Sermon Tone Analysis

Scripture Alone, Grace Alone, Faith Alone, in Christ Alone

· Christ Alone is the foundation of all the Solas - Revealed through the Scriptures as The Object of our Faith, the Source of Grace, and the radiance of God’s glory.

Unites the other Solas.

4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

6 For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

· Sola Scriptura – What the Bible says about our Cornerstone.

(select verses).

o 37 And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me.

His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, 38 and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent.

39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

o (ESV) 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

18 And he is the head of the body, the church.

He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Is Christ “preeminent”?

Is Christ foundational?

If something is preeminent it means that something surpasses all other things in importance.

If something is foundational it means that something supports everything.

In one sense the question itself is wrong?

Christ is preeminent.

The real question is, do we recognize him as preeminent?

Christ alone is preeminent but would anyone believe we believe that is true if they watched our lives and listened to us speak?

If the answer to that question is no but should be yes then we need to know why Christ is no longer preeminent and then what needs to be done to recognize him as preeminent.

Two Reasons Christ is Not Recognized as Preeminent.

1.

We tend to make secondary things related to Jesus preeminent.

(More on this next week)

a. Reformation Era – In theory all Christians would have said that Jesus was preeminent.

Yet, in the day to day matters of faith and practice the activities which were meant to point people to Christ took the place of preeminence.

In order to understand that you have to understand the Catholic view of the Sacraments.

Christ’s work was received through the sacraments (there are 7) of the Church: some of which include baptism, which removes original sin and actual sins committed before baptism, and penance, which deals with our actual sins subsequent to baptism… The belief was and still is that a person is saved by what Christ did, but in order to benefit from that salvation you needed a middle man so to speak.

You needed the priest to administer the baptism, give the mass, prescribe penance.

The priest was a mediator between God in man in the same way that Moses was a mediator between God and Israel.

The priest administered baptism, the mass, and told the people what the word of God said.

The priest heard confession and was given authority from the church to absolve sins.

It would be wrong to state that the goal of the church was to obscure the foundation of Christ but that is what happens when people are taught to depend on any man when that man is not named Jesus.

i.

The problem is there is always an AND thrown in.

You need the Atonement + the Sacraments to be saved.

Perhaps more precisely you need to receive the benefits of the Christ work on the cross through the sacraments as administered through a priest.

ii.

-2219 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

iii.

There is one mediator – Jesus.

(ESV) 5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

b.

Today – IF you are not from a Roman Catholic tradition you might think we are above this notion of elevating a person other than Jesus as the mediator of our faith.

If that is the case stop and take notice that there are many in the evangelical church who are not practically much different.

i. Celebrity Pastors - When you elevate the sage on the stage to be your personal dispenser of truth you are moving into a dangerous place both for your own faith and the well-being of the preacher or pastor dispensing truth.

People being to lift of the celebrity pastor (online or local) and attribute to them things that should never be attributed to anyone other than Jesus.

1. Joe Thorn – Dethroning Celebrity Pastors, Christianity Today August 2014: “But Celebrity Pastors do not simply build themselves.

They are built with the help of fans.

It's not wrong or idolatrous to get a photo with a person you admire.

Nor is it dangerous to love the preaching or teaching of a particular leader.

But at some point admiration turns into allegiance, and allegiance gives birth to adoration, and adoration, when it is full grown, produces idolatry.

I am not sure exactly when the line is crossed--maybe when we start asking well-known pastors to sign our Bibles.

Maybe.

But the line is well behind us when a leader's word is more valuable to us than God's word and when they become our authority.”

2. What then is Apollos?

What is Paul?

Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each.

6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.

7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor.

9 For we are God’s fellow workers.

You are God’s field, God’s building.

10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it.

Let each one take care how he builds upon it.

11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

ii.

Protestant Sacraments – jump through the hoops and that’s how you get grace.

Go to this meeting, that meeting serve here, serve there.

Again, the intent is good. .

We want to encourage one another but if it’s just a hoop we are jumping through to be “right” with God, or to be “right” with the church then Christ is becoming “less-eminent”.

2. We can make less of Jesus by denying his exclusivity.

a. Reformation Era – Socinianism (16th and 17th century’s).

Rationalist approach to the Bible.

All matters of faith and religion must be fully reconcilable with human reason, and that matters pertaining to the nature of God cannot be beyond the finite understanding of the human mind.

Denied Trinity and therefore that Christ is in fact God.

Denied that Jesus death on the cross had any redemptive value but only that it was an example of self-sacrifice.

b.

Today – The Socinianism of Luther’s day is far more prevalent today that it was in the 16th century.

It just goes by another name.

Our culture is pluralistic.

It is not currently believed that Jesus is who he claimed to be and his claims are valid for all people.

It is common for people to revere Jesus as just a man.

When people believe this way, Jesus is no longer the foundation of life and preeminent and instead he become a tool which people may find useful in the construction of their lives built on a foundation of their own choosing.

Now, you expect those who do not profess to follow Jesus as the Lord and savior but if you pay attention you will find many professing Christians treat Jesus as anything but preeminent or as an actual foundation for their very existence.

i. Jesus as teacher – This person see Jesus as a source of information.

Great sayings.

Great teacher.

This person sees Jesus as a reference that can pull information from as they build their lives on a foundation of their own choosing.

ii.

Jesus as a model – This person sees Jesus as an example.

Jesus is like a YouTube Tutorial.

If this is you then you choose a foundation of you own making and then look to Jesus as the example of a master builder.

The idea is to watch him build and copy his behaviors.

Swing the hammer like he did.

Forgive like he did.