Sermon Tone Analysis

From Barna.com

It may come as no surprise that the influence of Christianity in the United States is waning.

Rates of church attendance, religious affiliation, belief in God, prayer and Bible-reading have all been dropping for decades.

By consequence, the role of religion in public life has been slowly diminishing, and the church no longer functions with the cultural authority it held in times past.

These are unique days for the church in America as it learns what it means to flourish in a new “Post-Christian” era.

This is people who identify a lack of Christian identity, practice or belief.

Post-Christian Metrics

To qualify as “post-Christian,” individuals had to meet nine or more of the following factors.

“Highly post-Christian” individuals meet 13 or more of the factors (out of these 16 criteria).

Do not believe in God,

Identify as atheist or agnostic,

Disagree that faith is important in their lives,

Have not prayed to God (in the last week),

Have never made a commitment to Jesus,

Disagree the Bible is accurate,

Have not donated money to a church (in the last year),

Have not attended a Christian church (in the last 6 months),

Agree that Jesus committed sins,

Do not feel a responsibility to “share their faith”,

Have not read the Bible (in the last week),

Have not volunteered at church (in the last week),

Have not attended Sunday school (in the last week),

Have not attended religious small group (in the last week),

Bible engagement scale: low (have not read the Bible in the past week) or disagree strongly or somewhat that the Bible is accurate,

Not Born Again

According to Barna’s recent data, the most post-Christian city in America is Portland-Auburn, Maine (57%).

In fact, New England and the Northeast—considered the foundation and home-base of religion in America—figure prominently: Eight of the top 10 most post-Christian cities are in this region.

On the West Coast : San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, CA (50%), and Seattle-Tacoma (50%).

Here in LA: Baton Rogue — 26% (79); New Orleans 25% (81); Shreveport 12% (100)

Why is this important for us to know: If you were a participant in their research, and you answered their questions honestly, Are you in danger of being considered a “post-Christian”?

How close are you to losing/forsaking your identification with Christ?

(only takes 9)

With that in mind please turn to 2 Timothy 1:8-14.

We are living in difficult days.

(Explain theme for year and reiterate what Pastor Matthew shared last week in where we are going and why)

Historical background

Paul knows his life is about to end…2 Tim 4:6…so this letter to young Timothy is sort of his last will and testament…his swan song.

Paul is passing the torch to Timothy so that he will pass the torch to others…2 Tim 2:2.

Paul is writing at a time when the church was facing a variety of threats, some external and some internal…the impact of which brought the continued existence of the Christian community into the next generation into question.

From a human perspective, the thought of the church continuing to exist in a few years was highly doubtful.

It was not a time where the church was making great gains.

The cultural impact was minimal.

The church was well beyond the time of thousands being added to the church everyday as seen in Acts 2.

In fact, the church was under heavy persecution of Nero and people were defecting from the things of Christ.

Paul was sitting alone in prison, viewed as a criminal by society and fellow believers ashamed to be associated with him.

Since people were walking away back then, how much more is that being realized today?

Main Point: Stand Strong by Being Identified With Christ!

Therefore — in light of the truth that God did not equip him with a spirit of fear but of power, love, and discipline, Paul writes to exhort Timothy how he could stay strong to the end.

Paul gives three imperatives to obey that will help us stay strong.

Stand up!(8a)

Paul admonishes Timothy to “not be ashamed”

Not being ashamed is a key idea in this chapter.

From verse 8 to verse 16 Paul mentions it three times.

He was not ashamed — v. 12

He admonished Timothy to not be ashamed — v. 8

He reports that Onesiphorus was not ashamed — v. 16

The word ashamed means to experience a painful feeling or sense of loss of status because of some particular event or activity.

Paul did not want Timothy to have any reason for feeling foolish for believing in Christ, or to believe that being identified with Christ is something that should be hidden out of fear of loss.

The pain of loss was a real threat to the believer of Timothy’s day.

The tense Paul used here indicates he had not seen Timothy already being ashamed.

Paul recognized it was a real threat and wanted to preempt Timothy from choosing that path.

Don’t Be Ashamed to Identify with Christ

“Don’t be ashamed of the testimony of Christ” — testimony, witness, proof — Don’t be ashamed to testify, to be associated with Christ, to acknowledge the truth about Him.

This is a call to testify with openness.

We need to understand that both Jews and Gentiles viewed the crucifixion as the ultimate emblem of disgrace and dishonor.

It was a punishment reserved for the worst of criminals.

In their eyes, to identify with Christ was to identify with a criminal.

In their day, the preaching of the cross was foolishness.

Paul told the believers in Corinth...

1 Cor 1:23 “but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness,”

To think that a poor, Jewish, son of a carpenter could save people from their sins was ludicrous to them.

You are a fool if you follow him.

Timothy is pastoring the church in Ephesus.

This is an economical hub for the region which brought people from all areas and from all walks of life.

It was a city filled with competing religious systems and worldviews.

It was a city full of idols.

It was a city where riots broke out because of Paul’s ministry there (Acts).

There is no doubt people here shared the same view as those in Corinth.

It would have been very easy for Timothy to listen to the culture of his day and move away from his identity in Christ.

Our culture today is much like Timothy’s time.

We live in a world with competing religious ideas and full of idol worship.

(Celebrities, Athletes, Social Influencer) It is a culture that is accelerating the descent away from God.

It is one that openly, brazenly, at times militantly, attacks those who identify with Christ.

To take a stand for biblical truth often brings intense persecution to the point that believers are afraid (ashamed) to be identified as a believer.

Shame often shows itself through silence.

It is not that we live wickedly or in open defiance of Christ.

Shame appears when we are silent to go along with the way everyone else lives.

There is no difference in our ethics, moral positions, values or ambitions.

Fear and shame are partners.

We are afraid of the cancel culture so we hide our faith in our silence.

Just a few weeks ago, John MacArthur preached a message on biblical sexuality and declared that God created us male and female.

You Tube labeled that message as “hate speech” and removed that from their platform.

He was not ashamed to preach the truth regardless of what the world thought.

We broadcast live on Facebook every Sunday and there is a real possibility that the Facebook fact checkers may hear something they don’t like and shut us off.

So I am going to say something right now that I hope they hear very clearly.

We at Open Door Bible Church are not ashamed of the gospel.

We believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to Heaven.

We understand His word is our final authority on all matters of faith, morality, and practice.

We do now and will forever stand on the truth of His word and proclaim with every breath the reality of who Jesus is, God in the flesh.

We proclaim loudly the reality of sin being anything that violates the holy character of God and that sin has separated us from Him.