Sermon Tone Analysis

| *“**Jesus versus Religion**”* |

*/Luke 5/*

 

*/v.12/*

*Lord, if You are willing…*

·         This is the first time in the Gospel where Jesus is called “Lord”

o        */Specifically/* this is the Greek word that is usually used for YHWH when the OT was translated from Hebrew to Greek in the Septuagint

 

 

*/v.13/*

*…and the power of the Lord was present…*

·         It’s significant, I think, that the Spirit specifically puts this here – /the power of the Lord was present to heal them/ – after He records through the good Doctor Luke that Jesus /withdrew into the wilderness and prayed/.

I don’t think that’s coincidental at all.

o        “Prayer preceeds power.”

*/v.19/*

*…through the tiling…*

·         Roofs in that region and culture were constructed with dirt packed between closely-spaced beams.

o        It didn’t rain much

o        Roofs were flat – not sloped

o        The roof was a center of relaxation for the  home – often, families would retire in the evening to the */roof/*, not the back yard.

§         So the roof was in a sense the “porch” of the ancient world

o        Many people in fact even had /gardens/ up there.

·         So it really wasn’t all /that/ difficult for these guys to get up there and…start digging.

*/v.21-25/*

*the paralytic healed*

·         *[Courson]* How do we know sins are forgiven?

How do we know the gospel is true?

When people who were paralyzed and lame begin to walk and leap and praise God.

When people who were paralyzed by sinfulness and foolishness embrace the Good News of forgiveness, the reality of a person’s conversion is manifested in his walk.

If there’s no walk, it’s just talk.

*/v.28/*

*…left all…rose up…*

·         Pay careful attention to the order:  First Matthew Levi */left all/*, then he */rose up/* and followed Jesus

o        Too often I want to try to follow Jesus before I’ve actually “left all”

§         I want to hold on to my selfish desires

§         I want to hold on to my dreams, my ambitions

§         I want to hold on to my wisdom and understanding instead of leaning on His

§         I want to hold on to my life…instead of /giving up/ my life so that I can experience His life lived in and through me.

o        Too often I want to try to follow Jesus before I’ve actually “left all,” but the reality is */I can’t/*.

§         So if I’m experiencing a big, impassable wall in my walk with Jesus, if I’m struggling over the same issues I was last year, two years ago, ten years ago…perhaps it */might/* be because I’m still stubbornly hanging on instead of yielding and letting go.

o        The enemy wants to weigh us down with the stuff and the cares of this world and this life, while Jesus wants to set us free so that we can /really/ live.

·         …just a thought…

 

 

*/v.35/*

*…they will fast in those days…*

·         An often neglected spiritual discipline, especially in our modern “I want it, and I want it */now/*” culture

·         Fasting is the denial of the desires of the flesh for the purpose of focusing on the things of the spirit.

o        Many different kinds of fasting:

§         A “complete fast,” no food no water (only about 3 days)

§         A “normal fast,” no food, but water

§         A fast from something specific or from a specific class of foods (“Daniel Fast”)

§         Paul talks about a married couple denying the fulfillment of the desire for physical intimacy in marriage for a short period of time for the purpose of devoting themselves to concentrated, heavy-duty prayer

o        Before you undertake a fast like the first two, you should probably check with your doctor first; there are medical conditions which can be made very bad by certain kinds of fasting

§         But there’s always a way to practice the fast if that’s your heart’s desire

·         Some people fast from television, or from the “interweb,” or from something else, for the purpose of living out the Psalm that says, “be still and know that I am God.”

·         Fasting isn’t only an important component of spiritual growth & development, but it’s also an important aspect of spiritual */warfare/*

o        Romans 7 (among other places) clues us in that the flesh and the spirit are constantly at war

§         Which side’s going to win?

The one you feed!

§         Now, you can’t just stop feeding your flesh in the sense of eating – you’d die, and what fun is that, really?

·         But think about it this way:  You feed your /physical/ flesh on average three times a day.

·         You spend time washing your /physical/ flesh, grooming your flesh, making sure your flesh is as presentable as you can make it, clothing your flesh, taking great care of your flesh, and otherwise paying fairly close attention…/to your physical flesh/.

o        Yet the average American Christian’s happy to feed his /spirit/ *maybe* once a week, for an hour and a half at church…*/perhaps/* once a day for five, ten, fifteen minutes for a hurried “devotional,” and spend */maybe/* half a minute shooting up a “Good God, good grub, good Lord let’s eat” *“prayer”* before spending the next half hour scarfing down the burgers…

·         …and then we wonder why we’re often so spiritually weak, so spiritually lethargic, so often so greatly spiritually */defeated/*.

·         Fasting is a powerful discipline to spend concentrated time focusing on prayer, the Word, and the things of the Spirit.

o        Do you feel a bit distant, spiritually?

o        Do you feel a tiny bit cast adrift in your walk with the Lord?

o        Been a long time since you’ve experienced His presence and heard His voice through His Word?

§         Do this:  Turn off the idiot box, unplug the computer, turn off the radio, and just */sit/* before Him with the Word open and just */be there/* with the Lord.

§         Devote a lunch hour to just sitting with the Lord with His Word instead of rushing out to grab a Big Mac or shovel leftovers down your pie hole.

o        Do you feel like there’s something in your life, some area where you’d love to see the Lord move, but you’ve pretty much given up on the hope that He ever will?

§         Do this:  set aside a day and /fast/.

§         Take the time you’d normally spend chomping down on food and sit before the Lord with His Word and /pray/.

o        Is there someone you’d love to see come to the Lord, but you feel like they’re so cold, so closed to Him, that they’ll /never/ come…?

§         The Book of James says the “effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”

·         Fasting can often serve as an */exclamation point/* to the end of our prayers.

·         Our lives are composed of a series of choices – and the choices we make reveal who we really are and what we really want and what’s really important to us.

o        For instance:  I come home from a long day of “tentmaking”

§         Do I plop down in the easy chair and turn on the idiot box, or do I instead choose to get down on the floor with my son and spend time with him?

§         Do I, in effect, choose at that moment to “fast” from the desire of my flesh to unwind, relax, and vegg out in front of the TV, and devote that time I’d otherwise waste on my flesh to something of eternally greater value?

o        In fasting, I’m choosing to devote myself for that time to something of eternally greater value – being still to know that He is God.

·         We must bring our flesh into submission to our spirit instead of our spirit being in submission to our flesh.

We must make it obedient.

*/vv.37-38/*

*…old wineskins…new wineskins…*

·         When wineskins age, they become stiff, unbending, and brittle.

New wine has a tendency to continue to ferment, releasing gasses in the process which stretch the wineskin and ultimately, if it’s a old, stiff wineskin, bursting it.

o        A */new/* wineskin, by way of contrast, can still stretch and adapt.

§         But wineskins were expensive

o        The word translated “new” here in relation to the “new wineskin” is different than the word for “new” as in “new wine.”

§         The word for “new wine” means, really and truly */new/* – as in, “did not exist before.”

§         The word for “new” as in “new wineskin,” however, means */restored/*.

o        There */is/* a way to restore an old wineskin, to give it back the ability to contain new wine

§         You would soak it in water.

·         The analogy as it applies to us:  We can become old, stiff, unbending, and brittle in our Christian experience, in our heart of hearts.

o        Especially as we experience disappointment and frustration.

o        Especially when we experience battle, hardship, and loss.

o        Especially when, like Jesus after His baptism, we’re driven by the Spirit into the dry barrenness of the Wilderness.

o        So what do */we/* do to restore suppleness and life to our “wineskins?”

§         Soak them in the water of the Word.

·         Do you feel hard, brittle, tired, even /dry/ in your Christian experience?

o        Immerse yourself in fellowship.

Express yourself in worship.

Soak in the Word.