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
0.49UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.11UNLIKELY
Fear
0.53LIKELY
Joy
0.58LIKELY
Sadness
0.47UNLIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.6LIKELY
Confident
0.17UNLIKELY
Tentative
0UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.87LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.77LIKELY
Extraversion
0.06UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.48UNLIKELY
Emotional Range
0.74LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
A Celebration of Wrath
So there’s this movie called, “Taken.”
So there’s this movie called, “Taken.”
Have you seen it?
Let me get a show of hands.
It’s okay to admit it, because it’s PG-13.
Also, because Aslan’s voice is the main character.
Anyway, there’s this movie called, “Taken.”
It’s about a father named Bryan Mills, an ex-CIA agent.
He retired from his job in order to be closer to his daughter, who lives with his ex-wife.
Bryan loves his daughter very much, but he can’t really compete with his daughter’s step-dad because he’s uber-rich and he literally gives her anything she could ever want.
Now, toward the beginning of the film, Bryan’s daughter invites him to lunch, and he’s thrilled because he misses his daughter and he hasn’t been given a lot of opportunities to see her.
But quickly he discovers that she’s invited him to to ask for his permission to accompany a friend on a whirlwind trip through Europe.
The idea of the trip makes this guy very uncomfortable, but his daughter is really upset when he begins to express hesitation, and his ex-wife basically throws a temper-tantrum.
So, in the end, Bryan backs down and signs the form.
The first stop of his daughter’s trip is in Paris.
And the action of the film begins when Bryan’s phone rings.
It’s his daughter, and she’s having a great time in her friend’s private loft.
She’s giggling and rehearsing the events of the day when, all of the sudden, she hears the screams of her best friend.
And she looks through one of the windows of the loft and sees that some scary men have broken in and grabbed her.
Obviously she’s terrified.
The most famous scene of the film unfolds as the camera closes in on Bryan’s face.
He immediately understands what’s happening.
And he says to his daughter, “Get under the bed.
Breathe.
Calm Down.
They’re going to take you.”
She screams when they find her, and one of these guys picks up the phone.
And Bryan Mills speaks the following words:
I don't know who you are.
I don't know what you want.
If you are looking for ransom I can tell you I don't have money, but what I do have are a very particular set of skills.
Skills I have acquired over a very long career.
Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you.
If you let my daughter go now that'll be the end of it.
I will not look for you, I will not pursue you.
But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you and I will kill you.
Even if you haven’t seen the movie, you’ve heard those words, right?
Those words have become cinematic legend.
Because what follows is a stunning display of righteous fire.
Every scene, from this point to the end of the film, every scene that follows is an awesome, moving display of merciless vengeance and terrifying rage against wicked men.
Bryan Mills single-handedly crushes the criminal underground of Paris.
He beats, he tortures, he murders in cold-blood to save his daughter.
And it’s beautiful.
It’s magnificent and moving.
The movie, “Taken,” is an homage to righteous wrath.
Are you ashamed of wrath?
If there’s a short list of God’s popular attributes, I’m not sure wrath would be on it.
You don’t hear many anthems on Christian radio celebrating God’s wrath, do you?
And when you stumble across a hymn that celebrate’s God’s wrath, it’s striking, isn’t it?
Because it’s rare.
There’s something wrong with us, I think.
At least I know that there’s something wrong with me.
Because when we read passages of God’s wrath against the wicked, I don’t often swell with praise.
I sober, I wilt sometimes when I think of God’s wrath poured out on the earth.
But here’s the thing.
I love that movie, “Taken.”
I rejoice at the righteous wrath of a father, crushing the wicked without mercy in order to save his daughter.
I love “The Lord of the Rings”, and I rejoice when Aragorn’s swift blade pierces the Orcai, when the trolls fall to Gimli’s righteous ax, when the goblin is pierced by Legolas’ true arrow.
I love “Braveheart,” and I rejoice when William Wallace’s vengeance mercilessly crushes the traitor nobles of Scotland.
In other words, I celebrate righteous wrath.
My heart swells at its display.
I don’t have a problem with righteous wrath, I have a problem with God’s righteous wrath.
Do you?
I’m asking honestly.
I want you to think about it.
Are you ashamed of God’s wrath?
Three reasons to celebrate God’s wrath.
My goal today is to teach your heart to celebrate the wrath of God.
We’re going to read passages that explain the wrath of God, we’re going to read stories that exhibit the wrath of God, and we’re going to look forward to the promises of the coming wrath of God.
And we’re doing this in order to make a very important connection.
The wrath of God isn’t anything to be ashamed of.
God’s wrath is as fundamental to his character as his mercy, as his kindness, as his love, as his hope.
It is to be celebrated.
It is to be worshiped.
There is no gospel without God’s wrath, there is no redemption without God’s wrath.
And my hope for you is that your heart would begin to swell with worship when you encounter the display of God’s wrath in the scriptures.
So let’s get to it.
Turn with me to .
Should be right about in the middle.
Let’s read together.
Okay, so I chose this passage to begin because it is super simple and super clear.
Today I’m going to give you three reasons to celebrate the wrath of God, and these three reasons follow what I think is a biblical formula.
Anytime God’s wrath unfolds, three things happen.
Anytime God’s wrath unfolds, three things happen.
And all three of those things unfold in the life of David, and all three of those things are promised in the promised wrath of God that precedes the Kingdom of Christ, and all three of those things happen in this song.
First, God’s wrath crushes the wicked and permanently ends their wickedness.
The wickedness of the inhabitants of Canaan was legendary.
They molested sojourners in the public plaza, for centuries, they murdered infants as sacrifice to bloodthirsty idols, for centuries, they waged war against the innocent, for centuries.
Can you imagine?
Centuries of breathtaking displays of treachery, generations of abuse, infanticide, prostitution, gluttony, drunkeness, rape, murder.
Generations upon generations of cruelty.
God in his wrath ended them.
He crushed these wicked men.
He blotted out their name forever.
God crushed the wicked nations, and he ended their violence.
Can you imagine how that must have felt for the oppressed, for the victims of their violence, for the victims of their perversion?
Peace.
Hope.
Freedom.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9