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
0.13UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.49UNLIKELY
Fear
0.12UNLIKELY
Joy
0.57LIKELY
Sadness
0.61LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.57LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.34UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.72LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.67LIKELY
Extraversion
0.03UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.8LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.37UNLIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
Sticks and Stones
Emotion: Devastation from Words
(ESV)
To the choirmaster: according to The Sheminith.
A Psalm of David.
1Save, O Lord, for the godly one is gone; for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man.
2Everyone utters lies to his neighbor; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.
3May the Lord cut off all flattering lips, the tongue that makes great boasts,
4those who say, “With our tongue we will prevail, our lips are with us; who is master over us?”
5“Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan, I will now arise,” says the Lord; “I will place him in the safety for which he longs.”
6The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.
7You, O Lord, will keep them; you will guard us from this generation forever.
8On every side the wicked prowl, as vileness is exalted among the children of man.
Introduction:
Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.
That is a lie.
Words hurt, they cut to the core.
The scar of words lasts longer than the scar of a physical wound.
Story of a time when words hurt.
This is where David finds himself.
Even though David has enjoyed the blessings of God and knew he was God’s anointed, he finds himself at a time in life when people are saying things.
We don’t know what the situation was when David wrote this psalm, but we know David is feeling the sting of someone else’s words.
In his pain, David turns to the Lord and in the midst of voicing his pain he also remembers God hears and God heals.
When words hurt, David reminds us that God’s words heal.
I. People’s Words Hurt
(1-2)
Hurtful words can be overwhelming.
Hurtful words can be overwhelming.
i.
They isolate us.
- David looks around and seems to say, “I can’t find one godly man.”
He can’t find anyone who honors the covenant anymore.
Where are the God-followers.
When godly men and women do not speak up, it leaves the liars to be heard.
And after awhile it seems the only people left are the liars.
It is overwhelming when all you hear are hurtful words.
ii.
They tear us down.
- Those hurtful words tear us down.
We tell young children, “Just don’t listen to him.
Ignore her.
You know its not true.”
But we still hear those words, and they are powerful.
When all a child hears is how stupid they are or how ugly they are, they start to believe it.
And pretty soon nothing will convince them they are not.
People’s words can overwhelm us and they can drive us to our knees.
This is where we find David in this psalm.
iii.
They can drive us to our knees until we cry out.
David was so overwhelmed he turned to the only place he could think of, God the Father.
He couldn’t find another godly person; he felt alone and hurt but he knew He could turn to his loving Father and voice his hurt and his anguish.
They were only words, but they still overwhelmed him.
Man’s words hurt.
i. Lies – We see this in our culture today.
Lies are commonplace.
I see this every day.
People will look me in the face and lie to me.
They think, “He won’t know and I will get away with it.”
They think it is okay to lie if it gets me what I want.
They lie about how old they are, they lie about where they live; they lie about what they did and they lie about what they didn’t do.
It is okay to lie if everything comes out good.
No it’s not.
A lie is a lie.
People want to convince you the truth is relative and that there are no absolutes.
What may be the truth for you does not have to be the truth for me.
There are absolutes.
What we see is, The farther our culture moves from God, the more lies abound.
The farther we are removed from the standard of what is good the easier it is to do and justify what is bad.
David groups lies and flattery together.
ii.
Flattery – Is just nice lies.
There is an ulterior motive
1. Herodians to Christ - Listen to the words of the Herodians as they came to speak with Jesus:
2. Herodians to Christ - Listen to the words of the Herodians as they came to speak with Jesus:
Flattering words, but they are meant to trap.
Meant to make you feel good and then let your guard down.
Matt 22.17
3. Judas to his master - comes to Jesus in the garden and calls him Rabbi, teacher. it was a sign of respect.
But to Judas it was just flattery, meant to put Jesus as ease as Judas betrayed him.
Judas’ simple word “Rabbi” was a lie, he didn’t respect him, else he would not have handed him over to be killed.
iii.
Two-facedness - Flattery is hypocrisy.
you hear and see one thing, yet a lie lurks underneath.
That hurts and it cuts deeper than any sword ever could.
II.
People’s Words are Powerful
(3-4)
a. Flattery and boasting are powerful ways to manipulate people.
Flattery and boasting manipulate people
i.
We use flattery to butter people up and get what we want.
ii.
We boast so that we seem to be more than we are.
- You know the kind of person, the one that will tell people how good they are.
They do this so they will feel more important and they do this to intimidate others.
It gives them a sense of power.
b.
Our powerful words lead us to arrogance
Powerful words lead to arrogance
Ps12.3-4
i.
We use our tongues to defend us - we think we can talk our way out of anything and if we talk long enough we think we will win.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9