Sermon Transcript Tone Analysis

May God's grace, mercy and peace be yours, in the name of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Boy, I'm real tempted to just say amen again and sit down, cuz I don't know if you heard everything that these kids were sharing, but they just nailed it.

And that one little boy - I don't know his name - he was sitting about right here, kind of in blue, and Tara was asking, so, you know, what is peace?

And he said a piece of bread.

A piece of bread.

(holds up communion) A piece of bread.

You know piece and peace?

Amen.

I mean, that's it!

So, thank you, young man.

Who - my goodness, you know, they're better - I don't know if I'll be around twenty years from now, but I expect to see about a half-dozen pastors come out of this congregation here.

So whatever you're doing, keep it up.

Keep it up.

So, here in the epistle from Romans that I just had the privilege to share with you as the Spirit had inspired Paul to communicate, to share with the Christians at Rome, many years ago.

You know, the thing about the Apostle Paul, is those of us - you know in the Missouri Synod, you go to Seminary, and if you want to be a pastor, you're going to learn Hebrew, you're going to learn some Aramaic, you know, when I went to Concordia St. Paul, they said oh, you need to do some Latin, too.

And you need to learn, got to know Greek, because most of the Old Testament is Hebrew, and the New Testament is Greek.

And the Apostle Paul, my goodness, if only he would have used periods more often, so he and us could catch our breath.

He has such long sentences.

If you're familiar with the Epistles of Paul, in a New Testament Greek Bible, he'll have a sentence that is one page and more before he gets to the period.

I guess he was just that enthused about preaching the word of God.

And so, you know, with that thought, and it seems to come through this epistle that I shared with you, as if in one breath, Paul us speaks of peace, of suffering, of death, and of war.

I don't know if you caught it, but it's there.

Of peace, of suffering, of death, and of war, all in one breath.

Has anybody here, besides me, heard this past week of the suggestion or prediction that we're on the threshold of World War 3? Okay, if you haven't heard it, you're thinking about it, in light of what's going on in the Ukraine and Russia.

And this past week, now there's some that are speculating that, well what's going to keep Putin from pushing the nuclear button, if you know what I mean there.

And these cluster bombs that are supposed to be agreed upon not to be used by one side or another.

I mean, it's just - here, weren't you having this sense of hope in, "Oh, finally, we're coming to the end of this most recent war known as a pandemic, and before it's even over, there's another war."

What's the deal?

Where is the peace?

Where's the peace?

Well, if you're feeling restless about it, as I have to admit I am too, can you imagine what it must be like for the Ukrainians, who either find themselves on the run, or if they're not running, they're on their knees beside a beloved one that is dead, that has died, who now rests in peace.

You know, a report I saw, I think just yesterday - I think from CNBC or something - report says 549 Ukrainian civilians - 41 of them children - have died as a result of the war.

And 6,000 Russian soldiers have died.

Now.

Enemy or what have you, even those soldiers - Russians - are brothers.

Are husbands.

Are uncles.

I mean, who wins in war?

No wonder we're restless, and we wonder where is the peace?

So, you know what R.I.P. stands for.

You know, long ago, most grave stones, they would ingrave R.I.P. Actually, it comes from the Latin which goes something like "requiescat in pace."

The same initials in Latin carries over into English cuz English translation of that is rest in peace.

R.I.P. Rest In Peace.

So, can there be peace when someone lies in the grave?

Whether their death came by violence - by way of a war - or if it came by peacefully, falling asleep, peacefully dying at home?

You know, even as a Chaplain, as often as I hear it said or I have experienced myself somebody peacefully dying, you know, I wonder is there really peace in that?

Is there such thing in dying and death?

Is there a peaceful aspect to that?

Don't we fear dying if we don't fear death?

I mean, where's the peace?

Rest in peace.

Well, and then Paul comes along.

And he makes the case that even as we have our own thoughts about when our day may come, he reminds us that, well, don't you know that you're already dead?

The whole introduction, the beginning of the Book of Romans is Paul declaring - as guided by the Holy Spirit - that we are all dead in what?

Sin.

The wages of sin is death.

There's no resting in peace.

Unless you can prove that you have not fallen short of the glory of God.

Because it's Paul who says: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

So, good luck with that.

If you want to stand before your Creator and say, well, you know, I have nothing to worry about there.

But then he doesn't stop with that.

He wants to make sure that we realize just how desperate our situation is.

And you'd think it would be enough just to to hear, once again, or to be told, perhaps for the first time - you know, you're still walking and breathing and eating and sleeping - but you're dead because of your own trespasses and sins.

But then, he says - Romans 5:6, he reminds us, we were still weak.

We were powerless.

You think there's ever a good time to be weak?

I'm not talking about lazy, I'm talking about being powerless.

Is there ever a good time to be weak in sin?

I would hope not.

Is there ever a good time to be weak in your morals, or in your ethics?

Is it ever a good time to be, how about weak in faith?

Well, then you risk losing faith.

I mean, it just - anyone here want to say, oh I've never been weak.

I've never been powerless.

I've never been weak in faith.

I've never been weak in my morals or my ethics.

And then Paul doesn't stop there.

You know, he likes his long sentences, so he's not done.

So he goes from we are dead in our trespasses while we were weak and powerless.

And in verse 8, he says "and while we were still sinners."

He comes right back to that - the wages of sin is death.

So, now, our cofession that we just had, here, that you're accustomed to, I appreciate.

I go back to the confession I grew up with, and maybe some of you remember it, which goes like this: "I a poor miserable..." (congregation says "sinner.")

Well, no, not as sinful as the neighbors.

No, you're right.

I, a poor, miserable sinner.

Really.

And I wonder as we say those words and we say them again and again and again.

Does it become automatic, where we really don't stop and think "yeah, how have I been this past week?

How was I this morning?

How was I yesterday?"

Is it really true? Really?

A poor miserable sinner?

We all love that song, "Amazing Grace," that saves such a - well, not as much of a wretch as my neighbor.

That saved a wretch, like who? Me.

See, this is what Paul is getting at, and guess what?

He doesn't stop there.

He's really driving it home.