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.
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Good Morning!
I want to say thanks again to our worship team.
You guys do such a wonderful job!
This week’s passage is yet another where James isn’t pulling any punches.
In this study, we have been learning about True Faith.
It grows as we walk in obedience to God, and it is revealed to the world as we live.
James is going to make that clearly evident today in these next few verses.
I’ll tell you before we dive in, this is a passage that has the potential to take us into deep places in our minds that we may have tried to shut off.
Things from our past or even from the last few weeks when we spoke or were spoken to in a way that was hurtful.
It is my hope that the Holy Spirit will bring healing to those places today.
As we have discussed previously in this study, words are incredibly powerful.
How we use words can bring joy and life, or they can bring devastation and years of suffering.
I can think of many examples from my own life where I have said things that still haunt me to this day.
I won’t share specifics because you’ll see when we read the passage, but suffice it to say they weren’t nice.
I can also think of many times when people that I love and respect have said things that cut me to my core.
Those kinds of words can cause emotional and mental trauma that can sometimes last a lifetime.
I know that none of us are alone in either of those types of scenarios.
We are all guilty of saying hurtful things, and we have all been hurt by others.
Words are powerful.
They create or destroy, and all of us have experienced both.
This week I got a call from Gilbarco, they are one of two leading gas dispenser manufacturers in the world.
It was our rep calling to tell me about a recent corporate meeting they had.
The meeting was about the installation of Applause TV.
(that is the TV screens on gas pumps that play adds, news, etc.)
Applause TV can be bundled with the dispensers purchase and it saves the customer several thousand dollars if they agree to use it for eight years.
It is a no-brain-er when I am trying to quote dispensers to add Applause in because it benefits the customer by driving sales inside the store and saving them money on the installation.
Gilbarco had this meeting because apparently there are a lot of distributors that have ordered like I have, however, they don’t install the hardware.
You can ask our technicians, it is complicated, to say the least.
Our rep called to say thank you because out of his area (Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Alabama) we are his only distributor that has installed 100% of their sites and kept them online.
I’m telling you this story because I got to tell our techs, their boss, and the owner of the company that out of all the distributors in our region, we have the highest installation rate.
That is a huge deal!
It was a massive pat on the back for our installers and you could see them puff up a bit as I told them.
These are the kinds of experiences we all want to have.
When you get to tell someone good news like this, it brightens their day.
We all want to be told that we are doing a great job and recognized for it.
On the other hand, I know that all of us have experienced moments at work, at home, with friends, or even at church where rather than being encouraged, we were put down.
Sometimes those are just a bit of a sting, and we can get over it pretty quickly, but sometimes they cut deep, and it takes months or years for us to get past it.
Maybe we were the ones that said the harsh things.
As I was thinking about this message today, God reminded me of something I said to a friend years ago.
The short of the story is this guy and I were friends growing up and as it happens, our lives went in different directions and we didn’t talk for years.
There was no ill will, we just went down different paths.
Well, through a series of circumstances we ran into each other, exchanged numbers and began to talk again.
We had several positive conversations over the phone, but one day he called and I wasn’t able to answer.
This happened a few times in a row over the course of a few days and I never returned the call.
When we did talk again, he let me know in a pretty negative way that he didn’t appreciate being ghosted.
Rather than explaining why I hadn’t answered, I replied in harsher way than he has spoken to me.
I let him know real quick that I didn’t allow people to talk to me that way and I FELT justified in my response.
In reality though, there was no reason for me to do that.
I could have just apologized, explained my circumstances, and moved past it.
Instead, I made things way worse and we haven’t spoken since.
Needless to say, that wasn’t the right way to handle the situation.
As we think about these kinds of moments in our lives, we will probably see that there was a lot of emotion involved prior to or when the hurtful thing was said.
Emotion is a good thing, but if we aren’t careful, it can make us do and say things that aren’t beneficial for any involved.
This is what James is addressing in today’s passage.
Look with me at it with me.
I want to remind you of the context in which James is writing this letter.
The church that is receiving it has been at war with one another.
In this kind of setting, James addresses how the members of the church talk to one another and others.
How we view others reveals what we believe about ourselves and God.
In this passage, James makes several references to the law.
Let’s define that first.
Quiz time, what did Jesus say when he was asked what the greatest commandment was?
Love God.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
And how do we show our love for God?
We show our love for God by obeying what He says to do.
In this passage, James keeps referring to the law, and it is Jesus’ command to love one another that he is talking about.
I know that it may seem odd to remind the church that they are to love God and love others, but the way that they were treating one another was calling that into question.
I have some friends that have been married a long time, like going on 20 years and when you hear them talk to one another, you would think they hate each other.
I know that they don’t, but the way they communicate can make you wonder.
They are very snappy, rude, and direct with one another, or at least that is how it appears to other people.
Because I have known them so long, I know that they love each other, it just doesn’t sound like it.
I would be willing to bet that if you ran across them at the grocery store and heard them talking, you would have no idea they were married/ in love.
I share this example for two reasons.
It is incredibly easy to form a judgment based on what you see from the outside.
What you see/hear may not always be what you think.
James is saying in verse eleven not to criticize and slander one another because it is not a loving action!
Slander is critical speech intended to inflame others against the person being criticized.
It involves talking against people, perhaps attacking them behind their backs.
In this instance Christians were slandering Christians.
Christians are brothers and sisters in Christ.
For Christians to malign other believers is a living contradiction of the close family ties which should bind them together.
By criticizing or slandering one another, we are doing the exact opposite of what we should be doing as followers of Christ.
Church, I cannot tell you how many times I have heard church members talking very cruelly about other church members over the course of my career.
It is a plague that affects nearly every church if it is not dealt with.
Today we are going to talk about the effect it has on the church, our relationship with God, and with the outside world.
This kind of activity has the capacity to destroy a church and the personal ministries of its members if it goes unchecked.
I want to make a clarifying point here.
There is a difference between slandering someone and discussing something that needs to be dealt with for the good of the people and the church.
I’ll give you some examples:
Martha Joe found out she is pregnant, and that is her fourth baby!
Can you believe that?
What was she thinking?
She can barely take care of the ones she has!
Slanderous or for the good of the church?
Johnny has been leading our group for a long time, and he’s really good at it, but he has been under a lot of stress at work lately.
Let’s ask him if he would like to take a break for a little while.
Slanderous or for the good of the church?
Do you see the difference?
One is cutting and resonates disdain and the other resonates love and genuine concern.
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