Sermon Tone Analysis

How to win friends and influence people:

Techniques in Handling People

Don’t criticize, condemn or complain.Give honest and sincere appreciation.Arouse in the other person an eager want.

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This whole chapter is pretty confrontational.

We don’t think of Jesus that way very often do we?

We usually think of Jesus as loving, kind, shepherd, humble, prayerful.

That’s not how He presents himself here as you will see… but first, let me set this up a bit.

WE talk a lot about freedom in the US, this is the land of the free right?

But what does it mean to be free?

Really free?

What does it mean to be free?

Truly free?

Being able to choose, pursue, and obtain the life which I am designed best to live.

It means not just free to choose… because I can choose things that I can afford.

IT means being able to choose and pursue it… I can choose things but often am limited in my ability to pursue it… Freedom is being able to choose, free to pursue, and free to obtain… After I choose it, once I get there, will it be available?

IF not… then I’m not really free, cause it’s not available to me.

But not only does freedom relate to my ability to choose it… and my ability to pursue it…and my ability to obtain it, but to be truly free means that I must be able to direct my freedom towards those things that are most ME.

It makes no sense to be free to chose things I don’t like… or wouldn't be good for me, true they are part of freedom, but I want to be free to pursue and claim those things that I was created to most enjoy.

I want that freedom… freedom to have joy, peace, and self control; where I can freely speak and act in ways that don’t lead to regrets.

I want to be free to love…without thinking about what I’m getting back, what I might lose, how others might take advantage of me.

I want to be free from revenge, hate and retaliation… for the things others do and don’t do.

I want to be able to forgive others no matter what.

I want to be free from manipulation…lies and deceit.

I want to be able to trust the words of others and I want people to be able to trust in what I say as well.

I want to be free to be generous....To be able to give from an abundance without thinking about what I might get out of it.

I want to be free to live for more than here and now, to live my life daily as part of eternity…not from moment to moment.

I want to be free from stress, worry and anxiety.

I want to live free to treat others as I would want to be treated.

I want to be free to live my life as it was meant to live....not as the world tells me I should live it.

What about you?

Does that sort of freedom sound attractive?

I’m sure it does.

The good news is, I actually believe that that life is possible.

Just to put my cards on the table, I believe that life is what Jesus came to make possible.

In the bible, Genesis starts off… in the beginning God created.

All the animals, all the fish, all the beauty of creation, then God created men and women and the bible says they were naked and felt no shame.

I love that picture of a man and his wife walking with God with no shame.

They had nothing to hide from one another or from God. Things were perfect, then you turn the page and ham-mo..... sin enters the scene and everything changes.

Since that moment, we have been living under the curse of sin.

Not just us, but all of creation.

Every living thing wants to be, free from the curse and set right as God created us.

And in today’s passage we discover how that freedom comes about.

In the previous passage, Jesus had been arguing with the leaders of the temple remember, and as he was arguing, telling them where I go you can’t come” and “when you lift up the son of man you will know that I am he” and I do nothing but what the father teaches me and he is always with me because I am perfect”

It wasn’t his miracles, it was his direct and powerful teaching that made people believe…that was verse 30.

Then in vs 31 Jesus tells them that being my disciple isn’t about hearing and believing, but holding to my teaching…abiding... Hear it, believe it, sit at his feet, follow him, live under his authority.

That’s what it meant to be a disciple.

This way you will come to know the truth.

The Gospel is clear from page one that knowing the gospel comes only through doing.

Not learning, memorizing, but encountering and submitting to it.

Truth as a concept vs. truth as an experience.

This word truth for a moment.

At one time the word meant things that were objectively accurate.

2+2=4.

Concrete truth statements that could be defended with logic and reason.

Then came the idea for experiential truth.

Based on your experience.

That scared me.

That offended me.

Divine truth is both an intellectual activity and experiential reality… something we can know

This is so much like how we respond today.

Jesus tells us… the world is a mess isn’t it.

You struggle with sin don’t you?

Well, the way to freedom isn't in believing...but in obeying...trusting...following me.

Our response is often...I'm good, really.

But that's a lie... we are actually slaves.

Now remember where they are… they are at the feast of tabernacles.

Their Independence day festival.

Remembering that God had been with them in the desert as they journeyed to the promised land from EGYPT where for 400 years they had lived as SLAVES.

Not only were they not thinking historically, they didn’t understand themselves spiritually.

Jesus came for us to be FREE

We are all slaves to sin.

How do I know this?

ILL: Shooting chickens… not knowing why… no one’s perfect.

We would all agree with the phrase: “No one is perfect.”

Every time we mess up, we say… well no one is perfect.

It’s our way of claiming forgiveness for our short coming.

It’s our standard excuse.

No one is perfect is proof that we are slaves to sin.

If we weren’t then we could be perfect but we’re not because we are.

They are making a biological claim as spiritual children of Abraham.

But Jesus teaches that slaves don’t really have a choice about their behavior, but that as a son of God, he is here to set us free from this.

Freedom is available, that’s the truth.

Their claim as spiriuttla children of Abraham isn’t far from one we make today.

Well, I’m a christian… I’m a member of the church.

Yes we are, and just like the Israelites, our religion - and anything else - can keep us from following... if we don't keep it in proper perspective.

You see, satan has convinced them to use their religion to kill.

We probably don’t do that, but we have in the past.

Religion has been the justification for death, in our nation it was the justification for slavery.

But religion isn’t a justification for anything, but that’s what it becomes.

We worship this way, and it’s the right way, so we don’t want to change.

Actually what we are doing is worshiping our religion, not the one who our religion is seeking to point us.

Identity / Behavior

Jesus is using that to show them that then their behavior should match their identity.

Satan tells us our identity comes from what we do

-the lie is that I'm good b/c I do good

-because I sin, i’m a sinner

Jesus tells us our identity comes from God.

-our identity determines our behavior

—Because I’m a ____ I _____

-we live in righteousness when we live in Christ

-we live in sin when we live into the lie