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A Perfectly Pitched Message

           Every song has a “tone” or a “pitch” around which everything is organized.  Notes that do not relate to that particular pitch are said to be “off-key”.  There is nothing wrong with those other notes; it is just that they do not fit in that particular song.  Notes that do not fit properly create “noise” instead of “music”.
            Spiritually speaking, if our teaching is to have the beauty and harmony that God intended then it also has to have a centre-point around which everything is organized.  Fortunately, we do not have to guess what Jesus’ message ought to sound like because he set the tone for his ministry.
            “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19).
            Unfortunately, the church does not always harmonize with Jesus’ tone.  Too many sermons sound more like “bad news” instead of “good news”.  Too often, we spend our time talking about the prison of sin rather than describing the freedom that is available in Christ (By the way, you do not have to describe the prison to the prisoners – they already know!).  Instead of talking about the blessing of sight, we often dwell on the spiritual blindness that is around us.  Rather than spotlighting “the year of the Lord’s favor”, too many teachers put “God’s displeasure and punishment” on centre stage.  Somehow, we have taken a hopeful and powerful message and turned it into something that sounds bad.
            Not only that, but we have also focused on the wrong people.  Most churches that I know are filled with successful, middle to upper-class people.  However, Jesus described his target audience with words like “poor”, “prisoner”, “blind” and “oppressed”.  It is not that the successful do not need the gospel (they do), but maybe the message would get a better reception if we, like Jesus, took it to those who are more keenly aware of their need. 
            Jesus said that if you want to speak for him, then you need to tell a joy-filled, hopeful message about how he can change people’s life and eternity.  That is the tone around which all the other teaching must harmonize.
            Anything else is out of tune.

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