Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
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Tone of specific sentences
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Anger
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“Peace in our time!
Peace with honor!”
Some people still remember the words of British Prime Minister, Sir Neville Chamberlain, upon his return from Germany in 1938.
— He was sure that he had stopped Adolf Hitler and stayed off war… Yet 1 year later, Hitler invaded Poland and plunged Britain into the War.
— Chamberlain’s great peace mission had failed.
Have you ever noticed that most “peace missions” fail?
— (I read) - from 1500 B.C. to A.D. 850, there were 7500 “eternal covenants” agreed to among various nations with the hope of bringing peace, [yet] no covenant lasted longer than two years.
(Weirsbe)
Why are we talking about “peace missions”?
— Because that is exactly what Christ’s mission was…
Jesus came to bring Peace to Division.
— Luke 2:14
— Christ’s mission is the ONE MISSION that did not fail!
Look at Eph 2:11-22.
God never intended for the world to be divided.
— That’s why He sent Jesus!
I. Christ brought peace to the division between us and Him.
— “One Word … describes the Gentiles… ‘Without’.”
— Weirsbe
A. They were…
… without Christ.
… without citizenship.
… without covenants.
— they were “aliens and strangers”… Many Jews and Pharisees would even pray: “O’ God, I give thanks that I am a Jew, not a Gentile.”
… all this left them…
… without Hope.
— Historians tell us that a great cloud of hopelessness covered the ancient world.
Philosophies were empty; traditions were disappearing; religions were powerless to help men face either life or death.
— Weirsbe
… without God.
— They were separated… they were alone!
There is no hope where God is not!
This is where we once were!
We NEED this reminder!
We have a lot to be thankful for!
— We were once Lost… without hope… without Christ… without God!
— There was a wall between us and God… that we could not break down!
Christ tore down that wall down!
He destroyed the wall that separated us from Him!
— Eph 2:13-14
— Jesus did not just reconcile Jews to God… He brought Gentiles near to Himself as well!
— in One body… the Church!
— That is what the Jews needed to understand…
II.
Christ brought peace to the division between the Church and the people.
— Eph 2:14
A. Hostility had existed between the Jews and the Gentiles for a very long time.
— The Jews believed that since they were God’s chosen people… because they had the circumcision… the proof of their Covenant with God… that they were better than the Gentiles...
— Yet, they failed to understand — circumcision was no proof that he was a man of faith!
— Rom 2:25
— Gal 6:15
— Paul says that Jesus removed the “hostility” between them… What was it that caused the hostility?
1.
The Law — the “other” problem.
— For centuries… The Law had created a wall between the Jews and the Gentiles…
— There was even a wall in the Temple, separating the Gentiles from the rest of the Temple grounds…
— Archeologists even found an inscription in Herod’s Temple:
“No foreigner may enter within the barricade which surrounds the sanctuary and enclosure.
Anyone who is caught doing so will have himself to blame for his ensuing death.”
— The Jews allowed pride and prejudice to create a wall between them and the very “Nations” to which God had called them to reveal Him to…
B. That wall had to be destroyed.
— Eph 2:15-16
— Christ did that on the Cross!
Wait a minute.... Does that mean the OT no longer applies?!?!
NO!
— Christ himself said “I have not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it.”
— So… What does Paul mean?
— “Law” (nomos) — “”a rule prescribing what a person must do.”
this is what the Law was… (how they lived… how they dealt with sin… how they dealt with each other… how they remained holy…)
The Law erected a wall between the Jews and the Gentiles simply because they followed it, and the Gentiles didn’t… Legalism does not bring salvation… only Grace does!
Ultimately, what Christ abolished was not the Law, but the sacrifice, by being the final sacrifice!
“The righteousness of the Law, revealing God’s holiness, is still God’s standard.
But [it] is fulfilled in [people] by the Holy Spirit!” (Weirsbe) - - You see it was man’s legal requirements of the Law that separated the church and people…
Jesus abolished the very thing that was separating the Church from the people — through Grace!
— Grace is only found in Christ.
Hence… “that He might create in Himself ONE NEW HUMANITY in place of two...”
III.
Christ brought peace to the division between people.
— Christ has overcome all division… By preaching Peace!
— Not Worldly Peace… But Heavenly Peace… Peace that breaks down barriers… that destroys walls… that ends division… hate… and destruction…
— We are One nation… One family… One Temple… regardless of race, color, creed, abilities, … in Christ!
— We are no longer strangers… we are no longer separated… there is no division in Heaven… We are ONE Body…
… Being built up into ONE CHURCH in Christ!!!
Let me ask you — “What Temple did David build?”
— We are the Temple… We cannot allow it to be destroyed by division!
Christ knocked down the walls that divided us from Him, He knocked down the walls that divide us from other people, and He commands us to do the same for others!
— We are called to a “New Way of Life”… One that tears down the walls of division and builds walls of Grace!
— We called to knock down the walls of division and build Bridges of Grace!
We are called to be Bridge Builders!
— The world does so much to divide us… we must be a people who breaks down those walls of division, and builds bridges of grace and unity!
— The Jews allowed pride and prejudice to create a wall between them and the “Nations” — the very people — to which God had called them to reveal His mercy and grace to…
— They allowed that wall to keep them from fulfilling the purpose God had given them… and in doing so, they began to look just like the world!
Is that us?!
— The Church does the most for the world, when the Church looks the least like the world!
Where is your focus — on the Kingdom, or on the World?
— We have been given the message of Hope.
— We have been entrusted with the Gospel.
What are we doing with it?!
Let me ask you:
— Are you walking in the “newness of life” in Christ?
— What are you doing to share the “Good News” with others?
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