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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Intro
Opening Illustration: Today we live in what I would classify as the age of outrage, worry, and anxiety.
Statistics tell us that roughly 40 million Americans have actually been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder.
This number doesn’t include those of us who worry or become anxious on a more normal level.
We are worried about money, we are worried about our jobs, we are worried about our families, We are worried about our health.
We are worried about the government and elections and about the future and about our children and grandchildren.
We are a people who are prone to worry.
I have heard that, “A dense fog that covers a seven-city-block area one hundred feet deep is composed of less than one glass of water divided into sixty thousand million drops.
Not much is there but it can cripple an entire city.”
This is a picture of worry and how crippling it can be.
We often worry about things that aren’t really there.
Worry may seem like a small thing, but it can be crippling.
How do we deal with worry and anxiety?
Transition to the Text: In the book of Matthew Chapters 5 - 7, we get what is known as the sermon on the mount.
Jesus is giving his vision of the kingdom of God.
He’s laying out what it looks like to be a citizen of His kingdom.
Matthew is intentionally painting us a picture that would remind us of Moses and the ten commandments.
Just as Moses goes up the Mountain to bring down the law, Jesus goes up the Mountain or “hill” and begins to fulfill the law.
Just as Moses laid out what it looked like to be a member of the Israelite community, Jesus is laying out what it means to be a part of His new community.
Jesus is not undoing the law, he is fulfilling it.
He is bringing it to its intended end.
The Sermon, in my opinion, can really be broken down into 4 parts.
What kind of people Make up this new, alternative community?
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How should this new community interact with the world?
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How should this new community interact with the world?
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How should this new community approach the Bible?
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How should this new community approach the Bible?
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What does it look like to actually, practically live as part of the new community?
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What does it look like to actually, practically live as part of the new community?
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The text I would like us to look at tonight comes under the practical section.
As Christians, what should our response be to worry and anxiety?
Jesus spells this out for us very practically.
Text:
Main Idea: Tonight, I want to remind you, Do Not Worry, Trust God.
Transition to Points: Let’s dive into what Jesus has to say here.
And I want to point out reasons we often worry and what the solution is.
The word here translated as anxious in the ESV could also be translated as worry.
It looking up the word in it’s original language (Greek) I found that it behind it is this idea of “being drawn in different directions, to be distracted.”
This is the idea here that Jesus, I think, is getting at.
Not that we don’t care about life, but that we become so concerned with the wrong things - or even the right things - too much and we begin to be distracted from what really matters.
Worry and anxiety, in a sense distract us from reality.
We become so consumed or concerned or anxious about something and it becomes difficult for us to see anything else.
It even becomes difficult for us to see that God is working.
Points
We worry because we serve the wrong master
This passage is sliced up and sectioned off in our modern english translations.
I think it’s sliced up at the wrong place.
Jesus’ treatment of anxiety doesn’t begin in verse 25.
Verse 25 has a “Therefore.”
The old Bible Study Rule - “If you see a therefore, look back and see what it’s there for.”
So what does Jesus say before verse 25?
Solution: Serve the right master
Jesus flows right from a statement about money into a statement about anxiety.
Isn’t this just like us - That most of our anxiety comes from money?
Many marriages end because of issues over money.
What’s the number 1 thing most people worry about?
Money
The problem Jesus is pointing out here, isn’t money itself - But divided loyalty.
The idea of “Master” here suggests a slaveowner who requires total allegiance.
It’s so easy for us to be divided in our loyalty to God.
We can be distracted by our jobs or carriers, family, pleasure, and yes, money.
Money is probably one of the main culprits.
Because money is so alluring.
We begin to think if we just had more if we just had enough, everything would be ok.
People spend their lives in pursuit of money and things.
Money offers a false sense of security and power.
Here’s the problem with money - You will leave it or it will leave you.
You will lose it or you will die and you can’t take it with you.
Money is an illusion.
Deep down, we know this.
We know that money can’t actually bring peace and security.
So we have to work ourselves to death in order to keep it going - and that is why we worry.
Money is a harsh master who pushes us towards worry.
Illustration: Like many of you, when I go out of town I try and find a friend or someone who can drop by my house and check in on things while I am away.
This is an important job - Someone is getting the keys to our homes and will be coming in and out of it while we are away.
We don’t simply walk up to some guy on the street and ask them to do this for us - We find someone we know and can trust.
Someone who will do the job well.
If you did give this job to someone you don’t know, you would probably worry the entire time - Are they trustworthy?
Will they take care of my stuff?
Will they steal anything?
When we try to give our lives over to anyone but God, we have need to worry.
Truth is, no one will take care of our lives like him.
When we hand the keys of our lives over to money, power, pleasure, or anything else - Worry is an inevitable result.
Why?
Because deep down we know they can’t do the job.
Solution: Serve the right master
Jesus is the only master you can give the keys of your life to and not have to worry about it!
Jesus has a proven track record of coming through.
You can leave your life in his hands and forget it!
He’ll take care of it!
As Christians, too often we leave our worries with God only to pick them up again.
Illustration: My dad told the story a few times to me about when he was in his twenties he became one the directors of a teen challenge program.
He said there were so many people to help and so many things to do that worry and anxiety began to show up in his life.
He stopped being able to sleep at night.
Finally, after having enough of it, he went to prayer.
God spoke to him and said - Just as you take your glasses or contacts out at night, take your problems from the day off.
Set them on the bedside table and then pick them up again in the morning.
The reason, I think, that we pick them up again, is that we often (While we won’t admit it) wonder if Jesus is really enough.
And that leads to the next point.
We worry because we ask the wrong questions
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