Sermon Tone Analysis

As I thought about where to begin, I decided I would like to speak to you this morning concerning one of my favorite verses in all of Scripture.

To me it is a section of Scripture that I use as a plumb line for ministry.

It is one of those verses that every time I read it I am inspired and excited.

Anytime I feel run down or at a loss for words to share and messages to give, these verses are like an adrenaline shot that gives me an instant boost.

Those verses that when you share them, you know without doubt you are in the presence of the very words of God.

The verses were authored by the Apostle Paul in the book of Romans.

But before we turn there, let me share with you some of my perspective on this amazing servant of Jesus Christ.

If you had looked at the life of Saul of Tarsus, later to call himself Paul, you would have seen someone who was the envy of all his peers and classmates.

Paul had it all.

He would have been the guy in your class who has his picture scattered throughout the yearbook.

Every page you turn to, this guy is in it.

He has prestige, influence, and is the honor student in the class.

He is an expert in his religious studies in a culture that holds religion above all else.

A Pharisee of Pharisees and student of the famous Gamaliel.

In fact, Saul would have been one of those guys that if the class were to vote on the most likely to succeed, his name would have soared to the top of the list.

Friends, followers, and in a culture that exalted honor and influence, Saul would have had it all.

Yet years later, I doubt you would recognize him from the man he used to be.

Instead of fine robes and tassels, he is dressed in dirty and worn rags.

No longer is his hair tidy and well groomed.

It is wild and matted from his rugged lifestyle.

His face and skin is no longer smooth and clean, but ruddy, worn and scarred.

He would be the person that people would look at in the yearbook and say, “What a waste.

What a shame.

He had so much going for him, but look at him now.”

I had a friend in high school who had it all going for him.

Popular, intelligent, and athletic, he had great plans for his future.

Yet he made some foolish decisions and lost his drive and direction in life.

He just didn’t seem to go much of anywhere in life.

Then he became ill, and his health has slowly deteriorated.

I sought to keep in contact with him and would call him from time to time to see if he wanted to get together, but rarely would he return my calls and always acted too busy to see me.

I don’t know for sure, but I think the real reason was a bit of shame.

Maybe you have been there.

That school reunion comes around and you look at where your life has taken you and inside you maybe feel a bit embarrassed to answer those questions, “So what have you done with your life?”

Yet this is not at all true with the Apostle Paul.

Although he lost so much, and had become an embarrassment to so many, Paul holds his head up high and declares, “I am not ashamed.”

He has lost popularity and prestige, but he is not ashamed.

He has lost wealth and honor, but he is not ashamed.

He has lost respect and a comfortable life, but he is not ashamed.

His back looks like a roadmap from the scars from public beatings and he has frequented local prisons.

Their culture, like ours would look at the life of such a person, losing so much and consider them a tragic waste.

But Paul boasts, “I am not ashamed!”

As Christians we look at the life of Paul and try to figure out what made him so different.

I believe Paul would respond with five words.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Listen to his proclamation in Romans 1:16-18.

*STAND!*

*Romans 1:16-17* *16*For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

*17*For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”(ESV)

For Paul, the thing that changed his life and made this radical transformation in him was the Gospel.

And here he gives us what I like to call the Why, Who, What and How of the Gospel.

1.

The Why of the Gospel.

Why?

Why wasn’t Paul ashamed?

What drove him to give up so much and filled him with zeal and passion to preach the Gospel in hostility and hunger?

Because Paul says, “Don’t you understand?

It is the power of God!”  Paul gave it all up for the Gospel, and the reason he declares is because it is the power of God!  Often when we think of the power of God we think of creation…we think of the plagues…we think of Samson.

We may think of the resurrection or the miracles of Jesus and the Disciples.

Yet the thing that motivates Paul today, the thing that gets him out of bed in the morning to tackle another day of angry mobs and uncertain travels is because he declares that what he holds is the power of God.

Can you see why this is such a powerful verse?

Forget what you know, forget peoples response, forget how well you speak or what talents you do or do not have.

The gospel, Paul clearly says, is the power of God! 

 

Yet, it has been estimated that probably 95% of all church members have never led anyone to Christ.[1]

And such facts cause us often times to feel pressured or guilty so we feel like evangelism is some begrudging duty.

But when we think like that it is because we have lost track of the WHY of the Gospel.

Paul’s proclamation calls us to remember that it is the power of God.

That is WHY Paul proclaimed it and the reason for his great confidence in it.

I love what Mounce has to say in the New American Commentary:

 

The gospel is God telling of his love to wayward people.

It is not a lifeless message but a vibrant encounter for everyone who responds in faith.

Much religious discourse is little more than words and ideas about religious subjects.

Not so the gospel.

The gospel is God at work.

He lives and breathes through the declaration of his redemptive love for people.

To really hear the gospel is to experience the presence of God.

The late evangelist Dwight L. Moody commented that the gospel is like a lion.

All the preacher has to do is to open the door of the cage and get out of the way![2]

The gospel is the power of God!  Consider Paul’s prayer to the Ephesian church,

 

*/Ephesians 1:15-20/*/ *15*//For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, *16*//I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, *17*//that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, *18*//having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, *19*//and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might *20*//that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places/,(ESV)[3]

 

Paul’s view is pretty clear.

Why is he not ashamed?

Why does go out again and again in good times and bad to share the gospel?

It is because the WHY of the gospel for Paul is that the cross of Jesus Christ is the power of God and his speaking unleashed it on a dark and dying world.

That is WHY we are to preach the Gospel.

2.

The Who of the Gospel.

Paul went all over, preaching everywhere this “good news” because he so believed this message was relevant to everyone, everywhere, in every situation.

If you are rich, healthy, wealthy and wise with everything in the world going for you, you are in desperate need for the gospel.

If you are poor, broken, lonely, and afraid, you are in desperate need for the gospel.

No matter you situation or background, the who of the gospel is you, and you, and you.

Paul says the gospel is the salvation of everyone who believes, first for the Jew and then the Gentile.

The message started in Jerusalem, then Judea, and finally was dispatched to the utter most parts of the world.

And wherever the gospel goes, it is like a river flowing through a desert wasteland.

All people, everywhere, at all times need the gospel.

A young prostitute barges in on a invitation-only meal with Simon the Pharisee hosting Jesus.

She falls at his feet crying, cleaning them with her tears and wiping them with her hair.

Simon is indignant.

He doesn’t believe Jesus is there for her.

This is invitation-only lady.

This man isn’t here for you, he thinks to himself.

But to his surprise, Jesus doesn’t push her away.

He doesn’t recoil at her touch.