Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
A score of 0.5 or higher indicates the tone is likely present.
Emotion Tone
Anger
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Fear
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Joy
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Analytical
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Tentative
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Openness
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Conscientiousness
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Extraversion
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Tone of specific sentences
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Anger
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God’s grace for messy grabbers
Schoolyard pick / a dream team
Who does God choose?
This is to begin the rescuer promised in
[But what we’re going to discover is that all of humanity has been poisoned by the snake bite in the heel.]
This is the promised line who will be richly blessed and a blessing.
Genesis 21:12 (NIV)
12 But God said to him, “[..] Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.
Isaac, not Ishmael - the promised line.
Not going with customary oldest - not going throguh human efforts (Abraham trying to make the promise come through by his own plans).
So we’ll examine Isaac’s family.
In big picture - Isaac marries Rebekah (a beautiful story of a godly servant).
They have twins.
Jacob tricks Esau out of the birthright and then tricks Isaac to blessing him instead of Esau - then has to run away before Esau kills him.
The tricking all happens around food.
But God has already spoken at the outset to Rebekah about the boys:
[Whether they all know this or not - God is not bound by custom or culture || furthermore - God does not choose based on what they’re like:
Isaac
Prays.
A promising start.
Downhill from here.
Favouritism for his stomach.
His appetite.
He lives on his senses, for his senses [like parents who live through their kids achievements]
I’d like to say ‘what kind of father’ - but we know of them - or we had them ourselves, and I pray none of you are like that - only loving the child for what you get out of it.
Will give his blessing after he gets some more tasty food for himself.
To-ing and fro-ing unsure of whether this son is Esau and Jacob (listening, touching, eating, smelling)
And is Isaac opposing God’s Word - spoken to Rebekah.
Listen again to God’s word:
Then listen to Isaac’s blessing of the boy he thinks is Esau:
It’s an open question - is Isaac trying to grab God’s blessing for his favourite son and overturn God’s own words about the boys?
[Whatever the case, Isaac is mostly a lousy father, with a faovurite son, fed by his own appetite and more than just physically blind - also been passive about Esau’s choice of wife]
Rebekah:
Like Isaac, a promising start with God in mind.
She seeks to overrule Isaac, to deceive him.
For her favourite son instead.
Is she taking God at his word, and making sure Jacob is truly the blessed one like God promised?
Whatever the case, she’s taking matters into her own hand.
Esau:
Like father, like son.
Driven by his appetite.
Let’s remember the promise to Abraham.
A great people, a great place, blessing.
Some lentil stew.
This is how he despised it.
This will follow the Edomites all the way thru to Jesus’ day - Herod was from the Edomites too, seeking to kill the chosen one.
How about Jacob?
What kind of brother does this to another?
Some what values the blessing of God - but a grabber.
Uses God’s name in a lie.
Think back again to those words in Romans:
God didn’t choose Jacob because he knew Jacob would choose him eventually, or do good - because God’s choosing is all about having mercy.
Throughout the Old Testament and again in the New Testament - even on the lips of Jesus - we have God call himself the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
At this point it seems pretty ugly for Isaac and Jacob.
And here is God calling himself again and again the God of lousy parents and lying thieves.
And more appallingly, God appears to Jacob on the run and says this:
Which is to say, bless the sandals off him.
What is this ugly messy story of this family doing in our Bibles?
And what is God doing picking people like this?
Because this is precisely who God chooses - because you and me, and everybody esle in the world, are like Jacob.
[In the question box was a profound statement for us to read at this point: ‘your a poopoo’]
This isn’t an account where we say Isaac/Rebekah/Esau/Jacob is a picture of Jesus - it’s a picture of Israel, and a picture of you and me.
Paul sums it up this way:
[Maybe you worry this is unfair - so remembr we only belong because of God’s mercy.
And then read on in Romans
And finally, this shouldn’t only bring comfort to you but:
This is an open public announcement for everyone - God is committing himself to sinners to be their God.
We’ll think more about this next week in terms of Jacob’s fall and rise.
But for us, right now - there is no moral of the story -
be like Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, Esau - no.
Be amazed at God
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