Sermon Tone Analysis

“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.

This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.”

[1]

“You are so narrow-minded!”

She was lambasting me because I was insisting there is but one way to God.

I had cited several texts to support my position.

Among other portions of the Word, I had cited Jesus’ testimony, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me” [JOHN 14:6].

I had also noted His promise, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out” [JOHN 6:35, NKJV].

“What makes you think you are better than me or anyone else?”

In truth, I have no illusion that I am better than any other person.

The context of our conversation was not focused on comparing myself to other people; her response was to a simple statement that there is but one way to peace with God, and that is through Jesus Christ as Lord.

In the text before us in this message, we read the Apostle’s assessment of a great truth.

“There is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”

If we believe the truth presented by this teaching we will also recognise the urgency to inform others of this truth—urgency that is imposed on each individual who follows the Master because he or she knows that Christ Jesus is the One Mediator.

If Christ Jesus is the One Mediator between God and man, then all who follow Him will realise the necessity of supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings that are being offered for all mankind, and especially for those who govern.

If Christ Jesus is the One Mediator between God and man, we who believe will seek to lead peaceful and quiet lives, godly and dignified in every respect so that our lives adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour, inviting opportunity to explain the hope that is in us.

Join me in considering the Apostle’s affirmation, considering how the knowledge should touch each believer’s life.

*ONE GOD* — While there are a number of significant theological truths presented in this brief statement from the Apostle, the first that stands out must surely be that there is one God.

Christians are not polytheists, nor are they pan theists; we know by revelation and by experience that there is one God.

Moreover, we know this God as our Father, just as we have been taught by Christ Jesus the Master.

When Jesus was asked to teach His disciples to pray, He instructed them to address God, “Our Father in heaven” [MATTHEW 6:9].

To be certain, we know that God is Father of the Lord Jesus, but throughout the New Testament are multiple testimonies that He is our God and Father.

Speaking of the unity of the Faith, Paul remembers that there is “one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” [EPHESIANS 4:6].

Opening the Letter to Galatian Christians, Paul writes, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever.

Amen” [GALATIANS 1:3-5].

Again, drawing the Letter to the Christians in Philippi, Paul gives this ascription of praise: “To our God and Father be glory forever and ever.

Amen” [PHILIPPIANS 4:20].

Nor was Paul’s conviction of the Fatherhood of God acquired only after years serving as an Apostle.

Early in his service, he spoke of God as Father of those who believe.

The Letters to Thessalonian Christians were among his earliest letters.

Arguably, First Thessalonians may have been his earliest letter to have been included in the canon of Scripture.

Notice how he reveals his understanding of God in that letter.

Opening the letter, Paul writes, “We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ” [1 THESSALONIANS 1:2, 3].

Later in this same letter, Paul pens a prayer that reveals his understanding of God’s relationship to all who believe.

“Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you, and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints” [1 THESSALONIANS 3:11-13].

He demonstrates the same understanding in the second letter he wrote to the Thessalonians.

“Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word” [2 THESSALONIANS 2:16, 17].

Lest you imagine that only Paul had this understanding of God’s relationship to those who believe, consider one final Scripture from James, the half-brother of our Master.

Again, remember that James is quite an early book, written from a very Jewish perspective.

Many scholars believe this brief letter to have been the earliest writing that is included in the canon.

“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world” [JAMES 1:27].

Writing about the power of the tongue, James writes these words.

“See how great a forest a little fire kindles!

And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity.

The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell.

For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind.

But no man can tame the tongue.

It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God” [JAMES 3:5-9, NKJV].

What should be apparent from this brief review of New Testament statements concerning God is that He is the Only God.

Moreover, God has made Himself known to those willing to receive His revelation of Himself.

As he opens his Letter to the Christians in Rome, Paul speaks of God, “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.

For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.

So they are without excuse” [ROMANS 1:18-20].

Focus on the fact that what God has revealed to mankind is evident to anyone who is even vaguely familiar with nature—God’s creation reveals His Person and care for mankind.

The God whom we know and whom we call “Father,” loves those whom He has redeemed.

This God is not some distant, austere demigod who ignores mankind; He is not a God who began all things and then allows things to move ahead without His oversight.

When we pray, we know that we are heard because He has promised He would hear all who pray in His Son’s Name.

When we come to Him through His Son, we are assured that we will be welcomed.

When we honour Him through worshipping Him, we know that our worship is acceptable because it is offered in the Name of His Only Begotten Son.

Long years before Jesus walked the Judean hills, Moses wrote this testimony of God: ““Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one” [DEUTERONOMY 6:4].

God has revealed Himself as unique; compared to the multiple Baals; Israel was informed that God stood alone.

Muslims argue that we Christians worship three gods.

In saying this, they show their ignorance of the Lord our God.

We do not worship three gods—we worship one God who has chosen to reveal Himself as a triunity—Father, Son and Spirit.

We do not worship God who manifests Himself at various times in differing manners; we know God as One in three Persons.

In the Word of God, we see the Father identified as Yahweh, the LORD, very God.

Through Isaiah, the LORD declares:

“Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel

and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts:

‘I am the first and I am the last;

besides me there is no god.

Who is like me?

Let him proclaim it.

Let him declare and set it before me,

since I appointed an ancient people.

Let them declare what is to come, and what will happen.’”

[ISAIAH 44:6, 7]

Again, God, through Isaiah, has declared of Himself:

“I am the LORD, and there is no other,

besides me there is no God;

I equip you, though you do not know me,”

[ISAIAH 45:5]

The LORD God presents Himself as Creator of all things.

Listen as He speaks through Isaiah.

“Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer,

who formed you from the womb:

‘I am the LORD, who made all things,

who alone stretched out the heavens,

who spread out the earth by myself,’”

[ISAIAH 44:24]

Hear the Lord God as He speaks of His power to create on another occasion.

“To whom then will you compare me,

that I should be like him? says the Holy One.

Lift up your eyes on high and see:

who created these?

He who brings out their host by number,