Sermon Tone Analysis

A Bergen County billionaire throws a poolside party in the back of his huge mansion on a hot summer day.

He has a couple pet sharks in his pool, and everyone looks at them with curiosity and fear, making sure they don’t fall into the pool.

The rich man announces, “If anyone dares to swim across this pool, I will reword him either with the hand of my beautiful daughter or a million dollar.”

Splash!

A man dives into the pool and swims across it swiftly.

He gets to the other side, jumps out of the pool, and runs to this side and looks at the people in the crowd as if he is looking for someone.

The crowd cheers for his courage, and the host asks him, “Young man, you are a true hero.

Tell me what you want—the hand of my beautiful daughter or a million dollar in cash?”

He does not give any answer but keeps looking at the crowd with a stern face.

The host asks again, “Young man, what do you want?”

He said, “I want … I want to know who pushed me from behind.”

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Life is sometimes like a shark tank we feel powerless to swim across.

The moment we are born, we are already in this pool.

There’s no use finding out who pushed us into this pool.

The question is whether we can get to the other side safely.

We admire how Jesus walked this earth, or swam this sea of suffering, but we never dare to imagine that we could do more than a fraction of what he has done.

However, he said that not only that we will do what he has done, but we will be able to do greater works than he did.

I think this is the most challenging commandment he has ever given us.

He said,

Can you imagine this?

Doing greater works than Jesus did?

Jesus went to the father without leaving us idly waiting, but he left us with works to do—not some small works but greater works than the did.

Let this expectation of Jesus sink into our heads and hearts this morning.

This is a huge challenge, but it is also encouraging because he said we WILL do greater works than he did.

He seems quite sure that we will do better.

Now, the question is how?

Where do we get the POWER to do the greater works, starting with our personal life?

What is your shark tank this morning?

What is the mountain you need to move these days?

What are the problems of life do you feel powerless to overcome?

As a church, how do we overcome the status quo?

Will we ever get out of our situation?

Will we ever glorify God with effective ministries?

The good news is Jesus is telling us that we are given the power to do greater works than he did.

Today is Pentecost, the day God poured down the Holy Spirit—the power from above.

Jesus said,

Notice it says that this power from on high is like a clothing we can put on.

When Jesus told the disciples that he was leaving them, they felt discouraged because they depended on him for three years not only to learn from him but also to rely on him for the power to perform miracles and face the oppression from the power that be.

Jesus was indicating that if he was here, he could only empower a few.

If he went away, God would send the Holy Spirit to empower more than just a small group of disciples.

It seems that he wants to remove the disciples’ dependency on him and that they become self-reliant with the direct power from the Holy Spirit.

Instead of being carried under his wings, he wants them to fly with their own wings.

Holy Spirit is the wind beneath our wings.

Using the word POWER as a mnemonic acrostic, let us look at how we can harness this superpower that allows the believers not only to swim across the shark thank, but also to touch lives and change the world by fulfilling the mission Jesus has assigned us.

First and foremost, …

Passionately Love Christ

The foundation of this holy power comes from loving him.

He started by saying, “If you love me …” That’s the beginning of power.

However, it’s easy to say, “I love Jesus” superficially.

There’s no power behind the superficial love for Christ.

When it comes to love, Jesus demands total and passionate love.

His sacrifice on the cross is known as the Passion of the Christ.

He didn’t love us casually, but passionately.

He expect the same in return from us.

The Great Commandment doesn’t just say, “Love God.”

It says,

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind."

(Mt 22:37).

“All your heart, soul, and mind” means loving God with full force.

These words show a great deal of passion.

God hates lukewarm love.

He says “So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”

(Re 3:15–16).

May God forgive us if we are lukewarm.

From now one, let us passionately love Christ and nothing less.

Obey his commandments

Jesus said love is obedience.

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

(Jn 14:15).

What are his commandments?

Someone patiently listed all the commandments of Jesus from the entire four gospels and found 50 commandments Jesus has made.

I prefer to make things simple.

You know there’s a difference between a scholar and a sage.

A scholar makes simple things complicated, but a sage makes complicated things simple.

I like to be the latter.

So, I looked at the 50 commandments and found out that they can easily be summarized in one commandment.

In fact Jesus himself did it.

Jesus said,

“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.

Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”

(Jn 13:34).

The old commandment says, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” but now the new one says, “love one another as Jesus has loved you.”

If you fulfill this, you fulfill every other commandments.

How did he love us?

He said,

“No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

(Jn 15:13).

He laid down his life for us.

That’s a tall order.

It doesn’t mean that you have to die for your friends since you can die only once.

What it means is you must be love selflessly like the way Jesus has shown us on the cross.

Welcome the Help of the Holy Spirit

W is for “Welcome the help of the Holy Spirit.”

The word Advocate can also be translated as Helper.

The power of the Holy Spirit is here to help us.

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.”

(John 14:16).

This is the continuation of the previous verse, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.”

So, loving Jesus and keeping his commandment are the conditions to receive the Holy Spirit, the Helper, the Advocate.