Sermon Tone Analysis

intro: As we chart our course . .

Sometimes when we head out for a destination what happens along the way turns out to be the most important part of the trip.

We had other plans, but hit something unexpected along the way . .

That’s what I discovered as our Making a Map class got underway.

We set out to identify some intentional steps we could take to go from “where we are” to see how Jesus might get us to “where He wants us to be.”

I think that’s a great idea!

It also proved to be a more of a challenge than I expected.

There are some REASONS why that Good Journey that we want to take is not as easy as we might first think.

There are some “potholes” along the way.

We’ve had some difficulties in life that leave us a little sore, hurt or afraid from taking another step.

These “potholes” as I call them were the unexpected discoveries on the journey to get somewhere else.

Then, when we found ourselves looking at the stark picture in Isa 53 as well as the experience of the despondent disciples on the road to Emmaus, some of these potholes came into sharper focus.

We’ve just celebrated the most significant Victory in human history!

Besides battling a cold, I’ve had a really good week, but is the reality of the Resurrection resonating in my heart?

Is it in yours?

Sadly, last Sunday seems rather distant as my attention has focused on tasks and meetings and a pleasant change in the weather.

There well could be a number of barriers that get in our way of pursuing God . .

what caught my attention though was phrase along the Road to Emmaus:

“but we had hoped . .

“

Some of the SADDEST words in Scripture.

These few words say SO much of the devastation they feel right now.

After all they had seen and experienced . .

this Teacher, this Prophet and worker of Miracles was crucified .

.. AND Hope WAS CRUSHED!

Tragedy Stops Us in our Tracks!

Where do the disciples go now?

They HAD hoped He was the Messiah — that is all gone.

I remember one Tues morning getting in my car to head to work after a weekly prayer time . . the news said a plane had crashed into a building in NY.

The reporters were wondering if there could have been some navigational malfunction . .

then the second plane hit.

Everyone was wondering what this meant . .

were calling family to check on them . .

just left in a daze!

My boss sent us home and I walked along a normally busy highway that was eerily quiet.

I didn’t know what to do . .

MORE than external Tragedy can stop us!

Did you know that even someone as confident and bold and powerful as John the Baptist actually was brought to question if he had somehow been mistaken?

Things were not going as he expected.

His pothole was being thrown in jail.

I see him wondering when exactly the promised Messiah would get him out!

A couple of his disciples told him of all the miracles that Jesus was doing, but it was of no assurance.

Let’s pick up at Lk 7:18 . .

Whether we are plowed by some big tragic event . .

or simply faced with a perplexing question we never saw coming, we are left in a Daze!

About the same time as that “Road to Emmaus” story caught my attention, I remembered a recent book I started: “When God’s Ways Make No Sense” . .

Yeah, another Pothole!

Shock Dazes Us

both External Tragedy, AND

Internal Bewilderment

BOTH of those can leave us feeling very stuck in our spiritual journeys.

“What I am supposed to do now?

What do I pursue when the hurt and disappointment leaves me dazed?”

What “potholes” have you hit?

Medical problems?

Loss of a loved one?

Disasters in the world? . .

maybe one “close to home” even?

All of these troubling, agonizing questions/problems leave us asking: “Why couldn’t . . .

?”

That is THE question plaguing our hearts and minds when Shock leaves us in a DAZE.

It’s not fun, but the truth is we can NOT control what gets thrown at us in this crazy, broken, Fallen world.

And we can’t overstate the toll this takes on us.

That’s where we got many of our Psalms — AGONY!

But even if we try to guard ourselves from tragedy and heartache, we eventually discover that CAUTION does NOT protect us either!

The Enemy can quietly drain us of life without us even noticing . . it just takes Time!

“Little” disappointments take huge toll on our hearts as well.

I’ve seen it in myself and in others I know well . .

and C.S. Lewis put it so well in the words of a senior demon:

Monotony Drains Us

Wearing Out the Soul — (from Screwtape Letters)

senior demon, Screwtape, advising his nephew Wormwood on how to defeat Christians over time:

“The long, dull, monotonous years of middle-aged prosperity or middle-aged adversity are excellent campaigning weather.

You see, it is so hard for these creatures to persevere.

The routine of adversity, the gradual decay of youthful loves and youthful hopes, the quiet despair (hardly felt as pain) of ever overcoming the chronic temptations with which we have again and again defeated them, the drabness which we create in their lives and the inarticulate resentment with which we teach them to respond to it—all this provides admirable opportunities of wearing out a soul by attrition.”

as written by C.S. Lewis in Screwtape Letters, ch 28

Lewis, C. S.. A Year with C. S. Lewis: Daily Readings from His Classic Works (p.

121).

HarperCollins.

Kindle Edition.

Monotony Drains Us

If we’re not Defeated by Disaster, we can still end up Drained by Disappointments — the Enemy is out to eliminate us from the battle ANY WAY he can!

I don’t expect any of us to enjoy this instruction.

It’s NOT what we would consider as Encouraging, of course.

But I do want to say: “Let me Encourage you to embrace Discouragement.”

We have to start where we are.

When the children of Israel were finally taken into captivity, they felt the loss of being ripped from their homes and land.

And as if the pain of exile was not enough, their captors mocked them with entreaties for them to “sing the songs of Zion.”

Ouch!

Maybe if we “sat and wept” in our pain, a psalm would be born in us!

I believe God DOES want to speak to us . .

even when we feel stopped in our tracks.

Later next month I hope to pick up on this Spiritual Journey topic with you again.

For now, let’s take a peek at how Jesus responded to those who were in a Daze.

He brings them back to His Story . .

The Story Sustains Us

Look back with me at the journey of Cleopas and his companion in ch 24:

What a Bible study that would have been — Oh to be there!!

Jesus tells them the Story of what God has done . . .

AND what He is doing in their very midst:

Shock Dazes Us — Monotony Drains Us — but His

Story Sustains Us

What if Jesus is actually bigger than the losses and discouragements plague our journeys?