Sermon Tone Analysis
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Epiphany 6
February 11, 2007
Luke 6: 17-26
“there is a way that seems right”
*Introduction:* Proverbs 14:12 There is a way /that seems /right to a man, But its end /is /the way of death.
Cigarette smoking has a long history in America.
It wasn’t many years ago when it was widely accepted as a thing to do.
At first it was a thing that men did together.
There were smoking jackets and smoking rooms - even in the White House.
As women gained more freedom it was associated with women’s suffrage.
We have all heard the saying, “You've come a long way baby.”
It seemed like it was the cool thing to do.
John Wayne did it.
James Dean did it.
Back then, there was little social stigma associated with it.
There wasn’t a concern over how it affected ones health.
It seemed like the right thing to do.
All that has changed now.
Medical research strongly indicates that there are many health problems associated with smoking -- Cancer, emphysema, and heart disease.
The door to the smoking room in the White House just closed in 2002.
No there is a strong debate on where and when it is legal to smoke.
What seemed right to do ended up being one of the ways that can lead to death.
Of course, why just pick on smokers.
All of us eat food.
Years ago we ate so we had the strength to work, to live.
Now, at least in the United States, most of us live to eat.
We are getting fatter and fatter, we are becoming a nation of obese people.
We’ll we have to eat don’t we?
What seems right to do, even satisfying to do, in one of the ways that can lead to death.
Why pick on eaters?
How about money.
We all need it don’t we?
We have to pay the bills.
A little bit more couldn’t hurt could it?
Maybe we could afford just a few more nice things.
But often this leads to obsession.
Money, and finances and the conflict about these is often a major contributing factor in divorce.
What about to much money…perhaps we might consider Anna Nicole Simpson…seemed like she had it all…but it ends up that she doesn’t have anything.
*I.
There is a way /that seems /right to a man, but its end /is /the way of death.
*.
*A.
In the today’s gospel lesson Jesus teaches His disciples about who is blessed and who is cursed.
*He teaches His disciples that what seems right for many people is actually the way that leads to death.
In His sermon to them He turns the world’s expectations of blessedness upside down.
Jesus says blessed are the poor.
Blessed are the hungry.
Blessed are those that weep.
Then He says woe to you who are rich.
Woe to you who are filled with satisfaction.
Woe to you who laugh.
Ask anyone in the world you want about what it means to be blessed.
Most of the time, answers will include such things as being rich, having plenty to eat and having a good time in life.
At face value these things make since.
After all how happy can a person be when they’re poor, hungry or miserable.
Here, Jesus is not speaking about material satisfaction.
After all, God blessed many of the heroes of the faith with material riches, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, King David, and Solomon, they were all rich.
Rather Jesus is contrasting those people that focus on the things of this life, and trust in them rather than trusting in God.
Jesus is speaking against people that think that they are spiritually rich, full and content with their own imagined righteousness.
He is talking about people that are spiritually self-satisfied.
He is speaking to those people that feel they don’t need anything, especially God as they see themselves as self sufficient.
By virtue of the good things that they have accomplished, they hope and are confident that God will accept them.
That He will take them into Heaven because of what they have done, because they have tried to live decent lives and may have even been very successful.
This is the way that leads to death.
*B.
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