Sermon Tone Analysis
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Our theme for 2021 (which is almost over) is “Redeeming the Time”
In March I laid out a new vision for the church.
“Encounter God’s Transforming Love” became our new motto.
Our process steps are Respond- Restore - Release - Relate.
As we came into the advent season it was time to reiterate the process - but it also corresponds to the themes of advent.
Hope requires a response.
Peace comes from allowing God to restore.
Joy is found in release as we live out our calling.
And then there is love which permeates everything.
The first three steps are sequential.
Respond leads to restore - Hope leads to peace.
Restore leads to release - Peace leads to Joy.
But Love stands apart as does relate.
Relate is not a sequential step, because it starts even before we respond.
But I put it at the end to remind us that after everything else, we are still relating.
· Relate – We want to do all this together, helping and encouraging each other as a family in Christ.
To do this, we need to be intentional about fellowship throughout our spiritual journey.
Whether near or far, the relationships that we establish are of eternal value.
We have people who were part of this church at one time, but are now serving the Lord elsewhere, but we are still connected and we value those relationships.
In fact, people who are sent out from this church rely on the prayer and relational support.
I have often said that as missionaries we can only do what we do because of the prayers of supporters.
So what does this have to do with Christmas or Advent?
Well first because love is the theme for this fourth Sunday of advent.
And “Relate” reminds us to love and to prioritize relationship above all else.
But when we think of Christ coming to earth; He didn’t just come to save us, He came to relate to us - to show us what it really means to love.
The one writing is the Apostle John.
He is the longest living of the original apostles.
He is writing to combat heresy that Jesus is some sort of mystical being - either not fully human or not fully God.
The gnostics would say that Jesus was just a man, but that he was possesses with some kind of spirit or ghost.
“He’s not a ghost!
He’s my friend!”
John would say.
Relationship is tangible.
God became flesh
He was fully God and yet fully man.
We are so used to hearing it that perhaps you have never stopped to think what a staggering truth this is?
God relates to you.
God became a man.
God became like us.
God became one of us.
He didn’t just take human form temporarily.
He was born, he grew, he lived and he died.
He had the whole human experience.
He experienced pain.
He experience disappointment.
He experienced rejection and betrayal.
He experienced loss.
He knows what it is to feel helpless, even as the Son of God.
As you consider your relationship with God, does it help to know that God can relate to you?
Isn’t that what it means to be in relationship?
Aren’t shared experiences important?
God knows you.
Who knows you?
Do I know you?
Do I really know you if I only ever see you in church?
What if I have been to your house?
What if I know your family?
What if I know something about your life?
Your story.
Your challenges.
Your likes and dislikes.
Your dreams and aspiration.
How many people in your life really know you?
You can have thousands of friends on Facebook, but do they know you?
You can have hundreds of acquaintances, people who would recognize you and know you by name, but do they really know you?
You have neighbors, work colleagues, friends from various chapters of your life.
There are people who know a part of you.
They see you in one context, but they don’t know the whole story.
You may even have close friends, but you are only close in certain ways and you only share part of yourself, because there is another part that they just wouldn’t understand.
I have even known people who do this with their spouse, they show only the side of themselves that their spouse is willing to see but they have another part of their life that their spouse doesn’t share.
For some that is their faith that they keep to themselves to keep peace in their other relationships.
Isn’t it good to know that God knows all of you.
He knows all about you - and not just your spiritual side.
He is there in your day to day life as well.
He knows all about your job, your studies, or your hobby.
He even knows your friends who don’t know or acknowledge him.
That’s right - they don’t have to believe in God because God believes in them.
He even knows your private thoughts, your hopes and your dreams.
And your doubt, fears and frustrations too.
God loves you.
I’m here to tell you that God knows you and He loves you.
Does God love my sin?
I’m not saying that God loves everything about you.
But I am saying that God understands your weakness and he loves you anyway.
The point is that God not only know what you do, but He knows why you do what you do.
He knows you better that you know you.
God sees something in you that you may not see in yourself.
He sees His image in you.
He sees the person that He created.
He sees His image tarnished and distorted, but totally redeemable.
He sees potential, possibility and even destiny.
Our human frailty and weakness is no longer a barrier to relationship.
He has been here.
He knows weakness and frailty.
He knows what we have to overcome.
But He also overcame it and is ready to show us the way
God’s love for us is so incredible, why would anyone not receive it?
Actually there is a very good reason why.
Relationship is vulnerability.
It all comes down to power.
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