Sermon Tone Analysis

Overall tone of the sermon

This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
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Being Different
Are we any different to the people in the community around us? Or maybe the question should be: do we even want to be any different to the people around us?
I suspect our natural inclination would be to answer the question with a yes.
We do want to be different.
As we answer that, I suspect our minds are probably thinking about the dysfunction we see in society.
And it’s true, there is a lot of dysfunction out there.
There are broken families.
There is abuse… Lives ruined by addictions.
There are confused ideologies that try to normalize abnormalities.
People lie and cheat to get ahead.
People have turned their back on God, and instead makes gods of the stupidest things.
So naturally, of course we want to be different from this.
We know there is a better way, and so we strive for it.
But there is a catch...
You see, it would certainly seem that we try to be different by actually doing the same thing as everyone else.
When we try to be different by doing the same thing, as good as our intentions might be, we actually don’t end up all that different.
That being said, I will acknowledge at this point that we do have an advantage.
The Holy Spirit is in our lives and He does transform us.
But there is a partnership we need to enter with the Holy Spirit.
And unfortunately we can allow the world to be a bigger influence in our lives.
You see, this is what I think happens.
We look at that dysfunction that I just described, and we think, okay, the way to do better, is to try harder.
And so how do we try harder?
Well, this is where we take our lessons from the world.
We try harder by asserting ourselves more.
We try harder by showing everybody how good we are.
Because, after all, whats the point of doing something good if we don’t get credit for it???
We try harder by being the strongest and the loudest.
Believe in yourself!
Reach for the stars!
Try and try again.
You could probably reach for any of the copious quantity of self-help books that exist today and just apply it to our endeavour to be different.
In fact, I somehow get the feeling that many of the books in Koorong may just have done that.
And what happens when we try harder like the rest of the world?
Well, sadly, I think the answer is that we don’t end up that different to the rest of the world.
The fights that exist in the church end up just as ugly, maybe even sometimes uglier then the fights in other groups.
We end up with just as much abuse, addiction, confused thinking, fraudulent behaviour, and misplaced gods as the rest of the world.
We want to be different, but when we try to get there by the same means as everyone else, there isn’t much of a difference.
The only real difference is perhaps some different beliefs, but not much more.
But if rather than looking to the world to achieve our intended difference, and allowed the Holy Spirit to be our guide, we’ll actually find the way of Jesus - something that is very different in its approach.
As we’ll soon see, it will be counter-intuitive.
Because it is the opposite of a strength based approach.
But its the approach Jesus teaches and its the approach that Jesus modelled for us.
This year, an overarching theme that I’ve been trying to weave through all of the messages is that we want to be people who are making a difference in the world around us.
Well, to make a difference, that is to say, a difference pleasing to God, then we’re going to be best placed to do this when we live in this counter-cultural way that Jesus has showed us.
And that’s what I’m going to explore this morning.
Sermon on the Mount intro
I’m going to be doing so by looking at the opening section of the sermon on the mount, known as the Beatitudes.
I’m going to spend a few weeks in this section known as the Sermon on the Mount, so let’s give ourselves a bit of context.
We’ve given it the name, ‘Sermon on the Mount’, because at the start of Matthew 5, we’re told that Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down and began to teach the disciples.
Now when you read disciples in this context, remember that sometimes ‘disciples’ can refer to the 12 disciples chosen by Jesus, at other times, it can more generally mean anyone who has decided to follow Jesus.
On this occasion, it would be safe to assume the later, given that at the end of this section of teaching, the people listening are described as crowds.
Now the name is perhaps a little misleading as the place that is commonly thought of as the location for this teaching, is not exactly a mountain - more of a hill with a flat top.
But perhaps this isn’t something we need to worry too much about.
What’s more important is the fact that the three chapters that follow represent the radical teaching of Jesus that shapes the way Jesus wants to approach life.
As we go through various sections of this, we’ll see just how counter-cultural Jesus was.
It wasn’t just a superficial difference that closely resembles everything else - it was rather a completely different approach which quite frankly, has shifted the whole way the world now thinks.
We’ll see lessons that are well known in society, even if they don’t always follow, or perhaps I should say, rarely.
Lessons such as, turn the other cheek.
Or the so called golden rule - do to others what you would have them do to you.
We’ll explore these and more over the next few weeks.
What we essentially have, is Jesus setting the direction for his ministry.
We’re not exactly at the start of his ministry years, but it would seem we’re pretty close.
It’s not going to tell us everything about the gospel - the wonderful news of the salvation that will come through Jesus, but rather, it is a way for us to strive towards.
And the opening section, which we’ll look at right now, will start by turning everything upside down.
Beatitudes
We call the opening section the beatitudes.
The word “beatitude” actually derives from the Latin word for Blessed - the word that will feature a lot in this section.
Why we use the Latin word, and not the Greek word as it originally appears in the Bible?? Well, I guess that’s tradition for you.
So what follows is actually Jesus calling people blessed who by the reckoning of most people, are certainly not blessed.
I’ll explore them in just a moment, but take a quick look through the passage, and we’ll see things like people who mourn, people who are meek, and even people who are persecuted.
These are not the people you would expect to be called blessed - so what in the world is Jesus going on about?
Well, let’s unpack it a bit and see if we can figure what’s going on...
Poor in Spirit
First off, Jesus call blessed, those that are poor in Spirit.
Now, immediately we need to ask, what does it mean to be poor in Spirit?
Actually, before I answer that, it is interesting to note, that if you compare this passage, with what is essentially the parallel passage in Luke’s gospel, (namely Luke 6:20), you might actually note that Jesus is quoted as saying there, “Blessed are you who are poor”, leaving off those two words, “in Spirit”.
So I think an argument could be made that there is a blessing in this on those who lack some basic needs.
However, I believe there is more in the thinking of Jesus on this matter .
You see, if you look at the way the Old Testament uses the word poor, while it can mean lacking of the material possessions, but it also often talks about those being poor as being contrite and with a humble spirit.
Therefore, to be “poor in Spirit”, is to acknowledge our spiritual poverty… our spiritual bankruptcy before God.
We recognise our sinfulness… recognise that we deserve nothing.
There was a very simple parable that Jesus spoke which I believe points us to what he is talking about here.
In Luke 18:9-14, Jesus describes a Pharisee who prays loud and proud… who does all the right things.
But then describes a tax collector, who just beats his breast and says: “God, have mercy on me, a sinner”.
This helps us get a picture of the blessed person who is poor in Spirit.
And what is the promise for this person - well, they get to inherit the kingdom of heaven.
That seems pretty amazing - but actually this is really an early glimpse of the fuller picture of the gospel that we will see more later.
Mourn
So let me move to the second blessed… blessed are those who mourn.
Now it could almost seem a little ironic, as being blessed could be translated as ‘Happy are the unhappy’.
So what’s going on here?
Well, while Jesus can provide comfort to our general sorrows, I’m actually going to suggest that there is a bit of a progression happening in what Jesus is saying here.
He started with the poor in Spirit, which I’ve suggested is primarily focused on our contrite heart before God.
There’s a second stage to this, and that is in mourning over our sinfulness.
You could say, the first stage is confession, the second is contrition.
But the beautiful thing is that as we do, we actually find comfort.
Meek
There’s more that could be said, but let’s move to the third - blessed are the meek.
Now a prominent picture that is often painted of Jesus is the ‘gentle Jesus, meek and mild’.
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