Sermon Tone Analysis

Does anyone recognize the location of the photo on the screen?

I don’t endorse Google, but this is a Google Maps Street View image of Taylor Avenue taken only 9/10 of a mile from where we are right now.

Now… There’s something very unique about Taylor Avenue… does anyone know what’s unique about it?

It has a nickname to us locals… anyone know what that nickname is? It’s Church Row!

And why is it named Church Row?

Because there are 5 churches all within a half mile, located off of Taylor Avenue.

There’s Flat River Christian Church, First Baptist Church, Trinity Lutheran Church, First United Methodist Church, and Fellowship Free Will Baptist Church.

In many towns across the United States, especially here in the Bible Belt, you see this a lot! Different churches existing right next door, right across the street, right down the street from one another.

Our denomination alone… There are 5 Free Will Baptist Churches within a 4 mile radius.

There are pros and cons to this.

One argument that exists in favor of having this many churches is that each has its own personality type and style.

Perhaps one style might help reach someone that the other style doesn’t.

Not saying I agree with that, but it is an argument that is used.

Another is that this community has enough people that it could support that many.

Again… Not saying I agree with that, but it’s an argument that’s used.

Another is that it’s allows people a little more freedom in secondary beliefs.

This church might believe that the King James Version of the Bible is the ONLY true Bible translation, where another uses the NIV.

Those are just a few of the arguments pro having a lot of churches.

The cons are… It brings undue separation to God’s church family.

Another con… many argue that since each congregation has it’s own overhead… water, electric, staff, etc… there is less money to do actual ministry.

So there are cons like that.

But… one that I want to specifically think about this morning is that having multiple congregations like this can cause suspicion of each other.

Let me give you a imaginary example of this…

Imaginary Church #1… We’ll call it 1st Community Church of Park Hills.

1st Community Church is very passionate about their community.

When you walk into 1st Community Church you’ll find literature about mentoring a child through YFC… You’ll find information about volunteering through the Pregnancy Resource Center… There will be a signup sheet for volunteering to hand out bottled water at the county fair.

1st Community Church involves themselves very heavily with programs in the community to help give shelter and food to the homeless.

They’re highly active in mercy giving and social programs here in the community.

Next door to 1stCommunity Church is 1st Evangelical Church of Park Hills.

When you walk into 1st Evangelical Church, you’ll see lots of posters of missionaries that they support.

And each month, they feature a specific missionary by sharing aspects of their ministry… a lot of times, those missionaries even come speak to 1st Evangelical Church to try and gain support and prayer partners.

1st Evangelical places a high priority on Evangelism and training their people to know and tactics on how to share the gospel.

Their goal is to make sure that every person in Park Hills hears the gospel of Jesus Christ and has an opportunity to be saved.

Across the street is 1st Bible Church of Park Hills.

1st Bible Church believes that the church as a whole is moving away from sound doctrine… and so, it is their intention to exegete the Scriptures in a way that the people are grounded firmly in the truth of Scripture.

They spend their time warning about the dangers of the prosperity gospel and false teachers.

Heresies are dealt with swiftly and accordingly.

They encourage their members to read theology books and study intently.

After all, the Bible is how the Holy Spirit speaks to us and conforms us to the image of Jesus Christ.

So here we have these 3 churches in Park Hills.

The problem is… they all look at one another suspiciously.

1st Evangelical Church looks at 1st Community Church and says… what good is feeding the homeless if they just die and go to hell? 1st Bible Church looks at 1st Evangelical Church and says… It’s dangerous to try and win people to Jesus if you don’t disciple them afterwards.

1st Community Church looks at 1st Bible Church and says… The church isn’t supposed to be a holy huddle, it’s supposed to be out in the community displaying God’s mercy.

So the question becomes… Which church is right?

Do you see how these churches look at one another very suspiciously?

Each church differs in their understanding of what Jesus is all about… they have different understandings of what the mission of the church is all about.

And each church will go to a place like the Gospel of Matthew for their particular emphasis.

Who’s correct?

Which of these churches understands the mission of Jesus the best?

If you have your Bible, and I hope that you do, turn with me to Matthew chapter 4. Today is week 4 in our series through the Gospel of Matthew… and we’ve been asking this question through the series… Who are we supposed to be as a church?

And we’ve been basing the answers to that question on the ministry of Jesus that we see in Matthew.

We see a pretty good summary of Jesus’ ministry here in chapter 4… verse number 23.

Did you catch what Jesus is doing?

Take another look at that verse… and take careful notice of what Jesus is doing.

*PAUSE* Now, if you’d be so kind, turn over to Matthew chapter 9 with me.

*GIVE A MOMENT* Look at verse 35 with me…

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that I’m pretty sure Matthew was a literary genius… the way he put together and ordered his account of the gospel… and this is more evidence.

If you were here during Christmas, perhaps you’ll remember me saying that Matthew’s gospel is a big inclusio.

Do you remember what an inclusio is? It’s a literary device that authors use… where they start, and end by saying the exact… or almost the exact same thing.

Matthew begins his gospel by saying… God is With Us… Immanuel.

He ends his gospel by quoting Jesus… I am with you always.

And what that inclusio does is that it tells us that everything in the middle has to do with… God being with us!

Well here… Matthew chapter 4, verse 23… and chapter 9, verse 35… We have an inclusio… inside an inclusio.

The overarching message of Matthew’s gospel is… God is with us.

How is God with us?

What is He doing?

This inclusio explains that what you’ll find between chapters 5 and 9 is this… Jesus ministry of being with us involves… Proclaiming The Gospel… Teaching… and Acts of Mercy… that is what those verses summarize for us.

Jesus is Proclaiming the Gospel… He is teaching His Word… and He is performing acts of mercy… performing acts of compassion.

When He begins His ministry, we see Jesus proclaiming that the Kingdom of God is at hand… Repent and Believe the good news… the gospel… because the Kingdom of God is at hand.

We see Him proclaiming the gospel.

Throughout the Sermon on the Mount… We see Jesus explaining… teaching the people… This is what it means to live in the Kingdom of God.

We see Jesus teaching things like… you’ve heard it said in the law… well here’s what I meant when I gave that law.

He’s teaching His Word.

Then… When He comes down from the Mount… getting into chapter 8… we see an emphasis on Jesus healing people.

And notice… He doesn’t say things like… IF you’ll follow me, I’ll heal you… IF you’ll repent I’ll heal you… IF you’ll come to the temple this week, I’ll heal you… No… He just heals them.

He just shows compassion.

In fact, Scripture records times for us that Jesus heals someone… and they take off without even saying thank you.

Jesus just shows compassion through acts of mercy… He’s DEMONSTRATING the Kingdom of God.

Look at Matthew chapter 9… Verse 36…

Notice Jesus’ motivation here.

Listen… Sometimes churches give off the impression that what motivates Jesus is kind of a disgust for people and their sin.

Because, let’s be honest, as imperfect people, sometimes we scoff and pass judgment on people.

Ugh… Those sinful people just need to get their act right.

What’s a matter with them.

What they’re going through is so stupid.

What Matthew 9:36 is saying is that Jesus is not motivated by disgust for people… Jesus is motivated by compassion for people.

Jesus is motivated because He sees people, and He sees their brokenness, He sees their need, and He realizes that they need help.

Jesus acts out of a desire to serve.

Can I be extremely honest and vulnerable for a moment without any judgment?

I like animals.

I prefer cats over dogs… but dogs are Ok too.

I like animals.

I do not LOVE animals.

I can take them or leave them.

We have a cat… that was not my choice… I would’ve been fine never having another animal for the rest of my life.

I just don’t really LOVE animals.

I like them… I don’t love them.

Many people I know… LOVE animals!

Many of you out there… LOVE animals!

Throughout my pastorate… I’ve had several people come talk to me who were completely broken because their pet of 10 years died… and it broke their heart.