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
0.12UNLIKELY
Joy
0.63LIKELY
Sadness
0.58LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.5UNLIKELY
Confident
0.36UNLIKELY
Tentative
0UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.88LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.87LIKELY
Extraversion
0.36UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.85LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.74LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday weekend.
I know it’s always a busy time of year - and it can be easy to miss out on the REST side of it...
In order to accommodate all the running around.
Last time we were together - we focused on the Christmas holiday - and in doing so we looked at the Christmas Elephant in the room of this world...
And we were ARMED with questions - for the world.
A couple weeks prior to that - we closed out the book of Ephesians.
If you’ve been around here long enough at AFBC, you’ll KNOW that when we complete a book...
I like to finish out that book - with a 1 sermon RECAP of the entire book.
Why - to ANNOY you!
NO - so that we TAKE ALL that we’ve heard - from that biblical writer ...
And package it together...
HOPEFULLY - the outcome of that will be you leaving here today - with a better understanding of the book...
So that someday - if one of your friends asks you - What’s Ephesians about…?
You’ll be able to answer them - and answer them correctly - in a helpful way...
So let’s get started...
The book itself is laid out in a particular structure...
And it really boils down to what you see on the screen now...
GOD - His Church - and His People
And so when it comes to where Paul begins this letter - He begins with...
SLIDE: The Divine Purpose: The Glory and Headship of Christ
The Divine Purpose
If we remember, Paul didn’t write this letter to the Ephesians because of some overt ISSUE within the church...
Paul is simply expounding on God and the deeper truths of who He is.
He begins by giving us a long list of - MEANS that God uses for His own END...
Blessings flow from these MEANS - but ultimately it leads to a Divine End...
What are these MEANS?
The first DIVINE mean that we’ll see is this...
SLIDE: Mean: God Chose Us: Blessing: We Are Holy and Blameless
Mean: God Chose Us
Verse 4 - God did - what?
CHOSE US.... - IN HIM (in Christ)
I hope you remember that little PHRASE from this 1st chapter of the book...
IN CHRIST...
See - the blessings of God FLOW FROM - IN Christ
They RESIDE - IN Christ!
So- Before the foundation of the world - God CHOSE us - IN CHRIST...
And this CHOOSING - is a MEAN of God - and with it comes BLESSING!!
This CHOOSING leads to us being HOLY and BLAMELESS!
A Christian’s HOLINESS before God / a Christian’s BLAMELESSNESS before God comes - thru FAITH in Jesus
It’s HIS Holiness that we attain thru faith...
HIS BLAMELESSNESS we attain thru faith...
SLIDE: Mean: God Predestined Us - Blessing: We Obtain an Inheritance
Mean: God Predestined Us
Here we see the next MEAN of God - a MEANS to an END...
And here it is - He PREDESTINED US for ADOPTION to Himself...
HOW?
THRU - or IN Jesus Christ...
And what’s the BLESSING that comes to US through this ADOPTION…?
There it is again - IN CHRIST - we have obtained an inheritance...
And not just an inheritance - but an EVERLASTING inheritance...
SLIDE: Mean: God Lavished Us with Grace - Blessing: We Come to Know His Will
Mean: God Lavished Us with Grace
· Now – we know that God’s grace brings with it EVERY SPIRITUAL blessing…
· But in regards to this text, we see it in connection with – The Will of God
· “HIS grace, which He lavished on us, making known to us the mystery of His will…”
· What we see throughout Scripture are promises of God, in how He transforms an IMMATURE BELIEVER into a mature believer…
HOW?
By commanding US - to MATURE!!
And YET - we also see in the Bible this last MEAN of God...
SLIDE: Mean: God Seals Us with the Holy Spirit - Blessing: We are Guaranteed Our Inheritance
Mean: God Seals Us with the Holy Spirit
· What do we see here…
· It starts… “IN HIM…there it is again…
· In Him, when you believed IN HIM…
· …were SEALED with the promised Holy Spirit
What blessing came with that?
· …the Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it…
The biblical concept of ONCE SAVED – ALWAYS SAVED – rests on verses like these…
· The Holy Spirit guarantees our – IMPERISHABLE inheritance…
NOW – ALL of these Means and the blessings that come with them – all point to the PURPOSE of LIFE…
And verses 11-14 of chapter 1 speak to what that is...
Multiple times in this passage we see the WHY question answered...
WHY all these means...
WHY all the blessings…?
v12 ends with the phrase - to the praise of His glory..
v14 ends with the SAME phrase - to the praise of His glory...
SLIDE: The Purpose of Life: The Glorification of God In Christ
The Purpose of Life
It’s amazing to think - - we KNOW - with certainty - why we are here...
WHY we’re alive
WHY we’re working where we work
WHY we were recently laid off
WHY we recently experienced unimaginable loss
WHY we will (LORD WILLING) - walk out of these doors today...
ALL - for the Glorification of God - IN CHRIST!
…to the PRAISE of His glory!
And the apostle Paul - KNOWS that for this to be a reality in our lives...
It’s going to take us - MATURING in the faith...
And this brings us to the 2nd main theme in the book of Ephesians...
We go from the PURPOSE OF LIFE in the Glorification of God In CHRIST...
TO -
this...
SLIDE: The Glorification of God In Christ: As the Body of Christ (Church)
The Glorification of God In Christ
Paul goes from highlighting the PURPOSE of Life - in the GLORIFICATION of God - IN CHRIST...
To highlighting for us HOW THE CHURCH plays a role - IN the GLORIFICATION of God - IN CHRIST!
He starts then by discussing the UNITY - the ONENESS we have IN CHRIST - in the church...
And it’s THIS ONENESS that Paul describes as - The Mystery of the Gospel!
That IN CHRIST - both Jew and Greek are now - ONE!
That though there was once a WALL of Hostility between both Jew and Greek -
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9