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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Disgust
0.53LIKELY
Fear
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Joy
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Sadness
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Language Tone
Analytical
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Confident
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Tentative
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Social Tone
Openness
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Conscientiousness
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Extraversion
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Agreeableness
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Emotional Range
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Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
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Approximately 400,000 people in the world die from murder/homicide every year.
Over 17,000 of those are Americans in the United States.
And 9,000 of those were Black.
Much can be said about the contributing factors about murder in the world in general and the all too familiar killings in our neighborhoods.
Things ranging from poverty, racism, oppression and the like.
But, the statistics show that even within the workings of those conditions there are three dominating motivations for murder: Robbery, Jealousy, Revenge.
Then within these three motivations is an underlying emotion, anger.
So, the primary reason murders happen is that people become angry enough to kill.
Disregards the Imago Dei (v.21)
The offensive act of murder is above all a disdain and disregard of the Image bearer.
We are were created and still are in the image of God; to take a life is to do violence to the image of God.
And this beginning is the initial disregard of the image bearer when someone gets so angry that they ignore the inherent value in our brother or sisters.
Jesus is teaching a lesson greater than a simple rebuke of murder as an transgression of civil law, almost all nations in antiquity and now have laws against murder.
But the sin of murder is a betrayal against God.
Imagine how different our lives would be if when we begin to get angry with someone we first pause and remember that although this person is wrong or has offended you they are still created in God’s image.
It may not stop your anger, and many times you have the right to be angry but that never gives us the right to act out of anger to take a life.
This was the sin of Europeans that led them to steal millions of people from Africa…they missed the Image of God.
(Run…them missed the image of God)
Dangerous to You (v.22)
Besides the disobedience to God, and besides the harm it may cause others, your “anger” is dangerous to you.
These liabilities to the courts and judgments that Jesus list are less about judicial sentencing than they are about warning against the danger of increased levels of anger.
Notice in the three dangers/liabilities Jesus gives that they get progressively worse.
He starts with anger, then on to “Raca” (an insult), then finally, “you Fool”(cursing).
From the onset the idea is that once you begin down the road from anger, if unchecked you will eventually begin name calling and insulting.
They once the name calling and insults begin then come the swearing, and condemning.
Once you get to that point is usually when people can come to blows.
Lets not act like we don’t know that this is like.
The “angry with your brother without cause” is a big pill to swallow because the without cause isn’t saying “for no reason” its because your brother didn’t do anything worth being mad about.
The reason you are mad is because something is wrong with you.
There is a term used in psychology to explain this called “projection”.
They are fine, but you project what is in you onto them and you see it an you get angry.
The real danger however is in the final assessment of this progression.
If you allow yourself to get to the point where you can curse your brother or sister, you have come to a dangerous place where Jesus is saying you are not looking like on of mine.
You are dangerously flirting with hell fire because my children shouldn’t behave like this.
What you are showing in your uncontrolled anger is a likeness to the world and that is like playing with fire.
The difficult part about v.22 is that the person you are insulting isn’t mentioned in the punishment regardless of what made you angry.
It doesn’t matter what THEY did, what matters is how YOU react.
I know we all have that person at work who gets on you last nerve.
And if they say the wrong thing you are likely to go all the way off.
But, you know that if they do, and you go off because you have a quick mouth, that you will be the one getting in trouble.
Because you are the minority, because you are the woman, because you are new, because you are whatever…it’s your word against theirs and even if they get reprimanded you will be seen as the aggressor.
Now their is a time to speak up, there is a time to go off, but when you do make sure its impulsively out of anger.
Damages Relationships (v.23-26)
Unfaithful relationships
Unfruitful Worship
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