Sermon Tone Analysis

A couple of years back, my senior year at Frontier, a couple of my friends and I went to the Nebraska vs. Northern Illinois Game.

It was a great time, and we won believe it or not!

I think it was like half time of the game and the marching band came out to play.

They are doing there thing out there and making shapes out there, and I remember just thinking, wow I was in marching band in high school and we could barely walk in a straight line.

One thing about Nebraska’s marching band were the trumpets.

You could hear them crystal clear even though we were several rows up and they were on the field.

The trumpets would carry the melody, it was easy to notice them.

They stood out.

Even though we were quite a distance away, it was easy to pick them out.

Veterans day, just a couple of days ago, we honored our servicemen and woman, those still with us and those that gave their lives for our freedom.

At the school that day we had an assembly for an hour or two talking about the men and women who have served with their lives.

At one part of the ceremony taps was played.

It just rung out through the entire learning center.

At funerals for servicemen you can hear the resounding sound of taps being played.

Just like you could pick out the crystal cleat trumpets sounding off from way down on the field, in the same way taps is played, honoring our heroes, penetrating the still of a room, or the calm of the day, resounding, going out for all to hear.

Truth: Believers are called to be resounding trumpets.

Turn with me to 1 Thes.

1:1-10.

Pray

Lets buzz through verses 1-5.

Paul and his co-authors say hi.

They address there letter to the church.

They were made the church by God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul is thankful to God always for the church in Thessalonica and is praying for them.

There is a lesson even there to be reminded of to be thankful and praying for our church our brothers and sisters in Christ.

He approves of how their faith is working and their hope in Jesus.

He affirms their calling that they are loved by God and chosen.

The gospel came to them in word, and in power of the Holy Spirit, basically they didn’t just hear the gospel, but allowed the Spirit to come in and transform their lives.

Paul reminds them of the example that the leaders had shown the people.

Truth: Believers are called to be resounding trumpets.

INTERROGATIVE SENTENCE: What melody should my life be making?

What melody should my life be making to bring glory to God?

TRANSITION: Today we are going to look at 3 different melodies that we as believers should be making.

1. THE MELODY OF FAITH (1:6-8)

Imitated faith: received though affliction and with joy (v. 6)

The Thessalonians received the word from Paul and Silas and it was not easy for them.

You see, in Acts 17 we are told the account of the Gospel first being presented to the Thessalonians.

Paul reasoned with the people of the town, and some of them saw the truth that he was presenting, and they accepted it.

They accepted the truth and the word of Acts 17:3 which says, “it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead.”

They also believed in the truth that, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.”

If you have not accepted Jesus as the Christ, the only one who can give you freedom from your sins and grant you eternal life, then I encourage you to do so right now.

It's not a fancy prayer or feeling.

It is coming to God in humility and accepting God’s gift for what it is.

A gift to be accepted by faith.

There is no way that our lives can be a resounding melody for Christ if we are not even in Christ.

If we do not have our faith in Christ, there is no end goal in our minds; there is no hope in our life.

In the Acts 17 passage, we would see the Thessalonians acceptance of the word through affliction.

In first Thessalonians, we see how the Thessalonians had accepted the truth and were living the truth, just as Paul was and just as Christ did on this earth.

And what else?

We see at the end of verse 6 that they did it with joy!

A joy given by the Holy Spirit and only possible through the Holy Spirit.

Chiefly, the melody that the people were making back then was that of a believing heart and a life being lived like Christ and for Christ.

The Thessalonians were living like Christ.

We see that our melody of faith should be an imitated faith and as we look on verses 7-8 we see that our faith should be an exemplary faith.

Exemplary faith: in their own region, in other regions, and everywhere (v.

7-8)

The Thessalonians faith was exemplary.

If we were to look at a map of the region we see Thessalonica was in the region of modern day northern Greece.

At the time, northern Greece was the region of Macedonia.

In the passage we see that the imitators, or the Thessalonians, were now becoming the imitated.

They were now being a good example to the believers in Macedonia.

They were being a good example to the believers both in their own region of Macedonia, and in the southern region of Achaia, or modern day southern Greece.

At my school in Kansas, the high school was known for its stellar football team.

They had gone 5 straight years without losing a single game.

Smith Center, Kansas was known for its football.

All the kids in grade school looked up to the football team.

They would collect trading cards and cheer faithfully for the players at games.

Even communities from down the road respected the football program at Smith Center.

The team was an example to those in their own region, and the region around them.

In an even more important way, we should be an example to our community and everyone around us by being imitators of Christ.

In verse 8 we see most clearly the picture of the resounding trumpet.

The words, “rang out,” or in my translation, “sounded forth,” carry the idea of a trumpet whose melody is filling the entire area.

Me mentioning the Smith Center, Kansas football team to you, probably didn’t mean anything.

We are quite a ways off here in Nebraska.

It makes this passage even more convicting that our faith should be going forth everywhere!

But how is this accomplished?

It's not accomplished by one individual.

It is a task given to the whole church body, not just to missionaries, or pastors, or church leaders.

Here in Thessalonians the entire church was commended and encouraged to keep letting the melody of faith ring forth from them.

You will notice in each commission passage it tells us to go into the world.

They are addressed to every one of us.

They are addressed to you.

They are addressed to me.

The last part of verse 8 is convicting.

It says, “so we need not say anything.”

There was nothing that Paul would add that would enhance their outreach.

The Thessalonians were resounding trumpets in their communities.

They were sharing the whole truth that was needed.

Transition: Believers are called to be resounding trumpets.

We should be resounding the melody of faith through our imitation of Christ and others before us.

We should be a resounding example of faith.

The melody of faith is of utmost importance because from it flow all of the other melodies that we should be making.

Believers are called to be resounding trumpets by making the melody of faith, and by allowing....

2. THE MELODY OF TRANSFORMATION (1:9)

Life-altering transformation: turned to God from idols (v.

9b)

The faith in a believer's life should be characterized by a melody of life-altering transformation.

The people in Thessalonica were worshiping a variety of greek gods.

The main greek god that they worshipped was named Cabirus.

In their culture he was the “martyr” God.

Cabirus, they claimed, was slain and would come back from the dead to deliver the Thessalonians.

So I want you to imagine now that you are a Thessalonian man or woman or child.