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
0.1UNLIKELY
Fear
0.12UNLIKELY
Joy
0.59LIKELY
Sadness
0.48UNLIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.38UNLIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.28UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.78LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.82LIKELY
Extraversion
0.09UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.7LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.59LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
1 Peter 1:13-14
Turn to 1 Peter 1. We’re just going to look at five verses this evening and start a subject that we’ll finish next week.
Peter began the letter talking about our “living hope.”
It’s a “living” hope because our hope is in a living savior.
Jesus died for our sins and then rose from the dead.
Peter then immediately turns to how we should live as a result of this hope we have.
This instruction can be summed up in one word “holiness.”
Peter says that we are to be holy.
Of course like most things, it’s a lot said than done.
What can we learn from Peter about living a holy life?
First, Peter says we need to develop a clear head.
1 Peter 1:13 Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming.
Peter’s command to develop a clear mind has three parts.
The first part is really quite interesting.
Peter says we are to have minds that are alert.
That translation is not very accurate.
The KJV is the more accurate translation and a lot more graphic.
The KJV says:
1 Peter 1:13a (KJV) Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind. . . .
Actually, I didn’t know my mind had any loins and I’m not exactly sure how to gird them up.
As confusing as that may be, it is the most accurate translation.
It’s also a phrase used often in the Bible though it’s only found here in the New Testament.
As everyone knows, they didn’t wear pants in Bible times, but a long robe that reached down to the ankles.
This kind of long clothing was not conducive to quick motions or strenuous work.
As a result, when such actions were needed a man would need to gird up his loins.
The website “Art of Manliness” gives a six step process for girding up your loins.
1.
The tunic wouldn’t allow you to do heavy labor or fight in battle, necessitating the “girding” of one’s loins.
2. First, hoist the tunic up so that all the Fabric is above your knees.
This will give you mobility.
3. Gather all the extra material in front of you, so that the back of the tunic is snug against your backside.
4. Once the excess fabric is gathered in front, pull it underneath and between your legs to your rear.
This feels much like a diaper.
5. Gather half of the material in each hand, bringing it back around to the front.
6.
Finally, tie your two handfuls of material together, and you’re all set for both battle and some hard labor.
Go forth, be ye men, and gird up your loins.
By girding up his loins, a man – I guess a woman could have done it too – was preparing himself for action.
Thus the NASB translates the phrase saying:
1 Peter 1:13a (NASB) Therefore, prepare your minds for action. . . .
Notice then that holiness doesn’t start with our body but with our minds.
Surely that is why Paul wrote to the Romans saying:
Romans 12:2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Holy living begins with holy thinking.
Therefore, we’ve got to start with a clear head.
We need to prepare our minds for action.
The second part it to be fully sober.
Peter is not talking about not being drunk with alcohol, but that is an illustration of what not to be.
We can get an idea of what Peter is saying by imagining someone who is drunk.
Someone who is drunk has no control of their body.
They might stager about, say foolish, or not remember the next day what they’d done the night before.
There was a man who went out one night and got drunk.
When he came home his face was covered with bumps and scratches because he had gotten into a fight.
He knew that if he went to bed like that he would surly get in trouble with his wife.
So he snuck into the bathroom, staggered around for a while, found the bandages and fixed himself up.
He went to bed smiling at the thought that he’d pulled one over on his wife.
When morning came, he opened his eyes to find his wife standing over him.
“You were drunk last night weren’t you?” “No honey.
No way.
I wasn’t” “Well,” she replied, “If you weren’t, then who put band-aids all over the bathroom mirror.”
If that’s what not being sober looks like we are to be the opposite.
We are to be in control of ourselves and more specifically of our minds.
Third, we’re to “set our hope.”
Because we have a living hope we are to be living in a future tense.
That means that our present decisions and actions are to be governed by our convictions concerning our future with Jesus.
Monday the Town of Unicoi Police Department put up this Facebook post:
Expecting: Zero (0) to 85 inches of snow.
Starting: Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday maybe, but probably not happening at all.
Recommendations: Stock up on all necessities immediately and prepare for a snowpocalypse or a beautiful week, either one is possible.
They were right.
We got between zero and eighty-five inches of snow.
What would you do if you were certain we are going to receive a foot of snow this weekend?
You’d stock up on everything you thought you might need for a few days.
With a foot of snow it might be a couple of days before you could get to the store.
Your conviction about the coming snow would dictate your actions today.
We have a living hope.
We have a confidence that one day we will be with Jesus.
As a result, that conviction should guide our actions today.
Just as all those people heading to Wal-Mart every time there’s a prediction of snow, we should be living with the expectation of what will take place when Jesus returns.
Preparing and disciplining of our minds will help us to focus on our blessed future.
As Paul wrote to the Colossians:
Colossians 3:2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
Living holy lives begins with the proper clearing of our heads.
As one person put it, “we’ve got to roll up the shirt-sleeves of our minds.
We’ve got to discipline our minds and focus on things above.
So let’s keep our minds alert, fully sober, and focused on Christ’s return.
Our living hope will result in a commitment to purity and holiness.
Second, develop a clean life.
1 Peter 1:14-16 14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.
15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
Have you ever thought about how easy it is to live for Jesus, to pray, to read the Bible, to treat others as God wants us to treat them, and to live a holy life . . .
when you’re in church?
But it becomes much more difficult once we leave the building.
Why is it so much easier to live for Jesus when we are at church than when we walk out the doors?
Jeffery Anselmi writes:
The world around us is not too pure.
One of the most difficult things for the Christian can be trying to stay pure.
I believe this gets more difficult as time passes because of the way society is today.
Each year, television, movies, and commercials are putting images into our heads that we do not need.
The internet is traffics a lot of stuff that can cause us problems.
Our society is becoming increasingly more permissive in what it considers “decent.”
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9