Sermon Tone Analysis

Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is my great privilege to share the Word of God with the saints of Durbin Memorial Baptist Church this morning.

Next Sunday Morning we are going to be having our Homecoming celebration and we will hopefully be welcoming some friends of the church that have not been able to be with us for some time.

I am thankful to be a small part of the 82 years of ministry God has blessed this church to have, celebrating my own two year anniversary here just last week.

While still a relative newcomer, I know that many of you have longstanding memories of the great things God has done through this church.

When we celebrate homecoming, we will be reminded of those whom are no longer worshipping with us on a regular basis, and yet they are a part of the history of God’s providence in this church, and they remain our brothers and sisters in Christ.

We are still tied together in the bonds of love by the blood of Jesus Christ.

It is important for us to remember that whether our active membership is in the thirties or upwards of 100, Are calling is to honor the Lord through faithfulness in response to the grace He bestowed upon us from the cross of Calvary.

We can also be encouraged to remember that we are not in this Christian life alone!

It is a blessing to know that faithful churches exist across this city, this state, this country, and this world.

It is a blessing to know that we are working together with the larger body of Christ for the profit of His Kingdom.

*Illustration* There is a show on the History Channel called Alone.

The title is very appropriate.

Here is the description of the show from Wikipedia.

“It follows the self-documented daily struggles of 10 individuals as they survive alone in the wilderness for as long as possible using a limited amount of survival equipment.

With the exception of medical check-ins, the participants are isolated from each other and all other humans.

They may "tap out" at any time, or be removed due to failing a medical check-in.

The contestant who remains the longest wins a grand prize of $500,000.”

So the basic point of the show is live as long you can with minimal supplies all on your own.

One the contestants on the first season was a man by the name of Alan Kay.

PICTURE 1

I’ll let you watch the show if you want to know how he did, no spoilers this morning.

Except I want to show what this same man looked like at the end of his period of isolation.

PICTURE 2

We can see the physical effects of his isolation.

But please know that the struggle the people go through on this show is not just related to the ability to gather food or find shelter.

They are all seasoned survivalists.

There is a deep emotional burden toll that takes place while in isolation.

Another contestant said this at the end of their time, "I try to tough things out but it was a slow brutal decline of just losing passion for this, wanting to be out, wanting to be home, taking care of my pregnant wife.”

The article stated, “[this contestant] went from an enthusiastic adventurer to a shell of his former self by day 50.”

I bring up this show because it is a very visceral way to show us the effects of Isolation.

We can look at the pictures and hear the stories and intuit that something is wrong with it!

We know to our core that we are not designed for isolation, but rather we are a communal creature.

That is why it is such a blessing that God has graced us with the local church!

It is a pleasure, a joy, a great encouragement, to gather together with this body on a regular basis to spur one another on to love and good works.

We must not be isolated from other believers!

So today, as we continue to consider what “Living the Christian Life” looks like, we recognize that why our faith is personal, our practice and place are corporate.

We thrive in connection with other believers.

And not only are we connected with the local congregation God has placed us in, we are also connected with all believers all over and throughout history as well.

This is an important reality for the believer to understand because the enemy wishes us to believe we are isolated.

Why?

Because we wither when we are isolated.

If you would, open your Bibles to Colossians 2. Today we are going to start in the first verse.

As you are turning there, I want to help set the context for what we are going to read.

Paul is writing to this church in Colossae and they are going to share this letter with other churches in the area.

This area had received the gospel, the church was formers, sinners were coming to Christ.

But they had yet to meet Paul.

It is most likely that Epaphras, their pastor was converted to Christianity at one of Paul’s missionary stops around Ephesus and then sent back home to spread the gospel in Colossae.

So you have a whole group of Christians that received the Word through the ministry of Epaphras.

Paul is writing to them encouragements and instructions.

These were especially necessary because this group of faithful believers were on a spiritual island.

They had each other, but everyone else around them was trying to pull them away from the truth, the gospel, that they had received.

Paul is writing to this congregation to let them know that they are in fact not alone.

Though Paul may be absence on a regular basis in person he is with them in spirit.

We see the interconnected togetherness that exists in the body of Christ.

Read with me starting in verse 1.

Paul is telling the congregation that he is struggling and contending for their benefit.

These are Christians that he has never seen in person, but the effort is worth it for their benefit.

In the rest of this chapter, which we will see in the weeks to come, Paul is address the false teaching that is running rampant in this area.

Paul is showing a willingness to come along side these people as they reject the false teaching.

That is the struggle, the fight that Paul is involved in.

It is a fight for truth to be proclaimed so that the God of truth is given the glory and fallen man would see the truth of their condition and their Savior.

It is interesting for us to consider that while this letter was written to a particular group in a particular time, its message is clearly applicable to us today!

Paul, in his humanity, may not have known what the scope of his ministry would be.

Today, two millennia later, we are benefiting from Paul’s struggle for truth.

How is that the case?

Well, we are able to see what God had him write to the early churches.

The early churches took the encouragement and pressed on in the faith.

The gospel would continue to be spread.

It made it through decades and distance to you thanks to God who worked through faithful messengers such as Paul and many others along the way to get it to us.

How cool is that!

So we, like the Colossians, benefit from Paul’s struggle.

That struggle was not in vain.

Truth passed one through the generations.

Not only do we benefit from Paul’s struggle for the church at large, but this should also be seen as an encouragement for us to struggle for other believers.

If we know the truth of what Jesus Christ has done for, that is reconciling us to the Father through the blood of the Son, then we should also struggle, strive, contend, to promote truth both domestically and abroad because it is a worthy use of our efforts!

We glorify God as we cling to the truth and teach it to others.

On a very practical level, we may not have the teaching prowess of Paul, nor.

The connections to go on exotic missionary trips to take the gospel where it has never been before.

But all of us are capable for praying for both missionaries and people groups that are out there right.

We are able to pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ that are being persecuted for their beliefs.

We are able to partner with missionaries!

Right now this church has a direct relationship with three missionary families in two continents and through our participation in the cooperative program of the SBC we are financially supporting missionaries all over the world.

As we participate in the annual conventions, we are given the opportunity to help shape where those efforts are going.

Church, it is important to know that Christendom extends beyond this bend of the Kentucky River.

We steward our efforts to be faithful where God has called us while being reminded that we are apart of the body of Christ at large and support them in the ways we are able.

In our local context, it is my prayer that we are willing to struggle for one another.

As the pastor of this congregation, I strives to fend off false beliefs and teach truth from this pulpit.

We should all be striving to fend off falsities and teaching others to do same.

May we continue to participate in gospel centered partnerships around the world and live gospel centered lives right here.

All of which contending for the truth of Christ.

After telling the church that he is struggling for them, Paul lets them know what the intended result of that struggle is.

Look at verse 2.

The results of righteous struggle, contending for the truth, are a body of believers that are encouraged, united, and settled in truth.

We’ll break these down one by one.

What does it mean for hearts to be encouraged?

Well let us first define the heart.

This isn’t just talking about the abstract emotions, but also has implications to the physiological effects of strong emotions.

You know when you’re nervous about something and you feel physically ill?

Strong emotions illicit physical reactions.