Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

It was Thanksgiving of this past year and we had gathered together as an extended family for the first time in many years.

All of us were there.

Well, not all of us.

The matriarch and patriarch of our family were not able to attend.

The noise and aroma of that day filled the house.

It was once again full of life.

Yet, one by one the family began to disperse heading back to their own small and respective places to continue their own lives.

It was on that day that my sister gave me a wonderful gift.

It was a gift that I had given to my mother at Christmas 1981.

It is this book that I hold in my hand today.

As I eventually began this past Friday to look through this book, I discovered that my mother had placed and kept a couple of pieces of scrap paper in this book indicating a couple of poems that obviously meant something to her.

One piece of paper apparently was an assignment from my boys Sunday School class.

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The other was apparently from a Mothers’ Day program I had some of those boys participate in on Mothers’ Day.

It had their names and their assignment for that morning.

I had not before this week seen those things for decades.

My parents taught me many things.

They taught much about work, marriage, parenting, relationships and life.

Be quick to build up others and even quicker to accept blame for your mistakes.

Always seek to be a good neighbor to those around you.

Care about the right things and don’t fret over things and don’t wast your time fretting over the things that aren’t.

Here is a good one.

Choose the narrow path.

Always allow godly values to guide decision-making.

They have taught me so much more than I have time to share.

However, the greatest thing my parents ever taught is found in the text this morning.

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Sermon Idea

As I have looked at the text for today, I observe that what we have here is a single command with two dimensions.

There is a vertical dimension and there is a horizontal.

dimension.

Our concentration this Mothers’ Day morning we will be on the vertical.

Our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ is vertical in nature.

Since this is true there are some things that God deserves from us.

There are at least four applications of that truth we are to observe.

Application #1: God Deserves our Time.

One of the life lessons my parents taught me was that if you love someone you desired to spend time with them.

Not only did you want to spend time with them, you wanted to spend as much time as possible with them.

What is true in other relationships in general is even more true in one’s relationship with Christ.

Do we truly love Him?

If we answered that in the positive, then there ought to be the reality of time spent with Him.

The very first step in loving Christ is taking time every day to spend with Him.

This means that every day we ought to be worshiping Him.

Every day we ought to be spending time loving Him.

If we love Him we will invest time learning His commandments so that we will know how to obey Him.

Call it whatever you will.

Call it having devotions.

Call it spending time alone with God.

Call it private worship.

It really doesn’t matter what you call it.

All that matters is that you do it.

So, get your Bible something to write on and something to write with and find a quiet place and just do it.

It is not that complicated.

It is reading the Bible.

It is asking God to speak to you.

It is taking time in prayer to seek God and listen to Him.

Praise Him, thank Him, give Him your praise and give Him our burdens.

Give Him your heartaches, your loved ones, your friends, your family and your circumstances.

Surrender your life daily to Him.

God deserves our time.

When we surrender time to Him we are loving Him.

Give God what He deserves.

Application #2: God Deserves our Talents.

We love God by obeying Him.

One of the ways we love Him is by serving God.

We do this by taking that which God has given and use them for His glory in His kingdom.

We use those things to serve others.

Do you love God?

If that is true you will serve Him.

Every act of service you render is simply another way of demonstrating your love of God.

My parents taught me never to give up an opportunity to serve Christ.

Some pass up every opportunity to serve Christ because they are too busy serving and worshiping themselves.

Why do parents raise their children?

Why do you feed them?

Do you really enjoy those dirty diapers, wiping noses, and battling bath time?

You do everything for your children when they are small because they cannot do anything for themselves?

You certainly cannot do it because of what they can do for you?

You do it for one reason and that is because you love them.

Just consider what God has done for you through Jesus Christ.

Just think about the depth, breadth, and height of God’s love for you.

Just consider what God has done for you that which you could never do for yourselves.

Considering all this, why is it so difficult to serve Him?

The truth is that it isn’t.

The truth is that it is not an obedience problem when we don’t.

Ultimately, it is a love problem.

If we truly love God, we will passionately serve Him.

God deserves our time and He deserves our talents.

There is a third thing that God deserves as well.

Application #3: God Deserves our Testimony

What is a testimony?

A testimony is bearing witness to the truth.

My parents were big on teaching my sister and I to tell the truth and to live by the truth.

I remember Mama saying to us growing up, “I love you but I will never lie for you.”

We were raised to tell the truth and to live by the truth.

Here is something else about testimony.

True friends of God tell their friends about God.

Some behave as though they are ashamed of the God who has given us everything, especially life.

One of the ways we love God is by sharing our story.

Elaine picks on me from time to time about my story of faith.