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
0.1UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.1UNLIKELY
Fear
0.09UNLIKELY
Joy
0.63LIKELY
Sadness
0.22UNLIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.56LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.66LIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.89LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.89LIKELY
Extraversion
0.36UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.86LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.66LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
Introduction:
Have you ever had anyone try to sell something to you that you knew they didn’t believe in?
Maybe it was a car salesman or someone at a furniture store.
They said some great things about the item and even appeared knowledgeable, but it was clear that they didn’t really believe what they were telling you.
Or maybe they seemed very sincere at the time, but then you overheard them talking to a colleague about making a big sale and bragging about their abilities.
Sincerity and integrity are of the utmost importance in living the Christian life.
As servants of Jesus Christ, we must be sincere in our love for Him.
Our knowledge of God must be deeper than just our mind.
We must have a heart for Jesus Christ as well.
We must be born again and love and work through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Today we are going to see Paul and his companions defend their motives and love for both Jesus Christ and the church in Thessalonica.
If you can recall, their church planting journey was cut short because they got thrown out of the city.
And this letter, written within a year or two after, seeks to remind the church of their sincerity and love and offer an example of how they should serve as well.
Let us pray.
Prayer.
There is a lot to learn about being a servant of God in this section of Paul’s letter.
The first main point is...
I.
As Servants of God, We Should be Willing to Suffer like Christ (1-2)
Paul has just finished his section on thanksgiving that we went through last week.
And the first thing he says after this points to the results that he and his companions had while they were in Thessalonica.
Their coming to Thessalonica was not in vain despite the early departure they had to make.
This word vain, kenos (keh-no-ss) here means empty or empty-handed.
Their trip resulted in many turning away from idols as we saw in chapter 1 (1 Thessalonians 1:9).
Even some Jews were saved as we saw in Acts 17:4.
Paul also reminds them of the suffering that they had to face even in Philippi before getting to Thessalonica.
We discussed this last week as well where in Acts 16 they were thrown in jail before a miraculous escape and release (Acts 16:16-40).
Despite this suffering and persecution, they continued on to Thessalonica where they faced persecution yet again.
Paul wants them to see that they continued serving the Lord with boldness despite suffering.
Paul wants to teach this church - that is facing some affliction of their own now - that this suffering should not dampen their resolve for Christ.
As the old theologian Matthew Henry stated:
Suffering in a good cause should rather sharpen than blunt the edge of holy resolution.
There is no better cause than the Gospel.
Paul wants to remind the church in Thessalonica that persecution should not diminish their resolve for preaching to the Gospel.
I want us to note something important here.
Paul’s motive is not to focus on the results of their ministry in Thessalonica.
Obviously, there were good results and a church was planted.
Yet, the true theme of verses 1 and 2 is that we should continue preaching the Gospel with boldness in God even when conflict and persecution arises.
We should also be willing to continue preaching even when the results aren’t as obvious.
Sometimes the Word of God is working in ways we cannot see from the outside.
But we should still continue to proclaim the Gospel even in the face of suffering.
The reason this is important is that suffering and conflict form the litmus test of true believers.
Let’s look at what Jesus said about suffering in a common parable that he taught.
You see, both the wise man and foolish man experienced a storm in this parable.
The storm could very well have been some form of suffering and affliction.
Yet it was only the wise man who had his house built upon the rock that was able to withstand the storm.
Before the storm, the houses probably looked pretty similar.
I might argue that the one built on the sand might have even looked prettier from the outside!
False converts often times have some extra decorations of good works to try to impress others.
I’m sure they could have even possibly had some plaques about how much they gave to a local church or animal shelter or another nonprofit organization.
Because their real heart is to please people and/or themselves instead of Christ.
While the believer is told to keep the good works hidden inside so that they are able to receive their reward from God instead of men (Matthew 6:1-4).
But the true foundation was shown in the storm.
My friends, where is your house built?
Is it on the firm rock of Jesus Christ?
Does suffering for Christ end up making you stronger in your resolve for Him?
Or do you back down in the midst of any opposition?
When someone begins to attack your faith, do you back down and give answers that show you aren’t firm in your faith?
Do you sound like many of the post-modern people today who will agree with someone who believes something entirely different than what they profess to believe?
Jesus Christ stood firm until the end.
And He calls us to do so as well.
My friends, as servants of God, we should be willing to suffer like Christ.
And...
Scripture References: 1 Thessalonians 1:9, Acts 17:4, Acts 16:16-40, Matthew 7:24-27, Matthew 6:1-4
II.
As Servants of God, We Should be Sincere Like Christ (3-6)
Paul spends an incredible amount of time discussing the sincerity of Silas, Timothy and himself.
There is a lot that we can learn from Paul here and I want us to break down four quick ‘do not’s’ of Christian service that are listed here.
In order to be sincere servants of Christ we should not...
1. Do not serve from error, impurity, or in an attempt to deceive.
(3)
Paul starts off by letting the church know that he didn’t seek to deceive them.
He wants them to know that he does not speak with error or impurity but brings the Gospel message of truth that is pure and undefiled.
Each of us needs to remain pure in an impure world.
We need to serve in the power of the Holy Spirit and with complete truth.
When we seek to deceive, we are following in Satan’s footsteps.
May we truly have the light of Christ shinning through us and not just be a mirage like Satan.
Next, sincere servants...
2. Do not serve as people pleasers but instead serve to please God.
(4)
People pleasers are some of the worst kinds of deceivers because they are oftentimes deceived themselves.
They will do anything in order to gain people’s affections.
In the process, they oftentimes believe their own fabricated stories.
Paul wants the church to know that they seek to please God and Him alone.
They even call on God as their witness who tests to their hearts.
Check out what Paul thinks about people pleasing in Galatians 1:10
Paul is clear that if one is a people pleaser then he is not a servant of Christ.
The true servant of Christ has the will of Christ as his main motivating force behind action.
Note - we as followers of Christ are to serve people on behalf of Christ.
We are to be His hands and His feet.
But may we never miss that our job is not to please people but to serve them.
Sometimes in serving people, you may make them very dissatisfied by serving them in a righteous way instead of the way that they want.
As a physician, I am reminded of an article from the journal, Archives of Internal Medicine, from 2011 (1).
This study showed the patient satisfaction was actually inversely proportional to patient mortality.
In other words, if you did what patients wanted you to do for them as a physician - they were more likely to die!
Let this be a lesson for us.
We are not to be people pleasers but instead pleasers of God.
People may not be pleased when you share the Gospel with them or discuss a hard truth with them.
Yet, by sharing the truth of God’s word, their soul may be saved from Hell.
Sincere servants of Christ also...
3. Do not serve with words of flattery, with pretext, or with greed.
(5)
Again Paul invokes God as a witness that they are above reproach.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9