Sermon Tone Analysis

! Sermon Outline

!!! 1. Illustration – miracles

!!! 2. Tension – Greco-Roman Plot Line (never are good enough – we are bad people)

a. God created us good, but we messed it up

b.

We became eternally separated from the perfect God

c. God had to come down as Christ to make things right again

d.

We messed up again, so now we wait for Christ to return

e.

Not a good image of life – scary God worked well in dark ages, but not since enlightenment

f.

People come on Christmas and Easter to “get right” with God – as if the mean God above is going to pay close attention on these two days, so you better show up then “just in case”

g.

But the other days, well, let’s face it – not fun to go before that God – not fun to be reminded how bad we are in comparison to God above

h.

Life seems pretty good, so why do we need to hear some preacher tell us how we need to shape up?

!!! 3. Biblical story-line

a. God creates everything good

i.

Good is better than perfection – perfection is stale, but goodness is alive

ii.

Perfection would mean everything is complete – names, development, etc.

iii.

Good, though, means we get to help out in the creative process – and it means things are everchanging

1. Evolution

2. Adam “names” the living things

3. Humanity creates art, music, culture

b. God vs. Theos

i.

This would be appalling to Theos, but delightful to Elohim

1. Brian McLaren, Theos, Elohim, and upcoming sermon series

ii.

Elohim is the personal name for God – a personal God

iii.

Elohim likes stories – the Bible is a story – we live into that story

!!! 4. Resurrection as story

a. Easter is about recreating – Jesus came not in a moment in time, but in history

b.

Resurrection without the life of Jesus is meaningless

c.

Life of Jesus without the resurrection is meaningless

d.

Resurrection is not about mean God triumphing over evil humans – it’s about new life, it’s about creation happening in new and exciting ways – it’s about showing in a concrete way that God is with us and cares about our story

e. Jesus and Easter celebrate God coming into our story – in a sense, the story began with Adam; yet in another sense, the story begins with Jesus

!!! 5.

For us today, the question is how we relate to the story

a. Easy to look back in your past and see your story

b.

But what about the future?

c.

Easter is about bringing the future into the present

d.

Don’t just look for God in what has already been created, but look for God in what is still developing, still being created

e. Look for those small indications of how God is working in and through you to do something great

!!! 6. Illustration – Evans Wadongo, solar-powered lanterns in Kenya

a. See article

b. God can do something great with anyone, no matter how much life is left in them or how poor they are (Jesus was poor, Abraham was old, Moses was an ex-con)