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
0.11UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.07UNLIKELY
Fear
0.07UNLIKELY
Joy
0.67LIKELY
Sadness
0.5LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.77LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.31UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.84LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.91LIKELY
Extraversion
0.32UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.81LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.81LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
Last week we did some song writing… curious- does anyone want to share their song?
INTRO: Every day, we encounter messaging.
Advertisements, social media posts, news outlets… we have friends, co-workers, teachers, etc. who are constantly signalling to us what we should think, how to live, etc.
Some of it is good, and some of it is not.
The New Year brings a whole new level of ‘oughts’.
So, how do you determine your response to these?
Most of us have a series of filters we run this messaging through.
For me:
I need to know what kind of credibility or authority the message comes from.
Do they have any basis to tell others what to do?
I also consider my relationship with the one putting forth the message.
Do they have my best interests in mind?
Finally, I consider how feasible it is to act upon this message.
Is it realistic or possible?
We could explore a number of possible reasons for our response (or lack thereof) to teaching, rules, or advice that comes from the world around us.
But what about our response to God’s Word?
I mean… it’s God’s word, not man’s after all.
If you think back over the last year, could you give examples of your specific responses to the teaching of God’s Word?
This is our focus this morning as we begin a new sermon series through the book of 1 Corinthians.
This letter was written by the Apostle Paul to the church at Corinth.
Allow me to give you a little background to this letter.
Paul planted this church on his second missionary journey (See map).
We read about this in Acts 18. Paul began here with a couple who made tents and taught in the Jewish synagogues and changed his focus to non-Jews.
He stayed there about a year and a half before going on to Ephesus.
Corinth was a city with a reputation… Eugene Peterson introduced the Corinthians this way:
When people become Christians, they don’t at the same moment become nice.
This always comes as something of a surprise.
Conversion to Christ and his ways doesn’t automatically furnish a person with impeccable manners and suitable morals.
The people of Corinth had a reputation in the ancient world as an unruly, hard-drinking, sexually promiscuous bunch of people.
When Paul arrived with the Message and many of them became believers in Jesus, they brought their reputations with them right into the church.
Knowing this, it is no surprise that this letter from Paul to the church is a letter that offers correction as Paul had received reports of brokenness within the church.
It also is a letter that answers many questions that came up in the life of the church.
Yet, before Paul enters into his discourse, he demonstrates his own understanding of humanity in that he establishes the basis upon which the Corinthian Church is to hear and respond to this correction and teaching.
This is often overlooked as a simple greeting and introduction, but there is much more to it than empty words that lead to the important stuff.
No, this is vital, for if this we skip this, we might never truly respond!
And, since that is where this letter begins, it is where we will spend our time this morning.
If you picked up a bulletin on your way in, you can use the enclosed sermon guide to follow along as we learn together.
The sermon is entitled “The Basis of Our Response”.
We will observe 3 factors that enable us to apply the teaching of God’s Word to our lives and act upon it appropriately.
Are you ready?
Let’s dive in.
The first factor that Paul demonstrates is
The Authority of God (1)
In every letter Paul writes, he begins in a similar way.
(READ v.1)
He does this in order to establish the source of authority for that which follows.
Paul does not say, “Listen up people!
I am Paul, the great learned one.
I hold 3 PhDs and I am way smarter than you, so you need to take note of what I’m saying!”
No. Paul does not attempt to bolster himself.
Rather, he immediately defers to the Supreme Authority, that of God.
Let’s break this down.
First, Paul says he is “called as an apostle of Jesus Christ”
This is not a self-designation.
To be called is to be set apart, named, summoned to a work.
Paul is not acting upon his own merit, but rather the appointment he was given.
Further, to be an apostle is to be personally commissioned by Christ and given His authority to speak on His behalf.
This is why we don’t have apostles in this sense today, because Jesus only commissioned the 12.
Paul is speaking in this letter on behalf of Jesus, in the authority of the Lord.
Finally, Paul acknowledges that this calling was by the will of God.
In other words, it was God’s decision and plan that Paul be called as an apostle of Jesus.
Paul did not earn this honor.
Here is what we need to understand: For the Corinthian church, they were receiving instruction through the apostle Paul by the will of God.
Similarly, you and I have been given God’s Word to then take and digest and apply to our lives.
When I stand to preach or when your Sunday School teacher stands to teach, we do not do so on our own accord.
It is not by the authority of my education that I preach.
The call that God has placed on my life is to faithfully shepherd His people, pointing us to His Word as our guide.
The Bible is wholly authoritative for us as Christians.
Everything that we are a a church is rooted in Scripture… or it better be.
It is by God’s authority that we accept the instructions given to us.
For us to be able to respond to the teaching and preaching of God’s word, we must first recognize the authority of God in His Word.
If it is clear in Scripture, then there should be no question as to it’s merit.
Thus, as we hear people who claim to be teachers and preachers, we have to ask, “On what authority do you say these things?”
If preachers preach a gospel different than what is confessed in the Word of God, then they are a false prophet, attempting to place themselves on the same level of authority as God.
If preachers refuse to teach the whole of God’s Word, then they are calling God a liar by omitting or not acknowledging God’s authority.
For example, some people do not like that God teaches that humanity is created male and female, so they omit that part.
Others twist Scripture around to try and justify sexual immorality.
Still others preach that in order for God to answer your prayer, you have to give a certain amount of money or that God will make you rich if you do these things.
Friends, God is not a liar.
God does not change.
His holiness and perfection has not waned.
He does not base his standard on what Hollywood or Washington deems good.
You and I should find ourselves responding to God with greater zeal than we do the culture around us.
We ought to echo the words of Peter in Acts 5:29, telling the Pharisees that when it comes to obeying God or Culture, they choose God!
When we consider our response to the teaching of God’s Word, we must first acknowledge the authority of God, and respond not as we might to a mere text book or professor, but as to the Supreme God of All.
Discuss: When you read or hear God’s Word, do you consider the authority that undergirds it?
What implications does this have?
Paul readied his readers to hear from God by announcing the authority by which he spoke.
But of course, just because we know that God is powerful and holy and authoritative, does not mean that we respond appropriately.
Oftentimes we are rebellious or we fail to see a clear picture of who we are.
That’s why Paul walks the Corinthians through the second factor that enables us to respond to God’s Word.
This factor is
The Identity of the Church (2)
Have you ever asked, “Why be a part of a local church?”
or “Why is it important to attend church meetings?”
The word for ‘church’ literally means ‘gathering’.
If we re-read v.2 with this in mind it says, “To the gathering of God which is at Corinth...”
In other words, to those who God has gathered together for His purposes in the city of Corinth.
Folks, it’s hard to be a gathering if you aren’t coming together regularly.
If at all possible, we must come together each week and walk this Christian life side by side.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9