Sermon Tone Analysis

BY PASTOR GLENN PEASE

A snowstorm made it impossible for a guess speaker to get to the church where he was to preach.

Therefore, a local man was asked to come in as a substitute.

The speaker began by explaining the meaning of substitute.

If you break a window he said, and then place a cardboard there instead--that is a substitute.

After his sermon, a woman came up to him, shook his hand and wishing to compliment him said, "You are no substitute.

You are a real pane."

Unfortunately, verbal communication does not reveal how a word is spelled, and so, if he heard "pain" rather than "pane" as she intended, he would have received a message just the opposite of what she meant to convey.

We must constantly be aware of the complications of language if we hope to effectively communicate.

Words can be alike and yet be very different depending on the context.

If I say you have good vision, or you have good sight, these words are very close in meaning.

But if I say my daughter is a vision, and yours is a sight, I am in trouble, for some how they do not remain synonymous in this context.

When we come to the word grace, or charis in the Greek, we are dealing with one word that can mean opposite things depending upon the context.

We miss the complexity of this word because in our English translations there are 11 different English words used to translate this one Greek word.

We are not even aware most often that charis is being used.

The root idea of the word is that which is pleasing, or which gives pleasure.

From there it develops numerous connections with various kinds of pleasure and favor.

It's meaning becomes so diverse that it is hard to see how the same word can be used for so many things, and often with no apparent connection.

Our English word grace has followed the same pattern in a small way.

You have a 30 day grace period on your insurance policy.

This fits the idea of unmerited favor.

They carry you for 30 days even though you don't deserve it, because you have not paid your premium.

But what has this got to do with saying grace before you eat?

You do not say unmerited favor, but you say thanks, which is your expression of favor to God.

But if you say the swan has grace, you do not mean it has unmerited favor, or that it has thanks.

You mean it has natural elegance, beauty of line and movement.

It makes a favorable impression on us by its grace.

We haven't begun to list all the meanings this word can have, but it is clear from these few examples, that the word has to be constantly redefined according to the context.

A man living on the boarder of Minnesota and Wisconsin was puzzled for years as to which state he actually lived in.

Finally he got around to having a special survey made.

When the surveyor reported to him that he lived in Wisconsin, he tossed his hat in the air and shouted, "Hooray!

No more of those cold Minnesota winters!"

Of course, redefining where you are located does not change the weather, but to redefine a word can change the whole atmosphere of a passage.

Grace is a warm and positive word usually, but it can be used in a cold and negative way.

Charis means favor, and favor can be shown to those who do not deserve it, and thus, you have unmerited favor.

Sound great doesn't it?

But what if you were a student who worked hard for a scholarship and fulfilled all the requirements, but the gift went to student x, who didn't do a thing, but whose sister was the wife of the teacher, and so got it because of connections?

Here is a form of unmerited favor which we call favoritism.

It is unjust because it favors someone at the expense of another more deserving.

Greek citizens had to swear an oath not to show this kind of charis for or against a fellow citizen.

Charis, in this sense, is equivalent to the Hebrew idea of respect of persons.

The Bible makes it clear that God is no respecter of persons.

He shows no favoritism.

That is why the universalism of God's grace is stressed in the New Testament.

Christ died for all men.

This avoids any danger of reading the negative idea of favoritism into God's grace.

The word is used this way in the New Testament, however.

Paul, the apostle of positive grace, was a victim of negative grace.

In Acts 24:27 we read, "Felix desiring to do the Jews a favor left Paul in prison."

Here was favor, or grace, expressed for a selfish reason, and at the expense of another--namely Paul.

In Acts 25:9 we see the same thing.

Fetus wishing to do the Jews a favor took their side against Paul.

This is the kind of grace that corrupts.

The poet put it--

When rogues like these (a sparrow cries)

To honors and employment rise,

I court no favor, ask no place

For such preferment is disgrace.

The paradox is that there is a grace which is a disgrace, for it is the receiving of unmerited favor which is unjust, because it is at the expense of others.

Now, as if this is not enough complexity, being able to mean either good or bad unmerited favor, we want to see that it can also mean merited favor.

Most often Christians define grace as only unmerited favor, but this is putting a limit on the word which the New Testament does not do.

It should not be surprising that grace can also mean merited favor.

It is logical that favor is going to be shown toward those who merit it.

No man merits salvation, which is the greatest aspect of God's grace, but many are pleasing to God by their obedience, and God responds to them in grace.

To see this in operation, we need to go to the very first reference to grace in the New Testament.

In Luke 1:30 the angel says, "Fear not, Mary, for you have found favor with God." Favor here is charis again.

Mary was not sinless, but she was pure and lovely in character, and her life pleased God.

She was chosen to be the mother of the Messiah because of her pure life.

It is obvious she did not merit this honor in the sense that she was worthy, for no person could ever be worthy to give birth to the Son of God.

On the other hand, she was not holy unfit to be Christ's mother, for she had a life pleasing to God, and the kind of life needed for His purpose.

God did not favor her because she was less pure and righteous than others, but because of her exceptional purity and righteousness.

She attracted God's favor by the beauty of her life.

The clearest example of merited favor is in connection with Christ Himself.

Luke 2:52 says, "Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man."Favor is charis again.

You can see how meaningless it would be to define grace here as unmerited favor.

This would mean that Jesus was not worthy of the favor of God, but God granted it anyway.

And men, out of the goodness of their hearts, showed favor to Christ, even though he did not deserve it.

This, of course, would be sheer nonsense.

Grace here means merited favor.

Jesus by the inherent beauty, goodness,

and harmony of his life, attracted the favor of God and man.

Jesus had a quality of character that fully merited all the favor He received.

This is an aspect of grace that we are seldom aware of.

We tend to think of grace as a one way street: God's grace toward us.

But favor works both ways in the New Testament.

If God favors us and gives us blessings, we in turn favor God, and respond with gratitude to His graciousness.

Our response is described by this same word--charis.

We respond with grace.

Listen to Paul in--

I Cor.

15:57, "But thanks be to God who gives us the victory..."

II Cor.

2:14, "But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumph."

II Cor.

8:16, "But thank to God who puts the same earnest care for you into the heart of Titus."

II Cor.

9:15, "Thanks be to God for His inexpressible gift."

In each case, do you know what the Greek word is for thanks?

It is charis, the same word used all through the New Testament for grace and favor.

Grace be to God Paul says over and over again as he expresses his love and gratitude for God's grace.