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.
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Analytical
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Conscientiousness
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Tone of specific sentences
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Anger
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I- “What is the bear minimum?”
Foster is not the greatest eater sometimes.
He likes to play too much.
if he’s not feeling too hungry or if some of the food on his plate is not appealing to him you can bet its going to be a tough dinner.
All he is going to want to do is go play, with one of us RIGHT NOW.
For a while I had him tricked.
I would ask him to take 5-10 more bites of food and then I would help him by giving him 5 of the biggest bites imaginable.
And he would chomp them down, as quickly as possible, and run off to grab his bat.
That worked great for about 2 week it seems like.
Because now he is smart enough to not let me choose the bites.
And so when I say, take 5 more bites.
He takes 5 of the smallest bites you could possibly imagine, as quickly as possible.
Says thanks Dad and runs off to play.
I’m a little proud of him, because its probably a developmental hurdle, the ability to look at a requirement and figure out the least amount you can possibly do to meet that requirement.
Like the kid in school that is constantly asking if something is going to be on the test, he wants to know exactly what is required so he can JUST meet it.
Or like at tax time every year when we all pay someone or work hard ourselves to figure out how to pay the least possible amount of money in taxes.
Y- We want to know “what we have to do to be saved?”
I think this desire to hunt for the minimum plays out in our lives in all kinds of different ways and it really varies person to person.
What is the least amount of time I can spend cutting my grass?
Just how many miles CAN I drive before getting my oil changed?
What is the
Do I have to stay for the whole concert or can I go home after my kid is done?
How many miles over the speed limit is it safe to drive?
What is the least amount of work I can put in, for the shortest amount of time to get healthy?
Of course this attitude hits us when it comes to our faith life as well.
What is the least that I can do.
Hopefully we don’t think about it that way but its it clear that many of us are asking that question in some ways.
Its a natural question considering the way the practice of the Christian faith has changed so DRAMATICALLY in the last fifty years.
The expectations for what christian faith looks like of our parents and grandparents have been radically transformed over that time and in many ways for the better.
People describe to me a time when the Christian faith was mostly about doing or not doing things to avoid the gossip of others at the church!
Who went to the movie hall?
Who missed Sunday night Prayer?
And who’s car was seen parked outside the salloon?
Were juicy tidbits and accusations all in one.
And now most of those expectations have melted away save a few.
You can
I think we find ourselves asking that same question about our faith.
“What do we have to do to be saved?”
“What is the least I can do?
What does it mean to follow Jesus?
Of course we know the line this one is from ,
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
So if following Jesus inst about what we do, do we need to do anything?
What is the least we can do and be saved?
B/C some parts of the bible seem to imply the least we can do is NOTHING.
But then again the very next line in Ephesians says,
10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
So which is it!
What does it mean to follow Jesus.
Is it about having the right ideas of who he is?
Is it about going to church?
Is it about thinking fondly about Jesus or praying or something?
Is that it or is there more to it?
What does it really mean to believe in Jesus, is it enought to keep a thought in my head, or does it need to change my life, and how much?
I- James' Famous line
Love it and hate it
Y- we go back and fourth on it
Is it possible to have faith without action.
In-active faith.
G -Its not about what you have to do to be saved, Its about what real living faith does naturally
TRANSITION: James’ sermon is all about this question.
What does authentic faith “look” like?
He does it by addressing a question that people often ask in the church.
James leads off with the question we may be afraid to ask and it happens to be the question his audiance is asking.
In verse 14.
14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds?
Can such faith save them?
Can you have faith without action?
We want James to give us an answer, Can you have faith without action, and if so, how much action do you need to have for your faith to count?
What is the least I can do?
James doesn't answer this question in the way we want, instead he, comes at it with some argument and a few stories, today we are going to focus on the stories.
A Naked and Hungry Brother or Sister
He tells a story about a member of their community in great need.
Destitute in ways that we have difficulty imagining in our context.
15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food.
16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?
17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
A brother or sister who comes in desperate for help.
Cant you picture it.
They come in the doors and see the faces of their friends and spiritual family.
The community walks up and offers a prayer of blessing.
“Go in peace (peace here comes from the Hebrew Shaloam which means wholeness, completeness.
Its sort of like saying be fixed, may you be ok).
Go in peace; keep warm and well fed.”
Then they promptly turn their backs and offer no more.
They have listened and offered their faith in a prayer.
But do nothing about the needs of the person.
James asks, “What good is it?”
What good is it to the poor brother or sister?
Because you cant wear a blessing or eat a prayer.
If the question is “can a faith without deeds save?” James says, ask the starving person who is not fed.
Ask the naked person who is not clothed.
Is the faith of the community James describes worth anything to that hungry naked person?
Of course the answer is no.
That sort of “faith” separated from action is dead James says.
17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
The New International Version.
(2011).
().
Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
But the story invites us to use our imagination more.
How would
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