Sermon Tone Analysis

Prophetic Images of the King

Introduction —

Introduction —

Americans spend an estimated 37 billion hours waiting in line each year, much to our individual and collective distaste.

Few things inspire as much universal frustration and ire as long queues and lengthy wait times — many of us even struggle to wait for a sluggish web browser to load.

In fact, according to computer scientist Ramesh Sitaraman, Internet users may be a particularly impatient bunch.

His research has found that we’re willing to be patient, on average, for two seconds while waiting for an online video to load.

“After five seconds, the abandonment rate is 25 percent,” Sitaraman told the Boston Globe.

“When you get to 10 seconds, half are gone.”

We want it all, and we want it now — which is why we’ve created apps to zap as much wait-time as humanly possible from mundane daily tasks like food delivery, transportation and paying bills (and even arenas of greater import, like dating).

We devour articles with time-saving “life hacks” to shave 30 seconds here and five minutes there off of the day’s drudgery.

So why do we hate waiting so much?

According to M.I.T. operations researcher and line expert Richard Larson, occupied time feels shorter than unoccupied time, so when we’re standing in a long line or in a doctor’s office waiting room, the time does feel as if it’s dragging on.

Waiting can provoke impatience, stress and anxiety, and in turn, anxiety also makes waits seem longer.

“The dominant cost of waiting is an emotional one: stress, boredom, that nagging sensation that one’s life is slipping away,” Alex Stone wrote in the New York Times in 2012.

But while waiting in line may be, to some extent, innately annoying, there’s no question that our lifestyles of constant busyness, multitasking, and information overload have made it even more difficult for us to tolerate idle time.

And of course, mobile devices and wifi have made it possible to avoid idle time almost altogether.

We’ve become accustomed to instant gratification, and any less-than-stimulating situation invites us to immediately whip out our phones in order to keep our brains occupied.

This need for instant gratification and loss of patience is indeed a negative side effect of hyperconnectivity, according to Pew Center research.

Transition —

Imagine the way that God asked His people to wait.

Many years from Adam to Abraham to Jacob.

Now, Jacob is making a future prediction about a son of Judah who will come and reign.

1. Images of Preeminence

Genesis

This is really a curve ball in the narrative of Genesis.

We would likely have thought that it would be Joseph.

But it was to be Judah.

He was to have preeminence.

The seed who has been promised is to have preeminence.

“Leonardo da Vinci took a friend to criticize his masterpiece of the ‘Last Supper,’ and the remark of the friend was, ‘The most striking thing in the picture is the cup!’

The artist took his brush and wiped out the cup as he said, ‘Nothing in my painting shall attract more attention than the face of my Master!”

He was to be the Tribe above the others.

This theme is picked up again many places in the New Testament.

Philippians 2:9-

This idea of

Col

Does Jesus have preeminence in our lives?

(how would this be reflected?)

In our schedules?

In our priorities?

In our daydreams?

In our checkbooks?

In our family life?

Do all of those things reflect God’s priorities?

The Father has worked history, so that all things will exist for the glory of the Son.

How about your life ?

2. Images of Victory

Genesis 49

“Judah is compared, not to a Lion rampant, always tearing, always raging; but to a lion couchant, enjoying the satisfaction of His power and success, without creating vexation to others; this is to be truly great.”

Matthew Henry

3. Images of Rule

We obey Jesus because all authority has been given him, not just because he makes us feel better.

If it’s not too much, can you occasionally reach out to people (you know, don’t be too crazy), and tell people that I have come to be positive and encouraging and fulfilling.

Ask if they will do what I ask, but only if their hearts are in it.

Besides, it’s mostly about making them happy anyway.

So, you know, tell them to choose what they want to do, cause I don’t want them to think that I am being pushy.

Revelation

4. Images of Abundance

The images here are images of abundance.

All of this so far has been spiritual, but we must remember why Christ became incarnate — to bring this to all of reality.

All of these images start ‘spiritual’ and end ‘physical.’