Sermon Tone Analysis

Family Issues

Some spiritual issues that are relevant to our church family have come to my attention that I need to deal with before we start our sermon.

IF Visitors Are Present:

You know, we are family.

And being family doesn’t mean that nothing uncomfortable ever happens, it only means that we enjoy the safety of dealing with those uncomfortable situations in the context of our commitment to love each other no matter.

So I see that we have some visitors present with us today.

I want to ask your patience while I sort through a couple issues that we need to work out.

Know that what I’m about to say is relevant to our members, and simply illustrates our church’s commitment to navigate the bumps of life together in light of our good and holy God.

IF No Visitors Are Present:

I have been hearing the whispers of gossip and criticism in our church.

And I want to say that because of the nature of such whispers, I don’t know from whom they are coming, nor can I know the context of how they were said.

Which means that I cannot approach anyone on a personal level to deal with these issues.

And perhaps this is why such whispers are so destructive because they quickly slip out and go beyond how we meant them.

But I need to respond to these things nonetheless because they are so destructive to Christian unity.

So my first request of everyone is that we examine ourselves on these matters to determine whether or not they are relevant to us on an individual basis.

For some, my comments will not be personally relevant, but I ask that you listen nonetheless because I think we all will benefit simply from being reminded about these things.

First I want to deal the issue of grumbling: we are making a lot of changes here and trying to work out how best to implement those changes.

So it is inevitable that not everyone will agree with or like the changes that are being made.

I feel that we have gone to great lengths to make ourselves open to constructive input and feedback.

One criticism that I’ve heard is that the walls are too white.

And I can understand how someone could feel that way.

After-all, compared to the beige color before, they are much brighter.

So what would be the appropriate way to bring this to our attention?

Well, we announced our intention to paint the walls in December of last year, and between December and March we had meetings that were open to anyone to give us feedback on painting the walls.

Then in March, we brought color-samples and after services everyone was allowed to come forward and pick their favorites.

Then the next Sunday we painted a sample portion of the wall and asked for feedback.

These would be the appropriate outlets for voicing your feelings about the paint.

And this is why I’m encouraging as much participation in the ministry as we can get, so that you all have an opportunity to participate in and shape the things we do that matter most to you.

But once we have agreed on color and people have volunteered their time, their money, and their labor to paint the walls, criticizing their ministry is sinful precisely because it is so hurtful and discouraging.

People donated the paint for these halls.

People lent the materials needed to paint.

And people volunteered their time and labor to do the back-breaking work necessary to paint the halls.

To those who have been criticizing this service of love, let me ask you this question: did you do the work to paint the halls or offer any encouraging words to those who did?

If “yes”, then you can see how such grumbling might make the prior seem disingenuous.

If “no”, then you can see how discouraging it is to hear only complaints when you have invested so much in something like this.

Another complaint that I’m hearing is about the length of my sermons.

And I want you to know that I am putting a great deal of effort into improving on my ability to be concise.

I don’t preach 75 - 85 minute sermons because I think there is something intrinsically “good” about such sermons, I preach them because, at my skill level, that is how long it takes me to preach the whole counsel of God.

And I preach in reverence for the holiness of God’s word.

I want to be clear: there are some preachers I’ve heard who can preach the whole counsel of God in much shorter time.

D.A. Carson is an example.

I heard him preach through Hebrews and I marveled how he moved so adeptly through the text.

But he has also been preaching as long as I have been alive and is considered one of the preeminent scholars of the English speaking world.

But there are many preachers who start with a time-frame in mind and discard whatever pieces of God’s word don’t fit into those time constraints.

And in so doing they fail to preach the whole counsel of God.

The result, I think, of such ministry is plainly evident in Christendom today.

And I will be honest with you: I think it is both reprehensible and desperately foolish that Christians today cannot bear with sermons that dive deeply into God’s word, but rather, place a premium on “time” over “eternity”.

So I want to be clear that when you grumble about the length of my sermon, you are grumbling against my service to God.

Let that sink in for a moment.

When taken in light of the metrics God uses to approve of someone’s ministry, if my preaching is acceptable in God’s sight, then you are grumbling against the accepted ministry of God’s word.

Do we not believe that Jesus is present when his word is proclaimed?

Do we not believe that Jesus demands that we “humbly receive the implanted word which is able to save our souls”?

Then ask yourselves where you find the audacity to grumble about the length of God’s word?

Does Scripture suggest that short snippets are good and long expositions are bad?

We know Paul preached until people were falling asleep out of windows.

Some of you appear not to be living in the reverence that you should be living in as those who claim to follow Jesus.

Now there are too many whispers floating around for me to address right now: complaints about the live stream setup and so on and so forth.

For those, if you have feedback, please come and give me your suggestions.

Some of your feedback might improve our setup, which is what we all want.

I will be happy to hear your recommendations.

But these whispers are hurting the people involved in these ministries.

And please remember, I am the only paid minister in this church, but I am by no means the only person investing a significant amount of time and work into this church.

Your words are hurting other people.

My last comment on this before I turn to my second request is to call to your mind the seriousness of grumbling:

Our carnal mind doesn’t give a second thought to grumbling or complaining because we don’t bother to think about how God is at work among us.

We think, “oh, it’s just David preaching”, or “oh, it’s just them painting”.

But this is to think atheistically.

It is to say that God is not also at work among us.

I am certainly willing to develop this point at greater depth if anyone disputes whether or not grumbling is permissible Christian conduct, but I think we’ll all agree that it is not something that can be reasoned from faith.

So my second request is that if you have stood back and grumbled with an unthankful heart about the work that God’s servants are doing in this Church to serve him - this does not just include me, but it includes the ministry of all those who are working hard and giving freely of their time, labor, and money, then Scripture commands you to repent of your sin.

Here is what repentance looks like:

First:

I believe this specifically calls for confessing our sins to God.

Acknowledge what you have done before his holy throne and come to him to receive mercy.

There can be no doubt in light of the cross that God will remove the memory of our sins as far away as the East is from the West.

Second:

I believe this calls for confessing our sins to one another, specifically to those we have hurt, maligned, or undermined.

Sometimes we think things about people that aren’t kind, but those thoughts stay mostly with us and so we confess them to God, who works to wash our souls clean from those sins.

But other times, we do harm because we let those unrighteous thoughts go broad.

In those cases, I think we need to confess to one another because it is the act of both confessing and forgiving that brings true spiritual healing to these matters.

If you agree with my assessment of Scripture on these matters, then I encourage you to humbly do what your faith leads you to do.

At this point I want to ask if anyone here in this Church have anything to add from God’s word to this picture?

BREATHE

Okay, now, I understand that was a really heavy way to preface this sermon.

But as God’s people we are different than the world precisely because we are committed to walking together in love on the basis of God’s truth.

Sometimes it’s necessary to have uncomfortable conversations when we see ourselves straying from God’s path.

I do think this was timely because today’s sermon is all about grace.

And I think in light of this rebuke, it is necessary for us now to spend the rest of our time contemplating the grace of God.

Welcome

So given the time we gave this morning to the ministry God pressed upon me to fulfill, I’m going to dispense for time’s sake with my usual personal remarks and simply give you your assignments and April challenge so that we can get right into our sermon.

Assignments

Romans 4:18-25.

Challenge

In the month of April I am going to challenge everyone to do the work we are called to first in prayer.

I think the subject of prayer is simultaneously both under-emphasized and cheapened by our constant empty references to the subject.

Yet prayer is one of the three spiritual disciplines that Jesus taught his disciples to practice (the others being “fasting” and “giving”).

So this month I want you to create a friends-prayer list.

Take some time to think about the people in your life that you know.

You don’t have to know them very well, but maybe you have some kind of regular contact or business with them.

And I want you to spend at least one day every week this year praying for these people to come to God.