Sermon Tone Analysis

*The Gospel of John XXIX: *

*Abiding in His Word*

*John 15:7-12*

*/August 23, 2009/*

 

* *

*Main Point(s) of sermon:*

· To remain in Jesus, we must remain in his words, which refers to the entire Bible.

· “If you keep my commands you will remain in my love” is not a threat, but a simple truth, for his commands are a manifestation of his love for us and lead to God’s glory and our joy.

· The Gathering seeks to exult Scripture and train the congregation to study, understand, and apply it for themselves.

*Objectives of sermon:*

· To move us all to delve further into the Bible, that the Spirit might renew us in mind and actions.

*Prep: *

·         044, 051, 083, 075, 079

·         Sproul, describing limits of inerrancy.

·         Leftovers, esp.

Piper on remaining, Resurgence on preaching

 

*Scripture reading: John 15:7-12*

 

Intro

 

Last week’s sermon was the importance of remaining (abiding) in Jesus, that without him we can do nothing.

This looks at the first of two ways he told us to do that: Remaining in his words.

·         Open your Bibles: so you can follow if I jump around, look at context, take notes, and be more familiar with your Bible.

Prayer

 

Help us be a church that honors your words as the words of life, vital instruction and revelations of you.

What are his words?

*Verse 7* says “If you remain in me...”

There is a direct correlation between remaining in him and not getting cut off, and remaining in his words, so there are two very important questions: What are his words and how do we remain in them?

First question first: In this immediate passage his command is very simple and straightforward: *V.

12*.

This together with the “Greatest Command” (love God) is the sum of all that is required of us.

They are the summary of the entire Bible, but we need to have that spelled out for us.

“That which is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor.

That is the whole Torah; the rest is commentary.”

/Hillel (30 BC – 10 AD)/

 

·         We know Jesus means more than this command, because he talks about his logos (v.

3), rhemata (v.

7), command and commands.

Jesus is being intentionally vague because he is not only speaking of he had spoken, but also what the NT will say (from his perspective) and the OT has said:

 

·         He said the OT was inspired (written) by the Holy Spirit, who is called the Spirit of Jesus (therefore written by him).

·         In *14:26 *he says the Spirit will both teach and remind, the teaching being the words spoken through the apostles.

Accordingly, I am talking about the importance of all of Jesus words, the entire Bible, and “remaining in them.”

What does “remain in my words” mean?

Q   Which leads to the next question: What does that mean?

He means something similar to “abide in me.”

It has two parts:

 

*/1) /**/We must be connected to his words.

They must flow through us and be a part of us.

/*

 

If we’re not filling ourselves with the Bible, we cannot remain in them, and we hence cannot remain in Christ.

We may mean well, and do good stuff, but we need constant instruction to keep us from straying away from Jesus and into our own way.

Abiding in Scripture...

 

·         ...fills us with the truth about who God is and who we are.

·         ...contradict the lies we hear about ourselves and about God.

·         ...helps us resist temptation, because God’s warnings and promises contradict sin’s deceitful promises.

·         ...shapes how I view the world by conforming my mind to God’s viewpoint and makes it easier to detect the world’s errors.

The Bible at TG

 

Recently the Elders concluded that we need to make a greater emphasis on the Bible at The Gathering.

Our mission statement is that “We are a Christian community that strives to glorify God and engage culture.”

The Bible is wrapped around every piece of that:

 

·         Christian: It’s how our faith is revealed to us.

·         Community: How we know what Biblical community looks like.

·         Strives: It gives us the message of grace.

·         Glorify God: It tell us how he wants to be glorified (so different that other religions).

·         Engage culture: It’s the standard by which we evaluate culture and the substance of what we engage them with.

The Bible is the cornerstone of this church: Our first doctrinal statement is about the Bible, not because the Bible is more important than God (which is its own error and legalism), but because it is only through it that we know God.

We believe that the sixty-six books Old and New Testament to be the inspired Word of God, having authority over all matters of faith and conduct, inerrant in the original copies and reliably preserved throughout the ages by God's sovereign power.

[fill on website]

 

·         There are supporting references, but that only works if you believe the Bible (see “Can we trust it” sermon 8~/24~/08).

*/Sixty-six books Old and New Testament:/* No more, no less.

The OT is fully Jesus’ words, though they require the NT to understand them.

There are none added to it (contra /Da Vinci Code/)

 

*/Inspired Word of God:/* Paul describes it as “God breathed.”

God spoke through and directed the ancient authors in such a way as to preserve individual personalities while making their words his, bearing his full authority.

Accordingly, it has */authority over all matters of faith and conduct/*: This does not mean that the Bible is the only form of truth.

Many others (Christians and pagans) have spoken truth, but it is the authority against which they are judged.

*/Inerrant:/* When read in its context, and properly understood, it is without error.

Sometimes we read it through 21st century eyes and think it untrue, and sometimes we misunderstand.

·         God has given us two forms of revelation: His Word and nature.

If they seem to contradict, we are misinterpreting something.

The */original copies/*: This is true of the original copies (autographs) written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.

But they have been */reliably preserved throughout the ages by God's sovereign power/*: Even though we no longer the autographs, they have been accurately preserved (textual criticism) and RELIABLY translated.

·         I study in Greek not for “hidden knowledge,” but because I don’t want to be so dependent on other’s interpretations.

The supremacy of Scripture

 

As the words of God and the standard for evaluating “belief and conduct,” it must be honored highly and kept as our cornerstone.

We are a people of the Book.

We know God through the Book.

We meet Christ in the Book.

We see the cross in the Book.

Our faith and love are kindled by the glorious truths of the Book.

We have tasted the divine majesty of the Word and are persuaded that the Book is God's inspired and infallible written revelation.

Therefore, what the Book teaches matters.

John Piper, sermon 3~/5~/00

 

\   In order to remain in Christ’s words, they must be in us, attached as a branch to a vine, because they matter.

Bearing Fruit

 

2) Secondly, */His words must bear fruit in us./*

Universities are filled with scholars who know that Bible backwards and forwards.

The Pharisees had it memorized.

But it did not bear fruit in them, it did not change them.

His Word must bear fruit of holiness, of greater love for God and each other.

It must bear the fruit of the Sprit.

·         If the Bible hasn’t changed you, you haven’t studied it.

The primary goal: Glorify God

 

As we see in *V.

8,** *the goal of bearing fruit is that we bring glory to God.

To bear fruit means to act more and more like Jesus.