Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

If you are a parent, and you’re paying attention one of the things that you will find to be true is that you will learn from your children.

As mother or father, you are in the position of instructor, teacher, guide.

But it’s not a one way deal.

Children, intentionally or unintentionally, teach their parents quite often.

This happened to me in recent years with our second born, Nabil.

Back in 2015, during his sophomore year in college, he released his first major music project.

He titled it, I Heard God Laughing.

It has nine original songs.

The third song is called, Happiness Heard Your Name.

Maybe it’s the former engineer in me, but my tendency is to critically analyze lyrics from a theological perspective.

Let me tell you that’s not always a helpful and healthy habit.

It can restrict me from appreciating beauty in art.

In the song, God is the Beloved One.

He is personified as happiness.

And the refrain in the song goes like this,

Ever since happiness heard your name, it’s been looking everywhere through the streets trying to find you.

Several times in these last days, God sweetly asked me for the address to your whole room.

Wanting the beautiful warmth of your heart’s fire.

I love these words from pastor and counselor Chuck DeGroat.

“People are not problems to be fixed, they are image-bearers to be known.”

In other words, at the core of what it means to be human is to be known by God and to know God.

And this is actually the heart of happiness.

You see, what my son wrote is beautiful because the Bible doesn’t just talk about joy, it talks about happiness.

Happiness is looking for you, desiring the warmth your whole heart’s fire.

Jesus comes on the scene in the passage that we read, in this first and monumental sermon in the Gospel of Matthew to declare and demonstrate happiness for his disciples.

The Sermon on the Mount, as one writer puts it, “describes what human life and community look like when they come under the gracious rule of God.”

These verses that we have read are commonly known as the beatitudes.

We hear Jesus say, “blessed are, blessed are, blessed are,…” Jesus is painting a portrait of the life of his followers, his disciples.

He is describing the whole room of the disciple’s heart’s fire.

What is the character of those who give their hearts to Jesus?

Graduates, as you begin this transition from seminary to ministry practitioner—whether that is pastoral ministry, counseling ministry, academia, or whatever the Lord calls you to next with this degree—what is your happiness?

And I’m not speaking of happiness as we would ordinarily think about it.

Things that Jesus lists, being poor in spirit, mourning, being meek are not traits that we would normally associate with happiness.

Let me tell you what’s going on here.

Jesus has announced in chapter 4 that the kingdom of heaven has drawn near.

He began to preach, Matthew says in 4:17, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Then we see in 4:18-25 Jesus begin to demonstrate the truth of that declaration by going throughout Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing all kinds of diseases among the people.

His fame has spread throughout all Syria.

He has called his first disciples, but there are many more now—great crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, and beyond the Jordan.

So Jesus is clearly backing up his preaching with action.

It’s obvious that this man is blessed of God and worth listening to.

Why is he famous?

It’s because his giftedness is like nothing they’ve ever seen.

He spoke words that were resonating with their hearts.

He was the embodiment of the answer to their prayers.

Who wouldn’t want to follow someone like that?

Can you hear the buzz among the people?

“I like the good news of the kingdom.

That man can preach!

He knows what he’s talking about.

I want to follow him.

I want to get close to him.

I will travel from afar just to get near this man because he’s not just a teacher, he’s a healer.”

His fame is spreading because people are happy with him.

They’re happy with what he’s doing.

They come into contact with him and they are made whole.

They are made well, and are therefore happy.

Jesus wasn’t just healing people in order to demonstrate that he was the legitimate king of the kingdom.

He was also doing it to demonstrate his love and his care that people are made whole and complete.

Yet, in this life, that was not to be the definition of happiness.

Having everything be as it ought to be could not be the determination of what it means to be happy.

Before they get caught up in the fame and the crowds, his disciples need to know what the happy life looks like for citizens of the kingdom of heaven.

Graduates, before you get caught up in the adulation and praise side of ministry work, you need to know what the happy life looks like for citizens of the kingdom of heaven.

So, after seeing the crowds, Jesus went up on the mountain.

When he sat down, his disciples came to him.

Understand this please.

Jesus wanted disciples, not crowds.

He wasn’t after fame.

He was after followers.

He was seeking to turn the hearts of people in a godward direction.

Let me talk about three things and then we’ll be done.

I want to talk about Desire, Devotion, and Dedication.

Let me talk about three things and then we’ll be done.

I want to talk about Desire, Devotion, and Dedication.

Desire

There are parts of these beatitudes that we wouldn’t blink an eye, that we’re quite content to affirm.

In other words, we desire to possess the kingdom of God.

We desire to be comforted in this world where there is so much pain and evil and death.

We desire to inherit the earth.

Everybody from the supporters of the New Green Deal Greenpeace to brokers on Wall Street has some concept of what it would mean to inherit the earth.

We desire to have our appetites satisfied.

We want our physical appetites satisfied.

We want our spiritual appetite satisfied.

We want our emotional appetite satisfied.

We desire to receive mercy.

When we do wrong, we don’t want to receive judgment and condemnation, we want mercy.

If we believe in God, we definitely want to see him, and we desire to be called children of God.

This is our desire for a happy life.

This our desire for a blessed life.

We would just love it if Jesus would define happiness according to our desires.

When do you find yourself happy?

What is it that brings you to a place of delight?

Is it simply when you feel well?

Is it when you receive a gift?

Is it when something works according to plan?

Is it when you finally have a few moments of peace and quiet?

Is it when you’re surrounded by friends and loved ones?

We could go on for hours asking and answering that question.

And those are all good things.