Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
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Anger
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Analytical
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Openness
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Conscientiousness
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Extraversion
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*Intro* – Three boys are bragging about their fathers.
One says, “My dad is a nuclear physicist.
There are only about 100 people in the world who can understand him.”
The 2nd says, “My dad is a world class brain surgeon.
There are only 50 people in the world who can understand him.”
The 3rd boy says, “That’s nothing.
My dad is a preacher.
When he’s preaching, nobody seems to understand him!”
That would be tragic, wouldn’t it – a garbled, distorted message?
II Cor 4:3, “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.”
Imagine someone missing heaven because we didn’t get the gospel right!
I fear in our day we’ve lost both the message as well as its appeal.
It’s appeal is that it is true, not that it is easy!
We’ve lost that!
So, we come to this wonderful little vignette in the life of Christ.
At first it seems like a throw-away introduction.
But it speaks to us in a compelling way of the beauty and appeal of the unadulterated, unchanging gospel.
It is a powerful message that must not be veiled to those perishing.
*I.
It is All-Inclusive*
The gospel is for all.
Lu 8:1, “Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God.” Jesus went everywhere.
No place too big; no place too small.
No person is too big or too small; no one is too good or too bad; too mean or too religious.
Jesus sought everyone He could.
The invitation is open to everyone.
Jesus’ parting instructions to His followers was, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.”
There is nothing parochial about the gospel of Jesus Christ.
It has universal appeal because it is universally needed.
So Jesus took a bunch of hillbilly Galilean fishermen and small businessmen, trained them for 3 years and then sent them out with a mandate to evangelize the world.
They were a little slow on the uptick.
It took heavy persecution and the martyrdom of Stephen and Jas to get them to move out of Jerusalem.
God had to practically dynamite Peter out of bed to take the gospel to the Gentile Cornelius.
It was not the church in Jerusalem, but the church in Antioch that finally sent out missionaries, Paul and Barnabas with a vision to reach the whole world.
They were slow, but once they got going there was no turning back.
The gospel has universal appeal because there is a universal need.
What is our greatest need?
To be happy?
No – it is to be guilt-free before our God and Creator.
Only the gospel has a solution to that need.
The gospel is for every race and creed and country and people.
It is for rich and poor alike.
No one is too bad to be reached by the gospel; neither is anyone too good to need the gospel.
Paul reminds us in Titus 3:5, “he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy.”
Our goodness could never make us right with God.
But at the cross Jesus paid the penalty of sin for all who believe and accept Him.
That’s good news.
That’s the gospel.
It’s for everyone.
Only our own rejection prevents us.
Many years ago, the Prince of Wales was visiting the capital city of India.
A barrier had been set up to keep back the masses of people who wanted to see royalty.
But when Prince Albert saw the crowd, he ordered, “Take down those barriers!”
They were quickly removed and all the people regardless of social rank were allowed free access to the heir to the throne.
Sometime later when he visited again, a crowd of 10,000 outcasts waited under a banner that read, “The Prince of the Outcasts.”
That’s Jesus, Beloved.
At the cross He broke down every barrier between man and God.
The gospel is for everyone!
*II.
It is Audacious*
V. 1, “Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God.
And the twelve were with him.”
Times were tough in 1st century Palestine.
The Romans humiliated the Jews.
They allowed unscrupulous tax-collectors to gouge them.
Their religious leaders scorned them and imposed impossible demands.
They lived with the persistent doubt – “Am I good enough?”
The great hope was that Messiah would appear and remove them from bondage to Rome.
How to meet their need?
A 21st century emergent church advocate would have taken a survey to find out what the audience wanted.
“You want more miracles, bread and fish at every meeting, deliverance from Rome.
Come next Sunday.
You’ll love the music, too!”
In fact, after Jesus fed the 5,000, they came to Him next day with these exact demands.
He didn’t have to take a survey; they tried to make Him king, expecting more food and more miracles.
What did Jesus do? “Come next Sunday?”
Not quite.
He knew they had a much deeper need than the need for food and miracles.
He stayed faithful to the message.
He told them in John 6:29, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
That went over like a lead balloon.
The end result is given in John 6:66, “After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.”
Note -- He didn’t chase them down.
Jesus was neither a sensationalist nor a seeker-friendly, give-the-audience-what-they-want evangelist.
He realized the power was in the message, not in the method.
What was His message?
Matt summarizes in Matt 4:17, “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
He realized it was no good to free people from physical bondage while leaving them in spiritual bondage.
The priority was repentance.
Of course, Jesus healed people.
But that was a sidelight which occurred for two reasons.
First, Jesus is God’s king.
His presence brings kingdom conditions with it – a preview of what’s coming.
Kingdom conditions follow the King.
Second, the miracles authenticated His message.
Physical healing authenticated the spiritual healing that was at the core of His message.
But He did not come to town advertising a healing service.
His priority was proclaiming [κηρυσσω] and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God.
It was an audacious message reminding people they were sinners in need of a Savior.
Jesus wasn’t about making people comfortable by feeding, healing, clothing and catering to them.
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