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
0.11UNLIKELY
Joy
0.58LIKELY
Sadness
0.59LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.68LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.11UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.89LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.87LIKELY
Extraversion
0.12UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.87LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.62LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
THIS WAS NOT THE PLAN
This is not the interlude between Luke and Acts that I planned for us to have.
I read through a great book by Michael Reeves called, “Gospel People,” that dove into what defines an evangelical.
I thought that was a term that gets thrown around a lot—a label that has been placed on people who go to churches like this.
It might be good for us to stop and be sure of what it means since everyone calls us that.
And maybe we will do that at some point.
But much like we will see the Spirit moving the apostles around the map in the book of Acts in the coming months, I felt moved to go in a different direction.
January was a tough month for our church body.
On one hand, we have been celebrating because we got out of debt and we are so joyful and thankful.
But on the other hand, we have had a lot of suffering in our church.
So many people are going through so many things.
We have brothers and sisters who are nose to nose with cancer.
We have had people down and out with serious bouts of COVID.
We have had people in and out of the hospital.
And the medical challenges are always compounded by difficulties in personal relationships, stresses at work and potential struggles at home.
It reminds me of the old Christian folk-rock band, Caedmon’s Call’s song Trouble, which starts--
You say I’ve got trouble; I’ve got trouble all over me, I’ve got trouble since the day I was born.
And it’s not just a struggle; It’s the blood running through my veins, it’s all the clothes I’ve ever worn.
So after talking with Pastor Ben and Pastor David, we decided on a brief sermon series on suffering and being sustained by the Lord.
And we wanted to focus on a different member of the Godhead each Sunday.
Today, we will see the comfort of the Father
Next week, the example of the Son
And then we will look at the intercession of the Spirit
Today, we look to 2 Corinthians for the Father’s comfort and purpose in our suffering.
THE SUFFERING APOSTLE
Before I read the passage for this morning, I want to remind us of Paul’s history with the Corinthian church.
Paul planted the church in Corinth during an 18 month visit on his 2nd big missionary journey
He was rejected by the Jewish people in the city
So he did just that.
He took the Gospel to the non-Jewish people of city.
Like immediately.
He went right next door into a Gentile’s house and started witnessing to him.
Now, I would love to tell you that Paul started the church, it grew steadily, they loved him as their pastor without fail and they all went to heaven.
But the reality is that Corinth caused Paul a lot of pain as a pastor.
As you read through 2 Corinthians, you find out that there was this time when Paul couldn’t even visit the Corinthians because there would have been too much relational pain involved
There were false teachers in Corinth attempting to discredit Paul.
They claimed to be super-apostles who were more gifted in speech than Paul.
They claimed Paul suffered too much to be an apostle.
So Paul writes them this letter defending his ministry and using his suffering as proof of his qualification to be an apostle.
So that gives you an idea of where Paul is at as he writes.
You find out toward the end of the letter that Titus has come to Paul with a report that the Corinthians had repented of their attitude.
This is a relief.
But as Paul writes, he writes from the heart as a man who has endured much suffering.
He writes from the heart as a Shepherd who is bleeding from the horns of some of the rams in church butting up against him
Paul writes as an apostle who, like His Savior, is well-acquainted with suffering
And since he knows suffering, we can trust he also writes with personal knowledge of God’s comfort.
THE COMFORT AND MERCY OF THE FATHER (v. 3)
As we think about this passage this morning, I want to focus on this phrase, “The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” to begin with.
Why does Paul use this term?
He has just announced grace and peace in his greeting and he has identified the Father and Son as the Source of that grace and peace.
But why take those titles for the Father and the Son and bring them together in this way in verse 3.
It isn’t on accident.
It is purposeful—but what is the purpose?
To understand it, I think we need to look at the words that come after it.
“the Father of mercies and God of all comfort”
Paul is giving praise to God in verse 3, and as he does it, he is making a statement about God’s character and nature
God is the Father of mercies
God is the God of all comfort
Understanding God in this way is very important for how we understand God’s disposition toward us when we are suffering
We are about to see that
So it is crucial that Paul establishes why we can trust that our suffering has purpose
Why we can trust God even when we are afflicted
Paul is essentially establishing why we can trust in the character of God
In the phrase, “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” He is establishing why God is trustworthy and praiseworthy
Let’s see how he does it.
He doesn’t simply say, “Blessed be the Father of the Son.”
He says, “Blessed be the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”
I think the use of Jesus’ title as “Lord” is vital here
How did Jesus get the title of Lord?
The name bestowed on the Son is not Jesus.
He already had that name.
As He was crucified, resurrected and then ascended to sit down at the right hand of the Father, He received the title of Lord.
So the Lordship of Christ is important here.
His Lordship is proof of His completed mission.
So then, in Paul’s phrase in verse 3, we are seeing that the Father has the sort of heart where He would give His Son.
Because if the Father doesn’t give the Son, the Son does not complete the mission.
The Philippians 2:9-11 title is not bestowed upon Him.
He is the Lord Jesus Christ because the Father so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, and the Son complete the task before Him for the glory of the Father.
So then I go to the 2nd half of the verse and the same terms of “Father” and “God” are repeated, calling our attention back to the first phrase— “God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Paul wants us to know that the same Father of mercies and God of all comfort who comforts us when we suffer is the Father who gave His Son.
We can trust that He truly is merciful and He truly is comforting because He gave the Son who completed the saving mission set before Him ascended as the Lord of all.
1.
We know the Father is merciful and comforting because He gave His Son (v.
3).
God has a quintillion causes and effects He is governing every millisecond.
I cannot begin to comprehend how He does all of this in His perfect wisdom and power and it is not hard for Him.
He is not stressed.
He is not panicked.
The nations are dust on his scales.
He stands outside of time.
The oceans are a drop in His bucket
He can roll up the sky like a scroll
I do not understand a thousand things that I see every month.
I do not understand why God has protected me from certain things and let me endure other things.
I do not know why He allows everything that He allows and permits everything that He permits.
I do not understand why He causes every event He causes and why He stops everything He stops.
But what I do know is that I can trust Him.
I know that as a pastor I can sit in my office with a suffering saint and with all confidence I can look at them and say, “You can trust God.”
And I know this because He has proven His character to us in the most dramatic of ways—through giving His Son to die and resurrect.
By giving His only begotten Son to be mocked and murdered, that He would rise again and be made Lord
ILLUSTRATION: I remember watching Tim Keller speak to students at Colombia University in 2011.
He was debating David Eisenbach, a well-known Atheist.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9