Sermon Tone Analysis

Moved To Tears!

Helena Modjeska (1844-1909) was one of the most popular actresses of her time because of her emotional style and superb ability.

Once, to demonstrate the raw power of her ability, she gave a dramatic reading in her native tongue, Polish.

No one at the sedate dinner party understood Polish, but all were in tears by the end of her performance.

Such was the power of her presentation.

Only later was it revealed that the piece that had moved the sophisticated audience to tears was the Polish alphabet.

Green, Michael P., ed.

Illustrations for Biblical Preaching: Over 1500 Sermon Illustrations Arranged by Topic and Indexed Exhaustively.

Revised edition of: The expositor’s illustration file.

Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1989.

There is a danger we believers must face that is very similar to that experience of Helena Modjeska…if we are not discerning of the truth, we could very easily be swayed into action by the power and charisma of some people, that we end up believing something of no greater value than a foreign alphabet!

There are many preachers and teachers available that promote much of what they say as in being in-line with Scripture…some of it is good, some of it not…

There is a great need amongst God’s people for greater discernment...

There is a great need amongst God’s people for greater discernment...

There are many preachers and teachers available that promote much of what they say as in being in-line with Scripture…some of it is good, some of it not…

In what areas of life do you need to show discernment?

There is a great need amongst God’s people for greater discernment...

This was true in Paul’s day as well as ours...

That is where we find ourselves in the study of Colossians today...

Please turn in your Bibles to …Paul is going to continue his theme of the Supremacy of Christ Alone, of finding our sufficiency in Christ…and he does this by sharing with them the concern he has for them...

He is so concerned for these people that he states he is...

Agonizing For Their Maturity

Agonizing For Their Maturity

Col 2:1

is a continuation of Paul’s thoughts expressed in …he labors with God’s power at work in him for the goal of seeing believers mature in Christ.

Paul wants them to know something…he wants them to know that he cares for them deeply and is greatly concerned about the attacks they are facing and the potential for them to drift away from the truth...

Paul wants them to know something…he wants them to know that he cares for them deeply and is greatly concerned about the attacks they are facing and the potential for them to drift away from the truth...

He is not just concerned about the Colossian believers, he is also concerned about the believers in Laodicea…this letter was to be circulated to them as well…Laodicea was about 10 miles from Colosse and was a sister church along with that of Hierapolis…

That letter is lost but some scholars believe the letter to the Ephesians is that letter…this is the same Laodicea that Jesus rebukes in … Jesus wanted to spit them out of his mouth because they were lukewarm…

Whatever Paul wrote to them and regardless of what they read from this letter, it didn’t take…and they believed they were rich by their own standards and became detestable to the Lord.

Rev 3:15-18

Paul wanted them all to know how much he loved them and even believers he hadn’t met yet...and that his heart beat for them was for them to mature in Christ…...

He was so in love with them that he agonized for them…struggle (NASB), contending for (NIV), conflict (NKJV)

His struggle is not outward because he was in prison, his struggle was an inner agony that believers would be easily duped by the abundance of false teaching that sounded so good and was yet extremely dangerous…he was concerned for them and wanted them to be discerning.

Context of Believers Developing Discernment

I pray that you, the people of MBC, are growing in your discernment of the truth…and I pray that you and I are all growing at a rate that God desires for us…and I pray that we all have a learner’s spirit that desires to know God’s Word more and to be faithful to live out our faith with boldness and greater levels of faithfulness..

Context of Believers Developing Discernment

The text we are examining this morning is a smaller portion of a larger section of his letter that carries the same thought…Please notice with me what Paul says in , , ,

The text we are examining this morning is a smaller portion of a larger section of his letter that carries the same thought…Please notice with me what Paul says in , , ,

All of these are directed to the believers of Colosse to be discerning and very careful about what you accept as truth and how your acceptance of truth impacts the way you live...

One of the greatest benchmarks for spiritual maturity is the ability to discern when something being said doesn’t line up with the whole of Scripture.

I share Paul’s agony…there is an abundance of “spiritual material and powerfully persuasive preacher/teachers” available to us today, and at mere click of a button you can find something that sounds reasonable, and you can hear someone who can be pretty convincing that what they are telling you is true...and unless you have developed a discerning mind you can very easily be sucked into their philosophies that stand in stark contrast to the completed Word of God.

I share Paul’s agony…there is an abundance of “spiritual material and powerfully persuasive preacher/teachers” available to us today, and at mere click of a button you can find something that sounds reasonable, and you can hear someone who can be pretty convincing that what they are telling you is true...and unless you have developed a discerning mind you can very easily be sucked into their philosophies that stand in stark contrast to the completed Word of God.

Eph

These all form the same argument with a different element being refuted..

I pray that you, the people of MBC, are growing in your discernment of the truth…and I pray that you and I are all growing at a rate that God desires for us…and I pray that we all have a learner’s spirit that desires to know God’s Word more and to be faithful to live out our faith with boldness and greater levels of faithfulness...

So for the next few weeks as we examine , we will carry the same theme…Don’t Get Sucked In…Use discernment...

form Paul’s opening salvo for greater discernment of God’s people by telling us...

Don’t Be Deluded By What Sounds Good!

So in the time we have remaining let’s consider how we can keep ourselves from being deluded.

Delude (NASB/ESV)/Deceive (NIV/NKJV) = literally means “to reckon wrong”; to deceive by false reasoning

Persuasive (NASB), plausible (ESV), fine sounding (NIV) = convincing but false speech...

This is clever teaching that is close enough to the truth to sound respectable and worthy of acceptance, yet far enough away from the truth to be devastating in its effects on both the individual and a congregation.

Paul doesn’t mention the specific person or teaching he was thinking of because there were many in Paul’s time…much like ours…so he says let no one…he doesn’t want any person to come along and persuade you to think something that does not fit with sound doctrine!

Instead of attacking each false teacher by name or even by a specific doctrine here, he just lays out the truth...

I’ve become convinced that because there are so many doctrinal deviations out there it would be impossible for me to mention them all and point out the people who espouse them…

I’ve also become convinced that I cannot and will not try to compete against those internet sensations who garner a large Facebook/Instagram following, the megachurch gurus, the celebrity TV preachers, or teachers who sell tons of books and videos…

This is where ministry in the 21st century gets extremely difficult because some of them are good, and as pastors we welcome the additional teachings and insights from those who are true to the whole of Scripture…

but there are also an equal number, if not more, of them that are not true to the whole of Scripture that create more problems in churches than they solve!

Many people are being sucked in to believing that they are okay with God while their sin is left unforgiven…many are being sucked in to believing that God wants you to be happy by making you feel good about yourself…many are being sucked in to believing that answers for the issues that plague all humanity are found outside a relationship with God through Jesus Christ…believers are buying in to man’s solution of psychology instead of listening to the Word of God!

Since I can’t and won’t compete with all that, I am simply going to focus on the fact that we need to know the truth and wisdom of Christ more so that when people come along claiming truth we can easily discern it for what it is because we know the real thing.

You are not okay with God if you are still living with unforgiven sin and walking in disobedience to Him

...instead we need to know the truth and wisdom of Christ more so that when people come along claiming truth we can easily discern it for what it is because we know the real thing

God does not want you to be happy, God wants you to be holy.

The only source of answers that will make a lasting difference in your life is to be found in Christ alone!

So with all that in mind and in the time we have remaining let’s consider how we can keep ourselves from being deluded by good sounding arguments that are simply not true.

So with all that in mind and in the time we have remaining let’s consider how we can keep ourselves from being deluded by good sounding arguments that are simply not true.

So in the time we have remaining let’s consider how we can keep ourselves from being deluded.

2 Keys...

1. Stay Focused on the Truth (1-5)

Read

Let that Truth Encourage You

The purpose of Paul’s struggle and the purpose of the letter was to strengthen their hearts.

The word for encourage here means to come alongside of … the noun form of this word is one of the names of the Holy Spirit...

The idea here is that Paul wants to come alongside them and strengthen them so they can stand up against false teaching.

When the Scripture speaks of the heart, it is talking about the inner person, the control center of our lives…it definitely includes the thinking...

The heart

What concerned Paul most about these people was not their behavior, not their service or lack of service, it was their hearts…why?

The heart is very important to God and Paul knew that…he knew that if they had not settled the truth about Jesus into the control center of their lives, they would easily be swayed away from Him…

Paul knew that if they had not settled the truth about Jesus into the control center of their lives, they would easily be swayed away from Him.

Paul knew that if they had not settled the truth about Jesus into the control center of their lives, they would easily be swayed away from Him.

We need to find our strength in the truth that Jesus Christ alone provides all the hope we need…that in obedience to His will we know we are pleasing God…that if our heart is focused on pleasing Him, we can stand against those who do not share our focus.

What sources do you tend to rely on for strength instead of your relationship with Christ?

Let that Truth Unite You

In unity there is strength…believers find strength when they are united together in love…the participle here is best translated as “by being united in love...”

In other words, encouragement (strengthening) comes when you are lovingly linked together with God’s people…the imagery here is of a body being held together by ligaments to make a strong unit...

False teaching will naturally divide and we must be careful to discern it before it creates a rift that seems impossible to mend.

When we are lovingly concerned for one another, we are going to heed the warnings Paul alludes to in and admonish one another with the goal of strengthening each other…we don’t want to lose people because they have been deluded into thinking they are okay when they are not...

Paul is really calling for a balance here between truth and love.

Love only = there is a dangerous line of thinking existent today that regardless of what people teach from the Bible, each person has their own interpretation of the Bible and we ought to just love them anyway and accept what they say.

Truth only = equally dangerous is the line of thinking that we can just tell them how it is and let them deal with it and never show concern for them in any capacity...

we lovingly strengthen each other by being unified around the truth of Jesus and we hold each other accountable to that truth...

What can you do to form a more united bond with God’s people that can be a source of encouragement for them and you?

Let that Truth Assure You

The same word for riches is used in for spiritual wealth…here the wealth consists of an informed conviction which results from insight…in other words, the ability to discern truth from error…far more valuable than worldly wealth is the richness of being able to recognize truth from falsehood...

Understanding is the ability to apply biblical principles to everyday life…the greatest and most important knowledge to ever be gained is the true knowledge of Christ.

the greatest and most important knowledge to ever be gained is the knowledge of Christ.

the knowledge of Christ.

and of course undoubtedly Paul has in mind the Gnostic heretics who had the view that they had access to knowledge that was even greater than the knowledge of Christ.

the view that they had access to knowledge that was even greater than