Sermon Tone Analysis

Wednesday, July 13, 2022 Commands of Christ – 25

A Christian's Commitment

Open:

1.

We usually think of Bible reading as beneficial.

How might reading the Bible also be dangerous?

We become responsible for what we read (and understand?).

What the Holy Spirit “quickens” to us?

Have we really “received it” if the Holy Spirit does NOT “make it alive” to us?

Responsible to obey it — put it into action.

Luke 12:41–48 (NASB95) Peter said, “Lord, are You addressing this parable to us, or to everyone else as well?” 42 And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and sensible steward, whom his master will put in charge of his servants, to give them their rations at the proper time?

43 “Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes.

44 “Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions.

45 “But if that slave says in his heart, ‘My master will be a long time in coming,’ and begins to beat the slaves, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk; 46 the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and assign him a place with the unbelievers.

47 “And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes, 48 but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few.

From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.

Luke 19:12–27 (NASB95) So He said, “A nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself, and then return.

13 “And he called ten of his slaves, and gave them ten minas and said to them, ‘Do business with this until I come back.’

14 “But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’ 15 “When he returned, after receiving the kingdom, he ordered that these slaves, to whom he had given the money, be called to him so that he might know what business they had done.

16 “The first appeared, saying, ‘Master, your mina has made ten minas more.’

17 “And he said to him, ‘Well done, good slave, because you have been faithful in a very little thing, you are to be in authority over ten cities.’ 18 “The second came, saying, ‘Your mina, master, has made five minas.’

19 “And he said to him also, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’ 20 “Another came, saying, ‘Master, here is your mina, which I kept put away in a handkerchief; 21 for I was afraid of you, because you are an exacting man; you take up what you did not lay down and reap what you did not sow.’

22 “He said to him, ‘By your own words I will judge you, you worthless slave.

Did you know that I am an exacting man, taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow?

23 ‘Then why did you not put my money in the bank, and having come, I would have collected it with interest?’

24 “Then he said to the bystanders, ‘Take the mina away from him and give it to the one who has the ten minas.’ 25 “And they said to him, ‘Master, he has ten minas already.’

26 “I tell you that to everyone who has, more shall be given, but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away.

27 “But these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence.”

The NKJV Study Bible: 12:48 Discipline for the ignorant is less severe—beaten with few.

The parable suggests degrees of God’s punishment: The faithful are rewarded, the ignorant are disciplined a little, the disobedient are disciplined moderately, and the blatantly disobedient are executed.

In each case, the stewardship of the servant is evaluated.

Lenski: What this means for the disciples is plain.

They receive not only gifts that are to be used with due gratitude according to the intent of the Giver; they receive from the Lord a capital deposit to invest and to do business with in order that they may increase that capital and return it to the Lord with his increase.

They receive all their spiritual gifts as a precious and an honoring trust and must administer them accordingly.

And there will be an accounting of the gift and the deposit.

Blessed is he who can meet that accounting joyfully, but woe to him who proves faithless.

So Peter has his answer.

What Jesus says applies not only to the apostles and the ministers but to all the disciples down to the humblest and even to all men (v.

48, first statement).

Even this is not all.

Peter and the rest must know that all that Jesus has said will not move along smoothly in this world until the day of his return but will move through the worst disturbances, beginning with Jesus himself and by him brought also upon his disciples in the entire world.

So, is it better to “run away” from God’s gifts to us so that we are not responsible for them?

Can we do that?

Can we “neglect” it?

Hebrews 2:1–4 (NASB95) For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.

2 For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, 3 how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?

After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, 4 God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.

Can we “escape” or refuse what He gives?

Hebrews 12:25 (NASB95) See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking.

For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven.

Can we live in ignorance?

A Dictionary of the Bible:

IGNORANCE is spoken of in Scripture mainly in connexion with sin; it modifies to some extent the sinner’s responsibility.

Thus even of a sin in which the chief actors knew well that they were doing wrong—the crucifixion—St.

Peter says, ‘Ye did it in ignorance’ (κατὰ ἄγνοιαν, Ac 3:17); St. Paul, ‘if they had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory’ (l Co 2:8); and the Lord Himself, ‘Father, forgive them: for they know not what they do’ (Lk 23:34).

They all knew something, but not everything; not, for instance, what the apostles only grasped through the resurrection and the teaching of the Risen One, that He was the Son of God, and His death a propitiation for the whole world; hence, according to NT, though their guilt was deep, in some cases awful, it was not unpardonable.

The choice of evil, by one who knows clearly and fully what it is, removes the possibility of pardon: such a choice would be the αἰώνιον ἁμάρτημα of which Jesus speaks in Mk 3:29—sin, final and irretrievable.

Denney, J. (1911–1912).

IGNORANCE.

In J. Hastings, J. A. Selbie, A. B. Davidson, S. R. Driver, & H. B. Swete (Eds.),

A Dictionary of the Bible: Dealing with Its Language, Literature, and Contents Including the Biblical Theology (Vol.

2, p. 449).

Charles Scribner’s Sons; T. & T. Clark.

2. How do you feel when you offer sound advice and it is rejected?

Pastor George Harden: If you’re not going to take my advice, don’t waste my time.

Purpose: To decide on which foundation we are going to build our lives.

The Sermon on the Mount ends on the same note of radical choice we have been aware of throughout.

Repeatedly Jesus has called his people to be different from everybody else.

Our righteousness is to be deeper because it reaches even our hearts.

Our love is to be broader because it embraces even our enemies.

We have been confronted with two treasures, two masters, two ambitions, two gates and two roads.

Now the moment of decision has come.

Will we follow the crowd or follow our Father in heaven?

Will we be swayed by the winds of public opinion or be ruled by God's Word, the revelation of his character and will?

In this final passage, as throughout the Sermon, Jesus' overriding purpose is to present us with the inescapable necessity of choice.

Read: Matthew 7:21-29

2. On the surface, what might we admire about those described in Matthew 7:21-23, who say, Lord, Lord,” who prophecy, cast out demons and do miracles?

Question 2. The two final paragraphs of the Sermon are very similar.

Both contrast the wrong and the right responses to Christ's teaching.

Both show that neutrality is impossible and that a definite decision has to be made.

Both stress that nothing can take the place of an active practical obedience.

And both teach that the issue of life and death on the Day of Judgment will be determined by our moral response to Christ and his teaching in this life.

The only difference between the paragraphs is that, in the first, people offer a profession of their lips as an alternative to obedience and, in the second, a hearing with their ears.

3.

In spite of their admirable statements or actions, why does Jesus condemn such people?

Question 3. Jesus is not, of course, teaching that the way of salvation or the way to enter "the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 7:21) is by good works of obedience.

For the whole New Testament offers salvation only by the sheer grace of God through faith.

What Jesus is stressing, however, is that those who truly hear the gospel and profess faith will always obey him, expressing their faith in their works.

Storms, S. (2016).

Biblical Studies: The Sermon on the Mount (Mt 7:21–23).

Sam Storms.

B. The Two Testimonies—7:21–23

We learn here that a confession of faith is only as good as the heart from which it arises.

There are several conclusions we must be careful not to draw from what Jesus says:

• Jesus does not mean we can dispense with professions of faith, creeds, testimonies.

See Rom.

10:9–10.

• We are not being told that addressing Jesus as “Lord” is wrong.

• We are not being told that works justify or earn entrance into heaven.

We are not saved by works but we are saved for works.

Sola fides iustificat, sed non fides quae est sola (“Faith alone justifies, but not the faith which is alone”).

Note several remarkable things about these who testify and profess that they are saved:

• They are both fervent and zealous: “Lord, Lord!”