Sermon Tone Analysis

*The Greatest, The First, and The Highest*

*Topical                          May 1, 2005*

* *

The messages for the last two weeks have concentrated on a survey by Lifeway Bookstores on “The Top Ten Issues Facing Today’s Church” from among 1,300 religious leaders in the U.S. and Europe.

What this means is that these are the identified issues that are most crucial for the church to deal with in today’s world – the issues that have the greatest impact either upon, or within, the church; and the issues that the church must have the greatest impact either upon, or within, the culture.

Those issues again are:

10.     abortion

9.       homosexuality

8.       relevance

7.       marriage

6.       apathy

5.       doctrine~/worldview

4.       evangelism

3.       leadership

2.       discipleship

1.       prayer

 

You recall the disconnect we found between prayer being the number one issue for the church in Lifeway’s survey compared with prayer being the least priority among 600 Protestant senior pastors surveyed in a George Barna research report.

In other words, it is little wonder that prayer, being the least priority, has become the number one issue.

It is the number one issue because, as important as prayer is, as important as the Lord says that prayer is for the life of the church, it has fallen to the lowest status.

But I am sure the Lord is pleased by what he observed after the service last Sunday.

There were several groups of people gathered together for prayer in the pews.

One of these dear saints suggested we more formally promote this kind of gathering for prayer after the service.

You will find a note at the bottom of the first page in your bulletin which does just that.

The prayer room at the rear of the sanctuary will be available to you.

Please keep in mind that those who want to pray will be drifting in and out to either join your group or start another one.

This will be a ‘fluid’ meeting place.

Also, it will be more difficult on days like today when we have a fellowship event beginning downstairs right after the service.

But please do take every opportunity to pray in response to the Spirit’s leading, like signing up this morning for an hour of prayer in the sanctuary to pray for our nation this Thursday on the National Day of Prayer, and coming this Thursday evening to pray together for our nation.

Now, there is another aspect of these ‘top ten issues’ that I want to bring to you this morning.

Both Lifeway’s and Barna’s surveys are good and instructive as far as they go, but they don’t go far enough.

ILLUS: It is like the walk I had the other day with my grandson, Mikey.

We had Buster, our little hyper rat terrier dog, along too as we went to the mailbox on the corner.

Mikey has been taking some special instruction to help him with motor skills and concentration, and I’m sure he had been told a number of times to ‘focus’.

As Buster zigzagged all over the sidewalk sniffing this and that, Mikey found it necessary to repeatedly tell him to, “Focus, Buster, just focus and everything will be alright.”

It is like this with these top ten issues and other priorities for the church.

We can get confused with sorting them out and attempting to deal with them.

They are all so interrelated and important it is hard to even identify what it is we need to start with, although that top issue of prayer would be an excellent choice.

I think we should look to the Bible this morning for some even simpler answers to what it is we need to do.

We must focus on the Word of God on the subject of priorities.

Actually, there are several priorities that the Bible identifies for us – perhaps they are equally important but just in different categories; like “The Greatest, The First, and The Highest,” the title of this morning’s message.

Let’s begin with the greatest thing.

Can you guess what it is?

It overlays all these other issues we have identified.

If you can get this one down, the others all fall into place.

*The Greatest Thing:*

 

“36  "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37  Jesus replied: "‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’

38  This is the first and greatest commandment.

39  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

40  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."”

(Mt 22:36-40 NivUS)

 

“28 ¶  One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating.

Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?"

29  "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

30  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

31  The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

There is no commandment greater than these."

32  "Well said, teacher," the man replied.

"You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him.

33  To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."

34  When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God."

And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions."”

(Mr 12:28-34 NivUS)

 

“12  My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

13  Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

14  You are my friends if you do what I command.

15  I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business.

Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

16  You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit— fruit that will last.

Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.

17  This is my command: Love each other.”

(Joh 15:12-17 NivUS)

 

“But eagerly desire the greater gifts.

And now I will show you the most excellent way.” (1Co 12:31 NivUS)

 “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.

But the greatest of these is love.”

(1Co 13:13 NivUS)

 

So, I ask you, what is the greatest thing?

It is love.

ILLUS: Show how love overlays the ten top issues, binds them together, and solves them.

There is another aspect of love that, in fact, shows up as the greatest /danger/ if it is not held as the greatest /thing/.

“12  Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13  but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.”

(Mt 24:12-13 NivUS)

 

Jesus is talking about the end times – the times we are in.

The greatest danger is in not keeping the greatest commandment.

Without love, we fall into wickedness.

The birth pains leading up to the Tribulation will include the increase of men’s wickedness that will tend to sap the love out of the saints – and what is a saint without love but a ‘has been’?

The increase of wickedness will be the great test for us all.

Can we overcome its trap?

Can we overcome becoming like it as we increasingly deal with it?

Love growing cold is a sin of the heart.

The greatest danger is not the increase of wickedness but the decline of love in response to it.

And yet love is the greatest weapon we have against it.

ILLUS: “Forgiving Our Enemies”, Breakpoint, Dec. 7, 2004:

 

Here we have the victory of love, but the loss of love is a spiritual death succumbing to a spiritual disease.

It is the loss of love’s strength.

It is the loss of vision toward God.

It is the loss of zeal toward his purpose for life.

The remedy is the resurrection of love – the remedy that brings life.

ILLUS: We were driving the other day with our grandson, Mikey, in the back seat when he said, “Grandpa, your hand looks old.”

Not sure I understood him correctly with this seemingly ‘out-of-the-blue’ comment, I asked him to say again what he meant.

So he said again, “Grandpa, your hand looks really, really old.”