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
0.15UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.19UNLIKELY
Fear
0.12UNLIKELY
Joy
0.53LIKELY
Sadness
0.54LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.77LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.32UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.85LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.47UNLIKELY
Extraversion
0.11UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.51LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.52LIKELY

Tone of specific sentences

Tones
Emotion
Anger
Disgust
Fear
Joy
Sadness
Language
Analytical
Confident
Tentative
Social Tendencies
Openness
Conscientiousness
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Emotional Range
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
*Luke 20:27-39*
*The Law of the Sandal*
 
v    Opening Illustration
Ø     What is your image of heaven?
§        Gustave Dore overhead
·        Angel showing John the New Jerusalem
v    When you think of heaven, what images are conjured up?
v     What do you think the afterlife will be like?
v    What do you think our bodies will be like?
v    What will we do for eternity?
Ø     Well today we meet a group of men that don’t think much of the afterlife
§        In fact, they don’t think of the afterlife at all because they do not believe it exists!
·        So they approach Jesus with a question
¨     Not one about authority
¨     Not a political question
Ø     But a theological question
§        A question about the age to come…
·        A question about life after death
 
*READ 20:27-33*
 
v    The Sadducees
Ø     A hodge-podge group comprised of priestly leaders, elders and Judean aristocrats
§        They and the Pharisees battled back and forth for political power
·        But they come to Jesus not to test his authority or discredit him politically as the others had done
¨     But to challenge him theologically
 
v    You see…
Ø     The Sadducees were also the *existentialists or nihilists* of that age
§        existentialists and nihilists believe that this life is all there is
·        That once you die…
Ø     That’s it!
Nothing!
v    And that was the position of the Sadducees
Ø     They did not believe in the resurrection because they did not believe in an afterlife
§        In other words…
·        They were no different than many people you meet today
¨     That is why there is so much hopelessness
Ø     Think about it…
§        If this life is all there is…
·        It is hopeless
·        There is reason to be depressed
·        Suicide makes sense
·        Euthanasia makes sense
¨     Hopelessness makes sense!
v    But for the Christian…
Ø     We are to have a VCR mentality
§        Charles Ellis, a pastor from Indianapolis, gave the following illustration that I think helps us understand why we have hope…
v    He writes…
I am a tremendous sports fan.
Since many sporting events take place when I am not at home, I videotape them.
When it's time to sit in my easy chair and view the tape, unlike most people, I don't rewind to the begin­ning to view it.
Instead, I rewind to the climax to discover who won and who lost.
If my team lost, I'll put the tape away, but if my team won I'll rewind the game back to the beginning, get out some snacks, and watch the whole game.
Some have told me this method can't be much fun.
On the contrary, no matter how bad things look for my team, I don't have to worry because I know the end of the story.
That's how we ought to think about our future resurrection.
We ought to have a VCR mentality: no matter how bad things look, we don't have to worry because we know the end of the story.
v    Even though we go through the same difficulties as everybody else here on earth…
Ø     Even though the rain falls on the just and unjust alike…
§        Our hope is in something beyond this world
§        Our hope is in what is to come
·        And that gives us the fortitude to make it through
¨     *1 Pet 1:3, 13*
Ø     In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
Ø     Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the *grace to be given you* (future tense!) when Jesus Christ is revealed
 
§        We are to be a people of hope because of what is to come
·        Which is so much better and everlasting!
v    But the Sadducees have no such hope
Ø     For they have no belief in the resurrection or an afterlife
§        Thus they posed a question based on *Dt 25:5-6*
·        /If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family.
Her husband’s brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her.
The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel/
/ /
v    The Mosaic law created what is called “Levirate marriage”
Ø     Preserves name and family lineage
§        If you have ever read Ruth and wondered what on earth is going on in chapter 4, this is it!
·        Boaz wants to marry Ruth who married into the family of Elimelech (Naomi’s husband)
·        Boaz must make sure that the nearest relative, kinsman redeemer, does not want her
·        Goes to gate of city
·        Finds kinsman-redeemer
·        Kinsman-redeemer refuses
·        K-R takes off his sandal and gives it to Boaz
¨     This is the law of the sandal
 
v    The Sadducees knowing this law asked Jesus a ridiculous question based on what they thought was a ridiculous belief…
Ø     That there was an afterlife
§        1 woman, 7 marriages ~~ Whose wife will she be?
·        *Who is left holding the sandal?*
v    But Jesus wasn’t pulled into this foolish question
Ø     *Titus 3:9*
§        /Avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless/
·        Jesus knew that being pulled into an silly discussion regarding levirate marriage and the afterlife would be unprofitable and useless
¨     So he gives an answer that shows how silly their question is
 
*READ v. 34-36*
 
v    Jesus’ answer is incredibly adept
Ø     First he exposes how silly their question really is…
§        There is no marriage in heaven!
·        This seems sad to us for this is such a significant relationship
¨     So special
¨     So important
¨     So intimate
Ø     *Marriage Illustration: CS Lewis, Mere Christianity*
 
The Christian idea of marriage is based on Christ's words that a man and wife are to be regarded as a single organism, for that is what the words "one flesh" would be in modern English.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9