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
0.16UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.1UNLIKELY
Fear
0.13UNLIKELY
Joy
0.59LIKELY
Sadness
0.22UNLIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.78LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.35UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.74LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.93LIKELY
Extraversion
0.22UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.93LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.73LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
Great Dependence
Matthew 7:7-12 | Shaun LePage | September 24, 2006
I.
Introduction
A. It was during the height of the civil war that President Abraham Lincoln often found solice in a mid-week church service at the New York Presbyterian Church.
He would quietly slip into a side door of the sanctuary and sit with his aide off to the side and participate in the worship.
This proved to be a wonderful time of relief and release for the president as his soul was burdened with the horrors and tragedies of the war between the states.
After one particular service, his aide asked him what he thought of the sermon.
The president said, “I thought it was well thought through, powerfully delivered and very eloquent.”
“Then you thought it was a great sermon?” said his aide.
“No,” said the president.
“It failed.
It failed because the pastor did not ask of us something great.”
(Chuck Swindoll, The Discipline of Determination, Ministry Essentials Series, Dallas Seminary sermon tape T89MEB, 1994)
B. CPS: Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount was a great sermon for many reasons.
One of those reasons is that Jesus “asks of us something great.”
Jesus calls us to a “*surpassing righteousness*.”
Jesus calls us to greatness.
Not by the world’s standards, but by the standards of the Kingdom of God.
But, Kingdom greatness requires great dependence upon a great God.
C. But what does this “great dependence” look like?
It is nowhere more clear than in the second section of chapter 7. Turn with me please as I read Matthew 7:7-12.
II.
Body—Matthew 7:7-12
A. Verse 7: “*Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.*”
1. Three imperatives: “*Ask...seek…knock*.”
(Acrostic ASK; Greek is actually alpha, zeta, kappa—close “AZK”)
a) Some teach that there is a progression here.
Seeking is more intense than asking and knocking is more intense than seeking.
There may be some truth to this.
b) But, the real point is persistence.
(i) These commands are present, active, imperatives.
What that means is, Jesus is telling us to continually come to God and do our asking, seeking and knocking.
Listen to this verse in the New Living Translation: “*Keep on asking, and you will be given what you ask for.
Keep on looking, and you will find.
Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened*.”
That’s a great translation.
“Keep on asking…keep on looking…keep on knocking.”
(ii) Turn to Luke 11.
Notice that vs. 9-10 are almost identical to Matthew 7:7-8.
But, before Jesus taught this same principle in Luke—obviously on a different occasion—He included this parable of the friend asking for bread.
*[Read 11:5-10]* There’s the word that helps us understand “ask, seek, knock”!
“Persistence”—diligence, determination, perseverance.
2. Three corresponding promises: “*It will be given to you…you will find…it will be opened to you*.”
a) The repetition of the word “*will*” makes this an astonishing promise—Jesus is promising a certain result.
That’s what the word “will” means.
Whatever you ask for—God will give it to you.
Whatever you seek—God will help you find it.
Whatever door you knock on—God will open it for you.
What a promise!
b) Now, is Jesus telling us that if we pester God enough, He’ll grant us any wish we want just like a genie in a bottle?
No. Nowhere does God give us a blank check that we can spend on whatever selfish desires we have.
God is not a genie in a bottle who pops out and grants our three wishes if we just say the right mantra or pray the right formula.
c) So, if Jesus is not giving us a blank check in Matthew 7:7-8, what is He promising?
We must read the passage in context to determine that.
(i) The immediate context is “*do not judge*.”
If we’re going to obey this passage, we are going to need to “*ask for, seek after, and knock on the door for*” God’s wisdom.
Turn to James 1:5.
(a) How do we know whether or not we have a log in our eye?
We need God’s wisdom.
We need Him to show us.
(b) How do we know if we should help a brother or sister remove a “speck” of sin from his~/her eye?
We need God’s wisdom.
We need Him to show us.
(c) How do we know if we should keep our mouths shut and not “give what is holy to dogs or throw pearls to swine”?
We need God’s wisdom.
We need Him to show us.
(ii) The larger context is the kingdom life He has been describing since the beginning of chapter 5. He’s telling us to ask for what we need in order to live the life He has been describing.
(a) Look at the Beatitudes in 5:1-12.
We need God to be this kind of person.
We don’t naturally think and feel this way.
We don’t naturally “mourn” over our sin.
We don’t naturally “hunger and thirst for righteousness.”
We aren’t naturally “merciful, pure in heart and peacemakers.”
We need God’s strength and supernatural perspective to “rejoice” in the midst of persecution.
(b) Look at vs. 13-16.
We need God’s wisdom and guidance to know exactly how to be salt and light in the world.
We need Him to provide opportunities and open the hearts of people or we’re just wasting our time trying to do outreach and evangelism.
(c) Look at vs. 17-48.
We need God’s power to obey every “letter and stroke” of God’s Word.
We need His power to live a life of “surpassing righteousness.”
We need His peace to not get angry and commit murder in our hearts.
We need His purity to not lust and commit adultery in our hearts.
We need His provision to have strong, healthy marriages that don’t end in divorce.
We must have His grace to be selfless and forgiving and to love our neighbors.
We can never reach His standard of perfection apart from His forgiveness.
(d) And on it goes through the entire sermon.
The whole Sermon on the Mount is about living a life that is impossible apart from God’s supernatural help, wisdom, guidance and grace.
How can we possibly be a kingdom-minded disciple of Jesus Christ and live a kingdom-focused life?
We ask God for what we need and God will provide it!
We seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and God will show us the way!
We knock and God will swing doors wide open for us removing all obstacles that block the way.
3. Verse 8: “*For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.*”
a) Jesus rephrases the statement as though everyone who heard v.7 looked completely puzzled.
Let me repeat myself, Jesus seems to be saying.
b) Instead of using the word “*will*” here again to emphasize the certain result, He reemphasizes His point by using the word “*everyone*”!
In this context, Jesus is speaking to His disciples.
Certainly, only His disciples will “*ask according to His will*” so Jesus doesn’t mean “all mankind” but “every disciple”!
His point is, this promise is not just for the apostles.
It’s not just for pastors.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9