Sermon Tone Analysis

In chapter 12 Romans takes on a different flavor than the first portion of the book.

Chapters 1 through 11 are theological and present man’s need for salvation and God’s plan of salvation.

From chapter 12 onward, the book becomes very practical.

Theology is now applied is now applied.

He is trying to paint a practical picture of how we are to live out the Christian life.

The last time we met Verla spoke from Romans 12:1 & 2.  In short, we are to present ourselves to God as living sacrifices.

We are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.

Those two verses speak of how we are to live out our Christian walk in relation to God.

In Romans 12:3 and following, Paul teaches how we can live out our Christian walk in relationship to other Christians.

In verse three, Paul’s next point strikes to the heart of our thinking and our identity.

We are not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought, “but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.”

Paul is teaching against the Pride.

It is the sin of Adam and Even in the Garden.

It is the sin of Lucifer, the fallen angel.

Paul hits hard against pride, because it is one of the key obstacles to turning a collection of individual Christians into the church, which is the unified body of Christ.

Pride is the root of sin which breaks our relationship with God.

Pride is also at the root of sin which breaks our relationship with others.

This is not what the world teaches.

The world teaches self-confidence, not god-confidence.

It teaches that each day, we must increase.

Implicit in that, is that God must decrease.

This leads to some mixed-up thinking both practically and spiritually.

A practical example of the effects of promoting self-esteem was seen in a study on high school math students.

According to an objective test, student in Korea ranked best in abilities and American students ranked worst.

Yet in a self assessment of abilities, Americans ranked themselves first.

Their math self-esteem was not at all in touch with reality.

In a spiritual sense, this leads to even greater error.

If I’m Ok, and you’re Ok, then is there a need for us to change?

There is no place for sin.

If I’m a victim, and you’re a victim, then neither of us are responsible.

We have no need to repent.

God offers man the sober, realistic view of our spiritual condition.

Scripture is unflinchingly honest in terms of the truth of sin.

It speaks resoundingly of God’s great love.

We are sinners, yet we redeemed through the sacrifice of Christ, we have broken relationships, yet we are united with God and one another in Christ, and we have hearts inclined to evil but we are transformed to live out the fruits of the spirit through the power of God’s spirit.

We are children of God, we are held in the inescapable grip of grace.

Before God, we learn spiritual humility and also particle humility.

God is better at everything than you are.

All of Motzart’s play flawlessly in the mind of God.

Are you strong?

Can you hold the ocean in the palm of your hand, as Isaiah 41 teaches that God can.

Are you smart?

God is smarter.

Are you creative?

How many brilliant sunsets and flashing thunderstorms have you written across the sky?

In comparison to god, we are all just toddlers with finger paints.

Even our best work, while great in the eyes of the world, is refrigerator art before God.

It is great in his eyes because he loves us.

God is better, and he is a better sport.

He is kind, gentle, and encouraging in his relationship with us.

His example teaches us how to relate to our brothers and sisters who may not share the skills we have.

When we are restored with right relationship with God, we have the security and freedom to see ourselves soberly.

Our sober assessment can admit that we might not make a great pastry chef, but that we could make a great airline pilot.

We hold our gifts in the right way, because those gifts and successes point to God’s greatness, not our own.

We are free to admit and endure our inadequacies and our weakness relative to others, because these, too, point to God’s greatness and provision.

When see ourselves soberly, and we see others soberly, then we recognize that our gifts do not make us superior.

We can use our gifts with meekness and humility to support and encourage our brothers without an air of superiority.

When we see ourselves soberly, we are free to see that the gifts of another and receive the gifts of others in grace, without a sense of inferiority.

We can then see where we have been given much, without pride, and we can see where we have been given little, without humiliation.

With a clear-eyed view we enter the community of the church without being overly prideful in our gifts or overly sensitive of our inadequacies.

We enter into mutually encouraging relationships in Christ.

Where does pride hinder you from entering into deeper relationship with your brothers and sisters in Christ?

How has breaking down pride in your life brought you deeper fellowship with other Christians.

Philipians two teaches:  If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.

Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus…

            Do we have the same attitude of humility and service we that we have for God?

 

*The Body of Christ*

*            *We pour a couple of different meanings into the word church.

Sometimes it refers to a building like this one.

We use it to refer to a specific group of people who meet as a church, and we use it to refer to the worldwide collection of believers gathered around Christ Jesus.

All of us who believe in Christ are grafted in to the vine of Christ and through our union with Christ are united with one another.

We are members of one body, and members of one another as Paul teaches.

One of the things that is wonderful about the love of Christ and the body of Christ living out that love is that the church has its doors open to the world.

Much of what we participate in, we must be qualified for.

We need a degree, enough money to pay the price of admission, or we need to pass the hiring committee, or enough athletic skill – except for BSF softball, which doesn’t call any strikes.

Think about this for a minute – the church is a pretty unique place.

It is one of the few places in the world where all are welcome without cost or expectation and the most highly prized of all things in this world, love, is freely given.

Christ opens the door to salvation to all.

The church is to open the doors to fellowship to all.

There are no pre-conditions, no qualifications, no exclusions, no fine print.

We, as the body of Christ, are to be Christ, and welcome those who seek relationship in Christ.

Before we last left for spring break, we took a class picture and sent it to growing Young Adult class.

That Young Adult class is in Nigeria.

They are a continent away, their mother tongue is different, they live in a nation divided between Muslims and Christians.

Because it is BSF, they answer the same questions.

But because they live a half-a-world away, their answers are much different.

They are less concerned with peer pressure, and more concerned with family pressure.

For all of our differences, we are able to relate because we share one great thing in common, our salvation in Jesus Christ.

Though they are very different, it is easy to be one with them because they are far away.

It doesn’t cost very much.

But when Christians who are different are in the same room, it can be a little harder to admit we are one in the body of Christ because we sometimes additional qualifications to those of Christ.

We must take care not to ad our own personal fine print to acceptance of others into fellowship.

BSF has been a great lesson in that for me.

During my first year here, I was placed in a group with guys who were in very different places in life than I was.

I worked in customer service, another was on his way to an MBA program, and another was recovering from cocaine addition.

In one sense, we had very little in common.

We were very different guys.

But we had Christ.