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
0.1UNLIKELY
Fear
0.12UNLIKELY
Joy
0.61LIKELY
Sadness
0.56LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.69LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.82LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.83LIKELY
Extraversion
0.3UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.67LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.64LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
From Judgement to Hope – The Call of Jeremiah
Week 1 – Jeremiah 1:1-19
Rev’d Chris Johnson
This morning we commence our new series on the prophet Jeremiah.
Jeremiah had one of the
toughest gigs in the Bible.
It was a time of great national turmoil as the superpowers of Assyria and
Egypt wrestled for full control of Judah.
Babylon was also in the ascendancy.
Jeremiah had to tell the
people that the pending invasion and exile was God's punishment for their sin and they needed to
repent and turn back to God.
Being a prophet was never an easy job but especially difficult for Jeremiah who involved himself at a
very high level with the political machinations of the day.
I imagine a Career Expo.
You've got educational institutions with their stalls offering careers in the
trades, in hospitality, in business, in law, in computing, in engineering, in medicine.
I imagine great
long queues of keen ambitious young people lining up at each of the stalls looking for a satisfying and
lucrative career.
And then in the corner there is a tiny unassuming stall with the title Prophet.
The poster on the stall
says, -Are you ready for a challenge?
-Are you ready to be unpopular and lose all your family and friendship connections?
-Are you ready to speak the truth boldly and face the repercussions?
-Are you ready for violence and persecution.
Become a prophet today!
There is only one person attending this stall, and that is Jeremiah.
This will be a lonely life, a life of suffering.
In the world's eyes, a wasted life.
But in God's eyes a precious life, lived well in obedience to God’s call.
If you have your Bible with you please open to the book of Jeremiah.
If you are using the Pew Bible it's on page 751.
In the first three verses of chapter one Jeremiah is clearly identified as a historical figure living
through the reigns of Josiah, Jehoiakim, and Zedekiah; Kings of Judah.
He lived in Anathoth and his
father, Hilkiah was a priest.
The book of Jeremiah shows us God at work in history, that God intervenes in history.
He is
concerned with people's behaviour, with people’s decisions.
He is interested in politics and religion;
with the decisions leaders are making and what people are saying and doing.
Jeremiah will bring a
word from God in all of these areas.
It will be a difficult word that causes him much grief.
In v’s 4&5 we find the call.
READ V4&5
The Call reveals a new centre, a new focus – GOD.
-It is God who formed Jeremiah in the womb.
-It is God who knew Jeremiah before he was born and set him apart.
-It is God who appointed him as a prophet to the nations.
Jeremiah is not going to be a prophet because of his choice.
He hasn't looked around at all the
careers on offer in his day and thought, “How interesting a prophet!” “Yes I think I have the
1
communication skills, enough knowledge of covenant law and great political judgement.
I'll be a
prophet.”
-It isn't out of a sense of self importance that he will address kings.
-It isn't because of a personality flaw that he will denounce people for their sins.
-It isn't because of a perverse sense of enjoyment that he will preach judgement.
Jeremiah is going to become a prophet purely and simply because of God's call.
These words are very simple yet profound.
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you
were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
There is a theme of predestination here; God has Jeremiah’s path mapped out before he could even
say mummy or daddy.
The purpose of predestination is not to confuse us and tie us up in intellectual
knots.
The purpose is to bring comfort.
This clear call is what Jeremiah will have to come back to again and again to bring him comfort when
all else is failing.
When the going gets really tough it’s these words which will reassure Jerimiah that God is with him;
God loves him and has known him even from before he was born.
Nothing is going to happen in
Jeremiah's life that takes God by surprise.
Even although Jeremiah doesn't know the future, he knows
the God who knows the future.
The sovereign Lord is with him.
Verses 5 and 10 identify Jeremiah as a prophet to the nations.
He will address powerful men and
claim to have God's message for them.
Verse 10 explains this well.
READ v10
There are six verbs here.
Four verbs of demolition- uproot, tear down, destroy and overthrow.
And there are two verbs of renewal - to build and to plant.
Jeremiah will remind the nations that God gives them their power and they are accountable to him.
Their economic strength and military power is not just their own doing but only what God has
allowed to happen.
The nations need to recognise the Sovereignty of God and exercise their power
with the justice and mercy of God.
This is an incredible message Jeremiah has to speak to these great
and mighty empires.
No wonder in verse 6 he says, “Ah, Sovereign Lord, I do not know how to speak; I am too young.”
This
is not an uncommon reaction to a call from God.
It echoes some of Moses reluctance, ‘I don't know
how to speak’.
In Jeremiah's case he probably had more justification for this response than any other
prophet.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9