Sermon Tone Analysis

/the price of bravery/

At the start of the service we saw a five minute clip from the movie “Saving Private Ryan”.

Tom Hanks is a soldier and he gives his life in conflict so that his troops might live.

And as Private Ryan stares into the eyes of his commanding officer who is dying – the dying man whispers these words, “Earn this ... earn this”.

As if to say, “Make my death count ... make it worthwhile”.

Then Tom Hanks dies a hero.

The scene changes to the present and an aged Private Ryan ponders over his hero’s grave ... “was I really worthy of the sacrifice made for me so many years ago”?

And he turns to his wife for assurance.

It's a really good question.

If someone laid down their life for you, would you be a changed person?

It's not a hypothetical question.

The *Star of Courage* is only awarded for acts of conspicuous courage in circumstances of great peril.

ABC News online reported this story on 27 February 2006: “The father of a Toowoomba man who has been awarded a posthumous bravery award says his son acted unselfishly to save others.

Rodney Fiechtner was killed when he tried to prevent an explosion at a coal seam gas site near Surat in the state's southern inland in April 2003.

He has been awarded the nation's highest bravery award, the Star of Courage.

Mr Fiechtner's father, Colin, says his son was concerned others would have been hurt when gas started leaking from the drill rig”.

Rodney Fiechtner was a real hero.

[Or consider this story reported by Seven News reported on the 23 March, 2007: “A Woodridge teenager who drowned after saving his brother's life has been awarded a posthumous bravery medal.

The 13-year-old had just rescued his younger brother from a rip at a dangerous Noosa beach when a wave washed him away.

Luke's father, Jens Mikklesen, said he was so proud of his son”.

Two brothers – one gives his life for another.

How would you honour the life of a hero who sacrificed himself so that you can live?

Luke Mikklesen was a real hero.]

/people who need rescuing/

            /not righteous and good people/

Easter is a time when we talk about a young man, probably in his early thirties, who gave up his life so that we can have life.

Anyone who gives up his life for someone is, in my book, a hero.

But interestingly, there are two types of people who have trouble finding heroes.

The Bible says this much in Rom 5:7 (*on screen*), “very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die”.

Righteous people and good people have trouble finding heroes – especially righteous people.

Why is this so?

And why is someone less inclined to sacrifice themselves for a righteous person than for a good person?

Never thought about this before.

A righteous man must be worth less than a good man – seems a strange thing to say - like its a puzzle.

The answer is this: only people in trouble need rescuing.

Bravery awards are given when people risk or give their life to save someone in a hazardous situation – like what comes in a war zone or a coal mine – or being caught in a rip or trapped in a house which is burning down.

Heroes deny themselves in order to rescue others.

A righteous person doesn't really need rescuing from moral danger.

A righteous person lives “rightly” and stands “right” before God.

Maybe you are this sought of person.

You think you stand right before God and so you don't need a hero – you don't need rescuing.

On the other hand, good people occasionally do need rescuing.

Good but not perfect.

Maybe you live a good life but from time to time you occasionally need to be bailed out because your not so perfect all the time.

But you're still good - at least by your standards.

Righteous people and good people have little need for heroes because they do not find themselves in deep water with God.

So I wonder how good you are by God's standards?

It's not that you can't do good things – but how do your good things stack up against God? Are you good enough to save yourself or do you need a hero?

 

            /ungodly people need rescuing/

We need to pause for a moment and think about this idea of “good”.

It seems that one man's good can be another man's evil.

It horrifies me to think that there are people out there who really think that the destruction of the World Trade Centre is good.

It's hard to define “goodness” in politics.

Who are the “good” politicians?

Some will say the Greens, others Labour, others the Liberal Party.

Some people see good in Fred Nile.

What is “good parenting”?

It's a good thing to love your kids but after that everyone seems to have a different opinion on what’s good for them.

Knowing what is “good” can be confusing, not all the time but a lot of the time.

The Bible tells us what God thinks is good.

That's helpful, because “goodness” is a slippery idea and perhaps what I think is good is not what God thinks is good.

And so for “goodness sake” we need to get this sorted out!

 

God's summary of goodness is the 10 commandments.

Even if you've never been to church before, I'm sure you know some of these laws.

Maybe these ones, “Honour your father and your mother; You shall not murder; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; You shall not give false testimony against your neighbour; you shall not covet your neighbour's house or anything that belongs to your neighbour”.

Later on Jesus explains what it is to “murder” - and he says that anyone who is angry breaks this law.

Then Jesus is asked about adultery and he says, “Anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart”.

Stealing is plain wrong – whether its from work or the tax man.

Desiring more and more is simply greed and that is not good.

When Jesus is asked to sum up the 10 commandments he says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

And then, “Love your neighbour as yourself”.

This is God’s idea of goodness: loving him with every ounce of your being and loving others as you love yourself.

Showing your love by right living – living according to God’s law.

I wonder if you stack up to God’s idea of goodness?

I’ll let you in on a secret – you don’t.

And people who don’t stack up are called “ungodly people”.

It’s not meant to be derogatory term rather an accurate way of describing the way we really are.

People who are neither righteous or good are ungodly people.

Who is it that needs rescuing?

Who is it that needs a hero?

It's not the person who thinks himself righteous – he’s not looking for a hero.

And its not the person who reckons they’re really good – just good enough to scrape over the line.

The person that’s looking for a hero is the ungodly person.

God makes it clear that everyone needs a hero because there is no-one who is righteous or good, not even one!

Everyone needs a hero.

You and I need a hero.

/meet the real hero/

The words you see on the screen are part of a larger discussion.

Here’s the sentence that comes before these words (*slide*), “You see, just at the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly”.

People need rescuing because they’re not only ungodly but powerless to do anything about it.

We are not good enough to deserve a place in heaven and we are unable to do anything about it.

Ungodly and powerless.

Five London police officers were heroes when they entered into a burning house in June 2005 to rescue a mother and two children who were powerless to save themselves.

Ungodly people do not have the power to save themselves and will perish.

I reckon you cannot go even a week without breaking one of the ten commandments.

The boy caught in a rip was powerless to save himself.

And we are caught in a tide of ungodly living and we are powerless to save ourselves.

We are by nature neither righteous or good.

The word sin comes in here – a word used in all sorts of ways from selling ice cream to describing a good night out.

But sin is a serious word in the Bible – ungodly people express themselves in sinful thoughts and actions and cannot do anything else other than live in a way displeasing to God.