Sermon Tone Analysis

Overall tone of the sermon

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Emotion Tone
Anger
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Disgust
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Joy
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Analytical
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Openness
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Conscientiousness
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Extraversion
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Agreeableness
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Emotional Range
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Tone of specific sentences

Tones
Emotion
Anger
Disgust
Fear
Joy
Sadness
Language
Analytical
Confident
Tentative
Social Tendencies
Openness
Conscientiousness
Extraversion
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Emotional Range
Anger
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ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE TONGUE (3:3–5)
A. How it can control (3:3–4)
1.
It is as a bridle to a horse (3:3).
2. It is as a rudder to a ship (3:4).
B. How it can consume (3:5): It is like a spark, which, though small, can destroy a great forest.
III.
INIQUITY OF THE TONGUE (3:6): It can be set on fire by hell itself, utterly corrupting and destroying its owner.
IV.
INCORRIGIBILITY OF THE TONGUE (3:7–8)
A. People have been able to train the brute creatures (3:7).
B. No person has been able to train the tongue (3:8).
V. INCONSISTENCY OF THE TONGUE (3:9–12)
A. The contradiction (3:9–10): It tries to do two things simultaneously.
1.
It tries to praise God (3:9a, 10a).
2. It tries to curse people (3:9b, 10b).
B. The conclusion (3:11–12): It cannot do these two things simultaneously.
1. Fresh water and salt water cannot flow from the same spring (3:11, 12c).
2. A fig tree cannot bear olives (3:12a).
3. A grapevine cannot produce figs (3:12b).
Intro:
Listen here to a political speech given several years ago concerning land rights:
The conditions of a nation's life can in the last resort be bettered only through the political will to expansion.
Therein lies the essential characteristic of a sound reform.
And land, we must insist, cannot be made an object for speculation.
Private property can be only that which a man has gained for himself, has won through his work.
A natural product is not private property, that is national property.
Land is thus no object for bargaining.
Further, there must be a reform in our law.
Our present law regards only the rights of the individual.
It does not regard the protection of the race, the protection of the community of the people.
It permits the befouling of the nation's honor and of the greatness of the nation.
A law which is so far removed from the conception of the community of the people is in need of reform.
Further, changes are needed in our system of education.
We suffer today from an excess of culture, Only knowledge is valued.
But wiseacres are the enemies of action.
What we need is instinct and will.
Most people have lost both through their 'culture.'
We have, it is true, a highly intellectual class, but it is lacking in energy.
Wise, balanced words!
Right?
Let’s hear more from this fountain of wisdom!
If, through our overvaluation of mechanical knowledge, we had not so far removed ourselves from popular sentiment, the Jew would never have found his way to our people so easily as he has done.
What we need is the possibility of a continuous succession of intellectual leaders drawn from the people itself.
Clear away the Jews!
Our own people has genius enough - we need no Hebrews.
If we were to put in their place intelligences drawn from the great body of our people, then we should have recovered the bridge which leads to the community of the people.
—Adolf Hitler, MUNICH SPEECH of APRIL 27, 1923
SPEECH OF APRIL 27, 1923
I give you these words as a powerful illustration to the magnitude of the tongue.
The tongue, a mere two ounces of membrane, can bring incalculable ruin and wreckage.
Adolf Hitler used his two ounces of membrane to ensnare a whole nation into an emotional frenzy that led to millions of deaths in World War II.
The Apostle James didn't know of Hitler, yet he knew of this kind of power from the tongue.
And that is why he said in our passage this morning:
And here we have him continuing with a warning about the use of speech.
It is as if with the first two verses he’s focused on the proliferation of false teachers, but then he seems to drift off in these verses with the concern of the tongue with any believer regardless the position or prominence.
We can easily assume that James wrote about this because his readers had been speaking irreverently.
Perhaps they had been complaining about their current circumstances.
Or maybe they had been complaining about each other and criticizing each other out of the stress caused by persecution.
The fact that a Christian is undergoing persecution does not mean that he or she is perfect.
It doesn’t mean that they are “super-saints” — that there is no struggle with the same things with which non-persecuted Christians struggle with even today.
The truth is that our difficulties can make us more focused on the hardship and less careful about sin.
And certainly, Grace Baptist Church is not immune to this fact!
The fact that we are currently going through certain hardships can make us think that we ‘deserve a break’ and that we are entitled to take a few liberties—especially the liberty of being “frank.”
Now don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with sharing your emotions as a matter of fact or being bluntly truthful, but when that extends into gossip, or slander, or even destructive criticism, there is a problem—a sin problem! and again for clarification, constructive criticism is helpful; destructive criticism is just plain hurtful.
James wanted his readers to know that the persecution they were enduring did not give them the right to throw off all restraint, and he has already addressed this in the previous two chapters whether through speech or deeds.
It did not give them the right to talk as if they were not Christians.
This current persecution gave them the opportunity to show the difference that their Christianity had made in their lives, but they could not do this if they were talking as their unsaved peers—and neither can we.
But James was also aware of the weakness of the human flesh, with its bad habits, and the almost impossibility of controlling the tongue, and that is what he emphasizes in these verses because of its extreme importance to the spread of the true Gospel.
I.
The Hype of the Tongue (3:3–5)
J
He first points out that the tongue, although it is very small, is extremely powerful.
He drives this point home by calling attention to three large things that are affected or controlled by very small things.
How it can control (3:3–4) Yes, James is saying your tongue can control you!
How many times have you said something you didn’t mean to say?
It is as a bit to a horse (3:3).
The horse is a very large and powerful animal, but it is easily controlled by a very small thing—the tiny bit in its mouth!
Just ask uncle Ted!
It is as a rudder to a ship (3:4).
How it can consume (3:5): It is like a spark which starts a fire.
This illustration now adds the element of the destruction of unholy words.
What I love most about this illustration is how it vividly portrays the spread of destructive words just as rumors spread so easily.
Let me ask you now, how many of you have heard a rumor recently?
maybe in the past week or two?
Then I want you to think, who did you hear that rumor from?
and how many more people knew about that rumor?
and last, did you spread that rumor yourself to more people?
Your uncontrolled words are just as destructive and quick as a forest fire.
Do you know anyone who seems like they are always getting themselves in trouble?
Proverbs has a lot to say, but specifically in chapter 21 it says:
II.
INIQUITY OF THE TONGUE (3:6): It can be set on fire by hell itself, utterly corrupting and destroying its owner.
II.
INIQUITY OF THE TONGUE (3:6): It can be set on fire by hell itself, utterly corrupting and destroying its owner.
We see it evidenced in church splits and in the ruining of the leadership’s reputation.
And we also see how verbal abuse in the home can destroy the very personhood and character of the spouses and the children.
Satan uses the tongue to divide people and pit them against one another.
Idle words are damaging because they quickly spread destruction.
We ought not be careless with our words, thinking that we can fix it later by apologizing later, because even when we do, the damage remains for weeks to years after.
A few words spoken in anger can destroy a relationship that took years to build.
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