Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

One of the things that you learn at a young age is to set a goal and try hard to reach that goal.

Whether it be a goal of reading a book, setting a personal record in an activity, or saving enough money to buy something that you want, achieving a goal is a rewarding feeling - especially when the goal is good!

Over the years, people have changed their goals.

Part of this is due to technology and new things being a part of everyday life, but another part of shifting goals has to do with the secularization of our culture.

College freshman were interviewed a couple of years ago about what goals they view as being essential.

Do you know what was at the top of the list for these 18-19 year olds?

The number one goal for them was getting rich and 86% felt this way!

50 years earlier in 1967 only 43% of people listed this as their top goal in life.

Listen to some of the other goals: 51% said to be famous, 30% said to help others, and only 10% said to grow spiritually.

Over the years, goals have changed and our focus has turned more and more inward.

This is true of people inside and outside the church!

We have more and more of a focus on living out “your” truth and finding “your” true self and following “your” heart rather than looking out for the good of others and pursuing what God wants us to do.

The individualism mindset of so many people in the 21st century prevents them from seeing the Biblical truth that we are here to do much more than just please ourselves!

While the popularity of getting rich might be higher than ever before with the younger generation, it’s not like previous generations and centuries of ages gone by didn’t have their own problems.

Due to sin we all will struggle with different problems.

How do we correct these problems?

By spending time in the Word and allowing Scripture to change the way that we think and problem solve.

Instead of looking at our life in terms of the red and black like we do in the business world, we can instead look at our lives with a Christian worldview that looks to God’s Word to tell us what we should focus on and strive for.

As we continue to look at the BFM tonight we are examine what our goals should be as Christians.

As we study these goals, we’ll also look at how Christians view things like money, time, and intelligence as gifts that we are called to use for the glory of our God, not the expansion of our pocketbook or reputation.

Tonight we’ll look at articles 12 and 13: Education and Stewardship starting with Education

“Christianity is the faith of enlightenment and intelligence.

In Jesus Christ abide all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

All sound learning is, therefore, a part of our Christian heritage.

The new birth opens all human faculties and creates a thirst for knowledge.

Moreover, the cause of education in the Kingdom of Christ is co-ordinate with the causes of missions and general benevolence, and should receive along with these the liberal support of the churches.

An adequate system of Christian education is necessary to a complete spiritual program for Christ’s people.

In Christian education there should be a proper balance between academic freedom and academic responsibility.

Freedom in any orderly relationship of human life is always limited and never absolute.

The freedom of a teacher in a Christian school, college, or seminary is limited by the pre-eminence of Jesus Christ, by the authoritative nature of the Scriptures, and by the distinct purpose for which the school exists.”

What’s the Big Deal About Education?

We understand why the Baptist Faith and Message talks about salvation, the Bible, sinfulness, God, Missions and grace… But why does it talk about Education?

Let’s take a trip into our history as Southern Baptists.

Did you know that Southern Baptists have always cared deeply about education?

The first Baptist church in America was founded in 1638 and just about 100 years later Rhode Island College (now Brown University) was founded by Baptists.

Today in the state of Missouri there are 3 colleges specifically united to the Missouri Baptist Convention, Missouri Baptist University, Hannibal-LaGrange University, and Southwest Baptist University.

In the Southern Baptist Convention we have 6 SBC Seminaries, Gateway Seminary, SWBTS, MBTS, NOBTS, SBTS, SEBTS.

These 6 seminaries train a significant number of future and current pastors of churches all around the world.

Education is a big deal… But it’s not only a big deal for pastors, missionaries, youth pastors, worship pastors, and future seminary professors.

Education in SBC life is a big deal because we want to educate people in light of what the Bible teaches.

We want our school teachers to teach their kids to the glory of God and love on them as Christ loves them.

We want our college teachers to train future generations how to go about their jobs and careers to glorify God and be Kingdom witnesses wherever they are planted.

We want seminary professors to teach their students what the Bible says and to boldly stand unapologetically on the truthfulness of Scripture.

All of that starts with a Christian worldview of Education.

It doesn’t matter if you homeschool, if your kids go to public school, or if your kid is going to a private Christian school - education is something that is important and everyone agrees to that point given where we find ourselves in our fallen world.

I’ve heard horror stories from teachers and friends alike regarding things that have taken place in the world of education.

I’m not talking about Chicago or New York, I’m talking about Southwest Missouri.

I’ve heard horror stories from friends in college of things that they’ve encountered at Christian schools.

I’ve seen good friends be dragged away from their previous Christian worldview and adopt a very worldly mindset simply because they were taken advantage of by a group of people.

Education is a big deal!

The BFM reminds us that all sound learning is a part of our Christian heritage.

Consider that statement for just a moment.

What does learning imply?

It implies that we previously didn’t know something and then we discovered something.

We as humans are finite, we are here and then we are gone, we learn and we grow along the way… Yet, our God is different.

He is infinite.

He is uncreated.

He knows all things!

All humans learn new things and many humans enjoy learning - Christian and non-Christian!

What’s the difference?

All sound learning, all truthful learning, is a testament to our God.

It’s not like God only matters with religious things or Bible answers and that He doesn’t matter when it comes to what we talk about in school.

Example. 2 + 2 doesn’t equal 4 because Aristotle or some Greek philosopher said it did… 2 + 2 = 4 because God said so.

God defines truth because God Himself is truth!

As we learn, we grow and this is one of the reasons why we have so many opportunities for spiritual growth at FBC. Sunday morning and Sunday night are times of worship, but they are also times where we grow in our walk with the Lord as we open the Word and learn from it.

Sunday morning Sunday school and Wednesday night Bible study times are more times where we have this “Christian Education” time if you will as we learn from the Word alongside one another.

Learning is essential in the Christian life.

None of us will ever arrive at the place where we know it all - there’s always more to uncover and we learn more and grow stronger as we do this in Christian community.

Christian education matters in the local church and it certainly matters in the home.

The home is where you teach your children what the Bible says and how to live a Christlike lifestyle.

Think about this for a moment.

Children are at church for 1-2 hours most weeks (maybe 3-4 max) but they go to school for 40+ hours a week and they are in their homes for that amount of time if not much more!

If we want our kids to love Christ and be disciple making disciples, we can’t expect the church to be the only place that kids hear about Jesus.

That responsibility, as Deuteronomy 6 reminds us, falls on us in the home.

That doesn’t mean that we stop coming to church - we need the church too!

But the local gathering of God’s people can’t give you all that you need.

You need to eat the meat of God’s Word throughout the week and come on Sunday/Wednesday to fill up along the way.

As we think about where we are positioned in Salem with a school like SBU down the road and whenever we think of the teachers and administrators who call FBC Salem their home and whenever we think of the students of all ages who attend FBC Salem, we quickly realize that it is a privilege to have what we have and that God has blessed us immensely!

With that in our mind, as we think about education and about God’s blessings, we have to realize that we must be wise stewards with what He has given to us!

Now, to article 13 on Stewardship

“God is the source of all blessings, temporal and spiritual; all that we have and are we owe to Him.

Christians have a spiritual debtorship to the whole world, a holy trusteeship in the gospel, and a binding stewardship in their possessions.

They are therefore under obligation to serve Him with their time, talents, and material possessions; and should recognize all these as entrusted to them to use for the glory of God and for helping others.

According to the Scriptures, Christians should contribute of their means cheerfully, regularly, systematically, proportionately, and liberally for the advancement of the Redeemer's cause on earth.”

What is Stewardship?

We’ve talked about stewardship several times over the last 6 months and here the BFM addresses this Biblical concept.

The BFM shares that disciples give to advance the Kingdom’s cause.

The reason that we give is to further God’s Kingdom.

To make disciples.

To take the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

Whenever my dad became the Pastor of Children/Recreation at FBC Ozark in 2005, they were about to kick off a building campaign to construct a building that would more than double the existing church.

This building was going to house children’s, preschool, youth, and adult classroom space.

It would have a gym, worship space, and commons space for large events.

The church had outgrown their existing space and required more room for these groups.

I was listening to the pastor at the time talk about this type of building and trusting in God along the way.

He said this, “We are building this building for people who don’t even go here.

For people who haven’t even been born yet.

We’re not a social club… We’re a church that has been commissioned by God to make disciples and the reality of the situation is that in order to do that we require more room.”

I can’t tell you how many lives have been changed over the last 16 years simply because FBC Ozark listened to the Lord and built what they built for God’s glory.