Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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WHAT DRAWS ME TO PEOPLE?
/Understanding the qualities you enjoy in others/
The basis of life is people and how they relate to each other.
Our success, fulfillment, and happiness depends upon our ability to relate effectively.
The best way to become a person that others are drawn to is to develop qualities that we are attracted to in others.
I received an anonymous card from a member of my congregation.
It was especially meaningful because it reflected the importance of warm, rewarding relationships:
When special people touch our lives then suddenly we see how beautiful and wonderful our world can really be.
They show us that our special hopes and dreams can take us far by helping us look inward and believe in who we are.
They bless us with their love and joy through everything they give.
When special people touch our lives they teach us how to live.
Does that reflect the kind of person you are to others?
It was a humbling blessing for me to receive such a greeting card.
As we consider what qualities we need to develop in our lives—the qualities we enjoy in others.
This poster in a Nordstrom department store once caught my attention: “The only difference between stores is the way they treat their customers.”
That’s a bold statement.
Most stores would advertise the quality of their merchandise or their wide selection as what sets them apart from the rest.
The difference between Nordstrom and other stores, according to an employee of the competition, is that other stores are organization-oriented; Nordstrom is people-oriented.
Their employees are trained to respond quickly and kindly to customer complaints.
As a result, according to writer Nancy Austin, “Nordstrom doesn’t have customers; it has fans.”
A study by TARP, Technical Assistance Research Programs, in Washington, D.C., shows that most customers won’t complain to management if something goes wrong with the purchase.
But TARP found out that, depending on the severity of the problem, an average customer will tell between 9 ~~ind 16 friends and acquaintances about his bad experience.
Some 13 percent will tell more than 20 people!
More than two out of three customers who’ve received poor service will never buy from that store again and, worse, management will never know why.
Every company is bound to goof now and then, but from the customer’s perspective, what’s important is that the company responds.
This is the secret of the Nordstrom success.
The TARP study also shows that 95 percent of dissatisfied customers will buy from the store again if their problems are solved /quickly.
/Even better, they will each tell eight people of the situation’s happy conclusion.
The trick for managers and salespeople is to give customers ample time to offer feedback on the service they receive.
There are some principles from these reports that should speak to us about our relationships with others:
§ Are we quick to respond to others’ needs?
§ Do we run from problems or face them?
§ Do we talk more about bad news or good news?
§ Do we give people the benefit of the doubt or do we assume the worst?
The Golden Rule
What’s the key to relating to others?
It’s putting yourself in someone else’s place instead of putting them in their place.
Christ gave the perfect rule for establishing quality human relationships.
We call it the Golden Rule, a name it got sometime around the seventeenth century.
Near the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Christ summed up a series of profound thoughts on human conduct by saying, “Therefore whatever you want others to do for you, do so for them” (Matt.
7:12).
In this brief command, Christ taught us a couple of things about developing relationships with others.
We need to decide how we want to be treated.
Then we need to begin treating others in that manner.
Recently I took my daughter Elizabeth out to a restaurant for lunch.
The waitress whose job it was to take care of people, made us feel that we were really inconveniencing her.
She was grumpy, negative, and unhelpful.
All of her customers were aware of the fact that she was having a bad day.
Elizabeth looked up at me and said, “Dad, she’s a grump, isn’t she?”
I could only agree with her.
Everything we asked of the waitress was met with a look of disdain.
Halfway through our experience I tried to change this lady’s negative attitude.
Pulling out a $10 bill I said, “Could you do me a favor?
I’d like some change for this $10 bill, because I want to give you a good tip today.”
She looked at me, did a double take, and then ran to the cash register.
After changing the money, she spent the next fifteen minutes hovering over us.
I thanked her for her service, told her how important and helpful she was, and left a good tip.
As we left, Elizabeth said, “Daddy, did you see how that lady changed?”
Seizing this golden opportunity I said, “Elizabeth, if you want people to act right toward you, you act right toward them.
And many times you’ll change them.”
Elizabeth will never forget that lesson because she had seen a noticeable change take place right before her eyes.
That grumpy lady didn’t deserve to be treated kindly.
But when she was treated not as she was, but as I wanted her to be and believed she could become, her perspective suddenly changed.
Whatever your position in a relationship, if you are aware of a problem, it’s your responsibility to make a concerted effort to create a positive change.
Quit pointing your finger and making excuses, and try being a catalyst by demonstrating and initiating the appropriate behavior.
Determine not to be a /reactor /but an /initiator./
Five Ways You Want Others to Treat You
These next five points seem too simple to even mention, but somehow we overlook them.
The qualities that make relationships right aren’t complicated at all.
There’s not a person reading this who doesn’t need, like, or respond to these qualities in others.
/First, you want others to encourage you.
/There is no better exercise for strengthening the heart than reaching down and lifting people up.
Think about it; most of your best friends are those who encourage you.
You don’t have many strong relationships with people who put you down.
You avoid these people and seek out those who believe in you and lift you up.
Several years ago Dr. Maxwell Maltz’ book, /Psychocybernetics//, /was one of the most popular books on the market.
Dr. Maltz was a plastic surgeon who often took disfigured faces and made them more attractive.
He observed that in every case, the patient’s self-image rose with his or her physical improvement.
In addition to being a successful surgeon, Dr. Malta was a great psychologist who understood human nature.
A wealthy woman was greatly concerned about her son, and she came to Dr. Maltz for advice.
She had hoped that the son would assume the family business following her husband’s death, but when the son came of age he refused to assume that responsibility and chose to enter an entirely different field.
She thought Dr. Maltz could help convince the boy that he was making a grave error.
The doctor agreed to see him, and he probed into the reasons for the young man’s decision.
The son explained, “I would have loved to take over the family business, but you don’t understand the relationship I had with my father.
He was a driven man who came up the hard way.
His objective was to teach me self-reliance, but he made a drastic mistake.
He tried to teach me that principle in a negative way.
He thought the best way to teach me self-reliance was to never encourage or praise me.
He wanted me to be tough and independent.
Every day we played catch in the yard.
The object was for me to catch the ball ten straight times.
I would catch that ball eight or nine times, but always on that tenth throw he would do everything possible to make me miss it.
He would throw it on the ground or over my head but always so I had no chance of catching it.”
The young man paused for a moment and then said, “He never let me catch the tenth ball—never!
And I guess that’s why I have to get away from his business; I want to catch that tenth ball!”
This man grew up feeling he could never measure up, never be perfect enough to please his father.
I would not want to be guilty of causing emotional damage to my wife, my children, or my friends by not giving them every opportunity to succeed.
When Elizabeth and I used to play Wiffleball, I would pitch and she would swing.
I told her it was my responsibility to hit the bat with the ball.
Once she had swung at least twenty times without making contact with the ball.
Finally in desperation and disgust she said, “I need another pitcher; you can’t hit the bat!”
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