Sermon Tone Analysis

Pre-Sermon

Today is the second Sunday of Advent.

Advent means to arrive or to come to.

During Advent we celebrate the first arrival of Jesus the Christ, who is called Emmanuel which means God with us.

Christ has come; Christ has died; Christ is risen.

And we also anticipate the second Advent, or second coming of Christ.

The name Jesus, or in Hebrew, Yehoshua, means God saves.

Thus, in Christ, we find that the God who is with us is the God who saves us.

Christ will come again.

Advent marks the beginning of the Church calendar or the Church year, which is quite intentional and apropos.

Winter is setting in, the days becoming colder and darker, and the land lies bare and dormant.

There is a sense of dying.

Yet, the Church has a message for a cold and dark world.

There is a Light coming – a Light that brings hope, peace, love, joy – a Light who brings new life into a dying world.

Jesus, the Son of the Living God came to lead us out of the darkness and into His glorious light and His eternal love.

Sermon

Open Bibles to Luke 2, Eph. 2, Rom.

14 & 6

On the night Jesus was born (not Dec 25 / Magi arrived) an angel appeared to shepherds who were keeping watch over their sheep.

And from

Jesus is the Prince of Peace, and His arrival was to bring peace to the world.

But the world is not a very peaceful place is it.

Where is this peace?

Even Miss America contestants want world peace.

Either God is doing a poor job, or we’ve misunderstood something.

Curious, how would you define peace?

I think most of us would describe peace as a lack of conflict or being in a state of calmness, serenity ….

But that’s only one side of the coin as we’ll see in a moment.

Of course, we want that kind of peace, but we can have an absence of conflict and still lack peace.

We can be in the calmest setting and be a wreck on the inside – so the setting and a lack of conflict does not necessarily create peace.

Lame example - Ever see an older couple at a restaurant, sitting at a table - not talking.

No conflict – but no peace either – because peace has more to do with something else.

The opposite is true.

We can be in the midst of chaos and conflict and yet have an inner peace that surpasses understanding.

That inner peace may be a sense of calmness, but it might be something else as well.

What if there’s more to peace than the absence of conflict?

Let’s watch this and find out.

Video

Learn anything?

Let’s work this out a little.

The root meaning of peace is completeness or wholeness.

Which should add a new dimension to our understanding of peace.

So, when the angel said, “peace on earth,” maybe he wasn’t talking so much about, “Hey, Jesus has arrived – no more conflict.”

Maybe he meant that through Jesus, and a relationship with Him people who are fractured by sin can be made whole – have their broken messy lives put back together – that through Jesus, people could have forgiveness of sin, freedom, healing, restoration.

Go to Eph. 2. The 1st century Jewish worldview had only 2 people groups – Jew and Gentile.

If you were a Jew – God’s people – good to go.

If you were a Gentile – not God’s people, too bad, so sad After Pentecost, thousands of Gentiles came to faith in Christ.

In Eph. 2, Paul is writing to Gentile Believers and says this,

In Christ, the separation between humanity and God is over.

Hark the herald angels sing, Glory to the newborn King.

Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinner reconciled.

That’s why Jesus was born – to bring peace, reconciliation between God and sinner.

But that’s only one side of the coin.

What’s the other?

Go back to the meaning of peace.

If the root meaning of peace is completeness or wholeness, this is rhetorical, then

The goal of peace is to make complete or whole.

So, if Christ is our peace, not only does he reconcile us to God, but what else does He do?

Listen -

The goal of peace is to mend those who are torn, repair those who are broken, restore those who are mistreated, and provide what’s missing.

All about making complete.

That’s what Jesus can do for us – if we let Him.

Got to work with Him … trust and obey and yield ….

Let’s go back to what the angel said – “Peace on earth.”

Did he say Jesus would do all the work – all the peacemaking?

No. Jesus said,

Blessed in one sense means happy, but in the bigger scheme of things it means to have God’s favor.

Think about that.

Peacemakers have God’s favor or blessing upon them.

Who are the Peacemakers?

Those who carry the Name of Christ – the Church.

We are the ones who mend, repair, restore, provide – we should be active in bringing completeness and wholeness to people and communities ….

Christians don’t merely pray for peace – they pursue peace.

Think about the people in your world – people you know and people you don’t know but you cross paths with them.

Who in your world is torn, broken, mistreated, has missing pieces?

How could you bring a little peace into their world?

A little mending, a little repairing, a little restoring, a little providing.

Some might be thinking – I’m too busy.

Too much going on – I don’t have time to invest in others.

In Romans 14, Paul wrote to the church and said, “don’t let yourselves get distracted from what’s truly Kingdom work, and don’t major on the minors.”

If we’re too busy, too hurried, too preoccupied for Kingdom work … who’s in charge of your life?

Some might be thinking what can I do?

I can’t do much, I don’t have much to offer.

Look, we’re all broken, but not everyone is broken in the same way.

Therefore, not everyone will be repaired or restored in the same way.

Everyone has certain abilities, strengths, skills, talents ….

We don’t all have the same abilities ….

You have something to offer.

You have a strength, or skill, or temperament or .…

God has given you a “piece” of something that someone else needs to have a peace.

What “piece” He’s given you?

Let’s go back to the people in your world who need mended or restored.

Pick one person and imagine that they are wearing a shirt that is ripped and torn.

And you have a piece of thread that matches their shirt.

What would Jesus like you to do with your piece of thread?

And I know some of you are thinking, I'll just go to the store and buy a new shirt.

You could, but that's not normally how Jesus works is it?

How could you begin to mend this person, help them become a little more complete or whole with the piece of thread God has given you?

Of course, we’re not talking about shirts or clothing.

We’re talking about hearts, lives, souls.

Now, I don’t think Jesus expects us to have enough thread for every person.