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.
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Analytical
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Openness
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Conscientiousness
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Agreeableness
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Introduction
The first time I went to church I thought you were strange.
used words I didn’t understand
people got excited about things I didn’t understand
I thought Christians were people who were not allowed to have fun, and were kind of stuck up and judgmental.
A group of people who could’t get along themselves, yet judged others.
You talked about going to heaven, which I though was decided by your behaviour.
If you were a good person, you went to heaven.
This Chapter in Ephesians Changed my Thinking.
Once I found out that we all come from the same place, a place of sin, separated from God.
I became interested in the concept of salvation, and the cross.
I felt like I found common ground, we have all sinned and all fallen short.
Chapter 2 begins with the words “As for you” or literally “And you”, indicating that the flow of what Paul opened with continues without a real break from chapter 1
Paul is using the same tone of grateful worship, these verses expand on the claim in 1:19 that the power that raised Christ is for us.
Paul in chapter 2 is giving us the explanation of salvation, why God needs to save us, and how God goes about saving us.
This entire concept of salvation often seems strange to those outside of the church.
Most people have no idea what we are talking about, being saved, from what? most will ask.
Paul explains all of this in this chapter.
The Walking Dead (2:1-3)
Under the Control of an Evil Power.
These first three verses are in a language familiar to Jewish readers, they describe humanity in rebellion against God.
Life apart from God is a living death.
When Adam and Eve first sinned in the garden, we as human beings have been separated from God.
We are sinners being oppressed by evil, yet we don’t even know it.
We need to be saved.
The “spirit of the air” keeps us away from knowing God, convincing us we can find life within ourselves, within our own lives and ambitions.
Yet we are never fulfilled, always seeking a new thing to fill the void we find in our hearts.
We are not capable as fallen human beings to please God.
The Spirit pushes us toward God.
Once this happens it opens the door.
Living without God, living within our own power means we stay focused on the flesh, but if we believe and give our lives to Christ, we have a changed view of things, we can now see God’s desires.
God reaches to us, and His Spirit pushes us to reach out to Him.
The flesh will never please God.
Our natural fallen disposition is the flesh.
But the Spirit begins to nudge us toward the things of God.
The Merciful & Loving God (2:4-7)
Made Alive Together with Christ.
In Christ a merciful & gracious God liberates rebellious humans to do the right thing.
We have the option to live, to be made alive through Christ.
When we place our trust in Jesus Christ we are empowered by His Spirit to live in the realm of the Spirit.
Without the Spirit there is no way to belong to Christ, and without Christ there is no pathway to God.
Saved by Grace Through Faith (2:8-10)
For Good Works.
Basis of Salvation is Grace.
Purpose of Salvation is Good Works.
Grace is when we are given something we don’t deserve, something not earned.
It is faith that activates grace, which in turn activates the Spirit in our hearts.
We become a new creation, alive in the Spirit, instead of dead in our sins.
But this remains a constant battle, a battle between two Kingdoms.
Grace is the vehicle that drives us toward the good works of obedience.
Our Good Works are a sign of obedience, good works that show love in action.
Paul gives us in Romans a wonderful contrast of how our good works show obedience through love.
Love in Action
Love Fulfills the Law
The first fruit of the Spirit is love, love is the perfect ingredient to a life of freedom, a life lived by the Spirit.
It is love that overcomes evil.
But we are only capable to love this way through the power of the cross, Christ who died for us, and saves us by His Grace.
When we receive the grace of God through Christ, we are capable of living free, and loving others as Christ loves us.
Big Idea: It is God’s saving grace that allows us to see the ways of God.
His Spirit opens our eyes to God, and pulls us toward a life of obedience to the ways of God.
Our obedience (good works) are bathed in love for others (our neighbour) through the saving grace of Jesus Christ.
We become Christ in this world.
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