Sermon Tone Analysis

Source July 30, 2009

New Life August 23, 2009

*Colossians 2:6-12*

*The Danger of Knowledge*

 

How many students do we have here today?

College, High School, Middle School, Elementary School?

All of you ARE students.

In many ways you don’t want someone telling you what to do or what to think.

In other ways you wish someone would give you some perspective and boundaries.

While life should be a lifelong learning process, you are in the most intensive time of learning you will have throughout your life.

Many of the patterns you develop in these years will determine the way you act and the way you think for most of the rest of your life.

But while this is an important time in your life, this is a dangerous time in your life as well.

I want to talk for a few minutes about the Danger of “Knowledge”.

And by knowledge I mean like what Paul said to Timothy when he wrote “turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge” (1 Tim 6:20)

You are learning more than you ever have.

You are challenging everything you have learned up until now

You are trying to establish yourself as your own person separate from your parents and separate yourself from your childhood

Sometimes you will reject things you previously accepted as truth because you find out it wasn’t true

Other times you will reject truth because someone has impressed you with a new way of thinking.

Perhaps a “cool professor”, one you admire, has challenged your belief system and before long you reject what you have always known and believed

You want to be accepted in new surroundings at work, so you go against values, morals, and beliefs to fit in, be accepted, and loved.

I just want you to think as a new school year starts, about the dangers of knowledge.

So let me talk with you about a some dangers of knowledge and about Truth that sets you free.

Let’s walk through some verses in Paul’s letter to the Colossians chapter 2

*Danger #1 *

*1.

Failure to Know what is Normal*

What is normal for a Christian?

What is normal for the Christian life?

There are many different acceptable ways that we express our worship, our love for Christ, our Spiritual life in following him, but what should be the same for everyone?

*READ Colossians 2:6-7*

Paul says … “you received Christ”

*  A.

Receive Christ*

    1.

Everyone who calls themselves a Christian must receive Jesus Christ.

Our experience may have been different.

He may have called us in different ways with different circumstances but we all have to Come to God through Jesus Christ.

*John 14:6* – /I am the way the truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father but through me./ 

*Acts 4:12* – /“salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved”/ – he had already said in verse 10 that it was by the “/name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth/”

    2.

How do we *come* to Christ?

All the *same*?

*Yes,* the basics are all the same

      a.

By *Grace* – *Eph 2:8* – /“for it is by Grace you have been saved …”/  - Grace means receiving something you don’t deserve – you came to Christ through a free gift from God that you didn’t deserve

      b.

you entered into that Grace through the *vehicle* of *Faith* – /it is by grace you have been saved, through Faith - / … without Faith, the writer of Hebrews says, /“it is impossible to please God, because everyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him”/ *Heb 11:6*

      c.

you receive it *FROM* *God* – /it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and his (salvation) is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God/ – The *source* of your eternal life, your salvation is God himself.

He chose you, he chose to provide for you and he gives freely to those who ask of him.

3.

that is what is normal and don’t let anyone tell you differently.

Don’t let someone tell you that they have special knowledge that shows you a different way, or a different Christ, it is all because of Jesus

But Paul *Also* says

*  B.

We Continue in him *

 HOW do we continue in Christ … what is the “*secret*” to the Christian life?

Oh there are lots of books out there to tell you HOW, and give you the secret … But Paul says “It’s really simple actually”

    1.

“*Just* *As* you received” … there’s the first hint to living the Normal Christian Life

    2.

Grace, Faith, and God

      a.

you *live* by *Grace* – that is God gives you abilities you don’t deserve, knowledge you don’t have, wisdom you haven’t gained to walk with him.

You can’t LIVE the Christian Life on your own any more than you can receive it on your own.

Paul prayed in his letters, 5 different times, that the “grace of the Lord be with your spirit” … you need God’s Grace gifts to live the Christian Life.

*Zechariah 12:10* says “/and I will pour out  … a spirit of grace and supplication.

They will look on me …/ The normal thing is to realize you can’t do this on your own and you NEED the gift of God’s grace to sustain you and you come to him daily for strength, wisdom, understanding and then you walk

      b.

*Living* by *Faith* – *2 Cor 5:7* says /“we live by faith, not by sight”/

      c.

*living* by Gifts *from* God – read *1 Cor 12* and *Romans 12* … and see that God has given to every born again believer Spiritual Gifts to USE in the Body.

If you don’t know yours, ask the Lord, ask a Pastor in your church to help you determine your gifts and then LIVE in the Gifts from God that you have been given, by Grace, through Faith.

SO you *continue* just as you received … and

 

    3.

*Rooted* – that means a *foundation* of knowledge

      a. in the faith … as you were taught  

      b.

you have to know what you believe and that happens through the effort of personal Bible Study and submitting to sound godly teaching.

c.

you can’t live the normal Christian life by just rocking along happy in Jesus … doing whatever feels right.

The Bible says our heart is deceitful above all things … so you can’t just go along you need a base

      d.

you need organizations like Crusade, you need godly friends.

But you also need a local church.

The Local Church is the gift of God to the believer so that you can grow in Christ … read *Eph 4:11-16* – you have been given the church so that you can be rooted … and

    4.

*Built* Up – if Knowing is the foundation, then DOING is how we are built up …

      a.

the roots you have should cause you to grow to reach out to increase in faith and obedience.

A foundation is designed to be built upon … and then normalcy leads to

 

  *C.

Overflowing with Thankfulness*

What should overflow from our thankfulness?

1.

*worship* – that’s what we do the most … but if your only thankfulness is a song of worship, you are missing two thirds of thankful expression … Gratefulness should lead to

    2.

*witnessing* – telling others what God has done for you … and 

    3.

*Service* – doing for others because you are grateful for what God has done for us.

Paying it forward finds it’s greatest expression as we serve people because Christ has served us

 

Danger #1 is not knowing what is normal … now that you know … DO

 

*Danger #2 is *

*2.

Some “Knowledge” takes us Captive*

 

*READ 2:8*

 

There is plenty of danger out there.

Plenty of “knowledge” and “truth” as people call it that will take you captive.

The word “*Captive*” /sulagogeo ~//

/soo-lag-ogue-eh-o~/ /means – /to carry off treasure, to carry off as a slave/

some “knowledge” is *designed* to take you in and carry you away as a slave