Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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\\ Roll out those lazy, hazy crazy days of summer, those days of soda and pretzel and . . .
you know.
Every one of us looks forward to summer, a different pace and why wouldn’t we?
People seem different in the summertime, more civil, less harried for the most part.
The golf courses are open and no one is shoveling snow.
School’s out and that’s pretty good for the first couple of weeks.
As for the church, it’s harder to find people in the summer.
People tend to disconnect to a degree.
Most find their way back in the fall.
Those on the fringes of spiritual decision sometimes fail to make the trip back.
That used to trouble me greatly.
I have to remind myself that the business of people being drawn toward God is the job of the Holy Spirit.
You and I have a part to play but it’s His job really.
Many Christians, whose desire is to serve God faithfully, wrestle with the summer disconnect.
There are those who can’t understand the streamlining of programs during the summer.
They believe that it is evidence of a lack of commitment among Christians in general and they cry for more commitment.
Some disparagingly doubt whether or not the modern day Christian is really able to commit to God at all and kingdom interests.
I do believe that within the church at large today, there are those who want to find a “lite” version of faith.
They want an easier, more convenient way to follow Christ.
But I have to say that I wonder if what we need is really more commitment?
*I have said to a few people that what the church really needs today is people who are less committed.*
You see, most everyone that I know is over-committed already – far too busy.
They have all kinds of ability and willingness to make commitments and to honor them.
Another thing that I see is the tendency that some have to try to keep their kids busy to keep them out of trouble.
And so we are raising a generation of activity junkies.
The problem with staying out of trouble is that it doesn’t seem to lead people any closer to God.
For the Christian parent, it would seem to me that the valuable lesson that we need somehow to be teaching our children is that they can’t and shouldn’t be involved in everything.
They need to learn to make choices.
They need to learn that quiet is at times necessary and in the quiet they can hear God’s voice just a little clearer.
*/No, . . .
what I think the church needs is people who are less committed to things that don’t matter and more committed to things that do matter./*
And the church needs to be committed to the termination of programs and approaches that have outlived their usefulness.
We need to stop asking people to give their time and energy to perpetuate things that are ineffective.
To be effective we must present the greatest vision, which calls for the greatest efforts, to further the greatest cause in this world and the world to come.
You see there is no greater cause than the task of inviting and leading people to the place where they make a personal commitment to Christ.
Until we really believe this to be true there will be little significant change in the way that we create and structure programs and strategies for reaching our communities.
How do we accomplish this?
If we just tell people to be more committed, that’s like telling them to try harder.
Is that what commitment means, just try harder?
I think that there is much more to it than that and that’s really the essence of the message today.
Let’s take a look at a story in the Old Testament.
It describes a life-changing encounter that Isaiah had with God.
I would say that this was one of those experiences that shaped his ministry and his message for the rest of his life.
Perhaps there are some things there that might benefit us as well as we look at them this morning.
/" //In the year that King Uzziah died, *I saw the Lord* seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple.//
//Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.//
//And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”//
//At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.//
/*/“Woe to me!” I cried.
“I am ruined!
For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”/**/
/*/Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.//
//With it he touched my mouth and said, *“See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”*//
//Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send?
And who will go for us?”
And I said, “*Here am I. Send me!*”//" (Isaiah 6:1-8, NIV) *[1]*/
There are 4 perspectives that Isaiah gains in this portion of scripture.
I’d like to share them together today and ask you if you have seen any of these.
They are:
[ A greater vision of God
[ A greater vision of his own sinfulness
[ A greater vision of the work of God in his own life
[ A greater understanding of his own calling
*/1.
/**/A greater vision of God./*
Your understanding of God will determine the type of response or commitment that you make to Him.
Most of us see God in a diminished perspective.
Isaiah records in great detail, the vision that He had of the magnificence of God and it changed him.
/“Every follower of Jesus Christ needs to understand that Christ has power over both life and death -- otherwise we have no news that is ultimately Good News.
John Huffman in his book, Who's In Charge Here?, tells about Robert Dick Wilson, a great professor at Princeton Theological Seminary.
One of Dr. Wilson's students had been invited back to preach in Miller Chapel twelve years after his graduation.
/
/ Old Dr. Wilson came in and sat down near the front.
At the close of the meeting the old professor came up to his former student, cocked his head to one side in his characteristic way, extended his hand, and said, "If you come back again, I will not come to hear you preach.
I only come once.
I am glad that you are a big-godder.
When my boys come back, I come to see if they are big-godders or little-godders, and then I know what their ministry will be."
His former student asked him to explain, and he replied: "Well, some men have a little god, and they are always in trouble with him.
He can't do any miracles.
He can't take care of the inspiration and transmission of the Scripture to us.
He doesn't intervene on behalf of his people.
They have a little god and I call them little-godders.
Then there are those who have a great God.
He speaks and it is done.
He commands and it stands fast.
He knows how to show Himself strong on behalf of them that fear him.
You have a great God; and He will bless your ministry."
He paused a moment and smiled, and said, "God bless you," and turned, and walked out.”/
Many people get what they expect when they come to church from Sunday to Sunday.
I remember one man I particular who was fairly upset when we removed the order of service from the bulletin.
It was something that simply took up space and we felt no obligation to abide by our order of service.
We still feel no particular obligation to an order of service.
The truth is that God can do whatever God wants to do on a given Sunday.
*/When we come to church and expect to have things proceed that same as they have always proceeded, a soul-numbing that takes place./*
We want to worship a predictable God in predictable ways because that makes us feel more “in control”.
I think that the services or the programs in which God is most in control are those in which we feel a lack of control.
The more we want to control and order, the less room there is for God.
I have found myself disarmed in the last few years as I have come to see God as the Architect of the church.
I have viewed my own best, most creative, plans as weak and anemic and something less than what God would have for us.
If I could say it this way, I have wondered if my main job is to try to stay out of the way and let God do what God wants to do.
Now we still plan and dream and scheme but I am careful to ask God if my dreams are too small or if my dreams are cheating His people out of something greater.
Do you know what I think?
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