Sermon Tone Analysis
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Get A Life!
*Text:* Ephesians 2:1-10
*Introduction:* When people talk to Christians, there is a tendency to see the Christian lifestyle as "no fun" and restricted.
"Get a Life" they say.
Actually however the non Christian is the one who is not free.
They are the ones who need to "Get a Life!" Without Christ, they are lifeless, unable to break free of the patterns of sin and destruction that rule the non-Christian life.
In order to understand how the Christian has not only the right, but the responsibility to show the non-Christian how to "Get a Life!" we will look at:
*I.
A Life Destroyed*
* A.
By The Devil*
* *~*~*~** *"It is stupid of modern civilization to have given up believing in
the Devil when he is the only explanation for it!"
~*~*~* When you meet the devil, you know you are not going his way.
If you never meet him, you must be going in the same direction.
~*~*~* A church member came very close to dying, but made a miraculous recovery.
In hospital, his minister came to visit him.
"Tell me, Bill," said his minister, "when you were so near death's door, did you feel afraid to meet your Maker?"
"No, Reverend," said Bill, "not at all.
It was the OTHER fellow I was afraid of!"
* B.
By Our Desires*
* *~*~*~* Many people want the same thing out of life -- a little more
than they deserve."
~*~*~*We often desire most what we ought not to have.
* C.
By Our Disobedience*
* *~*~*~* In the winter of 1976, John Jordan, together with three of
his friends, decided to photograph Niagara Falls.
They went to
Goat Island to enjoy the icy beauty.
While there Jordan and two
others climbed the drifts that covered protective railings, then
fell into the ice along the shore about 200 feet upstream from
the falls.
The other two scrambled back to land, but Jordan was
swept down to within fifteen feet of the brink of the Horseshoe
Falls.
There, somehow, he was able to grasp and cling to a
chunk of ice.
Patrolman James MacNeill was able to rescue the
young man.
Whenever we become silent about God's protective railings, the moral laws of God, we endanger the lives of those under our care.
Right now, in the winter time of the Church, little is said about the necessity of obeying God's laws.
But the wages of sin is still death.
Let us rescue the perishing and care for the dying; but let us preach, too, the function of God's moral law.
*II.
A Life Delivered*
* A.
From Sin*
~*~*~*BreakPoint Commentary - November 12, 1998
A Horror Story for Christians
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
An upstanding London physician enters his laboratory and downs a vial of bubbling liquid.
A moment later he grasps his throat, his eyes bulge, and he is transformed into a monster bent on violence.
Well, as you may have gathered, I'm talking about Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson's famous story that has recently been turned into a smash Broadway musical.
Of course, it's a great horror story but what might surprise Broadway audiences is that it's also a Christian fable on the nature of sin.
As the story goes, Dr. Jekyll is a respectable doctor who finds himself torn by a dual personality.
Half of him wants to be admired as a pillar of society, the other half wants to revel in the low life, in sin and debauchery.
What if he could concoct a potion that would separate these two halves?
That way the sinful half--Mr.
Hyde--could roam at night, giving
vent to his violent passions, but next morning he could greet the world as Dr. Jekyll, the model citizen.
Well, in the story Jekyll concocts his potion and for a time the deception works perfectly.
He sins as Hyde and shines publicly as Jekyll.
But then things go tragically awry.
Suddenly he finds himself turning into the monstrous Mr. Hyde--even without drinking the potion.
What's happened?
Why is the depraved Mr. Hyde suddenly getting the upper hand over the upstanding Dr. Jekyll?
According to theologian Dr. Tim Keller, it is because Jekyll "completely underestimated the power of evil."
Jekyll thought he could control the evil and sin within him.
Instead, it ended up controlling him.
Jekyll suffered from the mistaken belief that he had a good side and a bad side.
But Stevenson's story shows that this is a false dichotomy.
As long as we allow evil to go unchecked, all our goodness is mere hypocrisy.
According to Keller, "Jekyll's moral primness and pride are just the camouflage for Hyde."
The morally upstanding Dr. Jekyll may look better
than Mr. Hyde, but in reality, his respectable image is little more than a cover-up for his base impulses.
Stevenson was fascinated by examples of people living double lives, and his penetrating moral insight is that, to some extent, we all do.
The story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde puts the lie to the modern myth that we can compartmentalize our lives--that we can do anything we want in private without public consequences.
Scripture challenges us to face up to our true nature: We cannot camouflage the evil within us with good works or by going to church.
If we hold back any part of our lives from submission to God, if we cordon it off and say, "Here we can indulge in a little sin," it will inevitably mushroom into a larger sin.
The runaway Broadway hit is bringing this classic story back to the public eye.
It's a story most people are already familiar with, but only to the extent of understanding the expression "Jekyll and Hyde," referring to a dual personality.
So when your kids ask about it, take the occasion to explain deeper meaning of the story.
Let them see that it is a powerful
moral lesson with direct application to one of the great questions modern American society is wrestling with.
Or why not read this classic story to your kids, and explain how it illustrates a fundamental truth about the power of sin.
And that is a real horror story.
(c) 1998 Prison Fellowship Ministries
* *
* B.
By Grace*
G - God's
R - Riches
A - At
C - Christ's
E - Expense - D. J. Kennedy
* C.
Through Faith*
~*~*~*Imagine a ship filled with people crossing the Atlantic.
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