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
0.15UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.1UNLIKELY
Fear
0.13UNLIKELY
Joy
0.61LIKELY
Sadness
0.18UNLIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.68LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.62LIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.8LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.82LIKELY
Extraversion
0.26UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.45UNLIKELY
Emotional Range
0.66LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
Welcome/Prayer
Open up to our passage... 1 Kings 12:25-32…
In a “post-covid” world… there’s a lot of talk of what church should look like...
Some call for a return to the essentials - in part due to too much innovation
Others call for more innovation - more flexibility - more “options”
Innovation can drive people to church (the gathered assembly) or
Innovation can drive people away from the church (the gathered assembly)
Today we read an example of innovation…
By this example I want us to gain a framework of which we can evaluate innovations and discern if they are beneficial or if under the guise of good intentions they are actually leading us astray
We’ll start by reading our passage and then looking at three violations of God’s Word of which Jeroboam commits with his innovative practices...
Read 1 Kings 12:25-32...
(Explain context) Solomon’s kingdom has been divided...
Jeroboam king over the ten tribes…
Establishes the capital Shechem…
Moves to secure his reign
From external threats by building up Penuel (Gen 32)
From internal threats by encouraging his people not to worship in Jerusalem
This is where Jeroboam goes off the rails… he’s no longer on the path of blessing that God offered
Jeroboam creates two places of worship - Dan & Bethel
Each with its own golden calf
This is essentially, an innovation of religion… creating something new and instituting new practices of worship
In some cases… this isn’t necessarily bad…
Consider the use of slides and media
Apps that help with verse memorization, so on…
But any innovation is potentially dangerous… even innovation that is beneficial…
For when we innovate religion… that is our practice of worship… how we do worship…
We often give something up in order to do another thing… a new thing…
Again, it’s not always bad… using electricity during worship… or offering coffee…
But as in all things we must make sure our motives are pure and holy…
Let us continue to exam Jeroboam’s actions we may learn more...
This innovation by Jeroboam is rooted in selfish motives… not holy ones… even if Jeroboam was still seeking to glorify God by them… they are no better than the actions of Aaron’s sons offering strange fire in Lev.
10...
For Jeroboam this is about selfish ambition Phil 2:3...
Keep the people from leaving him
Keep Rehoboam from gaining power
Secular concerns are never to lead us to violate the commands of God
One of the commands Jeroboam violates is the 2nd commandment… building these two calves
Ex 20:4-5...
The commandment that Aaron and Israel violated later in Ex 32… and in verse 4 of Exodus 32, notice what the the people said…
The same words used by Jeroboam here in verse 28
What was the consequence back at Sinai? 3000 men killed
God takes this command seriously… and we must recognize the danger of creating images of God… even ones we may not inherently worship
Consider paintings of Jesus… what do they say about Him?
Or movies and shows… consider the popular series “Chosen”
Another sin made by Jeroboam is encouraging worship at other places not chosen by Yahweh
As we have seen and discussed with Solomon… Jerusalem, the temple, is the designated place of worship… for all Israelites Dt 12:5-7...
But Jeroboam wanted to keep the people to himself…
He was insecure… political and religious fears motivated him
So he made worship more convenient...
Closer than Jerusalem
Beware of anything that may make worship more “convenient”...
Often the motive for such a thing is unholy…
Is faithfulness to our holy God not worth the effort already asked of us?
What benefit would the convenience bring?
He even changed the calendar date for the feast of tabernacles… the only apparent reason is to have their own feast which is their own and not the same as Judah’s.
The third sin committed by Jeroboam was making service in God’s priesthood more convenient
The priests could be whoever… no requirements needed as long as you towed the party line...
It’s like allowing women who feel “called” or are “gifted” to be elders and pastors…
It’s more convenient
It’s more pleasing to the masses
But it goes against the Word of God 1 Tim 3:1-7, Titus 1:5-9...
The Levites were actually ejected out of Israel… 2 Chr 11:13-17...
A biblical precedent and reason for leaving churches that are unfaithful for churches that are faithful
What’s the root cause of this innovation?
Jeroboam lacked trust in God
Jeroboam either simply did not believe in Yahweh or in a lack of faith, thought he could do it better or at least make it better by adding to it
This is often where unhelpful and unholy innovation is birthed… in the midst of a lack of trust… a sense of unease… moments of doubt
Churches struggling with growth...
(Numbers, competition, finances)
Or a pastor who is not well received by his people...
(loneliness, disliked, fear of being fired)
Or maybe individually...
(fear of losing friends, relationships, reputation) so you look to dress your faith up in a worldly way
It is in these moments we must do what Jeroboam failed to do…
Call to mind why we are doing what we are doing to begin with...
For pastors and elders… we must remember who called us and the task of which we are called
For you are in the pews… you need to remember the faith you are called to and hold fast to that confession…
And we all need to remember that it is Christ who builds His church
Again, it’s not that innovation can’t be helpful… it certainly can… but only if we’re grounded...
If we don’t regularly call to mind the teachings and truths of Scripture as to why we do what we do and who we are...
(Post-lockdown example - sacraments, worship, fellowship)
If we don’t stay grounded in His Word… We will conform to this world… we will allow innovation, even good innovation, to cause us to drift away from the holiness of God
We will not be able to live out Romans 12:2...
It’s not popular
It won’t win the world
It’s not convenient
It’s not always easy
But we as a church must be faithful to the faith… this is why the apostle John writes 1 John 2:24… of which he writes to keep us from being deceived...
So, as a church we must consider... does innovation help us live out 1 Peter 2:9…
(music (style/content), power point, etc)
Does innovation keep us faithful to the task of 2 Tim 2:15… (a worker approved)
Consider devotions.... are they helpful in this task?
Conditions us for short readings...
We don’t get the whole consul of God…
We are not equipped…
Reading plans… again… training the body and mind to read the Word of God in snippets… once the assigned amount is completed the book is shut up until the next time… regardless if you feel the urge to read more.
Are we still trusting the Word of God to be effective?
Do we believe Isaiah 55:10-11 or do we trust in the innovation more?
Must we need fog machines, lasers, or dancing storm troopers on stage to win people to Christ?
Do we believe the word of Jesus in John 17:17…
Or do we think we can sanctify people more effectively if we could just be nicer and more winsome… and if we could just get people to see how much they ought to love themselves...
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9