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
0.13UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.09UNLIKELY
Fear
0.18UNLIKELY
Joy
0.56LIKELY
Sadness
0.56LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.6LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.24UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.79LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.92LIKELY
Extraversion
0.07UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.62LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.7LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
INTRO
Have you ever been told to do something and wondered how you would ever be able to do it?
The task seemed impossible.
In his book The Daniel Plan, Rick Warren told this story:
Prior to the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, John Stephen Akhwari of Tanzania was just another marathon runner.
An Olympic caliber runner, yes.
He had won marathons in Africa, running with times under 2 ½ hours.
He easily qualified for the Olympics.
But in Mexico City, Akhwari encountered an obstacle he had never faced before: the altitude, which caused his legs to cramp severely.
Still, he kept running.
Then, about halfway through the race, he tangled with some other runners and fell.
He dislocated his knee, scraped up his leg, and hurt his shoulder as he fell.
But he didn’t stop.
With terrible injuries and cramped muscles slowing him, he labored on and finished the race.
He was one of seventy-five people who started the race, and the last of fifty-seven to finish it.
When he finally entered the arena for the final lap, only a couple thousand people were there to see him complete the race.
He finished dead last, more than an hour behind the winner.
A cheer went up for this brave runner as he circled the now darkened track.
Although it seemed that Akhwari had lost the race, everyone who saw him finish knew he was a winner.
In an interview later on, a reporter asked, “Why didn’t you quit when you were hurt and bruised, bloody, discouraged?
Why didn’t you quit?” His answer: “My country did not send me 5,000 miles to start the race; they sent me 5,000 miles to finish the race.”
We are saved in order to finish the race in this life; our faith is not just a nice feeling to get us started and then is void of the power to help us finish.
We serve a God who promised that he who began a good work in your will be faithful to complete it ().
When
Yet, you might feel that certain situations are just too much for you to handle.
It just seems impossible.
Many think this about God’s commands.
I don’t think I can give up the alcohol.
I don’t think I can stop having this affair.
I don’t think I can go to that city and tell people about Jesus.
In other words, some people might think that the commands of God are too burdensome.
Some think that Christianity is all about rules.
And if they think they can’t handle the rules, then they just stay away from Jesus.
Yet, we are clearly told in this passage that God’s commands are not burdensome.
You can do this!
You can obey Christ all the way to the end.
I want to encourage you with this simple truth: you can go because you’re staring at a defeated foe.
So let’s look at 3 marks a Christian and how God enables us to obey his commands and fulfill his purposes for our lives.
We Are Born Again
I imagine John was thinking back to the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus that John recorded in chapter 3 of his gospel record when he wrote this passage.
Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin, a group that was the judicial authority for the Jewish people.
As wise as Nicodemus was as a teacher of the law, there was at least one concept that stumped him.
He approached Jesus by night makes a statement to him.
Jesus replied “unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
This is a critical statement!
It’s critical for your faith.
For you life.
For understanding what we are told in v.3 of our passage.
You must be born again.
That means that there is something more to this life.
We must be born again, or “from above” is a literal meaning.
We are born physically but we must be born spiritually.
We must become a new person.
We do this by believing that Jesus is the Christ.
We Believe in Jesus, the Messiah
Not a faith in a particular doctrine; not a faith in a particular church activity; not a faith in a particular person; we have a faith in a personal Savior.
If faith is really about a particular doctrine, you’ll be so dogmatic to only focus on that doctrine and not be as concerned about Jesus and his leadership of the church.
Some might have a crisis of belief when a particular church activity no longer happens.
If your faith is centered around the Spring Missions Bake Sale, and it doesn’t happen one year, it might leave you in a quandry.
If your faith is all about a particular person, when that person lets you down, then you’ll question your faith.
Yet, Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
He is true to his promises and won’t let you down like others will.
Remember that we have faith in a personal Savior.
We Love God and Others
V.1- If we love the Father, then we’ll love whoever has been born of him.
Notice John’s teaching is in line with the Great Commandment ():
(ESV)
36“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”
37And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
38This is the great and first commandment.
39And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
40On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
We’ll know we love the children of God when we love God and obey his commandments.
Because he commands us to love one another.
Here’s the reality: whether or not you like it, in Christ you’re part of a family—and you are supposed to love this family.
Who can ever forget Winston Churchill’s immortal words: “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills.”
It sounds exactly like our family vacation.
- Robert Orben
It’s not easy to love others sometimes.
But notice what John says: we’ll love others when we love God and keep his commandments.
Do you see how your love for others is dependent upon your love for and obedience to God? It’s not dependent on what you think they deserve.
So John has told us 3 marks of a believer: we are born again; we believe in Jesus, the Messiah; and we love God and others.
With all of that, let’s look now to how we can fight the good fight of faith all the way to the end:
You Can Go Because You’re Staring At A Defeated Foe
You can go all the way to the end with Christ.
All the times you’ve felt like a failure and that you need to give up, don’t forget what John says in v.3-5.
I want to read it out of the CSB because it will make it even easier to understand.
(CSB) 3For this is what love for God is: to keep his commands.
And his commands are not a burden, 4because everyone who has been born of God conquers the world.
This is the victory that has conquered the world: our faith.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9