Sermon Tone Analysis

A small boy sat in church with his mother and listened to a sermon entitled “What is a Christian?”

Every time the minister asked the question, he banged his fist on the pulpit for emphasis.

The tension produced by the sermon built up in the boy and he finally whispered to his mother, “Mama, do you know?

Do you know what a Christian is?”

“Yes, dear,” she replied.

“Now sit still and be quiet.”

Finally, as the minister was winding up the sermon, he again thundered, “What is a Christian?” and banged especially hard on the pulpit.

This time it was too much for the little boy, so he jumped up and cried out, “Tell him, Mama, tell him.”

What Does It Mean To Be A Christian?

A small boy sat in church with his mother and listened to a sermon entitled “What is a Christian?”

Every time the minister asked the question, he banged his fist on the pulpit for emphasis.

The tension produced by the sermon built up in the boy and he finally whispered to his mother, “Mama, do you know?

Do you know what a Christian is?”

“Yes, dear,” she replied.

“Now sit still and be quiet.”

Finally, as the minister was winding up the sermon, he again thundered, “What is a Christian?” and banged especially hard on the pulpit.

This time it was too much for the little boy, so he jumped up and cried out, “Tell him, Mama, tell him.”

How would you answer that preacher’s question?…what is a Christian…and if your answer is going to be biblical it is a person who has died to sin in Christ and been raised to new life in Christ…the evidence of which is seen in the pattern of their life.

With that thought in mind please turn to …the person who claims Christ is one whose life MUST show fruit of being in Him…the behavior of our life will reveal the reality of our relationship with Christ…thus we are to Behave Like Christians Ought to Behave!

Our Life Must Progressively Reflect Christ’s Transforming Power.

At the beginning of chapter three we read that those who have died and been raised with him, whose life is hidden in him, who will be revealed with him…now we get to the portion of Paul’s letter that says

Therefore…we are to be transformed by Him…if our hearts and minds are set above it will be evidenced in the patterns of our life.

if our hearts and minds are set above it will be evidenced in the patterns of our life.

How then can we be progressing in living out the transformation Christ brings to our life?

Two keys here...

Execute the Old Self (5-11)

Execute the Old Self

This is where the practical side of the truth meets the positional side of the truth...

Paul had already stated we died with Christ…that happened at the moment of salvation...

However, that positional reality must be worked out in our lives practically!

There will be no growth in holiness…no spiritual maturity…when sin is left unchecked!

Executing sin is not an option…this is a command…in fact 3x in this text we are commanded to do something in relation to this old nature…, ,

That is why we must continually execute sin by yielding to the Holy Spirit.

Sin is like a king without a throne…he no longer reigns and holds no authority to condemn someone…however, he works hard to debilitate and even devastate all his former subjects...

The Spirit uses His Word — the sword of the Spirit is the word of God — … so as a believer grows strong in the Word, they become more skilled at using the Word of God to fight against the evil one…this is important here…when we compare and we understand that being filled with the power of the Holy Spirit is the same as allowing the Word to dwell in you richly…explain this more later....

The focus here falls primarily on sexual sins…why?

The Spirit uses His Word — the sword of the Spirit is the word of God — … so as a believer grows strong in the Word, they become more skilled at using the Word of God to fight against the evil one…this is important here…when we compare and we understand that being filled with the power of the Holy Spirit is the same as allowing the Word to dwell in you richly…explain this more later....

The Jews often viewed Gentiles as people who had no sexual morals…there is no doubt that in Paul’s day, the Greco-Roman world was very tolerant of sexual conduct, particularly that outside of marriage...

Yes you died in the sense of paying sin’s penalty by being united with Christ in His death, but sin still attacks our unredeemed humanness,

our flesh…this outward shell that we see is unredeemed, it is flawed, it is cursed by sin and it is weak...

our spirit…the inner part we do not see is completely redeemed, it is empowered by the Holy Spirit and is in a battle with the flesh..so until this outward body is completely redeemed, our inner spirit must go to war with the flesh and we must kill the sin that is attacking our flesh.

Executing sin is not an option…this is a command…in fact 3x in this text we are commanded to do something in relation to this old nature…, ,

Consider…as dead = literally means “kill, put to death, execute, mortify”…this is to be a decisive resolution to put it death…bring your flesh under subjection to the Spirit-filled new nature.

I think in this text, the ESV, NKJV, KJV, NIV are stronger translations…don’t just consider the members of your body dead, kill them...

Paul is calling for us to radically exterminate everything in our life that leads us away from godliness…Radical Amputation…Jesus says in & that if our right eye or right hand causes us to stumble we are to pluck it out, cut it off…

Paul is calling for us to radically exterminate everything in our life that leads us away from godliness…Radical Amputation…Jesus says in & that if our right eye or right hand causes us to stumble we are to pluck it out, cut it off…

Paul’s point here is that the unredeemed, fleshly body will do what the inner disposition of the heart wants it to do…

if your body is controlled by the fleshly, old nature you will do what it wants...

The desire of our new man to live pleasing to God is held back because of our sinful flesh with its life patterns and habits that must be executed.

if your body is controlled by the Spirit…you will do what He wants…

Paul’s point here is that the body will do what the inner disposition of the heart wants it to do…if your body is controlled by the Spirit…you must do what is good…until we see Christ, this will be our lot this side of heaven.

until we see Christ, this will be our lot this side of heaven…

so we have a responsibility to kill the old nature, to execute it along with the sins that plague it...

Paul gives us two sample lists of sins to kill…these are some of the most common and troubling sins believers face…this is not an exhaustive list…but the principle is still the same…Paul also uses this same formula in

Here are some interesting characteristics of these lists to note...

Here are some interesting characteristics of these lists to note...

that the first list begins with actions and progresses to motives…while the second list begins with motives and progresses to actions…

the first list is personal sin…the second is social…

sandwiched between these lists are reasons these need to be put to death...

sandwiched between these lists are reasons these need to be put to death...

A. Put off Personal Sin

Paul moves backwards from the evil act to the underlying motive here…immorality, the evil act happens because there is impurity in the heart.

There is impurity in the heart because there is a perverted passion and evil desire at work.

Perverted passion and evil desire are at work because the root of the sin is greed, which is idolatry!

Immorality = acts of sexual sin

porneia…pornography is derived from this word along with graphe (writing), pornography is a writing about sexual sin...

Originally referred to prostitution but its usage in the NT is broadened to include any form of illicit sex.

The biblical mandate of our sexuality forbids any sexual activity outside the bond of marriage…and it also forbids sexual activity outside the union of a man and a woman…

Marriage is to be only between man and woman.

Sexual activity is only to occur in the bonds of marriage of husband and wife…male and female…God’s will for your sanctification is to abstain from sexual immorality…if you are involved in any sexual activity outside the bonds of marriage you are acting outside God’s will for your life, and that has a direct impact on the sanctification process...

The biblical view of immorality is summed up in 3

Impurity = uncleanness, goes to the intentions of the mind

3

Impurity = uncleanness, goes to the intentions of the mind

Impurity = uncleanness, goes to the intentions of the mind

goes beyond the act and refers to the heart…not only must we put to death the physical acts of immorality, we must execute the DESIRE for those acts...

Passion/evil desires = sexual passion set loose in the body/sexual lust created in the mind.

Passion/evil desires = sexual passion set loose in the body/sexual lust created in the mind.

there is not a lot of distinction between these two words…perhaps it is best to see this as two sides of the same coin…passion being the physical side and evil desires being the mental side…both must be executed...

Greed = insatiable desire to have more

Pleonexia (greed) comes from two words…pleon — more, and exo — to have…it is that desire to have more that causes fights and quarrels according to

It amounts to idolatry because it places selfish desire over obedience to God…every sin comes from a greedy, pride filled heart that is selfish…it is the worship of self, instead of the worship of God...

Whether it is sexual sin or not, our choice to sin is a choice to get what we want regardless of what God says…that is idolatry…YOU RULE instead of GOD RULES

At the very moment we choose to sin, what we desire means more to us than what God desires.

We worship ourselves more than we worship God and that is idolatry.

Whatever sin is plaguing you right now, whether it is sexual sin or something completely different, the root of that sin is a selfish, pride-filled and greedy heart.

So if we want to gain victory, we have to first go after the root of our problem…GREED…IDOLATRY…

B. Reasons To Put Off Sin

Sexual activity

before moving on to his second list, he stops and gives two strong reasons that ought to motivate us...

B. Reasons To Put Off Sin

Sin brings God’s judgment.

Wrath is God’s constant disposition towards sin…unbelievers will experience this full force…Paul writes this in such a way that it communicates that the coming of the wrath of God is certain, it is as if that wrath has already arrived.

Because of these things…the sins Paul mentioned here typify sin in general…as God’s children we should not want to have any part in that which brings God’s wrath...

As believers we have been delivered from the wrath to come — ;

Paul is not saying that if we sin we will experience God in his furious wrath, but rather those who belong to Christ, who love Him, those who are united with Him would not want to participate in those kinds of behaviors…children of God should not want to act like children of wrath...

we will not experience God’s wrath —

Paul is not saying that if we sin we will experience God in his furious wrath, but rather those who belong to Christ, who love Him, those who are united with Him would not want to participate in those kinds of behaviors…children of God should not want to act like children of wrath...

However, we are subject to God’s discipline… … God will react to your sin, to my sin, either way, those who pursue sin will suffer the consequences.

Second reason is...

Sin is a part of the believer’s past.