Sermon Tone Analysis

! Introduction

Wow, what a privilege to be able to preach here today.

The first time I ever preached anywhere I stood right here on January 1 in 1976.

A lot of years have gone by since then and we are excited to be here today to see what God will do as we seek His will.

Because we grew up here and because we have family here, we have watched to see what has happened in this church over the years and particularly in the last few years we have truly come to care about this church.

We believe that God has a future for this congregation and if we are correct in our sense that God is calling us here to pastor this church, we would look forward to working with you to accomplish what God wants to do here.

Carla asked me what the message was about and I told her “It’s about Jesus.”

She responded with a grin that I would give her such a Sunday School answer, but it is not a Sunday School answer.

If we identify ourselves as Christians and the church as a Christian church, the foundational truth which must mark who we are, what we do and what we hope in is Jesus.

It is that truth which I would like to declare today.

As Christians and as churches, there is no more significant message than the centrality of Christ in the message we proclaim, the centrality of Christ in the way we proclaim it and the centrality of Christ in the hope we have of response.

If it is about Jesus, then this also calls us to a decision about following Christ with our whole life.

So this morning I would like to encourage all of us that “It’s About Jesus!”

!

I.                   The Message

Yet if you are like me, I sometimes find it hard to put the message of Jesus out there like that.

I don’t find it too difficult to ask people, “Do you attend church?”

I have often invited people to church events like VBS or a special concert.

But unless they brought it up, I have not often asked people, “What do you think of Jesus.”

Such reluctance is not surprising.

The gospel message, which centers on Jesus, is not necessarily respected in the world.

Paul speaks about the difficulty of presenting the message of Jesus in I Corinthians 1:18-25.

He knew what he was talking about when he said “the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.

When he preached Jesus in Athens, we read in Acts 17:32, "When they heard Paul speak about a raising from death, some of them made fun of him…” On another occasion in Acts 26:24 we read that, "…Festus shouted at him, “You are mad, Paul!”

!! A.                 Spinning Christianity

            So in response to this reality the Christian world has often tried to find ways to make Jesus more acceptable, but what is the impact of those attempts?

The cross has been domesticated and has become a piece of jewelry.

Whenever I see someone wear a cross, I wonder if they really understand what it means to them because the cross is not a piece of jewelry, but rather an instrument of torture and death.

It represents God’s strategy of gaining victory through weakness and defeat.

Some churches invite people to experience the blessing of knowing God and promise that if they become Christians they will have a better life.

The reality is that most people who follow Christ will not necessarily have easier lives.

Illness, financial hardship and death all still come to Christian people.

On top of that there is a very good likelihood that followers of Jesus will be persecuted in some way.

If the only call we have is that life will be better, it doesn’t ring very true.

One of the most common ways into the church is through friends and it is a great blessing to enjoy relationships with other Christians.

But if good relationships are the only focus of the church, churches will soon deteriorate into social clubs with all the problems of any human organization.

Churches argue for the logic of God’s existence and that He is creator and that life should be modeled after his rules.

But the history of the church leaves many people wondering about the reality of what is proclaimed.

The world is not buying it, citing the evil done by “God’s people” in residential schools and so on.

With this confusing legacy of what Christianity has done in our world it is hard to stand up for Christ because from the perspective of those who do not know Christ, the message of Jesus is foolishness.

What do we do?

Do we continue to spin Christianity so that it looks good to the world?

Paul’s message in I Corinthians reminds us that the message we have to proclaim is about Jesus and even though it looks like foolishness to the world, it is still the only message that is the wisdom of God and the power of God.

!! B.                 The Message of Christ Crucified

            There are two ways to be religious.

One is to look for signs of power.

This is what the Jews were constantly doing.

When Jesus was on earth, the Jewish religious leaders asked him to prove himself with signs.

Religions that are able to demonstrate powerful manifestations are impressive.

To those seeking evidence of power, the message of Jesus dying on a cross makes no sense at all.

The thought is that if Jesus was truly the Messiah, he would demonstrate power, perhaps by calling down 10,000 angels to demonstrate that He was Lord.

But that was not God’s plan.

Instead, he allowed His Son to die on the cross.

What utter foolishness to the Jews.

The other way of religion is through wisdom.

It was the way of the Greeks and is the way of every philosopher.

The thought is that there has to be logic.

To them also the way death of Jesus on the cross makes no sense.

What is the sense of having a dead god?

            Yet what is foolishness from an earthly point of view is from God’s point of view, power and wisdom.

Paul indicates that the message we preach is about Jesus.

He says in I Corinthians 1:23, “we preach Christ crucified.”

He declares that to those whom God has called this message is “the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

It is the power of God because unlike any other system of human power or wisdom it is actually able to overcome sin.

It was the weakness of Christ’s death on the cross which gained for all whom God calls forgiveness of sins, freedom from guilt and the hope of living in a new way.

It is the power of God because unlike any other system of human power or wisdom it is actually able to overcome the sentence upon sin which is death.

It is through the weakness of Christ’s death on the cross that God defeated the great enemy of our lives and introduced to all who will accept it the message of life eternal.

It is the wisdom of God because unlike any other system of human power or wisdom it alone is able to bring us into a relationship with God that makes us acceptable to God and allows us to know Him in this life and to be assured that we will be able to see Him face to face for all eternity!

Gordon Fee says, “…left to themselves mere creatures cannot find out the living God.

The best they can do is to create gods in the likeness of created things, or, as so often happens, in their own distorted likeness.”

It is only through Christ crucified that we know God and know Him truly.

That is wisdom and that is power and even though those who are perishing will never understand it, we must continue to proclaim this message so that those who are called by God and those who open their lives up to trust God will find life.

If we weaken this message, if we try to make it acceptable to a world that doesn’t get it, we will forgo the power and wisdom of God.

May we always continue to make sure that the message which is central to our lives, the message which we proclaim to the world is about Jesus!

!

II.

The Manner

An amazing thing happened in Winnipeg on June 4.

The message that season tickets for the Winnipeg Jets were on sale that day was followed by an immediate and overwhelming response that surprised everyone when all available tickets sold out in 2 minutes.

The message of Jesus is not usually received with that kind of success.

As we have just seen the life giving message which is about Jesus is viewed by many as foolishness, is hated by some and simply doesn’t even come to the attention of many.

Yet we have the privilege and responsibility of proclaiming this life giving message about Jesus.

How do you proclaim Jesus to those who ignore it, consider it foolish or oppose it?

Some of the ways in which Christians have tried to proclaim it seem to me to be less than what God expects of us.

If you have ever watched golf on TV, you have probably seen people who stand in the crowds with the words John 3:16 in front of them.

What kind of a method is that?

It is a method that proclaims from a distance but doesn’t really engage people.

It is tempting for us to point to Jesus without really becoming involved with people.

The other extreme would be standing on a street corner and arguing with people and trying to force them to see the wisdom of the gospel.

I have seen both and don’t really think they are what God wants us to do.

Peter gives a good answer to this question in I Peter 3:15 where he says, "But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.

But do this with gentleness and respect."

The context of this passage is one in which Peter acknowledges that if we do good things we should expect to be treated well.

But the reality for God’s people on earth is that even if we do good things, we may experience opposition and perhaps even persecution.

Peter was trying to encourage believers who were being persecuted.

He challenges them not to shy away from the message about Jesus.

If believers in a persecution context were to be faithful in speaking about Jesus, how much more should we.

There are three important lessons about the manner of proclamation in this passage.

!! A.                 Set Apart Christ

First of all, Peter encourages believers “In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.”

Carla’s birthday is this coming week and I was thinking about how we could celebrate it.