Sermon Tone Analysis
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What we believe to be true about life forms the foundation for how we live life.
Our beliefs speak into the words we use with others.
They determine how we approach daily decisions.
Everything from the min(oo)t decisions to the deeper life changing decisions.
Our beliefs about what is true in all of life affects how we take in the news, how we gather information, messages from other people…and then how we integrate those things into our lives.
Ultimately, what we believe to be true about life determines how we view God, live within His world, and how we operate daily with the Gospel of Jesus.
What we believe leads to how we live each and every day.
Here we are in 2023!
There’s been a lot of change hasn’t there?
Even in the last 2-5 years things have changed…life has changed.
What’s right and or what’s wrong.
What is love or what is hate.
What’s true (objectively true) and what’s not.
Who God is and who He’s not.
We talked about change last week.
That some change is good and other change is not.
Paul wrote in Romans 12:2
There are two ways to live.
The way of the world.
Or the way of God.
How, how do we do this?
This is hard.
Let’s go back to this statement.
What we believe to be true, what we believe, determines how we live.
As disciples of Jesus, we know that often what the Bible teaches, what God teaches us through His Word, will often be pushed aside as either irrelevant or hateful.
So how do we live?
It’s hard knowing that what we believe is not shared by a majority of the people on the planet.
Knowing that there’s often push-back and false claims made against believers in God.
How do we live, knowing that we will go through trouble and hardship if we hold true to God’s will?
What we believe leads to how we live life.
Plato, a philosopher who lived in the 5th century BC, wrote a book titled The Republic.
In this book he questioned thought about life…how people should best live in relationship to each other…and he contemplated eternity as well.
He was looking at life.
In this book he quotes his teacher Socrates as saying this, “We are discussing no small matter, but how we ought to live.”
How we live is no small matter.
It is very important.
How we live is important…why we live that way may be even more important to think about.
Paul said not to conform to this world but to be transformed by God.
The world changes all the time.
However, the one Paul directs us to never changes
The author of Hebrews writes this Hebrews 13:8
Jesus never changes.
God never changes.
Truth never changes.
But in today’s world, what is true about life…morality…ethics…right ways of living…always seems to change.
Either God and His ways stand forever or they don’t and He doesn’t.
There can’t be an in between here.
So conform to the ways of the world…or be transformed by God and His truth.
That’s our daily choice.
Ok....this is tough isn’t it?
This is the challenge.
And it is no small challenge.
An in this world we see how people are treated.
We see the culture making wrong decisions…how do we speak into that.
Sometimes is the Christian world speaking into the world in very incorrect and unprofitable ways.
How do we do this?
In a book I’m reading, the true and very recent story is told of a professor who had given an assignment to his college level class.
They are to watch a pornographic video and then write a discussion paper about it.
One person in the class, Jana, a Christian…a believer in Christ, knows that this will not be good for her to see.
She needs this class and simply not doing the assignment would be very hurtful to her grade.
She wants to keep a sense of purity…but she’s also wants to do well in the class.
Jaelene is a professional woman’s soccer player.
The US National team was slated to wear gay pride jerseys for a specific game.
Jaelene is a Christian who believes in God’s design for sex and marriage.
Some might say it’s only a jersey…but for her, she was caught in a dilemma.
The chance to play on this team was very important to her…she loved her teammates and enjoyed her time with them.
These two ladies …can you image the pressure they were under.
They wanted to do well and succeed.
Both worked hard at what they were doing and what they were achieving.
They also wanted to stay true to their convictions.
Can they do both?
One author stated it this way.
And this is a hard question!
Can it be expected that in doing the right thing, sometimes you might suffer?
Doesn’t God want people to be happy?
Remember what Socrates wrote…what he found in life...”We are discussing no small matter, but how we ought to live.”
This is no small matter.
It is a challenge.
For us, we face ethical and moral decisions every day.
Should I respond to a post on social media?
Should I watch this or that?
Should I say something when certain subjects come up?
Should I talk like others want me to even though I know that what I’m saying can’t be true?
Do I join protests with groups and movements for and against things within life and politics…some of which I know conflict with how God calls me to live?
These are hard questions.
There are times when we respond that we suffer.
There are times when we don’t, and we’re expected to, and then we suffer as well.
We’re wrong if we do…and we’re wrong if we don’t.
To be honest and blunt, in today’s world, to live as a Christian, as the scholar John Lennox says, is “to be more and more of a threat to social stability and human freedom.”
There’s a historical figure from our Old Testament that we place in a similar spot.
His name was Daniel.
Daniel was a young man, maybe even a young teen, when Babylon, led by King Nebuchadnezzar, came and sacked Jerusalem.
The king wanted to have a number of young men, strong, good looking, smart and intelligent young men who lived in or alongside the royalty of Judah, to come and be taught to be his advisors and wise men.
That’s where we start the story here in the book of Daniel.
Let’s read Daniel 1 together.
And I think you’ll see where this is going.
Remember, we’re focusing on how what believe is true affects how we live.
In 605BC, we have Daniel being carted off to a foreign land to be a servant of a foreign king.
Jerusalem, his home, is now owned and controlled by Babylon.
He’s being led away from everything he knows.
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