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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Disgust
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Fear
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Joy
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Sadness
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Analytical
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Confident
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Openness
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Conscientiousness
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Extraversion
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Agreeableness
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Emotional Range
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Tone of specific sentences

Tones
Emotion
Anger
Disgust
Fear
Joy
Sadness
Language
Analytical
Confident
Tentative
Social Tendencies
Openness
Conscientiousness
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Emotional Range
Anger
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Introduction
(ESV)
Two speakers:
Introduction
Introduction
1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
Recurring phrase:
2 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities!
All is vanity.
Levi and Christmas and birthday.
Levi and Christmas and birthday.
Work is meaningless
Have you noticed that we live our lives between events and occasions?
Have you noticed that we live our lives between events and occasions?
3 What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?
Nothing changes
We’re always looking forward to the next thing.
We need hope to propel our lives forward.
We’re always looking forward to the next thing.
We need hope to propel our lives forward.
4 A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever:
4 A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever.
We live for the next holiday, or the next weekend away, or the next match, or the next chapter of our lives.
We live for the next holiday, or the next weekend away, or the next match, or the next chapter of our lives.
5 The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises.
6 The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north; around and around goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns.
7 All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again.
During term, parents are so stressed out from the rigours of running kids all over, that we long for the holidays.
And then within a day or two, we’re saying ‘what were we thinking!’
During term, parents are so stressed out from the rigours of running kids all over, that we long for the holidays.
And then within a day or two, we’re saying ‘what were we thinking!’
Life is exhausting and repetitive:
8 All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
9 What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.
When I was a student I distinctly remember New Year’s Eve being a time of anticipation that invariably ended up being disappointing.
You had this feeling that there should be something more - something new and different as the earth finished another circuit around the sun; only to awaken the next day and find a strange familiarity and mundanity about life.
When I was a student I distinctly remember New Year’s Eve being a time of anticipation that invariably ended up being disappointing.
10 Is there a thing of which it is said, “See, this is new”?
It has been already in the ages before us.
This is true across the ages: the novelty of novelty
You had this feeling that there should be something more - something new and different as the earth finished another circuit around the sun; only to awaken the next day and find a strange familiarity and mundanity about life.
11 There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to be among those who come after.
Ecclesiastes is a book written to unsettle us.
Ecclesiastes is a book written to unsettle us.
It will unmask the distractions of life, the trinkets that we seek meaning in, and give us a cold slap of reality.
Some very initial applicatory thought:
Honest skepticism provides no answers.
Life under the sun is life without God - which is meaningless.
If life under the sun is all there is, carpe diem
The world is never going anywhere - the answer to this is eschatology.
At first glance it can be a depressing book.
But I hope that we’ll see as we work through it, that in fact the depressing bit is short-lived.
It shows us the world as it is - and offers us something better.
Ecclesiastes is greek for Hebrew ‘qohelet’.
Q is not a proper name - its a nickname - a pseudonym.
It means ‘one who assembles’.
NIV ‘Teacher’ is misleading.
Who has he assembled?
Some say a church (which is a word related to ‘ecclesiastes’).
Others think he’s too untraditional to be addressing a religious gathering and think of it rather as a classroom - hence ‘teacher’.
At first glance it can be a depressing book.
But I hope that we’ll see as we work through it, that in fact the depressing bit is short-lived.
It shows us the world as it is - and offers us something better.
It reveals to us on the one hand, how insubstantial our lives are, and then offers something better.
It reveals to us on the one hand, how insubstantial our lives are, and then offers something better.
On the one hand, it will tell us that our lives are like vapour - but on the other hand we will be shown how to live with meaning and purpose.
Traditionally, it has been argued that this is Solomon.
In , Solomon rebels agains the Lord.
The tradition is that this book is him in his old age, having repented.
The most natural reading of verse 1 is that this is Solomon, who was the biological son of David and ruled the Kingdom in the 10th century BC. 1:12 identifies himself as the king of Israel who ruled in Jerusalem.
He describes himself in 1:16 as someone very wise; 2:4-9 - he enjoyed fantastic wealth.
These descriptions resemble Solomon.
In Solomon gathered people - assembled them.
‘Ecclesiastes’ is Greek for the Hebrew word ‘qohelet’.
It comes from a Greek word ekklesia, which means ‘assemble/gather’.
‘Ecclesiastes’ is Greek for the Hebrew word ‘qohelet’.
It comes from a Greek word ekklesia, which means ‘assemble/gather’.
The person who calls himself Qohelet pretends to be Solomon in order to argue that if Solomon cannot find satisfaction and meaning in life in these areas, no one can.
Solomon was the perfect literary foil for his argument.
Once the search for meaning is over, the Solomonic persona is dropped, and that is when we see the distance between Qohelet and Solomon widen.
1:12-12:7 is q being quoted by an unnamed author who is heard in 1:1-11 and 12:8-12.
NIV says these are the words of the ‘teacher’ (v1).
Other translations use the word ‘Preacher’ [‘Prediker’ in Afrikaans].
NIV says these are the words of the ‘teacher’ (v1).
Other translations use the word ‘Preacher’ [‘Prediker’ in Afrikaans].
These are the words of the person who addresses the gathering - the assembly.
These are the words of the person who addresses a gathering - the assembly.
‘meaningless’ (hebel) is repeated 37 times.
To start with, in Ecclesiastes we are hearing the voices of not one - but two wise men:
1.
Two wise men: v1
The theological message of Q is that life is full of trouble, and then you die.
The most natural reading of verse 1 is that this is Solomon, who was the biological son of David and ruled the Kingdom in the 10th century BC - that's 3000 years ago!
1.
Two wise men: v1
It is a call to seize the day - carpe deim.
In the darkness of a life that has no ultimate meaning, enjoy the temporal pleasures that lighten the burden - 5:18-20.
Solomon was the patron of the wisdom literature.
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