Sermon Tone Analysis

8.18.19 final.1

This is photo of the St Als hospital building that’s being constructed off of the connector right outside of downtown.

We see lots of buildings like this going up these days around Boise.

I love watching these large structures get built with the huge cranes and I like to keep up with the progress that they make as the construction goes along.And it’s interesting because once the building is complete, we never think twice about all of these steel girders that stand within it.

And as it is constructed, you have steel beams that are set into the foundation, and then you have beams that begin to be connected to each other, and as they are connected to each other, what once may have been a wobbly beam becomes stable and as more beams are connected to each other eventually an internal structure becomes established.

And this is often a slow process.

Here’s another photo of a building going up on front street downtown.

And this one is pouring concrete.

I think this is an apartment building, but they’re also putting a parking garage.

With this building it seemed like nobody was doing anything with it for a long time, but in reality it was allowing time for the concrete to set before they could move on.

And it took a long time.But regardless of what type of building materials are used it takes time and care to construct an internal structure like this.

And without this internal structure, properly built, the building will be unstable and the more unstable it is internally the more vulnerable it will be to what is external, but it will also be more vulnerable to collapsing not to external forces but to its own weight.

Without this internal structure, held together by interconnected beams or maybe concrete, established slowly over time the structure is unstable, vulnerable and at risk.So, you might be thinking that I’m getting ready to launch into a message about the importance of developing relationships within the church, but I’m not.

Pastor Mike spoke about that replay last week, and if I spoke again about that it would be a replay of a replay.

I like to speak about the interconnected and relational church, but today I’m going to speak about something much more individually oriented.

Today’s message isn’t about the internal structure of the church, it’s about the internal structure of our faith.The Bible also uses these types of architectural images to describe our spiritual life.

Jesus is the cornerstone.

We are built into a holy temple for the purpose of containing God upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, with Christ being the cornerstone.

Today we’re going to talk about Galatians chapter 2 verse 20, and this isn’t a verse that was a part of any of the sermon series that we had over the past year, but it was a verse that was preached on during our Baptism Service in last winter.

I wanted dig back into this verse specifically because, even though it’s only one verse, within it, there are several really important beams are buttresses that are core to the internal structure of our faith, and we can learn from Paul about how to join them together.

So today’s message is titled No Longer I, and it’s going to be a very practical message, and its very much oriented to what’s in here, not what’s out here.

This is photo of the St Als hospital building that’s being constructed off of the connector right outside of downtown.

We see lots of buildings like this going up these days around Boise.

I love watching these large structures get built with the huge cranes and I like to keep up with the progress that they make as the construction goes along.And as it is constructed, you have steel beams that are set into the foundation, and then you have beams that begin to be connected to each other, and as they are connected to each other, what once may have been a wobbly beam becomes stable and as more beams are connected to each other eventually an internal structure becomes established.

And it’s interesting because once the building is complete, we never think twice about all of these steel girders that stand within it.

And this is often a slow process.

Here’s another photo of a building going up on front street downtown.

And this one is pouring concrete.

I think this is an apartment building, but they’re also putting a parking garage.

With this building it seemed like nobody was doing anything with it for a long time, but in reality it was allowing time for the concrete to set before they could move on.

And it took a long time.But regardless of what type of building materials are used it takes time and care to construct an internal structure like this.

And without this internal structure, properly built, the building will be unstable and the more unstable it is internally the more vulnerable it will be to what is external, but not only that, it will also be more vulnerable to collapsing not to external forces but to its own weight, collapsing in on itself.

Without this internal structure, held together by interconnected beams or maybe concrete, established slowly over time the structure is unstable, given time to set, the building is vulnerable and at risk.So, you might be thinking that I’m getting ready to launch into a message about the importance of developing relationships within the church, but I’m not.

Pastor Mike spoke about that replay last week, and if I spoke again about that it would be a replay of a replay.

I like to speak about the interconnected and relational church, but today I’m going to speak about something much more individually oriented.

Today’s message isn’t about the internal structure of the church, it’s about the internal structure of our faith.The Bible also uses these types of architectural images to describe our spiritual life.

Jesus is described as the cornerstone.

He talks about building on sand or on rock, choosing building materials, counting the cost of building.

We are built into a holy temple for the purpose of containing God upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, with Christ being the cornerstone.

So this type of construction oriented language goes back a long way as a concrete illustration of our spiritual reality.

Today we’re going to talk about Galatians chapter 2 verse 20, I have been crucified with Christ.

It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives within me.

The life I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.and this isn’t a verse that was a part of any of the sermon series that we had over the past year, but it was a verse that was preached on during our Baptism Service in last winter.

I wanted dig back into this verse specifically because, even though it’s only one verse, within it, there are several really important beams are buttresses that are core to the internal structure of our faith, and we can learn from Paul about how to join them together.

So today’s message is titled No Longer I, and it’s going to be a very practical message, and its very much oriented to what’s in here, not what’s out here.

Introduction

8.16.19 FinalToday we’re going to talk about Galatians chapter 2 verse 20, I have been crucified with Christ.

It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives within me.

The life I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.and this isn’t a verse that was a part of any of the sermon series that we had over the past year, but it was a verse that was preached on during our Baptism Service in last winter.

I wanted dig back into this verse specifically because, even though it’s only one verse, within it, there are several really important steel beams or buttresses that are core to the internal structure of our faith, and we can learn from Paul about how to join them together, so that they’ll better support our Christian life.

So today’s message is going to be a very practical message, and its very much oriented to what’s in here, not what’s out here.This is photo of the St Als hospital building that’s being constructed off of the connector right outside of downtown.

There are lots of buildings like this going up around Boise these days.

I love watching these large structures get built with the huge cranes lifting the steel girders and I like to watch the progress that they make as the construction goes along.And as these types of buildings are constructed, you have steel beams that are set into the foundation, and then you have beams that begin to be connected to each other, and as they are connected to each other, what once may have been a wobbly beam becomes more stable and as more beams are connected to each other eventually an internal structure becomes established.

And it’s interesting because once the building is complete, we never think twice about all of these steel girders that stand within it and hold it up.

But regardless of what type of building materials are used it takes time and care to construct an internal structure like this.

And without this internal structure the building will be unstable and the more unstable it is internally the more vulnerable it will be to external forces, but not only that, it will also be more vulnerable to its own weight, and to collapsing in on itself.

Without this internal structure, held together by interconnected beams or maybe concrete, given the opportunity to be established slowly over time the structure is unstable and vulnerable.So, you might be thinking that I’m getting ready to launch into a message about the importance of developing relationships within the church and being connected with each other, but today I’m going to speak about something much more individually oriented.

Today’s message isn’t about the internal structure of the church, it’s about the internal structure of our faith.The Bible also uses these types of architectural images to describe our spiritual life.

Jesus is described as the cornerstone.

He talks about building on sand or on rock, choosing building materials, counting the cost of building.

We are described as being built into a holy temple for the purpose of containing God and that happens on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, with Christ being the cornerstone.

So this type of construction oriented language goes back a long way as a concrete illustration of our spiritual reality.

Galatians Background

Section 2

Alright, this is it for summer, last day before school.

This is one of the most ambivalent times of the year for kids and parents alike.

It’s happy/sad.

Kids are excited to go back to school but also don’t want to get up every day.

Parents are ready for bit more structure and routine but are going to miss their kids.

But school is coming either way.

Galatians Background

And we’re wrapping up the summer here at the Journey over the next few weeks doing a replay series where we look back and highlight of few of the important themes we’ve gone over throughout the past year.

And today, I’m going to speak on a verse that wasn’t a part of any of the sermon series over the past year, but it was a verse that was preached on during our Baptism Service last winter.

we’re going to look back at Galatians chapter 2 verse 20, 

I have been crucified with Christ.

It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives within me.

The life I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

I wanted dig back into this verse specifically because, even though it’s only one verse, it contains several really important elements to the structure of our faith.

The Bible occasionally uses architectural images to describe our spiritual life.

Jesus tells a parable about building on rock or on sand.

In Ephesians Paul writes about being built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, with Christ being the chief cornerstone.

Jesus tells another parable about counting the cost before deciding to build a tower.

This is photo of the St Als hospital building that’s being constructed off of the connector right outside of downtown.

There are lots of buildings like this going up around Boise these days.

I love watching these large structures get built with the huge cranes lifting the steel girders and you can see the steady progress as the construction goes along.

And as these types of buildings are constructed, you have steel beams that are set into the foundation, and then they begin to be connected to each other, and as they are connected to each other, they become more stable and eventually establish an internal structure.

And it’s interesting because once the building is complete, we never think about all of these steel girders that stand within it and hold it up.

And without this internal structure the building will be unstable, it would be more vulnerable to external forces, but also be more vulnerable to its own weight, and internal forces.

So, if you’re wondering, I’m not going to speak about the importance of developing relationships within the church and being connected with each other, Mike spoke about that last week, and that would be like doing a replay of a replay, but today I’m going to speak about something much more individually oriented.

So today’s message is about the internal structure of our personal faith and how our spiritual beliefs stabilize our Christian lives.

Alright, first things first before we actually dig into this verse, let’s pan out and identify some of the broader dynamics going on in Paul’s letter to the Galatians and this will help us when we get into the specifics of this verse.Paul’s letter to the Galatians, is a letter about freedom, specifically about our freedom in Christ.

This is summed in a famous verse towards the end of this letter, in verse 1 of Chapter 5, which say 5 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

You could argue that this is Paul’s objective in writing this letter.

That the Galatian church would enjoy the freedom that Christ has given us, but it’s also warning, conversely, that we wouldn’t enter back into slavery.

Enjoy your freedom that Christ has provided you, but do not enter back into slavery.

This is a positive theme, there’s a positive sense about this.But, if we look at the very beginning of this letter, the tone of the letter is quite different.

In fact, In its opening, it seems like a contentious letter where Paul is expressing his most surly self.

He is clearly no not happy with the church in Galatia.

In all of Paul’s other letters he begins by telling them how he loves and prays for them, but in the beginning of this letter he launches into an attack on their practice of the faith and accuses them of turning away from the gospel.

In verse 6 of chapter 1 he writes,6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.