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
0.14UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.1UNLIKELY
Fear
0.13UNLIKELY
Joy
0.65LIKELY
Sadness
0.56LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.59LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.78LIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.51LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.87LIKELY
Extraversion
0.04UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.51LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.5UNLIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
Actively Involved
We have heard many times all it takes for evil to succeed is for good people to do nothing.
I personally think in a very literal way this is true.
Through being in active evil is able to persist.
When we are not vigilant in being on guard of it evil is able to begin.
It takes a real concerted and constant effort to keep evil at bay and to not let it creep in.
Evil is like a parasite, it feeds on the life of goodness, because it cannot make its own life.
What I want us to discuss today is why is it so hard to not do nothing?
If all it takes is for evil to succeed is for good people to do nothing it seems to reason that for evil to fail good people just have to do something.
So what is it so hard to do something?
Why do we have to struggle to do what we know we should do?
We know that we are not alone in this either Paul also had a struggle with this.
He writes in 9
19For the good that I want, I do not do; but the evil that I do not want, this I practice.
19For the good that I want, I do not do; but the evil that I do not want, this I practice.
Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society, Holy Scriptures: Tree of Life Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2015), .
If it is a struggle for him to not do evil and to do good, then it is also reasonable for us to struggle as well.
If it is a struggle for him to not do evil and to do good, then it is also reasonable for us to struggle as well.
Let us look at 3 common causes for us to struggle with doing something good.
If we are honest motivation is a huge component.
Sometimes it is hard for us to just have a drive or desire to do something good.
We have enough going on with just daily things and we need to find something good to do or to act counter to our culture or to not give in to the evil inclination that distracts us.
To be honest motivation starts with a decision.
We must decide we want to do good.
This may sound easy but there is a different between deciding to want good and deciding to want to do good.
All reasonable people want good things not just for themselves but for the world around them.
It must be a greater decision than this, it must be a decision to participate in the doing of good.
Next it always helps us to be motivated when we have others working with us.
This is not surprising or even novel.
Many hands make light work right?
Doing good is also easier to accomplish when we have help.
One of the first things that is mentioned about man is that it is not good for him to be alone.
We need help to be motivated.
We need to motivate each other.
If we are really speaking truthfully there are 2 kinds of motivation in this regard.
We can receive a general encouragement about ourselves and life and what we are doing and we can get specific encouragement.
General encouragement is good.
We all enjoy an attaboy or attagirl for just doing well and being helpful, but it feels so much more gratifying when someone important to us takes notice of a specific thing.
For us to receive specific motivation from important people we must be specific in what we need from people and specific in what we are doing or want to do.
An example is have you shared with your spouse or parents a goal of how you want to do good?
Have you shared with them the specific elements, tasks, or efforts in doing this goodness?
Perhaps you have chosen a specific mitzvot you want to know more about or to keep more completely, the idea of a personal mitzvot, did you share this with your important people in your life?
If you have not then do not be surprised when you do not get the attention needed about that good effort.
Sometimes we want important people to take notice of us without having to be obvious about it or without having to get their attention.
That is simply not always possible.
What is always possible is for us to draw attention specifically and directly to what we need motivation to do.
In other words ask for motivation from those that are important to you.
Another piece of motivation is the conversation around your efforts.
Have you shared progress about the good you have done?
Are you honest about your deficits when you have not been consistent in doing good?
Do you accept suggestions and correction with humility?
All of this will lead to motivation and a greater doing of good things.
So if we have a lack of motivation what can it lead to?
It can lead to laziness.
It just so happens that sometimes we do not want to do anything.
Sometimes I just do not feel like doing good.
really says alot about laziness and to me infers a lot about us when we let laziness creep in.
“There is a lion in the way!
A fierce lion is in the streets!”
14 As a door turns on its hinges,
So does the lazy one turn on his bed.
15 The lazy one buries his hand in a dish;
It tires him to bring it back to his mouth.
16 The lazy one is wiser in his own eyes
Than seven rendering advice.
13A slacker says,
“There’s a lion on the road!
A lion is in the streets!”
14As a door turns on its hinges
so a slacker turns on his bed.
13A slacker says,
“There’s a lion on the road!
A lion is in the streets!”
14As a door turns on its hinges
so a slacker turns on his bed.
15The slacker plunges his hand
in the dish—
he is too tired to bring it back
to his mouth.
16A slacker is wiser in his own eyes
than seven people who answer sensibly
15The slacker plunges his hand
in the dish—
he is too tired to bring it back
to his mouth.
16A slacker is wiser in his own eyes
than seven people who answer sensibly
Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society, Holy Scriptures: Tree of Life Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2015), Pr 26:13–16.
We can all find reasons to explain why one might not want to do anything.
Some of them are even justified.
It is kind of hard to do something when one is ill or dealing with some diffculties at that moment, but we cannot allow these things to form patterns of behavior that prevent us from doing good.
As well we should understand that doing good is not the same is doing great things.
The good we do should impact the world around us most often in small ways and less often in total changes to life.
Often times we are able to do good with little effort we just have to put forth some effort.
A method to over coming laziness in regards to doing good is to change our habits and patterns of behavior.
I read an article recently in which the author found it took about 10 repitions of something to start a new habit.
The author sited several studies from different behaivoral psychologists that supported the idea.
The most impactful one to me was a study performed at Air Force boot camp.
The article details an exercise in which the drill sergant has all his recruits make their bed.
He then turned the light off and had the recruits get in their bed as if they where going to sleep.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9