Sermon Tone Analysis

By Pastor Glenn Pease

Many years ago the U. S. Army wanted to get off more rounds of cannon fire, and so they hired a consultant to study the problem.

He went into the field and noticed that the soldiers stepped back from the cannon and waited for about 3 seconds every time they fired it.

When asked why they replied that they were following directions laid down in the army manual.

The consultant read through all the back issues until he traced the instructions to their origin in the Civil War.

Soldiers were then advised to step back before firing to hold the gun horses head so that they would not bolt and thus jerk the cannon off target.

These were important instructions at the time, but everything had changed, and horses were no longer there.

These instructions had passed down for years and were followed even though they had no relevance whatever.

The manual was changed to fit the changed circumstances.

Change is wise when the old way of doing something can be done better to fulfill the purpose for which you do it at all.

The Christian life is to be a life of constant change where we are getting better and better at pleasing God by loving Him with all our hearts, and by loving our neighbor as ourselves.

The goal of all we do as a church is change.

Change is the name of the game, and if we do not see change we are failing.

Christ-likeness is only achieved by change.

Christian education does not happen just because information is imparted.

There are millions of non-Christians who can tell you the story of Adam and Eve, Noah, and Jonah.

They can even tell the story of the cross and resurrection.

They have the facts, but they are not changed by them.

You do not have a Christian education until the facts of the Bible change your life, and lead you to a commitment to Christ as Lord of your life.

Nobody becomes a Christian without change, and nobody becomes a growing Christian without more change.

Change is the essence of the Christian life, and when a Christian stops changing, they stop growing.

The Christian is only learning if he or she is changing.

A school teacher told one of her students he had to stay after school and write on the blackboard one hundred times, so he would learn the proper way of saying it, "I have gone."

He laboriously worked his way through the 100 lines, and then he left this note for the teacher: "I finished and I have went home."

All his efforts were not a learning experience for he did not change.

Learning means that you change in your thinking, feeling, or acting.

If change does not happen, learning has not happened.

You cannot measure Christian education by how many years you have gone to Sunday School, or how many books you have read.

The only measure that matters is how much have you changed to become a Christ-centered person.

D. L. Moody wrote the entire theology of the Christian life on the fly leaf of his Bible.

He put it in 7 stages of change.

1. Justification-a change of standing before God.

2. Regeneration- a change of nature from God.

3. Repentance-a change of mind about God.

4. Conversion-a change of life for God.

5. Adoption-a change of family in God.

6. Sanctification-a change of service unto God.

7. Glorification-a change of place with God.

If the goal is to be like Jesus, and we are not yet there, then it follows that change is what the Christian life is all about.

It begins with change and does not cease until we become like Him in the resurrection.

An evangelist visiting a girls mission school in the South Sea Islands was greeted by two rows of girls singing, "What a wonderful change in my life has been wrought since Jesus came into my life."

He was deeply touched when one of the staff members leaned over and whispered, "Everyone of those girls is either the daughter or granddaughter of a cannibal."

Change is the sign of authentic Christianity.

Someone once very cleverly put up a sign in the church nursery using one of Paul's sentences to the Corinthians.

It was from I Cor.

15:51 which says, "We will not all sleep but we will all be changed."

Being changed is basic to the nursery care of babies, and it is basic to the plan of God for His people.

The last thing that happens to us in time is change.

The mortal puts on immortality.

Both the living and the dead has this in common: They end time and begin eternity with change.

We could go and on with evidence to support the importance of change in the Christian life, but this should be sufficient to make the point.

Now we have to deal with another reality, and that is the Christian resistance to change.

This was a major issue in the Corinthian church, and it is a major issue in every church, and in every Christian life.

To change or not to change-that is the question.

Another one is, to adapt to change or resist it.

That is the issue Paul deals with in chapter 2.

A major criticism of Paul by those in Corinth who did not like him was that he changed his mind about coming to spend a winter with them.

They said he is unstable and undependable, and not to be relied upon.

They could not accept Paul's change of plans as a good thing.

They saw it as a defect in his character, and they used it to undermine his authority.

One of Paul's major goals in this letter is to defend his change of mind.

In 1:23 he even calls God to witness that his motive for changing his mind was to spare them.

Paul is saying that there are times when you should change your mind, and not follow through on your original plan.

If you discover that your plan will lead to unnecessary pain and not solve a problem, but only add to it, it is wise to change your plan.

This is not being inconsistent or wishy-washy.

It is being flexible and open to adapt to new information.

Paul's critics were being legalists.

They were saying that once you commit yourself to a certain course of action you should stick to it no matter what.

They expected Paul to be like a machine that does what it is programmed to do, even if by doing so it starts to crush the product and spew the contents out on the floor.

Paul says, "No way!

I have considered the consequences of not changing my plan, and I see it would be a painful thing to come to you at this time and have to deal with so many hard issues that call for severe judgment.

I have decided to wait so I could come when you have settled some of these issues, and so be able to have a more pleasant experience for all of us."

Paul is adapting to change.

He understands the importance of timing.

You are not wise to deal with sensitive issues when the timing is such that it guarantees greater pain.

Paul knew things would change and there would be a better time to come back to Corinth.

If he came now, when he said he would, it would lead to a lot of grief, and Paul is not a saddest.

He does not have any interest in pain for pain's sake.

He avoids unnecessary suffering for himself and others, and that is why he changed his mind and plan.

What we need to see is the paradox of how change is a key factor in being consistent.

The critics of Paul had the concept that a consistent person is one who does not change.

They were like the woman who stood before the judge and he asked her age.

She said that she was 30, and he said that she had given that same age to the court for the last 3 years.

She responded, "Yes, I'm not one of those who says one thing today, and another thing tomorrow."

She was being consistent but dishonest.

Change was necessary to be honest about her age, and change was necessary for Paul to be honest and consistent with his love for the Corinthians.

If a face to face confrontation is only going to lead to painful conflict, Paul says that he chooses to change his strategy.

Paul had to be confrontational at times, but he did not enjoy it, and he avoided it if he could.

He had no pleasure in being critical and judgmental toward his spiritual children.

He had come to them before and it led to conflict, and he was not ready to go through that again.

In the light of the evidence he changed his mind, and he stayed away and sent a letter instead.

The Christian principle here is this: In any area of conflict you seek to work out problems so as to avoid unnecessary pain.

This means you evaluate the situation and be ready to adapt and change to meet this goal.

If you are tired of waiting for the leak in the sink to get fixed, and you say, "I am going to confront my husband tonight and insist that he get this job done," and then you tell your neighbor that this is the night we are going to settle this, you have made quite a commitment.

But let's say that your husband comes home from work and the first thing he does is tell you that he never got the promotion he was expecting, but was passed over.

Now you have a choice.

You can be true to your commitment to deal with the sink issue like you told your friend, or you can choose to change your agenda and adapt to the change in your husbands life, and seek to be a comfort rather than to add to his pain.

The legalist would say to stick to the original plan whatever the cost.

You told your friend that you would, and she will ask you the next day, and you will look like a wimp if you back off.

But the spirit of grace says that being consistent could lead to conflict and pain that will hurt your relationship.