Sermon Tone Analysis

Hazards

There is something about being told what to do that we do not like.

It is not only children.

There is something about our make up, our striving for independence, and maybe so more in the western world than anywhere else.

Do not tell me what to do.

If I want it it should be mine!

I should be aloud to go where I want to go and do what I want to do.

And anyone or especially any group of people who claim a better way to live is suspect.

We should be free to do what we want

BUT that only works to a certain point.

at some point we have to trust that warning signs and guardrails are there for our safety, and they have been put their by someone concerned.

Some seem self evident: Pics #1-#3

But when it comes to more serious things it doesn’t matter too much whether I like the warnings:

So I make my own rules works up might work, until you come to the fence that says, drop off.

Cause gravity doesn’t care bout how you feel.

When we purchase a cleaning product, or a tool.

Often what we will find is that there are instructions and there are warnings.

And those are important.

They tell us how to use and how not to use.

Right.

So that we use the tool or the product properly and to the best of its ability and we do not use it in a way that will cause harm to us and to others.

WE just bought come new shearers for our garden.

(bring them)

They are meant for cutting our bushes, trimming the hems, they are not meant to play sports with.

If we use them correctly, they work well, if we use them incorrectly they will not only fail to cut the bushes well, but they could also harm us; right.

PAUSE

There is another section on the packaging of certain products, that follows the instruction, that follows the warning.

What is that called?

In Case of Emergency: (come back to this idea)

If ingested:..call this number, drink ipecac, induce vomiting,

Those come after the warnings.

The hope is that we will not get there!!

But if we do, hope is not lost.

(we will come back to that in a few weeks)

AND HERE IS THE THING

and although we might find it annoying to follow instructions, and dislike being confined

The inconvenience of obeying instructions, or hitting a guardrail, is minimum compared to the inconvenience and damage we experience if we do not pay attention to them.

PAUSE

So the reason we want to talk about Hazards and instructions and warnings, is because although we might be very careful to pay attention to the warnings on the package of cleaner or follow the instructions on the IKEA furniture packaging so that we do not end up frustrated and wasting our time, we often do not pay attention to instruction and warning in our lives.

And many of us would say that many of the regrets we might have in our lives when it comes to relationships, decisions we’ve made, maybe stuff that has plagued us for a time, came about because we ignored warning, ignored instruction, ignored or rejected the hazard signs

And we find ourselves on the other side of some damaging decisions and think, If I had listened, if I had put in place guardrails, this would be a different story.

in my marriage, in my business, in my finances if I had placed guardrails this would be different.

And here is the thing:

Future regrets can be avoided if we are willing to heed warning, accept instruction, and place guardrails in our lives.

NOW here is the problem....

We live in a culture that for the most part is happy to ignore warnings, submission to instructions or to call for help.

We don’t like barriers, we like lines drawn with coloured chalk, so they can be erased and moved when they are inconvenient.

See we want to tear down all the fences, let everyone loose, an then we are confused and have no real answers when families fall apart, relationships are based on sexuality, children are broken and confused.

Following our hearts has meant that we knock down any fence we don’t like and proclaim our freedom.

But to understand proper freedom, we need to know what we were made for, how true freedom is experienced.

GK Chesterton says this and this is something our culture is not interested in.

And it is not interested in it, because we dismiss the past and believe we are the only authors of the future.

Gk Chesterton says this:

“Don't ever take a fence down until you know the reason it was put up.”

Scripture would say that certain instruction, certain warning signs have been placed there for your blessings.

Don’t tear the fence down until you know why it was put up!

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Throughout the series what we want you to do is look at some instruction, warnings we ought to heed so that we save ourselves from regret;

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If you have your bibles turn to read Ephesians chapter 5

Now Ephesus was a sinful city.

We think our culture is bad when it comes to sexuality, immorality, eating and drinking, we are nothing compared to Ephesus.

All warning signs had been torn down.

And what Paul is trying to do here is to answer the question for Christians trying to live out their faith, and PROTECT themselves, spiritually and emotionally in this culture.

but have to be asking , “How Paul, how are we supposed to live up to this stuff in a culture that says, blur the lines, they are just written in chalk after all, in a culture that says there is no black and white, there are 50 shades of grey!! How?”

Paul says this…let’s stand.

ESV

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.

Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

So there are a few thing Paul is saying here:

First.. if you want to protect yourself from regret, if you want to save yourself from life’s hazards....

I) Choose Wisdom over Whim

Great decisions are not made in the moment.

They are made ahead of time.

Look carefully how you walk.

Putting our seatbelt on AFTER the accident, adding oil after the engine has seized; is too late.

Wisdom places protective practices in place first.

PAUSE

Be careful how you walk.

Some translations say be careful how you live.

I like “walk” because it lends to a great illustration.

_________

As many of you know, we have a dog.

And when we first talked as a family about getting a dog there was alot of excitement.

Alot of excitement!

There were promises made about walking the dog and picking up his “deposits”

There was alot of excitement(now there is a lot of excrement).

Now even in our own backyard when you walk you need to be “careful how you walk”

Paul is not talking a bout dogs, he is saying something much more serious.

In life, navigating your path so that you do not step on landmines, comes from mindfully, and willfully making decisions to steer away from them.

If habitual sin happens consistently in the dark at 1AM in the basement.

Don’t find yourself at 1AM, in the dark consistently in the basement.

Safety, physcially does not come by accident.

It is a result of strategically moving forward with caution.

with a mind of protection

I love it when a kid gets ready to ride a bike for the first time and your “Like put on a helmet.”

And its funny sometimes because often there seems to be no connection in their head of how the helmet is meant to help them, they just think it is something you wear when you ride a bike.

They don’t seem to know that it is there to protect them.

And you know this because as they are getting ready to go on their bike you glance over and you see the helmet perched on the back of their head, the strap, rather than under the chin is wrapped around their throat, they are in danger before they even get on the bike.

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And as parents we correct this, because we know the importance of being careful.

That being physically safe comes from strategically gearing up and begin aware of the dangers and doing whatever we can to protect ourselves from them.

For some reason we often do not take the same precautions with our emotional and spiritual lives.