Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

Imagine someone in this community who does not follow Christ.

This person has hit rock bottom and is looking for someone to help them find hope.

They are looking for someone who has demonstrated a level of wisdom, spiritual maturity, and Bible literacy that want to reproduce in their lives.

Who in this church would they reach out to? Think of a name or a group of names.

If you didn’t think of this answer, then we have work to do: Any member of Slayden Baptist Church.

Here is a bold statement: the people in any community should be able to reach out to any member of the church in their community and be discipled to follow Jesus Christ.

But here is the truth: Most people have never met a believer who was capable of making a disciple.

There are two fundamental problems in todays American church:

1.

We are not as burdened over lostness as the Lord has called us to be.

We are broken over poverty, over the state of politics, over sickness, etc. but we are not broken over brokenness—our lives reflect it.

On Sunday, September 8, at 5pm, I am starting an evangelism training class.

It will be a six week class, and I will only take 7 people.

It is best if you have read through the Bible at least once.

I will repeat the class throughout the year.

I will train you to share the gospel and start evangelistic Bible Studies.

It will be intense.

You will lead one or more people to the Lord over the course of the next year.

I am preaching this sermon in part to help you figure out if you need to be a part of that.

2. We as Christians go to church, but we don’t look as much like Christ as we should.

In fact, we increasingly look more and more like the culture around us.

On Thursday, September 12, 6:30pm, I am starting a men’s discipleship class.

It will be a one year commitment.

We are going to add our names to the list of those who can make disciples.

We are going to study God’s word, we are going to learn how to explain it to others, we are going to memorize Scripture, we are then going to disciple other men.

We are going to look each other in the eyes and say lets be about the work of building the Kingdom.

I am preaching this sermon to help you figure out if you need to be a part of that.

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David Mathis changed the phrase “in the world, but not of it,” to “Not of the world, but sent into it.”

(august 29, 2012)

rom

Three reminders to the church of today:

You are not of this culture, but you are sent into it

You are not of this culture’s religion, but you are sent to it.

You are not of this world, but you are influencing it.

, am going to be a bit of a RACONTEUR today.

I want to unpack this concept this morning and ask the question: Are you standing out, or has the culture conformed you?

You are not of this culture’s religion, but you are sent to it.

You are not of this world,

Not of the culture, but sent into it

If your lifestyle is not remarkably different, you may have been conformed to the culture.

in what ways is your lifestyle different than the culture…besides the fact that you go to church?

God has called us to be remarkably different than the culture around us.

Romans 12

I want you to see what happens to Daniel and his friends, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.

God sent them to another culture:

3-

What is happening here is the word enculturation.

The process of enculturation as defined in the dictionary:

the gradual acquisition of the characteristics and norms of a culture or group by a person, another culture, etc.

EXAMPLE: (Russia—shoes, Cartoons Aurthur and My Little Pony introduced gay characters…what is happening?

enculturation…they are attempting to teach children that it is normal to live outside of God’s boundaries for gender and marriage.)

This is happening to all of us from the time we are born.

We are enculturated into the culture of our family, the culture of our neighborhoods, the culture of our region, the culture of our country, etc.

But enculturation also occurs on a smaller scale at our schools, our workplaces, our church, our shopping center, etc.

The Babylonians have a strategy to rule the world.

They conquer a nation a little bit at time.

They first take the most talented people from a country and enculturate them into leadership positions of the Babylonian empire.

Then they take another group of people from a conquered nation and enculturate them into the work force.

Then they take a third group of people only leaving the poor and the destitute in their original land.

Danial, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah have been taken in this first group from Judah.

Many men (Jews and men from other conquered nations) with them are taken into the order of eunuchs in the Babylonian Court.

Because they will have access to the high level of government, they must not be any danger to the kings harem.

They are taught the language of the Babylonian culture, their literature, and their food.

Their names are all changed to Babylonian names.

It is a remarkable strategy.

The Babylonian goal is to enculturate these men.

They want to turn them into Babylonians.

I want you to notice how Daniel and his friends understood this principle—they were being enculturated: They were not of this culture, but they were sent into it.

dan 1

Nothing in God’s law prohibited them from learning another language.

Nothing prohibited them from having another name or reading other literature.

However, God had place boundaries around what they ate.

Nothing prohibited Daniel and his friends from drinking the wine (unless they had taken a Nazarite vow), but they probably understood the responsibility of the moment and decided to abstain from alcohol so they would have fresh minds each day.

The chief eunuch was afraid to grant their request, but a ten day testing period was agreed upon…they would eat vegetables (probably because the meat was meat that was prohibited in God’s law) and drink water…Daniel and his friends were found to look healthier at the end of ten days.

So for the remainder of their three year training program, they were allowed to eat in a way that God had required in His law.

This may seem like a small thing, but we must understand that our culture is attempting to enculturate us every day.

We make many decisions every day that are culturally related, and quite frankly, many in the body of Christ are making wrong choices…they are being enculturated.

Our Culture says:

you should watch movies and tv shows with nudity in them…everyone else is…its normal…it is a good plot…it is a good show…it is pleasing to God that you are entertained by things that disgust Him.

men, it is normal and perfectly fine for you to look at pornography!…you can look at the menu, just eat at home!…you are made to notice the beauty around you…it won’t affect your wife at all if you enjoy the beauty of other women.

you have seen beer commercials since you were old enough to watch tv…no body looks like they don’t feel good…they all have flat bellies…they don’t have relationship problems…they are all sleeping real well and have lots of energy…

ladies…dress in such a way to draw the attention of all those men!...

you don’t have to be careful about what you wear ladi

Your children don’t need to be at the church that often …there are so many more important things that they need to learn…As long as they are around the word of God for one or two hours a week, that is enough...

Marriage is not just between a man and a woman, our culture tells us…it is normal for a man to marry a man or a woman to marry a woman.

Our culture tells us you need to have sex before you are married…and it is normal to have multiple partners…marriage has nothing to do with sex…

You are just a product of your upbringing and your genetics…God made you to identify as a different gender…God made you to want to murder people

your children only need to be at church one or two hours a week…after all, there are so many other important things for them to do that will prepare them better for life.

Don’t shelter your children…you don’t want them to be ostracized because they don’t have sinful lives…you want them to fit in to a sinful culture don’t you?…they need to go and sow their wild oats!…most people have done things they regret…don’t try to teach your children to live differently…don’t shelter them.

you don’t have to read the entire Bible…just read a devotional every day…that is enough…you don’t need to be able to explain the Bible…you just need to go to church.

You don’t have to memorize Scripture…especially if you have access to the Bible on your phone!

You are really busy during the week…Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, are just exhausting…you don’t need to go to church on Wednesday…after all, they are just going to pray…Wednesday is your down time…nobody is ever refreshed by praying and reading the word...

You are just a product of your upbringing and your genetics…God made you to identify as a different gender…God made you to want to murder people.

It is ok…this is how we do it in this place…this is our culture.

Everyone else does it.

Many in the American church live this way, because our culture has convinced them that it is normal…well it is not!

It may seem like a small thing that they chose to eat only the food offered to them that God permitted...Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah understood that they were not of that culture, but they were sent to it.

God blessed their faith in the midst of crisis…Look at how these men stood out…they were remarkably different…they were remarkably better:

dan 1 18-

When compared, this is exactly how each one of us should come out: We are sent to this culture, but we are not of it.

If your life is not remarkably different and more successful than the next guy, it could be that you were sent into the culture and became a part of it.