Sermon Tone Analysis

“In this matter I give my judgment: this benefits you, who a year ago started not only to do this work but also to desire to do it.

So now finish doing it as well, so that your readiness in desiring it may be matched by your completing it out of what you have.

For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have.

For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of fairness your abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness.

As it is written, ‘Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack.’”

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Any Christian wants to please the Heavenly Father.

Our desire to please the Father flows from filial devotion.

God is our Father and as His children, we want always to do that which is pleasing to Him.

We want to be wise administrators of all that He has entrusted to our care.

Certainly, we are responsible to administer wisely the spiritual gifts He has entrusted to us.

We are equally responsible to demonstrate wisdom in administering the earthly wealth He has entrusted to us.

The wisdom we are to demonstrate in administering earthly goods begins with understanding that possessions are entrusted to us by God.

This neither denies nor depreciates individual resourcefulness, personal integrity, intelligence or other positive character traits we associate with successful individuals.

The Word of the Lord recorded by the Teacher in ECCLESIASTES 10:10 is yet true:

“If the iron is blunt, and one does not sharpen the edge,

he must use more strength,

but wisdom helps one to succeed.”

In saying that we are to recognise God as the ultimate source of possessions I mean to refocus attention on the foundational issue, the understanding that it is the Lord God who distributes gifts—whether intelligence, strength or whatever abilities contribute to individual success.

“What do you have that you did not receive” [1 CORINTHIANS 4:7]?

This is the thought provoking biblical summary statement.

Paul, in his second letter to the Corinthian congregation, spoke of wise administration of possessions, and in particular instructed his readers in wise giving—giving that pleases God.

Join me in examination of the biblical instruction that we may embrace those characteristics that are pleasing to Him who gives freely to all who call upon Him.

*ZEAL* — “In this matter I give my judgment: this benefits you, who a year ago started not only to do this work but also to desire to do it.

So now finish doing it as well, so that your readiness in desiring it may be matched by your completing it out of what you have.”

Paul commends the Corinthians’ desire.

They were eager to give and their eagerness is seen as a desirable trait.

Lacklustre giving and grudging response to need in no way honours the Lord God.

The congregation which will excel in the grace of giving is eager to give.

Zeal should mark every Christian endeavour.

The ardent Christian is a comely Christian.

Perhaps one of the darker blots on the churches of this day is that we Christians so long for acceptance by the world that we become casual and cool in the performance of our ministries.

If the congregation expects that the preacher should blaze with fervour in the preaching of the Word, then does it not follow that the remainder of the assembly ought also to be zealous in every aspect of worship?

The people of God should reveal the zeal of the Lord in all that they do.

Even in the act of giving we should rejoice and eagerly come before the Lord with our gifts.

Have you ever noticed the worship of the Hebrews as described in the Old Testament?

Listen to one call to worship recorded in the Psalms.

“Praise the LORD!

Praise God in his sanctuary;

praise him in his mighty heavens!

Praise him for his mighty deeds;

praise him according to his excellent greatness!

“Praise him with trumpet sound;

praise him with lute and harp!

Praise him with tambourine and dance;

praise him with strings and pipe!

Praise him with sounding cymbals;

praise him with loud clashing cymbals!

Let everything that has breath praise the LORD!

Praise the LORD!”

[PSALM 150:1-6]

When Solomon dedicated the Temple of the Lord the nation united in worship.

Listen to a description of that worship found in 2 CHRONICLES 5:4-6, 11-14.

“All the elders of Israel came, and the Levites took up the ark.

And they brought up the ark, the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent; the Levitical priests brought them up.

And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who had assembled before him, were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered… When the priests came out of the Holy Place (for all the priests who were present had consecrated themselves, without regard to their divisions, and all the Levitical singers, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, their sons and kinsmen, arrayed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps, and lyres, stood east of the altar with 120 priests who were trumpeters; and it was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the LORD), and when the song was raised, with trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments, in praise to the LORD,

‘For he is good,

for his steadfast love endures forever,’

the house, the house of the LORD, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God.”

I cite one other passage from the Old Testament which speaks of the worship at the time the wall was dedicated in the days of Nehemiah.

You will recall that this is worship offered after Babylonian captivity and in a day when the people had been divinely chastised for their sin.

Nehemiah describes the worship that accompanied dedication of the wall around Jerusalem.

“I brought the leaders of Judah up onto the wall and appointed two great choirs that gave thanks.

One went to the south on the wall to the Dung Gate.

And after them went Hoshaiah and half of the leaders of Judah, and Azariah, Ezra, Meshullam, Judah, Benjamin, Shemaiah, and Jeremiah, and certain of the priests’ sons with trumpets: Zechariah the son of Jonathan, son of Shemaiah, son of Mattaniah, son of Micaiah, son of Zaccur, son of Asaph; and his relatives, Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah, and Hanani, with the musical instruments of David the man of God.

And Ezra the scribe went before them.

At the Fountain Gate they went up straight before them by the stairs of the city of David, at the ascent of the wall, above the house of David, to the Water Gate on the east.

The other choir of those who gave thanks went to the north, and I followed them with half of the people, on the wall, above the Tower of the Ovens, to the Broad Wall, and above the Gate of Ephraim, and by the Gate of Yeshanah, and by the Fish Gate and the Tower of Hananel and the Tower of the Hundred, to the Sheep Gate; and they came to a halt at the Gate of the Guard.

So both choirs of those who gave thanks stood in the house of God, and I and half of the officials with me; and the priests Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah and Hananiah, with trumpets; and Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malchijah, Elam, and Ezer.

And the singers sang with Jezrahiah as their leader.

And they offered great sacrifices that day and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy; the women and children also rejoiced.

And the joy of Jerusalem was heard far away.

“On that day men were appointed over the storerooms, the contributions, the firstfruits, and the tithes, to gather into them the portions required by the Law for the priests and for the Levites according to the fields of the towns, for Judah rejoiced over the priests and the Levites who ministered.

And they performed the service of their God and the service of purification, as did the singers and the gatekeepers, according to the command of David and his son Solomon.

For long ago in the days of David and Asaph there were directors of the singers, and there were songs of praise and thanksgiving to God.

And all Israel in the days of Zerubbabel and in the days of Nehemiah gave the daily portions for the singers and the gatekeepers; and they set apart that which was for the Levites; and the Levites set apart that which was for the sons of Aaron” [NEHEMIAH 12:31-47].

From these excerpts we gain insight into the worship of our spiritual forebears.

The worship as described was noisy and vibrant, filled with musical instrumentation, loud singing and shouts of joy.

On occasion people even stood to dance before the Lord.

I am not suggesting that it was chaotic, but it drew observers in as the worshippers exulted in the goodness of God.

I believe it fair to say that above all else, Hebrew worship was exciting.

It is interesting, even tragic, to note that when the excitement of meeting in the presence of the Living God ceased, worship degenerated into mere rite and ritual.

Whether we anticipate meeting with the Living God or merely attend the services of the Lord out of duty depends in no small measure on our view of God.

Expectation reveals that we know God to be exciting.

In the New Testament, there was likewise eagerness to worship, so much so that Paul was compelled to comment on the alternate problem of too many trying to speak at once! “When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation.

Let all things be done for building up” [1 CORINTHIANS 14:26].

While he continued to insure that chaos did not prevail and that the Body was built up, he did not rebuke the people because each one participated in worship.

New Testament worship is likewise exciting.

I have spoken of days in which I worshipped in the New Birth Baptist Church in the South Oak Cliff section of Dallas.

On the first occasion I participated in Sunday morning worship, I had no idea what to expect.

Lynda was with me; Rochelle was but a new-born and Susan was not quite five years of age.

Before ever the preaching began, we had been at church for over an hour.

The message was not as extended as you might think, but the words of the pastor were punctuated with exclamations of praise and agreement from the congregation.

“Amen!” “Glory!” “Tell it!”

“Preach it, brother!” “Preach on!” “Oh, my Lord!” “Yes!

Yes!” “Right on!” and similar exclamations greeted Scriptural truths for the whole of the hour that the message continued.

On occasion, a young man might stand, rushing to the vicinity of the preacher and wave his hanky while loudly exclaiming on some spiritual truth just stated.

The people rejoiced in the presence of the Lord; the entire service was marked by great joy.

I suppose in that entire congregation of about three hundred people, only my Susan slept.

Lynda found it necessary to retreat to the foyer with Rochelle who had become restless and required a diaper change.

The pastor’s wife assured her that she would look after Susan, so Lynda left just as the invitation was beginning.