Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Lift high the name of Jesus,

Of Jesus our Light.

No other name on earth can save,

Can raise a soul to life.

Oh sing my soul,

And tell all He's done,

Till the earth and heavens are filled with His glory!

Sing about Jesus and how He has bought you back from the bondage of sin.

Proclaim how He has given you His power to have victory over the struggles of life.

I hope that song stirs within you a burning passion to lift high the name of Jesus!

Yet, how do you really feel about this message?

Are you filled with a sense of mission, passion and excitement for Jesus and what He has done in your life?

Or have you settled into a groove of mediocrity or apathy that is so prevalent within both our society and the church today?

Only Jesus can buy us back from the bondage of sin.

Only Jesus can equip us with the power to have victory over the struggles of life.

Or does that fire quickly go out when you leave this place?

Have you settled into a groove of mediocrity or apathy that is so prevalent within both our society and the church today?

Quote: “Apathy was the chief mark of the period.

The elite abandoned intellectual life for their social life.

Apathy also showed itself in the arts with a lack of creativity.

Officially sponsored art became decadent, the music became increasingly bombastic (high sounding but with little meaning).

All of life was marked by the prevailing apathy.

And as the economy slumped lower and lower, burdened by costly government and by inflation, authoritarianism increased in order to try to set-off the apathy...And as less people were inclined to work the state took over more and more and more freedoms were lost.

And because of the apathy and its results and the oppression, few people thought the old civilization was worth saving.

Rome did not collapse because of outward forces such as the barbarians but because of inward rottenness (apathy and it’s resulting consequences) and Rome gradually became a ruin.”

As I heard that during a documentary I was watching, I was shocked with the comparison.

A comparison of that attitude not as much to our Western Culture, but of the Western Church.

There is a prevailing level of Apathy within the Church towards Jesus.

Actually, it’s easy for a church to start to agree with our culture’s perception that Jesus and His teachings are best accepted in moderation.

Believers can start to live with the desire of having enough of Jesus to be respectable, but not so much that they are viewed as zealots by their friends and family.

Parents can easily be swayed by society to tell their children, either through words or actions, that they shouldn’t be atheists, but, at the same time, tell them not to take this Jesus thing too seriously.

Apathy towards Jesus can actually become the goal!

Pressures from all sides tell our parents,

Are the days of passionately following Jesus behind you?

Have you settled into a groove

or have you grown cold, grown apathetic to the message of Jesus?

Are the days of passionately following Jesus behind you?

Have you settled into a groove

For the most part, mainline churches in modern America are actually aiming for the middle ground.

They want enough religion to be respectable, but to not so much that they are viewed as zealots.

Parents tell their children that they shouldn’t be atheists, but, at the same time, they tell them not to take this religious thing too far.

Lukewarm religion is actually the goal.

I ask these questions because, in our society, even within the Church itself, we can find ourelves struggling with apathy (indifference, “whatever”) towards Jesus.

Actually, it’s easy for a church to start to agree with our culture’s perception that Jesus + His teachings is best in moderation.

Believers can start to live with the desire of having enough of Jesus to be respectable, but not so much that they are viewed as zealots by their friends and family.

Parents can easily be swayed by society to tell their children, either through words or actions, that they shouldn’t be atheists, but, at the same time, tell them not to take this Jesus thing too seriously.

Apathy towards Jesus can actually become the goal!

How many of you have started to feel this attitude start to creep into your relationship with Jesus?

The temptation is there for all of us,.

How many of you have sat through a service and left indifferent to

How many of you have started to feel this attitude start to creep into your relationship with Jesus?

Yet, I want to ask you a question.

A question that, if your really honest with yourself, you have asked a time or two over the years.

You might even be asking it right now for that matter!

[I pray that you may know] . .

.19 [God’s] incomparably great power for us who believe.

That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

“The problem, of course, with being apathetic is that you can actually be apathetic about your apathy!

Put simply an apathetic church does not think it is that big of deal.

But, here are some reasons apathy is a bigger deal than we think”

What went through your mind when you heard those words?

What did you think about as Paul underscores for us how incomparable the indwelling power of God is in us.

The very power that rose Jesus from the dead, that gave Him new life, that gave us new life, is living in us!

And now, this power of the resurrection goes beyond the work of God in redeeming us, buying us back from the bondage of sin.

This power equips us to face life’s struggles: anxiety, anger, perfectionism, doubt, despair, addiction.

It gives us the ability to Rise UP, to find our strength and reliance on Jesus to overcome.

Another factor that makes an apathetic church a problem is that it feeds What did you think about as Paul underscores for us how incomparable the indwelling power of God is in us.

The very power that rose Jesus from the dead, that gave Him new life, that gave us new life, is living in us!

And now, this power of the resurrection goes beyond the work of God in redeeming us, buying us back from the bondage of sin.

This power equips us to face life’s struggles: anxiety, anger, perfectionism, doubt, despair, addiction.

It gives us the ability to Rise UP, to find our strength and reliance on Jesus to overcome.

That thought right there might sound foreign to some of you.

The very thought that you can overcome the struggles of life, the struggles of life that rage not outside of yourself but within your very, soul may seem like a fairy tale.

Yet it is this very truth that we would like to share with you over the next month as we lead-up to Easter.

How many of you have sat through a service and left indifferent to “The problem, of course, with being apathetic is that you can actually be apathetic about your apathy!

Put simply an apathetic church does not think it is that big of deal.

But, here are some reasons apathy is a bigger deal than we think”Another factor that makes an apathetic church a problem is that it feeds our culture’s perception that religion is best in moderation.

Ironically, while Jesus says apathy is the worst spiritual condition, our culture contends that it is the best!

What did you think about as Paul underscores for us how incomparable the indwelling power of God is in us.

The very power that rose Jesus from the dead, that gave Him new life, that gave us new life, is living in us!

And now, this power of the resurrection goes beyond the work of God in redeeming us, buying us back from the bondage of sin.

This power equips us to face life’s struggles: anxiety, anger, perfectionism, doubt, despair, addiction.

It gives us the ability to Rise UP, to find our strength and reliance on Jesus to overcome.

Yet, I want to ask you, [Slide - 2]

[I pray that you may know] . .

.19 [God’s] incomparably great power for us who believe.

That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

What went through your mind when you heard those words?

What did you think about as Paul underscores for us how incomparable the indwelling power of God is in us.

The very power that rose Jesus from the dead, that gave Him new life, that gave us new life, is living in us!

And now, this power of the resurrection goes beyond the work of God in redeeming us, buying us back from the bondage of sin.

This power equips us to face life’s struggles: anxiety, anger, perfectionism, doubt, despair, addiction.

It gives us the ability to Rise UP, to find our strength and reliance on Jesus to overcome.

That thought right there might sound foreign to some of you.

The very thought that you can overcome the struggles of life, the struggles of life that rage not outside of yourself but within your very, soul may seem like a fairy tale.

Yet it is this very truth that we would like to share with you over the next month as we lead-up to Easter.

Question: What’s wrong with only wanting a little bit of Jesus?

Transition: [Slide - 3] To answer that question, let’s ask ourselves...

hats wrong with being a bit “whatever” (apathetic) towards the things of God?