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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Fear
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Analytical
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Openness
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Conscientiousness
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Extraversion
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Agreeableness
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Tone of specific sentences
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Anger
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Be a Man
What does it mean to be a man?
(Asking for a friend ;)
Really old friend of a friend story, but for the purposes of this story… this guy was my best friend.
A work friend.
And you might always have people challenging your masculinity in life.
You drop the football, “check your man card, lol”.
But this guy would do it in times where it made no sense:
“Traffic was rough this morning...”
Hey… why don’t you be a man???”
Is that relevant?
I don’t get it.
“Nice shirt, dude.”
“Hey… why don’t you be a man???”
“Good morning… how was the weekend, man?”
“Hey… why don’t you be a man???”
What does it really mean to be a man?
How about this guy: Aron Ralston.
Got his arm stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Cut his own arm off with a pen knife.
Maybe you saw the movie 127 hours?
True story.
Or this guy, Vance Flosenzier, wrestled a 7 foot shark onto land after it had ripped off his nephew’s arm to retrieve the arm.
Which they then reattached.
Or this lady, had her foot twisted nearly off, lying sideways, calls her own ambulance on the police radio, got 14 something screws in her leg and is now trying to heal without pain meds!
So… you may not have known this was in the Bible.
Today Paul tells us all, men, woman, children…
“Hey… why don’t you be a man???”
Benediction
Paul is signing off, giving his final instructions to people he dearly loves.
Sometimes called a “benediction”, the blessing at the end.
And he gives this really beautifully concise one.
Five statements.
But these aren’t just statements.
But these aren’t “well wishes”… these are forceful commands.
All of these are “present” imperatives.
Commands to enter an ongoing state of reality.
Not “wake up” but “stay awake”.
Not “stand up” but “stand firm”.
And right there in the middle.
“Be a man!”
We are going to slow down and spend some time with these five commands.
Five fingers, five commands, five rules for Christian living.
Some say these are rules for “Christian men.”
Especially if you’re at a men’s conference.
Grunt grunt murmur.
But Paul doesn’t change his audience of address.
I don’t think he just shut out half his audience.
These are words to all of us.
They are words to challenge us and encourage us, prophetic and powerful.
Be Watchful
What are we watching for?
Scholars debate what we are supposed to be “watchful” for.
Watchful for the return of Christ.
Watchful for danger.
Why not both?
Both and.
The assumption is that you are on the lookout, for danger and the end of all danger at the coming of our Lord.
But you also have to know what to do when that moment comes.
Keep your eyes open
So you can run away?
No… so you can be ready and...
Stand Firm
Stand firm, and many early documents include “in the faith.”
This is a formula Paul uses many places.
He unpacks it a bit in
and then even more in Ephesians 6, putting on the whole armor of God in order to stand.
It is a military image “hold… hold… hold your ground”.
Do not retreat before an enemy.
Here is our Bible Study, yes.
You have to know what you believe in order to stand firm in it.
You have to study the Scriptures, hear from the Lord, to understand and know.
You have to be convicted to have convictions.
Study and know… and then practice those beliefs.
Apply them to your life, to your actions, to your time, to your checkbook, to your politics.
Hold tight to your convictions
1. Be Watchful
2. Stand Firm
(Then no accident this ends up being this finger)
Act Like Men
“Why don’t you be a man?”
Many modern translations dodge the potential offensiveness of this phrase and put something like “be courageous.”
Andros (man)
Andrizomai (courageous)
And certainly, “be strong and courageous” is a powerful thread, frequently throughout the OT, notably Joshua…
“Here the gender issue threatens to obscure the force of “be a man!”
Not simply a contrast with “feminine” qualities, also in contrast with childish ways.
(1 Cor 13:11)
(If that offends you, you are really mad at Paul, your not mad at me ;)
When I grew up “Be a man”, “man up”, “put your big boy pants on”… we said all those things.
And when those phrases are used to mock and hurt, they are wrong.
But this is not “toxic masculinity...”
Paul is pointing to a shared cultural model of “mature courage” that his readers would all recognize and know to emulate.
If we want to go all “Jesus” on it, we could say “be that man”, the man of courage.
Ultimately, this is the model of courage that we follow.
What it looks like to do what God calls you to do no matter what it costs, no matter how scary or terrifying or painful.
Give it all you got
“Be a man”… or if that makes you uncomfortable, “be courageous.”
Be Strong
Or even “get stronger”, “increase in strength.”
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