Sermon Tone Analysis
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*The Snake Bite*
*John 3:14-21 – Num 21:4-9 – Eph 2:1-10*
Rev.
Falao Mamadello an African pastor was sent to Bible college by his church.
Leaving his wife and 4 children behind he set out for Hamilton Ontario for the 3 year M. Div program at McMaster Divinity College.
It was at McMaster that I met Mamadelo.
He came to our home and became a friend of our family.
One fall – visiting our home we were walking from the church back to the house and he froze:
- “Snake… do you want me to kill it?”
In Africa this would now be a life or death situation.
It’s either my life or your life Mr. Snake!
In front of ‘First Woman’ Satan stood in the form of a snake and said: ‘You shall not die!’
Listen to me.
Throw off the rules of God.
And you can become your own god!
Listen to me – you can know your own knowledge of good and evil.
What a lie!
Still today the lie is attractive and we fall prey to the trap of its lure.
The Israelites knew what it was to be in slavery.
They worked for generation after generation as slaves in Egypt under harsh and demanding taskmasters.
No living Israelite knew what it was like to live free.
They cried out to God in their misery and He heard their cry.
God cares about people who are in bondage.
God wants you to live in freedom.
And through a series of miracles still celebrated millennium later God delivered His people from Egyptian bondage.
On their way to the Promised Land God spoke to His people speaking the rules of good governance – instructing His people how to live together in peace – shalom.
Yet the lie of Satan still echoed in their ears.
“God’s way is too harsh.”
“God’s way is too dull and boring.”
“You’re not on the way to the Promised Land.”
“You’re going to die of thirst and starvation.”
And the people listened to their own reasoning instead of remembering the God of compassion and miracle.
“You will not surely die!” hissed the snake.
The fangs pierced under the skin.
The poisonous venom spread quickly throughout the body.
Death ruled instead of life.
Once again the people cried out to God.
Once again their God of compassion heard their cry and provided a way for them to live.
Reminding them of the Father of lies, God had Moses make a bronze snake and lift it up on a pole.
Look to the snake on the pole.
Look and you shall live.
You can imagine how the people chose not to venture outside the perimeter of the sight of that bronze snake on a pole.
Not being able to see the truth and the snake bite still brings death.
Paul’s words to the church at Ephesus still speaks to us today:
/“Once you were dead in your transgressions and sins…”/
Once you were dead > zombie – ‘the walking dead’.
What is it like to be the walking dead?
Slaves – who no longer even know they are slaves.
In bondage and thinking the bondage is real living.
Not realizing they are walking blindly towards eternal death and in their walking they are already dead.
Incapable of any rational thinking
This condition is caused by transgressions and sins.
A choice to listen and live by the lies of Satan – the ruler of the kingdom of the air.
Yes, Satan, has a kingdom,
and his subjects are slaves
– zombies,
the walking dead.
Church: this is how you used to live!
Following the ways of the world.
Make sure that you do not do as the Israelites and forget the God who has brought you:
- out of slavery into freedom
o out of darkness into His glorious light
§ out from death into abundant life.
Still the ways of the world attract and lure God’s people.
Give Satan only a moment of your time
His lie with lightening speed and almost imperceptibly will pierce into your being.
Look at the ways of the world and wonder what you as God’s child are missing out on.
The world looks happy.
Their parties seem so alive.
Their wallets so thick they can buy everything!
Some hold to this lie:
God’s ways are so prudish, so restrictive, so constrictive.
Why not have it both ways: Eat, drink, and be merry and then just before death turn to the God of life?
And we swallow the lie
We do not seek the truth
death becomes the norm.
Look at the walking dead.
They are not even aware of their condition.
They cannot even stop for a moment in their frenzy for more: more experience, more that gives momentary happiness.
If they stop they will collapse in the exhaustion of death and face the emptiness of their soul.
The way of the world seeps so easily into the Christians way of living.
Young couple come to me for pre-marriage counseling.
That’s good.
They’re already living together.
That’s the world’s way – not God’s.
His grandfather is a member of our church.
That’s good.
He’s a widower and has chosen a friend he met in Florida to live with him.
Because of their tax implications its better not to get married > That’s the world’s way of thinking – not God’s.
The lies of Satan have once again deceived the children of God.
Again Jesus asks: ‘Do you love me more than these?
- More than saving money on income tax
- More than gratifying the cravings of your sinful nature?
o More than following its thought and desires
A Los-Angeles-based ethics institute: The Josephson Institute, recently conducted a character survey of nearly 30,000 students at 100 randomly selected high schools nationwide.
Among the findings:
· Sixty-four percent of students said they had cheated on a test in the past year.
· Thirty percent had stolen from a store.
· Forty-two percent said they would lie to save money.
· Eighty-three percent said they had lied to their parents about something significant.
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