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
0.12UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.14UNLIKELY
Fear
0.13UNLIKELY
Joy
0.55LIKELY
Sadness
0.54LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.57LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.03UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.86LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.63LIKELY
Extraversion
0.25UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.85LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.71LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
*Intro* –Chuck Swindoll mustered out of the Marine Corps in Berkeley.
He went church hunting on foot, not having a car.
He found a great stone structure with massive doors and a vast narthex.
Hanging there were huge pictures of great people in panorama.
Mahatma Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln and Jesus.
Socrates and President Eisenhower.
Above them was a great bronze engraving with the words, “You are all the sons of God” then an ellipses indicating everyone was included.
It referenced Gal 3:26.
He had run head long into one of Satan’s most deceitful doctrines the Universal Fatherhood of God.
Is it true that everyone is a child of God?
Is that right?
Chuck looked up Gal 3:26 and found, “ for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.”
That suggests it is those who are in Christ Jesus who are children of God.
It’s for sure not everyone wants that.
Acts 17:29 suggests we are all God’s offspring by virtue of Creation.
But not everyone makes a decision for Christ.
John 1:11-12 is so clear on this: “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” Clearly not all are God’s.
In our text today, Jesus’ earthly family comes to try to save Him from Himself.
They fear for his sanity.
But in their attempt and His response, we learn a lot about family connections and family conduct in the family of God.
*I.Family Connections*
Vv. 19-20: “19 Then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd.
20 And he was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see you.”
This takes place early in Jesus’ ministry.
Luke puts it here because it continues his theme of “hearing the Word”.
Turn to Mark 3:20 for Mark’s account: “Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat.
21 And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”
“Home” now is Capernaum – 25 miles NE of Nazareth.
The family has come up to see him.
But it’s a bizarre visit.
They think He’s out of His mind.
That is an amazing statement.
It’s hard to believe Mary thought this, but clearly His brothers did – and maybe His sisters.
Why did they think this?
Did they object to the miracles?
I doubt that.
The crowds?
Some say they were concerned that not even having time to eat, He was going to wear out.
But I doubt that.
We get a hint by the event that Mark puts in between the statement that they think Him out of his mind in v. 21 and their insisting on an audience with him in Mark 3:31.
Look at v. 22, “And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.”
The scribes are now suggesting Jesus is empowered by Satan.
He responds by suggesting that it would be foolish for Satan to cast out his own underlings, but He further says that to attribute to Satan work this is actually done by the HS is to commit an unpardonable sin.
Wow!
These rulers were apoplectic.
That’s what worried Jesus’ family.
It is clear by now that Jesus’ concept of salvation is totally opposite to what everyone has been taught all their lives.
And He opposes the scribes at every point – healing on the Sabbath, calling for repentance, demolishing the traditions the Pharisees have cultivated for generations.
He steps on toes every time He preaches, and the family is beside themselves.
He is bringing shame on the family by opposing everything Judaism stood for, and He’s about to get killed.
Yes, they’re concerned.
They have come for an intervention – to try to save Him from Himself.
And they claim the family connection as their right to do so.
Note Mark 3:31-32, “And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him.
32 And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.”
Of course, Jesus’ response puts them off completely.
He says, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it” (Lu 8:21).
So, let’s stop here to ask, what does this teach us about family connections in the family of God?
*A.They are Spiritual*
Realize this is Jesus’ true earthly family.
The idea that Mary was a perpetual virgin and had no children other than Jesus is simply not biblical.
Some suggest these were cousins, but the word αδελφος always means “brother”; another word is used for cousin in the NT.
Others suggest Joseph had children by a first marriage, no such is ever mentioned.
And had there been one, they would have been Joseph’s heir and in the kingly line ahead of Jesus.
Undoubtedly these were half-brothers of Jesus – children of Joseph and Mary.
But that physical relationship held no advantage when it came to being part of the family of God.
God’s family is those who hear the Word and do it.
While that was undoubtedly the case with Mary, though she somehow became party to this incident, it was certainly not the case for His brothers at this time.
John 7:1-5 shows their spiritual condition: “After this Jesus went about in Galilee.
He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him.
2 Now the Jews’ Feast of Booths was at hand. 3 So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing.
4 For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly.
If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” 5 For not even his brothers believed in him.”
Jesus’s brothers so hated His ministry by this time, that though they know He is No. 1 on the “Most Wanted List” in Jerusalem, they urge Him to go.
They’re not believers.
Thankfully at least two (James and Judas), and probably the others too, became believers and foundational to the church after His resurrection convinced them of His credibility.
But not here.
So, we learn that we don’t get into the family of God by physical connections.
It matters not whether your parents were believers or reprobates.
The question is what have you done with Christ?
It doesn’t matter what country you were born in or what church you grew up in.
Physical connections are meaningless when it comes to being part of God’s family.
Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:6-7, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’”
Jesus says this to someone he calls “the” teacher – the Billy Graham of his time, and Jesus says, “You must be born again.”
You must choose for Jesus.
Film producer Joseph Levine once presented actor Marcello Mastroianni a magnificent gold watch.
Problem was, the actor was already wearing a gold watch.
But on seeing the gift, Mastroianni took off his own watch and nonchalantly dropped it into a nearby wastebasket.
That’s what it is to come to Christ.
We take any perceived advantages we think have, throw them away like the trash they are and accept Him.
That’s how we get in the family.
*B.They are Submissive*
God’s family submits to His will – enthusiastically!
Just as Jesus submitted to His Father, so we must submit to Jesus as God.
Jesus’ family was judging Him rather submitting to Him.
They thought they knew best rather than trusting His judgment.
Failure to submit to Him as Lord shows we’re fake!
Charles Templeton was a close friend and preaching associate of Billy Graham in the 1940s.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9