Sermon Tone Analysis

Opening:

Good morning Connection Church.

And happy advent!

I am so thankful to be able to gather and celebrate the coming of our Lord.

I pray and hope that this morning’s worship service is an offering of thanks to God.

That is really what it is.

We have come together to give thanks to God.

Specifically, we are offering up our singing, our giving, our time, our ears, our bodies as offerings to God in thanks for sending His Son to save us!

I want to open by reading Psalm 50:23, “23 The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!”” That is my prayer!

I pray we glorify God through this sacrifice of thanksgiving to God!

I pray He shows us His salvation.

I pray this morning we are given further insight into the mystery of salvation.

What a thought.

God offers us sight into the mystery of the sending of His Son.

What a blessing.

Introduction of the Text:

This morning, we are going to be reading and diving further into our study of the opening of the Gospel according to Saint Luke.

This morning we are specifically going to be studying one of the greatest songs in all the church.

The church has sung this song for two thousand years.

It is beyond a doubt one of the most influential and beneficial songs the church has ever sung.

I pray you are blessed from this song, sung by the blessed saint, saved by grace, who is the earthly mother of our Lord.

With this in mind, please stand with me for the reading of God’s Word.

Reading of the Text:

Luke 1:39-56, 39 In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, 40 and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.

41 And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb.

And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, 42 and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.

45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

46 And Mary said,

“My soul magnifies the Lord,

47  and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

48  for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.

For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;

49  for he who is mighty has done great things for me,

and holy is his name.

50  And his mercy is for those who fear him

from generation to generation.

51  He has shown strength with his arm;

he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;

52  he has brought down the mighty from their thrones

and exalted those of humble estate;

53  he has filled the hungry with good things,

and the rich he has sent away empty.

54  He has helped his servant Israel,

in remembrance of his mercy,

55  as he spoke to our fathers,

to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”

56 And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home.

Behold, the Word of God.

Let’s Pray.

Prayer:

Oh Lord, speak to us through your Word.

Apply it to our lives.

We need to hear from you, Lord.

Please speak to your people through your word.

We ask this, in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

Opening Illustration: (The state of our music)

I am curious.

If I were to take a poll asking people what they think of when they think of Christian music, what would they say?

What would their favorite songs be?

Would any of them be even remotely similar to the song of Mary?

I did some research this week on the top Christian songs of our day.

The billboard top Christian music is to be kind, a mixed bag.

It is filled with music that is at best, self centered and at worst openly heretical.

yes, there is a lot of horrible music pretending to be Christian.

However, there are many really good songs being produced in the Christian world.

I mean this.

There is some fantastic music.

But if we look at the Christian genre as a whole, it is a mixed bag.

I often make an illustration comparing modern evangelicalism to fast food.

The same is true of our music.

Much of the top Christian music being made today is comparable to a big mac and a large fry.

It is tasty, easily accessible, and filling.

But we all know that a big mac is not really healthy.

Sure, its okay, but we as Christians are called to a real work.

And eating a big mac is not what you want to do before going out and lifting weights.

You sure can, but you’ll get one set in and be hugging the trash can, then need a nap afterward.

Compared to this, Mary’s song here is like a good meal of grilled chicken breast and veggies.

It is a hearty home cooked meal that is not as quick and easy as fast food, but is clearly better for us.

And this song may not be on the billboard top ten in the Christian category according to Spotify, but let’s zoom out a little bit.

If we were to examine the whole of the church, this song would probably be number two on that billboard.

This song has been sung for two thousand years by the saints.

The only song that may be more popular in church history is Psalm 23.

It is a sad state that our music has left Scripture to be self centered dribble.

But this morning, I pray you see the beauty of this biblical song.

It is food for the soul that we can get to work for the Kingdom.

This is a church militant song.

It is a church workout song.

It is meant to cause our souls to be lifted up and encouraged for the work ahead of us.

We should saturate ourselves in the music of the Bible.

Be blessed by it, be educated by it, be strengthened by it, be encouraged by it and more.

So let’s study this passage, and especially this church workout and church militant song of Mary.

Transition:

As we open this passage we see Mary visits Elizabeth.

Mary Visits Elizabeth.

We saw in the passages from last week how Elizabeth had conceived John the Baptist and how Gabriel had foretold the miraculous conception of Jesus by the Holy Spirit.

Gabriel had also told Mary that Elizabeth, her cousin had conceived and was now six months pregnant.

So Mary, in joy goes to her cousin Elizabeth.

Now this was not small thing.

Mary travelled from Nazareth to the area of Judah.