Sermon Tone Analysis

O.B.C.

7~/21~/02

*                      **"Stability in the Storms"*

\\ Jn. 14:1-6

 

Statistically it is verifiable now: If your aim is to be safe in life:

·Do NOT ride in automobiles: they cause 20% of all fatal accidents.

·Do NOT stay home: 17% of all accidents do occur in the home.

·Do NOT walk on the streets or sidewalks: 14% of all accidents happen to

pedestrians.

·Do NOT travel by air, rail, or water: 16% of all accidents happen on these.

·Only .001%

(one - one thousandths)  of all deaths occur in worship services in church, and these are related to previous physical disorders.

Hence, the safest place for you to be at any time is in church.

!

How big is fear?

ill.

Esther Pauline Lederer, known to her 90,000,000 daily readers as  “Ann Landers” died last month at age 83.

She called herself the “General manager of the World”.

As the queen of the advice business, she received on average 10,000 letters per month.

The pattern of those letters reveals that people are afraid: -fear losing health  -fear losing wealth -fear dying  -fear living.

For most people fear is a constant companion.

(Review) The 13th chapter of John has two main characters other than the Lord Himself--Judas and Peter

     Judas betrayed Christ, Peter denied Him!

At first glance those acts look to be very similar.

And yet Judas' name is connected with shame.

Peter's is a name we have come to love and identify with.

Why the difference?

*Judas*-Judas' betrayal was absolutely deliberate; carried out in cold blood; it was the result of careful thought and planning-in the end, he betrayed Christ by two horrendous acts: sharing of the sop (symbol of commitment) and a kiss  (token of friendship).

*Peter*-Nothing was less deliberate than the denial of Peter;            

                        -he never meant to do it  -he didn't plan it   -he was swept away by powerful spiritual forces that he did not adequately understand or know how to deal with.

"Peter's sin was the sin of a moment's weakness and a lifetime's regret."

It was done out of fear.

When we are afraid, we don’t make wise decisions.

We find a group of men, followers of Jesus, in the midst of a mid-life crisis.

Life was falling in on them.

Dreams were crumbling around their feet.

This was happening precisely because they were following Jesus.

Similar experiences often happen to Christians today.

-spell out your emotions-anxiety, fear, depression, faith wavering

 

If we could get through the layers of our lives to the core of our being,  more times than not fear is at the core of the human personality.

The first words after the fall from man to God,  in Gen. 3:10-* "I heard the sound of you in the garden and I was afraid."*

In a fallen world, fear looms large in most lives.

At times, it can paralyze.

Put yourself in these disciples (sandals):

-one would betray -Peter (their leader) would deny (perplexed)

-Christ was going away- sad about this prospect

ashamed- struggling for power- faith is wavering (Jesus says, *"Stop letting your hearts be tossed and agitated like water driven by the wind.")*

Jesus speaks to their emotional storm (read v. 1-6)

     Christ doesn't offer a shallow Pollyanna type of Christianity that says: "It will all work out!" , "This too shall pass!" (We must avoid this temptation).

It is not sufficient to say "Just Trust God" and stop there.

Within a couple miles of here, this week, there have been storms.

A house struck by lightning burned to the ground~/  murder – suicide~/ marriages crumbling ~/ life-threatening sicknesses have been discovered.

It’s another week on a cursed earth.

The direction of Christ's teaching is saying that in the midst of emotional storms-dreams crumbling.... there's only one thing to do- with a bull-dogged determination continue to trust God.

v.1) continue to believe in God, continue to believe in Me also.

thru ch.

14, there are a number of elements of comfort; continue to believe this

(v.

1-6 prepared place, promised event, particular person)

Three keys to stability in life's storms

*I.

Prepared Place (v.

2)*

Our imaginations run wild and amok: (house you always wanted!)

"I've got a mansion, just over the hill top"

"A tent or a cottage, why should I care, they're building a palace for me over there"

possible suggested ways to understand “dwelling places”:

Father's house- describes heaven

1.  graded heaven

faithful-palace on Main Street ~/  unfaithful-shack on the back streets with four walls

There will be degrees of reward in heaven, but this whole “mansion scenario” smacks more of western materialism than biblical revelation.

2.  dwelling places

neutral term-not descriptive

v. 2, v. 23, "abode" "place to stay"

ill.

Picture of an Oriental homestead (similar to Amish practice) room for all of you!

disciples would not have fixed on "place" but 'with Father' (we are product of our materialistic culture - if your  "dream home" has been taken away-sorry!

Reach higher)

(next phrase) * If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

*(some version have this as a question- there were no question marks in the original greek)

-quiet rebuke to their wavering faith  "Have I ever lied to you?"

-"I'm not fickle, I'm going to prepare for you!"

-If what the Sadducees teach (no resurrection) was true, I'd have told you all about that.

I go to prepare a place for you.

The statement raises some questions:

He spoke the world into existence,..."What's taking so long?"

Does it mean after Christ said "It is finished" completed His work- sat down by the Father and the Father said, "You'd better start preparing a place for the redeemed."

So, Jesus sharpens His saws, etc...

Perhaps, (my inclination) as Christ looked forward to His atoning work on the cross, He saw in the fulfilling of His that mission, the preparation of the place.

Without that, there would be no place.

Christ goes to prepare.

–It was probably an allusion to their custom of having one person going before others to make necessary preparations.

forerunner  Heb.

6:20 *"Where Jesus entered as a forerunner for us,..."*

ill.-small ship that led large grain ships into harbor at Alexandria

ill.-reconnaissance troop in Roman army go out in advance of main troops.

Summary-Christ draws our attention to our prepared place

-to give stability in the storm

-to handle emotions of fear, anxiety, depression, despair

Look beyond the storm.

Ill.

Professor Hindson- “Keep looking up!”

*II.