Sermon Tone Analysis

As I was studying this week preparing for this morning Dathan came up to the office.

He’s a busy man and never has much time for just chit-chat so he got right to the point.

He said, “what are you preaching on this Sunday?”.

I told him that I think Im going to finish of verses 3-5 where John left off last week and then preach through verses 6-12”.

He looked up and started calculating how many verses that was…took a big gulp of his Dr. Pepper and said, “thats 10 verses”.

“I know” I said.

He took another gulp and said, “Well, just tell Nate to sing one song and maybe we will get out of there around 1”.

So, Im going to save verses 6-12 for next week and today we are just going to look at verses 3-5.

And that should get us out of here by noon.

Im just kidding…but who really knows.

But before we read the text this morning I want to talk to those of us who grew up in church hearing about Jesus as little kids.

I would say that is a lot of us in here.

But not all.

And if that isn’t you just hang tight and I’ll get to you in just a second.

But for those of you, those of us, who grew up in church hearing about Jesus we had this understanding that we had to do this and that.

If we did this and that He was pleased with us but if we didn’t do this or that he wasn’t pleased with us.

There are just these things we HAD to do though, right?

And then we grow up and for a lot of us we said, “I can’t do it!”

“Im never going to be good enough”.

So we go crazy!

Don’t act like you didn’t…we’re in church.

Don’t lie.

You know who you are…

And then we get married... and have kids.

Then we say, “Lets find a church so we can raise our kids in church” and we make friends at the church and we start doing things at the church and we get in these programs at the church and then we think we are good Christian people.

But what is happening behind the scenes, behind the smiles and behind the “everything is great” is we are worn out!

We are sick and tired of going here, doing this, going there, getting ready for this…we just get tired of all the “doing”.

It becomes a BURDEN.

For a lot of people they just keep grinding but they are miserable but they are scared to admit it.

They are tired of it all but they have to keep going and what keeps them going is the thought of “what will people think of me if I don’t”.

It is either that through or the thought of “if I dont keep doing it then I won’t go to Heaven”.

It’s so sad…Ive been there before and I know A LOT of you in here have been there before.

Some of you might be in that spot right now and if you are…Im glad you’re here.

And for those of you who didn’t grow up in the church you had the same idea but just from the outside looking in.

If you didn’t grow up in the church you looked at the people and thought “there ain’t know way Im good enough for all of that” or “Im not about to run myself ragged going here and there and doing this or that for people I hardly know and see once or twice a week…Im going fishin’ or IM going huntin’”.

See there are a lot of people out there that think they “know” what God wants from us and some say, “I can do that” and others say “no way, not me”.

The problem is that they’re both wrong.

And when you try to do what God requires on your own strength, by your own GRIT…you see just how impossible it is don’t you.

IF you are honest with yourself.

It took me a long time to figure this one out.

But there are some who are so self-righteous they really believe that they are “doing it”.

The Bible has a lot to say about the religious.

But there are some who are so self-righteous they really believe that they are “doing it”.

The Bible has a lot to say about the religious.

So I am glad you are here this morning because I have some awesome news for you today

So lets stand and read our text this morning,

Let’s pray:

You see that first word in verse 3?

Its a little word isn’t it?

It’s a little word that tells us a lot though.

Here at The Parish we want people to LEARN how to read the Bible.

And a little plug here for our DNA groups, that is why we have them.

To learn how to read this book and learn how to apply it to our lives.

So what does this little word “for” tell us?

When you see the word “for” in the Bible, especially when it is starting a sentence you need to pump the brakes and look at what just came before it.

“FOR” introduces a sentence or an idea that supports the sentence or idea that immediately precedes it.

So what is the most famous verse in the Bible (in our day and age, it hasn’t always been the most famous but what is it for us today).

Im not a prophet but I already had a slide for it...

starts with “for”…so what should we do when we see “for”…look at what came BEFORE because it is introducing an idea that supports the idea that immediately came before it.

So here we are in our text and verse 3, where we are starting this morning starts with “for”…so what do we do?

Lets go BEFORE it and see what sentence or idea this verse is supporting.

Lets look at verse 2:

Yall see what I just did there… I snuck in another verse on ya…and made you like it!

When we misunderstand the gospel of Jesus Christ we read this and think, “Ok…I know it says I HAVE to LOVE God and the Children of GOD if I want to go to Heaven so what do I need to do? Oh…here it is…I have to OBEY HIS COMMANDMENTS!”

So, then here we go…trying to find all the things God tells us to do and we work our fingers to the bone to do them

and that will kill you.

It will wear you OUT!

It will make you bitter and angry…but you wont tell anyone.

Because you can’t…

But that is RELIGION.

That is not Gospel.

So let’s read this the way it was meant to be read by John....because vs. 3 starts with “For” let us read it with verse 2 to get a better understanding of it.

For this IS the love of God…that we keep his commandments.

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Remember this love is not from man…it is from God.

Without God pouring this love on us we would never know this kind of love, this agape love.

2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.

3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments.

And his commandments are not burdensome.

and if you have been born of God then you love the children of God and it is not a burden to do so.

This type of love is active.

By definition it is a strong, non-sexual affection and regard for a person and their good as understood by God’s moral character.

It is a love that is characterized by a willing forfeiture of rights or privileges in another person’s behalf.

It is not burdensome for those who have been born by God to love the commands of God and it is not burdensome to love the children of God.

It is understanding the good news of Jesus Christ, its understanding the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And that kind of love, THAT kind of love, is not burdensome to Christians.

You know when that kind of love becomes burdensome?

For the non-Christian and for the religious person this kind of love doesn’t even exist.

The love that they try to give to others is self-centered.

The love they offer others is a love that better be repayed somehow or someway.

they have this idea that there better be some benefit shown to me for doing this for you....now they would never say that of course.

And they may never think it but it eats at them when they do things for others and they never get rewarded, recognized, or repayed somehow.

It is this wrong mentality that God is mad at you when you don’t do it but he is happy with you when you DO do it.

Now that kind of love…trying to obey God that way…is burdensome.

It is miserable.

This is a works based religion.

This is not the gospel.

Don’t forget that your righteous deeds are filthy rags in his sight.

We must understand that we are saved by Christ’s righteousness…not our own.

And for the Christian: Let me tell you when it becomes a burden.

It becomes a burden to love God and the people of God, much less your enemies, when we take our eyes off of Christ.