Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro:

Autopsy

We have been diesceting deceased churches to learn what we can do to avoid their mistakes.

Slow Erosoin

The past is the Hero

The Church refused to look like their community

The budget moved inwardly

The great commission became the great omission.

Today, we move to chapter 7, The Preference-Driven church

Q1 What are some unfortunately common areas where church members insist or demand their own preferences?

Why do you think that happens?

Fear of losing what they have

loss of control

loss of what attracted them

loss being important

Feelings of being neglected

Their needs loom large in their minds

Mistakenly elevating preferences to level of Biblical convictions

According to Webster’s 1828 Dictionary a conviction is (1):

CONVICTION, noun 1.The act of proving, finding or determining to be guilty of an offense charged against a person before a legal tribunal; as by confession, by the verdict of a jury, or by the sentence of other tribunal, as in the summary convictions before commissioners of the revenue.

2. The act of convincing, or compelling one to admit the truth of a charge; the act of convincing of sin or sinfulness; the state of being convinced or convicted by conscience; the state of being sensible of guilt; as, the convictions of a sinner may be temporary, or lasting and efficacious.

By conviction a sinner is brought to repentance.

Men often sin against the conviction of their own consciences.

3.T he act of convincing of error; confutation; the act of compelling one to acknowledge his error, or the truth of what is alleged; as, the conviction of a heretic may induce him to abandon his errors.

We can see from these historic definitions that the description of the word conviction in each had something in common.

They all involve the convincing and acknowledgement that an error or sin has taken place when examined in the context of the law, standard of proof, or acknowledged truth.

Biblically speaking, the word

conviction or convict (elenchō) means to “confute, admonish:- convict, convince, tell a fault, rebuke, reprove”(2).

In various forms of the word, the idea of conviction or rebuking for wrong doing is realized in light of God’s Word.

What is a preference?

According to Webster’s 1828 Dictionary a preference is (3):

PREF’ERENCE, noun The act of preferring one thing before another; estimation of one thing above another; choice of one thing rather than another.”

The knowledge of things alone gives a value to our reasonings, and preference of one man’s knowledge over another’s.

Biblically speaking, the word

preference or prefer (proēgeomai) means “to lead the way for others, i.e. show deference :- prefer (4).

In various forms of the word, a personal choice is made based on one’s own knowledge to choose one thing over another.

Difference:

The key to knowing the difference is based on the reasoning that led to the choice.

In the case of a conviction, the choice is tied to the understanding and conviction of what God says is the right choice vs. the wrong choice.

A preference does not necessarily have to have any Biblical influence.

Instead, a preference is left up to the individual.

Simply stated, a preference may or may not involve a Biblical influence, but a conviction must always have a Biblical influence.

Read more: https://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/conviction-versus-preference-whats-the-difference/#ixzz5Vo7fKaSp

Read more: https://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/conviction-versus-preference-whats-the-difference/#ixzz5Vo7fKaSp

Read more: https://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/conviction-versus-preference-whats-the-difference/#ixzz5Vo6xgTUM

Read 47-49

Me, Myself and I

Members focus shifted from others to themselves.

Read 49

Phil 2:

Pg 50

q 3 How does the attitude of Christ compare with the attitude of a selfish and entitled church member?

In a preference driven church

In a preference driven church

not many members with a self sacrificial attitude

Many were self-serving, self-giving, and self-entitled

The Love Dare

Remember the movie Courageous?

Read pg 51 middle par.

1 Cor 12:

Q2: How does relate to how we are to have the right attitudes and actions in our church?

Prayerful Commitment

read 52

The Commitment:

Lord, open my eyes to the needs of others.

Show me how to live more like Your Son, who always put others’ interests first.

And especially show me that attitude as I serve my church.

Conclusion:

If we insist on getting our way with our preferences, to the exclusion of others felt needs and preferences, we are becoming preference given.

Good news!

We can change!

I don’t think God is honored with extremely narrow preference driven churches.

If we set it up to meet the preferences of left handed blonde haired green eyed people with a limp, we are excluding the rest of the world.

I cannot imagine why a church would rather die than open up to as broad a spectrum of people as possible.