Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro

Let me describe to you one of the most uncomfortable times in my life...

My first date with Elisa…

This was incredibly uncomfortable … but totally worth it!!

The rewards of discomfort…

American culture is a culture of comfort.

It’s being sold to us everywhere we look.

We’re encouraged to do what we want, when we want, with whomever we want.

If something is uncomfortable, we want to avoid it at all costs.

True Christianity, though, is just that: UNCOMFORTABLE!

Uncomfortable: The Awkward and Essential Challenge of Christian Community (Introduction My Dream Church)

This mind-set has infiltrated the way we approach church: as a thing we can design according to our checklist of preferences.

And if a church stops catering to our desires or makes us uncomfortable (the pastor says something disagreeable, worship music becomes too saccharine, someone speaks in tongues), we move on.

There are dozens of other options in town.

Charles Spurgeon once said:

If I had never joined a church till I had found one that was perfect, I should never have joined one at all; and the moment I did join it, if I had found one, I should have spoiled it, for it would not have been a perfect church after I had become a member of it.

The Awkward and Essential Challenge of Christian Community… Embracing the uncomfortable…

PRAYER

God our Father as we begin our discussion of the awkward challenges of living in community with one another let us focus on the point and the source of this community which is Christ.

Show us what it means to live life in the Spirit and not in the flesh.

By the power of your Word we pray for your refiners fire that you might cause us to become uncomfortable this morning for your Glory!! Amen

Message

His method is unattractive.

Hide not the offense of the cross, lest you make it of none effect.

The angles and corners of the gospel are its strength: to pare them off is to deprive it of power.

Toning down is not the increase of strength, but the death of it.

= Charles H.

Spurgeon

The Offense of the Cross

1 On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,

the emblem of suffering and shame;

and I love that old cross where the dearest and best

for a world of lost sinners was slain.

2 O that old rugged cross, so despised by the world,

has a wondrous attraction for me;

for the dear Lamb of God left his glory above

to bear it to dark Calvary.

[Refrain]

3 In that old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine,

a wondrous beauty I see,

for 'twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died,

to pardon and sanctify me.

[Refrain]

4 To that old rugged cross I will ever be true,

its shame and reproach gladly bear;

then he'll call me some day to my home far away,

where his glory forever I'll share.

[Refrain]

Refrain:

So I'll cherish the old rugged cross,

till my trophies at last I lay down;

I will cling to the old rugged cross,

and exchange it some day for a crown.

1 Cor 1.18 “18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

giant let down for the disciples

undermines human logic / wisdom

flies in the face of “survival of the fittest”

visible loss for invisible gain

1 Cor 1.23 “23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,”

1 Cor 1.27 “27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer = “when Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”

The Loss of the Cross

being your own boss

Jesus is LORD and I am not… cheap grace !!

consumer religion

your best life now?…

commitment not consumer… Came to serve not be served!!

pride

We Are Equals… Galatians 3:28–29 “28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.”

upper middle class college educated wife manager mother / stung out prostitute

cool and cultural

politically “incorrect”

John Stott = “Either we preach that human beings are rebels against God, under his just judgment and (if left to themselves) lost, and that Christ crucified who bore their sin and curse is the only available Savior.

Or we emphasize human potential and human ability, with Christ brought in only to boost them, and with no necessity for the cross except to exhibit God’s love and so inspire us to greater endeavor.

The former is the way to be faithful, the latter the way to be popular.

It is not possible to be faithful and popular simultaneously.”

health, wealth, and comfort

comfort - servant

wealth - charity

health - death

The Gain of the Cross

Phil 3.7-9 “7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith”

His Method is Unattractive… Our Message is Offensive!…

The Cross is Uncomfortable

His standard is unpopular.

If you will here stop and ask yourselves why you are not as pious as the primitive Christians were, your own heart will tell you that it is neither through ignorance nor inability, but purely because you never thoroughly intended it.

= William Law

What Holiness Implies

You need to change… You need to be better… Your not good enough

“Authentic Self”

judgement… standards… Sin / repentance

Why Holiness Matters

God’s holiness is no joke

who He is / His image bearers

Abraham / Israel / Ark

Witness = salt / light

“we cannot give what we do not have”