Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Christians at best are people, and people at best are sinners.

There is no such thing as a Christian without sin; this is the very reason Jesus said to a group indignant men one day, "let he who is without sin, cast the first stone" I believe that in the Church today we are stumbling over the issue of stumbling.

In the contemporary Church of today it seems almost taboo to even speak of it.

Yet, when a dear Christian brother or sisters stumbles, he or she may live life in isolation, an isolation forced upon them by other so-called Christians.

The Lord doesn't want the members of His body to live in isolation; believers are intended to function as a loving family who actively care for each other.

In the Luke 6: 37 we read, ““Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven;” we are not to judge our fellow Christians it makes no difference who you are or who you think you are.

There are some pastors who think that because they are pastors they have the god-given right to judge a person and even ostracize and reject a person who is a member of the Church he pastors without so much as seeking God’s direction in the matter simply because he’s the pastor.

However, the Church is more like a hospital than it is a social club, I say this because there are some churches that act as if they are a social club embodied with ranking members.

But the church is the place where you come to be equipped for ministry (Eph.

4:12) and where you come to do ministry (Matt.

28:19).

The church is not a social club, not a recreational center and not a place that caters to ANY one person at the sacrifice or even the harm of others.

This is exactly why many people leave the Church never to return because they have been broken, mistreated, and rejected by people they fully expected would love them.

But for some reason they just didn’t fit in and as time went by they just decided to stop coming and I mean stop coming to Church all together, how tragic?

Now, do you really think that this is what God wants?

Does God want us to close the door for some and open the door for others simply by gauging them according to our standards?

Did God say for us to be selected as to who we will allow to join His Church?

Did He say to mistreat anyone you see as being a misfit?

Did He say that there should be no (what we call) hopeless sinners allowed?

No!!!

What is the answer to this dilemma?

How can we as a Church abide by what the Lord would have us do?

I believe the answer is right here in these five verses of Scripture.

There are at least seven things the Lord would have us do, when a Christian among us has stumbled or is about to stumble.

1.

Let The Spiritual Among You Handle The Matter – V. 1

Well, how can tell who is spiritual as oppose to who is not spiritual?

A spiritual person bears the fruit of the Spirit (see Gal. 5: 22-23).

A spiritual person has denied him or herself; they are free from envy, jealousy, arrogance, and selfishness, and please excuse me for saying this but it is the truth—the above requirements leaves a whole lot of pastors and other leaders in the Church out.

A person who is spiritual is less likely to be a stumbling block; he or she is less likely to have a critical spirit within them, and they are definitely not prone to gossip and slander.

In every Church there are spiritual Christians and there are carnal Christians.

A carnal Christian is not fully equipped to handle things that are of a spiritual nature.

Carnal Christians have not as of yet been delivered from their own sinful flesh and surely cannot restore someone else, effectively at least, they have to undergo a process known as ‘sanctification’ and so what Paul is saying is that only those who have been truly sanctified should endeavor to restore a fellow Christian who has been overtaken in a fall.

The next thing the Lord would have us do when we find a brother or sister who has stumbled or is about to stumble is:

2. Approach Them In A Spirit Of Meekness – V. 1

What is a Spirit of meekness?

It is humility; I would recommend any member of a pulpit search committee who is seeking a new pastor to add humility to their list of requirements.

Please, at any cost try and stay away from someone who appears to have a Narcissistic Personality Disorder because this type of person can be very poisonous to your Church.

This type of person wants to be worshipped and praised along with God, after the honeymoon is over you will wish that you could take back your vote.

For sure, meekness is a Fruit of the Spirit that seems to be forgotten.

It almost seems that people are actually seeking an arrogant pastor in order to give them an excuse to become arrogant themselves.

When approaching a Christian who has stumbled there has to meekness.

There has to be an attitude (feeling) of humility (being humble) toward God and gentleness toward people.

To be meek means we know God is in control.

Those who are spiritual know that they can trust God, even when things do not go the way they would like.

A person who has meekness in approaching a fallen brother or sister will not ignore them, criticize them, withdraw from them, shame them, censor them, dismiss them, isolate them, spread rumors about them, or slander them.

I know of a certain pastor who will make personal judgments about people who he feels does not fit into what he thinks HIS Church members should be, if they don’t show any loyalty to him he considers them worthless.

He is threatened by other preachers who he thinks is out to steal his members or even his entire Church, and so as a result he totally ignores them hoping that they would just go away.

This is the very opposite of meekness and he will have to answer for it in the long run.

The next thing the Lord would have us do when we find a brother or sister who has stumbled or is about to stumble is:

3. Consider Yourself, You’re Not Perfect Either – V. 1

In other words, you are not immune from temptation yourself.

It’s “All have sinned” and not, “Y’all have sinned.”

I remember when a well-know TV preacher (you know him, “I have sinned” yea that one) accused another electronic preacher of sinning before the entire world, and the other preacher found evidence that his accuser was frequenting brothels himself, this made headline news and the ministries of both men was totally destroyed in the process.

Walking to the pulpit with you chest out as proud as a peacock can sometimes cause you to walk away from the pulpit with your head drooping down like a buzzard.

Because no one is perfect, but Jesus Christ Himself.

Every one of us are tempted with all kinds of sin, in fact in 1 Corinthians 10: 13, the Apostle Paul lets us know that each and every single temptation that attacks us is common to all of us and not a select few.

The next thing the Lord would have us do when we find a brother or sister who has stumbled or is about to stumble is:

4. Bear One Another’s Burden – V. 2

This seems to be one of the most overlooked verses of Scripture these days.

In a world where “I must be first” is the order of the day.

In a world where the words, “That’s his problem” is so often uttered even by Christians.

When we bear one another’s burden it is not a process of selection, in other words, we shouldn’t pick and choose whose burdens we should bear.

Pastors, it doesn’t mean to only bear the members who are most loyal to you or gives the most during offering time.

We are to bear the burden of each and every Church member.

Why should we bear one another’s burden?

Because in God’s Church we are all tied together, “I can’t be what I ought to be unless you are what you ought to be, and you can’t be what you ought to be unless I am what I ought to be” –Rev.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

But more so than anything else it is what God wants.

The next thing the Lord would have us do when we find a brother or sister who has stumbled or is about to stumble is: