Sermon Tone Analysis

Secular -

A Priest and a Taxi Driver Were Waiting in Line for Judgment at the Pearly Gates

The taxi driver was first.

He went to St. Peter and said," I am Brandon Wilson.

Taxi driver in New York for fifteen years."

Saint Peter looked at his list and smiled.

"Welcome Mr. Wilson.

Take this silken robe and this golden staff and enter the gates of Heaven."

The taxi driver walked through the gates wearing his silken and robe and bearing his golden staff.

The priest then walked to Saint Peter and boomed," I am Father Dan Snow who has preached at Saint Mary's Church for fifty years."

St.Peter looked at his list and smiled.

Welcome Mr. Snow take this wool robe and this wooden staff and enter the gates of Heaven."

"Wait a minute", the priest said,"Why does the taxi driver get a better robe and staff than me?

I've spent almost my whole life dedicated to the church!"

"Up here we work by results." said Saint Peter."While he drove, people prayed, while you preached, people slept."

Historical/Cultural Context -

Paul preached the gospel in Corinth in the early 50s AD during his second missionary journey (Acts 18:1–18).

When opposition grew fierce there, the Lord Jesus spoke to him in a vision assuring him that he had ‘many people’ in the city (Acts 18:10).

With this encouragement, Paul stayed on for eighteen months, ‘teaching them the word of God’ (Acts 18:11).

God used Paul’s ministry to bring about the birth and establishment of the church in Corinth.

Biblical Text -

-[Prayer]-

Life Principle - See Communion In A Holy Light Without Sin.

Be Humble & Selfless So That You Won’t Be Judged.

Life Point- To Approach Unworthily Is Sin

Exegetical -

Homiletical -

Christianity today in America has a problem, well several problems but one of the main ones, is that people don’t believe God anymore.

Today all we hear is, God is a God of Love.

This is true, but what is your definition of Love?

Christian Love is not acceptance of sin, it is not bowing to sin, it is not letting a brother or sister live in open sin.

It is not allowing unbelievers to think they are believers and not dealing with sin.

Love is calling sin, sin and preaching repentance from sin.

What is sin?

Sins of Commission - Sins done against God.

That is, any act or behavior that is against the clear mandates of Holy living found in the Bible.

Sins of Omission - Not doing something you know that God wants you to do.

God wants you to spend time with Him, to not do so is sin.

God wants you to loving restore a brother in Christ by gently confronting open sin in others’ lives.

We have several churches in our denomination who are in sin.

One very big church not too far from us.

What is going on?

They are baptizing openly homosexual couples without calling them to repentance.

accepting sin is not loving, it is not discerning the body.

To be a pastor and allow someone to take communion in this manner means not only is the sinner subject to judgement but so is the pastor.

God made this abundantly clear to Ezekiel.

To approach the communion of Christ in an unworthy manner is about the state of your relationship with Christ and other brethren within the church, which is manifest in action.

To be guilty of the body and blood of Christ is a huge deal.

We so often hear these words today and let them pass through us.

But when Jesus died, it was not a humane death.

It was not lethal injection.

It was painful and involved lots of gore.

For example the Greek word for blood hear is very descriptive.

It literally means a gushing and rushing of blood.

A large amount, not a trickle, not a paper cut, but a large amount of blood.

To treat this sacrifice and this supernatural event as something that is mundane is not just a slap in the face of God and every Christian throughout history, but it is a grievous sin!

May you nor I ever find ourselves so familiar, so desensitized by the language of the body and the blood that we ever treat it as something that is mundane.

Illustration -

Life Point - Sin In The Believer Brings Judgement

Exegetical -

Homiletical -

To come to the Lord’s Table with such apathy and self-centeredness is a sure way to be sure that you are inviting God’s judgement on your own head.

not discerning the Lord’s body.

Not realizing that what you do is Holy and important.

This judgement from this scripture gives us an example of the judgement they brought upon themselves.

Being weak in body and sick

Some have even died.

Why does God choose some for being weak or sick and some for death?

I have no idea.

That is God’s business.

I just don’t want to be the one who is weak, sick or dead!

I will tell you this, though I can’t be dogmatic about it, I have seen where people in a church have been mad at one another, who haven’t made their relationship right with God then sit down and do communion like nothing ever happened.

I have seen those people be judged personally and the church itself being judged corporately too.

You know that you are the body of Christ.

Paul will write that in the next chapter.

Paul said this about it just a couple of verses earlier

You see when one of us is judged, then the entire church is judged with them.

How?

Because you can no longer fulfill your purpose in Christ.

What He has called you to do.

Sometimes people wonder why their church isn’t growing.

Could it be because they have treated the body of Christ unworthily?

Could it be that they have taken communion without making things right with other believers?

The church then becomes weak and sick and some even die.

I looked up the greek for theses words.

weak: Is to be of small stature.

Not strong, not able produce the works that someone is able to produce who strong bodily.

Sick: To be sick or ill is to be powerless

Trust me I have been really sick, and really sick here lately.

I had no power to do the things I once did.

I just existed in a powerless state.

This describes some churches and many churches across America today.

Dead: When your dead, your dead.

You are done.

There is no life left in you.

That happens everyday to churches all over the world.

We have once live and thriving churches in our Southern Baptist Convention who became weak, then sick, and now are dead.

They have closed their doors.

The quickest way to destroy a church that is thriving, growing , and doing things for God is to have a schism or a separation happen in it.

Don’t let that stuff fester.