Sermon Tone Analysis

A Message About Nothing ---

December 6, 1998

 

Introduction:

 

          We had a great Thanksgiving vacation with our children Amy and her husband, Scott; Selena and her husband, Miguel; grandchildren Candy and Crystal; and Joan’s mother and brother.

We try to have a lot of Christian truth interaction especially with our grandchildren, the two daughters from our son, Matt, who live in Burlington, Iowa.

Remembrances from our vacation with our children and grandchildren:

 

Crystal:  “Where does God live?”

Grandpa:  “God lives in heaven.”

Crystal:  “Why is God in heaven?”

Grandpa:  “Because that is where His throne is.

Does anyone know what      God’s throne represents?”

Answers:  “Riches, rule, authority, Jesus, light, truth ---”

Crystal:  “I know what it represents; power, absolute, almighty *power*!”

Grandpa:  “You’ve given the best answer, Crystal.

God’s throne is ultimate *power*.

And do you know what is under God’s feet, underneath His         throne, what it sits on?

It sits upon a sea of crystal (Rev.

4:6).

Your     name is ‘Crystal’.

Your life is under God’s *power* forever.

Do you           want God’s *power* to rule your life?”

Crystal:  “Yes, Grandpa.

I like God’s *power*.”

The reason we went to Toledo, Ohio:

 

          We went (along with the grandchildren) to visit Scott and Amy and help them wire the house they are remodeling.

The electric service needed a complete replacement.

This will be the first place of their own.

They needed a boost and we went to encourage them.

It gave me a good chance to spend time with Scott.

I was there a year ago and did half the project.

They want to move in by Christmas.

We worked hard and got the job done in two days, right before the insurance inspector came to review the house for insurability.

Scott was a little tentative about my help, not wanting to be obligated to me or anyone else.

But I told him I just wanted to be Jesus to him.

I told him how my father-in-law shared what he had with me.

Even if it wasn’t much, he was more generous than my own parents who were far richer.

He was Jesus to me and showed me a different way of living.

He helped to change my life by the *power* of God’s witness in his own life.

I told Scott I had no motive other than that, which Scott accepted.

Praise God!

 

Attendance at Main Street Brethren Church and Inner City Baptist Church in Toledo, Ohio:

 

          There were over 250 people at the Main Street service we attended - and they have three services each Sunday morning.

It was a seeker oriented service with simple choruses on overheads, a worship band, costumes and drama.

The message was simple and oriented to those who are on the fringes of faith.

It was a worshipful atmosphere and the salvation message was evident.

But it seemed to lack *power *for me.

Then we attended Inner City church.

There were about ten people there.

When we came it rose by over half.

The pastor was not a polished speaker.

He was saved later in life and worked construction on the side.

His speaking had long pauses, but he spoke the Word of God with love but without compromise.

His ministry was covered by the blood of Jesus.

I found my spirit weeping at his words.

I could identify with the truth.

He brought me to the throne of *power*.

I could not help comparing.

There was nothing wrong with the first service.

We need to be seeker sensitive.

Their numbers proved the popularity of their method.

There is a definite place for that worship style.

We could learn to adapt some of those methods.

But I know what spoke most to my heart.

It was the pure unembelished *power* of the Word of God.

It made me wonder.

Do we subject the Word of God to people, or should people subject themselves to the Word of God?

To be certain, there must be a balance between drawing people in and feeding them.

Amy and Scott were somewhat wondering what church would be best to attend.

I said, “They both have their good points.

It probably depends upon where you are at in your faith and what your needs are.

But I can tell you one thing for sure.

Main Street church doesn’t need you.

Inner City church does.”

God’s *power* is made perfect in weakness.

Inner City church is where some of Scott’s relatives attend.

Returning the grandchildren:

 

          We got home from Ohio safely and the last item of business was to return the grandchildren to Iowa.

I had good conversations with Candy and Crystal on the way.

(Crystal’s notes give much insight.)

But on the way home I began to grieve heavily over the *power* of sin and the destruction it causes.

I started to think of the broken marriage of our son to Candy and Crystal’s mother and other things too numerous to mention on a scale from personal to national.

I began to get overwhelmed and sucked into a morass of hopelessness.

I began to feel myself drug down to the level of my thinking to where I could almost picture myself in the same sins.

I began to get scared that I could easily fall into them without escape if I weren’t careful.

So I looked for the way out that God promises us in 1Cor.

10:13 and turned on the tape player in the car to a song that really spoke to me on a tape called “Exodus,” a composite from several different artists.

The title of that song is “Nothin’” by Chris Rice (c.

1998 by Clumsy Fly Music, ASCAP, admin.

by Rocketown Music).

So now you know the origin of the title of this message.

It’s a message about “Nothin’”.

But what I came to realize was not that we should be overwhelmed in grieving about sin (although we should grieve to a certain extent), but that we should overwhelmingly rejoice in Christ’s victory over sin.

Tears welled up in my eyes and my heart burst with the *power* of the grace of God through the blood of Jesus Christ shed upon the cross for the forgiveness of sins.

This is why Jesus came to earth.

He came born of the water and the blood (1John 5:6) in the *power* of the Spirit, born of a virgin at Christmas,  that he might shed his blood in death and be raised by the *power* of the Spirit at Easter.

But it is the *power* of his blood that is effective for us, for without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness for sins (Heb.

9:22).

As the song says, “There’s *Power* in the Blood of the Lamb - Jesus” (#191, hymnal).

Or, as in the hymn that Chris Rice’s song takes after, there is “Nothing but the Blood - of Jesus”.

Have you ever wondered why the Christmas colors are red and green?

They might say it is for the holly with red berries and evergreen leaves that may be seen clearly on the trees after their leaves fall at Christmas time, but I think that it must certainly be for the life that red and green represent.

As the Bible says, ‘the life is in the blood’.