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
0.08UNLIKELY
Joy
0.65LIKELY
Sadness
0.15UNLIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.34UNLIKELY
Confident
0.03UNLIKELY
Tentative
0UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.95LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.71LIKELY
Extraversion
0.24UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.83LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.75LIKELY

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
Introduction
I used to work at a Christian camp, and while I worked there, one of my jobs was to help in the kitchen.
One of the meals that we would eat regularly at camp was chilli con carne.
In fact I ate it so often during my time there that I currently I would be happy never to see the dish again.
Why do I begin a Christmas sermon talking about chilli con carne you may ask?
The first words of our passage read “The Word became flesh,” Chilli con carne literally means chilli with flesh.
When we speak of the incarnation we are talking about the eternal Son of God taking on flesh.
The Incarnation of the Son of God.
Turn with me in your Bibles to , and we will read from verse 1.
1 aIn the beginning was bthe Word, and cthe Word was with God, and dthe Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 eAll things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
4 fIn him was life,1 and gthe life was the light of men. 5 hThe light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
6 There was a man isent from God, whose name was jJohn.
7He came as a kwitness, to bear witness about the light, lthat all might believe through him.
8 mHe was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
9 nThe true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet othe world did not know him.
11 He came to phis own,2 and qhis own people3 rdid not receive him.
12 But to all who did receive him, swho believed in his name, the gave the right uto become vchildren of God, 13 who wwere born, xnot of blood ynor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
14 And zthe Word abecame flesh and bdwelt among us, cand we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son4 from the Father, full of dgrace and etruth.
15 (fJohn bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, g‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’
”) 16 For from hhis fullness we have all received, igrace upon grace.5 17 For jthe law was given through Moses; kgrace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
18 lNo one has ever seen God; mthe only God,6 who is at the Father’s side,7 nhe has made him known.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
7He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.
8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’
”) 16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
Let us pray, and ask God’s guidance for our study this morning.
Pray
O God we thank you that we can come once again to worship you in the community of the redeemed.
Your praises we sing.
We give you honour for the incarnation that was purposed in the covenant of redemption, authored before the creation of time.
Lord Jesus we give you glory that while you are God of God, light of light, true God of true God you humbled yourself and became flesh and dwelt among us.
Give us eyes to see this wonderful truth, and ears to hear your word.
These things I pray through the one mediator, the God-Man, Amen.
The Incarnate Son is the great and final revelation of the Father.
Hebrews 1:1-2
The Son of God dwelt among his creatures.
(v14a)
“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us,”
May we never grow tired of reading those words, it would be a tragedy to lose them to familiarity.
“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”
Why did the Word take on flesh?
What was his mission while he dwelt among those he created?
Why did the Son have to become a human?
These questions have been asked from the dawn of Christianity, in fact a man by the name of Anselm of Canterbury asked that question famously in his book ‘Cur Deus Homo,” lit.
Why God Man?
Why did God become man?
The Son of God became man in order to accomplish several crucial tasks.
1.
The Son became man so that he might be an example to his followers.
2. The Son became man so that he might be able to sympathize with us in our weakness.
These are two glorious truths for which we ought to rejoice and sing his praises, but the next two are greater still.
3. The Son became man in order to live as our representative.
The Word was clothed with flesh, he was made like us in every respect
4. The Son became man in order to die as our substitute.
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
]
Your Bible may have a note on the word ‘dwelt’ in verse fourteen.
The word could be more literally translated, “The Word became flesh and pitched his tent among us,” or even more literally, “The word became flesh and tabernacled among us.”
Just as the opening line of John’s Gospel takes the reader back to and the creation of the world, John’s language here transports the reader back to the book of Exodus, and to the tabernacle that was the place of worship for the people of God.
This is the first of many references this passage contains to the book of Exodus.
3.
The Son of God displayed his glory.
(v14b)
4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version.
(2016).
().
Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.The Son of God displayed his glory.
(v14b)
Even as Jesus Christ dwelt on earth as one who was humiliated, his life was accompanied by moments of glory.
Do you think of the life of Christ as glorious?
Maybe you think of the pre-incarnate glorious son, or the resurrection and ascension, or maybe the day when the Son will one day reign over all the earth in glory.
At his birth, though he was laid in a lowly manger the angels sang his praises, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” ()
His glory was seen through the gifts brought by the Magi: gold, frankincense, and myrrh, gifts fit for king.
John the Baptist recognized that it was humiliating for the Messiah to be baptized, but after Jesus’ baptism his glory was revealed through his Father’s words from heaven, “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.”
and the Spirit descending like a dove.
Spread throughout the Gospels we get a glimpse at the glory that John saw firsthand.
At the moment of complete physical exhaustion, as Jesus slept through a storm his disciples woke him in a panic and the Lord said, “Peace!
Be still.”
and the wind and waves obeyed their creator.
()
On the Mount of Transfiguration, that glorious and unique event when Peter, James, and John traveled with Jesus onto the mountaintop where they beheld his glory, in fact it is hard to read either John’s prologue or the opening verses in his first epistle without thinking that the Transfiguration was the event that John had in mind as he wrote.
“We have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.”
“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon...” Remember that this event occurs at a great turning point in the gospel of Matthew, that before Jesus is transfigured he announces that he must go to Jerusalem to die.
(Matthew 17:1-8)
Finally, at the lowest moment of his humiliation, when he had breathed his last upon the cross Christ received the burial of a wealthy man, the burial of a king.
The Son of God was declared by John the Baptist (v15)
At first glance, it appears as though this verse is out of place, as verse fourteen flows nicely through to verse sixteen.
But imagine for a second that John is a lawyer in a court of law and after presenting the case that the eternal Son of God became flesh he calls another witness to the stand as if saying, “Don’t just take my word for it, John his earthly cousin, the one who was to pave the way for the Messiah he also testified about him.”
The phrase used by John is one that is not unique to the Baptizer, but we see the same truth conveyed later in the Apostle’s gospel and elsewhere in the scriptures.
“He who comes after me ranks before me...”
The Gospel of Luke gives a wonderful account of this verse in reality.
says this:
39 In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, 40 and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.
41 And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9