Sermon Tone Analysis
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Intro: Think about beliefs and even processes that people embraced and practiced over the past several years.
Six hundred years ago people believed the earth was flat; and were afraid of sailing far out into the ocean for fear they would fall off the earth.
For two thousand years “blood - letting” was used to treat almost every disease—from cancer to digestion to pneumonia.
Even social beliefs were embraced and acted on such as much of US’s history Native Americans and African Americans were considered inferior, second-class citizens.
Less than one hundred years ago women were denied the right to vote.
As recently as 1900 a large percentage of the populations believed “humans will never fly.”
Even in 1960 there were those who believed a person would never walk on the moon.
These assumptions/thoughts were wrong.
Faulty thinking at the very least limits our ability to experience life and move forward into the future as God intends; and at the very worst it destroys lives and civilizations.
Faulty thinking is when we believe something to be true that is false.
It is a deadly threat to both emotional and spiritual health.
What do you think are some things faulty thinking can do in an individual?
Trap you into “powerlessness”
Paralyze you in hopelessness
Cause false guilt
Obscure hope for the future
Cut off from joyful living
Diminish capacity for genuine relationships
lock you in unnecessary pain
Faulty thinking is contagious and can spread—which makes it even more dangerous.
We are going to look at three major types of faulty thinking,
Faulty Thinking 1: All-or-Nothing Thinking
This type of thinking exaggerates and makes things bigger than they are.
Usually All-or-Nothing thinkers see everything in black and white—little room for the gray areas of life.
I.e.
A bad experience with wrong Christian leads this type of thinker to conclude ALL Christians are hypocrites.
You buy a certain brand of car that is a lemon and conclude all cars belonging to that brand are lemons.
Lets look at a certain Bible character who appeared to think this way at one point.
**Look at the entire passage—how the brothers were reacting to the situation and the way they were thinking.
Good things were actually happening in Jacob’s life but he couldn’t see them.
What he saw was a son Joseph he believed was dead; and now he believes two more sons were going to be lost all the while dealing with a famine that was threatening the life of his household.
Was his concern valid?
Absolutely!
Was his global thinking that “everything is against me” true?
No!
He was not seeing how God HAD blessed him and how he was about to be greatly blesses.
He failed to discern that God was working on his behalf—and his family’s—for a long range plan to keep them from starving by moving them to Egypt.
**This was also God’s plan for preserving the line that Jesus would come from.
His thinking was untrue—Joseph was alive, Jacob was not losing Simeon and Benjamin.
All-or-Nothing thinking is a tragedy.
This type of thinking is believing something that is untrue and then spreads to others around us.
Examples of Faulty and Accurate Thinking:
Faulty: That person will NEVER change.
Accurate: If God can change me God can change anyone!
Faulty: Men can’t be trusted.
Accurate: I was once betrayed by a man, but I know some who are faithful and trustworthy.
Faulty: All lawyers are deceitful.
Accurate: There are SOME dishonest lawyers; but there are some really great and godly ones.
When we use statements that include words like always, all, everybody, or never, are usually indicators we are engaging in faulty thinking.
A simple change in wording can create a major change in us and enable to reframe a situation differently.
When we engage in all-or-nothing thinking, we easily miss the ways God is moving and working in our lives.
Consider Nathanael when he heard the Messiah was from the small town of Nazareth.
He made a wrong judgment based on a stereotype.
How did Jesus respond to Nathanael’s faulty thinking?
He did’t take it personally or get defensive.
He corrected Nathanael’s immature distortion and invited him to follow Him and have his eyes opened to greater things in the future.
Faulty Thinking 2: Taking Things Personally
We take things personally when we take offense at or take responsibility or blame for something before we have all the data.
When we do this we fail to acknowledge the ambiguity of a situation and rush to a negative interpretation of events.
However, in most of these situations, our interpretation is not based on reality but on stories we tell ourselves.
Examples:
A friend is late for lunch appointment.
She doesn’t respect me.
I wasn’t asked to be in leadership.
The pastor must believe I don’t have the gifts.
When we do this we cause ourselves unnecessary grief.
Do we break any commandments when we jump to conclusions about other people that likely are not true?
When we jump to conclusions about other people, we build up resentment which often turns to guilt for the inability to forgive them.
Examples of Faulty and Accurate Thinking:
Faulty: She did not return my phone call or text.
She must be upset with me.
Accurate: She may not have gotten the messages.
She may have been in a rush and didn’t have time.
She may have forgotten or gotten distracted by other concerns.
Faulty: Pastor did not acknowledge me at church today.
He is stuck up or avoiding me.
Accurate: He may have been focused on the sermon and the Holy Spirit may have been speaking to him at that moment.
He may have been distracted by a serious prayer concern just given to him and may not have seen me.
Faulty: They didn’t invite me to lunch with them.
They don’t like me.
Accurate: Maybe they were discussing a project while at lunch.
Perhaps they have their reasons for not inviting me and that is okay.
They are free to choose.
Remember: Much of life is ambiguous and open to interpretation.
If we make quick, impulsive judgments, they are often wrong.
Can you think of a Bible character who was a great example of someone who did not take things personally?
Lets look at Mary, Jesus’ mother.
Its touching that we do not see resentment toward Joseph who was going to end their engagement and divorce her.
She gave birth in a MANGER of all places and doesn’t seem to have any bad words for the innkeeper who said he had no room for her even though she was nine months pregnant.
When it was time for the baby to be dedicated, she was given difficult words at the temple by the prophet Simeon.
Rather than being offended or resentful toward the words
What was her response?
Mary pondered and treasured these things in her heart.
We don’t know for certain what Mary was thinking, but it appears she used great restraint in not telling herself negative stories about others even when their actions or words could have been hurtful.
Do you think its possible that her ability to not take things personally is one of her great secrets to her spirituality?
Her relationship with God apparently protected her heart from being offended by others in the way they spoke to her or treated her.
She did not retaliate when others misunderstood her.
When we are able to not take things personally, it is a sign of spiritual maturity.
Faulty Thinking 3: Thinking Things Will Never Change
This way of thinking relates to your view of the future.
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