Sermon Tone Analysis

INTRO: One Sunday morning, a fellow named Jeremy was driving down the street on his way to pick up some supplies from the hardware store- he had a growing honey-do list that he was determined to tackle.

Between his home and the store were 5 churches.

That was a fact largely unnoticed by Jeremy.

But this Sunday, the churches all seemed to pop out at him.

Bible verses on the signs, cars in the parking lot… Jeremy wondered why these people would waste a Sunday to sit in uncomfortable benches… what went on in there?

By the time Jeremy reached the 5th church, his curiosity had taken him over and he pulled into the church parking lot.

Slowly, he continued to the doors of the sanctuary.

Music was playing, and he could hear the sounds of voices singing.

This brought a smile to his face that was a mixture of amusement and intrigue.

Soon enough Jeremy found himself standing in the very back doorway taking in the sight of this congregation.

Finally, a man stood and opened the Bible and began telling about a God who made everything and about how this God loves His creation.

Jeremy hadn’t heard this before.

Who is this God?, he wondered.

Time seemed to speed up as Jeremy drank in every word from the pastor’s lips.

By the time the service had ended, Jeremy was visibly moved- weeping like he had never before.

A couple sitting close to the back came to him and shared with him how he could be forgiven and receive Jesus as Lord and Savior.

Jeremy’s life was changed that day.

He was overwhelmed with joy and suddenly realized that his plans for the day had been derailed.

When he returned home, his wife was angry that he had been gone so long and wanted to hear nothing of his story about the church.

Jeremy’s life was changed significantly, but at the same time, it was still the same.

He was married to an unbeliever.

His friends were all unbelievers.

He knew his heart was different, but he wrestled with what it all meant.

Was this salvation something only for the future after death?

Was he expected to abandon all the relationships and ties to his life as an unbeliever?

Did he need to move?

Get a new job?

HOW IS THIS SUPPOSED TO WORK?!?!?

Perhaps you can understand Jeremy’s plight.

How did his life as a Christian relate to his life just hours before he heard and responded to the Gospel?

The Corinthian believers faced similar challenges.

The Gospel had been proclaimed and many of them had responded.

Thus, a church was born.

Even so, many of these new believers had family who had not understood or accepted the Gospel.

Husbands with unsaved wives and children.

Wives with unsaved husbands.

The city of Corinth had not changed.

The single folks realized that the dating field for Christians was a mere fraction of the population...

What we see in Corinth is similar to Jeremy’s conundrum… maybe similar to your situation too.

How is a Christian to go about these relationships?

How can we counsel new believers in this area of life?

If you picked up a bulletin, I invite you to make use of the sermon guide and let’s discover together Paul’s tips on how Christians are to approach their relationships.

The sermon is entitled “Saved and Confused”

The first tip Paul gives is to:

Be A Missionary In Your Home (10-17)

Like I mentioned earlier, some the Corinthians who had responded in faith to the Gospel had spouses and other family who had not.

This spurred their question to Paul, “What do I do?”

You see, on the one hand, they were now married to an unbeliever - unequally yoked as Paul would call it later on.

They wanted to know how to live out their faith when those in their own home, especially their spouses, did not believe similarly.

We can only speculate how they came to the conclusion that maybe they should cut ties with their families and start over… Perhaps they looked to the commands to the Jews in Nehemiah or other OT passage where God called the Jews to be separate.

Regardless, the mission of the Gospel informs Paul’s advice.

Let’s read what he had to say in v. 10-16 (READ)

Paul is urging the Christians in Corinth to remain in their relationship in order that they might be able to share the life-saving hope of the Gospel with their unbelieving spouses.

I want to point out just a couple things to you here:

Marriages that are not centered on Christ in the beginning can in fact be shifted to be Biblically lived out.

This only happens as both husband and wife find consensus in Christ.

As the one in your relationship who has experienced the life-changing truth of the Cross, you are effectively commissioned as a missionary to shine the light of Jesus in your home.

Do you share your home with an unbeliever?

Let me share some ideas how you can be a missionary in your home:

You can do this through your attitude- by being gracious and forgiving, kind and willing to serve your family.

You can do this through your actions - demonstrate how you have been changed; how you have turned from sin and how you have found joy in Christ alone

You can do this through words - Speak the truth of God’s Word in love.

Paul tells us in Rom. 10, that the one who does not know Jesus cannot come to believe in Him if they are never told.

You can do this by praying for them.

Friends, only the Holy Spirit can bring us to a place of conviction and understanding.

You cannot do it on your own, so you must be diligent in prayer.

If you are married to an unbeliever this morning, I want you to know that there is still hope that they will come to understand and respond to the Hope offered through the Gospel.

DON’T GIVE UP!!

Another thing Paul brings out here is children.

If you are married to an unbeliever and you have kids, Paul says that you are a missionary for them as well.

As you live out your testimony before your spouse, so also you live it out before your children.

Now, while Paul only addresses these two relationships directly, I think we could easily apply this truth to those of you here who have children or grandchildren that have yet to trust in Jesus.

To you, I want to encourage you as well- BE MISSIONARIES!

BE INTENTIONAL!

And listen, you may not see the fruits of your labor, but just as Esther was placed in the King’s court at a pivotal moment in history, I believe that God has placed each of you in your families for such a time as this.

Be a missionary in your home.

Discuss: What does it look like to be intentionally missional with loved ones who are unsaved?

How will you begin this?

As we move through Paul’s advice to these confused Christians, we see that his second tip is to:

Model What Matters (17-24)

The Corinthian Church was confused about what to do about their relationships within the community at large.

In order for you to better understand their plight, let me ask you to use your imagination for a minute.

Let’s pretend that you were in South America and you had shared the Gospel with a tribe in the Amazon Jungle and a good number of them responded in faith.

Now, they would want to know what it meant to live like a Christian.

Should they give up their current hair-style and dress in favor of dressing like the fine folks here at LRBC? Should they give up their native language and only speak English?

Should we demand that they only sing songs that we know from our hymn book?

Would you expect them to embrace American ideals?

Let’s read v. 17-24 and see if we can decipher Paul’s message: (READ)

You see, Paul says that circumcision or uncircumcision means nothing!

(19) We don’t think much about that today, but we might say, loin cloth or blue jeans mean nothing.

Big hair or no hair means nothing!

Tattoo or no tattoo means nothing.

What matters is that you walk with God!!

Paul isn’t demanding that the Corinthians attempt to look like him nor did he make changing their physical circumstance a priority.

Rather, Paul says that you were called to follow Christ in your context- slave, freeman, rich, poor, etc.

The challenge was instead to remain with God.

Walk with Him.

Put your eyes on Him and seek His Kingdom!

For us today, we ought to see this call by the Apostle as an encouragement to prioritize the Gospel above our traditions or preferences.

You prefer to dress up real nice- great, but don’t worry about the person who dresses differently.