Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

What is “it?”

We all want “it” but we need to define the “it.”

The “it” of the Christian life is Christ.

We want to experience Christ.

We want an intimate relationship with Him.

But isn’t this already something believers in Christ posses from the moment we places faith in Christ?

ABSOLUTELY YES!

Jesus says He loves us just like the Father loves Him.

We have relationship with Him…an intimate relationship with Him…a closeness to Him…which can never be broken.

The “it” is our love relationship with Jesus and nothing can separate us from Him and His love for us.

But it is possible to live life without being mindful of “it.”

With little awareness of our relationship with Christ and His love for us.

It is possible to sacrifice the sense of closeness and the reality of our intimacy with Christ.

Sometimes we ask the question, “Why does God feel so far away from me?” Often the answer is simply that we have not been mindful of His love.

We have either become too busy to consider it, arrived at circumstances that made us doubt it, or just allowed ourselves to forget the reality of it.

Jesus commands us in verse 9 to never do this!

Jesus commands us in verse 9 to never do this!

We are meant to “Remain in the love of Christ.”

This does not mean that we need to hold onto Him and make sure our life warrants the continued love of God for us.

It means we are to live our life in such a way that we are ever mindful of His never ending love of us.

“Remain in the love of Christ.”

— This does not mean that we need to hold onto Him and make sure our life warrants the continued love of God for us.

It means we are to live our life mindful of His never ending love of us.

“We are to receive the love of Jesus obediently.

This is how we remain in [his] love.

We are unable to fully appreciate and enjoy this love and the peace it brings if we are in a rebellious state.”

We are to receive the love of Jesus obediently.

This is how we remain in [his] love.

We are unable to fully appreciate and enjoy this love and the peace it brings if we are in a rebellious state.

We cannot live in, experience and appreciate the love of God as we are meant to do so if we are disobedient to the one who loves us.

Bryant, B. H., & Krause, M. S. (1998).

John ().

Joplin, MO: College Press Pub.

Co.

God loves us…He took the initiative…So receive His love and obey His will for your life…this will keep you right in the center of the experience of His love.

When we keep our eyes on the love God has for us it changes us…it motivates us to love Him back…a love expressed by our obedience to Him.

We must always remember that God initiated this relationship…we love Him because He first loves us.

Jesus was ever mindful of the Father’s love for Him and His response was complete obedience to the Father’s will for His life.

This is the model of relationship between ourselves and Christ.

Jesus loves us…be ever mindful of this…and your love of Christ will keep you obedient to His will for your life.

Some ask, “There has to be more to the Christian life than what I am experiencing!”

The answer to such a statement is yes!

Be mindful of His love and follow His plan for your life!

Joy

Byproduct — a secondary result, unintended but inevitably produced in doing or producing something else

We could say that joy is a byproduct of living the Christian life but it is an intended result of doing so.

Jesus intends that we would bring Him joy and in turn we would experience an indescribable kind of joy as well.

Joy — a feeling of great pleasure and happiness.

Jesus experienced a life of complete joy because He loved and obeyed the Father perfectly…Jesus wants that kind of joy for us.

Joy — “Closely related to gladness and happiness, although joy is more a state of being than an emotion; a result of choice.

One of the fruits of the spirit ().

Having joy is part of the experience of being a Christian.”

Closely related to gladness and happiness, although joy is more a state of being than an emotion; a result of choice.

One of the fruits of the spirit ().

Having joy is part of the experience of being a Christian.

Joy — A sense of happiness or pleasure derived from the consideration of a present good enjoyed or a future one that is assured to come.

Bishop William Burt when asked how he acquired the habit of good cheer is said to have stated that the remark of a child he once overheard taught him to grumble and complain as little as possible.

"While I was studying at Wilbraham Academy I spent a few days with this child's father, a good man but a chronic growler.

We were all sitting in the front room when the question of food arose.

The little girl told cleverly what each member of the family liked best.

Finally it came to the father's turn to be described 'What do I like, Nancy?' he asked laughingly.

'You?' said the little one slowly.

`Well, you like mostly everything we haven't got."'

Have you considered what you have in Christ?

The life you have in Him!

Heyink, B. (2016).

Joy.

In J. D. Barry, D. Bomar, D. R. Brown, R. Klippenstein, D. Mangum, C. Sinclair Wolcott, … W. Widder (Eds.),

The Lexham Bible Dictionary.

Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

Jesus experienced joy from His finished work…obedience to the Father’s will for His life.

He found joy in the work He was doing with the Father to bring salvation to mankind and establish His church.

Jesus wants us to experience joy by obeying the Father’s plan for our life and be a part of what He is doing on the earth as well…Be ambassadors for Christ, ministers of reconciliation…To make much of Him…Make Him known to a lost world.

Jesus is painting a picture and we have the privilege of holding the brush and following His direction.

The finished product as well as the process along the way, brings us great joy…a sense of happiness and pleasure because we are God’s child and have the intense privilege of being a part of what He is doing in the world.

This brings Jesus joy in the process…isn’t it a wonderful thought that our life in Christ can bring Him joy as it brings us joy (a sense of happiness or pleasure).

How To Paint?

To be a part of what God is doing in the world requires that we be fully committed to Him.

You can never fully experience what you are meant to in this life if you are not fully considering the love God has for you and practicing complete obedience to His plan for your life.

To take the illustration a step further.

As we hold the paintbrush and join with God’s work of creating His church…what is God saying to us?

What are His instructions?

How do we move the paintbrush perfectly across the canvass so as to be pleasing to Him?

The short answer is to love.

Augustine once said, “Love, and do what thou wilt” This is a clear expression of what Jesus is teaching here.

If we love, in the sense in which Jesus uses the term, we need no other rule.

Jesus illustrates what a life in the love of God, experiencing the joy of God looks like — It is a life in which we love one another and sacrificially live our life for Him.

Augustine’s saying, “Love, and do what thou wilt” is a clear expression of what Jesus is teaching here.

If we love, in the sense in which Jesus uses the term, we need no other rule.

Christianity is not a philosophy of life which we put on like an old jacket to keep us warm on cold days.

It is not a supplement meant to make us emotionally healthy people.

Love like Jesus did and does...Love selflessly, sacrificially and unconditionally.

Christianity is the process by which we die to our old, sinful self and are raised from that dead way of living to a new life of relationship, obedience and sacrificially living for the glory of God.

Morris, L. (1995).

The Gospel according to John (p.

598).

Grand Rapids, MI: Wm.

B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

Jesus calls us His friends.

But as one commentator put it, “friendship depends on common aims and outlook and thus Jesus qualifies “You are my friends” by “if you do what I command.”