Sermon Tone Analysis

4 Steps to Fix any problem

Intro-

So before we dive in here I feel it necessary to explain a bit about what I am attempting to do.

I am using the big problem and reason for all of our problems, sin, as an example of how I believe God wants us to resolve all of our problems large and small.

These four steps we will talk about will work for spiritual or earthly issues, and they will work for personal and congregational problems.

But, they all work together and in this order.

If you don’t do number 1 you will have no reason to do number 4. If you don’t do number 2 you will never figure out number 3. If your a bit confused just stay with me for a while and by the grace of God, it will make sense.

My goal here is to show you that this systematic method we are about to look at works.

Even though content of this message is extremely important, especially if you have not put your faith in Christ, the main thing I want to get across to you is this process.

I (and probably a lot of you also) have spent a good portion of my life troubleshooting things.

It started for me probably when I was about 16.

My twin brother and I used to have a car that had a fairly decent stereo system in it.

We installed it ourselves.

We also identified the problems when something went wrong.

Sometimes it was a loose wire sometimes it was a bit more complicated.

No matter what it was we always tried to fix it ourselves.

Then I joined the Navy and was training for the Electronics Technician Rate.

We had this machine that we would put circuit boards on, put in a certain code that would fault a certain component.

We would then use an oscilloscope to trace and discover what was wrong with it.

In my personal life, being a homeowner and parent, I spend a ton of time tracing and fixing issues at home.

Water leaks, electrical issues, children’s toys, and even human injuries to a certain extent to name a few.

In my professional life, I spent 10 years working for a company that designed and built Computer Control Systems for Industrial refrigeration.

Part of my responsibilities was software testing.

We would use a simulation device to increase and decrease pressures and temperatures and make sure everything was working.

Sometimes a simulated sensor would not trigger the desired response.

It would go back to the software department so that they could trace the issue in the code (that was well above my head).

I install septic systems and even though I am usually putting in new systems there are always issues that arise that I need to troubleshoot and find a solution too so the system can be installed and work properly.

Of course the first step to any troubleshooting operation is CHECK THE SETUP.

In other words make sure it is plugged in and the switch is on.

Check the basics first.

But, even this step comes after realizing something is not operating as it is intended.

This premise of troubleshooting is also sometimes how I and I am sure most Pastor’s decide what to preach.

We see an issue within our own lives usually and sometimes in the lives of the congregation and we attempt to repair this issues (through no work of our own but through the Holy Spirit) by looking to scripture to see what caused it, what options are there to fix it, and how do we implement the best option.

Similar to the trouble shooting of things in our lives, most times it is best to see what the creator of that object says the problem and solutions could be.

Identify that there is a problem

Everything wrong and bad in the world is our fault collectively as Humans.

God's Creation was perfect until we allowed it to be corrupted by sin.

Adam and Eve had an unadulterated, uninterrupted presence with God in the Garden until they gave into deception and temptation.

As a result of their disobedience they were removed from the Garden and the presence of God.

Sin

When it comes to Humanity, sin is the problem.

Always.

It is the only problem.

Without sin we would have no pain, or sadness, or sickness, or death.

No deceit, or anger.

No worry, anxiety or depression.

Everything bad that we face today is caused by sin.

Now I am not saying that every illness you have, or the death of a loved one is caused directly by a specific sin of yours.

That’s what Jobs' friends claimed and they were rebuked by God for it.

I am saying that without the stain of sin on this world there would be none of that.

Let’s look ahead for a moment to Revelation 21 where a New Heaven and New Earth are being revealed to the Apostle John.

John says all the tears of men will be wiped away by God himself, and there shall be no more death, no Sorrow, no crying.

Never another hint of pain.

Later in the chapter John sees a city, The New Jerusalem descending from heaven.

He goes on to describe the beauty of this amazing Holy City.

Read it, it sounds amazing.

This place is so radiantly beautiful John says it doesn’t even need the Sun.

Revelation 21:24-27 “24 By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, 25 and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there.

26 They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations.

27 But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”

Then in verse 24 John says And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.

Then we skip down to verse 27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life

This is how we would live had there never been sin.

Every relationship problem, every worry, every ache and pain, every death, every disaster, every bad day at work, cancer, Covid-19, our brothers and sisters in Christ scared to come back to Church, ALL OF IT STARTED WHEN OUR REPRESENTATIVE, ADAM, WAS DECEIVED BY SATAN AND ATE THAT FRUIT

Assess The Cause

Now that the problem has been identified we need to see what caused the issue so we can fix it.

As I stated earlier the first step to any troubleshooting is to check the setup.

God did the setup on this one so we can skip that step because we know that part was done correctly.

So what is the cause of sin?

I would love to get into a deep theological debate here about where sin actually came from but we won't dive that deep on that today.

I will mention that God is Holy and can do no evil and sin is evil.

Therefore he could not have started sin.

He could however allow sin to enter in.

Point is: God is Holy and can not sin.

All the world's problems stem from 3 things.

We find these things laid out in John’s first epistle.

1 John 2:16 “16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.”

It may seem like an oversimplification of such a complexly messed up world but when we break it down ALL SIN STARTS WITH ONE OF THESE THREE THINGS.

Even Adam’s Sin.

Even Satan’s Sin.

EVEN the temptations of Jesus fall directly into these three categories.

The desires of the flesh, Satan tell s Jesus to make the stones become bread.

The Pride of life, Satan then said throw yourself off the top of this temple you are too important for God to allow anything to happen to you.

He wont even allow you to stub your toe.

The lust of the eyes, Satan showed Jesus, he didn’t just tell him about them, he showed to Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and said all this I will give to you if only you bow down and worship me.

The lust of the flesh, the pride of life, and the lust of the eyes

We see all three of these things very clearly affecting Adam and Eve’s action in Genesis 3.

The desires of the flesh in 1 John 2:16 refers to the hedonistic urges in us as humans.

Hedonism is the pursuit of pleasure.

Eve saw that the tree was good for food?

Genesis 3:6 “6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food,...”

Back in verses 1-3 of Genesis 3 it was established that this one tree was the only tree that they could not eat from.

This tree was not needed for food.

There was plenty of food.

This tree was desirable for food.

Eve thought this tree would be pleasing, it was desirable.

She wanted the pleasure that would surely come from eating the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden.

The Desires of the flesh

Man is this world currently overrun with Hedonism.

The sexuality movement of our day for example.