Sermon Tone Analysis

I want to begin with an overview of the letter & then give you 2 observations I think will be useful for us as we seek to fulfill all that we are called to as a company of people

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A STRONG GOD & A WEAK CHURCH

& A WEAK CHURCH

This letter is filled with contrasting pictures

Jesus is strong & they are weak

They do work but have little power

Claim of allegiance to God (jews) but actually members of Satan’s team (synagogue)

Enduring trials provides an escape from trial

The largest & most important contrast is that of Jesus’ strength & sovereignty & the churches vulnerability.

If you have ever struggled with, or know someone who struggles with, the idea of Jesus/God being all powerful (sovereign) & exercising His will freely I need you to listen to this carefully

A STRONG GOD

Jesus is revealed as being holy, true & sovereign.

Jesus is revealed as being holy, true & sovereign.

These 3 build off one another to give us not only a picture of Who Jesus is but to give us an assurance of our allegiance & reliance upon Him as God.

Holy meaning that He is pure but it’s more than that He is pure (without mixture).

Holy means that He is not only pure but that He is not polluted by anything or corrupted by anyone.

We’ve heard it said that power corrupts & absolute power corrupts absolutely but this cannot be true of Jesus because He is utterly holy…utterly separated from all that could pollute or influence or distort the purity that is within His very Being.

His holiness means He exists outside the realm or possibility of corruption

True meaning that He is fully & finally all that He is; no deception or lie or falseness within Him.

We fear that perhaps He is holy but perhaps only partially or temporarily Holy.

We fear that maybe part of Him is holy but then another part is easily corruptible.

We fear that maybe He is fully holy now but in some future time He may very well become unholy.

None of this is possible because He is not only holy but also true…He is fully & finally all that He is.

Being true means He is not temporary or transient in His nature or being.

He is what He is, He has always been what He is & He will always be what He is.

We, as finite being need to progress, to grow & to change…He does not.

Key of David speaks of His ability to do all that He pleases & how no one is able to thwart His plan or purpose regardless of their attempts to do so

David is the Old Testament picture of the ultimate ruler, the righteous & just ruler who loving leads his people.

Now that we see The One upon Whom ultimate authority rest we are show just how vast His authority truly is

We need not fear or push back upon His ultimate authority because we now know Him to be holy & true

Were He not both holy & true this statement of unlimited, uncheckable & unstoppable authority may well prove to produce only fear & dread from us but because we see Him in the splendor of His authentic holiness we are free to stand in awe & bask in the radiance of all the He is & all that He does

Even when we do not seem to understand the details of His plan or are confused by the way He seems to excursive His authority we can still rest in our assurance that He is good

When we see Jesus like this, as holy & true, we rejoice over Him being given the key of David & ruling sovereignly over His creation.

Jesus rules not like we do but rather out of His holy & true nature (authentic holiness)

Do we really want anyone else in the drivers seat?

A WEAK CHURCH

In contrast to Jesus seen as the strong God we have this church with little power, under persecution from false believers & unable to avoid the trial & suffering of the world they live in.

They are said to be faithful & their name implies a great love for one another

They appear to not be a very large church or at least not having much influence (power) over their city

They are an active, actual church

All the promises, statements & encouragement Jesus makes in this letter are directed at those who have been redeemed

This means He dwells among them

Jesus, The God of the Flame (He walks among the flames of lamps & hold the flames of stars)

Their name means “brotherly love”

Nothing negative & no corrections are given to this church

It stands as a picture of

Their motivation is their love for their true brother Jesus & their earthly brothers as well

The unity of love is the mark of the genuine church ()