Sermon Tone Analysis

What?

Question | Have you ever been given the silent treatment?

Hopefully you didn’t get competitive with that game that you and your opponents are no longer on speaking terms.

I do’t know what you think about this, but I hate getting the silent treatment.

Tell me I’m not the only one.

Have you ever been given the silent treatment?

Video | A clip from Full House

In a disagreement, not everyone is the silent-treatment type.

Some people yell and scream, or trash each other on social media, or try to settle it with a fight after school.

Or maybe this is your style…(Video)

How we fight might be different, but we all have this in common

When we’re in conflict with others, we tend to draw battle lines between “us” and “them.”

Question | What’s the dumbest reason you’ve ever gotten into a fight with someone?

So What?

There are a lot of reason why we sometimes draw imaginary battle lines between ourselves and others.

Maybe it’s because someone doesn’t treat us well, or look like us, or believe like us, or act like us.

When God created everything, humans were designed to be in relationship with God and with each other.

BUT we messed that up.

We created dividing lines between us and God.

We created dividing lines between us and others.

We’ve always had a tendency to make enemies.

We act like our survival depends on seeing the world through the lens of, “It’s me or you and I choose me.”

But God doesn't operate that way.

God looks at us and says, “It’s not ‘me or you.

‘It’s ‘ME for you.”

Scripture | Genesis-Jeremiah (Summary)

Last week we talked about how God is for us, and has always been for us.

From the beginning of history, God had a plan in place to restore the relationships we'd broken, both with God and with each other.

We talked about how God's promise to Abraham was part of that plan.

God promised to make Abraham's descendants a great nation, which God did.

The nation of Israel grew for generations and generations.

But that's not all God promised.

God told Abraham he'd be blessed, and here's why: God was going to bless Israel so Israel could bless the whole world.

This idea would have been completely new and revolutionary.

The nations of the world were definitely not trying to figure out how to bless each other — they were trying to destroy, conquer, and enslave each other!

Last week, we left Abraham at the moment God called him to leave his land, people, and identity, and follow God on a new adventure.

And Abraham did!

If we were watching a Disney movie, this is where the credits would roll and we’d say, “And he lived happily ever after.”

But that’s not what happened.

Israel got off to a slow start, but eventually Abraham's descendants grew into a large nation.

Then they were enslaved by Egypt.

Then God rescued them.

Then they wandered in the desert for 40 years, waiting for God to lead them to the land God promised to give Abraham's descendants.

Finally, the nation of Israel got some land and a king.

They had a few kings, actually, and things seemed to be going well.

But hundreds of years after God's original promise to Abraham, the nation of Israel kept screwing things up.

Over and over again, Israel turned its back on God, choosing to create their own rules, instead of submitting to God's authority.

Plus, they kept forgetting the part of God's promise that said, "you will be a blessing" to everyone on earth.

Instead of being a blessing, Israel hurt and oppressed others.

So God sent prophets — people who challenged God's people to get serious about following God and fulfilling God's promise to be for others.

But even with the prophets, Israel struggled to learn.

God never stopped being for Israel, but being for someone means you're for their growth — and sometimes helping someone grow means letting them experience the consequences of their own actions.

So God allowed the nation of Israel to be take captive and enslaved once again — this time by the nations of Babylon and Assyria.

Scripture | ,

In their captivity, God sent a prophet named Jeremiah to speak a message Israel needed to hear, but wasn't going to like.

Jere

Jeremiah

For a second, imagine that our country was taken over by an enemy nation — and a pretty evil one.

Imagine that your beloved land is now theirs — you are suddenly in enemy territory.

Imagine how much you would hate them and pray for their destruction.

That was how Israel felt.

For a second, imagine that our country was taken over by an enemy nation — and a pretty evil one.

Imagine that your beloved land is now theirs — you are suddenly in enemy territory.

Imagine how much you would hate them and pray for their destruction.

That was how Israel felt.

But Jeremiah tells Israel to do something completely counterintuitive, and maybe even offensive to the angry Israelites.

Jeremiah told them . . .

Make your home here, in enemy territory.Build houses and settle down.Turn your enemies into friends.Take care of the land.Plant gardens.Seek peace.You can’t do any of those things overnight.

They would take time, intention, and love.

Instead of hoping their enemies would be destroyed, God told them to hope that their enemies would be blessed.When Israel wanted to say, "It's us or them," Jeremiah said, "No — it's us for them.

Because we're called to be for others."God was reminding Israel of the very thing God had promised Abraham so long ago: God's people would do things differently.

God's people would be for others, just like God had been for them.But here’s the thing: Israel didn't believe it.

They (and a few false prophets) were convinced God would rescue them and destroy their enemies any minute, so it would be ridiculous to try and make peace or get comfortable.

They didn't care about Babylon — they cared about themselves.Israel wanted their enemies destroyed, but God had something better in mind.INSTRUCTIONS: Read together.God's plans didn't look like Israel's plans.

They would be in captivity for 70 more years, but God said those plans were not meant to harm them, but to give them a hope and a future.Does that last verse sound familiar at all?

I hear it a lot at graduations or when someone is going through something difficult.

Sometimes this verse is quoted in context, but it's usually not.

isn't a promise that God is someday going to make all of our dreams come true. is a reminder about who God is (for us) and who God's people are called to be (for others).Just like God is for us, we are called to be for others.

This has been God's message from the beginning.

But Jeremiah tells Israel to do something completely counterintuitive, and maybe even offensive to the angry Israelites.

Jeremiah told them . .

.

Make your home here, in enemy territory.

Build houses and settle down.

Turn your enemies into friends.

Take care of the land.

Plant gardens.

Seek peace.

You can’t do any of those things overnight.

They would take time, intention, and love.

Instead of hoping their enemies would be destroyed, God told them to hope that their enemies would be blessed.

When Israel wanted to say, "It's us or them," Jeremiah said, "No — it's us for them.

Because we're called to be for others."

God was reminding Israel of the very thing God had promised Abraham so long ago: God's people would do things differently.

God's people would be for others, just like God had been for them.

But here’s the thing: Israel didn't believe it.

They (and a few false prophets) were convinced God would rescue them and destroy their enemies any minute, so it would be ridiculous to try and make peace or get comfortable.

They didn't care about Babylon — they cared about themselves.

Israel wanted their enemies destroyed, but God had something better in mind.

Jeremiah

God's plans didn't look like Israel's plans.