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
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Disgust
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Fear
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Joy
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Sadness
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Language Tone
Analytical
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Confident
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Tentative
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Social Tone
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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In his humanity, Jesus revealed that he was a man of like feelings and emotions as you and I.
He was a man of sensibility and he clearly revealed how he felt on many occasions.
We see his anger in the Temple Court as he drives out the money changers and the animal merchants.
We witness his compassion as He heals the sick and lame.
We recognize his shear joy when in the company of children.
We see his frustration and impatience with his disciples when they were slow to learn.
His grief over the death of His dear friend Lazerath is obvious to everyone.
His love for Mary and Martha – Lazerath’s sisters – was genuine.
In our text, we see another emotion.
I think we witness a genuine hurt over the ingratitude of nine men who failed to show the slightest appreciation for what he had done for them.
Jesus had healed them of the most dreaded disease of the day.
Only one comes back to say ‘thank you’ .
I have felt for a long time that one of the particular temptations for Christians is the danger of getting accustomed to God’s blessings.
Like the world traveler who has been everywhere and seen everything, the Christian is in danger of taking his or her blessings for granted and getting so accustomed to them that they fail to excite us.
We have grown accustomed to our blessings.
The result is that too man Christians have become thankless Christians.
The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the church at Thessalonica, encourages the Thessalonian believers to be a thankful people.
They are to /". . .
give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus"/ (I Thess.
5:18).
Ever wonder what God’s will for your life is?
Well, hear is one.
Be thankful!
If God rated our sins – which He doesn't – but is He rated our sins as either "big" sins or "little" sins, I'm sure that He would rate ingratitude as one of the "biggies."
!
I. INGRATITUDE IS A CHARACTERISTIC OF PAGAN DEPRAVITY
#. in his letter to the Christians at Rome, the Apostle Paul lists roots of the problem with the human race
#. one of those root problems is thanklessness
* Rom.
1:21 /". . .
when they [the pagans] knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful . .
."/
#. on the whole, the human race is unthankful towards God
#. men do not want to recognize and honor God’s position in their lives
#. the passage seems to imply that people who are ungrateful to God will soon fall away – their hearts will become hardened
#. indeed, ingratitude toward God is one of the root sins of a person’s rebellion against God
#. there are many ways to tell if a person is a true believer or not
#.
one way is to listen to the way a person talks
#. like Peter discovered at the camp fire during our Lord's trial before the High Priest, our speech often betrays us
#. our speech reveals what our mind is thinking and what our heart is feeling
#. how we verbally thank God and in what circumstances we offer that thanks will often indicate how close or how far away we are from God
#.
Christians ought to be a thankful people, yet we often display an attitude which is characteristic of the unchurched
#. sometimes all the world hears us do is gripe
#. we gripe about our church
#. we gripe about the people in our church
#. we gripe about our work
#. we gripe about the people we work with
#. we gripe about our present lot in life
#.
we gripe about what the future will probably be like
!! A. MANY CHRISTIANS ARE AWASH IN A SEA OF NEGATIVITY
#. too many believers have forgotten how to "count their blessings"
#. instead, we list our misfortunes
#. /"You wouldn't believe what happened to me last week!"/
#. some of the most negative environments in the world are Sometimes found within the walls of a church sanctuary
#.
I think that few things grieve God more than the negativity and ingratitude of His very own people
#. when was the last time you really spent some significant time thanking God for anything other than a quick grace at your last meal?
* ILLUS.
If we could somehow keep track of our prayers for a month and at the end of that time list every prayer we had prayed and categorize them, the results might be very interesting.
We could categorize them into the different types of prayer mentioned in Scriptures – praise, confession, supplication, intercession and thanksgiving.
The of what we prayed for would probably be an eye-opener.
If you are the average Christian you will spend 2% of your prayer time praising God; about 2% would be spent in intercession – praying for other.
Probably about 90% of your prayers are spent in supplication – asking God for those things you want or need or think you need.
Most of us spend only about 1% of our prayer time in thanking God for the good things He has brought our way.
!! B. WHY ARE WE SOMETIMES A THANKLESS PEOPLE?
#.
I believe there are at least three attitudes that steal away our gratitude and keep us from being thankful
#.
Our pride
#. this is the attitude that says, /"Nobody ever gave me anything, I worked hard for everything I have."/
#. for years you studied hard and now it is finally paying off
#. with this kind of attitude, we feel that we have no one to thank but ourselves
* ILLUS.
The great American writer Henry Ward Beecher once wrote, /"Pride slays thanksgiving, but an humble mind is the soil out of which thanks naturally grow.
A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves."/
#. b.
A Critical Spirit
#. instead of being grateful, the person with a critical spirit will always find something to complain about
* ILLUS.
Chuck Swindoll tells that story of a Baptist Deacon who had the most fabulous hunting dog in rural Georgia.
The man was a duck hunter, and his retriever was reputed to be the very best at fetching downed ducks.
People would invite the deacon to go hunting just to have the privilege of watching the dog perform.
On day his pastor came to him and said, “Joe, I’d like for you to invite Bill to go hunting with you.
He’s the most critical man I know, and if he could just watch you dog perform, I’m sure he would repent of his critical spirit.
So Joe called Bill and invited him to go duck hunting with him the next weekend.
The appointed day arrived and Joe picked up his fellow church member early in the morning and they headed out to Joe’s duck blind.
They hadn’t been there long when a flock of Mallards circled.
BLAME!
Joe fired, and a duck came tumbling out of the sky.
Joe look at his dog who was anxiously awaiting his master’s command.
Joe shouted “fetch” and the dog leaped out of the blind, trotted across the top of the pond, fetched the duck and brought it back to the blind, proudly dropping it at Joe’s feet.
Bill just shrugged his shoulders and went, “Hummph.”
Joe thought to himself, “Maybe he just doesn’t realize what he just saw.”
A few moments later, a flock of Pintails wheeled over head.
BLAME!
Joe fired, and a Pintail fell from the sky.
“Fetch” commanded Joe, and his Retriever bounded out of the blind, trotted across the surface of the water, grabbed the duck and brought it back.
Bill just rolled his eyes.
By now, Joe is incredulous, But he figures he’ll give it one more shot.
A little while later a flock of Wood Ducks wheels overhead.
BLAME!
BLAME!
And two Wood Ducks plop into the pond.
“Fetch” commands Joe, and his Retriever jumps out of the blind, trots across the face of pond, grabs both ducks and drops them at his master’s feet.
Bill just sits their stone-faced.
Joe blurts out, Well, what do you think of my dog???” Bill replies, Ain’t much of a swimmer, is he?”
#. now that’s a critical spirit
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