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
0.12UNLIKELY
Fear
0.11UNLIKELY
Joy
0.56LIKELY
Sadness
0.46UNLIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.72LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.44UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.86LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.68LIKELY
Extraversion
0.14UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.54LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.77LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
Being Real In Spiritual Labor
INTRODUCTION:
I- LABOR WITH PATIENCE ().
7 Dear brothers and sisters,* be patient as you wait for the Lord’s return.
Consider the farmers who patiently wait for the rains in the fall and in the spring.
They eagerly look for the valuable harvest to ripen.
8 You, too, must be patient.
Take courage, for the coming of the Lord is near.
A- Keep on laboring patiently until Jesus returns (Verse 7 a, 8 b).
(Μακροθυμήσατε οὖν, ἀδελφοί)
Μακροθυμήσατε οὖν, ἀδελφοί)
1- Do not give up – keep on track for Jesus.
()
a. like Paul in the early Christians
()
2- The only retirement date for the believer is given here.
a- τῆς παρουσίας τοῦ κυρίου!
(vs.
7)
b- ὅτι ἡ παρουσία τοῦ κυρίου ἤγγικεν
τῆς παρουσίας τοῦ κυρίου
ὅτι ἡ παρουσία τοῦ κυρίου ἤγγικεν
(vs.
8).
B- Keep working the vineyard until Jesus returns (verse 7 b, 8 a).
1- James points to the farmers who must labor with patience and dependence upon the Lord, while waiting for the harvest.
a- There are some things that the farmer can do:
(1) prepare the ground
(2) plant the seed
(3) cultivate the plants
b- There are some things that the former cannot do:
(1) create the seed
(2) cause it to rain
(3) prevent storms
(4) because the seed to germinate
(5) make the plants grow and produce
c- The reference to the earlier and latter rains in verse 7:
(1) The autumn rains usually appeared in October and softened the ground for planting.
The spring rains usually came in April or May and matured the crops for harvest.
The fact that the farmer had to wait for these rains showed his stamina or patience.
The farmer had learned to trust in the reliability of God to supply the needs for his crops.
II- LABOR WITH A POSITIVE ATTITUDE ().
(2) The believer is to patiently continue to do the work of following Christ and building Christ’s kingdom until the Lord returns.
The rains of adversity and persecution actually lead to the increase in the harvest from the believer’s life.
The blessed hope of the Christian is the personal, bodily return of Jesus Christ (see Titus 2:12–13).
We must not allow events to dull our hope in Jesus’ return.
We must not reduce our hope for Jesus’ return to something like the transformation of society by Christian values.
Jesus will come personally!
The hope of Jesus’ return gave the early Christians hope as they faced hardship (Heb.
9:28).
We must look at time from the viewpoint of the God for whom a thousand years is only a day (2 Pet.
3:8; 2 Cor.
4:16–18).
Though centuries have passed since Jesus promised to return, we serve a God for whom the length of time does not imply a failed promise.
Our hope of Christ’s return is an encouragement for us to obey him.
J. Hudson Taylor founded the China Inland Mission in the 1860s.
He believed fervently in the impending return of Christ.
His belief influenced him to make the evangelism of unreached areas of China his primary aim.
His beliefs about Christ’s return gave him direction and urgency in the establishment of the mission.
Our belief in the return of Christ can provide us courage to face difficulty.
It can give us stamina to endure persecution.
It can deepen our hope that God will provide us reward and recognition to vindicate our actions.
II- LABOR WITH A POSITIVE ATTITUDE ().
The autumn rains usually appeared in October and softened the ground for planting.
The spring rains usually came in April or May and matured the crops for harvest.
The fact that the farmer had to wait for these rains showed his stamina or patience.
The farmer had learned to trust in the reliability of God to supply the needs for his crops.
II- LABOR WITH A POSITIVE ATTITUDE ().
A- Keep a positive attitude toward fellow believers ().
1- Do not hold grudges ()
2- Do not grumble against each other ()
3- Jesus will hold you accountable for grudge carrying and grumbling ().
B- Keep a positive attitude toward the work ().
1- Look to God’s word for examples:
a- The Old Testament prophets:
(1) Jeremiah
In Jeremiah 38, King Zedekiah wrongly imprisoned the prophet Jeremiah in a muddy dungeon and left him to die.
Jeremiah voiced no complaint toward God or his captors.
When Zedekiah summoned him and asked for his advice in a matter, Jeremiah told him, “Obey the LORD by doing what I tell you.
Then it will go well with you, and your life will be spared” (Jer.
38:20).
Jeremiah spoke in the name of the Lord and showed obedience despite intense suffering.
He showed long-suffering in that he neither complained nor found fault with God’s treatment.
We are to imitate behavior like that.
(2) Hosea
How was he able do it?
He knew who they were working for.
He kept their eye on eternity.
He remembered God’s sustaining hand.
b- Job
Job continue to be faithful to God through all of his adversities.
He was able to do so by remembering that he served a faithful God.
()
III- LABOR WITH PRODUCTIVE WORDS ().
A- Do not elevate your own opinion about the teachings of Scripture.
1- James’ reference to the taking of oaths is a reference to the Jewish custom that Jesus condemned in the Gospels.
a- They would swear on sacred objects in an attempt to elevate the authority of their own ideas.
b- The practice was considered to be profane in Jewish culture, but was nevertheless practiced.
* In the New Testament period, some Jews used oaths for frivolous swearing.
They would make a statement such as “by my life” or “by my head” to bolster the truth of a promise or statement.
They also used evasive swearing.
If a person swore by the name of God, his oath was binding.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9