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.
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Emotion Tone
Anger
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Analytical
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Conscientiousness
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Extraversion
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Tone of specific sentences
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Anger
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I want you to imagine a scene with me.
This scene unfolds at the gates of heaven.
Two people have died at roughly the same time and they arrive, simultaneously, at the entrance of heaven.
Jesus is there, awaiting them.
To one of them, Jesus says the words we all hope one day to hear: [JOYFULLY] “Well done, good and faithful servant.
Enter into the joy of your Master.”
But to the other, the words no person ever wants to hear, the most utterly terrifying words one could ever: [SOBERLY] “I never you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.”
One is admitted into heaven; the other is banished to hell.
Now these two persons lived radically different lives.
One of the two lived what most of us would think is a good, moral, upright life – making a profession of faith at an early age, say 10.
This person was baptized.
This person was faithful in coming to church, this person avoided major sins; they served regularly in the church and community.
And all that was all on the outside of this person – it was what others could observe.
Only Jesus knew the inside of this person, the heart.
The other person, however, didn’t live such an upright and moral life.
The other guy had lot of sins he struggled with and weaknesses he kept falling into.
And these sins were visible and noticeable to others – everyone knew about them; you didn’t have to look far to see them.
This guy wasn’t thought well of in his community.
His church attendance was sporadic at best.
There were rumors that he had a drinking problem.
He had episodes of mental illness which made him socially awkward.
And, just like the first guy, all of this was on the outside of this person – it was what others could observe.
Two very different men – one good, one bad.
And two very different eternal destinies.
How do they pair up?
Which guy made it into heaven?
Our text this morning is going to help us answer this question.
This is a tale of two sons – the irresponsible repentant son who receives grace, and the responsible, self-righteous son who does not.
Which one is right with God? Which one is not?
May God bless the preaching of His word.
The irresponsible yet repentant son receives grace
Verses 12-13 say, “There was a man who had two sons.
And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’”
Now, then, just like now, parents left their estate to their children.
And judging from this parable, we know they were very wealthy.
They have servants, nice clothes, plenty of cattle, and lots of land.
And I wonder if this young boy is growing up around all this and seeing the wealth and imagining what it would be like for it to all be his.
And at the same time, maybe, he’s on the outs with his dad.
His dad loves him, but the son sees the dad as overly restrictive.
And so maybe he’s thinking, “you know, I’ll be old enough to leave home in a couple of years.
I can’t wait to gain my freedom, get out of this worthless town, maybe go to Rome; I know that since I’m the younger son I’m only going to get a third of all my dad’s wealth, but still – dad’s pretty wealthy.
It’ll be a good chunk of money.
Man, I can’t wait for that day.”
And so he’s just waiting it out, anticipating his day of independence.
And, you know, maybe he gets tired of waiting.
So he’s thinking, “You know, dad’s 60, seems like he’s in good health.
I know that technically I’m not entitled to my share until he dies.
But who knows when that’s going to happen?
Besides,” he says to himself, “I’ve heard of men who’ve divided up the inheritance early.
I could always make that suggestion to him.
True, it’d probably hurt him pretty bad.
It’ll definitely be a pretty bold and brazen thing to do.
He’ll think I don’t love him and just want his money.
That’ll be pretty rough.
But, you know, all it’ll take to get my stuff together is a few days and then I’ll be on my way and won’t have to be around him anymore.
Besides, he’ll have mom to comfort him, and he’s always seemed to like my older brother more anyway.
He’s such a “hard worker”, a real stick in the mud.
I think I’m gonna do it.
I’m gonna ask him for the money now.
It’ll be worth it.”
Now I know that none of that is in the text.
But we do know something about the historical context of the first century; we do know something about Jewish inheritance laws and family customs.
It’s likely that something like that was going on in this son’s mind and heart.
So verse 13 says “not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living.”
Verse 30 the older brother tells us the brother “devoured your property with prostitutes”, though the older brother might be exaggerating out of his anger.
At any rate, the younger brother knows what he wants.
His mind is set on it.
Now that he’s out of the father’s house and has the money for it, it’s within reach.
He goes for it.
Did you notice how blunt the son was?
It’s not, “Father, if you see fit, and if you don’t mine, I’d like to have my share of the inheritance now.”
No, what we have here is a demand, right?
It’s an imperative.
“Give me the share of property that is coming to me” – “give me what is mine, give me what I’m entitled to, and do it now.”
His father is a means to an end.
And we aren’t told what the father says in response.
We aren’t told how it makes the father feel.
All we’re told in verse 12 is that “he divided his property between them.”
So the son strikes out on his own with his bags and his wallet full.
And look where all of this gets him.
“And when he had spent everything” – notice the timing – “a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need.”
Notice his downward spiral.
First, he goes from having it all to being destitute.
All his money is gone.
Next, a famine hits.
There’s no food.
Third, he has to “hire himself out” just to avoid starving to death.
Fourth, once he hires himself out to a local farmer (probably a non-Jew, which would have been degrading for a Jew), he’s feeding pigs.
But apparently what he’s making still isn’t enough for him to survive.
Verse 16 says “he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.”
He’s literally sunk as low as he can go.
For an Israelite, feeding unclean pigs and working for a Gentile, this is absolutely the most humiliating state of affairs imaginable.
This is his rock bottom.
He’s never been this bad off.
This story is meaningful to me because there was a time in my life when I was the prodigal.
When I was 23, I out of college and really restless.
My plans for grad school had fallen through.
The girl I was dating broke up with me.
I didn’t know what I wanted to do but I did know I wanted to get away from home.
I remembered something about an internship in Washington, DC that was in the field of arts management.
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