Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction: I am sorry I am not perfect

[SLIDE] Like Jesus Stock Slide (green slide?)

Some of you know me as Daniel Stidham Husband of Megan,

but before megan - there was this girl.

I was hanging out with her and one of her friends evening.

She was working on homework, and I was putting the final touches on a motivational speech I was going to give to the 2nd worst performing high school in Houston.

I was hanging out with her one evening and I was preparing for a motivational speech I was going to give to the 2nd worst performing high school in Houston.

I met her at the same place i met megan - the after school program where I volunteered once a week mentoring students.

This high school was predominately African-American with less than 50% of its freshman class ever making it to senior year.

Now this girl I was dating was very politically and socially aware - she was what some might call WOKE.

That’s a term for someone who is very culturally and socially aware.

She was a sociology major at Rice University, and as an african american woman from a low-income area in virginia, she had strong feelings about me speaking at this school.

She said, “You aren’t gonna be able to connect with them.”

http://www.roncitlau.com/2019/06/another-example-of-the-rca-divide-god-as-mother/

She proceeded to strongly voice her doubts that I would have any chance to bridge the gap between the shades of our skin.

Because she was what some might call WOKE, and I was not Woke.

I was sharing some statistics I had learned about the “graduation rate” and level of education

She told me, “

Her response was so strong - and though she had a lot of good points - I was really affected and discouraged by her response.

When i tried to explain to her how she could have responded, how I would have preferred to receive her feedback, how it was hard to hear her truth with the way she said it,

I began to show her that her doubts, though legitimate, were not the most helpful thing to tell someone that was about to give a speech the next day.

I detailed how I wish she would have explained the situation to me that would have considered my feelings, my life experience, and the pressure I was facing.

She then said something I’ll never forget:

[slide] “Well, I am sorry that I didn’t respond perfectly.”

x2

This was her way of acknowledging that no one would have been able to respond the way i wanted unless they were perfect people.

Not sure if you’ve ever experienced this sort of response when in an argument but it was her way of acknowledging that she could have done better, but that my expectations were way too high, and that she really wasn’t sorry because there’s no way she could ever be perfect and she responded the way she needed to.

My expectations were way too high, and that she really wasn’t sorry because there’s no way she could ever be perfect and she responded the way she needed to.

TRANSITION: Often times when I meet people and talk spirituality, they say, “Well, I’m not perfect, but…”

[SLIDE] “Well, I’m not perfect...”

Whenever I meet people and ask them if they think they are good enough to be in God’s kingdom - they always say, “Well, I’m not perfect,” but…

This was her way of acknowledging that she could have done better, but that my expectations were way too high.

That little phrase - I’m not perfect - is our out.

It’s how we justify the “little” vices in our lives.

It’s how we respond when we know we could be better but the expectations are unreasonable.

That little phrase - I’m not perfect - is our out.

It’s how we justify the “little” vices in our lives.

It’s how we respond when we know we could be better but the expectations are unreasonable.

It’s how we give excuse for our lack of growth or progress.

It’s how we make ourselves feel better for responding harshly, or indulging our addictions, or living fairly boring but stressed out lives.

It’s how we give excuse for our lack of growth or progress.

It’s how we make ourselves feel better for responding harshly, or indulging our addictions, or living fairly boring but stressed out lives.

TRANSITION: Jesus lived a perfect life - and so I wonder, how many of us have taken the, “I’m not perfect” response and used that for why we can’t live like Jesus.

That little phrase - Nobody’s perfect - is our out.

It’s how we make ourselves feel better for the mistakes we make.

[slide] Push Back on the 4 Chairs

The Push Back on Spader’s 4 Chairs

Dan Spader - the pastor who developed the 4 Chairs Discipleship Method got a lot of push back from people.

People would come to him saying,

Jesus’ mission was not to get everyone to chair 2 and watch the world fall apart as we protect ourselves in Christian bubbles while everyone waits to get raptured.

Dan Spader - the pastor who developed the 4 Chairs Discipleship Method got a lot of push back from people he taught.

He has trained over They would come to him saying,

“Dan - it’s great that Jesus lived in this way, but He was God - how am I supposed to labor and multiply the way Jesus did?

It worked for Him but I am not the Son of God!”

Jesus’ mission was not to get everyone to chair 2 and watch the world fall apart as we protect ourselves in Christian bubbles while everyone waits to get raptured.

In other words - Jesus’ life is unattainable - it’s impossible to do what he did.

For example - Jesus had 12 disciples over 3 years - since I am simply a human I am surely only able to disciple my 2 or 3 over my lifetime, and those slots are probably taken by my children, or family/nieces/nephews right?

That’s even a stretch but I’ll do what I can.

Spader acknowledges - “I knew I was supposed to imitate Jesus, but deep inside I believed that Jesus did what He did because He was God” (pg 19).

Dan Spader said, “I knew I was supposed to imitate Jesus, but deep inside I believed that Jesus did what He did because He was God.”

Spader acknowledges - “I knew I was supposed to imitate Jesus, but deep inside I believed that Jesus did what He did because He was God” (pg 19).

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This mentality is how we stay in Chair 1 or Chair 2 for most of our lives.

It’s how we stay in Chair 1 or Chair 2 for most of our lives.

But Jesus’ mission was not to get everyone to chair 2 and watch the world fall apart as we protect ourselves in Christian bubbles while we wait to find out who gets raptured.

The last 50 years of Christianity, the mega church movement has been has been incredibly good at getting people to chair 2.

Story?

We watched prince of Egypt - pick a moment - turning off a movie 20 minutes in after this and that person starts to get going.

A famous theologian said this:

[slide] "We worshipped Jesus instead of following him on his same path.

We made Jesus into a mere religion instead of a journey toward union with God and everything else.

This shift made us into a religion of “belonging and believing” instead of a religion of transformation."

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This mentality is how we stay in Chair 1 or Chair 2 for most of our lives.

Sorry I didn’t respond perfectly.

Transition: Our claim that Jesus is God is what makes us distinct from every other religion.

It’s our cornerstone - it’s why we worship Jesus and don’t feel bad.

How do we reconcile trying to do what Jesus did when Christian teaching has emphasized, so intensely, the necessity for Jesus to be God, while we are Very Very Human.

[SLIDE] The Two Natures of Christ (with 2 bullet points) (7 min)

This is resolved only by reconciling how Jesus was both [bullet point] God and [bullet point] Human.

We call these the Dual or Two natures of Christ.

How did these two natures work out in His ministry here on earth that we have recorded in the New Testament?

Well First - I don’t want to assume you believe that Jesus was God - this is very point is what distinguishes Judaism and Islam from Christianity.

This simple point is what differentiates Orthodox Christianity from Occults.

[SLIDE - Jesus is fully God - ]

The most explicit claim is in narrative form - from the words of Jesus in - “Very truly I tell you… before Abraham was born, I am!” this is the charge that put Jesus on the cross - his blasphemous claim to eternal existence.

[SLIDE - Jesus is fully Human - ]

Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

“He was fully human in every way.”

He experienced life FULLY as a HUMAN.

[SLIDE] - “Who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but he emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

Jesus didn’t take his equality with God to be grasped, but he emptied himself.

This word empty is significant.

[bullet point] έκένωσεν - to empty, destroy, render void, to divest oneself of position, to pour away; to cause to lose power

the text says that Jesus took on the “form of a servant” and took on “human form” - does this just mean that he looked like a human but was not fully human?

When we hear form - in the english that stirs up different images -

[SLIDE - PICTURE OF MYSTIQUE] think of Mystique from - X-men - the shapeshifter - where she take the form of a cat - but they aren’t really a cat - they are hiding as a cat - deceiving our eyes.

IT’S NOT like this - Jesus didn’t shapeshift into a human but was really just God underneath - Jesus was both God and Human -