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
0.1UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.1UNLIKELY
Fear
0.11UNLIKELY
Joy
0.6LIKELY
Sadness
0.59LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.84LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.58LIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.77LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.97LIKELY
Extraversion
0.16UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.79LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.81LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
Intro
Remembering - dinner, significant events, wedding, birthday, baptism, etc.
As humans, we by nature are forgetful.
It is the easy thing to do.
We are almost good at it.
To help us remember things we come up with mnemonic devices, pictures or phrases to cause us to remember.
We may try to repeat a name multiple times to remember a person.
Or put their name with something else in our mind that will spark that memory.
What is true of us as individuals is also true of nations as a whole.
Forgetfulness causes all sorts of trouble.
Often, even in our closest relationships, our families, our marriages, the real threat most often is a slow process of forgetting, a gradual failure to remember the value of the other person.
God’s people are called to remember.
To remember how good God is, how He works out his purposes, how He keeps His promises.
The people of Israel were no different in this regard than we are today.
Moses had already given a warning to these people back in Dt 8
Here in Joshua 4 we have God reminding the people again of His provision, and of Joshua’s leadership.
Through our text for today we will see that God instructs His people to remember the mighty things He has done for them.
12 men and 12 stones.
4:1-9
Chapter 4 now goes into more specific detail about the peoples crossing of the Jordan.
When we read the chapter it seems kind jumbled at times.
It begins with when the whole nation had finished, but the goes on to talk about the 12 men being chosen.
Did they pick up the rocks as they crossed?
Did the go back and pick up rocks that Joshua had chosen?
It is really rather confusing when you sit down and try to put it together as to what happened, what was the time frame.
Remember as well, we saw the 12 men chosen back in 3:12.
One of these verses seems to be out of place chronologically.
Whichever one, the significance we need to see is that these two verses tie the two chapters together.
Most likely God’s command came first, but both being recorded helps us to see that the command was carried out.
Taking the text at face value, reading what it says, we have a picture of the people on the other side of the Jordan.
The Lord speaks to Joshua, now telling him what the twelve men that were selected are to do.
12 men, one from each tribe, are to take up 12 stones and carry the to the place they would rest for the night.
There task is quite specific.
These verses also point to the idea of a memorial to be set up.
What is the purpose of a memorial.
To remember.
We today have a number of significant memorials.
What memorials come to your mind?
The number of men, and rocks is significant because it signifies the unified nature of God.
God is working on behalf of His whole group of people.
Not just Joshua, or the tribe Joshua was part of.
The men were to take the stones for a specific purpose.
The stones were for a memorial.
They were not being collected to build an altar for sacrifice, but to build something to remember the great miracle God had done now for this generation of people.
The the unity that God required amongst His people.
We most often think of memorials as sad things, most of the examples we thought of today relate to remembering those who have passed.
Some though also serve to remember what was gained.
This memorial though was to remember God’s power and provision for the people.
We might picture a child and their parents, years down the road, going through this location and the child looking up and asking, Mom - Dad - what do these stones mean to you?
Or perhaps they are meeting for some gathering and a child asks another in the group.
That is literally how the Hebrew reads.
The Israelites’ children would be asking them what these stones symbolized for them personally, and they were to have an answer ready that told of the miracle that God had performed and the ark’s role in it.
Verse 7 gives what their response ought to be.
The response focuses on two things.
Remember the ark represents God’s presence with His people.
And the waters of the Jordan were cut off.
The response emphasizes God’s presence, and the miracle He performed.
The stones were for a memorial to help all of God’s people remember what He had done.
And to remember for generations to come.
I wonder, do we as Christians have an answer to what it means for to be a Christian?
The cross is a symbol we use often.
It is prominently displayed by many churches.
Have your children asked, or what if a child came up and asked you, what does the cross mean to you?
Do you have an answer?
The cross represents the place where Jesus, my Lord, my Savior, my King, died.
Died to take away my sins, now and forever.
Died that I might have a relationship with Him.
The cross is a symbol of the grace and love God has for me, and the wrath and bitterness He has towards sin.
Jesus has set up a couple of memorial events for us as Christians today.
We have baptism, and the Lord’s supper.
What about these two?
Especially the Lord’s supper as we celebrate it more often.
Do you have an answer if someone were to ask, especially a child, what does baptism mean to you?
Or what does the cracker you eat, and the juice you drink mean to you?
Through baptism, we show our obedience to Christ, we share our decisions publicly to follow Him, that Christ is our savior and Lord.
In baptism, we remember Christ’s death to sin and resurrection to new life as we are plunged under the water and returned.
The water as well symbolizes the washing and regeneration of our bodies.
We believe and are baptized because Christ died for us.
The Lord’s supper, which we celebrate today, is a memorial celebrating God’s presence, and the miracle of what He has done for each one of us.
Jesus didn’t die for our mistakes, for our imperfections.
God brushes off our mistakes and imperfections even more easily than we do.
The Lord’s supper brings us together to remember the death of Jesus, which was for our sin.
Sin is not a mistake.
Our sin is our willing unlawfulness, our purposeful breaking of God’s law.
In attitude and deed we rebel against God, and we have fore that reason forfeited our right to live.
We deserve to die for our sins.
That is what the death of Jesus is for, our deliberate unlawfulness.
That, I know I should be doing this, I know I shouldn’t be watching this, I know I shouldn’t be saying this, but one more time can’t hurt.
We all make mistakes, and we can all brush them off.
Our dilemma though is caused by our offense against God, the removal of the penalty we deserve can only be solved by an act of God.
The act of God where our rebellion against Him is taken care of and we are given new live is remembered right here in the broken body and shed blood of Christ, our Savior, our Lord.
God’s love is not a theory, it doesn’t meet an abstract need.
God’s love is factual, historic action: this is the example we see in Joshua.
This is the example we have in Jesus death on the cross.
The purpose of God’s love is to meet our real need, the forgiveness of our sins.
Through the Lord’s supper we celebrate our life together, founded on God’s work in Christ.
We celebrate people freed for new life - new life with God and new life with each other.
We gather as a community broken by our sin and leave as a community healed by God’s forgiveness.
Think of these things as we celebrate the Lord’s supper together today.
Pray - eat
Pray - drink
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9