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
0.17UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.17UNLIKELY
Fear
0.14UNLIKELY
Joy
0.57LIKELY
Sadness
0.48UNLIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.76LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.13UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.9LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.75LIKELY
Extraversion
0.14UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.54LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.67LIKELY

Tone of specific sentences

Tones
Emotion
Anger
Disgust
Fear
Joy
Sadness
Language
Analytical
Confident
Tentative
Social Tendencies
Openness
Conscientiousness
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Emotional Range
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
The subject for this year’s conference is /Christian ethics/.
Ethics are principles of conduct.
They have to do with right and wrong, and, of course, Christian ethics are based on Scripture.
We can say that they are Biblical principles of right and wrong.
Over the next couple of days, I’ll be addressing a lot of subjects.
Unfortunately, I will be able to address each of them only briefly.
If you have any questions beyond what I say, please don’t hesitate to ask.
As we begin, we must first recognize that every decision we make is an ethical decision.
But knowing what to do is not always easy.
We want to do God’s will, but how do we know what God’s will is in a given situation?
Should I go to college?
If so, which one and what should I study?
Should I marry Barbara or Margaret?
Should I buy a home or continue to rent?
Should my wife and I have three children or fourteen?
Should I take a new job or stick with the old one?
You see, you can ask this question about everything you do.
When people want to know God’s will, most of the time they are concerned about the big decisions in their lives (marriage, family and career).
But actually it relates to little decisions, too.
Is it God’s will for you to buy peppermint or spearmint gum?
If you really want to do God’s will, you have to do it in the little things just as much as the big ones.
Otherwise, you’re only doing part of God’s will.
But what do people really mean when they want to know God’s will.
More often than not, they mean that God has a wonderful plan for their lives, and they want a preview of that plan so that they can know what choices God will bless.
Finding God’s will not usually their attempt to please God, but rather their effort to find a way to make God please them.
!
The Will of God
Does this mean, then, that it is inappropriate to talk about doing God’s will?
Of course not.
In fact, there are several passages in Scripture that use this very phrase.
Jesus said, /For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother/ (Mark 3:35).
Obviously, we cannot do the will of God unless we know what the will of God is.
Similarly Ephesians 6:6 adds that we are to serve Christ by /doing the will of God from the heart/.
The will of God is also mentioned in our text.
Before we look at our text, however, we should note that the phrase “the will of God” has two very distinct meanings in Scripture.
Sometimes it refers to God’s decree, i.e., his all-encompassing plan for the entire universe.
It refers to those things that most certainly will come to pass.
After Nebuchadnezzar’s reason returned to him, he proclaimed that God /doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth/ (Dan.
4:35).
This means that everything in creation follows his plan.
Paul stated this principle even more directly in the New Testament.
He wrote that God /worketh all things after the counsel of his own will/ (Eph.
1:11).
However, this cannot be what the phrase means when we talk about DOING the will of God.
Why?
There are several reasons.
First, if doing the will of God simply means that we follow his plan, then everyone — believer and unbeliever alike — does God’s will always and infallibly.
It has to be this way, since God’s will determines every event that takes place, including sin.
The crucifixion of Christ is, without a doubt, the greatest sin ever committed, but have you ever noticed that the sermons in Acts emphasize repeatedly that even it was the product of /the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God/ (Acts 2:23; cf.
Acts 3:18; 4:28)?
The Belgic Confession recognizes this when it affirms that God orders and executes his perfect plan even “when devils and wicked men act unjustly” (Art.
13).
The will of God’s decree is inescapable.
Second, if doing the will of God means that we follow his plan and following his plan requires us to know his plan in advance, then the whole idea of doing God’s will runs counter to other Scriptural principles.
For example, Deuteronomy 29:29 says that, unless God reveals the future, it is not our business to know it.
Moses wrote, /The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law/.
Nowhere does the Bible encourage believers to find out their biographies in advance.
And since God has chosen not to give us this information, searching for it can end only in frustra­tion.
But “the will of God” also has a second meaning in Scripture.
In other places, it’s a synonym for keeping God’s commandments.
We find this meaning, for example, in I John 2:17, where doing the will of God is contrasted specifically with worldliness and sin.
John assured his readers that the world and all of its lusts will pass away, /but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever/.
This gives us a completely different perspective on doing God’s will.
Instead of looking into a crystal ball to determine what actions God will bless, we turn to the pages of Scripture to learn what kinds of behavior please God.
Doing what is morally pleasing to God is admirable.
It flows out of a heart that has been re-created in the image of Christ by the irresistible grace of God.
!
Avoiding Fornication
We’ve spent a fair amount of time looking at the will of God today because that’s what our text is about.
Paul begins by saying, /For this is the will of God, even your sanctification/.
In view of the fact that he mentioned the commandments of Christ in the verse preceding our text and that the remainder of our text rehearses a few of those commandments, how can we come to any conclusion except that doing the will of God means that we submit ourselves heart and soul to God’s law?
The first commandment in the list before us comes at the end of verse 3. The Word of God instructs believers to /abstain from fornication/ (v.
3).
The fact that fornication heads the list probably indicates that it was a rather serious problem in Thessalonica at the time Paul wrote to the church.
This shouldn’t surprise us.
Thessalonica was a bustling seaport, with sailors coming and going all the time.
Sailors in the first century were not much different than sailors today.
But the fact is that fornication was widespread in the first century, just as it is today.
Christ condemned fornication in Matthew 15:19.
He said that it flows out of an evil heart.
Paul also denounced it numerous times throughout his epistles, but especially in I Corinthians.
I Corinthians 6:18 says, /Flee fornication/.
This comes after the statement a few verses earlier that unrepentant fornicators will not inherit the kingdom of God (vv.
9–10).
In Corinth, fornication was so bad that a man even slept with his stepmother (I Cor.
5:1–5).
There is no indication in I Thessalonians that the problem had sunk to this level, but it still had to be addressed.
Sources outside of the Bible confirm the prevalence of fornication and other sexual sins in the New Testament world.
One commentator notes that “anyone who has seen a collection of Greek pottery will know that /Playboy/ magazine is more restrained.”
Another says that it was simply assumed in the first century that men would look outside their marriages for the satisfaction of their desires; absti­nence was considered too unnatural.
The sexual revolution of the 70s minimized the importance of the seventh commandment and equated inhibitions with an unenlightened past.
Whether the Lord sent AIDS specifically as a punish­ment for homosexuality and other gross violations of the seventh commandment is hard to say, but for a short time the fear of AIDS did restore a little self-restraint.
As AIDS has become less of a concern through condom distribution and the development of certain drugs, and as postmodern philosophy has removed the discussion of meaning and purpose from the table, it seems that sexual sins are again on the rise.
Sadly, a lot of this kind of thinking has entered into the church.
But what did Paul say?
He said that it is God’s will for you to avoid fornication altogether.
Don’t toy with it!
Don’t convince yourself that it’s okay to develop inappropriate relationships with the opposite sex as long as you don’t actually commit the act of fornication.
Just stay away from it!
Keep it as far from you as possible!
Jay Adams gives a good illustration of what this means.
Let’s say that a man is afraid of falling off a cliff.
As he goes to work everyday, he passes by the same cliff and everyday the cliff terrorizes him.
What should he do?
The easiest solution would be to find another way to work.
Instead of walking along the edge of the cliff, he should take a safer inland route.
The fifth chapter of Proverbs says that /the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil/ (v.
3).
It’s a simple fact that, if the temptation to immorality were not attractive, it would not be a temptation.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9