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
0.13UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.13UNLIKELY
Fear
0.1UNLIKELY
Joy
0.63LIKELY
Sadness
0.51LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.64LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.47UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.75LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.75LIKELY
Extraversion
0.22UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.41UNLIKELY
Emotional Range
0.8LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
neh.3.1-32
You are famished.
You haven’t eaten for several days, but you have been invited to a banquet.
You arrive and are seated with the other guests as huge platters of delicious smelling food are served.
But then you discover that you have a rather serious problem: your arms will not bend at the elbow!
You can’t get the food from your plate to your mouth!
Then you learn that everyone else at the banquet has the same problem!
No one can taste this feast unless he decides to go for it face first, like a pig.
You are famished.
You haven’t eaten for several days, but you have been invited to a banquet.
You arrive and are seated with the other guests as huge platters of delicious smelling food are served.
But then you discover that you have a rather serious problem: your arms will not bend at the elbow!
You can’t get the food from your plate to your mouth!
Then you learn that everyone else at the banquet has the same problem!
No one can taste this feast unless he decides to go for it face first, like a pig.
But then one guy gets an idea.
He reaches down with his fork and gets a mouthful of food.
With his stiff arm, he swings it over into his neighbor’s mouth.
His neighbor reciprocates and soon everyone is feeding one another and enjoying the banquet.
That’s a rough picture of how God’s people should function.
God made us as individuals and we should not deny it.
But at the same time, He has made us as interdependent individuals.
We are many members, but one body in Christ.
He wants us to learn to work together.
God Himself is a Trinity.
He is one God consisting of three persons, each of which is fully God.
The three persons are in perfect unity of being and harmony in working together.
God wants His people to reflect His image by working together in unity and harmony.
But that’s easier said than done.
How do we do it?
provides us with an illustrative answer.
It’s an account of the division of labor in rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem under Nehemiah’s leadership.
At first glance (and perhaps at second and third glance), it is not an easy passage to preach.
One well-known Bible teacher allegorizes the gates in the chapter, assigning a spiritual meaning to each one.
The Sheep Gate refers to Christ, the Good Shepherd, where the Christian life must begin.
The Fish Gate refers to Christ’s calling us to be fishers of men.
The Old Gate means that we should reject all the modern, newfangled ideas and get back to the old paths.
Etc.!
Another usually profitable author launches off the verses that mention men working by their houses to deal with the importance of the Christian family.
A third mentions the chapter in one sentence and moves on to chapter four.
Even C. H. Spurgeon takes the reference to the Broad Wall (3:8) to springboard into a sermon on the need for the church to be separate from the world.
While I agree with his point, I fail to see that as the meaning of this text.
Another usually profitable author launches off the verses that mention men working by their houses to deal with the importance of the Christian family.
A third mentions the chapter in one sentence and moves on to chapter four.
Even C. H. Spurgeon takes the reference to the Broad Wall (3:8) to springboard into a sermon on the need for the church to be separate from the world.
While I agree with his point, I fail to see that as the meaning of this text.
Why did God include in Scripture?
What does He want us to learn from it?
I believe that it’s here to show us the importance of working together to accomplish God’s purpose.
To accomplish God’s purpose, we need a common vision, dedicated leaders, and willing workers who do their part.
These three elements are either there or implied within our text:
the common vision to rebuild the wall;
Nehemiah as the leader who had instilled that vision;
all the people who got involved.
1.
To accomplish God’s purpose, we need a common vision for the task.
You can’t work together if everyone has a different notion of what you’re trying to accomplish.
If one man had thought that the purpose was to construct a decorative fence, but the next guy envisioned a fortress, chaos would have reigned!
If they had gotten very far, it would have looked ridiculous.
They needed to agree on a common vision so they could work together harmoniously.
Their task was specific and measurable: to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem to provide a defense against their enemies.
I envy them in that the project could be completed fairly quickly and everyone could say, “We did it!”
Their task was specific and measurable: to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem to provide a defense against their enemies.
I envy them in that the project could be completed fairly quickly and everyone could say, “We did it!”
But the church’s task is not so easily attained.
Our task is to see the Great Commission fulfilled by proclaiming the gospel to every people group on earth.
But more than just evangelism, that task requires raising up churches in every people group that teach their people to obey all that Jesus commanded ().
And the supreme goal of God’s purpose through His church is that He would be glorified, that His name would be hallowed on earth as it is in heaven.
But the church’s task is not so easily attained.
What is the Goal of the church?
His people find their sufficiency and joy in Jesus Christ.
As John Piper says, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.”
so our goal is to spread a passion for God’s glory among the nations by proclaiming the gospel and by helping all His saints to savor Jesus Christ as their greatest joy and treasure.
That’s our vision.
Everything we do for the Lord should have that vision in mind, even though it’s not as immediately obvious how every task contributes to the vision.
For example, if you get an opportunity to talk to someone about Jesus Christ and he responds to the gospel, that is obviously related to the vision!
But what about cleaning up the kitchen after a church social?
Helping with that task probably won’t directly result in many souls being added to the kingdom.
But even so, it is a vital task that contributes to the overall cause.
If no one chose to do it, it could seriously hinder the well-being of the church!
Or, someone could do it with a grumbling spirit, complaining about how insensitive others are who don’t get involved.
Or, you can do it with joy in your heart because God has saved you and made you a part of His church.
He gets the glory and your life radiates the joy of knowing Jesus Christ.
Again, our overall vision is to spread a passion for God’s glory among the nations by proclaiming the gospel and by helping all of His saints to savor Jesus Christ as their greatest joy and treasure.
before we can be effective spreading God's glory to the nations we must be able to spread it at home
2. To accomplish God’s purpose, we need dedicated leaders who can help everyone work toward the common vision.
God accomplishes His purpose through people,
but people need leaders to motivate and organize them for the cause.
The people listed in had been living there for years.
But the wall didn’t get built until God raised up Nehemiah to lead the charge.
It’s interesting that Nehemiah is never mentioned in chapter 3 (3:16 refers to a different man), but his labor is behind the whole chapter.
He did at least seven things that good leaders do:
(1) A leader must not mind if the credit goes to others.
Nehemiah didn’t want a huge sign over the main gate or a bronze plaque reading: THE NEHEMIAH MEMORIAL WALL.
I’ve seen some of these plaques in churches and if there is ever a suggestion of moving them or taking them down it is almost grounds for a war.
Nehemiah didn’t want a huge sign over the main gate or a bronze plaque reading: THE NEHEMIAH MEMORIAL WALL.
Rather, Nehemiah was committed to the task.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9