Sermon Tone Analysis

People like to create their own little broad-base religion of independence and self-sufficiency, such as is promoted through

the school system, pop-philosophy, advertising, and the general media.

We all are acquainted with its mantras:

“You need to be you.”

“You need to find yourself.”

“You need to be good to yourself.”

“You just need to forgive yourself.”

Then you begin to think of all your relationships in terms of cost.

Anything I don’t want becomes a cost, a demand, an “expense” of my time, energy

(because it takes me being out of the center).

I may still do it, because it’s the “right thing to do” but I’ll do it grudgingly,

under compulsion, and probably expect repayment.

You is the key word through which these modern proverbs enforce the blatant idolatry of self-worship and

has damaged our society more than we can know.

Self-love fractures the family, the basic unit of society.

Fathers care little for their children, and

husbands care little about their wives, except perhaps as household machines.

This uncaring lifestyle is consistent with the idea that

the self and its wants are of the highest importance.

A biblical church and her faithful people (which are few) stand in stark contradiction to this idea.

Unfortunately, the church at large has failed in her witness and has even led the rest of society down the path of self-love.

Ministers of Christ were the first ones to preach this new “gospel,” and now

only ministers of Christ can repudiate it and preach the true gospel.

I want to give you a few real accounts from local church pastors and members.

“While on vacation, my wife and I had the opportunity to visit a couple who had previously attended our church and home Bible studies but had since moved away.

We were concerned about their spiritual welfare.

We were delighted to learn that they were living for the Lord and were actively involved in a small local church.

They had one complaint, however.

During the past year that they had attended the church, not one person-not even one of the spiritual leaders-had invited them over for a meal or a time of fellowship.

So, our friends still did not feel a part of the fellowship and were quite disheartened.”

“An elderly single woman, who now attends our church, related an experience to me that dramatically illustrate why we need fresh teaching on the subject of Christian hospitality.

At one time in her life, she had to travel more than an hour by bus every Sunday to attend a small suburban church.

Each week after the Sunday morning service, she would eat alone in a restaurant and then spend the entire afternoon in a park or library so that she could attend the evening service.

She did this for four years.

What left her with sour memories of this church was the fact that in four years no one invited her home to eat a Sunday afternoon meal or to rest.

It wasn’t until she announced she was leaving that an elderly woman in the church invited her home for a meal on her final Sunday.”

At times I have traveled as long as two or three hours on a Sunday morning in order to preach at a church.

In some instances, when I finished preaching I was handed a check, invited to return, given many friendly handshakes, and bid a warm good-by.

But no one sought further fellowship with me after the Sunday morning service.

In everything a faithful church does, it must set its face against all forms of self-worship, warning of its destructiveness and eventual damnation.

The faithful church may proclaim this through the direct preaching of the gospel and

by simply living the gracious and holy life which God has called us to live—

a life of peace, true and principled love, real loyalty, and communion together.

Over the past couple of Sunday’s we’ve been speaking on certain biblical topics: discipleship, and fellowship between one another.

These topics are all inter-related.

They all go together, and are wrapped up in one of the things that we want to do well at.

Loving one another.

We are going to do small groups that we’re going to call “Care Groups” and have a place where biblical genuine fellowship and mutual care can occur.

When God’s people care for one another, it is a powerful testimony against the manifest selfishness and idolatry of the world,

and it is necessary in order to give credibility to the preached word.

So let’s examine one of the main New Testament commands concerning hospitality.

Devoted to the correct PRACTICE

In Romans, Paul exhorts the whole church at Rome to be “given to hospitality” ().

This is a good principle in itself, but we should be aware of the larger context to understand it fully.

Paul has just written eleven chapters explaining the wonderful and mysterious grace of God

and what that grace has accomplished for God’s people.

Through Christ we have been redeemed, saved, and justified, and we are now being sanctified.

Then in chapter twelve, Paul begins to give particular commands on the basis of what he’s taught about God and the doctrine of salvation, that he has just given.

If God has done this for us, how should we now live?

Notice his therefore (in v1)—he has laid out the premises; what follows?

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by [a Greek word that means of, on the basis of, through] the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service” (v.

12:1).

Giving oneself up to God body and soul, as a complete living sacrifice,

is the only proper response to the grace of God.

We must no longer live for ourselves but devoted to His glory.

On the basis of the mercies He has shown to us, we no longer belong to ourselves

but are devoted and set apart to Him,

obliged to do all and only what will bring Him glory.

That is what it means to be a living sacrifice.

We do this by conforming to the Word as the revealed, perfect will of God,

so that we no longer conform to the world but are transformed by the Word.

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” ().

It is the best way to live, and, as deed joined to word, it is the only true testimony of God’s grace.

This general command forms the link between the earlier chapters of theology and the following passage of practical instruction.

What exactly does it mean, in real life and in definite actions,

to give oneself as a living sacrifice to Christ?

First of all, we should humble ourselves and think of others first.

v. —For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

—For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

What else? (In v4) we should recognize that God has put us in bodies and given us different personalities and gifts, and

He has given us each a place in the body of Christ.

Therefore we may neither envy or disparage another’s gifts but

rejoice in every gift, whether it is our own or another’s.

For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.

(vv4-5)

The church is a body, and each person uses his gifts to strengthen the body, and is in turn strengthened by it, so that everyone grows up together to their fullness—fullness as individuals and fullness as a community.

Next, we are to love one another sincerely: “Let love be without hypocrisy” (v.

9).

The church is a body, and each person uses his gifts to strengthen the body, and

is in turn strengthened by it,

so that everyone grows up together to their fullness—fullness as individuals and fullness as a community.

Next, we are to love one another sincerely: “Let love be without hypocrisy” (v.

9).

In the remainder of the passage, Paul expounds the meaning of sincere love.

The renewed mind abhors what is evil and clings to what is good.

It honors others:

“Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another” (v.

10).

The renewed mind lives faithfully in every circumstance,

“rejoicing in hope, being patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer” (v.

12).

And finally, the renewed mind cares greatly for the saints,

“distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality” (v.

13).

Hospitality is the primary example of meeting the needs of fellow Christians.

Paul, interestingly, does not place hospitality on the periphery of essential godliness,