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
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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
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Emotion
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Anger
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The Bible does not call you a ballerina.
You aren’t called to dance and twirl gracefully.
The Bible does not say that you are a construction worker using tools and machines to build a large temple.
And the Bible does not identify you as a lord or lady, a prince or princess being pampered in a castle.
Instead, Scripture says that you, Christian, are a soldier.
But you are not fighting against people.
Politicians, mobs, bullies, or anyone who disagrees with you is not your enemy.
1.
Against whom are you fighting (v.
12)?
Not against flesh and blood.
Rather against, authorities, cosmic powers over this present darkness, and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
All of those terms are regarding Satan and his forces.
The war is a spiritual war.
The battle is an unseen battle, and we wouldn’t know about this fight unless the Scriptures told us.
Thankfully, God has told us that the attacks on us, our families, our church, and even the state come from our enemy, the devil.
But the best news is this: God has told us how we, as His soldiers, are to engage in the fight.
So, Paul is going to answer several questions in this text.
2.
Where is the battle (v.
12)?
The battle is in the heavenly places.
It’s not in the Middle East.
It’s not in Washington D.C. It’s not in the media.
It’s not even in the schools and universities.
The battle is fought in the heavenly places, but it has implications for where you are in the Three Estates.
The devil brings the battle to your church and your study of the Bible and prayers.
The Good News is this:
Jesus has come.
By His death and resurrection, Christ has delivered you from sin, death, and the devil.
He has delivered you from the domain of darkness and transferred you to His kingdom (Col.
1:13).
And Jesus places you in His church so that you are continually reminded of His work, deliverance, grace, mercy, and forgiveness.
But the devil hates this.
So, Satan comes and attacks your congregation.
He attacks your pastor.
The devil loves to whisper in your pastor’s ear, “Everything you are doing is failing.
There are fewer people here now than there were last year.
You don’t have the resources you used to have.
The people don’t seem to care about the Scriptures.”
And the devil loves to attack you.
But he doesn’t come straight on.
Instead, he comes prowling around and sneaky like a lion.
He attacks you by trying to weaken your love for the Scriptures.
He tries to get you to focus on yourself and the things that bring you pleasure.
All of that takes your focus off of Christ.
The devil tries to lull you to sleep so you forget that because of Jesus you can stand before God with a clean conscience now and on the day of judgment.
The devil brings the battle to you.
This means that you are not called to be a soldier marching off to war.
No. Instead, the battle comes to you.
3. What is our role in the battle (v.
11, 13-14)?
Stand.
Did you hear how often this text told you to stand?
Four times in three verses you are told to stand.
Verse 11, “Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.”
Verse 13, “Take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.”
And verse 14, “Stand therefore.”
You are not told to march out and attack (neither are you told to retreat).
Stand.
This is your duty.
This means that you are a particular type of soldier.
4. What kind of soldier does that make you?
What are the duties of that soldier?
What two things could that soldier be punished for?
You are a sentry.
A sentry is a particular kind of soldier whose job is to watch and guard a particular place.
And you, holy Christian, are called to guard holy ground.
When Paul was writing this letter, one of the most important jobs a solder could have in the Roman Empire was sentry duty.
All around the boarder of the empire, sentries were placed on a wall to be on guard through the night listening for an attacking army.
This duty was so important that a sentry could be immediately executed for one of two failures in his duty:
The first offense he could be executed for was leaving the post either by retreating or attacking.
If a sentry saw the enemy approaching and left his post to attack by himself, he would be killed (though, he’d probably die in the attack).
The sentry wasn’t there to fight; he was there to call in reinforcements, battalions who were stationed behind the boarder at various intervals.
The sentry would call in these troops so they could defeat the invading army.
And the second offense he could be executed for is if he fell asleep.
If the sentry fell asleep while on duty, he’d lose his head.
The sentry had to always be ready to call in the troops to defend the boarder.
5.
As a sentry, what are you called to do (v.
18)?
You are to be praying at all times (v.
18), and keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.
Now, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t ever sleep at night.
And it doesn’t mean that you will be executed if you fall asleep in church.
Instead, you are to be spiritually aware and ready.
Be watchful in your prayers.
So, here is the picture.
You, believer, are a soldier who has been stationed at the boarder guarding the holy kingdom of Christ’s Church.
You have a particular post.
God has placed you in particular places where no one else has been placed and no one else is watching and guarding.
When you see the devil attacking, you don’t leave your post and fight.
Instead, you pray and call in the reinforcements.
When the devil attacks your parents or siblings, pray and call in the reinforcements.
When you see the devil attacking your pastor and congregation, pray.
When you hear the enemy advancing on your friends , pray.
Those are the places God has called you to watch over, and He hasn’t called anyone else to that particular post.
Do your duty.
Stand.
Watch.
Pray.
So that the devil may not find a way in.
Your job is to stand, guard, watch, and pray.
This is dangerous work, so…
What is your protection (v.
13, 14-17a)?
God’s armor.
You are not protected by your own might.
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