Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Galatians 5:13-26*
I can always tell when it’s time to get a haircut because the drain in the shower starts to plug up with hair, hair that continues to fall out of my head.
Well, that’s what happened the other day.
After having water up to her ankles for the past week Laura finally said, “Bruce, it is time for a hair cut!”
So that’s what I did.
I went over to my neighbor’s house and she cut my hair.
But you know, the funny thing is,
the next morning the drain was still plugged.
Getting my haircut didn’t clean out the drain.
I thought about the soapy, hairy glob that was down in the drain.
What would be the best way to clean out the slimy, goopy interior of the drain?
I knew exactly what to do.
I got out a rag and a bucket of soapy water and began to clean up the shower walls and shine up the shower head.
I was *sure* the glob of stuff would disappear with a good shine.
When I was through that shower sparkled.
But when I turned on the water it still backed up.
No problem, I thought.
I knew what to do.
“What this shower needs in a new environment, a new start”.
I thought
“Put the past behind, that’s what I always say!”
So I pulled the shower out of the bathroom and put it in the kitchen.
The refrigerator and the microwave don’t know what the shower had been through.
“We’ll just pretend like the clog never happened” I whispered to the shower.
I introduced the shower to everyone.
The other appliances where thrilled to have a newcomer and threw a party for the shower.
Everyone loved the new flowery shower curtain.
“This is going great!”,
I thought to myself.
You can imagine my surprise the next morning when I turned the water on and the back up was worse than before.
I couldn’t understand it.
I was sure the new environment and new friends would cure the inside of my drain.
Not to be deterred, I pressed on.
“Hmmm, maybe the problem is the shower just doesn’t know how to act like a shower.
It doesn’t understand
that its purpose is to spray and drain water.
Maybe if I provided some standards, some rules to live by, a sort of “drainage code” that would do the trick.”
So I sat down with a pen and paper and began to write.
I made a list of what I expected from the shower.
Things like when to spray, how hard to spray, how hot the water should be depending on who is in it, when and when not to turn on the pulsating action, and things like that.
Oh, and, of course, when to drain.
Now *everyone* knew
just what was expected of the shower.
So when I turned the water on, I was shocked!
I just couldn’t understand it.
The drain was still plugged.
Now I know what you are thinking.
The only thing worse than my story is my common sense.
Who would concentrate on the outside when the problem is on the inside?
Do you really want to know?
* The man who leaves his wife of 15 years, blaming her for his anger.
* The lonely kid who pierces himself to be part of the crowd.
* The lady who moves out of town to escape the pain and anguish of a broken relationship.
* The young mom who goes on a shopping spree to deal with the stress of small children making demands on her all day long.
* The so-called good girl who does all the right things and is pleasant to be around but lacks real passion and purpose for life.
These people attempted to solve their problems their own way.
As a result they have only dealt with the exterior, changing their circumstances without addressing the heart of the issue.
The only thing they have managed to do is to “shine up” a hairy, goopy, slimly, grimy, selfish, prideful flesh, independent of God.
In reality the real problems have not gone away.
And they feel trapped.
Trapped in their own sinful ways.
Because they either don’t understand the nature of the battle or they just refuse to recognize the ugliness of their own flesh-driven heart.
What does our passage say about the battle?
Gal 5:13, /“For you were called to freedom/…”.
The huge controversy in the Galatian churches was the idea of adding works of the law to their faith.
Let’s camp here for a second.
Can you think of any rules Christians have made up in order to look more holy?
I purposefully used the work “look” because these rule only deal with the outward appearance and don’t really change you.
Rules like
“Don’t go to R-rated movies.”
“Don’t drink, smoke, dance or curse.”
“Don’t listen to rock n roll music.”
“Wear your Sunday best to church.”
Or how about saying “Grace “ at a restaurant when you are with other Christians, but not when you’re at home alone.
Strict adherence to rules makes us just like the Pharisees when Jesus said to them, (Matt 23:27) “You Hypocrites, you are like whitewashed tombs.
Pretty on the outside, but on the inside full of dead men’s bones.”
What a shallow life, what a hollow life.
In Gal 5:13 Paul says you were called to freedom.
Free from what?
*Free from pursuing rules as a way of becoming more acceptable.*
But freedom from the law does not mean that we are free to do whatever we please.
“only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh.”
The word “opportunity” means literally a base of operations for a expedition.
Paraphrased, the verse says, “Don’t use your freedom as a base of operations for your flesh to do its dirty deeds.”
Many people see only two options in this verse.
Either you stick to the rules or you allow your flesh to take over, having the attitude,
“I am saved!
I am forgiven!
So who really cares what I do?”
But the Bible is clear that we are not free to do anything our sinful nature wants.
So where does that put us?
If law keeping is unacceptable and license is unacceptable, perhaps we ought to be somewhere in between?
But how can a little bit of rule following and a little bit of lawlessness be right?
And where exactly is the right balance?
Let’s read on…Gal 5:13 “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”
Ah, Paul is suggesting a totally new way of living, a totally new way of becoming Christ-like.
*He rejects law and license for love.*
Let your freedom act as a base of operation, a starting off point for love, love that expresses itself in service to others.
The Greek word for service is the verb form of the word for slave.
It could be translated, therefore, as “serve one another in a humble manner”, referring to the way in which a slave would serve his master.
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