Sermon Tone Analysis
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Emotion Tone
Anger
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Disgust
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Fear
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Joy
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Analytical
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Tentative
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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
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Anger
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! JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF YOUR WORTH SERMON SERIES
SCAR ISSUE - What Damages Your Self-Esteem
ED YOUNG
APRIL 17, 1994
\\ Take a look around you for a second: to your right, to your left.
What do you see?
Most of you see a group of attractive, handsome, mostly \\ \\ middle-class, well-groomed, well-adjusted Metroplex suburbanites.
A few of \\ \\ you are saying, “Ed, not on my row.”
Behind the look, most of us here are \\ \\ trying to hide something.
We’re trying to camouflage something.
To the \\ naked \\ \\ eye, it’s undetectable.
However, to the eyes of God, it’s as obvious as the \\ \\ scar on G. I. Joe’s right cheek.
\\ \\ It’s a mark.
In some circumstances it’s a lot of marks.
I’m referring to \\ \\ something that I call “scar issue.”
That’s right, we’re trying to hide \\ scar \\ \\ issue.
I didn’t say “scar tissue,” because scar issue makes scar tissue \\ look \\ \\ like nothing.
I call it scar issue because the issue is the most important \\ \\ and foundational issue we’ll deal with: our self-esteem.
We all have scarred \\ \\ and wounded self-esteems.
In some cases, it’s a little nick or a scrape.
In \\ \\ other situations, we’re talking about lacerations, life-threatening wounds.
\\ \\ Today we’re going to answer two questions.
The first question: What scars \\ our \\ \\ self-esteem?
What scars your self-concept, what scars my self-concept?
\\ \\ First, we are wounded by words from others.
Did you hear that?
The first \\ way \\ \\ that my self-esteem is scarred, tattered, shattered, and wounded is by the \\ \\ words of others.
We’re wounded by words.
We talk in this hour about gun \\ \\ control.
“We’ve got to get the guns off the streets.
We’ve got to control \\ \\ the weapons because they kill, they maim, they destroy, they handicap.”
\\ \\ Folks, weapons don’t even compare to the eternal damage that words can do, \\ \\ especially to our self-esteem.
That’s why the Bible boldly proclaims in \\ \\ Proverbs 12:18, as you’ll see on your outline in the pink, “Thoughtless \\ words can wound.”
\\ \\ Stick out your tongue just for a second, real quick.
To doctors, it’s only a \\ \\ two-ounce slab of mucous membrane enclosing a vast array of muscles and \\ \\ nerves.
It helps us chew, taste, swallow, and articulate sounds.
However, \\ \\ with this weapon, we can tear people apart, we can wound.
Or, we can affirm \\ \\ and do things for the glory of God.
Thoughtless words can wound as deeply as \\ \\ any sword.
\\ \\ Last week we talked about our journey.
The moment we’re born, we ask \\ \\ ourselves this Holy-Spirit-inspired, God-ordained question.
Five words: “Do \\ I \\ \\ matter to anyone?”
That’s the question we ask.
Do I matter to anyone?
We \\ \\ try to have this question answered as little kids, especially from ages 1 to \\ \\ 9, when we’re developing our self-esteem.
The first people we take our cues \\ \\ from self-esteem wise have to be, and always are, our parents, or maybe \\ \\ another authority figure.
If you look into the eyes of your parents, and you \\ \\ hear coming from their mouths positive words, affirming words -- “You matter.
\\ \\ \\ You’re part of the family.
You’re a much-loved person,” -- then chances are \\ \\ you have something money cannot buy: a healthy self-esteem.
\\ \\ On the other hand, many here look at their parents, or maybe another \\ authority \\ \\ figure, and you see disapproving looks and you hear words that cut you to \\ \\ shreds.
“You’re an afterthought.
No wonder you don’t have any friends.
\\ You \\ \\ make me sick.
I wish you’d never been born.
You’re an accident.”
Many \\ here \\ \\ pile all these phrases into a shoulder-bag and are carrying these lies \\ \\ throughout the journey of life, especially on their journey to the center of \\ \\ their worth.
Words.
\\ \\ Even from the playground, they still scar us.
When I was in the second \\ grade, \\ \\ I was in music class with the entire group.
Kind of parenthetically, my \\ voice \\ \\ has always been low.
In fact, it was so low, my mother tells me that when I \\ \\ was in the church nursery the workers would tickle me just to hear me laugh, \\ \\ “Ha ha ha ha.” “Come here and listen to this kid!”
I never went through \\ the \\ \\ pubescent voice change; my voice never cracked.
It’s always been very, very \\ \\ low.
\\ \\ Anyway, we were singing in music class this song: “Row, row, row your boat, \\ \\ gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a \\ \\ dream.”
The music teacher stopped and he said, “Wait a minute.
Someone in \\ \\ here is joking around!
What’s your name, son?” “Ed Young.”
“Come up \\ here.
\\ \\ Quit joking around.
Something must be wrong with your voice.
If you don’t \\ \\ change your voice and sing high like the other kids, then you are going to \\ \\ have disciplinary measures taken to your backside.”
He made me sing in front \\ \\ of the entire second grade.
I got a little teary because it was a traumatic \\ \\ day and experience for me.
A minor thing, you say, but it was only about \\ \\ three or four years ago that I felt the ability to sing, “Row, row, row your \\ \\ boat, gently down the stream.”
We’re wounded by words from others.
\\ \\ The Bible says, not only are we wounded by words from others, we’re also \\ \\ wounded by words we tell ourselves.
Are you ready for that?
We wound \\ \\ ourselves.
That’s right, we take this weapon and we use it for warfare and \\ we \\ \\ slice and dice ourselves with words.
We do the Zorro technique.
\\ \\ Moses, that great patriarch.
You know, Charlton Heston played Moses.
Did \\ you \\ \\ ever read about the life of Moses?
Moses struggled, I believe, with some \\ \\ major self-esteem issues.
Moses was a Hebrew, and he was brought up in \\ \\ Egyptian royalty.
In fact, most scholars believe that Moses was being \\ brought \\ \\ up to be the next president and C. E. O. of Egypt.
One day God taps Moses on \\ \\ the shoulder and says, “Moses, I want you to be the man to deliver the \\ \\ children of Israel, the Hebrews, out of bondage.
You can do it, Moses.
You \\ \\ are gifted, you’re intelligent.”
Go home this afternoon and read Exodus \\ \\ chapter 3. Moses said, “God, I can’t do that.
No way.
I don’t speak very \\ \\ well, I’m not very articulate, my voice kind of cracks.
I can’t do it.”
\\ \\ Somewhere in Moses’ past, people scarred him.
They wounded him.
Maybe it \\ \\ could have been the Egyptians, because the color of his skin was different.
\\ \\ They began to laugh at his build and his background.
Who knows?
Moses \\ \\ probably put that in his shoulder-bag and carried it around for many many \\ \\ years.
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