Sermon Tone Analysis

*Intro* – A pastor was driving home from an appointment late one night when he fell asleep at the wheel.

Fortunately, he awoke just as he sideswiped a guardrail damaging his car, but not himself.

When he got home his anxious wife asked, “What happened?

Were you sleepy when you started to drive?”

He replied, “No, I was fine.”

She persisted, “Then how did you fall asleep?”

He replied, “I’m not sure.

There I was, going over my sermon . .

.!” Well, apparently not every sermon is spell-binding, right?

But I can tell you one preacher who never preached a boring sermon.

The greatest preacher ever was Jesus of Nazareth.

People were constantly astonished at His teaching.

Remember how they said in Luke 4:31-32, “And he was teaching them on the Sabbath, 32 and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority.”

He drew massive crowds everywhere He went.

The people loved it, but the religious elite hated it because it was diametrically opposed to human thinking.

It shattered popular worldviews then just like it does today.

He made no attempt at political correctness and conventional wisdom.

The Jesus of the gospels is certainly not the meek and mild milquetoast of liberal theology.

Don’t you wish you could have heard Him?

Well, we have the next best thing -- a brief summary of one of His sermons (vv.

20-49).

There is a longer one in Matthew 5-7 -- the Sermon on the Mount, preached on a hillside above Capernaum.

Luke’s is sometimes called the Sermon on the Plain because of Luke 6:17, “And he came down with them and stood on a level place.”

These are mere summaries, for Jesus often spoke past dinner time.

These could be versions of the same sermon.

Both start with Beatitudes.

There is common teaching in the two and each ends with the parable of the man who built a house on a rock.

However, it is more likely that these sermons were given at different times.

Luke ties his account to the time immediately after Jesus returns from the mountain having named His 12 apostles.

In Matthew, the Sermon on the Mount comes in chapters 5-7 before the naming of the apostles in chapter 10.

Jesus preached constantly in different places.

He no doubt gave much the same sermon over and over.

Either way, the truth is the same.

*I.

What the Sermon is Not Teaching*

*Ethics* -- A bigger question is, how are we to take this sermon?

Confusion abounds.

The most prominent opinion is that Jesus is teaching a new kind of ethics.

He is saying if you want to be happy; be ethical.

Don’t judge others.

Love your enemies.

Be meek; be merciful; be pure in heart.

This is a new radical path to happy living!

This all sounds well and good; and if you refuse to believe in the deity of Christ and the atoning nature of His death, you might well conclude that He is a great ethical teacher and this is simply of a compilation of “The Greatest Teachings of Jesus.”

But, Beloved, I promise you Jesus didn’t leave the glories of heaven to teach ethics!

Living His way does bring happiness, but His preaching goes much deeper than that.

*Way of Salvation* -- Another popular position is that this Sermon represents a way to be saved.

Do this and you will get that.

Be poor, be hungry, weep, be hated and you will find the kingdom of God as your reward.

Do X and you will get Y.

But is that what Jesus is saying?

That would be salvation by works.

No consistent with the rest of the Bible.

Eph 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith.

And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

No one gets into God’s family by good works.

Now, some might say, “Well, that is under grace, but Jesus is still living under law.

Different rules applied before the cross.

They were saved by keeping the law.”

But this is a huge misconception.

Salvation was no different under law than under grace.

It has always been by grace through faith.

Paul makes this exact point with regard to OT Abraham in Rom 4:1, “What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”

How was Abraham justified?

By believing God, just like we are.

Paul makes this abundantly clear in Gal 3:10-11: “For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.”

11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.”

The law shows people that they are sinners in need of salvation by faith in the Word of God.

The OT prescribes people be circumcised in their hearts.

People of every era are saved the same way – by faith.

Jesus was not teaching salvation by works.

He was teaching “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand” – not “Keep the law for the kingdom of God is at hand.”

*II.

What the Sermon is teaching (characteristics of true believers)*

So, if this sermon is not about ethics and it is not about being saved by works, what is it about?

It is characterizing those who are saved.

It is not about getting in; it is about what you are like if you are in.

The Pharisees are saying, “Do this to become blessed.”

Jesus is saying, “Since the moment you repented and accepted me, you already are blessed.”

From the moment we quit trying to earn favor with God and begin to treasure Jesus above all things, we are blessed beyond measure.

Note v. 20: “And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples.”

Out of all that great crowd Jesus targets His disciples.

He will get to the others later, but He starts with His own.

And what He is doing is very important.

He is affirming that they are making the right decision to follow Him.

He is telling them that tho they are low in the world’s eyes – tho they are poor, hungry, weeping and persecuted, yet they are BLESSED in God’s eyes.

They must know that.

That’s critical.

Mark Twain once said, “Heaven goes by grace.

If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in.”

That is what Jesus is saying here.

We are not blessed because of what we do for Him; we are blessed because of what He has done for us.

It’s all grace.

You can’t win God’s favor by your own merit, by religion; you can only repent.

The repentant thief would have been condemned by religion.

All he did for 40 years was sin.

Imagine him before God.

The books are opened – really thick books contained every deed and every idle word.

And every work gets an “F.”

His grades are all “F’s”.

Throw Him out!