Sermon Tone Analysis

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Intro:

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This passage was in our study from last week.

In it, Paul is explaining the mystery of Christian spiritual identity.

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This church, that is comprised of spiritual people, is falling under the influence of a physical identity.

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Instead of considering their fellow Christians as spiritually alive Saints whose outward flesh has died with Christ… they are looking, with credibility, to outward qualifications.

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Paul recognizes that they are beginning to treat him according to these standards… under the influence of new teachers (Paul sarcastically calls them, ‘super apostles’) who have come into their midst, - they are beginning to question Paul’s qualifications and are asking Paul to send to them letters of commendation.

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It’s true, that if an unknown teacher comes to a church… they might be required to prove a good reputation.

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But Paul reminds them, that they know him… and that their own Christian experience is his letter of commendation.

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So Paul reminds them… that this is not how we are to regard our fellow Christian.

We regard no one according to the flesh.

Why?

Because we are now, new creations.

the old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

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So last week, I approached this in the context of how we treat each other.

Instead of looking at others as they are in the flesh… and regarding them according to the things they do in the flesh… - the things that offend us, or disappoint us, or wrongly impress us even…

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We are now able to be more forgiving… we are able to extend more grace… we are able to be more understanding… we are able to be at peace with one another, because we recognize that the person before us… is a new creation… and that flesh which normally offends us.. is just a dead thing.

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So we extend grace, knowing that this new creation before us, is still working out their salvation… they are still working to discover the mystery of walking in the Spirit… they are still wrestling with the enigma that is: crucifying the flesh and the desires within.

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So… we’ve already covered this.

You might be wondering.

Why are we here, one week later… talking about the same thing?

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We’re not.

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Last week, we considered how to treat others as new creations in Christ.

- this week: we think more intently, about what it means… that WE… ARE NEW CREATIONS IN CHRIST.

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Sure, it’s going to affect how we treat each other, and that should be revolutionary in and of itself.

But what does it mean for each of us, individually?

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We all have heard that acronym: JOY: Jesus, Others, Yourself.

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TODAY: We are going to the end of the line- Today, I want you to think about yourself.

I want you to consider the implications… of what it means to be: A New Creation:

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In … we have a very familiar Bible verse: It says: ‘And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but

SLIDE 3

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BE “BEING FILLED” WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT -

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I realized our Bibles actually say: ‘be filled with’… but the original intent of the grammar here literally says: ‘BE BEING FILLED’.

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Something that is constantly being filled… always has something new and fresh coming into it.

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Something that is constantly being filled… -does not grow stagnant… does not stand still… they do not become an old thing.

They themselves are new, and continually experience newness.

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But… this doesn’t happen against our will -

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SLIDE 4

Eph

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“we should walk in them” - That’s a challenge… an edification…

- We are given our identity: (We are His workmanship)…

We are given our purpose: (created for good works)

The source of our purpose is defined: (God prepared beforehand)...

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A lot has gone into this… now, we are given our response: WE SHOULD WALK IN THEM.

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If you think the Christian faith is lived out on auto pilot, then your Christian life will be a reoccurring experience of failure, disappointment, and ineffectiveness.

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We need to

To let the fresh water flow into us… to ‘be being filled’ with the Holy Spirit… to Walk in the good works of our new identity..

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It requires our will.

It requires a choice.

It requires the “o” word.

- obedience

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SLIDE 5

O-BEDIENCE

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We’re about ten minutes into this, so let me make mention of today’s sermon title.

Today’s message is called:

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SLIDE 6

GET OUT OF THE RUT

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I had a motorcycle when I was a teenager, I drove it constantly in the fields around my house.

I started out riding in the ditches, but, at the age of 12, I had my first encounter with the law… and was told that I couldn’t ride my motorcycle in the ditches.

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So, I moved into the fields… which was tricky… because, after the ground had been plowed, to ride in it, you had to pick a rut.

In the ditch, I could swerve around, go up and down the hill, jump over the small driveways...

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but out in a plowed field, I could only go straight… - Attempting to turn out of the rut, led… every time, to a painful spill.

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Not long after the Iowa State Highway Patrol told me to leave the ditch… I sold my motorcycle.

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It was boring.

It was no longer fun.

I was always going to the same place, the same way.

I was stuck in a rut.

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Years ago, Psychology Today did an article on ‘being stuck in a rut’..

They listed off 10 symptoms of being stuck..

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The number one symptom was:

SLIDE 7

“Even though you think you’d be happier if you made a change, it’s more comforting to stay the same and mope about it.”

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Psychology calls this condition: ‘dysthymia’ (duhs-thai-mee-uh)

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… a mild, chronic cousin of depression with symptoms like: low energy, low mood, loss of interest, and general loss of pleasure.

- It’s generally caused by ‘chronic mild stress’.

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Psychology tells us that chronic states are more harmful than intense, but scattered stressful events.

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Extreme and desperate events… extreme pain… isolated events of great stress have a tendency to wake us up and push us to make a difference… But the ongoing mild and persistent discomfort… the chronic mild stress… leaves a person in a place where they have no motivation to change.

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Live goes on.

You still do your stuff.

The day still happens.

You get up.

You do stuff.

You go to bed. - It’s normal..

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But… it’s not healthy.

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Now, if you are a believer in Jesus… You are a new creation… you are a spiritual person… and whether you realize this or not, your emotional health and your spiritual health, now, are working hand in hand.

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Your soul cannot be a wreck when your spirit is strong.

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If you are in a rut emotionally… if you suffer the chronic effects of mild stress to the point where you have lost true motivation and pleasure… then it’s a certain thing, that you are also in a rut spiritually.

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You can fall into the same psychological rut as an unbeliever… even though you are a new creation… but for you, Christian… it’s evidence of a bigger problem.

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You are stuck.

Maybe you were once filled… but you are no longer being filled.

You have settled into a state… into a condition… into a normal… but it’s no longer a reflection of something that’s new.

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The Bible reminds us… that we are new creations… but spiritually… we feel old, worn out, ineffective…

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Sometimes we think that certain messages and experiences are for the young believer… but after we’ve been in church for a while, and after we’ve settled into our ways… we don’t consider them for us anymore…

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Verses like:

SLIDE 8

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…we’re like… I did that already… years ago.

-I got my mind transformed when I was a new believer.

I’m good now.

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Oh really?

Because… my experience is different.

- I’m a pastor who spends a lot of time in the word and have over 25 years of ministry experience under my belt… and I REGULARLY FIND MYSELF… in a rut… in a place where I struggle to discern the will of God… in a place where I struggle to discern what is good, acceptable and perfect.