Sermon Tone Analysis

Congregation of the Lord, our Help comes from the Lord maker of heaven and earth, Amen,

Grace to you and peace, from God our father and in Jesus the Christ,

Amen

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/Lets sing in praise and response to God’s greeting, BOW 164 verses 1,2 and 4/

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/Ishaia 58: 1-11/

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*58*     “Shout it aloud, do not hold back.

Raise your voice like a trumpet.

Declare to my people their rebellion

and to the house of Jacob their sins.

2 For day after day they seek me out;

they seem eager to know my ways,

as if they were a nation that does what is right

and has not forsaken the commands of its God.

They ask me for just decisions

and seem eager for God to come near them.

3 ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,

‘and you have not seen it?

Why have we humbled ourselves,

and you have not noticed?’

“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please

and exploit all your workers.

4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,

and in striking each other with wicked fists.

You cannot fast as you do today

and expect your voice to be heard on high.

5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,

only a day for a man to humble himself?

Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed

and for lying on sackcloth and ashes?

Is that what you call a fast,

a day acceptable to the Lord?

6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:

to loose the chains of injustice

and untie the cords of the yoke,

to set the oppressed free

and break every yoke?

7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry

and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—

when you see the naked, to clothe him,

and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,

and your healing will quickly appear;

then your righteousnessa will go

before you,

and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.

9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;

you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,

with the pointing finger and malicious talk,

10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry

and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,

then your light will rise in the darkness,

and your night will become like the noonday.

11 The Lord will guide you always;

he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land

and will strengthen your frame.

You will be like a well-watered garden,

like a spring whose/ waters never fail.

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9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

*2*     My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin.

But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.

2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also forb the sins of the whole world.

3 We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands.

4 The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

5 But if anyone obeys his word, God’s lovec is truly made complete in him.

This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

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6 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.

And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

17 If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?

18 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

19 This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence 20 whenever our hearts condemn us.

For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

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/On the Road to Emmaus /

 

Do any of you watch Air Crash Investigations.

About two weeks ago, the program was on the 2002 mid-air crash between a chartered Russian airplane, carrying a group of children on their way to a holiday excursion, and a DHL freight plane.

The planes crashed 12 kilometres up in the air, after a miscommunication as to which plane was supposed to fly at which height.

77 people were killed, mostly children.

But, what really struck me about this story was an interview with the mother of a child, a 12 year-old, who said:

*            Everything that meant anything, our hope, our future, died when our children died.*

*Is it?

Is all hope lost… when someone dies?*

Is death the end of the line?

For believers, surely the answer is no! Death is not the end of hope.

Death is not the end of the road!

On the contrary!

Brothers and sisters, a fortnight ago we celebrated Easter.

Two Sundays ago, we were rejoicing in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus, the Christ …. who we say, we believe, was dead;  buried and rose again on the third day from death to be with His father in Heaven.

It is on Easter Sunday that we celebrate the fact that Jesus rose again ~/~/ that He overcame death to establish a new beginning, a new heaven and a new earth, just like it has been promised in the scriptures.

Why do we so many struggle to really believe that which we say we do when we speak the Apostles creed in Church?

Brothers and sisters, there is a disturbing link between our scepticism and that of the first Christians.

In the passage that we are considering, however, Luke shows that neither they, nor us, need to be sceptical:

 

We can see the link in this: Three weeks ago, we celebrated Palm Sunday, and in many Churches, the children do a great job of portraying the joy and celebration of Jesus, when Jesus rode into Jerusalem, on the back of a donkey, like a king, with palm branches laid out before Him.

Then on Good Friday, we commemorated Jesus death on the cross.

On Easter Sunday, we rejoice in Jesus resurrection, and we join in celebration and song, in our praise of the risen Lord…

 

But, lets be frank, when we come to the Monday after Easter Sunday, and the many Mondays to Sundays that follow, how long do we live in the hope and joy of the Easter celebrations of the resurrection of Christ.

All too soon we get bogged down again in the hopelessness of life; by the pains and struggles and heartache of this world.

Well, in Jesus’ time - the Bible tells us - it was no different.

The Bible tells us that when Jesus marched into Jerusalem, there were shouts of joy, Hosannas, as the palm branches was laid before Jesus on his donkey.

Here finally, was the moment the Jews had been looking forward too for so long.