Sermon Tone Analysis

Overall tone of the sermon

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By Pastor Glenn Pease
In the 1925 Rose Bowl game Notre Dame beat Stanford 27 to 10 in spite of the fact that Standford made the most first downs.
Pop Warner said his team should be considered the winner in spite of the score, and Rockne replied, "Right, and next summer we'll decide baseball games by the number of men left on base."
It may not seem fair that a team can get more first downs, and more hits, and more men on base, and still lose.
But sports are based on a very simple principle.
They are goal oriented.
That is what makes them so popular.
The goals are so clear cut.
You get men to home plate or the ball over the goal line, or in the cup, or basket, or over the net.
Anybody can understand the final objective, and the goal to be achieved.
That is what makes sports so enjoyable and motivating.
Single clear cut goals do that for people.
Vague and unclear goals do not motivate people to action or enjoyment.
This is one of the major reasons why sports generate more enthusiasm than most Christian activities.
Sports have such clear and easily defined goals which can be reached for immediate gratification.
Christian activity, on the other hand, can have goals so distant, and so difficult to measure, that a lot of energy can be expended without any clear certainty whether or not you are winning or losing.
Christian organizations that are not local churches often have a better track record in goal achievement because their goals are more specific and more measurable.
The Gideons, for example, have a specific goal.
If there are 500 motels in Minnesota, their goal is to get Bibles in everyone of them.
They can quite easily determine how close they are coming to their goal, and when they have achieved it.
If the goal of Campus Crusade and Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship is to have a chapter on every college campus, they can easily measure their progress in reaching this goal, for all they have to do is count how many there are and how many they have reached.
Specific and measurable goals motivate people, and that is why the para-church organizations have done so many things the church has not done.
The Bible does not use the word goal very often.
In fact, you will only find it once in the New Testament.
It is used by Paul where he describes the Christian life like a race.
He says in Phil.
3:14, "I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."
The KJV has the word mark here for goal, because the Greek word was used for a mark as a target you tried to hit, and so mark or goal are both appropriate.
It would seem fair to say that Paul was goal oriented even though he did not use the word but once.
We see Paul's life in the book of Acts as a series of destinations to get to.
He wanted to go to Rome, Jerusalem, Corinth, Ephesus, Galatia, and way off to Spain.
His goal was to preach the Gospel everywhere in the world where it had not been heard.
His goal was to obey Christ and fulfill the Great Commission.
His goal was to be Christlike.
His goal was to pray without ceasing, and to rejoice evermore.
We could go on and on, for Paul had a multitude of goals.
If we add to these all the goals of Jesus, to worship God in spirit and truth; to glorify God by our good works; to love our neighbor as ourselves, and dozens more, we begin to see why the goal oriented life for the Christian is far more complex than for the sportsman who has only one goal to shoot for.
It is a whole lot easier to play a sport than to be a Christian.
Nevertheless, the Christian has some basic goals that are to be aimed for if he or she is going to please God at all.
In our text we have one that is so basic you don't have to even qualify to be on the team unless you achieve it.
Yet, it is a greatly neglected goal.
Jesus says we must become like little children to enter the kingdom of heaven.
This is not a suggestion, it is a requirement.
If you do not achieve this goal, you do not qualify to represent God.
If you do achieve this goal, however, you don't just get in as a bench warmer.
You are, says Jesus, the greatest in the kingdom.
You are one of the star players on the kingdom team.
So Jesus is being goal oriented in his teaching of the disciples.
There can be no doubt that goal setting is a valid and valuable Biblical practice.
There is no way to tell if you are making progress unless you know where you are going.
If I am going to Chicago, I may be speeding down the highway at 70 mph, but if I am going the wrong direction, I am not making progress.
It is the goal that determines your progress, and not your speed.
Everything is evaluated in the light of one's goal.
The goal determines the means in reaching it.
If my goal is to get across the street, my feet are the best means.
If it is to get to the airport, a car or cab would be best.
If the goal is Miami, then flying is the way to go.
Goals are the center around which all else is determined.
If your goal is to please God, then the only means acceptable is to change your adult spirit of pride and develop a childlike spirit of humility.
Your goal determines your means of achieving it.
Those in business know that a key element is management by objective.
You get together and decide what objective you want to reach this year, or the next five, or the next ten, and then you plan how to get there.
Planning is simply establishing what has to happen to reach a goal.
Every housewife does this in making a meal.
You decide what you are going to have for supper-that is the goal.
Then you decide how to get there.
You have to take meat out of the freezer; see if you have the right vegetable and potato's, and then plan the timing to begin each item of the menu to cook.
All of this is management by objective.
Goal setting is a part of life for everyone who is engaged in doing anything.
There are subtleties involved, however.
The wife who has an over all goal to give the family a healthy meal will do things different.
Two can make the same meal, but one with a long range goal of health will make it different.
The one with a long range goal will eliminate, as much as possible, the fat, sugar, salt, and other things that are not best for health.
The point is, our goals are what make us different in all that we do and feel.
The higher our goals the more we do all that we do for the glory of God.
I can eat to satisfy my hunger, which is a worthy goal.
I can eat to keep healthy, which is a noble goal.
I can eat to be healthy so I can meet the needs of my family, which is a great goal.
I can eat to be healthy to do the will of God and use my body as a tool in his service, which is the highest goal for eating.
Applying this to our text we see-
I can be nice to children because it makes me look good in the eyes of others.
I can be nice to children because it could get me a job in that field.
I can be nice to children because if I'm not I will be rejected.
I can be nice to children because Jesus says in verse 5 to welcome a little child.
To make a child feel accepted and approved is to welcome Christ himself.
It is to be in harmony with the creator of all life to love a child.
This is the highest goal and brings glory to God, and magnifies the name of Jesus.
Our goals have to keep rising to the level of the ultimate so that eventually they get to that level where they are the very goals of God.
There are many levels of goals, and all of them may be good, even though on a lower level they tend to be self-centered.
But our goal setting is never complete until we are aiming for the very goal for which Jesus would aim.
The Christian may have many goals in common with the non-Christian.
Goals that are good for the self, the company, the family, the community, the country, and the world, but if the Christian does not rise beyond these to the ultimate goal he will be no different than the non-Christian.
His motivation will be the same as the best that the human mind can develop.
Such a Christian is a captive of the culture, and will rise no further than its best humanism.
Stop short of ultimate goals, and you stop short of the kingdom of God.
What motivates you?
Why do you do what you do?
If your answers do not lead you to ultimate goals, you need to face the reality that you do not represent the kingdom of God.
Just as the disciples did not at this point in their lives.
Only those who operate with ultimate objectives in mind are goal oriented on a level that is pleasing to God.
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