Sermon Tone Analysis

Overall tone of the sermon

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Tone of specific sentences

Tones
Emotion
Anger
Disgust
Fear
Joy
Sadness
Language
Analytical
Confident
Tentative
Social Tendencies
Openness
Conscientiousness
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Emotional Range
Anger
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Intro: Have you ever been lonely…felt alone…like no one else in the world cared for you… Maybe betrayed, abandoned, tossed away…
I have.
Sometimes in the midst of people I would feel completely and utterly alone.
Like no one really knows me or cares for me.
I remember nights before I met Liz thinking, Am I destined to spend my life alone…will anyone join my on this journey of life through thick and thin or will all my relationships be subject to change.
Even in the last year as many of my friendships have changed and others have moved away, I feel the lost, the ache, the wondering…are relationships just doomed to be considered trivial, toss aside when it no longer benefits that other as much.
Have you ever been there…feeling completely and totally alone…and yet knowing deep down that you’re not really alone.
Here’s what I’ve come to find out.
Even when I think I am completely and utterly alone, I’m not.
I’m never on my own…there are always people who care…many of whom are just a phone call away.
But do you know that there was someone who was completely and totally alone?
Jesus.
· When he hung on the cross…
· His good friends had all scattered, abandoned, or betrayed him.
One of his closest friends ever denied knowing him to save his own skin.
· And in that moment of history, even God abandoned him.
Turned his back on him.
Poured out his anger and wrath on him for the sin of mankind.
· It was a moment of pure and utter aloneness.
Jesus was truly forsaken, in a way that you and I never will be.
· But he experience this…without sin…he endured this in faith.
· Do you know what was on his mind and his heart during this time?
· A Lament Psalm.
…A Psalm that begins with Jesus’ words, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
A beginning of the Psalm that implies the entirety of the Psalm in it’s context.
We would do well to spend some time in this particular lament Psalm, so that we might learn, like Jesus to face our own loneliness by faith.
READ (pg.
292)
It’s hard to read this without being blown away by the Word of God.
This Psalm, written by King David around 1000BC, describes with such vivid strokes, what actually happened to Jesus.
“they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.”
“All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;”
“He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”
“they have pierced my hands and feet—“
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
“he has done it.”
- “It is finished!”
,
It is easy to get lost in this incredibly rich tapestry of fulfilled prophecy…to see all the incredible connections and shout AMEN!
Because this truly is good news.
Predicted by David, experienced in part by him…but fully fulfilled by Jesus.
And it is through this suffering that we all sit here today as changed people…or at least intrigued by the idea and impact of Jesus.
That is the primary point and message of this text, but sometimes in focusing so much on Jesus the Savior, we forget that he is also an example to follow.
This Psalm gives us a window into his emotional state on the cross…and how to endure suffering and loneliness well.
· Disclaimer- What Jesus experienced was utterly unique in the world.
Not one of us could have endured for even a brief moment, all that he was enduring there.
· However, in quoting this Psalm…and by quoting the first verse, it was implied that the entire context was in view, Jesus is showing us an example of faith-filled suffering.
And how to combat the very real struggle of loneliness, forsakenness, betrayal.
So, how did this Psalm help David cling to faith, help Jesus cling to faith, and ultimately give us a guide for how to cling to faith through our worst bouts of loneliness?
Like most lament Psalms it has 3 distinct parts.
We talked about these last week.
1.
A Complaint to God.
2. A Request of God
3. A Declaration of Faith and Praise
Here the structure is:
1. à A Complaint to God…this is how I feel.
2. à A Short Request of God.
3. à A Declaration of Praise.
What strikes us immediately about this is how long the complaint is compared to the request, and how long the Praise is at the end…compared to the relatively short request.
Remember from last week, the Lament Psalms invite us to be honest with God about what we feel.
He is not scared of our emotions.
And so David does pour out his heart…and Jesus does, uniquely experiencing these things does.
And in light of that, we are invited in our loneliness to pour out our hearts.
· What I find so refreshing about this is the back and forth nature of David/Jesus going between how he feels and what he knows.
· Let me show you visually
o How I feel (1-2)
o What I know (3-5)
o How I feel (6-8)
o What I know (9-11)
o How I feel (12-18)
o What I want (19-21)
So, rather than break this up nice and clean into points, let’s just walk through and feel the wrestle with him.
Experience the back and forth.
This is How I feel
“My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest.”
Forsaken- completely and utterly alone.
Abandoned, left…
Jesus experience this uniquely, But have you ever felt it acutely sometimes?
He felt ignored by God.
Like God heard his prayers but didn’t answer, didn’t listen.
We all feel this sometimes…
like we pray and pray and pray, but our prayers hit the ceiling.
App: But here’s the truth à Jesus was completely forsaken, so that we would never be.
Jesus was left completely and utterly alone outside the city…so that we would never actually be alone.
But as David and Jesus wrestle with this, we see the pushback in (3-5) but I know this is True
READ 3-5
· You are holy and set apart
· You are Sovereign and on the Throne
· Our Father’s trusted you and you delivered them, they were not put to shame.
Brothers and Sisters, this is how we preach to ourselves.
In the midst of honestly pouring out our feelings, we speak truth that we know about ourselves.
But it isn’t always nice and clean…just like fighting discouragement.
He says Yet again… BUT, that may be true, but this is how I feel (6-8) READ IT
· I feel more like a worm than a man
· I am the butt of everyone jokes…they sit around mocking me…where is your God?
· Oh, the strength for Jesus to remain on the cross and not prove all those cowardly mockers wrong.
What strength of will to let those nails hold him when with a word, thousands of angels would have been at his beck and call…putting those idiots in their place.
· Yet he says simply, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.”
Back to the Truth (9-11) READ IT
· Like an infant child must depend upon his or her mother, so David/Jesus was raised to trust his God.
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