Sermon Tone Analysis

ATTN

A preacher and a soap maker went for a walk together.

The soap maker said, “What good is religion?

Look at all the trouble and misery of the world!

Still there, even after years—thousands of years—of teaching about goodness and truth and peace.

Still there, after all the prayers and sermons and teachings.

If religion is good and true, why should this be?”

The preacher said nothing.

They continued walking until he noticed a child playing in the gutter.

Then the preacher said, “Look at that child.

You say that soap makes people clean, but see the dirt on that youngster.

Of what good is soap?

With all the soap in the world, over all these years, the child is still filthy.

I wonder how effective soap is, after all!”

The soap maker protested.

“But, Preacher, soap cannot do any good unless it is used!” “Exactly,” replied the Preacher.

“Exactly!”

I guarantee you that, if you talked to very many people about the Lord, you may have gotten the same sort of comment as that soap maker, especially if they were not too polite to tell you their real feelings.

The basic complaint is this: Religion is useless.

It makes people feel guilty, starts wars, and then doesn’t really deliver the tranquility it promises.

You know, whenever I hear someone start down this road, I get a little suspicious.

Ok, I get a lot suspicious.

I know that religious complainers are a lot like medical ones.

People go to the doctor feeling badly, ask for his advice, then don’t do what he tells them to do.

It’s the same way with Christianity.

Christianity has not been tried and failed, it just hasn’t very often been tried, at least not really.

It isn’t that Christianity is useless, its that it is largely unused.

And I know that as soon as I say that, you may take exception with me.

You may point to numerous church goers who, after years of pew time, end up leaving and never returning proclaiming that “the whole ‘God-thing’ just didn’t work for them.”

But, you see, there’s a great difference in seeking happiness in church and pursuing joy in God.

That difference, I believe, can be summed in this one word: Holiness.

You see, the reason some come to church for years, and never really experience the joy of the Lord is because they come to church and never really WORSHIP God.

And the reason they can come to church and never really worship God is because they never really connect with His holiness; that is, they never really see Him as the awe-inspiring, powerful, unique, sovereign, all-powerful Being He really is.

BACKGROUND

You see, the response of that experience of His Holiness; the reaction to an encounter with His powerful, unmatched presence is worship.

It comes when I encounter His holiness.

At the heart of our text for this morning, you get a glimpse of w hat is meant when we speak of His holiness and it’s impact on us. 2 Cor 6:16 says . . .

For you are the temple of the living God.

As God has said: “I will dwell in them And walk among them.

I will be their God, And they shall be My people.

That is the heart of joy: Having the experience of having God to dwell with us and walk among us.

Think about it: If joy is the current confidence that flows from the future hope and practical guidance made possible by the constant presence of God, then having God to be in us and walk among us is the very definition of having His constant presence.

That constant presence is what real worship is and it is what we were created for.

But . . .

(there’s always one of those, isn’t there) But, there is only one way into this kind of constant experience with God.

I call it the “highway of holiness.”

NEED

Now, I realize when I say that, that most people, even most Christians, don’t like to talk about holiness.

It’s a word that conjures up all the caricatures of Christianity: from bun hairdo’s to crew cuts to culottes.

When you say “holy” people think “weird.”

There are at least three reasons for this reaction.

In the first place, ignorance may be at work.

All you’ve heard about holiness had more to do with rules than relationship and you’ve rejected it.

I want you to reconsider.

God may want to show you the real connection between deep down joy and for real holiness.

In addition to ignorance, apathy may cause you to reject holiness.

You’ve heard from others that there are lots of things which a holy man or woman has to “do,” and you get tired just thinking about it.

I want you to know that real holiness produces an apathy-killing excitement that no amount of work can over come.

God may want to explode a little of your apathy this morning.

Others reject holiness because of defeat.

They tried and tried to live for the Lord, but they keep running into their own weakness.

In frustration, they have finally quit.

They know truth; they’ve tried the truth; they’ve failed at obeying the truth and so they’ve quit the truth.

If that’s true of you, I can tell you one more thing about yourself: Not only have you known truth, tried truth, failed at the truth, and quit the truth, you’re also NOT JOYFUL!

You see, holiness is the prerequisite for joy.

And, if that is so, then there’s one critical question we must ask: How can I be holy.

Well, framing this promise of God’s presence we have in 2 Cor 6:16, are several verses that tell us how.

If you and I want to experience the full joy of holiness, we must:

DIV 1: KNOW WHO WE ARE

EXP

Biblical holiness never begins with behavior or a list of rules.

Biblical holiness begins with identity.

In this passage, the identity of believers is given in two pictures.

The first is the picture of a temple.

V16 tells us that we are “the temple of the living God.”

The Greek word Paul uses for “temple” here is not the one you might expect.

It is naos.

That choice speaks of the most sacred sort of worship.

He wants to tell us that he isn’t just speaking generically of the temple, but of the most sacred space in the temple.

He is talking about the Holy of Holies where the presence of God is.

You know that by what he goes on to say about the implications of this description.

He says that, as the holy temple, God dwells with us personally.

He says “I will dwell in them.

This statement quotes the Old testament and God’s promise to dwell with His people, only notice that it is personalized.

He will not just dwell with us, He will dwell in us.

It is a personal dwelling, but He also dwells with us corporately.

He says, I will dwell in them, and walk among them.

God, Himself, as the inhabitant of His living temple, is going to walk among us.

Christian, listen!

You’re not alone today sitting in this auditorium.

You say, “Duh, Rusty.

There must be 300 people or so in here this morning with me.”

That’s not what I’m talking about.

Moving among us, by His Spirit, is the powerful presence of God.

That ought to make you shout!

But it ought to make you do something else too.

You see, His great presence also brings accountability.

There is an accountability to God Himself, for He goes on to say, I will be their God, and there is an accountability to one another, for He says, and they shall be My people.

This picture of the living temple speaks volumes about who we are.

We are personally inhabited by God; we are corporately visited by God; and we are constantly accountable to God.