdom of God spiritually through Christ and that is experienced practically through the church.

We are “saved” together that we might be “connected” together to “follow Christ” together.

That is, God built us not only with a need for him but also with a need for each other.

What is apparent by reading is that the Christian life cannot be properly lived in obedience to the Lord apart from serious connection into the life of the church.

He tells us that we are to ‘stir one another up to love and good works.’

It’s really a funny way to say it.

‘Stir up’ usually means something negative.

The KJV even translates it as ‘provoke’ one another.

The idea is to live in such a way with one another that you agitate the passion your brothers and sisters have for Christ.

There’s two different ways that you can stir up an anthill.

One, you can run over with your lawn mower and cut it in two.

Ants go crazy.

They’re stirred up, incited, agitated.

Or, you can drop a piece of red velvet case right in the middle of it, and they’ll go nuts.

The lawn mower stirs them up to anger and division, but the red velvet cake stirs them up to pleasure and passion and fruitful work.

The trouble with the church has long been that there were too many stirring up anger and division and not enough stirring up passion and pleasure and fruitful work.

Glorify Jesus and Inspire Others

There’s a two-fold motive behind everything we do: “glorify Jesus” and “inspire each other”.

You’ll notice that he says, “CONSIDER how to stir one another.’

It’s the same word that Jesus used last week in when He said, “Consider the ravens....Consider the lilies...” It’s a call to meditate, to contemplate, to think deeply.

Think about how wonderful this would be.

Meditate upon how you can make one another’s lives better and faith hotter.

Spend time thinking through how you can increase the joy of your brothers and sisters in Christ.

Meditate upon how you can inspire them to love better.

Think through how you can increase their passion for Jesus.

Think through how you can inspire them to love their neighbor as themselves.

Meditate upon how you can inspire them to be doers of the word.

Meditate upon how you can inspire them toward the mission field and toward discipleship and toward feeding hungry people and adopting orphaned children.

Don’t spend your time gossiping or criticizing or guilting or neglecting; spend your time inspiring faithfulness among the people of God.

Be so hungry for God that you make others hungry.

Be so passionate for Christ that you provoke the passion in others.

Be so faithful in your obedience to the Scriptures that you inspire greater obedience in your church.

APPLICATION: The disciple of Christ is responsible to both glorify Jesus and inspire others, and by inspiring others they bring more glory to Jesus.

You need the church, and the church needs you.

This is how Jesus designed it.

Each one of us has been equipped by him so that we can inspire others toward greater passion as a catalyst of faith in their lives.