Sermon Tone Analysis

| *DATE: Jan. 20, 2002**LITURGICAL CALENDAR: **OT TEXT:  Isaiah 49:1-7**PSALM or WISDOM: Psalm 40:1-11           **NT TEXTS: 1Cor.

1:1-9; John 1:29-42**SERMON TITLE: Hearing God’s Call Together**HYMNS: **SPECIAL MUSIC:  Choir**MAJOR RECENT EVENT:  **RECURRING THEME IN MINISTRY: **OWN "LIFE STORY" CONNECTION: ** * | *1.

Feelings about our past actions*.·

Have you ever heard God’s Call on your life?·

How do you react when someone says to you, “God told me that I should do this and that…”·         How do we know that it is really God’s Call that we hear? 2.

Personal story ·         “Called in by Mother”        Shift  focus to congregation.

(experience the law~/judgment)  |

| *3.

Issue for today.

(where does the text touch our concerns?)

*·         *People seeking the Meaning of their lives: “Why am I here?”

*·         *“What is my God-ordained purpose in Life?”*·         *How do we hear God’s voice as a church?*·

*There are many voices – authoritative – that make a claim on our lives.

*·         *Success theology*·         *How does what God speaks to us as individuals shape our communal understanding of God’s activity in and through us?*·         * ** *  | *4.

Biblical text (Background & Context).*·

*Isa 49:1-7 – Isaiah’s call: *·         *1 Cor.

1:1-9** **Theological subject:*·         *God’s call to individuals and the church to be a revelation of God in the world.

* |

| 5. Good News (Major Concern of Text).·

*Through his Word God wants to shape us into a people that hears and discerns His Will~/voice in the midst of the ethical and moral confusion of today.

** *·         *We must learn to hear God’s word.

*·         *Observe the flow of his activity in the world.*·

*Discern the activity of God from that which is human*  | 6.  Major Concern of the sermon (stories).·

*Isa 49:1-7 – Isaiah’s call: *·         *His mouth made like a sharpened sword*·         *To speak to a nation that has turned from God*·         *To bring Jacob (Israel) back to him (God)*·         *1 Cor.

1:1-9*·         *Paul, called to be an apostle*·         *Church, called to be holy*·         *Called to knowledge of God’s will*·         *Called to speak decisive Word’s of Truth in Love*  |

| 7. Mention the Christ-event – Gospel~/Good News.·

*Good starting point is the work and teachings of JC*·         *The work of the prophets, Men & women of God in the OT and NT*·         *Discern God’s prophets from false prophets*·         *Our Task:/ observation, interpretation, evaluation,/ and /application/*Invite and encourage the congregation to further action.

(recognize past faithfulness)·         *We have done this in the past – lets continue* | *8.

Conclusion*·         *God calls you and me to be agents of his love and reconciliation.*·

*God calls his Church to be the voice of conscience to the world.**Return to the opening remarks.*·

*You and I know that we have been “called in” *·         *How are you going to respond?

*·         *Are you going to ignore the call?*·         *Or, are you going to respond?**Return to major concern of the text and sermon.**

*  |

* *

*Personal Story:* When I was a child, playing hide-and-seek outside in the declining daylight of a summer evening, inevitably our front door would open and my mother's voice would call, "Ferd, time to come in!"

I would go playing with my friends as though nothing had happened.

To anybody passing by, I looked no different from my playmates.

But I /was /different; I had been "called in"; everything was changed.

In a similar way Christians -- who may appear no different from others -- have ringing in their ears God's summons to believe and to obey.

Henry Thoreau said that some march to a different drummer.

Christians do not hear a different drumbeat; they hear Jesus' distant but clear voice saying, "Come, follow me."

It sounds over the whir of the lathe, the cry of a baby, the clink of coins, the curses of enemies, the whisper of success, the roar of the crowd, the nagging of conscience.

\\ */The Four Stages of Biblical Interpretation./*

Using the four key words in their proper sequence, we are ready to interpret the Bible correctly.

*1.

/Stage one: observation/*—The questions asked in this stage are, Do I understand all the facts in this passage?

Do I know the context before and after this passage?

Do I know the meanings of all the words?

Do I understand the general flow of the discussion?

Do I understand the cultural background?

It is necessary to clear up all the factual problems before moving into the theological meaning of the passage.

For example, in 1 Corinthians 8 the apostle Paul discusses eating meat that had been offered to idols.

What is the background?

When meat was sacrificed to an idol, that which was not eaten by the priests was sold at the market.

Some Corinthian Christians said it was permissible to eat the meat since idols are nothing but wood and stone.

Others thought it was not permissible because it might appear they were still involved in pagan worship.

Only after we understand these facts may we go on to the next stage of interpretation.

*2.

/Stage two: interpretation/*—The basic question asked in this stage is, What did the author mean in his own historical setting?

We must put ourselves in the shoes of Scripture’s original audience.

To answer this question, there are two further questions we may ask.

The first is, What does the passage actually say?

Many times we forget to look carefully at what a passage says.

Some cite Matthew 5:21–22 as proof that to think bad is just as wrong as doing it.

Is anger as bad as murder?

Of course not.

(Common sense tells us that, if nothing else.)

But the text does not actually say they are the same.

It says the law against murder is not fully obeyed by mere outward obedience, but by maintaining the proper attitude of not being angry, which in turn prohibits the outward act of murder.

The second question is, Does the context help define the meaning of the passage?

For example, what does Scripture mean when it says, “There is no God” (Ps.

53:1)?

Context shows this is a statement made by a fool.

What does Paul mean when he says Jesus will return like “a thief in the night” (1 Thess.

5:2)?

Context shows it means His coming will be sudden (v.

3).

Should women remain totally silent in the church (1 Cor.

14:34)?

No, since the context of 1 Corinthians 11:5 shows that women may pray or prophesy.

Does Jesus’ statement, “When you fast, do not be like the hypocrites” (Matt.

6:16) demand that His disciples fast?

No, because Matthew 9:14 shows that Jesus’ disciples did not fast while He was alive.

(The beauty of using Scripture to interpret Scripture is that when the Bible answers its own questions, then we know the answer is correct.)

The twin matters of what the text actually says and the passage’s context help complete the second stage of interpretation.

There are times when even these two questions will not help us understand the meaning of a passage.

Sometimes we have to read between the lines and make an educated guess as to what the passage means.

This is fine when necessary.

But we must remember that we are guessing, and we must keep an open mind to other possible interpretations.

Integrity is also a necessary element in all biblical interpretation.

If we tell someone about what a friend said, we should try to be as accurate as possible.

If we are not sure about a certain point, we should say, “I think this is what he said.”

We all do this with our friends.

So why then, when we interpret Scripture, do many of us lose that integrity?

Why do we not read the text carefully?

Why do we read between the lines, make fanciful interpretations that are more a product of our imagination than reverent study, and then insist that this is what the text actually says?

In interpreting the Bible, we must never forget whose letters we are reading.

They have come from God Himself, and they demand respect.

They demand to speak for themselves.

They demand that we be honest and have integrity.

We must not put our guesswork on the same level as the words of God.

How do we interpret 1 Corinthians 8? Once we understand the facts and background of the passage, once we have asked what the passage actually is saying and what is its context, then we see that Paul is teaching the principle of voluntarily refraining from a practice that, although not wrong in and of itself, might be harmful to a fellow Christian.

We have completed the first step of interpretation.

We have seen what the passage meant in the day and age of the author.

*3.

/Stage three: evaluation/*—The stage of evaluation asks, What does the passage signify in today’s culture?

It is the issue of whether a passage of Scripture applies to us today, or whether it is limited to the culture in which it was originally written.

The question raised by the evaluation process is answered one of two ways.

Either the passage is applied directly to our culture, or it must be reapplied because of cultural differences.

The vast majority of New Testament teaching can be applied directly to 20th-century culture.

If we love God, regardless of when or where we live, then we must obey His commandments (John 14:15).