Sermon Tone Analysis
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BIG IDEA
TRUTHFULNESS IS AT THE CENTER OF A MORE LOVING LIFE.
IT’S WHAT MAKES US AUTHENTIC.
INTRODUCTION
Have you ever been less than authentic?
Not quite the truth-teller you thought you were?
I hate to admit this, but I have.
Chances are good that you have to.
You know the kind of thing I’m talking about.
Perhaps you weren’t completely forthcoming about something, other people find out, and then you have to go through the awkward conversation that reveals everything.
When you go through a situation like that it damages the relationships.
But the good news is that if we address the situation and come clean, healing can take place.
I remember years ago when I was participating in farmers markets every weekend, I had one of these kinds of experiences.
I had commited to being at one in particular on a weekly basis.
On week I had sold at lot of my stock during the week and I really wanted to take that weekend off.
The night before the market, I called the manager and told him I wouldn’t be there.
Needless to say, he wasn’t happy and he made it very clear to me that he wasn’t.
He did it in a way that really upset me.
How dare he talk to me that way!
But, over the course of the night, as I cooled down, God showed me that I was in the wrong.
The next morning, I went to the market and immediately found the manager, told him how I felt, and was honest about why I tried to back out.
You know what happened?
Our friendship instantly jumped to a new level.
I shared the whole truth about what was going on with me and he shared with me the pressure that was being put on him by the owners of the market.
That moment of openness changed everything!
Authenticity grows as we become truth-tellers.
We’re going to be looking at that this morning.
We’ve been talking about loving like Jesus - what that means and how to do it.
I’ve said this each week and it is still true, I want to love like Jesus and so do you.
As I’ve mentioned each week, you may not even be part of a church, but something inside of you gravitates toward having a more loving marriage, family, and friendships.
In fact, don’t we look for solutions in all the relationship challenges we face?
Who wouldn’t want to have a better marriage or a better environment at work or school?
In fact, I’d like to get along better with people that might even call me an enemy.
We’re in a series called LOVE LIKE THAT.
Each week I’ve been emphasizing what you already know: none of us have arrived yet.
We are all trying to figure it out, trying to get it right.
Largely because we know the stakes are so high.
All of us intuitively know that our actions, even our intentions can and do have a generational impact.
So, this is something we want to get right.
Our theme passage for the entire series is Ephesians 5:1-2
Loving like Jesus involves being mindful and observant, being approachable, and being grace-full.
Today we’ll see it also includes being boldly truthful.
That may seem like a “no-brainer,” but it’s not.
1. THE TRUTH ABOUT TRUTH.
Truth is sometimes “trumped” by “group think.”
Do you know what that is?
It’s the mob mentality or herd mentality that throws truth out the window in place of sound thinking, truth, and doing the right thing, even when it goes against conventional thinking.
Here’s a quick definition: “describes how people are influenced by their peers to adopt certain behaviors that may or may not be grounded in truth."
A classic example of this is found in Luke 23:13-25
The scribes and chief priests kept stirring the crowd of people up until they could no longer hear the truth.
Both Pilot and Herod found no guilt, but the scribes, chief priest, and crowd wouldn’t hear the truth.
Many of us would categorize ourselves as “non-confronters.”
We avoid showdowns and confrontations at all costs.
Even though Jesus demonstrated his love in countless, tangible ways, he didn’t run from a showdown or a confrontation.
Check out this confrontation made in the epicenter of people and activity, the temple grounds:
Many sports enthusiasts will use the phrase “not in my house” when talking about the possibility of losing a home game in their own stadium or arena.
Dikembe Mutombo was made popular recenlty in insurance commercials.
Or you may have said it yourself, “not in my house,” as it relates to certain behaviors from your kids or their friends.
There is a sense of ownership — that this home is different and therefore operates differently.
Jesus, God in the flesh, said the same thing when confronting the religious leaders and merchants of the day using the temple of God to make a buck or to promote their own agenda.
Jesus states the truth.
“Not in My House.”
Things are different here.
We must note that the Temple was built according to His own design and by His own order.
It was dedicated to His worship, where the glory of God rested upon the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies.
After all, this was His house, and He entered the temple through the Eastern Gate, or the King’s Gate, because He was the King, reigning over His own kingdom.
Entering the temple grounds, Jesus’ first encounter was with the Court of the Gentiles.
This was the area of the temple grounds where Gentiles could come to shop and worship, but they were allowed to go no farther.
In the Court of the Gentiles, the Jews had set up a marketplace - a mall of sorts, where sacrificial animals and offerings could be purchased, usually at an inflated price.
You see, during the big celebrations (Passover, Pentecost, or the Feast of Tabernacles), foreigners would travel to Jerusalem to worship and sacrifice.
They wouldn’t bring sacrificial animals with them on the long trip and just buy what they needed there.
Unscrupulous merchants, with the religious leadership’s approval, would charge much more for the animals, and if they had foreign currency… well, the exchange rate was never good for the traveler.
The temple was designed to be the House of Prayer.
If you look at everything that went on in the temple, there were more activities than simply prayer.
We know that there were many sacrifices offered.
We know that there was music.
We know that teaching took place.
But it is interesting that Jesus does not say “My house is the house of sacrifice,” or “My house is the house of music,” or “My house is the house of teaching.”
He says, “MY HOUSE IS THE HOUSE OF PRAYER.”
Jesus speaks the truth, an unpopular truth, among the leaders and merchants.
The temple was, first and foremost, a place where people were to gaze upon the glory of God and worship Him.
Prayer is our act of devotion where we seek His face and behold His glory.
In Solomon’s prayer when he dedicated the temple, he used language that indicated that prayer was to be the central activity connected with this place of worship.
Speaking truth among a hostile crowd is never easy.
It’s not fun to tell a friend he needs a breath mint or to zip up his zipper.
But those things pale in comparison to lovingly telling a friend he’s ruining his marriage by his actions.
Or that she’s forfeiting her parental responsibility by not engaging with her kids.
Jesus would often confront hypocrisy and legalism.
That kind of showmanship had to be called out with the truth.
2. THE CONNECTION BETWEEN TRUTH AND HYPOCRISY.
Jesus speaks pretty harshly about hypocrisy.
In fact, he reserved his harshest yet truthful criticism for those who are hypocrites.
If you’re bothered by spiritual counterfeits, you have some good company.
Jesus lashed out at hypocrites 20 different times in the Gospels.
These are found just in Matthew.
6:2
The most pointed, direct, and harshest words Jesus ever spoke were directed toward professional religious pretenders.
In Matthew 23, He called them:
• Hypocrites (7 times)
• Fools (2 times)
• Blind Guides (5 times)
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