Sermon Tone Analysis

!!! Celebrating The Preacher’s Sweet Feet

Romans 10:14-15

 

 

       We are here to celebrate the Anniversary of Pastor and First Lady Dunwoody.

There are some people who probably feel that we don’t need pastors’ anniversaries, but pastors’ anniversaries are a way for God’s people to thank their pastors for their faithful ministry—especially when most churches cannot give their pastors an adequate salary.

Paul wrote in

 

1 Corinthians 9:8-11 (NASB-U), “I am not speaking these things according to human judgment, am I?  Or does not the Law also say these things?

[9] For it is written in the Law of Moses, ‘You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing.’

God is not concerned about oxen, is He? [10] Or is He speaking altogether for our sake?

Yes, for our sake it was written, because the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing the crops.

[11] If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we reap material things from you?”

He also wrote to Timothy in

 

1 Timothy 5:17-18 (NASB-U), “The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching.

[18] For the Scripture says, ‘You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing,’ and ‘The laborer is worthy of his wages.’”

So, Pastor Dunwoody is worthy of double honor, i.e. respect and remuneration, i.e. respect and money!

Perhaps one reason why some people don’t think that Pastor’s Anniversaries are important is because they don’t understand the importance of pastors in God’s Kingdom.

/(To get a feel for their importance, let’s look at Romans 10:14-15.

Let me read this aloud for us./

/      What we before us is:)/

 

I.

The Commissioning Of The Preacher (vv.

14-15).

\\ (Paul, who was inspired to write concerning God’s plan of salvation, began to illuminate the commissioning of the preacher by asking some very important questions.

Let’s look at these powerful questions.)

1.

“How will they call on Him in whom they have not believed?”

*Answer:  “They cannot!

It is impossible!”*

To call upon Jesus Christ would mean to worship Jesus as the Messiah, who is One with God and Very God of Very God.

But how can people worship Jesus as the Messiah, if they have never believed in Jesus Christ?

One worships Jesus, after s~/he is convicted concerning the identity of Jesus.

The Greek translated “believed” means a strong belief or a conviction.

Belief in Jesus Christ is *not* an “easy believism,” but strong conviction that Jesus is the Messiah, plus trust in Him to save us from our sins!

/(Question number two:)/

 

2.

“How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard?”

*Answer:  “They cannot!

It is impossible!”*

The Greek word “heard” means to perceive one’s voice or to understand.

*It is impossible to have a conviction that Jesus is the Messiah, without first hearing the Gospel.

*There can be no acknowledgment of the truth of the Gospel without some level of comprehension.

*Once again,* *this belies the easy believism of our day.*

/(Let’s move on to the next question, which states:)/

 

3.

“How will they hear without a preacher?”

*Answer:  “They cannot!

It is impossible!”*

*No* one can call on Jesus, until they have believed on Him.

And *no* one can believe on Him, when they haven’t heard about Him.

And *no* one can hear about Jesus without a preacher.

*The conviction and comprehension of the Gospel are based upon the preachers of the Gospel.*

The word ‘preacher’ is /kerussontos/ and comes from

 

/2784 kerusso/  “/to be a herald/;/ to officiate as herald/;/ to proclaim after the manner of a herald/; always with a suggestion of formality, gravity, and an authority which must be listened to and obeyed; b. spec.

/used of the public proclamation of the gospel and matters pertaining to it/, made by John the Baptist, by Jesus, by apostles and other Christian teachers.”

*Preachers, in Christ’s time, were actually town criers.*

They would actually stand in a public place, such as a street corner, and cry out the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.

And God has *not* changed this method.

God still speaks through preachers!

*This is God’s method for providing His vehicle of our destiny and His sovereignty, namely:  the Gospel.

And I am contending for the revival and preservation of passionate Preaching, i.e. a sermon that is solidly based upon the Word of God and ends in appropriate celebration!  Henry Mitchell wrote, *“The cardinal sin of the Black pulpit is probably that of irrelevant celebration—gravy that does *not* match the meat, so to speak.

Good gravy is always made of the essence of the meat to be served, and the same is true of the good Gospel feast.

(/In other words, “Good meat makes its own gravy!/)

When the celebration is about something else, the real message is lost, while the celebration, if it has any substance at all, is recalled.

It is vitally important that all preachers conclude by lifting up the main concerns of the sermon in genuine, joyful celebration.”[1]

The point is:  God’s plan for the salvation of His people is inextricably bound up with the preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, i.e. that Jesus is the Christ, the Anointed One, the Messiah, the King of kings, and Lord of lords, the Author of eternal salvation.

You may read the Bible; you may study on your own; and both of these are important, but nothing can take the place of the public proclamation of the Gospel by God’s preacher.

God spoke in times past in many different ways.

He spoke through His presence

 

·        Upon Mt.

Sinai,

·        In the Tabernacle,

·        In the Temple,

·        Through the sacrificial system,

·        Through the High Priest,

·        Through the holy days and feast days,

·        Etc.

\\ *But when the fullness of time came, God Himself came down and spoke to us in the body and being of His Son.*

When God wanted to save men, He sent His Son, in human form, to *proclaim* and *demonstrate* the message of the kingdom of God.

He sent */The Logos,/* the living word, speech, wisdom, and reason of God.

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

/The Logos/ became flesh!

And God is *not* through with His revelation of the Word made flesh.

*God still sends His Word in flesh today, but He does it through His preacher.*

In 2 Timothy 4:2, we find this phrase,

 

“Preach the Word” = /keruxon ton logon/.

“Through preaching the /logos/ or Word of God is manifested, which brings to humanity the eternal life that was promised.

God could have made His Word known to humanity in other ways, but we could *not* have borne this.

(/Had God manifest Himself to us directly, we would have been killed.

He told Moses, “No man can look upon my face and live./”)

Hence God would *not* have been the Savior who gives life; His declaration would have spelled death.

(/We see this in the case of Moses./

/When Moses came down from Mt. Sinai from the presence of God, the glow on his face frightened the people.

They surely could not have borne the presence of God./)

*Thus, God chose men to be His preachers.*

*By them His Word becomes flesh just as the Son came to sinners in human form*” (TDNT).

So, God’s plan entails the preaching of the Word of God, through His servant, under the power of the Holy Spirit.

*The preacher is in a sense the ‘/Logos’/ made flesh.*

The Living Word of God wraps Himself in the flesh of His preacher and speaks to us.

Divine intervention takes place through the proclamation.*

Kittle's /Theological Dictionary of the New Testament/ says that in preaching, the /Logos/, Jesus Christ, does what He did in the incarnation.

He wraps Himself in human flesh, the flesh of the Spirit-filled preacher, and literally comes to earth to visit His people.

God is here right now!  /Somebody praise Him!/*

       That’s why mothers in Baptist churches holler out when their pastor is preaching, “Stand up in him Jesus!”

 

 

\\ *Enjoying The Sermon*

 

       An article by an unknown author says, “*At least one time in every sermon God breaks through the words of the preacher and speaks directly to the people.*