Sermon Tone Analysis

As we begin this morning, lease turn in your copies of God’s Word to Luke 2:25-25.

We will be reading these verses shortly, so please have them marked and ready for that time.

If you are using one of the pew Bibles, you will find this on page 725.

But before we begin, let’s go before the throne of our heavenly Father in prayer:

Heavenly Father, on this 2nd Sunday of Advent, we come to you as our Jehovah Shalom, the Lord of peace, our Lord Who doesn’t just bring peace but our Lord Who is peace.

And peace for us goes beyond living a life without conflict, turmoil or trouble.

For us it means the presence of God even in the midst of conflict, turmoil or trouble.

You are Immanuel, God with us, and the fact that You are with us, can bring us peace no matter what is taking place around us, because we know You are in control.

We know You have a plan, and based on the declaration of Your Word, Your plan for us is perfect.

We rest on that perfect plan because we trust You.

May that trust bring us peace that passes all understanding.

This we pray in the Name of Jesus our Immanuel, Amen

Last Sunday morning, the first Sunday of Advent, we looked at the Advent of Hope.

I was privileged to have Simon Goldner here with me to light the first Advent candle.

This morning I would like to have Heidi Goldner join me to light the second Advent candle.

As she is coming forward, let me remind us all what we looked at last week.

In looking at the Biblical definition of Hope, it was highlighted that for the believer, hope is not some wishful thinking that something may or may not happen, but a confident expectation based on the sovereign, all powerful God, Whom we can trust completely to fulfill all that He has promised.

Well it is that Hope, that confident expectation, that leads us to this second Sunday of Advent.

The Advent of Peace.

Heidi, will you assist me in lighting the Advent candles this morning?

Would you please stand, in honor of the reading of God’s Word?

Luke 2:25–35 (ESV)

25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.

27 And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the Law,

28 he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said,

29 “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to Your Word;

30 for my eyes have seen Your salvation

31 that You have prepared in the presence of all peoples,

32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to Your people Israel.”

33 And His father and His mother marveled at what was said about Him.

34 And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed

35 (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”

May the Lord add His blessing to the reading of His Word, please be seated.

The Cambridge dictionary defines “peace” as:

the state of not being interrupted or annoyed by worry, problems, noise, or unwanted actions;

or: freedom from war and violence, especially when people live and work together happily without disagreements.

Based on the Cambridge dictionary, peace is virtually unattainable!

For to a large degree, we will never live a life without interruption, annoyances, worry, problems, noise or unwanted actions, and the thought of living and working together happily without disagreements is like looking for a needle in a Texas sized hay bail.

However, according to the Holman Treasury of Key Bible Words,

Peace means many things to different people.

To those in war, peace means the cessation of battle and enmity.

To those living hectic lives, peace means calm.

To those with troubled minds, peace means inner tranquillity.

Holman Treasury of Key Bible Words: 200 Greek and 200 Hebrew Words Defined and Explained (Peace)

Peace?

In The Little Town.

Right before the message this morning, we sang together O Little Town Of Bethlehem, one of the most beloved Christmas carols we sing.

The song begins; “O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie”.

And while late that evening the majority of the little town may have been peaceful & still, it was only due to the time of the day.

Outside of that, still could hardly be a fitting description of Bethlehem, and almost any other town in the Roman Empire.

You see the greed of the Roman ruler, Caesar Augustus brought about a census to determine a tax base.

This census brought Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem.

Bethlehem was a small town that appeared to be overcrowded, due to the census.

So, while it was peaceful that night, the rest of the days would have been anything but tranquil.

It was also not tranquil for Joseph and Mary.

Based on what we read in Luke 2:4, Joseph & Mary traveled to Bethlehem to register because it was the city of their heritage, and there, in the city of their heritage they were unable to find lodging, despite Mary being in the last days of her pregnancy.

That, in some ways, really adds to the potential turmoil of what they were going through at the time.

Considering Bethlehem as the city of their heritage, leads me, and many others, to believe that they both likely had relatives living in the area.

Yet here they are, in the city of their heritage, with no place to stay.

One commentator writes;

Mary was not welcomed into anyone’s guest room because of the unusual circumstances of her pregnancy.

From their perspective Mary was bearing an illegitimate child; inviting her into their home could be interpreted as an approval of her actions.

(Benjamin A. Foreman, “Luke’s Birth Narrative,” in Lexham Geographic Commentary on the Gospels, ed.

Barry J. Beitzel and Kristopher A. Lyle, Lexham Geographic Commentary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016), 14.)

John MacArthur Writes:

When Jesus came into the world, He was born in the most comfortless conditions—a smelly, filthy, chilly shelter, surrounded by noisy animals.

It was a fitting entrance for the “Son of Man [who had] nowhere to lay His head” (Luke 9:58); the One Who “was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him” (John 1:10); for the One “Who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and [was]made in the likeness of men” (Phil.

2:6–7); for the “Son of Man [who] did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matt.

20:28) by bearing “our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness” (1 Peter 2:24).

His humble birth was appropriate for Jesus, Who came to die as a substitute in the place of lowly, humble, wretched sinners (John F. MacArthur Jr., Luke 1–5, MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2009), 150.)

So, it appears that the “little town of Bethlehem” was anything but peaceful and still.

However, while Joseph and Mary may not have been living in tranquil times or circumstances, that does not mean they were not at peace.

In the New Testament, the most common Greek word for peace is the word “eirene”, which describes “an … calm and a relationship of goodwill between God and humans....it describes a social reality, a state of reconciliation and wholeness among a group of people.”

For the believer, that wholeness is the result of having peace with God the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly lot, whatever it may be.

Scripture indicates that despite the surrounding circumstances, there was peace for this young family that night.

Peaceful Birth In A Noisy Stall.

Lk. 2:14

We looked at Luke 2:14 last week, but I want to look at it again this week, but from a different perspective.

Look in your copies of God’s Word at vs. 14:

Luke 2:14 (ESV)

14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased!”

As we all know, in this verse a multitude of Angels is singing to lowly shepherds, of the One Who had come to shepherd His people.

Take a minute and look at this verse, who is it that the angels declare are at peace with God? (those with whom He is pleased).

What would you say was the condition of Joseph and Mary that night?

It would be hard not to imagine that these two, who had been completely obedient to God despite their obedience throwing their entire existence into great turmoil, being anything but those with whom God was pleased.

Yes, I would say that despite their turmoil, despite them being 90 miles from home, spending the night and Mary giving birth in an animal stall and placing her newborn Son into a feeding trough, despite the judgmental stares, and folks talking behind their backs.

Despite all of the circumstances that surrounded them, they were at peace because they were at the very center of the will of God.

Now let’s take a few minutes and look at another character from Luke chapter 2.

Simeon-waiting for the consolation of Israel.

Luke 2:25

As far as we know, Simeon had no knowledge that God had broken the 400 years of silence 6 months earlier.

What he did know was that the Nation he loved had turned its back on God.

As a result, while they were in their own land, their own land was owned by the hated Roman Empire.

A pagan empire that held the Nation of Israel under it’s powerful thumb.

Exacted huge taxes on the people.

And worshipped false gods.

Everywhere Simeon looked he saw turmoil and hate.

He was one of the few in the entire Nation of Israel who still loved and worshipped God, which broke his heart.

But he remained faithful, despite the unfaithfulness of his people.