Sermon Tone Analysis

When I first came across the Ephesians verse it was like this is what God is saying to the Church.

I wanted, though, to make it tangible and struggled for a while about how to do this not just in noticing the metaphors here but how do we understand and apply it.

In the first passage in John’s gospel, Lazarus was physically dead.

There is no metaphor to understand here.

He was dead; Jesus called His name; Lazarus lived!

A very notable miracle if ever there was one – and mirrored very much with Jesus’ own resurrection.

Now in calling Lazarus’ name it is no stretch of the imagination to know that God is also calling each one of us by name.

And each person who has heard his voice and responded has come alive.

When we have come to Him we become His.

The fact that He knows us all by name is a great encouragement for we are not one among many but individually we are known to him.

As for the second passage, the one in Ephesians, this must necessarily be a metaphor and generally it has to be understood as addressed to non-Christians.

Jesus is calling out each person’s name and waiting for the response.

Your name is being called – are you listening?

In the Psalm for last week, it said:

Have we all responded to our names being called?

If not we are still dead in the eyes of God.

We are in our sins.

We are still in rebellion despite the fact that Jesus has paid the price, paid the penalty for our sins on the cross.

Yes, we deserve to die; we deserve to be punished; our own consciences condemn us – we know that we are answerable to God and that one day we will all have to give an account to Him.

Yet, the way of freedom, the way to being made alive is so easy.

Sleeping is not an option – if we sleep we might miss the last opportunity given to us to be saved from hell.

By sleeping I mean waiting and waiting because we don’t want to face up to our responsibility now but hope that when we are at death’s door we will have time to repent.

The problem is, of course, that who knows when we will be at death’s door and whether we will be conscious to make a decision for Jesus.

If we hear Jesus calling now saying: ‘Follow me’ then we had better say “yes”.

Who knows whether we will hear him when we are older?

Who knows whether we would even want to have Jesus then?

We might be much more hard hearted just like we read of Pharaoh in the Bible – his heart got harder and harder as time went on and in the end he lost everything because he kept on saying no.

If we have still not made that decision to follow Jesus who has done so much for us then we need to do that now.

The Bible says

What is your choice?

Will you make Him your Lord, Saviour and friend?

Please see me afterwards if that is what you want to do or if you want to know and understand more.

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Now, then, let us turn to these Scriptures for us here in Mount Calvary Baptist, as Christians...

A command is given: (Eph 5.14) Arise!

Get up! Stop sleeping!

Rise from the dead!

This is the same command as when Jesus called Lazarus from the grave.

When Jesus speaks he gives out power.

It is unavoidable!

When Jesus said to the man with the withered hand ‘stretch it out’ it was healed.

When Jesus said to Lazarus ‘come out’ he revived and hopped out of the tomb.

It is Jesus who is speaking and He is saying to us: Wake up!

It is impossible to stay asleep.

It’s a new day!

You are not dead but you are alive!

It’s time to get those grave clothes off you, you cannot stay dressed that way because you are not for the grave.

It’s time to put on new clothes – to put on Christ.

We cannot put dirty clothing in the cupboard with clean for it will contaminate the clean (men, take note!).

It would not do for us to have new life in Christ but are not transformed in the way we live; for we cannot put new wine into old wineskins.

But somehow we want to sometimes.

The verse in Ephesians is likely to be a baptismal saying said to those who have just been baptised.

Yes, you were dead in trespasses and sins but now you are alive in Christ.

We are not dead but alive – now we need to wake up!

We can’t stay in darkness or stay dead or asleep – we are now Christians whose lives have been changed and the challenge is for us to avoid works of darkness for we are made alive in Christ.

We are not called to lethargy and carelessness but to be awake, to action, to be alive, to live life to the full.

If we live as natural man, that is, in a way that is fleshly, in our own way without reference to God then we will be sleepwalking our Christian lives.

It is said that “Christians are imperfect, they offend in many things.”

This is true; but they should not pursue sin; they should not make themselves servants to it; they should not obey its lusts.

Christians, though, when through temptation they are led astray, they think on their ways, and turn their feet to God’s Word.

A conviction of their transgressions brings them on their knees before God, and their righteous sorrow works in them carefulness.

Is this our character?

There is then ground for hope and comfort.

But, if on the contrary, we make reserves in favour of this or that sin, if we deliberately repeat it often without remorse, and run into temptations without caution; if when we have done evil we seek excuses to pacify our conscience, if the mercy of God, which should lead us to repentance, emboldens us to continue in sin, what will we say?

Just how alive are we?

What is the evidence we are alive or that we are Christians at all?

On twitter there was a tweet by Richard Hardy of Albany Rd Baptist, Cardiff who asked: “where is conviction, confession and repentance in the church today?”

If we are alive in Christ then we need to live lives that reflect that reality.

And what does that reality look like once repentance is done?

I’m sure I’ve used this illustration before.

This man lived in the 1800s:

At the age of sixty-five, Oglesby retired from the staff of a prominent university in California.

Being a specialist in agronomy, he pursued some personal ideas of orcharding and made one-hundred thousand dollars.

At age seventy-seven he retired again—this time to Southern California—and offered himself in full-time Christian service to his church.

Eventually he was licensed as a local preacher in the Methodist communion.

Each year he would go to the superintendent and ask for the hardest job in the district.

It was usually a small, struggling church; and he would go from door to door trying to generate interest in the Lord’s work.

At the end of a year, Brother Oglesby would ask his superintendent for a new assignment, and the process was repeated.

For a period of twelve consecutive years, single-handedly, he started a new Methodist church each year.

He was once asked how many calls he made during a year in the interest of his work.

From thirty-five hundred to fifty-five hundred was the answer, and with a twinkle in his eye, he said: “It is one way to prove you are alive.”

This guy was in his 90’s at this point.

To put it in day-to-day figures he was knocking on between 11 and 18 doors every day excluding Sundays.

It is one thing to talk about praying bigger prayers and dreaming bigger dreams.

Maybe the time for dreaming is over.

The time for action is here.

Of course we still need to think big and pray bigger.

With the AGM coming up we need to pray for our direction.

We are light in this world and it leads to the conviction of others coming under the feeling of judgement.

We are in a world of darkness and because Christ has shone upon us: as a result we are now light.

Christ shines upon us so that he can shine through us.

Our lives cannot be lived as men and women who look for the darkness to do those things that we would be ashamed to do in public.

Rather, we are to reflect Jesus’ injunction:

Jesus is the light of the world – He is the light that lights men.

When Jesus shines upon us then we start to be reflectors – very much like Moses when he came down the mountain after meeting with God - his face shone and there was no hiding it.

Now, we, who have been made alive in Christ, are light – there is no hiding the light that is within us for Christ is in us.

If we do not yet know Jesus, then this is your opportunity, do not leave without talking to me about this.

If we know Jesus but still live as if we are asleep, carrying on with works of darkness, now is the time to repent.

We cannot live as both dead and alive.

It’s time to get our lives in order.

If we are lethargic about getting on with the Christian life we need to repent too and become like that old man who went knocking on doors and start to be light in this world, to make a difference – to prove we are alive!