Sermon Tone Analysis

INTRODUCTION

Some years ago, a tearful and obviously distraught young woman approached me at a conference where I was speaking.

She told me a story I have heard many times.

"I just can't seem to live the Christian life the way I should," she said.

"I'm frustrated.

I don't have spiritual victory or a sense of accomplishment.

I struggle with the simplest forms of obedience, and I'm constantly defeated.

Can you help me?"

I said, "What has been your approach to solving the problems yourself?"

She replied, "I've tried everything.

I've attended churches where they speak in tongues, have healings, and have all kinds of extraordinary spiritual experiences.

I've spoken in tongues myself, had ecstatic experiences, been prophesied over, and experienced several supposed miracles.

I've been 'slain in the spirit.'

But despite all of that, I'm not pleased with my life and I know God isn't pleased.

I've tried to get everything from Him that I can, but I'm not satisfied.

I'm still miserable and want more."

"I think you have just put your finger on the problem," I said.

"The key to spiritual victory and true happiness is not in trying to get all we can from God but in giving all that we are and have to Him." Countless thousands of people today, including many genuine Christians, flock to various churches, seminars, and conferences in search of personal benefits—practical, emotional, and spiritual—that they hope to receive.

They do just the opposite of what Paul so plainly emphasizes in .

In this forceful and compassionate exhortation, the apostle does not focus on what more we need to receive from God but on what we are to give Him.

The key to a productive and satisfying Christian life is not in getting more but in giving all.

Jesus said, "True worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers" ().

God gave Himself for us in order that we might give ourselves to Him.

Paul defines Christians as those "who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh" ().

Every Christian is a priest of God Most High" ().

Together, we are a spiritual priesthood, as much so as the Levitical and Aaronic priesthoods of the Old Covenant.

The church is "a holy priesthood," whose calling is "to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ... [It is] a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light" (, ).

Our supreme calling is to serve God with all our being, first and foremost in worship.

Through Christ, the writer of Hebrews tells us, we are to "continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name" ().

True worship includes many things besides the obvious ones of prayer, praise, and thanksgiving.

It includes serving God by serving others in His name, especially fellow believers.

Sacrificial worship includes "doing good and sharing; for with such sacrifices God is pleased" (; cf. ).

But above all else, our supreme act of worship is to offer ourselves wholly and continually to the Lord as living sacrifices.

Tragically, that is far from the approach that is so common today by which believers seek the key to the abundant life.

We are told that victory in the Christian life is to have more of God and to have more from God—although "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, [already] has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ" (, emphasis added).

And in Christ, we already have "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge," so that in Him we "have been made complete" (, ).

Peter said that in the true and saving knowledge of Christ, we have "everything pertaining to life and godliness" ().

And we have the resident truth teacher, the Holy Spirit, whose anointing, John says, "teaches [us] about all things" ().

In the deepest, eternal sense, therefore, we cannot have more of God or from God than we now possess.

It is more than obvious, however, that most of us do not have the fulness of joy that this fulness of blessing should bring.

The joy and satisfaction for which so many Christians are vainly striving can be had only by surrendering back to the Lord what He already has given to us, including our inmost being.

The first and greatest commandment is what Jesus said it has always been: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind" (; cf. ).

In this forceful and compassionate exhortation, the apostle does not focus on what more we need to receive from God but on what we are to give Him.

The key to a productive and satisfying Christian life is not in getting more but in giving all.

Jesus said, "True worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers" ().

God gave Himself for us in order that we might give ourselves to Him.

Paul defines Christians as those "who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh" ().

Every Christian is like Melchizedek, "a priest of God Most High" ().

Together, we are a spiritual priesthood, as much so as the Levitical and Aaronic priesthoods of the Old Covenant.

The church is "a holy priesthood," whose calling is "to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ... [It is] a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light" (, ).

Our supreme calling is to serve God with all our being, first and foremost in worship.

Through Christ, the writer of Hebrews tells us, we are to "continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name" ().

True worship includes many things besides the obvious ones of prayer, praise, and thanksgiving.

It includes serving God by serving others in His name, especially fellow believers.

Sacrificial worship includes "doing good and sharing; for with such sacrifices God is pleased" (; cf. ).

But above all else, our supreme act of worship is to offer ourselves wholly and continually to the Lord as living sacrifices.

Tragically, that is far from the approach that is so common today by which believers seek the key to the abundant life.

We are told that victory in the Christian life is to have more of God and to have more from God—although "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, [already] has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ" (, emphasis added).

And in Christ, we already have "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge," so that in Him we "have been made complete" (, ).

Peter said that in the true and saving knowledge of Christ, we have "everything pertaining to life and godliness" ().

And we have the resident truth teacher, the Holy Spirit, whose anointing, John says, "teaches [us] about all things" ().

In the deepest, eternal sense, therefore, we cannot have more of God or from God than we now possess.

It is more than obvious, however, that most of us do not have the fulness of joy that this fulness of blessing should bring.

The joy and satisfaction for which so many Christians are vainly striving can be had only by surrendering back to the Lord what He already has given to us, including our inmost being.

The first and greatest commandment is what Jesus said it has always been: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind" (; cf. ).

In the present text we discover four elements of presenting ourselves to God as a living, holy, and acceptable sacrifice—essentially the same four elements found in the first and greatest commandment.

They are: offering God our souls, our bodies, our minds, and our wills.

While recognizing that these four overlap, we still can see how they provide a useful outline for grasping this text.

MacArthur New Testament Commentary, The - MacArthur New Testament Commentary – .

SINCE FINDING THE BELIEVER FINDS SATISFACTION AND FULNESS IN GIVING TO GOD, WE ARE GOING TO TALK ABOUT GIVING GOD THE ULTIMATE WORSHIP

TEACHING US THINGS SUCH AS, ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD, THERE IS THEREFORE NOW NO CONDEMNATION, NOTHING CAN SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE

HOWEVER WITH THE CULTURE BEING SO INFLUENTIAL UPON THE LIVES OF HUMANITY, IT IS VERY DIFFICULT TO WORSHIP PROPERLY OR FIND GOD’S WILL AGAINST TODAY’S IDEAS

YET, LOOK AT

BODY

IN THE TEXT, PAUL HAS JUST FINISHED ELEVEN CHAPTERS OF THE INDICATIVES OF THE BELIEVER

THE INDICATIVES ARE THE STATE OF THE BELIEVER ACCORDING TO THE WORK OF CHRIST ON THE CROSS AND HIS PRECIOUS BLOOD

IT IS WHO YOU ARE IN CHRIST

NOW HE MOVES TO THE IMPERATIVES

THE IMPERATIVES ARE THE NECESSITIES OF THE BELIEVER

LIKE MOST PAULINE WRITINGS, HE BEGINS WITH THE INDICATIVES AND THEN MOVES TO THE IMPERATIVES

HE BEGINS WITH WHO YOU ARE AND MOVES TO WHAT YOU NEED TO DO

AND WHEN IT COMES TO THE IMPERATIVES OF THE BELIEVER IN THIS TEXT, HE DOES SO WITH URGENCY

HE SAYS, “I BESEECH”

WE MUST REMEMBER THAT THIS IS PAUL WHO IS WRITING THIS LETTER

PAUL HAD RECEIVED 39 STRIPES ON 5 DIFFERENT OCCASIONS, 3 X’S BEATEN WITH RODS, ONCE HE WAS STONED ALMOST TO DEATH, ANS SPENT A DAY AND A NIGHT IN THE DEEP

IT IS PAUL WHO WAS ABLE TO SAY

IT WAS PAUL WHO SAID, I HAVE FOUGHT A GOOD FIGHT, I HAVE KEPT THE FAITH, I HAVE FINISHED MY COURSE

THAT IS WHY IT IS INTERESTING TO SEE SUCH A MAN BEGGING THE ROMAN BELIEVERS

WHAT WOULD BRING PAUL TO HIS KNEES

PAUL WASN’T THE KIND OF PERSON TO BEG ANYONE

BUT, HE SAYS, “I BESEECH YOU”

THE WORD BESEECH MEANS TO BEG, TO REQUEST

IT WAS THE TYPE OF WORD USED TO BRING FORTH A PARTICULAR EFFECT

PAUL IS REQUESTING THEM TO PRODUCE A CERTAIN EFFECT

HE CANNOT MAKE THEM STEP INTO A PLACE OF ULTIMATE WORSHIP, THE DECISION HAS TO BE THAT OF THE ROMANS

THE SURRENDER TO GOD MUST BE COMPLETELY WILLING

JUST LIKE NO ONE CAN MAKE YOU DO WHAT IS REQUIRED AS A BELIEVER, YOU HAVE TO BE COMPLETELY WILLING

HE IS DEALING WITH BELIEVERS WHO HAVE NOT BEEN TRANSFORMED

HE IS DEALING WITH BELIEVERS WHO HAVE NOT PRESENTED THEMSELVES AS LIVING SACRIFICES AND HE IS DEALING WITH BELIEVERS WHO HAVE NOT PROVEN WHAT THE WILL OF GOD IS

AND PAUL SAYS, I BEG YOU