Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Have you ever heard the saying “Ignorance is bliss”?
There’s an old Calvin & Hobbes segment written in 1992 in which Calvin is having another Philosophical conversation with his best friend, Hobbes, the stuffed Tiger.
“It’s true, Hobbes, ignorance is bliss.”
And he goes on to explain the rationale behind his statement.
“Once you know things, you start seeing problems everywhere.”
“And once you see problems, you feel like you ought to fix them…and fixing problems always seems to require personal change…and change requires doing things that aren’t fun.”
“I say ‘fooey’ to that!”
“But if you’re willfully stupid, you don’t know any better, so you can keep doing whatever you like.”
“The secret to happiness is short-term, stupid self-interest!”
As they’re careening down the hill, Hobbes shouts, “We’re heading for that cliff!”
Calvin, believing that ignorance is bliss, throws his hands over his eyes and screams, “I don’t want to know about it!”
They crash land.
Hobbes remarks, “I’m not sure I can stand so much bliss.”
To which Calvin responds, “Careful, we don’t want to learn anything from this.”
Ignoring problems doesn’t make them go away.
It doesn’t make them any less real.
Today, I’m starting a new series and it’s one we do every year.
The content changes, but it’s a series about our identity.
A few years ago we talked through 5 commitments.
Last year we shared five values of The Bridge.
This year, we’re talking about declarations.
Whether The Bridge is your church family or not, these 5 declarations are crucial to every follower of Jesus.
These declarations will define & shape who we are as a faith community as well as who you are as a follower of Jesus.
Today I’m going to present the first key declaration:
Our hearts will break for the things that break God’s heart.
Nothing changes until the heart changes!
Let’s repeat that together a couple of times.
Let’s repeat that together a couple of times.
In , Nehemiah was given information concerning the condition of Jersualem, his home.
That’s where his roots were.
And this news broke his heart.
The Jews who have returned to their Capitol city after years of exile were now struggling to survive.
In particular, they are without walls or gates to defend their city, their livelihoods, their homes and their families.
Nehemiah hears this news and is devastated.
This tells us a bit about his character.
He was a thoughtful man and a man of compassion.
He didn’t look at Jerusalem’s plight and think, “Well, they’re getting what they deserve.
Thank God it’s not me.”
He didn’t think, “Well, I’m thousands of miles away and I’m a servant to the Persian King who captured all of us, there’s nothing I can do.”
When he became aware of the brokenness, he himself was broken!
His heart was broken for things that were breaking God’s heart.
immorality
complacency
disobedience
distrust
faithlessness
oppression
injustice
internal conflicts
poverty
All of it was breaking his heart!
What is it that breaks your heart?
What are you sick & tired of?
What about our culture breaks your heart?
inequality?
injustice?
oppression?
apathy?
indifference?
What about our community breaks your heart?
addictions?
homelessness?
unemployment?
family issues?
domestic violence?
lostness?
What about your life breaks your heart?
mediocrity?
laziness?
depression?
anxiety?
purposelessness?
discouragement?
negative attitude?
critical spirit?
God is looking for people who are sick & tired of the brokenness around them AND who are willing to do something about it.
Our hearts will break for the things that break God’s heart.
We will care about the things God cares about.
We will put up with each other’s personalities for the sake of our community!
So Nehemiah is broken-hearted over the situation in Jerusalem and he’s in a challenging situation.
This same King who he works for and presumably has a good relationship with, was previously advised to shut down the work in Jerusalem.
The thought process was that if the Jews rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem and refortified the city they would become ungovernable.
So the King issued a royal decree to halt the work.
Nehemiah knew that in order for any positive change to take place, the King would have to reverse his royal decree!
This is a really big deal!
Have you ever tried to get a friend to change their mind on an issue?
Have your children ever tried to get you to change your mind on an issue?
Usually, the more times my kids ask me for something, the more adamant I am to stick to my guns!
Nehemiah was facing the challenge of convincing the most powerful man in the civilized world to reverse a royal decree!
Just because you can’t see the solution to the problem, doesn’t mean God doesn’t have one!
Like Calvin, some of us intentionally ignore the problems and try to shove them out of our minds, because we don’t want to face the reality that we just might be the solution!
So what does Nehemiah do?
Are you getting the picture yet?
Things were broken.
And Nehemiah knew this.
He was concerned about it.
The challenge seemed impossible.
Nehemiah turns to the “Great and Awesome God.”
Our God is awesome.
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