Sermon Tone Analysis

I know Summer is almost over and you are tired of mowing the grass.

But this is something that I learned not too long ago about mowing.

It is really hard to make straight lines especially if you have a bumpy yard.

There is only one way to make a straight line, you have to fix your eyes on one point in the distance and not get distracted by the bumps along the way.

While life is filled with bumps and distractions God tells us in this passage that we have to fix our eyes on Jesus.

If we want to follow Jesus, we need to always keep our eyes on Him.

In these six verses there is only one command, consider Jesus, which can be translated in different ways: consider attentively to Jesus, think about Jesus, fix your thoughts on Jesus, and take a good hard look at Jesus.

Riggans a commentator said the following about this phrase “The term means to focus one’s attention firmly on the matter at hand in order to fully comprehend the lessons to be learned…we are taught that only Jesus can make the necessary difference in our lives, and so we must commit ourselves to him in order to find salvation.”

There are many things that we will learn from these verses, but we cannot miss the main thing, the only command here is to fix our eyes on Jesus or to fix our thoughts on Jesus.

We all have heard this before, but what does it really mean?

The first thought that comes to mind is when you are obsessed with something, you just think about that, and you can’t stop thinking about it.

It seems like kids at different ages are obsessed with something.

I remember Byron for maybe a year was fixated on tractors.

Actually, it was one of his first words (after the word eat).

He would want to play with tractors, see tractors, everything was tractors.

Then he got into a phase of space when all he wanted to talk about was planets, he knows not only the planets but also all the dwarf planets.

More recently he is fascinated by tornados, all he wants to do is talk about tornados, read about tornados, watch videos of tornados, hear stories of tornados, and talk about his experiences with tornados.

Everything, from carrot sticks to water look like a tornado to him.

We should be like little children that are fascinated by Jesus.

All we want to do is talk about Jesus.

We should be thinking of Jesus all the time.

Everything we read should be connected to Jesus.

As we are sharing our experiences with Jesus.

I will go as far as to say it is okay to be obsessed with Jesus.

Provided the following describes your obsession.

We need to not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of our minds.

We need to have our minds resting on what God said, thinking and studying His word, delighting ourselves in His word.

Furthermore, it means to think about “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Phil 4:8) when we have our minds filled with what is true and honorable we won’t have space in our minds for worldly and evil thoughts to pollute our minds.

The commandment is focused on our minds, that Jesus is on the forefront of our minds all the time.

However, if we are obsessed with something it will not only affect our minds but everything in us.

It means we need to pay attention to what enters our ears, if we don’t pay attention our ears will be filled with worldly thoughts and schemes, we need to be intentional in hearing scripture, and listening to solid worship music.

In the same way, we need to watch what we are watching with our eyes, we need to get rid of anything that doesn’t honor the Lord.

We need to have our eyes fixed on His word.

If we would spend as much time as we stare at screens, staring at God’s word we would be experts in God’s word.

Instead of screens, we need to look at God’s creation and praise Him.

Look at David, as a shepherd, he didn’t have much to do or watch, as he was out in the fields watching the sheep.

So, what does he do?

Compose songs praising God for His care and provision as he was delighting in God’s word.

If our minds are fixed on Jesus, our ears listening to God, and our eyes fixed on His word, The result will be that our mouths will speak the truth in love.

We will sing praises to God, and we will want to read out loud God’s word.

“For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”

(Matt 12:34)

If we are obsessed with Jesus, if our minds are fixed on Him, everything in us will be affected by Him.

Then our bodies will indeed be a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is our spiritual worship.

We are worshipping Jesus here today, but the worship that really matters is living for Jesus every day, having Him in the forefront of our minds each day.

To all of this, you might say, yes I know this, you told me this before several times and in different ways.

We know we should be listening to Scripture, reading, etc.

But we are so easily satisfied with our lives and our Christian walk that we honestly don’t really want to be obsessed with Jesus.

How can we be obsessed with Jesus and do everything that we need to do?

When we look at Jesus’ life it seems that He was obsessed with doing everything exactly as He saw the Father doing.

(John 5:19)“Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing.

For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.

Everything that Jesus said was what that the Father told Him to say, Jesus said “For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak.

50 And I know that his commandment is eternal life.

What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.” (John 12:49-50)

We can say Jesus was obsessed with the Father, He wanted to please the Father and do His will and be obedient to Him.

Jesus lived his life with his eyes focused on His mission.

He knew why He was on the earth and He lived intentionally to fulfilled what He was called to do.

In all of this Jesus was faithful.

Moses also knew his mission, first, he tried to do it by his own will and strength, but in the process, he killed a man and had to escape for his life.

Then after 40 years, God called Moses to rely on God in the mission to rescue the Israelites from Egypt.

Then for the next 80 years, Moses was faithful in doing what God commanded him to do.

We might say yes Jesus and Moses knew what they were supposed to do.

They were called by God to a specific mission.

We could look at the prophets and we would see that they were faithful in all that they were called to do.

But what about us?

We all look forward to the end when Christ returns or we meet Him after death, when we will see Jesus and He will tell us the most precious words we will ever hear, Jesus will say: “Well done, good and faithful servant”

The most crucial question for us now is: what are we called to do?

What does it mean for us to be a faithful servant?

Just a side note about the word servant.

Often in our context, the idea of being a servant is seen as something negative.

It brings to mind the idea of slavery in America, or people being mistreated because of their lowest position.

However, in the biblical context, the idea of a servant is so far away from this negative connotation.

For example, because Abraham didn’t have any sons his servant Eliezer of Damascus was going to be his heir.

Servants were treated like part of the family.

We have a master who is good and just, we are also not just called servants, but sons and daughters, brothers and sisters of Christ.

But we can’t forget that it is such an honor to be called servants of God.

Therefore, we are servants of God, so what is our mission?

What are we called to do?

What should we live for?

Even as mature Christians we lose focus and we get comfortable and satisfied in our Christian walk.

Paul D Tripp said the following: “If our parenting seems to be working, if our marriages are livable, if our jobs aren’t terrible, if our finances aren’t a disaster, and if we have nice houses, good churches, and good health, most of us are satisfied.

But God is not satisfied.”

Each of us has a specific calling, we are placed intentionally in the family that we have, the jobs we have, the experiences we have, the friends we have, and we are given specific passions.

Not for just our enjoyment, but for a purpose, a goal.

But, what is the goal, what did God command us to do?

When we look at Scripture there are three very clear commandments, which should be our goal in life, our mission.

Jesus made very clear these three commandments.

First Jesus said that the greatest commandment is this:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

(Mark 12:29-30)

Then right after this Jesus said “The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

There is no other commandment greater than these.

Then after Jesus was resurrected and just before He ascended to Heaven.

He gave us a commandment.

His commandment wasn’t just for missionaries or the apostles, but for every follower of Christ.

He gave us a purpose, a mission, and a goal in life.

And if you have been in the Alliance for a few years you have likely heard a few sermons on this key foundational passage to the Alliance.

Jesus commanded us in Matt 28:18-20

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.