Sermon Tone Analysis

Hebrews 10:24

Some may be concerned that affirming others may stir up more pride.

This concern is legitimate and this is why we must follow Scripture's prescription in administrating affirmation.

However, there is another danger that lurks if don't minister this commanded prescription; spiritual atrophy.

Proverbs 12:18

Proverbs 18:21

WHY SHOULD WE PRACTICE AFFIRMATION?

BECAUSE IT GLORIFIES GOD

The writer of Hebrews 11 violates nothing of God’s honor by commending the faith others when he writes . . .

All of these were “commended through their faith . .

.” (v.

39).

They are commended, yet their commendation steals nothing from the glory of God, because they are commended for faith that is from him and in him.

God does not forbid all praise of others.

It only prohibits the praise of others in ways that diminish God’s glory.

Good affirmations are God-centered, pointing to the image of God in a person.

The only commendable attributes in people were given to them.

We’ve all heard of robbing Peter to pay Paul.

We’ve also heard of robbing God by not paying tithes.

I am suggesting that . . .

we rob God of praise by not pointing out his reflection in the people he has knit together in his image.

God is not given the praise he deserves when we ignore or deny the work he is doing in people.

Affirming others has clear biblical warrant.

WHO SHOULD WE AFFIRM?

OTHERS

WHAT SHOULD WE AFFIRM?

GOD'S MANIFOLD WORKS

GOD IS GLORIFIED IN US WHEN WE AFFIRM HIS MANIFOLD WORK IN OTHERS.

HOW SHOULD WE AFFIRM?

Daniel is not dishonoring God when he praises Nebuchadnezzar.

The king is glorious, because he has been made so by the God who is more glorious than he.

Daniel honors both the king and God by honoring the king in the way he does

Describing her as favored—she has earned nothing, can boast in nothing, and has passively received this bestowal, yet it is an honor to be savored, to be sure; and declaring that the Lord is with her, for her, proactive on her behalf.

Again, Mary is distinguished from all other women as being “favored,” and yet ultimately God gets the honor, for he is the one doing the favoring, the gracing, the bestowing.

Even to a bunch of scalawags, Paul affirms the work of God he sees in them:

Words matter.

As soon as God created mankind, he engaged him verbally.

Merely speaking with (not at) people can affirm their existence.

You talk to me; therefore, in a sense, I am.

Simply greeting someone who walks through a room can be affirming to the individual and uplifting to everyone in the environment.

God designed words to be so powerful that speech brought creation into being:

And like water to a dry garden, speech has the strange and wonderful power to penetrate the soul and bring refreshment.

A good word overcomes anxiety:

We dare not take the seriousness of our speech for granted, for Jesus says that even our justification or condemnation is at stake:

Words have been endowed with the capacity to change lives, to bring arresting transformation.

They have the curious and uncanny power to make living things die or bring dead things to life:

Do you see?

There is a fruit to be harvested as a consequence of how we speak.

God has designed speech in accordance with the law of the harvest: reaping follows planting, the crop matches the seed sown, and the harvest is greater in quantity that the amount sown.

Harvests and seeds: ends and means to ends.

That’s the way God designed it.

Speech yields reactions; therefore,

Let me be the first to say that my own unruly tongue has triggered many an unfortunate reaction.

I am writing this book to myself, because I fall so far short of being the kind of affirmer that would please God and refresh others around me.

Practicing the following list will not give you the life of Christ or transform your heart so that you want to be an affirming person.

But if you have the life of Christ in you and you want to be a blessing to others, the following list might assist you to that end.

A list will not save you, but if you are saved, you might find a list useful.

PRACTICAL WAYS TO PRACTICE AFFIRMATION

a committee or board meeting, before moving on to the next agenda item, stop to commend those who worked on the previous item.

Write a personal letter or note card that an employee can take home or put in a personnel file.

Keep a supply of such blank note cards in your desk for just such a purpose.

E-mails will do, but they are less likely to be pinned up on workspace.

Commend the wisdom and helpfulness of a suggestion somebody has made, especially when the suggester has offered to be a part of a solution to a problem.

Explain that what inspired you to do some good thing was the other person’s example.

“I brought coffee cake for the office because I see how much the staff enjoys it when you consistently do thoughtful things.”

Don’t talk down to people; talk up to them.

Consider them better than you.

“Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves” (Phil.

2:3).

“You probably already know this, but. . .

.”

Think of something that is normally not praised, because it is simply expected—like refilling the soap dispensers in the church restrooms.

Customarily, those who have responsibilities for such things as refilling soap dispensers only hear from people when the dispensers are empty.

Be the one to notice that they are not empty, and commend the faithfulness of the worker who serves others behind the scenes.

In the next birthday card or Christmas card you send, include a personal note commending some Christlike quality you observe in the recipient.

Commend someone for the (sensitivity, kindness, compassion, etc.) with which he treated a third party.

You noticed, and so does God.

Say, “I thank God for you.”

Following a worship service, write a note or leave a voice mail for someone who excelled in reverential musicality, hospitable ushering, enthusiastic reading, or faithful preaching.

Meditate on how God affirms his Son in such places as Matthew 17:5 and Hebrews 1:5–9.

Ask him to help you be that way toward your own sons, etc

Paul said to the Corinthians, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Cor.

11:1).

Say to someone, “You are like Christ in (forbearance, boldness, etc.), and I want to imitate you as you imitate Christ.”

There’s no one more dependable than Jesus.

When someone completes a task you asked her to do, commend her dependability.

Reliable people are a valuable asset.

Take a moment to say so.

Do you know of a missionary or someone else doing something risky but right?

Commend the courage.

When you read a biography and come across an incident or episode modeling great character, read it to someone or send a photocopy of the paragraph or page, saying something like, “This reminds me of you.”

Write a Bible verse such as Hebrews 12:1 on a note card to someone, adding, “I think you do better at this than I do.”

Stop and pray right now, asking God to help you to be affirming.