Sermon Tone Analysis

Undeserved love demands unreserved service

Communion  Service

!!! /05-03-06pm/

!!! Announcements

!!!

Call to worship

Fear the Lord your God and serve him.

Hold fast to Him and take your oaths in His name.

He is your praise; He is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes.

(Deuteronomy 10:20-21)

!!! Blessing

Grace to you from God our Father, Jesus Christ our Lord and also from the Holy Spirit.

!!! Doxology Hymn no 14:            /“O praise the Lord”/

!!! Prayer Confession of sins

!!! Declaration of pardoning

Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord.

Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land; (Isaiah 1:18-19)

!!! Hymn No 400:                            /“And can it be that I should gain”/

!!! Prayer of Adoration and Invocation

!!! Scripture Reading                     /Romans 12:9-21/

!!! Offering and Dedication

All remaining seated sing:

!!! Hymn No 476:                            /“Jesus, Master, whose I am”/

!!! Prayer for others

!!! Scripture Reading                     /Deuteronomy 10:12-22/

*Sermon*                          /“Undeserved love demands unreserved service”/

!!!!!! Introduction

Dear brother and sister in the Lord Jesus Christ,

We are forever servants of the Lord of heaven and earth.

As soon as the Christian reaches a point where he forgets his relationship to the Lord who saved him, as soon as he forgets the salvation in the Lord given to him be grace and grace alone, he loses his purpose as a Christian.

We need to constantly remember that God is not there for us, but we are there for Him.

He, although his love for us is unlimited and beyond comprehension, calls us to his service; He is not our servant.

The Word of God tonight gives us a picture of who God is, how unmerited our salvation is, and how we should love Him who loves us according to his love in Jesus Christ.

!!!!!! ; The underserved love of the unique and only God

For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes.

(Deuteronomy 10:17)

And further:

To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it.

(Deuteronomy 10:14)

; God and his creation

The heavens:  the highest – ; He is Lord of the universe.

It belongs to Him for He created it.

; Everything:  Nothing escapes his sovereign care and providence.

Mighty:  mighty warrior, possessing wisdom, might, counsel and understanding

; Awesome:  the One that demands fair and awe and admiration

Who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes:  He does not regard one’s face, and God is not deterred by anyone who thinks he should be reckoned with.

There is a connection between this verse and 15:  his election is not based on performance of the lost, but on his divine love.

Verse 21: He is the One we should rejoice in and show our constant thanks.

; God is mercifully at work to save

Yet the Lord set his affection on your forefathers and loved them, and He chose you, their descendants, above all the nations, as it is today.

(Deuteronomy 10:15)

; Affection:  This word stems from the word used for a spoke of a wheel attaching the hub of a wheel and the outer rim with one another.

A deep inward attachment (in a positive sense) is descriptive of God’s love of Israel.

; Unconditional election: He was bound to them of his own volition (love) and not because of anything good or desirable in them.

; His unconditional care for the helpless:

He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing.

(Deuteronomy 10:18)

!!!!!! ; Unreserved service as response to undeserved love

Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer.

(Deuteronomy 10:16)

; A new mind

Circumcise:  the external ritual of the symbol and seal of regeneration must be accompanied by a spiritual act of worship and obedience.

Stiff-necked:  hardened of will to follow one’s own mind, doing your own thing.

;  A new love and dedication to God

And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, (Deuteronomy 10:12)

Ask:  what naturally flows from a relationship where the receiver does not deserve a gift.

Fear:  Reverence and awe which inspires to acts of formal and informal worship.

Walk:  follow in obedience

Ways:  uprightness and truth; where God guides the righteous in straight paths.

Love: have a close relationship with God based on his expressed love for us.

Serve:  to give the commands of God expression by doing what He commands.

Heart:  inner man

Soul:  breath, inclination, total being.

Observe:  Keep, walk and act accordingly.

A new love and dedication to others

And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt.

(Deuteronomy 10:19)

Aliens:  sojourner, one with a permanent home

You yourselves:  God made the homeless to have permanent home and destination.

Therefore remember those who are now where you were.

!!!!!! Conclusion

Love makes obedience a thing of joy!

To do the will of one we like to please

Is never hardship, though it tax our strength;

Each privilege of service love will seize!

Love makes us loyal, glad to do or go,

And eager to defend a name or cause;

Love takes the drudgery from common work,

And asks no rich reward or great applause.

Love gives us satisfaction in our task,

And wealth in learning lessons of the heart;

Love sheds a light of glory on our toil

And makes us humbly glad to have a part.

Love makes us choose to do the will of God,

To run His errands and proclaim His truth;

It gives our hearts an eager, lilting song;

Our feet are shod with tireless wings of youth!

—Hazel Hartwell Simon

!!! Prayer

!!! Hymn:                            /“I am the bread” (MP 260, 3 verses)/