Sermon Tone Analysis

In the 8th installment of the Star Wars saga, Kylo Ren, son of Han Solo & Princess Leia, has embraced the Dark Side of the force and bowed to the power of a Sith Lord named Snoke.

Donned in a black robe and helmet like his grandfather Lord Vader, Ren believes he has crushed the rebellion once and for all.

But Snoke knows better.

Returning from an apparent victory for the Dark Side, Ren is chastised by his master.Snoke: "You are no Vader.

You're just a child in a mask."

Kylo Ren: "I gave everything I had to you; to the Darkside."

Snoke: "Skywalker lives.

The seed of the Jedi lives.

As long as he does, hope exists."

Rebellions will live as long as they are led.

It is true in the Star Wars universe.

It is true in ours as well.

Some people live as though hope is a concept reserved to the "long ago," or relegated to a "galaxy far away."

Hate reigns, lies rule, and fear sits as a monarch in the hearts of those who have surrendered to despair.

But there is a rebellion subverting hate, lies, and fear.

A counter-cultural existence led by a lowly Galilean carpenter.

Some believe he died long ago.

But he lives!

And because he lives, hope exists!

But during our time.

In our current modern culture.

In the backdrop of all tension and confusion.

Are we losing the cardinal virtues of the Christian Faith?

Its funny as we progress through cancel culture, covid, and complacency it does seem that we are becoming more faithless, less loving, and less hopeful.

People are so quick to give up.

Christians more and more today are becoming more hopeless.

More and more indifferent to others.

Less and less faith in the promises of God.

Where are our Christian attributes?

But it is interesting as I watched starwars on how the concept of Luke being alive still gave people hope.

I was reminded… as to how I have been saying now and have been saying since all of this stuff started.

Do we believe that Christ is alive and sitting on the throne.

It’s like the way we are acting in modern evangelicalism make me wonder if we still believe that Jesus is alive.

We are acting like all that we to have to hope for is still in the tomb.

But we have more than this.

We are more than this.

Lets take a look.

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever.

Faith Hope and Love

God Given Love

The first thing we will look at today is an overview of the Christian attributes that Paul and Timothy celebrated in Colossae.

That is faith, hope and love.

Second, we will see the love that we have for others is a gift of God for us and we get to experience this love because of the gift the Father gave because He loved us.

Thesis: Though sin and the pattern of this world may cause us to lose sight of the genuine marks of Christianity, faith, hope and love, it is the truth of scripture and the power of the Holy Spirit that will bring to us the fruit of the Spirit to display the reality of the power of God in our lives.

I. Faith Hope and Love

- The Cardinal Christian Virtues.

A. For a church that Paul did not visit, both Paul and Timothy always pray for them.

Though Paul did not plant the church, He shows how they are just as much part of the family of God as Galatia and Corinth.

And they are just as much in the heart and prayers of the Apostle.

And they also celebrate.

B. Paul and Timothy celebrates the genuine faith of the church in Colosse.

And the celebration includes the mention of the cardinal christian virtues of faith hope and love.

Dr. Kent Hughes writes, “Faith, hope, and love are mentioned numerous times in Scripture as a sort of “apostolic shorthand” for genuine Christianity.

None of these qualities can be manufactured by man; they all come from God.”

C. If we are Christians today, we are to be known for our faith.

Again, Paul did not visit Colossae, however he could talk on the genuine nature of their Christianity, because there was the manifest presence of faith hope and love.

The Colossian church is genuine and Paul and Timothy are thankful because they hear of their mark number 1. Faith.

I personally define faith as assent or agreement to understood propositions.

And very quickly here Hebrews 11 is not a definition of faith but a description of what faith does.

D. The Heidelberg Catechism define faith or more specifically true faith as True faith is a sure knowledge whereby I accept as true all that God has revealed to us in his Word.

Historic protestantism has always taught that there aspects to faith.

- Notitia refers to the content of faith, or those things that we believe.

We place our faith in something, or more appropriately, someone.

In order to believe, we must know something about that someone, who is the Lord Jesus Christ.

- Assensus is our conviction that the content of our faith is true.

You can know about the Christian faith and yet believe that it is not true.

Genuine faith says that the content — the notitia taught by Holy Scripture — is true.

- Fiducia refers to personal trust and reliance.

Knowing and believing the content of the Christian faith is not enough, for even demons can do that (James 2:19).

Faith is only effectual if, knowing about and assenting to the claims of Jesus, one personally trusts in Him alone for salvation.

E. These days we struggle with faith because we are not sure what it really is.

Many of us look at faith and will define it like Mark Twain.

“Faith is believing what you know a’int so.”

Some will say it is believing in something when you have reason to believe it.

Shooting in the dark and believing that you will hit something.

Samwise in the Lord of the rings says that it is simply believing that there is some good in this world.

F. If we believe this, then no wonder we can’t withstand anything anymore.

We would even pass the first challenge to our faith.

Paul makes it very clear by adding a faith that is in Christ Jesus.

Our faith is not blind.

Its not a convincing our selves to believe for no reason.

It is not faith in our faith.

The reality is, faith has no intrinsic value in itself.

It must derive its value from its object.

When someone says that he or she has faith, the question which must be asked is: “Faith in what?

G.

This is why I say that our faith is not blind.

It is directed toward Christ.

Our faith is not without target when shooting in the dark.

It is aimed at Christ’ coordinates.

And in my opinion, God’s words have so much more certainty then what we see with our eyes.

Faith in God’s word is more sure than what we can see.

My eyes can be deceiving, but we have promises given to us from a God who cannot lie.

This is as certain is it could ever get.

This is why we can be certain.

Our faith is a sure knowledge.

In a sure Lord.

In a sure Savior.

H.

The second foundational attribute of a Christian given here is love.