Sermon Tone Analysis
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Introduction: Every Christmas Amanda and I usually get eachother some sort of board game or card game.
And of course then we have to figure out how to play.
We read the directions.
But at some point, we have to say, maybe it will make more sense as we play so we get under way.
But we never let the directions get too far away so we can check that we are playing by the rules.
And everytime we play again, we have to come back to the directions just to check and see.
How do we learn how to play the game of life (I don’t mean the boardgame)?
Where will we go to figure out how to play.
Many people just start playing without any indication of how to play.
Is it possible that God has given us some instructions?
Maybe call it the Bible?
Transition to the Text: Turn with me in your Bibles to Galatians 5:16-25.
The Galatian church had some issues understanding how people were to be saved.
Paul wrote to correct them about the nature of Salvation.
Specifically they, like many of us today struggle with the concept of salvation as a free gift of God.
The Galatians though they were saved by works and faith.
Paul said no, you are saved by grace for good works.
Works doesn’t save you, but that doesn’t mean you can do whatever you want.
That’s where the holy spirit comes into play.
Introduce:
Authentic Principle: Authentic Principle: Christians are guided by a different Spirit than the world.
Read:
Authentic Principle: Christians are guided by a different Spirit than the world.
When it comes to being spirit led, many of us wonder how that works.
In what way does the Spirit lead?
Well the Bible is inspired by God as the Holy Spirit carried the wirters.
Therefore being led by the spirit means to be led by the Bible as understood with the help of the holy Spirit.
1.
The Church must clearly understand and teach what is wrong.
(Galatians 5:16-18)
Explanation: We live in a world that is constantly disputing right and wrong.
Whenever we have these conversations it’s important to remind ourselves that we are not saved by good works or even limiting our bad works.
When we approach the 2 lists in this passage, it’s easy to read each list and think that’s what saves you for hell.
At the forefront of our mind, we need to remember that salvation is by grace through faith.
we need to constantly remind ourselves
Ok so if works don’t save us and sin doesn’t condemn us, why worry about how we will live?
Well Paul also writes in
So there is this balance between being saved by grace and the call to holiness.
Holiness does not mean perfection.
But it does mean that as we follow more and more after Jesus, we will become more like him.
As we become more like him, our lives reflect something different from the world.
So yes, there is a wrong way to live.
And as a church we have a responsibility to teach right and wrong.
When we talk about authentic relationships in the church, we admit that part of having an authentic relationship is the responsibility to hold others accountable.
We demonstrate God’s love in our relationships through vulnerability, transparency and accountability.
First we must be vulnerable and transparent in our own lives.
We need to fight the temptation to believe that Christians must be perfect.
We must fight this temptation in our own life as well as in the lives of others.
In the end we begin to see one another as we are.
Sinful people in need of a savior.
S we point people to Jesus.
But all of this is dependent upon accepting that there is an objective standard of right and wrong.
Right and wrong are not culturally constructed.
Nearly every culture in the world seems to believe in right and wrong.
And for the most part, it agrees.
But things are beginning to change.
We live in this world where truth has become relative.
Where everyone gets to decide for them what is right.
We are even told we can’t impress our values upon other people.
But there is right and wrong.
And it’s not something that’s up for debate.
And for Christians, we don’t just believe that the Bible is our standard of right and wrong, but that it is the standard of right and wrong.
Even for the whole world.
Why? Because, we know that a day of reckoning is coming when we will all stand before Jesus and give an accounting of how we live our lives.
The standard of how we our judged is God’s perfect law.
So as we approach Galatians 5:16, we are given a clear contrast between the “desires of the flesh” and the “fruit of the Spirit.”
To start, Paul tells us that our goal is not to be sinless, but led by the Spirit.
Now here’s the paradox.
Many think that by following the spirit that God is getting in the way of our fun and that we are restricted with a list of things we can’t do.
But Paul and pretty much all of the Scripture tells us that it’s actually sin that enslaves us and keeps us from doing the things we actually want to do.
Every single person who ever lived has a desire for meaning and significance.
They want their life to mean something.
But Paul tells us the only true meaning comes for following Jesus and admitting that we are not God nor lord of our own life.
Paul says, “if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.”
It is only by being led by the Spirit that you are truly free.
Paul begins the first list, the desires of the flesh, by saying that the desires of the flesh are evident.
They are clear.
On full display.
This will be in contrast to the fruit of the Spirit which are subtle.
The Word of God speaks often to the importance of sexual integrity.
This is a tough subject for us to talk about in our time.
The world has changed the way we we’re allowed to address issues related to the LGBTQ+ community.
Even sermons that seek to present a traditional understanding of Marriage and gender are seen as hate speech.
And a recent law passed in Canada now makes it illegal for even a pastor to counsel a person struggling with SSA towards a biblical understanding of sexuality.
This will happen in the US in the next few years.
Divorce and remarriage are so rampant in our culture, even in the church, some are completely doing away with the concept of marriage entirely.
But let’s not pretend that the changing winds of culture is someone new.
The United States is still tame when compared to the Roman empire which Paul was writing under.
But still we are seeing the dismantling of the Christian values in our own culture and it’s only going to get worse.
Paul writes that those who “do such thing” will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
This might seem scary for us as there are at least a few things in this list that all of us are guilty of.
But the idea behind do, is not in a single occurence, but in the continual practice of these things.
There can come a point, and really has in the world around us when people get so used to living life however they want that it doesn’t even both them anymore.
And what’s worse, we begin to blame other people for our own sin.
Fits of anger become justified because someone else prompted it.
Rivalries are about getting the better of those you see as your enemies.
Dissensions and divisions become about being right more than being loving.
Envy becomes about what you think you deserve.
Illustration: Zombie shows and movies have been popular as of late.
And these moves depict what happens when you take a human and strip them of their morality and personality leaving only their fleshly desires.
It’s somewhat of a metaphor for the way people live their lives.
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