Sermon Tone Analysis

In the days of the despotic dictator, Joseph Stalin, a district party conference was being held in Moscow.

At the end of the conference, a tribute to Comrade Stalin was called for.

Of course, everyone stood up (just as everyone had leaped to his feet during the conference with every mention of his name).

The hall echoed with “stormy applause, raising to an ovation.”

For three minutes, four minutes, five minutes, the “stormy applause, rising to an ovation,” continued.

But palms were getting sore and raised arms were already aching.

And the older people were panting from exhaustion.

It was becoming insufferably silly even to those who adored Stalin.

However, who would dare to be the first to stop?

The secretary of the District Party could have done it.

He was standing on the platform, and it was he who had just called for the ovation.

But he was a newcomer.

He had taken the place of a man who’d been arrested.

He was afraid!

After all, the secret police were standing in the hall applauding and watching to see who would quit first!

So on it went.

Six minutes, seven minutes, eight minutes.

They were done for!

They couldn’t stop now till they collapsed from heart attacks.

The director of the local paper factory, an independent and strong-minded man, stood with the presidium.

In anguish he watched the secretary of the District Party Committee, but the latter dared not stop.

Insanity!

To the last man!

With make-believe enthusiasm on their faces, looking at each other with faint hope, the district leaders were just going to go on and on applauding till they fell where they stood, till they were carried out of the hall on stretchers!

And even then those who were left would not falter.

Then, after eleven minutes, the director of the paper factory assumed a businesslike expression and sat down in his seat.

And, oh, a miracle took place!

Where had the universal, uninhibited, indescribable enthusiasm gone?

To a man, everyone else stopped dead and sat down.

They had been saved!

The squirrel had been smart enough to jump off his revolving wheel.

But it was just that action which allowed the secret police, present in the room, to tell who the independent thinkers were.

And that was how they went about eliminating them.

That same night the factory director was arrested.

They easily pasted ten years on him on the pretext of something quite different.

But after he had signed Form 206, the final document of the interrogation, his interrogator reminded him: “Don’t ever be the first to stop applauding!”

NEED

Many believers are like those poor communist factory workers.

They don’t really believe the Christianity they espouse.

They say they believe in prayer, and when others are around, they even praise God for answers to prayer, but they don’t pray.

They say they believe that Jesus is the only way to heaven, yet their lost friends and relatives don’t even know they’re really serious about Christ because they never mention Jesus.

They say they have the Holy Spirit, but their life is no different from those of their unsaved co-workers.

They are like the communist factory workers: They applaud a God they don’t really believe!

They claim a salvation that just isn’t real to them.

And the truth is, some of us don’t really want reality.

Let’s just be honest.

We’re satisfied with cultural, church-attending Christianity that gives us some peace of mind about life after death, but that’s about as “real” as we want it.

We want $3 worth of God in a paper sack.

Not enough of Him to radically change our lives, just enough to make us feel better about our sin.

Some fear reality.

Others, seek it.

They really do.

They long to have a close, intimate, up-close and personal relationship with Jesus, but, in their hearts, something is missing.

All the words of the verses about loving Jesus only go so deep, then just melt away.

It’s like there heart’s in deep freeze and all the words we say about knowing Christ can only penetrate so far.

They long for a reality that they do not possess.

Whichever group you’re in, this morning, I really want you to listen.

Knowing Jesus, I mean really knowing Him at a deeply intimate level is the one thing that makes this “being a Christian” thing worth doing.

Listen, I am not nearly where I would like to be with the Lord and there is such great room for growth in my life, but were it not for the closeness I have with Jesus Christ, I would not have the courage to get out of bed and face the day.

If it’s that important, then, how can you know if what you have is real?

How can you tell if your relationship with Him will blossom into intimacy, or shrivel into boredom?

How can you tell if your faith is “for real?”

Well, you can learn a lot about it from a king of Judah.

His name?

Joash.

Sad to say, Joash never checked the “reality” box in his resume.

He was ever the wooden nickel of the Monarchs.

But, that’s not all bad.

God has included his story in your Bible to show you how you can judge your own reality and do something about it.

Examine this young man’s life with me, and lets see how we can measure our own reality.

In the first place, if you want to be genuine in your faith; if you want to know if your faith is real, you must

DIV 1: REJECT FALSE EVIDENCE

EXPLANATION

There were at least a couple of “evidence” in this chapter that seem to show that Joash was the “real deal” when it came to spirituality.

In the first place, he had a great background.

Now, if you know anything about his background, you might take exception to that remark.

Back in chapter 22, we are given the story of how his heartless wretch of a Grandmother sought to kill him in an effort to steal the throne for herself.

That attack was stopped by the actions of Jehoshabeath, the wife of Jehoiada, the priest who hid Joash from his grandmother’s murderous plot.

While that’s not a very promising beginning, things got better.

That priest, Jehoiada, becomes his spiritual father in a manner of speaking.

Jehoiada was a valiant man of God who raises Joash right as if he were his own son.

In chapter 23, when the time is right, Jehoiada brings Joash out of hiding, surprising his murderous grandmother and proclaiming Joash at the amazing age of 7. Read 24:1 with me:

Joash was seven years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem.

His mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba.

2 Joash did what was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest.

3 And Jehoiada took two wives for him, and he had sons and daughters.

I think its interesting in v 2 to read that “Joash did what was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest.”

Jehoiada evidently had a huge impact on Joash.

Even though his grandmother was a vile woman, Joash is raised by Jehoiada, a righteous man.

He has a great background.

Yet his background doesn’t keep him from, later in his life, turning away from God.

And it is that reality that teaches us this principle: Your background only provides for your potential, not your future.

ILLUSTRATION

In their fascinating book, Freakonomics, economists Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner point out that one of the first acts of parental power comes in the naming of a child.

Many believe the name carries great significance.

The case of the Lane brothers may argue differently

Back in 1958, a baby boy was born into the Lane family.

Robert—the father—chose to name the boy Winner.

How could the young man fail to succeed with a name like Winner Lane?

The Lanes had another son several years later.