Sunday July 29, 2001
COLOSSIANS 2:6-19

o It was election season
o & A politician was campaigning
o For reelection to Congress
o He was busy going from town to town
o Drumming up votes
o When he entered one back yard
o Where he found a young woman
o Milking a cow
o He had just started talking to her
o When her mother stuck her head
o Out the back door & hollered,
o "Mary, who's that feller
o "You're talkin' to?"
o Mary explained that the visitor
o Was a famous politician
o To which her mother commanded,
o "You come right in this house,"
o Then she added,
o "If that feller says he's a politician,
o "You'd better bring the cow with you."

o Now, there are not many things I dislike
o As much as a thief
o It really bugs me that someone else thinks
o They have a greater right
o To my things than I have
o But the truth of the matter is
o There are a lot of thieves out there
o In our world today

o You know, people used to put
o Signs in their front yards
o With their names on them
o But today people put
o Signs in their front yards
o With the name
o Of their security company on them
o But you know, the real danger
o Is that there are thieves out there
o Who are not just stealing
o Your computers & your cars
o Your money & your stereos
o The most dangerous thieves
o Are stealing your eternal life
o They are stealing your salvation
o Right from under our noses

o & We know all about them
o They are the ones Paul called
o Empty philosophies
o & High-sounding nonsense
o They are things like
o The "Playboy" philosophy
o That glamorizes indulgent hedonism
o "Anything that feels good
o "Must be good"
o "So if it feels go, do it!"
o Then there is
o The "self-realization" philosophy

o Which says that self-expression
o The only way to
o Fulfillment & meaning
o "So remember, I'm #1!"
o & There is the "materialist" philosophy
o That reduces us all
o To consumers & producers
o What we are is what we acquire
o & Our value / our worth is
o In our ability to produce
o & Of course, there is
o Astrology
o & Scientism
o & Scientific determinism
o & The list goes on & on & on
o Ad infinitum
o Or as some may say, ad nauseum
o Just walk into any bookstore
o & You will see their propaganda
o Their "scriptures"
o All in bright glossy colors
o Now you may say these are just
o Some radical fringe element
o They really do not affect
o The mainstream of our land
o But just a few decades ago
o Our nation became
o Less than 50% Christian
o For the 1st time in our history
o Christians do not make up
o The majority of our people

o A lot of folks have had their salvation
o Stolen from them
o & Of course, the reason is that
o Many of these things a
o Are really appealing
o It is very easy to be deceived
o & Suddenly find yourself
o Replacing your Christian faith
o With some other philosophy

o Now, not everything out there
o Is bad, or even wrong
o So, I want you to take out
o The insert in your bulletin
o Labeled "Personal Survey"
o & Take just a moment
o To answer those 5 questions
o They represent some of
o The most popular philosophies
o In our land today
[PAUSE]

o Now, I am not going to collect these
o They are for you
o But I do want to talk about them a little
o Let's start with the 1st one
o "It doesn't matter what you believe,
o "As long as you are sincere."
o A lot of people in our country
o Strongly agree with this statement

o But this statement implies
o That our feelings are more important
o Than our beliefs
o This statement would make you think
o Our beliefs are
o An irrelevant "head-trip"
o That do not relate to how we live
o But, of course, that is not true
o It is pretty easy to show that
o We live & act
o According to our beliefs
o For example,
o I do not believe in stealing
o So I do not steal
o Timothy McVeigh had his beliefs
o & They determined his actions
o Including his blowing up
o The Murrah Office Building
o In Oklahoma City

o So, let's look at the 2nd statement
o "Actions speak louder than words."
o Or, as some have put it,
o "I'd rather see a sermon
o "Than hear one."
o Of course, this implies that sermons
o Are just dull theological lectures
o [Which I am sure some are]
o It implies that sermons only have value
o When they are put into practice

o Action, then, is
o The most important thing in life
o Beliefs are just a set of irrelevant words
o The important thing is action
o But as we noted earlier
o Our actions reflect our beliefs
o So maybe our beliefs have some
o Foundational / fundamental value

o I hope you can see there are dangers
o In these 1st 2 statements
o They make religion purely a matter of
o The heart - our feelings/our sincerity
o Or our hands - our actions
o But Paul tells us in our lesson today
o That it is critical that we use our heads
o That we think seriously
o About what we believe
o About our faith
o Paul tells us that it really matters
o What you believe
o Because our beliefs
o Will determine our actions
o & Sincerity has very little to do with it
o Timothy McVeigh sincerely believed
o In what he was doing
o He was just sincerely wrong!
o The same was true of
o Nazi Germany
o & The Holocaust of WWII

o The U.S. lockup
o Of our Japanese citizens in WWII
o The Ku Klux Klan today
o In each of these examples
o People have sincerely taken action
o Based on their beliefs
o Unfortunately their actions
o Were sincerely wrong
o So it really does matter
o What you believe

o Paul understood this very well
o So he took time to remind
o The folks in the Colossian church
o Of some of our bedrock
o Christian beliefs
o In this passage today, he talked about:
o The Incarnation of God in Christ
o Our own Christian perfection
o In the unity of Christ
o God's Lordship over all creation
o The forgiveness of our sins
o Our becoming a new creation
o Through the death of
o Our sinful selves
o & Our resurrection into new life
o God's ultimate victory
o Over all sin & evil
o These are some of
o Our bedrock Christian beliefs

o But how do you know they are true?
o If what we believe is so important
o How can we test our beliefs
o To see if they are really true or not?
o One of the best ways comes right out of
o Our own Methodist heritage
o John Wesley recognized this problem
o & After much prayer & thought
o He suggested 4 criteria by which
o We can evaluate various beliefs
o To see what is true
o & What is not
o Some of you may know these as
o The Wesleyan Quadrilateral
o The 1st is the scripture
o God's revealed word
o For Wesley this was
o The most important criteria
o Everything else builds
o On the scriptures
o Here we learn of
o God's great love for us
o Here we learn of Jesus, not only as
o A great teacher & prophet
o But more importantly as
o The Son of God
o Our Lord & our Savior
o There is probably nothing
o More important
o That you can do in life

o Than to be actively engaged
o In regular Bible study
o If you are not reading the Bible
o Every day
o You need to start!
o & If you are not in
o A small group Bible study
o Find some friends & start one
o It does not have to be done
o In the church or on Sunday
o It could be done at the end
o Of the graveyard shift at work
o While sitting in McDonald's
o Over a cup of coffee
o Wherever & whenever you do it
o Get started in studying the Bible

o Now Wesley's 2nd criteria
o For evaluating various beliefs
o Was the traditions of the church
o Men & women have wrestled
o For over 2,000 years
o With many of the same issues
o We are still struggling with today
o Many very good minds have already
o Been brought to bear on these things
o & Many of their understandings
o Have been summarized in
o Our Christian creeds
o Like the Nicene Creed

o Or the Apostles' Creed
o Which we use each Sunday
o It would do us well to spend some time
o Learning what our church leaders
o Have already said about
o The Christian faith
o In past generations
o Otherwise we may simply
o Reinvent the wheel
o Over & over again

o Wesley's 3rd criteria is
o Our own Christian experience
o Each one of us has been given
o An inborn awareness of God
o For some,
o Like Paul on the road to Damascus
o That experience may be dramatic
o But for most of us it is like Elijah
o Trying to hear God's still, small voice
o In the middle of
o The wind & thunder & lightning
o Of the world's commotions
o All around us
o Like Bible study
o Recognizing God's presence & activity
o In our lives
o Will take some hard work
o We have to consciously attempt
o To see & hear
o What God is doing & saying

o But God is present with us
o & If we listen closely
o We can hear His word speaking to us

o Now the 4th of Wesley's criteria
o Is our ability to think & reason
o About matters of faith & beliefs
o Unfortunately many people
o In our so-called post-modern world
o Use their emotions
o Rather than their intellect
o To discuss their religious beliefs
o They find faith & reason to be
o Contradictory to one another
o It is like the young man
o Who wanted to go to seminary
o To study for the ministry
o But some of his
o Well-meaning Kansas neighbors
o Told his parents
o To keep him out of seminary
o They said they just did not trust
o "Factory-made preachers"
o Fortunately Emerson Colaw
o Went to seminary anyway
o & Became one of the finest bishops
o Of the United Methodist Church
o In the 20th century
o You see, God gave us our ability
o To think & reason

o & We need to use that ability
o To critically evaluate
o All the competing philosophies
o Out there
o Otherwise our salvation itself
o Can be stolen from us

o Now - let's look at
o The 3rd & 4th questions of our survey
o #3 says, we need to respect
o A person's rights to his or her beliefs
o Even if we do not agree with them
o & # 4 says there must be some truth
o In a belief that produces good results
o We are talking about beliefs here
o That are ½-truths
o & Whether or not we should
o Take a stand against them
o Or simply tolerate them
o Let me give you an example
o That you are probably familiar with
o Over 800 people died
o In the mass suicide
o Of Jonestown, Guyana
o Those people sincerely believed
o That Jim Jones was a new Messiah
o & They acted on their beliefs
o By taking their own lives
o Rather than forsaking their religion
o The 2 reasons generally given
o For this terrible event were:

o 1) Most of the people were
o Poor, oppressed, & deprived
o & Killed themselves because
o They could see no better way
o & 2) Jim Jones was a maniac
o Whose madness led his followers
o Into insanity
o Now many of those people were poor
o & Jim Jones probably was insane
o But the real scandal was that
o Their Christian friends,
o Who could have challenged
o Those beliefs before
o They left for Jonestown,
o Said and did little to nothing
o Where were they?
o Surely there were some
o Wherever they were
o They let the opportunity
o To save those people
o Just slip through their fingers
o Why is it that we post-modern Christians
o Are so reluctant to take a stand
o & Proclaim the truth of Jesus Christ?
o If I was guessing, I would say
o It is because so many of us are unsure
o Of ourselves
o & Of what we believe
o & That is because we have
o Precious little grounding
o In the scriptures

o We are Biblically-illiterate
o We have not followed Paul's guidance
o To let our roots
o Grow down into Christ
o & Draw up nourishment from Him
o That is not something
o That happens by osmosis
o It happens by choice

o Now look at our last question
o If you believe something strongly enough
o You should be willing to die for it
o Well, the people in Jonestown
o Proved that people will indeed
o Die for their beliefs
o The history of the church
o Bears this out as well
o As we recall the martyrs
o Who have died for their beliefs
o Even the history of our nation proves this
o 1,000's upon 1,000's of men & women
o Have given their lives in the service
o Knowing that our nation's beliefs
o Are worth dying for
o But our survey has the wrong question
o The key is not a person's willingness
o To die for his or her beliefs
o The key is that
o What we believe makes a difference!
o It is vital that we know what we believe

o Christ Himself warned us
o Against false prophets
o & It may be easier today
o That at any other time in history
o To see the false prophets
o All around us
o We need to actively question
o Every new teaching we hear
o Because many of them will indeed
o Sound very attractive
o We need to analyze them against
o The scriptures
o The traditions of the church
o Our own Christian experiences
o & Our God-given ability to reason
o & As we do this
o - Consciously & willingly -
o We will grow in our faith
o We will put our roots down deeply
o Into Christ Himself
o & We will draw nourishment
o From Him

o A grandmother once took
o Her 2 grandsons - ages 4 & 6 -
o To Disneyland
o During the day she bought each of them
o A little flag
o & On several occasions they stopped
o To watch the marching band
o Of "toy soldiers"

o & Each time the boys stood spellbound
o As the band marched by
o At one point in the day, however,
o The grandmother realized
o The 4-year-old was missing
o She searched everywhere
o She called out his name
o Frantically making her way
o Through the large crowds
o Eventually she sat down
o To catch her breath
o & Try to figure out what to do next
o As she looked up she saw
o The marching band of "toy soldiers"
o & There at the end of the line
o Smiling merrily & waving his flag
o Was little Mikey
o Having the time of his life
o Completely unaware he was lost

o Friends, the "toy soldiers"
o Were not real soldiers
o They were just "toy soldiers"
o Just as many of the world's philosophies
o Are not real
o They are just make-believe
o Dreamed up by some human
o They are not rooted in Christ
o & At the end of the day
o The band of the "toy soldiers"
o Will stop playing

o Just as these worldly philosophies
o Will not carry you into eternity
o They will just stop playing
o Mikey did not even know he was lost
o He was just enjoying
o The passing parade of "toy soldiers"
o & Decided to become a part of it
o Many, many people today
o Do not know they too are lost
o They have just been enjoying
o The passing parade of
o The world's philosophies
o & Have decided to become
o A part of them
o After all, these philosophies
o Like the "toy soldiers"
o Are very attractive
o But God gave us the scriptures
o & He gave us the church & its traditions
o & He gave us our own experiences
o & He gave us our intellect
o & With all those gifts we are able
o To let our roots grow deep down
o Into Christ
o & He will give us nourishment
o To grow stronger each day
o In our faith & in our beliefs
o & The great & precious promises of God
o Will never be stolen from us
o They will be ours for all eternity
AMEN.