Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
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When we want to succeed, we strive to be more skilled, more powerful, more creative---more, more more.
Teams win by working harder, Pol.
campaigns by raising more money, Armies by having more troops & weapons
In the upside kingdom, less is more.
We see this in Jesus’ instructions to his disciples as he sends them out to announce the kingdom
“I am sending you out like lambs among wolves” Jesus says.
What does this mean?
Unassuming Messengers
Weakness
You would expect Jesus to send out his people from positions of strength and authority
Sending them out with some flaming sword angels would do the trick
Maybe empower them to call down fire on unbelievers
But Jesus sends them out like lambs among wolves
Lambs among wolves will quickly become dinner.
The weakness (positional, not moral) of Jesus’ followers shows the power of God to look out for and watch over us, sustaining us through difficult times
Jesus probably has in mind a quote from Isaiah, describing new creation
God’s new creation is breaking into the old one.
We see how he sustains his lamb-like disciples in their weakness
Following Jesus
But there’s something else going on here too.
We see lamb like language all over the bible.
Sacrificial law often prescribes lambs offered in atonement for sin
Pastoral language - David: The Lord is my shepherd (implied, I am his sheep or lamb) So God’s followers’ calling is to be like sheep
Messianic language: John the Baptist “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn.
1:29)
Jesus’ disciples are being sent out as lambs whose sacrifice prefiguring Jesus’ sacrificial death
We come after Jesus, so we can’t prefigure, but we follow after Jesus taking up his lamb-like vocation.
The saints follow the lamb wherever he goes (Rev.
14:4)
Just as Jesus gives himself in sacrificial love, so we do the same through:
Generosity to the needy, Forgiveness to those who have wronged us, Humble Service to the poor & weak
We are truly his disciples when we adopt his lamb-like posture towards the world
A Message of Peace
The manner of the disciples’ calling is important, but so too is the content of their message
God’s Generous Offer
The disciples take with them a message that God’s Kingdom has come close
Jesus instructs them to stay with people of peace b/c such people have proven receptive to his peace agenda
But many of Jesus’ contemporaries have no interest in pace
They have lost patience w/pagan Roman occupiers
They look for a kingdom forged in the war they’re sure they’ll win
They want a Messiah whose gospel is war not peace
Jesus comes to offer peace, but many of his people aren’t interested in peace
The Consequences of Rejecting Peace
When the disciples wipe the dust from their feet, are they threatening God’s punishment?
No, they’re saying that the means don’t match the objective
Like saving for retirement at the casino, it’s a plan, but it’s a very, very bad one
Jesus is telling them that if they reject the offer of peace to pursue war, that the natural consequences of that will be catastrophe.
CONSEQUENCES OR PUNISHMENT? | If parents warn a child to stay away from the street, but the child runs out into traffic and is seriously injured, is that injury punishment?
No, it’s consequence.
God isn’t announcing punishment, he’s warning of consequences.
The chickens come home to roost about 40 years later.
Jewish nationalists provoke war w/Rome
Hundreds of thousands of Jews die, Jerusalem & Temple destroyed, Jews exiled from homeland for 1900 years
It truely is more bearable for Sodom (overthrown in a day) than for Jerusalem (starved for months)
It’s especially bitter b/c God’s kingdom came near, and the people rejected it to pursue a disaster
Putting it Into Practice
2K years later, Jesus’ command still important to us: we are to embody his lamb-like calling & announce gospel of peace by:
Embodying His Lamb-Likeness
Speaking form a place of powerlessness, trusting God to make it effective
Maybe we don’t need more showmanship but greater dependence on God to be effective?
Being willing to make sacrifices for others (forgiveness, inclusion, generosity, humility)
Proclaiming This Gospel of Peace
As Jesus’ message calls people to peace & reconciliation (P&R), so we too ought to look to (P&R) to bring KoG
We don’t stand for war or violence (even when we’re pressured to bless the use of violence).
VIETNAM | During war in Vietnam, it was patriotic duty of Christians to fight and kill their country’s enemies.
Jesus tells us war can never bring the kingdom.
Also in our comportment: We don’t seek to dominate or humiliate our enemies, but instead to work with them.
Choosing God’s Way Over Our Way
As followers of Jesus, we want to see God’s Kingdom come, maximum human flourishing
But we often have our own ideas about how to do this, and they don’t look very lamb-like
But perhaps we need to pay attention to what Jesus tells us and the example he set for us
The way of God’s kingdom doesn’t come when we’re wolves among lambs, but when we’re lambs among wolves.
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