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
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Disgust
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Fear
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Joy
0.55LIKELY
Sadness
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Language Tone
Analytical
0.54LIKELY
Confident
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Tentative
0.57LIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.77LIKELY
Conscientiousness
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Extraversion
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Agreeableness
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Emotional Range
0.63LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
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“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’
But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.
Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin.
But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.
“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar.
First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.
“Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court.
Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison.
I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’
But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away.
It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.
It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
“It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’
But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery.”
I am a pretty sentimental guy, and holiday traditions are important to me.
I like this picture because it is a memory of my sister and me preparing family Christmas food in Michigan during my first year of seminary.
I have to tell you, though, that I dislike this picture more than I like it.
When I see it, I see a very unflattering view of me.
I didn’t realize that my midsection put so much pressure on my sweaters.
When I look at this picture, I’m a little embarrassed.
I’ve been told that without even thinking about it, most people have learned to look in the mirror at just the right angle to minimize their imperfections.
Visual self-justification.
I must fit in that category.
I’ve had this bald spot my whole life, and sometimes it still catches me off guard in photographs.
The point isn’t my physical condition; the point is the day that photo was taken, that is not what I saw when I looked in the mirror.
The bigger point is that I think the same thing happens when we try to evaluate the condition of our hearts.
Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?”
We are experts in self-deception and self-justification.
In our text today Jesus shows us a picture of ourselves “obeying the Law,” and we quickly realize that it is not the way we saw ourselves when we last looked in the mirror.
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Jesus is talking to people who think they’ve accepted and obeyed the law.
“Murder?
Adultery?
They’re out.
I wouldn’t touch them with a ten foot pole.”
And then Jesus holds up the photograph that shows what their obedience really looks like in light of God’s true intent for his kingdom.
When the people looked in the mirror, they saw themselves keeping the peace, doing no excessive harm, obeying the big laws, and it looked pretty good to them.
But Jesus holds up the photograph that shows obedience that goes far beyond the surface-level words.
By murder God means nursing a grudge or cutting somebody down a notch.
By adultery God means not even savoring that hungry gaze at another person.
When the people see the photograph in Jesus’ hands, it is not at all flattering to them.
They see the paunch, the bald spot, the murder stains they had missed on their clothes, the adultery streaks they hadn’t seen on their faces.
The picture doesn’t cancel the law – it fills it full of its deep meaning, and it reveals the people’s disobedience.
This week and next week we see Jesus taking individual Old Testament commands and doing three things with them.
Jesus gives the old command, he follows it with the new command, and then Jesus gives little steps of obedience.
We’ll be spending our time on the second and the third steps.
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Jesus goes to the heart of the problems in more ways than one.
He strikes at the heart of murder and the heart of adultery – anger and lust, and he begins where it counts – right in our hearts.
Note that Jesus isn’t just worried that anger will lead to murder or that lust will lead to adultery.
No.
These things in us that we consider to be “little things” for which we want to say, “no big deal,” Jesus points to and says, “No…BIG deal.”
Being angry is grounds in itself for judgment, and lust in the heart is in itself adultery.
I’d like to take a close look at what Jesus prohibits here.
I’m NOT trying to find a loophole to water down these commands.
Loopholes are simply excuses we use to avoid God’s work in our lives.
But I also don’t want to say more than what Jesus is saying here.
Some people look at these commands and see them as a religious way to heap an inordinate amount of guilt on people.
That is exactly backwards.
Jesus came that we may have life, and have it to the full – John 10:10.
Jesus’ warning in the original text carries a sense of /being /angry.
It implies something ongoing.
Getting angry happens; being angry, staying angry, nursing a grudge is something we */allow/* to happen.
In a similar way Jesus’ wording in his warning against looking lustfully carries the sense of looking /in order to/ lust.
Seeing somebody with some desire happens, but looking at someone in order to desire or lust is something we */allow/* to happen.
What seems to be the focus here is the command, “Don’t /allow/ these things to keep going on; don’t /decide/ to let them take hold in your heart.”
Then Jesus follows the commands with little steps of obedience.
These aren’t simply more rules to follow.
The little steps don’t even guarantee a changed heart.
You could cut off your right hand and gouge out your right eye, and still be as much of an adulterer as you ever were.
At the same time these are not mere suggestions.
These are commands from Jesus.
Jesus knows that we have a constant struggle between the renewed heart and the old self, and his little steps remind us that we have to structure our lives towards obedience.
How do we go about not nursing a grudge?
Jesus says seek reconciliation.
Make it right.
Don’t just rely on the courts to /declare/ you right.
It isn’t enough to /be/ right.
What Jesus demands is right /relationships/.
Jesus is looking for a right heart.
I’ve often thought of anger as hot coffee in a cup.
When I was a teacher I had to walk a long way between the coffee pot and my classroom.
It was difficult to carry a full cup that distance without having it spill over, even when the hall was empty.
When we nurse grudges or hold on to anger, it doesn’t take much for our temper to overflow.
We lash out unexpectedly, and we mistakenly think that the problem lies in the person who “caused” the anger.
Actively seeking reconciliation calms the waters inside; it empties the cup.
I just finished reading the Newberry winner, /When You Reach Me/, by Rebecca Stead.
The narrator is a 12 year old named Miranda.
There is another girl, Alice, who apparently has a very small bladder.
A group of mean girls likes to keep her occupied when they see she has the need for the restroom.
Their goal is always to embarrass her.
This has become Alice’s social identity.
During a music assembly at school Miranda realizes that it is happening to Alice again.
/I turned to Alice.
“Hey,” I said, “I have to go to the bathroom.
Be my partner?”/
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