Sermon Tone Analysis

\\ / “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.

2 *Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy*?

Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your *soul will delight* in the richest of fare. 3 Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your* soul may live*.

I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David. 4 See, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander of the peoples.

5 Surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations that do not know you will hasten to you, because of the Lord your God, /

/the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendor.”

6 *Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.*

7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts.

Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

8 “*For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,*” declares the Lord.

9 “*As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.*

10 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, 11 *so is my word* that goes out from my mouth: *It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.*

12 You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.

13 Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.

This will be for the Lord’s renown, for an everlasting sign, which will not be destroyed.”

*[1]* Isaiah 55:1-13 (NIV)/

/ /

The scripture today speaks of 3 things:

 

·         An issue of personal satisfaction (1,2a)

 

·         An invitation to see the Lord as a means of satisfaction and fullness (2b – 7)

·         An indication that the answers that we seek are found in a new way of thinking.

(8-13)

 

For this entire month we have seen people at our altars in response to sermons on stewardship.

I received an e-mail from one of our newer men.

The opening sentence was:

 

“After yesterdays service, I suggest that you NEVER stop preaching about "money".

Why is this?

The reason is that stewardship, giving to God is not about money.

It is about your spiritual relationship to God.

I didn’t want to do this sermon series.

I believed that God wanted it done however and so I acquiesced and tried to tie some sentences and thoughts together relative to giving.

I didn’t want to give an altar call following the second sermon.

I believed that this was what God wanted and so I did, never thinking that anyone would respond.

I was so shocked to see people step out in response.

And then it was as though He reached up and pulled the chain to turn the lights on for me.

People come forward because when we talk about finances we talk about the Lordship of Christ in an area where people fight God and tenaciously hold on to their meager supply.

It’s not a money issue.

People respond because they become aware of the need for a fuller relationship with God.

 

"Stewardship of possessions is the effect of God's saving grace upon one's self and his property.

When God gets a man with a car He gets a car to be used in His service.

Some seem to think of stewardship as a whip or as legal action to drive people to give to the expenses of the church.

No doubt too often the attempt has been made to wring generous offerings from selfish souls.

Christian stewardship most certainly is not church legislation nor a scheme to deprive men of their cash.

It is the natural consequence of an experience with God -- the natural reaction of the human heart that has been touched by the divine spirit.

-- Milo Kauffman, The Challenge of Christian Stewardship,

 

*1.

**An issue of personal satisfaction*

 

What do we really */need/* to see from a stewardship campaign?

Obviously */we would like to see/* people respond to the financial needs of the church.

Rarely do churches face spending problems.

It is most always giving problems.

If everyone who earns a wage gave according to God’s pattern we would never have to talk about money in the church and there would be more than we would need.

People who are most impacted by sermons like these are those who are already doing their part and more.

I have several Challenge cards back and many of them are people who are already carrying their load, trying to find ways to do more.

Personally I would like to see people do what they know God wants them to do financially.

A person knows whether or not their giving is on line with God’s will for them.

The real need is obedience as an expression of love to God.

It is not a monetary response but a love response.

Great churches become greater churches when greater numbers of people respond in obedience to His will.

God can use a ready army but He cannot use a resistant army, a motley collection of self-styled spiritualists who have no idea what it is to follow their commander-in-chief, the Lord of Hosts.

Giving is a personal need.

Spiritual ground is gained when we break our ties with the material world by learning to let go of our treasure.

Giving away a portion of our resources to God breaks the bondage of things and it helps us to focus on eternal things in the here and now.

The truth is that we will never find satisfaction in the pursuit of what is only temporary.

Every commodity that your funds can secure will wear out or rust out much faster than you will.

The glory quickly fades from things.

Things don’t stay new for very long.

Elaine and I had the opportunity while in Moncton to move to a newer, larger home.

It was more house than we ever thought we would own.

I was attracted to it because it was “maintenance free”.

That was a joke.

But you know what I mean, vinyl siding, new windows and doors.

It was a beautiful home.

I would drive away from it each day and say a “thank-you” to God for this blessing.

I didn’t want to lose a sense of thankfulness for what I considered to be a great blessing.

But I couldn’t hang on to that perspective.

Things broke.

The basement flooded.

It was more expensive to heat than we imagined.

The taxes were burdensome.

It wasn’t long before I realized that this was just one more thing that I was enslaved to.

I was in many ways trapped by the home that I lived in and all the time that my awareness of this fact was growing the “glory” of the home was fading.

The nature of my “thankfulness” was changing as well.

I was realizing that God had allowed me to possess in order to see that I really didn’t want what I thought I wanted.

I also learned that “glory” doesn’t stick to wood or metal or mortar or any other thing that can be fashioned by the hands of men.

But we give so much time and effort and waste so much “wanting” energy in the process of our living.

*2.

**An invitation to seek the Lord as a means of satisfaction and fullness*

 

I really believe that in order to honor God in our giving lives and in turn to find satisfaction in this life we must seek Him first.

You don’t give to God so that you can know more of Him.

You seek to know Him fully and this makes a different person in every way.

It makes you a different giver, a different servant.

It allows God to funnel whatever resource He chooses to funnel through your hands.

It places your entire existence at His disposal.

Nothing satisfies like that.

The off shoot of a deepening relationship with God is a greater commitment to Him.

As far as I am concerned everything in the Christian walk, every discipline, every act of devotion, every service are nothing more than an expression of this relationship.

I would say then that an inactive Christian is a misnomer.

Strangers to God have little practical concern for the things of God.

There comes a time in a person’s life to take God at His word and trust Him fully or stop all this talk about living by faith.

If we choose to live by our own resourcefulness, we may make a wonderful way of life for ourselves but it will be far short of God’s provision for us.

I am modifying my sermon this morning, the last day of October, 2004.

Yesterday I wrote the following:

 

“When a person holds back on God they cap their spiritual experience.