Sermon Tone Analysis

Text: 1 Thessalonians 5:22

Theme: Evil is to actively avoided.

Good is to be actively sought after.

When Jesus taught his disciples how to pray, one of the supplications was deliver us from evil.

More literally, the request is, deliver us from the evil one.

Evil is real and a clear and present danger for the Christian.

We are to pray for deliverance from it.

Here in 1 Thessalonians, Paul enjoins these believers to cling to that which is good, and to abstain from that which is evil.

For that to take place, we need a knowledge of good and evil.

As Christians, we believe that God gets to decide which is which ... not the current cultural disposition.

I. THE NATURE OF EVIL

1. in western culture the nature of evil has been a hotly debated issue

a. the question is this: Is evil objectively real, or is it merely a socially constructed consensus of “bad” and “good”?

b. this debate revolves around the philosophy of metaphysics — the study of what is true, and how do we know that it is true?

A. THE SECULAR VIEW: EVIL IS SOCIALLY CONSTRUCTED

1. simply put, a socially constructed idea is an idea whereby the broader society has reached a consensus over what is good or bad or what is true or false

a. there are beliefs in every culture that certainly are an agreed upon social truth

1) some things are true because we’ve all agreed they are true

2) there is no scientific validity or historical veracity behind some things we are convinced are true

ILLUS.

For example, the idea that the color pink represents a baby girl and the color blue represents a baby boy is an example of a social construct related to gender.

If you went to a gender reveal party in our culture and when the balloons were popped green confetti streamed out, no one would have a clue what that meant.

How we greet people is another example of socially agreed upon behavior.

In most western cultures we shake hands.

In many eastern cultures kissing people on both cheeks as a greeting is a common practice.

In America, if you showed up to a business meeting and kissed the chairman of the board, you might get punched.

Some socially constructed truths can be mean and vicious such as “all blonds are dumb” or “all Jews are shrewd businessmen,” or “all Hispanics are lazy.”

1) so yes, some ideas in a culture are commonly believed as “true” because the majority “wisdom” of the culture says those ideas are true

2. a society errors greatly when it believes that all of reality is simply socially constructed truth and then proceeds to deny ontological truth

ILLUS.

Ontological truth is what theologian and philosopher Francis Schaeffer referred to as “true truth.”

Some things are true simply because they are objectively real or objectively true.

Gravity is real; 2+2=4 is true.

These are true, not because our society has agreed that they are, but because they are objectively and universally true.

You may decide that gravity is illusionary, but when you jump off the roof, you’ll discover it doesn’t matter that you believe gravity is just a state of mind!

It’s a state of reality, and you’re going down!

a. whereas metaphysics deals with “How do we know when something is true verses what is false; what is good verse what is evil?”, ontology deals with “How do we know what is real?”

b. there is great danger ahead for any culture that begins to think that things that are verifiably true, objectively true at face value are determined to be true simply because we believe it to be truth

ILLUS.

Rachel Dolezal identified as a black woman for years.

She even briefly served as president of the NAACP chapter in Spokane, Washington.

She was fired when it was revealed that she was white.

Rachel Dolezal can self-identify as a black women all she wants.

That does not change the “true truth” that she is ethnically white even though her socially constructed truth is that she is “black.”

The ontological truth is that she is a white woman masquerading as a black woman because that’s “her truth”.

University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas can self-identify as a woman all she wants.

That does not change the “true truth” that he was born William Thomas even though his socially constructed truth is that he is female.

The ontological truth is that he is a man masquerading as a woman.

1) there was a time in Western culture when such individuals would have been treated for substantial psychological issues

2) but since we live in a culture where truth is simply a culturally negotiated consensus, we’ve reached a point where “my truth is my truth and you have no right to deny my truth, and if you deny my truth, you’re the one who can’t deal with “reality””

3) our culture has not evolved ... it has devolved into the radical self-autonomy described in the Book of Judges — “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges(21:25)

3. over the last fifty years a significant number of Neuroscientists, Psychologists, and Sociologists have suggested that evil — like truth — is socially constructed

a. objective evil does not exist; evil is only what a society agrees it is — good and bad are only real to the extent that we agree upon them and make them real

1) in fact, many social relativists don’t even like using the word evil — if we are just accidental beings in an accidental universe, nothing can really be evil

2) evil is a theological word, and to use the word evil points to a moral authority greater than we are — a transcendent and supernatural moral authority: God

3) moral relativists are simply not prepared to go there

b. now, almost anyone who thinks rationally can understand the peril in socially constructed evil — societies change and because societies change socially constructed views of right and wrong and good and evil, and true and false will change with the culture

1) what was considered “evil” a generation or two ago is now considered “good” and vice-versa

ILLUS.

Throughout the history of Western culture, virtually every society believed abortion to be a moral evil.

Understandably, the spread of Christianity, with it’s high view of life, was the principle source of that view.

Only since the mid-twentieth century, and the waning of Christianity, did western societies begin to change their opinion about abortion.

It’s no longer about the “life of the baby” but the “freedom of the woman” to not be pregnant that predominates a secular worldview.

If “evil” is socially constructed and not biblically revealed than, of course, abortion can actually be considered a “moral good” and is by a growing segment of the culture.

This is revealed in such websites as “Shout Your Abortion” where a woman can go and explain to the world why killing the child in her womb is “good”.

2) what was considered “false” a generation or two ago is now considered “true”

ILLUS.

Not long ago every rational person in the world would have agreed, “No, men cannot get pregnant.”

Well, we’ve thrown that “truth” out the window.

In 2019 NBC News, aired a segment with the headline, "Trans dads tell doctors: 'You can be a man have a baby.'"

NBC reporter Julie Compton covered the story of a transgender man married to a transgender woman who wanted children.

According to the reporter, the “husband” was the one who got pregnant.

So you see, in this brave new world of socially constructed truth, men really can have babies.

(In case you don’t know ... no, men cannot get pregnant, I don’t care what the new Apple emoji shows).

4. when virtually an entire culture decides that it gets to decide what is “good” and what is “evil” don’t be surprised when evil is “dumbed-down” so-to-speak and begins to flourish

a. America is increasingly becoming a culture of broken families, broken spirits, broken health, broken schools, broken lives, and broken politics because the powers-that-be have decided that what was once unacceptable is now acceptable, what was once considered “evil” is now considered “good” and what was once considered “false” is now considered “real”

B. THE BIBLICAL VIEW: EVIL IS OBJECTIVELY REAL

1. why do you do what is right, rather than what is wrong?

a. the educated secular elite tell us that moral truth is socially constructed — men get to decide what is morally evil and what is not, what is “bad” and what is “good”

2. as Christians, we know — or we should know — that it’s God who gets to make those decisions

a. objective evil exists, and God has put within our spirits a knowledge of good and evil

ILLUS.

God gave his people Israel an extensive set of moral, civil and religious laws so that they might know good from evil, right from wrong, and righteous from unrighteous.

In his letter to the Romans, Paul asserts that even though the Gentiles don’t have the Law, they instinctively know good from evil, right from wrong, and righteous from unrighteous.

Why?

“For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law.

15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them” (Romans 2:14–15, ESV)

1) Paul is clearly teaching that objective goodness and objective evil exist side-by-side in the world, and men know the difference (even though that knowledge is tainted by sin) because God’s image in all men prick their conscience to know these things

2) the reason “good” and “bad” have been turned upside down is also biblically explained — according to Romans 1:18 men have become experts at suppressing the truth in unrighteousness

b. when we observe the world around us, we realize that there are many things about the world that should not be, things that are wrong as well as things that should be, things that are good

1) when we see a child sexually abused, we immediately know that it is evil; we know it is wrong, that such behavior is hurtful to the child and detrimental to society

2) when we see a man and a women unite in the covenant of marriage, and raise their children to be good and productive citizens, we immediately know that is good, that such behavior is profitable to husband, wife, and child, and beneficial to society

3) this is what Paul means when he writes hold fast what is good, and abstain from every form of evil

3. as Christians, we know — or we should know — that objective evil is always the result of sin

a. sin, simply put, is the unwillingness of man to acknowledge his creatureliness and dependence upon God and his effort to make his own life independent and secure

b.

only the Christian worldview, based in the Bible, can explain why moral evil exists

1) the theological word is depravity — it describes the innate corruption of human nature, due to original sin

2) the doctrine of depravity does not mean that every human being is as sinful as they possibly could be

3) the doctrine of depravity does mean that everyone comes into the world with an inborn moral corruption, that affects every facet of human nature