Sermon Tone Analysis

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Anger
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Anger
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Twenty years ago, Eugene Peterson wrote a commentary on the Psalms of Ascents – Psalms 120-134.
These are the songs that Jewish pilgrims would sing on their way up to worship in Jerusalem.
The book has the intriguing title of /"A Long Obedience in the Same Direction."/
It has become a Christian classic.
What Peterson calls a long obedience in the same direction, the Bible calls steadfastness.
It means to get on the road and stay there.
To hang in there.
To keep on keeping on, as the old folks used to say.
That is how the Christian life is to be lived.
It is lived regardless—regardless of /circumstances/, regardless of /opposition/, regardless of /feelings/, regardless of /discouragements/, regardless of /hardships/, regardless of /put-downs/, regardless of /doubts/ and regardless of /obstacles/.
Day by day, one step at a time, we are to persevere to the end.
In fact, we are to live the Christian life in spite of the circumstances, opposition, feelings, discouragements, hardships, put-downs, doubts and obstacles because we are more than conquerors!
This morning, I want to preach the second message in a series of sermons I’ve entitled: Pillars of Christian Character.
Last Sunday we looked at the necessity of developing faithfulness.
This morning we will examine obedience.
Obedience is not a soft, syrupy word.
It is a gritty, tenacious one.
It challenges us to do what God commands, to go where He leads, and to speak what He inspire``s.
Two of the finest examples of a steadfast obedience are Mary and Joseph.
Their lives paint a picture of obedience in its full context and reveal to us the difficulty and delight of devotion to God.
!
I. OBEDIENCE IN SPITE OF CIRCUMSTANCES
#.
Nazareth was a small, obscure village nestled in the hill country halfway between the Sea of Galilee and the Mediterranean Sea
#. it was a town that had little to offer
#.
I’m sure the teenagers in Nazareth complained to their parents the same way that teenagers in Linn complain – /“But there’s nothing to do here!”/
#. like the restless youth of our day I'm sure the teenagers of Nazareth dreamed about the metropolitan communities of their day ...
#. ... Athens
#. ... Rome
#. ... Cairo
#. ... even Jerusalem
#. any place had to be better than dull, monotonous Nazareth where nothing exciting or out of the ordinary ever occurred
#. in Nazareth there lived a young woman named Mary
#. we have no indication of any personal looks that set her apart from other girls her age
#. in God’s eye, she was an ordinary girl whom He planned to use in an extraordinary way
#. in Mary’s life, we see A Long Obedience in the Same Direction
!! A. HER OBEDIENCE EMBRACED THE CONSEQUENCES OF HER FAITH
#.
God's grace was delivered by the angel Gabriel who called Mary God's favored one
#. the message was startling
* Luke 1:30-35 /“And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.
And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.
He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?
And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”/ (KJV)
#. the consequences would be as equally startling
#. Mary was a virgin
#. she kept her body pure as an expression of obedience to God and her love for Joseph, her fiancé
#. now—suddenly—by the grace of God and the overshadowing power of the Holy Spirit, she was going to bare a child
#. what would people think and say?
#. her parents?
#. her friends?
#. her fiance’?
#. her community?
#. ultimately, Mary considered the whole situation to be impossible
#. but Gabriel affirms "nothing is impossible with God"
#. like Mary, we too, sometimes find ourselves facing circumstances that require obedience, even though we don't fully understand the details
!! B. AT THE HEART OF MARY’S OBEDIENCE IS FAITH THAT GOD CAN MAKE THE IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE
#. Mary did not demand an explanation
#. she did not complain that she had insufficient information
#. she simply obeyed
* v. 38 /"Be it done to me according to your word."/
#. obedience for believers is not an option that depends on the circumstances
#. too often our obedience toward God is conditioned on whether that obedience fits into our personal agenda
#. if we are not too inconvenienced ...
#. if we are not overly burdened ...
#. if it makes sense ...
#. then we obey, but if none of those conditions are met, we don't
* ILLUS.
When I felt God’s call to salvation, I essentially fell into the Kingdom.
There was no prolonged resistance on my part.
However, about a year after I was saved, I began to sense God calling me into the ministry.
That was not a part of my agenda.
I spent almost a year denying God and being disobedient to His calling.
I saw ministry as an inconvenience, too large of a burden and something that simply didn’t make sense.
#. obedience is responding to God in faith in spite of the circumstances
#. if we obey only when we want to and believe only what is understandable, we do not really trust God; we’re really only trusting ourselves
#. real faith trusts the heart of God even when we cannot trace the hand of God
#.
Mary’s faith in God would soon bring about difficult circumstances in her life—Mary obeyed in spite of the circumstances
!
II.
OBEDIENCE IN SPITE OF CONFLICT
#. circumstances can make obedience perplexing, and conflict can make it painful
#. when Joseph learned that Mary was pregnant, the news must have been painful for him
#. he assumed the worst
#. he thought that she had been unfaithful
#. according to Jewish law, Joseph had two options
#. he could divorce Mary publicly and shame her in a court of justice
#. or he could "put her away privately" through a confidential divorce
#. the conflicting desires swirling around in his mind must have been agonizing and caused great mental conflict
#. would he yield to legalistic dogma and make an example of her?
#. or would he yield to the tender love he felt for Mary and save her from open shame and embarrassment?
#. the fact that Joseph did not want to disgrace her reveals the depth and tenderness of his love for her
#. in the midst of his own hurt, he was thinking of her feelings and welfare
!! A. OBEDIENCE IS RARELY EASY OR CONVENIENT
* /“For I have come to turn “ ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law— a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’
“Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”/
(Matthew 10:35–39, NIV84)
#. before Joseph could act on his inclination to begin the process of divorce, an angel of the Lord informed him in a dream that Mary was pregnant by means of the Holy Spirit and that he should take her as his wife
#. from the human perspective that revelation did not make things a whole lot easier
#. people would still point fingers, family members would still whisper, neighbors tongues would still wag
#.
Joseph's obedience was bound to bring conflict
#. conflict with his family
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