Sermon Tone Analysis

*INTRODUCTION*

In many respects, we are like a man who lives in a house that is increasingly cluttered and trashed.

When the day finally arrives when it becomes obvious that he /must /do something, it is equally obvious at the same time, that he has no idea what to do, or where to start.

He is overwhelmed at the magnitude of the problem.

It is the same with us as we consider the politics of sodomy.

We want to put things right.

Where do we go to begin?

Do we go back to the sixties?

The New Deal?

The War Between the States?

The Enlightenment?

And the answer is /yes/.

*THE TEXT*

/25//And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: //26//And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand?

//27//And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out?

therefore they shall be your judges.

//28//But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.

//29//Or else how can one enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.

//30//He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad/ (Matt.

12:25-30).

*BACKGROUND*

Jesus is speaking in the first place about the kingdoms of God and Satan respectively.

He had been accused of fighting Satan even though His accusers said He was on Satan’s side.

Jesus responds by saying that a house divided cannot stand, and so Satan would not be so foolish (vv.25-26).

Jesus goes on to say if His power over Beelzebub was a demonic power, then what power was being used by His adversaries’ children (v.

27)?

But if Jesus is empowered by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God really had come to them (v.

28).

And, continuing the argument, if the kingdom of God has come, why should anyone be surprised that the strong man’s house was being pillaged?

The strong man was bound, wasn’t he?

And then Jesus says what we all need to hear—one who is not with Christ is against Christ.

One who does not gather with Christ is attempting to scatter (v.

30).

*NO MIDDLE GROUND*

The claims of Christ are therefore total.

There is no way to read through the New Testament and miss this.

The claims of Christ are total.

He is the King of kings, and the Lord of lords.

He has been given all authority in heaven and on earth, and over any creature that can be named.

Christ is King.

Jesus is Lord.

This is the /basic /Christian confession (Rom.

10:9-10).

And here, if you are not with Him, you are therefore against Him.

There is no spiritual equivalent of Switzerland.

In the cosmic war between in light and darkness, there are no neutral parties, and there is no third way.

There are only two activities in every realm of human existence, and those two activities are obedient gathering and disobedient scattering.

Only two.

*HIDDEN ASSUMPTIONS*

Obviously, these total claims on the part of Christ won’t do.

We /need /to have our personal space.

We need to protect our favorite forms of autonomy.

But at the same time, those of us who are religious, particularly in the Christian Lite Community of Faith, need to give some sort of lip service to the language of totality that comes up so often in Scripture.

We should want to bring /every /thought captive, the apostle Paul says (2 Cor.

10: 5).

Obviously, we have to figure out a way to use this kind of /total /language while ensuring that it remains /partial /in effect.

God calls this sort of thing by the name of hypocrisy.

*WHAT /WE /CALL IT*

We have developed various intellectual tricks for doing this, and we may describe these tricks as forms of American individualism, gnosticism, constitutionalism, or rationalism.

A man can pick one of the following, or mix up his own combinations.

Disobedience can take many forms.

/Individualism:/ in this view, Jesus is Lord of my heart, and that which is outside the realm of my heart.

This is not thought of as partialism because the heart is what counts, right?

But Jesus is Lord of your /toes /as well as your heart, and your /world /as well as your heart.

/Gnosticism:/ in this perspective, Jesus is Lord of spiritual things, not thought of as the Lord over foreign policy, sewage disposal, botany, law, and weed control.

But Jesus is Lord of both heaven and earth, and every manifestation of culture.

/Constitutionalism:/ this excuse points to the non-establishment clause of the First Amendment, misunderstanding that amendment in a grotesque fashion.

But Jesus is the King of the United States.

/Rationalism:/ this is the approach that appeals to natural law, but to a natural law that is sure to exclude the revelation of God in Christ.

But natural law is /fulfilled /in Christ.

*NOT WHETHER, BUT WHICH*

All culture /is /religious, and the only question to consider is whether it is faithfully religious or idolatrously religious.

It has been said that all culture is religion externalized, but even this helpful insight can be interpreted in too weak a fashion.

All culture /is /religion.

Turning Henry Van Til’s insight around, we should say that /all religion is culture internalized./

So the question is not /whether /our culture has a god, but rather /which /god it has.

The question is not /whether /we will impose morality, but rather /which /morality it will be.

The question is not /whether /we will restrict blasphemy, but rather /which /blasphemy.

And it is not /whether /we will embrace sexual politics, but rather /which /sexual polis it will be.

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*SHORT CATECHISM FOR LITTLE SAINTS*

We must not come to think of Jesus in limited ways at all.

*Review Question:*

Why Are Homosexuals beginning to marry?

/          Because our nation will not worship Jesus Christ./

*Catechism Question:*

Over what is Jesus Lord?

/          Jesus is Lord over every atom in the universe./