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
0.17UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.52LIKELY
Fear
0.12UNLIKELY
Joy
0.55LIKELY
Sadness
0.53LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.54LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.42UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.82LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.81LIKELY
Extraversion
0.12UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.55LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.73LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
Worldliness–Is it in You?
John Stott, that great Scottish preacher asked a very sobering question to the church of Jesus Christ some time ago: You know what your own country is like.
I'm a visitor, and I wouldn't presume to speak about America.
But I know what Great Britain is like.
I know something about the growing dishonesty, corruption, immorality, violence, pornography, the diminishing respect for human life, and the increase in abortion.
Whose fault is it?
Let me put it like this: if the house is dark at night, there is no sense in blaming the house.
That's what happens when the sun goes down.
The question to ask is, "Where is the light?"
If meat goes bad, there is no sense in blaming the meat.
That is what happens when the bacteria are allowed to breed unchecked.
The question to ask is, "Where is the salt?"
If society becomes corrupt like a dark night or stinking fish, there's no sense in blaming society.
That's what happens when fallen human society is left to itself and human evil is unrestrained and unchecked.
The question to ask is "Where is the church?"
Indeed, where is the church?
Some called Christian musician Keith Green a musical prophet.
He wrote a song with a stinging message which in part goes like this: the world is sleeping in the dark, but the church just can’t fight cause it’s asleep in the light.
Jesus rose from the grave but you can’t even get out of bed.
My dear friends, this message is for the faint of heart.
Faint of heart in the sense that we who are part of the church of Jesus, are losing our influence on the world and the world is gaining a greater hold on the church.
We who are born again are part of the kingdom that the Lord Jesus said would go on the offensive against the very gates of hell.
But in these first years of the 21st century, have for the most part, not penetrated those gates, at least not in our culture.
\\ Today, I want to give a spiritual massage to those of us who claim to love Jesus but live as if we don’t.
Let’s face the ugly truth.
Many of us in the body of Christ have compromised our commitment to the Lord.
We often live as if the Lord isn’t our Lord because we are guilty of worldliness.
Worldliness.
That is a term we don’t hear much these days.
We would much rather avoid this unpleasant subject because it hits too close to home.
Worldliness is defined by that which is devoted to this world and its pursuits.
It is closely akin to the phrase “worldly wise” where it means to have a refined knowledge in the ways of the world.
Are you worldly wise this morning?
Worldliness means to have a devotion to the things of this life.
And it is so easy to do that, isn’t it?
I mean after all, there are things to do, places to go, and people to see.
There’s a job to perform, groceries to buy, children at the child care to drop off and pick up.
There’s PCS moves to make and bills to pay.
How can one not be worldly?
The problem is that our Lord told us to do away with worldliness in our lives.
It is possible to be IN the world but not OF the world.
This problem with worldliness is as old as the church.
John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, wrote the Scripture passage we read today before the close of the first century.
He told his readers to not love the world or the things in the world.
Obviously, if he was inspired to command his readers to not love the world, then there was a problem with worldliness then.
So the issue has been around for a long time.
But let’s set the context.
John’s first letter is written to Christians who were of the everyday kind.
They were not super saints.
They were invited to join in fellowship with John, his friends, and the Lord.
They were tempted to sin, and often yielded to it.
They needed instruction as to just who the Lord is, namely that He is holy (expressed as light), and love personified.
John gave his readers a literal gold mine of truth and wisdom of how to really experience eternal life–which was living in a grace and truth relationship with the Living God and with His people.
\\ And right before John admonished his readers to not love the world, the apostle of love reminded them of who they were.
John said that they were dearly beloved people who knew the Father.
They were strong and they overcame the evil one.
They were completely forgiven of their sins (1 John 2:12-14).
Before they met Jesus, they were God’s enemies; now they were reconciled to God.
At the same time, their relationship with the world changed.
When they were enemies of God, they were at one with to the world.
When they became reconciled with God, they became enemies of the world.
Over and over again the Scriptures tell us of the great gulf that separates the world and God.
Jesus Himself told His disciples that people of the world would hate them.
As He prayed to the Father in John 17 He said, “I have given them Your word, Father, and the world has hated them.
Why?
Because “They are not of the world (John 17:14).”
The world hates what doesn’t belong to it.
Now John tells his readers to not love the world.
John gives them some great spiritual logic.
In 1 John 2:15, John challenges the believer’s allegiance.
In this verse, John says that the person who loves the world proves that the love of the Father is not in him.
The word for love here is agape, which involves priorities.
Values.
Choices.
Commitment.
When someone talks about loving the world he’s making a deeper statement than simply saying “I love gelato.”
This person is saying, “I am committed to the world and its ways.
This world is what gives my life meaning and purpose.
I’m going to go get the best that this world has to offer.”
Over our years of marriage, I continue to marvel at what the Lord shows Kitty.
Since we’ve been here in Europe, we’ve been able to visit places that we’ve read about or seen in the movies.
Like many people here, we came by way of Osan.
When we received word that we were coming here, we were very happy!
Last year, Kitty and ‘Becca were able to go to Paris for ‘Becca’s 16th birthday.
And they were excited!
They saw the Louve.
They went to the Eiffel Tower.
And when they came back, Kitty simply said, “the magic isn’t here.”
The magic?
She describes it as that “The awe and wonder of some great desire being completely fulfilled.
It’s that sense that ‘this is IT.’”
That THIS–whatever THIS is, is the epitome of what life is all about.
\\ And to those who love the world, the magic IS here.
Those who love the world go after the finest material things, the best experiences.
Many have adopted the bumper sticker theology that you may have seen at one time or another: “He who dies with the most toys wins.”
Of course, toys could be simply material things.
Or it could be continual exciting experiences.
Or seeking to advance one’s own cause, one’s own agenda.
To leave a legacy.
Or to blow it all on having one good time after another.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9