Sermon Tone Analysis
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How do you respond when a truth that you have believed for many years is challenged?
How do you respond when someone challenges what you believe as biblical truth?
Intro
We are hypocrites.
At the surface level this sounds biblical.
However, it misses a well rounded biblical understanding of what is happening.
Evolution
Now, Man made Global Warming
With all that we have out there, how do we find out what is truth?
Relativism:
Illus: One of the challenges from Millennials today is that they want authenticity.
This assumes that they expect hypocrisy.
Definition: a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion
Problem: We as a church have acquiesced to the truth claims of the world and have neglected the truths of God.
What is truth?
Illus: C.S. Lewis and Screwtape letters
Uncle Screwtape to Wormwood - Pg. 1.
The things of God will be challenged and attacked because we are at War.
God’s truth will be attacked and has been for years.
The church has faced issues of heresy and now looks more like the world in many areas.
One area we look like the world is in what we call truth.
God’s Word is truth, and not our interpretation of God’s Word.
We often make many things complex when it is actually very simple.
Drama
Stephen - Deacon of the church was referred to in
Acts
“A man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit”
Was being used by God to do “great wonders and signs” (8)
“Full of Grace and Power (8)
The Church
Early Christians including Gentiles and the work of the Apostles and now deacons
The Jewish prisoners of war captured by the Romans in 63 AD - The Freedmen
Cyrenians - Lybia
Alexandrians - Egypt
Cilicia and Asia - Asia Minor (Mentioned in Revelation)
Hellenistic Jews - spoke Greek - out of which came the Septuagint (Greek OT)
Jews were a sub group within a Greek dominated society.
Their chief complaint against him was “wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.”
What causes a group of religious Jews to respond to Stephen this way?
What is taking place in this story?
They were revolting against God’s Spirit - the truth
“Wisdom and Spirit”
Wisdom; insight, special knowledge
Spirit - The Holy Spirit
The Charge: He was preaching something new - and in their own words: blasphemous
Luke shows us here that the wisdom he was preaching was from the Holy Spirit, no different than what Jesus preached and died for.
This Truth that came from the HS was now being attacked and challenged.
Doctrine
Men who do not know God are opposed to God’s Truth
God’s Truth in a Fallen World: Spiritual War that can become a physical war
God’s truth should always accompany the Christian’s work.
Stephen did many “wonders and signs”
Much like the Apostles, in addition to “serving tables”
Works and service associated with teaching God’s truth
One without the other is useless
The works must come from the gospel and the gospel must accompany the works
“Faith without works is dead”
App:
We must have a well thought out practice based off of good theology.
We must know God’s Word - truth for our life
We must live it and they must be synced up.
God’s truth is always empowered by the Holy Spirit.
“Full of grace and power”
God placed Stephen in this situation
He was using him to accomplish His will
Push the truth and find opportunities to share God’s truth with everyone he served
Illus: I heard a pastor teach on the radio that the reason that God has us go through adversity is to prepare us fro a greater blessing coming our way.
At the surface level this sounds great.
But, if this is actually God’s story then we need to see our adversity as more to do with God than us.
It is Satan attempting to destroy God’s truth any way possible.
God’s truth will always find human adversity.
These men openly challenged his teaching (vs.
9)
They secretly conspired against him.
(vs.
11)
They built public allegiances against him (v.
12)
Illus: American’s will riot over anything.
In a world when everyone is offended and no one is immune to offending someone, we will riot over anything.
LA ‘92.
People were rioting over the Rodney King beating.
This beating was wrong.
But, the real problem wasn’t that people were awaiting to riot.
Actually it was the media who fueled the racism issue and made more out of the trial than needed to be made.
I listened to them instigate people and eventually it exploded into what we now know as the infamous LA Riots.
Their intent was to attack the truth proclaimed by Stephen
We need to be aware that if we share the truth and uphold God’s truth we will be attacked.
The more the world moves away from God’s Word and Truth, the more we will be attacked.
Stephen will respond to these challenges of blasphemy in the chapter coming up.
Doxology
As God’s Church we need to:
be aware that we are in a war.
Be aware that God’s Word and His truth will be challenged.
We must be faithful to share this truth.
Build relationships so we can share these truths
We have to know these truths, read God’s word
How much time do you
The same Holy Spirit that Stephen had is the same spirit we have to:
combat our hypocrisy
Ward of attacks by Satan
To Be bold in upholding God’s truth
Let us praise God that he has given us His Spirit to lead us into battle.
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