Sermon Tone Analysis

\\ Scripture: James 3

 

/Contentious tongues have hindered the work of God a thousand times over.

Critical tongues have closed church doors.

Careless tongues have broken the hearts and health of many pastors.

The sins of the tongue have besmirched the pure white garments of the bride of Christ.

/

/ /

/   -- George Sweeting/

 

The admonitions relative to the proper and improper use of the tongue in James 3 are addressed primarily to those who aspired to become teachers.

The teaching role referred to here was not in the terms of classroom teaching in an educational system but in reference to those who would bring scriptural admonition and guidance to others.

People whose charge would be to shape the manner of a person’s living here and now and thus influence their eternal destiny.

It is not meant to discourage anyone from following God’s call to do so but it is a strong admonition to think clearly about that aspiration.

It is also a warning of sorts to those who teach and should not be teaching.

He said that “not many of you should presume to be teachers.”

There are a fair number of people who spend a good portion of their lives wishing that they were something else than what they are.

Or they spend their lives thinking that they are something that they are not.

/Received from a middle school teacher..../

/ /

/Let me see if I've got this right.

You want me to go into that room with all those kids, and fill their every waking moment with a love for learning.

Not only that, I am to instill a sense of pride in their ethnicity, behaviorally modify disruptive behavior, and observe them for signs of abuse, drugs, and T-shirt messages./

/ /

/I am to fight the war on drugs and sexually transmitted diseases, check their backpacks for guns and raise their self-esteem.

I am to teach them patriotism, good citizenship, sportsmanship and fair play, how and where to register to vote, how to balance a checkbook and how to apply for a job.

/

/ /

/But, I am never to ask if they are in this country illegally.

I am to check their heads occasionally for lice, maintain a safe environment, recognize signs of potential antisocial behavior, offer advice, write letters of recommendation for student employment and scholarships, encourage respect for the cultural diversity of others.

And, oh yes, teach, always making sure that I give the girls in my class fifty percent of my attention./

/ /

/I am required by my contract to be working, on my own time, summer and evenings and at my own expense towards additional certification, advanced certification and a master's degree.

I am to sponsor the cheerleaders or the sophomore class, and after school, I am to attend committee and faculty meetings and participate in staff development training to maintain my current certification and employment status.

I am to collect data and maintain all records to support and document our building's progress in the selected state mandated program to/

/"assess and upgrade educational excellence in the public schools."/

/ /

/I am to be a paragon of virtue larger than life, such that my very presence will awe my students into being obedient and respectful of authority.

I am to pledge allegiance to supporting family values, a return to the basics, and my current administration.

I am to incorporate technology into the learning, but monitor all web sites for appropriateness while providing a personal one-on-one relationship with each student.

/

/ /

/I am to decide who might be potentially dangerous and~/or liable to commit crimes in school or who is possibly being abused, and I can be sent to jail for not mentioning these suspicions to those in authority.

I am to make sure ALL students pass the state and federally mandated testing and all classes whether or not they attend school on a regular basis or complete any of the work assigned./

/ /

/I am to communicate frequently with each student's parent by letter, phone, newsletter, and grade card.

I am to do all of this with just a piece of chalk, a computer, a few books, a bulletin board, a 45 minute or less plan time, and a big smile on a starting salary that qualifies my family for food stamps in many states.

Is that all?/

/ /

/You want me to do all of this, and you expect me to do it without praying?/

/ /

/AMEN!/

 

Map Illustration - You can get most anywhere in the world from where you are.

There is no better starting place.

Most of us spend a great amount of time waiting for a more advantageous time or circumstance or position.

I am waiting for my retirement years to do my writing.

Don't wait!

When it was summer. .

.

You can never get where you want to go until you know where you're at.

I wonder how many people think that they are somewhere that they are not?

A person is lost when they realize that they don't know where they are.

A person is equally lost when they think that they are somewhere that they are not.

For many people life is a very confusing exercise because they are trying to find their way somewhere thinking that they are in another location.

1.

The Nature of Presumption

 

/Presume – to take upon oneself without leave or warrant, to go beyond what is right or proper.

//(i.e.

Russ gift of gifts – saving us money in the long run but we are having to come up with the money here and now.)/

Presuming that we are something that perhaps we are not.

Presuming that all men think as we do when that is not the case.

The misinterpretation of silence.

People who have a specific agenda tend to interpret silence as approval.

2.

The Negatives of Presumption

 

q      Improper Estimate Of Personal Accountability Or Responsibility.

- /“We who teach will be judged more strictly.”/

/Don't take a position of leadership in church unless you are prepared to be honest, pure, and loving in your lifestyle.

Leadership is a privilege, and with privilege comes responsibility.

God holds teachers of His truth doubly responsible because we who lead are in a position where we can either draw people toward Christ or drive them away from Him. /

/ /

/This is illustrated in the life of the famous author Mark Twain.

Church leaders were largely to blame for his becoming hostile to the Bible and the Christian faith.

As he grew up, he knew elders and deacons who owned slaves and abused them.

He heard men using foul language and saw them practice dishonesty during the week after speaking piously in church on Sunday.

He listened to ministers use the Bible to justify slavery.

Although he saw genuine love for the Lord Jesus in some people, including his mother and his wife, he was so disturbed by the bad teaching and poor example of church leaders that he became bitter toward the things of God.

/

/ /

Indeed, it is a privilege to be an elder, a deacon, a Sunday school teacher, or a Bible club leader.

But it is also an awesome responsibility.

Let's make sure we attract people to the Savior rather than turn them away.

q      Improper Estimate Of Ourselves.

/“We all stumble in many ways.”/

q      Improper Estimate Of Our Impact On Others.

The potential in our words to bless or curse.

/If a father is prone to lose his temper and to pour out uncontrolled spates of words which hit children in the line of fire, he may find himself living for a lifetime with a crushed son or daughter.

Words which explode at an impressionable moment can shape an entire personality.

/

/   A forty-two-year-old man has allowed me to look into the inner recesses of his life and see what makes him what he is today:  a man who is frantically working himself into exhaustion; one who spends every dime he makes for impressive artifacts of luxury and success; a volatile human being whose temper explodes at the slightest hint of disagreement of criticism.

As we talk I ask Tom to tell me about his childhood.

/

/   At one impressionable point in boyhood, when my friend was apparently displeasing his father with the way he was doing a chore, his father said to him, "Tom, you will always be a bum!" Tom goes on to tell me that whenever he and his father had angry moments, the same prediction would be repeated until it burned its way into the boy's spirit so deeply that, like shrapnel embedded in flesh, the words could never be removed.

Thirty years later, Tom still suffers from his father's verbal malpractice.

They drive him day and night from a subconscious source to attempt to prove that his father was wrong.

Ironically, even though Tom's father is dead, the habit patterns of Tom's inner life still maintain fever pitch to convince a dead father and a slightly unsure Tom that he is not a bum.

Let anyone suggest to Tom that he is doing something wrong or that he is deficient in some aspect of his life, and hostility, defensiveness, and furious energy are unleashed to guard against what he senses is a resurrection of the old accusations from a thoughtless father who verbally set the wrong pace.

/

/ /

!

From The Effective Father, by Gordon MacDonald

 

Some of our influence comes from the position that we hold.

A person's position in life magnifies their influence and the effect of their words.

Did you ever have someone say something to you that stayed with you for years.

One of the most influential positions that we hold in our lives is the parental position.

In the most formative years of a child’s life they are convinced that you are God.

There is no one more knowing.

There is no one more trustworthy.

There are little eyes upon you,

And they're watching night and day

There are little ears that listen

To every word you say.

There are little hands all eager

To do the things you do;

And a little boy who's dreaming

Of the day he'll be like you.