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
0.09UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.09UNLIKELY
Fear
0.12UNLIKELY
Joy
0.59LIKELY
Sadness
0.55LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.39UNLIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.35UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.77LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.84LIKELY
Extraversion
0.12UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.91LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.72LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
God Wants Us to Strive Together for Our Savior
The Book of Romans
Romans 15:17-33
Sermon by Rick Crandall
(Prepared January 17, 2022)
BACKGROUND:
*Please open your Bibles to Romans 15.
In these last two chapters of Paul's letter, he opened his heart to talk about his future plans and pour out his affection for the Christians in Rome.
Paul wanted them to strive together with him to keep spreading the good news about Jesus Christ.
Now God wants us to do the same.
Please think about this as we read Romans 15:17-33.
MESSAGE:
*A few years ago, our daughter Becky had minor surgery to remove a cyst from her hand.
Thank the Lord, everything went well, and Becky had very little pain.
But she basically lost the use of her hand for a few days, and that was a huge adjustment.
I had to tie her shoes for the first time since 1982!
*At the same time one of our church members was trying to recover from a torn Achilles tendon.
She was going through a thousand times more pain and trouble.
Have you ever thought about your Achilles tendon?
Probably not, but it's at the back of your lower leg.
It's the thickest tendon in your body.
If it tears, you certainly will not be able to walk on that leg, and you will have some of the worst possible pain.
(1)
*It's important for the parts of our bodies to work together.
But it is infinitely more important for the spiritual Body of Christ.
That's what God's Church is, and Paul explained this to us in 1 Corinthians 12:12-27.
Please listen to it from the New Living Translation:
12.
The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up only one body.
So it is with the body of Christ.
13.
Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free.
But we have all been baptized into Christ's body by one Spirit, and we have all received the same Spirit.
14. Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part.
15.
If the foot says, "I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand," that does not make it any less a part of the body.
16.
And if the ear says, "I am not part of the body because I am only an ear and not an eye," would that make it any less a part of the body?
17.
Suppose the whole body were an eye-then how would you hear?
Or if your whole body were just one big ear, how could you smell anything?
18.
But God made our bodies with many parts, and he has put each part just where he wants it.
19.
What a strange thing a body would be if it had only one part!
20.
Yes, there are many parts, but only one body.
21.
The eye can never say to the hand, "I don't need you."
The head can't say to the feet, "I don't need you."
22.
In fact, some of the parts that seem weakest and least important are really the most necessary.
23.
And the parts we regard as less honorable are those we clothe with the greatest care.
So we carefully protect from the eyes of others those parts that should not be seen,
24. while other parts do not require this special care.
So God has put the body together in such a way that extra honor and care are given to those parts that have less dignity.
25.
This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other equally.
26.
If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad.
27.
Now all of you together are Christ's body, and each one of you is a separate and necessary part of it.
*All Christians are part of the Body of Christ, and God wants us to work together.
He wants us to strive together for our Savior.
"Strive."
-- It's not a word we use very often, but "strive" is a good word.
It means to devote great effort to accomplish something, reach a goal, or overcome opposition.
*And Paul used this word in vs. 30.
Here Paul made an urgent plea to the Christians in Rome, and said, "Now I beg you, brethren, through the Lord Jesus Christ, and through the love of the Spirit, that you STRIVE TOGETHER with me in your prayers to God for me."
*"Strive together" is just one word in the original language.
It has the idea of struggling, fighting, passionately working for something.
This original word is where we get our word "agony."
It was the same word used for competing in gymnastic games.
*And the root word shows up in places like 2 Timothy 4:7 where Paul said, "I have FOUGHT the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."
It's also in Luke 13:24, where Jesus said, "STRIVE to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able."
(2)
*God wants us to strive together for our Savior.
How can we do it?
1. FIRST: WE NEED GODLY DESIRES.
*We need the same kind of godly desires to serve the Lord that Paul had.
In vs. 17-21, he spoke about how he had already preached the gospel from Jerusalem all the way to Illyricum.
That was the Roman province just across the Adriatic Sea from Italy.
Paul had already traveled thousands of miles for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
But he wasn't finished yet!
*Paul had a strong desire to go farther and do more for Jesus, so in vs. 22-24 he said, "For this reason I also have been much hindered from coming to you.
But now no longer having a place in these parts, and having a great desire these many years to come to you, whenever I journey to Spain, I shall come to you."
*Paul had a strong desire to see the Christians in Rome, and he had felt this way for many years.
It was one of the first things Paul stressed in the opening verses of his letter.
In Romans 1:7-15, Paul wrote:
7. To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
8. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.
9.
For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers,
10. making request if, by some means, now at last I may find a way in the will of God to come to you.
11.
For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established
12. that is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.
13.
Now I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often planned to come to you (but was hindered until now), that I might have some fruit among you also, just as among the other Gentiles.
14.
I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise.
15.
So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also.
*Paul had not been able to go to Rome yet.
But he never gave up on his godly desire.
Paul always had hope that somehow, God would make a way.
And we know that God did make a way for Paul to get to Rome, even though he wound up going as a prisoner of the Roman Empire.
*Think about your greatest desires to serve our Savior?
We all need to be more like Paul!
We all need the same kind of godly desires.
2. BUT WE ALSO NEED GODLY DREAMS.
*We need dreams like Paul had in vs. 24.
There he wanted to take the good news about Jesus Christ all the way to Spain.
It was a big dream.
We could call it a God-sized dream, and that's the kind of dream we need as Christians.
*Maybe it's something we’ve never done before, or someplace we’ve never been before.
And it's not necessarily a new physical location, but a dream to take our work in God’s kingdom to a whole new level.
*We need God-sized dreams to do things we could never do without God's grace, guidance, and strength.
And we can have these dreams because all good things are possible with God!
There is no telling how far we can go with the kingdom dreams God gives to us.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9