Sermon Tone Analysis

Subject: What am I talking about?

Why is Paul criticizing the Gentile Jews?

Complement: What exactly am I saying about what I’m talking about?

He is criticizing them because these Gentile Jews he speaks of place their identities in written codes and their social belonging as God’s chosen people rather than in obedience unto Him.

The Big Idea:

The identity of God’s chosen people is not shaped by written codes or social belonging, but by obedience from the heart by the Holy Spirit.

Exegetical Observation:

This passage is a continuation on the discussion of the spiritual disposition of Jews who depend on the Law and circumcision (self-righteousness) over the heart-changing movement of the Holy Spirit.

What is the homiletical idea of the sermon?

A praise-worthy identity to God comes from a heart-driven obedience through God.

What is the purpose of preaching this sermon?

My purpose is to have my listeners repent from their self-righteousness and turn towards an obedience that reflects their identity in Christ.

What is the need for this sermon?

To reveal a need for an identity in Christ over an identity rooted in our affiliations.

Get audience to say hoo-yah to rile them up.

(call and response)

Before we begin, I have one request of you, that you would pray with me and for me as I preach.

Before we begin, I have one request of you, that you would pray with me and for me as I preach.

Pray

Intro/Illustration 1

Before we read today’s text, I suppose it would be helpful to set up the premise from which our passage is taken from.

Hell hath no pride like a student asked to wear their ID.

*Ask, Has anyone ever read through Romans or part of the letter?

Arguably, this letter from the Apostle Paul is one of, if not the most, important letter in our New Testaments.

One could actually go so far to say that it is because of this letter that we have Protestantism today.

Not that that’s relevant to today’s sermon, but still nonetheless interesting.

Then again, it really shouldn’t be of any surprise.

Just as Public Safety arouses pride, indignation, rebellion, that’s ultimately what the Law does.

It arouses sin ().

It stimulates our rebellion and exposes our infection.

It shows us our need for a Gospel that saves.

What’s more interesting, if you know your Bible trivia, is that when Paul wrote this letter to the Christians living in Rome, he was writing to a community of believers he had never personally met.

These were not Christians whom he or Peter personally discipled.

There is much debate as to whom Paul was writing; was he writing with the intention of addressing Jews, Gentiles, both?

This may come across irrelevant, but if you are a Christian, then you are a disciple of Christ and if you are His disciple, then you are His student and Christ Himself declares that while the pupil is not about their teacher, when they are fully trained, they will be like their teacher ().

As Christians, we are blessed with the task to study God’s Word, consuming our spiritual food diligently.

If you’re ready to eat, let me hear a hoo-yah.

*prayerfully rile them up*

Read passage

Knowing or at least speculating Paul’s audience is helpful to understanding why God wrote through Paul the things He wrote in this world-changing letter.

By looking at the immediate context, I think a strong argument can be made that Paul’s intended audience are Gentiles, non-Jews, just be reading the first chapter.

If this is so then we can have some clarity as to who Paul is addressing in chapter 2, Gentile Judaizers.

Non-Jews who figured that in order to follow Christ, since He was a Jew, you must be a Jew.

As sailors and veterans, we can kind of get that.

When we pledged our oath to this country, we took on with that pledge a cultural identity that will forever be apart of us to some degree.

We are no longer civilians, the old has passed away, behold the new has come.

Transition to Biblical Context

And so as we look at our text today in , we find that these Christians, these Gentile Judaizers whom Paul appears to be addressing seem to be having identity criss.

Having been saved by the very Gospel that delivers all believing sinners from the wages of sin, we find that for whatever reason, they seemed to have believed that because they are saved, they should be living as Jews.

It makes sense; Jesus was a Jew, therefore we should be Jews.

And if you live as a Jew, expect to be a religious Jew who lives in obedience to the Law commanded by God to the Jews.

Such a concept shouldn’t really be strange.

Haven’t any of you Christians ever say, “Ok, I’m a Christian.

I’m a follower of God.

Now which of the commandments am I suppose to follow?”

That really has to make us ask, did God really call the Gentiles to submit themselves under the Law and not Christ?

It appears that these Christians have misunderstood their call and purpose, their identity established by God in Christ.

But we shouldn’t be too hard on them because as Christians I think we often make the same mistake as well.

In our text, Paul makes three observations about these Christians.

He identifies:

· What they think they are.

· What they really are.

· What they really need.

This is important for us to understand, because our:

· Big Idea

Christian identity is not defined by our religious culture or by what we do, but through the transformation of our hearts by the Holy Spirit.”

What does that mean?

Well let’s break this down.

P1.

What We Think We Are: Opening up to , Paul says, *Read passage* The first thing that Paul is getting ready to address is that,

· Our Christian identity is not defined by our religious culture (x2)

It might be helpful to clarify what exactly a religious culture is and what better way to understand it than by observing how Paul describes the kind of people who live in a religious culture.

Verse 19, he describes them as a people who saw themselves as guides, lights, correctors, and teachers.

Now what would give them that kind of nerve?

Well Jews were the ones rooted in God’s Word, from where the embodiment of knowledge and truth come from (v. 20)!

What then is the problem?

As far as we can tell, for Gentile Judaizers, these are some good Jews.

Well first and foremost, Paul mentions their reliance on the Law.

As we understand the Law, it was handed over to the nation of Israel, dictating how their lives were to be shaped.

It covered everything from how they present sacrifices unto God to how they planted their crops.

It was to set them apart from the other nations of the world, to consecrate them, to make them holy.

Sounds pretty good, right?

Only one problem.

The Law can’t save.

You can’t rely upon the Law to establish any sort of identity in Christ, in fact you can’t rely on anything apart from Christ to establish an identity in Christ!

Now I suppose there might be one of you in here thinking, “Well that’s good and everything, but you’re not really telling me anything that I don’t know already.”

Let me ask you:

· Have you ever looked down at another believer after finding out they’re from a different denomination?

· Would you ever doubt the seriousness of another person’s faith if you discovered what their favorite Bible translation was?

· Do you look at people who take their faith too seriously with annoyance?

· Which team are you on?

Chapel, cathedral, basement?

Old Earth?

Young Earth?

Theistic Evolution?

Protestant?

Roman Catholic?

Eastern Orthodox?

You get the point.

The reality is that we’re all a part of a religious culture.