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
0.12UNLIKELY
Fear
0.13UNLIKELY
Joy
0.55LIKELY
Sadness
0.58LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.67LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.38UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.9LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.81LIKELY
Extraversion
0.29UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.63LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.53LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
Philippians 4:4-9
*Introduction*
Fall is a difficult season of the year.
It is definitely not summer any more, but it really isn’t winter either.
It is a season in between.
Living “in between” can be a challenge.
Every snow storm reminds us that we have to learn to drive with winter driving skills.
Then the snow goes away and we resume our summer driving habits only to have to learn winter driving skills again.
We wear our summer jackets until it gets too cold and then we finally get out our winter jackets only to have a few days when it is so warm that they are totally out of place.
Another “in between” place exists for a person with dual citizenship.
I don’t know what it would be like to be a dual citizen of Canada and some other country.
Are there times when you would have a longing for the country you are not living in?
Are there times when you don’t know which political system to watch or where to vote?
Perhaps you have to decide which passport to give when you cross the border into a different country?
I don’t know much about that kind of dual citizenship, but I do know that being a citizen of this earth and a citizen of heaven has a lot of challenges to it.
This morning, I would like to think with you about living in this between space of being citizen’s of earth and citizen’s of heaven.
The text which will give us some guidance is Philippians 4:4-9.
The concept flows quite naturally in this text.
Last week when we looked at Philippians 3:15-4:3, we noted that some people are enemies of the cross of Christ, but that we are citizens of heaven.
We looked at one aspect of that dual citizenship as we were directed to live with a passion for Jesus.
In the last part of the message, we began to think about some of the practical aspects of such a life.
Gordon Fee says, “devotion and ethics for Paul are inseparable responses to grace.”
The truly godly person longs for God’s presence and also lives in God’s presence by “doing” the righteousness of God.
Such practical aspects of living in the spaces in between are described in the text we will look at today.
*It Isn’t Always A Happy Place*
The space between is not always a happy space.
There is the uncomfortable uncertainty when one foot is on the dock and the other on the boat and you have not committed to either.
There is the fear when surgery is scheduled, but you have not had it yet or the moment when the needle goes in but the freezing hasn’t taken hold yet.
We are not usually smiling and happy at those times.
The space between heaven and earth is not always a happy space either.
There is the danger of persecution, the reality that we will be misunderstood and the ever present challenges of life on earth like illness and accidents.
Yet in that potentially unhappy place, we are called to be marked by joy.
Paul says in 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord, always, I will say it again: Rejoice!”
Our past experience of salvation in Christ assures us of acceptance with God, our present is lived with our hand in the hand of a loving Father and our future is secured as an experience of eternal blessing.
We have every reason to live in the in between with joy.
One writer says, Joy is not “a Christian option, but an imperative.”
If you want to know more about the joy we can have as Christians, I would refer you to the message I preached on joy a month ago.
*Some People Are Difficult*
As we live in this “in between” space, it is also a challenge to relate to the people we meet.
As long as we are in between, we are not yet perfect and our brothers and sisters are not yet perfect and are sometimes difficult to get along with.
We also need to relate to people who aren’t even Christians and we don’t always know how to relate to them.
To that “in between” challenge, Paul says in verse 5, “Let your gentleness be evident to all.”
The NIV translates this word as “gentleness,” but as the wide variety of translations indicate, it isn’t clear exactly what this word means.
(NAS - forbearing spirit; ESV – reasonableness; TEV – gentle attitude; KJV – moderation; Message – “make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you’re on their side.”)
My sense of all these different translations is that this is a call to be those who extend grace.
This is one of the most difficult things about the in between life we live.
What is our attitude towards others?
We are most often gracious and gentle towards those who are our friends.
We give them the benefit of the doubt.
We trust them.
We encourage them and we love them.
But the text does not say “be evident to your friends.”
It says to all!
What is our attitude towards those with whom we don’t agree?
How do we treat those we don’t get along with?
Do we look at them with disgust?
Do we gossip about them?
Do we avoid them?
Do we harbour bitter and angry thoughts about them?
I have often said that the reason Paul says in Colossians 3:13, “bear with one another” is because there is often something in us and in others that we have to bear.
We are not perfect, but we are not to use that imperfection as a weapon.
We are to treat each other with gentleness and forbearance, always extending grace.
This is a matter that becomes even more important in our relationship with those who are outside of the circle of faith in Christ.
What is our attitude towards unbelievers?
As followers of Christ, we have “come out from among them.”
I fear that that direction in our life has sometimes caused us to adopt negative attitudes towards unbelievers.
Do we care about them, do we love them, do we trust them, or do we treat them with contempt or fear?
Are we judgemental towards them?
How do Dave & Judy minister care to AIDS patients when some of them are there because of a sinful lifestyle?
How do Kent Dueck and his staff at Inner City Youth Alive care for people who are drug users or gang members?
They will never be successful if they are judgemental or manifest fear or even hatred.
How did Jesus treat those who lived in sin?
What was his attitude towards the woman at the well, the woman caught in adultery, the woman who broke the jar of ointment and poured it on his feet?
It is always amazing to me that he was so involved with those who were sinners and cared for them so much that it says about him in Luke 7:34, “‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and “sinners.”
He was willing to forego a good reputation with the Pharisees in order to have a reputation of grace towards sinners.
Oh that we had a reputation, like Jesus, as those who are grace extending in all of our relationships.
*It Is A Scary Place*
There are some “in between” spaces which are quite scary.
The space between being on the floor and being on the escalator is an uncomfortable place.
If you stay on the floor, you will never get to the second floor, but this thing is moving and if you step wrong, you could fall.
What scares you about having dual citizenship?
To those fears, Paul says in verse 5, “The Lord is near.”
Which sense of “near” is intended?
Does the writer mean that God is present with us at all times or that the coming of the Lord is very close?
Both concepts are encouraging and perhaps we shouldn’t try to decide, but be encouraged by both.
On the one hand, God’s nearness reminds us that no matter what challenge we are facing in life or what fear presents itself because we are living in a hostile world, God’s presence protects, guides and comforts us.
Like it says in Psalm 118:6, “The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?”
On the other hand, the thought of the nearness of the Lord’s coming can also keep us walking with joy and grace.
When Jesus comes back again, we will be taken up into heaven and all of the troubles and trials of living “in between” will be over.
Like the song says, “soon and very soon we are going to see the King.”
While we live in between, we do so with the knowledge of the hope of what is coming
*What About The Things In The World?*
A number of years ago, I was at the Assiniboine Park and saw a group of young people from an identifiable conservative Mennonite group enjoying themselves on roller blades.
I was surprised that they were doing this.
Why?
What was I thinking?
I was thinking that these people have a reputation for what they don’t do and here they were doing something.
Have you ever wrestled with similar things in your own life?
Have you ever felt guilty about enjoying a vacation or a good movie on TV or a secular concert?
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9