Sermon Tone Analysis

Today, the primary worldview competing with the Christian faith is a philosophy called Postmodernism.

It’s a philosophy that is difficult to define and “get an handle on” — the proverbial nailing-jell-O-to-the-wall kind of exercise.

It’s chief characteristic is the deconstruction of truth.

Wow, now what in the world does that mean?

Postmodernism rejects the very notion of truth as fixed, universal, objective, or absolute.

All truth is relative, and the individual is the sole arbiter of what they believe is true and what isn’t.

ILLUS.

Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary describes the various was to understand truth through the analogy of an home plate umpire calling a baseball game.

Three umpires are discussing balls and strikes.

The first umpire says, "There's balls and strikes, and I call 'em the way they are."

To which the second replies, "There's balls and strikes, and I call 'em the way I see 'em." Umpire three, obviously annoyed, says, "You guys are both all wrong!

They ain't nothin' 'till I call 'em."

Umpire #1 is thoroughly modern in his disposition.

He believes that there is objective truth—a strike zone that is hard and fast.

He is purely objectivity.

Umpire #2 understands that there is a strike zone, but it’s not hard and fast.

There is some subjectivity to his calling of balls and strikes.

This is especially true if he really blows a call and tries to make it up later in the game.

Umpire #3 has taken the dive into the postmodern pool.

He has abandoned the idea of an objective or even subjective reality that exists independently of his own ideas and perceptions.

Richard Rorty—a noted Postmodern philosopher—asserts that truth is made rather than found.

Objective true simply does not exist—all truth is socially constructed.

That is, social groups construct their own "truth" in order to serve their own interests.

Example: Thou shall not murder is not an all-encompassing truth proposition revealed by holy God.

It is merely a social contract generally agreed upon by human culture because anything else is just ... well messy.

When a culture decides that Thou shall not murder is merely a relative truth which can be abandoned when a society deems it necessary, then anything is permissible and legitimate including ethnic cleansing on a staggering scale.

Little imagination is needed to understand that this radical relativism is a direct challenge to the Christian gospel.

Our claim is not to preach one truth among many; about one Savior among many; through one gospel, among many.

We do not believe that the Christian gospel is a socially constructed truth, but the Truth which sets sinners free from sin—and is objectively, universally, historically true.

The Christian tradition understands Truth as established by God and revealed through the self-revelation of God in Scripture.

Truth is eternal, fixed, and universal.

As the late Francis Schaeffer instructed, the Christian church must contend for true truth.

There is no greater true truth that the church must contend for a Savior who came to redeem sinners from the wrath of a holy God.

In a world of competing worldviews, believers are to prove all things.

!

I. PROVE ALL THINGS

#. some Bibles translate this verse as test all things

#.

what does Paul mean when he writes to the Thessalonians, test all things?

#. he implies that in a world full of spiritual counterfeits, believers are to put to the test truth proposition that comes along

#.

I believe this is especially true of prophecies which he has just mentioned in the previous verse

#. but we should also carefully evaluate everything

#. the word examine refers to testing something for authenticity

* ILLUS.

Have you ever seen one of those old westerns where a cowboy flips the bartender two bits for his drink of whisky, and the bartender immediately bits down on it to make sure that the coin is authentic and not a piece of led?

#. that’s what the word examine implies – test the authenticity of the thing

#.

many believers have pierced themselves with many sorrows because they have jumped upon the latest spiritual bandwagon that comes along

!! A. CHRISTIANS MUST CAREFULLY EVALUATE EVERYTHING THAT TOUCHES THEIR LIVES

#. almost every day you are called upon to make value judgements about ...

#. people ...

#. events ...

#. products ...

#. news ...

#. opportunities ...

#. philosophies ...

#. situations ...

#. ideologies

#. you need to make those evaluations under the guidance of Scripture and the illumination of the Holy Spirit

* 1 John 4:1-6 /"Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God.

This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

5 They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.

6 We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us.

This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood."/

NIV

#. in the dark a lot of things look pretty good

#.

if you don't believe me, just ask Jacob!

#.

OK–some of you think about it, you'll get it

#.

only in the light of He Who is the Bright and Morning Star do we see things as they really are

#. it is easy to be beguiled

#. that's a good biblical word that is often translated as deceive but which means to seduce wholly

#. when we do not carefully evaluate the things that cross our paths it is easy to be wholly seduced

* ILLUS.

Millions of Americans, many of them true believers, have been seduced by various religious cults because they did not follow Paul's admonition of testing all things.

The Mormons are one of the fastest growing religious groups in the world and the vast majority of their converts come, not from evangelism, (that is winning them to Jesus), but by conversion from another Christian denomination.

The two biggies are from Catholics and Baptists.

#. because they have been guided by their emotions, instead of truth, multitudes are being tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine

* 2 Timothy 4:1 -4 /"In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2 Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.

3 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine.

Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths."/

NIV

#. their itching ears have responded to the voice of the antichrist and they have failed to evaluate what Satan has said against the confirmed truth of the Scriptures

#.

Paul understands human nature well

#. he knows that men are often guided by the passions of their emotions

#. that is why it is so important to test all things

#. this was Eve's problem in the Garden

#. it is still the greatest threat in the believer's life today — that we will not test all things

#.

you must learn to evaluate all things in the light of Scriptures and the leadership of the Holy Spirit

#. once you've evaluated a situation, person, or event you've got to make a choice of what to do

#.

as a believer, you have to accomplish two tasks ...

#. hold on to the good

#.

avoid the very appearance of evil

!

II.

HOLD ON TO THE GOOD

* ILLUS.

In the game of Football, the middle linebacker is a pivotal player on the defensive team.

Once the play begins, he has only a few seconds to recognize what the other team is doing and to make a decision of how he is going to respond.

He then positions himself to go whichever direction the ball is heading.

His performance is based on his evaluation of what is happening and his response to it.

#. this is the same thing that you have to do as a believer

#. once you have evaluated what is taking place around you, you have to position yourself to respond

#. in that response you have two choices