Sermon Tone Analysis

CJ, Commission and Truth

My son CJ is going into 6th grade and he gives me a steady flow of sermon material, so much so that he said to me the other day that he wants to start receiving a commission on all the material he gives me…and he probably does deserve something.

And one of the reasons why his words are so profound is because he tells the truth.

Almost to a fault.

Talk Time

One of the things I have told you before is that I try to do something called talk time with my kids.

Kids are pretty honest when they are toddlers, but seem to shut down when they are teenagers and stop talking to their parents, so my theory was that if I would just talk to my kids every day, and ask them what is on their heart, that by the time they are teenagers, they would just naturally keep talking to me.

Because I tell them they can tell me anything at all.

That I won’t judge them, that I won’t love them less if they are bad or more if they are good.

Well talk time worked.

Almost too well with CJ.

For instance…

Because I don’t want to be bald

The other day we were in the car and I was in the driver’s seat and he was in the passenger’s seat, and I could see him out of the corner of my eye looking at me, sizing me up.

So I asked, what are you looking at?

So loving.

And he said a lot of people say that I look just like you.

And then he said, but I don’t see it.

And it didn’t sound much like a compliment and so I said, what do you mean?

You would be fortunate to look like me when you get older.

And he said, please don’t take this personally, but I don’t want to look like you because I don’t want to be bald when I grow up.

So he does provide great material.

Car Going to School—Hallelujah Chorus

CJ is going into 6th grade and we are putting him at one of our schools, and for the first time he will not be home schooled but in school six hours a day.

The faint sound of the Hallelujah Chorus you may hear is my wife Melanie singing it…all four parts, simultaneously.

So we have been preparing him all summer for this new adventure.

And so the first day of school finally arrived and so we pile into the car…me, Melanie, Mollie, and CJ.

They are sitting back there dejected in their uniforms.

CJ said, I look like a turtle in my uniform.

Lecturing CJ

And so the whole way to the school I am lecturing CJ about the way he needs to be a model student, he needs to sit still, I told him that his teachers are people too…so I want you to be helpful, and attentive, in fact, I want you to be the best student in the class…I don’t want to hear any complaints from the teachers about you…in fact I want them to tell me that you are the best new student they have ever had.

And I was serious.

And while I was giving him his to do list, I was watching him in the rear view mirror and I began to think what he was about to say…and what he said sounds incredibly disrespectful and it probably was, but like I said, he is the kind of child who always tells the truth, for better or worse, so if he is feeling it in his heart, he will say it…and looking back I believe he truly was feeling this in his heart…he said,

Daddy, I don’t think anything you are saying right now is going to help me do what you are telling me to do.

Bringing the Law When Gospel was Needed

And I knew immediately that he had made a true theological statement.

Here he was as a child going to a full day school for the first time, here he was anxious, maybe a bit fearful, apprehensive, there is already the loss of coming out of summer, perhaps even a bit wounded in his heart with a sense of loss of his old home school life, in fact, he hadn’t even sinned when it came to sitting in class, because he wasn’t even at school yet, and here I was bringing the Law to bear on him.

I was giving him a list of do this and do that’s.

The Law of God is anytime in Scripture we are told to do something or to not do something and the Law of God is good, the Law of God is perfect.

But the Law of God doesn’t actually give us any power to do what it says.

All I was doing in the car was pointing a mirror up in front of him and showing him how far he has fallen and how hard it will be to succeed.

All I was doing was telling him what would be pleasing to us as his parents, and how he could please everyone else.

But the problem was his heart was already softened, it was already a bit wounded, so what he really needed was not the Law, the natural thing that we as parents think our children always need, but he needed the final word of the Gospel.

Gave the Gospel

And so that is what I said, I said there is nothing you can do to make us love you less, you are going to get demerits, you are going to have some struggles, but we love you unconditionally.

What he needed me to be in that moment was a Jonathan.

And I will tell you what that means later on.

He needed a Jonathan, and instead, I was giving him the Law.

Series Re-Cap

This is the last week of our summer series on friendships, and each week we have looked at a different character in Scripture and we have seen that there are certain types of friends that we all need.

We all need a mentor like Paul.

We all need an encourager like Barnabas.

We all need someone who will confront us like Nathan the prophet.

Not Moralism: Only One Hero in Scripture

But one thing we have said again and again and again is that if all we say in the sermons is to be a confronter like Nathan, or be an encourager like Barnabas, or be kind like Anna…we have totally missed the point.

The only way that we should be like them or anyone is when they are like Jesus.

Because so much of the preaching and teaching in churches today is to point to these characters in Scripture and make them out to be heroes, but the reality is that there is only hero in Scripture and his name is Jesus.

The characters in Scripture aren’t heroes, they are broken, weary, sinful people like you and me.

God uses broken and weary people because broken and weary people are all that there are.

Because these are all types of Christ.

The only hero in Scripture is the one whose name is Jesus.

Who lived a law fulfilling life, and died a death defying death, and overcame the power of death by rising up from the grave.

That is why I am so excited about today’s friend, the last friend we are studying, Jonathan.

I am excited about him because of Jesus and we will see what I mean as we go.

Everyone Needs a Jonathan

Everyone Needs a Jonathan.

Jonathan’s Story Not Like Movies

Jonathan was the son of King Saul.

King Saul was the first King over Israel.

Jonathan was the heir to the throne of Israel.

He was a mighty warrior.

He was also the best friend of King David.

So Jonathan is David’s best friend, and David was the one who became king after Saul.

So you would think that this would make for a great storyline in a movie…you would think that the story would go that David and Jonathan grow up together and are best friends.

Jonathan expects to someday be king, but David eventually turns on his friend and leads a rebellion against him and seizes the throne.

That would make more sense.

But that is not what happened.

David’s Story

David had already been anointed king secretly by the prophet Samuel.

King Saul did what was displeasing to God.

King Saul felt threatened by David, so he set out to kill him.

He chased him down.

You would think that Jonathan would see the handwriting on the wall and join his father’s efforts to eliminate David so Jonathan could be king.

The custom was that a new king would have the old king’s relatives killed when he takes the throne.

Jonathan would have every reason to help his dad eliminate David…no one would have blamed him, and in fact I bet many, if not all, around him were pressuring him to join his father’s efforts against David.

But Jonathan was a true friend to David.

Jonathan said to David, I’m not leaving you.

I don’t care what happens.

I’m staying.

I have your back, I have your front, I have both sides.

So this friendship cost Jonathan something.

Listen to what his father said to Jonathan after Jonathan made sure that David didn’t walk into a trap that Saul had set for David.

ESV

Then Saul’s anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said to him, “You son of a perverse, rebellious woman, do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame, and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness?

This was a costly friendship.

Jonathan was a true friend.

A friend who even chose David over his own family, over his own success.

It is hard to boil down a Jonathan to just one big idea.

There is so much that goes into a true friendship like this one.

But I was searching for that one thing I could leave you with.