Sermon Tone Analysis

ATTN

One blogger I found on the internet offered the following top ten list.

I must warn you before I read it that it will make you uncomfortable.

I want you to understand, up front, that I am not trying to be controversial, but I do want to be real.

We live in a world that is hostile to Christianity.

More than that, we live in a world where those hostile people are more committed to spreading their views than we who oppose them are about sharing ours.

Need proof.

Well, just consider this top ten list of reasons that some reject evangelical Christianity: One blogger wrote:

10 - You vigorously deny the existence of thousands of gods claimed by other religions, but feel outraged when someone denies the existence of yours.

9 - You feel insulted and "dehumanized" when scientists say that people evolved from other life forms, but you have no problem with the Biblical claim that we were created from dirt.

8 - You laugh at polytheists, but you have no problem believing in a Triune God.

7 - Your face turns purple when you hear of the "atrocities" attributed to Allah, but you don't even flinch when hearing about how God/Jehovah slaughtered all the babies of Egypt in "Exodus" and ordered the elimination of entire ethnic groups in "Joshua" including women, children, and trees!

6 - You laugh at Hindu beliefs that deify humans, and Greek claims about gods sleeping with women, but you have no problem believing that the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary, who then gave birth to a man-god who got killed, came back to life and then ascended into the sky.

5 - You are willing to spend your life looking for little loopholes in the scientifically established age of Earth (few billion years), but you find nothing wrong with believing dates recorded by Bronze Age tribesmen sitting in their tents and guessing that Earth is a few generations old.

4 - You believe that the entire population of this planet with the exception of those who share your beliefs -- though excluding those in all rival sects - will spend Eternity in an infinite Hell of Suffering.

And yet consider your religion the most "tolerant" and "loving."

3 - While modern science, history, geology, biology, and physics have failed to convince you otherwise, some idiot rolling around on the floor speaking in "tongues" may be all the evidence you need to "prove" Christianity.

2 - You define 0.01% as a "high success rate" when it comes to answered prayers.

You consider that to be evidence that prayer works.

And you think that the remaining 99.99% FAILURE was simply the will of God.

1 - You actually know a lot less than many atheists and agnostics do about the Bible, Christianity, and church history - but still call yourself a Christian.

Now we have to say, right up front, that this guy makes an awful lot of unsubstantiated claims.

For instance, did he actually do research that showed that only .01% of prayer requests were answered?

I doubt it!

But, having said that, I think we have to admit that those who agree with him are growing in numbers and volume.

We desperately need, as the Christian community, to have a strategy to counter the arguments.

I’m afraid, however, that many of us are avoiding the challenge and for a number of reasons.

NEED

Some of us are just lazy.

We don’t want to have their faith questioned or their answers disputed.

Everything is lined up in neat rows in their Christian lives and we don’t want the evolutionist or the atheist disturbing them.

But we’ll never reach a world we do not engage, and engagement means that you’re going to be challenged.

Listen Christian!

If the Bible is true, and it is!

If God is God, and He is!

If Jesus did rise and He did!

If those things are true, we have nothing to be ashamed of and nothing to fear.

We may not know the answers to the challenges, but we can find them!

We must not run because we don’t want to be challenged.

Others of us are afraid.

We’re afraid that we’ll jump into the intellectual fray and be found lacking, or even worse, lose our faith.

We’re afraid that the answers really are not substantial and that the atheist really has the facts on his side.

So, instead of engaging the world, we hide.

We hang out with people like us who agree and just condemn what we don’t make any effort to understand.

But that kind of attitude changes nothing.

Escape is no strategy for victory.

BACKGROUND

Peter, the Apostle, knew this.

The whole book of 1 Peter is really a strategy for engagement.

Chapter 3 verse 13 says:

And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good?

14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed.

“And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.”

15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; 16 having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed.

17 For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

Peter says, “Hey, Christian, don’t be intimidated!

Don’t escape to the Christian ghetto and ignore the hell-bound world around you.

Do not be afraid of their threats and don’t be troubled, He says, but . . .

But what, Peter?

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and ALWAYS be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you . . .

Peter says, “Don’t back down.

Don’t be lazy and don’t be afraid.

No, Be ready!”

And just how are we to be ready?

Well, lets look at what he says.

Last week we talked about the first two “f’s” of our victory.

They were “Faith” and “Fear.”

Let’s look at the last two today.

First, if you want to successful in meeting the challenge of this world, you must know the :

DIV 3: FACTS

EXP

V 15 tells us (to) always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; I love that verse!

It tells me that I am not to back down from the challenge.

When the world asks its question, I don’t just shut them off and refuse to discuss the issues.

No, I am to engage the world and trust that the answers that Christ gives me will really make a difference.

But, let me hasten to say that there are some important qualifications given for this answer which we are to give.

It must first of all be timely.

Peter says, always be ready.

That just says that we ought to walk around in a constant state of readiness to answer for our faith.

We ought never to be too busy, or too tired, or too confused.

We must be ready.

And the only way that can happen is for us to be continually filled with the Holy Spirit.

I have noticed as I have been studying through the book of Acts that over and over again the scripture says that, when the people were filled with the Holy Spirit, they spoke the word with boldness.

That’s what is meant by always being ready.

I’m plugged into the power source and I can speak with authority.

The answer must be timely.

And then, the answer must be prepared.

Peter tells us to be ready to give the answer.

That means we must be prepared with the answers.

We must engage, to whatever level of mental ability we have, to get the answers.

You ought to know why evolution doesn’t make sense.

You ought to know why we say that this Bible really is God’s word.

You should know why we say Jesus was resurrected and what facts of history prove it to be true.

You must know why our world and its order demand that a Creator be present.

You must offer answers.

Your answer must be prepared and timely.

But, then, it must be engaged.

Peter says we are to be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you.

We are to connect with the culture.

One commentator wrote, The Christian community may be a colony in a strange land, but . . .