Sermon Tone Analysis

Coach Johnny Kerr tried to get his Chicago Bulls to practice.

As Kerr tells it:

We had lost seven in a row, and I decided to give a psychological pep talk before the game with the Celtics.

I told Bob Boozer to go out and pretend he was the best scorer in basketball.

I told Jerry Sloan to pretend he was the best defensive guard.

I told Guy Rodgers to pretend he could run an offense better than any other guard, and I told Eric Mueller to pretend he was the best rebounding, shot-blocking, scoring center in the game.

We lost the game by 17.

I was pacing around the locker room afterward trying to figure out what to say when Mueller walked up, put his arm around me and said, “Don’t worry about it, coach.

Just pretend we won.”

The platters sang it, I’m the great pretender.

Are we pretending that we are alright?

Are we pretending that there is nothing to worry about?

Are we pretending that nothing is coming?

Are we being deceived by those who are deceived and are trying to deceive us?

It is a deception to believe that there is any life and hope apart from Christ in any way.

But more and more pulpits in America are slowly getting away from sermons on Christ and going to more and more sermons on good advice, instead of good news.

If the sermon is good advice it is not a gospel based sermon.

I wonder as we progress if we can tell the difference between a sermon that is gospel based and one that is gospel seasoned.

One of the big cues is that a gospel seasoned sermon will find its motivation in what it is that we do.

A gospel sermon will show a motivation in what Christ has done and what He will do.

A sermon not gospel centered will focus on what we need to do.

A gospel sermon is centered on what Christ has done.

If you walk out of here today thinking that you will have a better life if you can just do these things… I missed it.

If you walk out of here today thinking that you will have a better life because of what Christ has already done and what He is going to do, then you know the gospel was received.

The pretending is that we think that we have the power, the ability, the potential to be able to bring Godly progression by our own strength and ability.

By our own wit and ingenuity.

By our own passions and desires.

Mankind is able to do so much.

And many who try to deceive put on their sheep suit and appear as an angle of light displaying false characteristics, displaying false worship, and false experiences.

And we fall for it.

We absolutely fall for it.

Oh no?

Time magazines influential evangelicals… 5 are clear heretics and 5 are clear false teachers.

Most of the worship music that many of our evangelical churches sing are written and published by heretical and apostate ministries.

We don’t notice or maybe we just don’t care.

The reality of all of this… false teachers today like they always have, may disqualify you.

All their pretending could indeed deprive you of your reward, your prize, and your future glory.

They are dangerous and they are everywhere.

They are menacing and they are everywhere.

They are perilous and they are everywhere.

They are unstable and they are everywhere.

They are pervasive and all over the map.

Family… I am being serious.

But Shane how do we identify them?

If they are dangerous, I want nothing from them.

The scriptures show us a thing or two about this.

Let’s take a look.

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

The False Characteristics

Connected to Christ

The first thing we will look at today is the different characteristics that we see Paul and Timothy describing the false teachers in Colossae which gives us a framework to describe the work and character of false teachers.

Second, we will look at some of the wonderful realities of those who are connected to the body of Christ.

Thesis: Though sin and the pattern of this world cause us to come under the deception of false teachers, it is the power of the Holy Spirit, the Scriptures, and the fruit of being connected to Christ that will cause us to see that our source of life and true fulfillment is in Christ and in Christ alone.

I.

The False Characteristics

- Not only what they do, but who they are.

A. Remember Paul and Timothy are addressing the problem of false teachers who came into the church and were bringing teaching that were undermining the supremacy and sufficiency of Christ and Christ alone.

This is a big issue today… most of the false teaching today does under-mind these two very important attributes… especially the sufficiency of Christ.

This is why I like to say Christ and Christ alone.

B. The great pretenders came and they were doing their thing… and because they were, the Colossians were in danger of being deprived of their prize.

Don’t let anyone deprive you of the prize is kind of the more literal.

There is dispute as to whether this is a disqualification of their standards of acceptance or God’s standard.

Do not let them disqualify you or do not let them get you disqualified by God.

But not that important to know specifically… either way... you do not want any part of these characters in your life at all.

C. What they delight in… false humility.

Now these characteristics were not necessarily what they were trying to get the Colossians to do, but more Paul trying to give their characteristics.

Let me tell you what they like… false humility is the first one.

John Blanchard in Table Talk writes...

“If we try to give the impression of humility, we may be deceiving others, but we are certainly not deceiving God.

Oswald Chambers was right to call conscious humility “the most satanic type of pride.”

False humility invites attention to itself; true humility is unconscious.”

D. The false teacher boast of a humility that they do not really feel.

They advertise humility but their hearts are full of huge conceit.

Humility sells.

Humility brings trust.

Humility brings interest and vulnerability.

Nobody gonna listen to someone who is conceited and full of themselves … normally.

- Don’t you see that I am the most humble person in the world.

Look at me look at how amazingly humble I am.

I am so humble that God will judge you harshly if you do not think I am humble.

False teacher who picked girls out from the crowd.

E.

Not only is there false humility but false worship.

The false teachers were so caught up with angelology and angel speculation so much more than their study of God, that they are in a serious way worshipping them more than they are worshipping God.

They look to see how angles have provided, how angels have helped, how angels have rescued… the false teachers look to the angels more than they would look to God.

In reality, this is false worship.

F. Many of the false teachers today spend so much time discussing the exploits of men who have done the extraordinary.

Many times in sermons you will hear more about the methods and exploits of other men and women, more than we would hear about the person and work of Christ.

We hear more about Smith Wiggelsworth and John G Lake than we do about Christ.

A reporter even had evidence of people from Bethel and the pastors wife laying on the grave of Smith Wigglesworth trying to get an anointing.

If you really need a healing, better to go to a benny Hinn crusade then to ask Christ.

G.

At many of the services, it may not be the false worship of worshipping the wrong God.

There is the worship of the right God the wrong way.

This is the false worship of the evangelical church today.

As long as we are worshipping Jesus, it does not matter how we do it.

WRONG!!!

You wanna worship Christ but mix in BMX biking and circus performers.

Mix in music and lyrics that illicit an emotional response.

Using the congregation as test subjects.