Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Illustration: Two Missionaries

Some years ago there were two groups of missionaries that went to Thailand.

And there was a phd student who ended up doing his dissertation on the differences in approach and results of those two groups.

One of the groups relied solely on what I call Cold Turkey Evangelism.

They would go out every day and share the gospel with strangers.

If you know me you know I love cold turkey evangelims, and I believe it is a healthy part of a Christian diet to know how to speak to people about Jesus.

And I like to take teams out evangelizing.

The other group of missionaries set out to love people radically and to bless them.

There was not a focus on evangelism per se, rather the focus was on engaging people where they were, loving them, and as opportunities came to to share the gospel, taking those opportunities.

The results were fascinating.

The two groups were measured on two different scales.

The first scale measured the impact on the community, the social value that each group of missionary brought after two years to their communities.

The group that relied almost entirely on Cold Turkey Evangelism (negligible impact).

The group that set out to love people, the entire community knew of their presence and had had their life somehow improved as a result of their impact on the community.

Secondly, they then measured converts.

First group of Cold Turkey Evangelists, 2 converts.

Second group of those that set out to love people, 100 converts.

A difference of 50 to 1.

Personal

What might it look like if an entire Church, right downtown Chicago, got it in them that they were going to live salty lives of Biblical community and mission and loving and serving others?

What would happen if each person in this room became those missionaries to their neighbors?

What if each person here today bought into a vision, a vision set by Jesus Christ, and repositioned their life, and reprioritized their life to show the world the power of Christ at work in them?

My aim today is to get us that alignment.

My aim today is to so empower us with the tools we need to be that community and to see those kind of results here in Chicago.

Context

This is a fitting sermon as next week we kick off a new series that will last about 8 months as we will go verse by verse through the book 1 Corinthians in the New Testament.

Before we get into that series, I wanted to take one week to lay a bit of foundation, to get us back to the grassroots. 1 Corinthians is going to give us an inside look at a Church, a Church in the city of Corinth, and Paul’s advice on how to handle all the challenges they were facing as a Church in their context, and it will speak volumes to many of the challenges we face as a modern Church dealing with our modern problems.

But first I want to look at Jesus Words in a very famous prayer he prayed in John 17.

This prayer over the years has been given the title ‘The High Priestly Prayer.’

In fact, every Christian should know that the High Priestly Prayer is found in John 17.

This is a prayer that Jesus prayed shortly before his crucifixion.

He specifically prayed it over his disciples and the work that they would do after He left them.

But in it, he also prays for us, as at one point he literally prays for those that would believe in the gospel in later generations through the preaching of the Apostles (that’s you and me).

This chapter is worthy of weeks of sermons.

I’m going to try today to pull out three vital qualities of the Authentic Church.

And as I do that, I’m going to aim to pastorally guide our Church into our hopes and prayers for this year.

John 17 “1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.

3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

6 “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world.

Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.

7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 8 For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.

9 I am praying for them.

I am not praying for th…”

Idea 1: We are a Bible-Rooted Community

First, the Word of God Directs All We Do.

John 17:6-8 “6 “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world.

Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.

7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 8 For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.”

Receiving and Keeping God’s Word

In this section Jesus has just got done giving a brilliant insight in the nature of the Trinity.

And out of that he flows into these verses around His Church both receiving and keeping Jesus’ Word.

To receive His Word means that your heart is not cold to God and how He might speak into your life.

You embrace God’s wisdom.

To keep his word has the idea of guarding, of protecting, and obeying.

And if you follow His logic what he is saying is that because his disciples have received the words of Jesus, a number of direct results have occurred.

He says, “Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you.”

In other words, they are more confident in who Jesus is, as the only Son of the Father, the second person of the Trinity.

Because they received the words of Jesus, they have learned to trust Jesus.

He then reiterates this exact idea in verse 8.

We Are Passionate & Jealous For God’s Word

The question becomes are you as a follower of Jesus Christ receiving and keeping/guarding/protecting God’s Word?

Let me walk through a bit of big picture here, things that those who have been around for quite some time in this Church already know very well.

In this Church, we are passionate about God’s Word.

In fact the Biblical Word that I like to use is that we are “jealous for God’s Word.”

What does it mean to be jealous for God’s Word.

Well, we’re not speaking of a trivial jealousy.

To be jealous for the word of God is to be so passionate about God’s Word that we do not put up with anything that in any way attempts to usurp or negate His Words.

In other words, we are not passive in our obedience to God’s Word, rather we guard it, we keep it, we protect.

Illustration: Phinehas

There is a story in the Old Testament of a man named Phinehas.

Phinehas among the people of God and saw someone among his tribe doing something that was obviously against God’s Word.

In the middle of a day of repentance for sin, a man had taken a woman who was forbidden into his tent as if he didn’t a care in the world.

Phinehas, in Numbers 25, when he sees this, he so jealous for the Word of God, that he takes matters into his own hands and corrects the situation.

We read God’s commendation of Phineha’s actions in Numbers 25:10-11.

Numbers 25:10-11 “10 And the Lord said to Moses, 11 “Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back my wrath from the people of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I did not consume the people of Israel in my jealousy.”

This Book

Here at this Church, it is our aim to raise up a generation, both of children coming through our children’s ministry, and adults who are members of this Church, to passionately keep God’s Word.

This Bible is more than a nice book that gives good advice.

This Bible is God’s Living Word.

Paul writes in 1 Timothy 3:16 that,

2 Timothy 3:16 “16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,”

Individually, if you want to know God, grow in real faith, see your family and your community around you transformed, you cannot do it apart from the Scriptures and the God whom the Scriptures reveal.

Communally as a Church, you need to know that we are jealous for God’s Word.

We want to take all of our marching orders from this book.

How do we structure our leadership, the Bible has all of that information.

How do we handle cases of Church Discipline, the Bible has all that information.

What does it to love one another, the Bible has all that information.

How do we step into injustice, the Bible has all of that information.

What should we expect of government, the Bible has all that information.

Too many modern Churches, in an effort to win people over, have detached themselves from the Word of God if not fully then partially.

Not here.

The Bible has full authority over every area of our lives and of our Churches, and therefore we aim to bring every thought and feeling and idea and hope into alignment with what it teaches.

Charles Spurgeon once said,

“Why is it that some Christians, although they hear many sermons, make but slow advances in the divine life?

Because they neglect their closets, and do not thoughtfully meditate on God's Word.

They love the wheat, but they do not grind it; they would have the corn, but they will not go forth into the fields to gather it; the fruit hangs upon the tree, but they will not pluck it; the water flows at their feet, but they will not stoop to drink it.

From such folly deliver us, O Lord…”—Charles Spurgeon

Application: 1 Corinthians