Sermon Tone Analysis
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Introduction: Every Birth Deserves a witness or two… I witnessed the birth of my children.
Our neighbors at the time although they didn’t watch them come into the world they witnessed the birth with joy and celebration.
(Photo the sign for Jesse)
Trans Sentence: The Supporting Cast on the night Jesus was born and others who followed were witnesses of the birth of the King of Heaven.
They had front row seats and were the first ones to testify to others that a King was born.
The Angels Foretold of the birth Provided Directions Invited others to witness behind the scenes
Foretold of the birth Luke 1:26-38
Provided Directions - Told the Shepherds what to do.
Luke 2:10-12 “I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
“This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.””
Good directions don’t you think.
City of David - they all would have known that they were speaking of Bethlehem, they were probably just a few miles away.
But then the directions become a bit fuzzier.
A baby? How many were born this night?
Wrapped in cloths?
Don’t all babies get wrapped in cloths?
But lying in a manger.
Now this is a significant piece of information.
It isn’t everyday you find a baby wrapped in a manger.
Invited others to witness - Invited the Shepherds into the story, (Responsible for leading, feeding, protecting, and procuring rest for their flock).
Not the usual suspects for witnessing a birth.
What were they doing behind the scenes in the natural spiritual realm?
How much combat with the forces of darkness were going on?
The angels were doing God’s will by delivering the message about the coming birth of John and Jesus.
But I bet they didn’t do it grudgingly.
They were worshipping God as they did it.
Take their example - worship with joy and gladness, not grudgingly.
It’s all a matter of the heart, if our hearts are in the right place our worship will be a sweet aroma to God.
2. The Shepherds Lowly and looking for hope Frightened In a hurry Returned glorifying God
Luke 2:8–20 (NASB95)
8 In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night.
9 And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened.
10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people;
11 for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
12 “This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”
15 When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, “Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.”
16 So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the manger.
17 When they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child.
18 And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds.
19 But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart.
20 The shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them.
Lowly and looking for Hope - Just about the lowest people on the social ladder.
The laws over the years pushed shepherds into one of the lowest possible levels of the social cast system.
Shepherds were deprived of all civil rights.
They could not fulfill judicial offices or be admitted in court as witnesses.
Shepherds were marginalized by the social and religious elite, but they were chosen to break the silence of centuries, heralding Messiah’s birth.
Christ Jesus came to save the sinners, of which the shepherds were considered as foremost, so even as an infant the first to be saved were the shepherds.
Frightened - Shepherds aren’t used to visits from angels.
In a hurry - Didn’t lollygag, they hurried (use Bull Durham lollygag story)
Returned glorifying God - They told everyone along the way of the joyous thing they had seen!
Don’t keep it a secret.
Luke 2:17 “When they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child.”
The Shepherds dropped what they were doing and ran to the King.
They ran so that they wouldn’t miss it.
They ran that they might hold Him in their arms and tell everyone they saw what had been told them of this child.
How many people do you know that run into the arms of the Messiah?
How many worship and praise God while telling everyone they know about Him?
3. The Magi Mat 2:1-12 How many From the East Came to a house Gave Gifts
How many?
The number is not specified.
It simply says “Magi.”
The word “Magi” comes from the Greek magos meaning “one of a learned and priestly class.”
The Persian word used to describe these men in their society was magush meaning “magician.”
Three gentiles rolling into to Jerusalem probably wouldn’t caused a fuss.
But, the scripture says that all of Jerusalem was stirred up by the presence of the Magi.
It probably wasn’t so much the Magi as the size of the caravan.
There could have been a group of hundreds of people traveling with them.
Soldiers, tradesmen, servants and keepers of the livestock that were traveling with them.
This would have caused a stir in the city.
From the East Tradition says they came from Persia.
Which would be Iraq today.
Today we can drive from Babylon in Iraq to Bethlehem in 11 hrs.
Not to bad, a hike would take 11 days of continuous walking.
Considering that people and animals can’t walk continuously it probably took up to two months to make the journey.
If they came from even farther East than Babylon then it would have taken even longer.
They would have needed to be persistent in their desire to worship the new King.
Just like we need to do - be persistent.
Came to a house According to the passage they didn’t come to the manger scene.
They came to a house Luke 2:11 says: “11 for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
If it took them a couple months of walking then Mary and Joseph must have built a house or moved into one that was empty.
It took me a long to to get this in my head - nativity scenes always show them at the manger.
Why?
No matter what the answer is they looked up and saw the star.
They set aside their lives to go and see this great thing.
They went to worship the child that was born to save Israel from it’s sins.
They were Gentiles - They didn’t miss out even though it took them a long time to do it.
They kept on keeping on.
Gave Gifts Along with coming to worship this new King they also came bearing gifts.
Gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh.
Gold was considered worthy of a king.
The buildings and treasures of kings and pharaohs from the ancient past have left reminders that gold was the prize of rulers and kings.
Both secular and biblical kings greatly valued gold.
Frankincense was used primarily in biblical times for making incense and as an ingredient in perfume.
Since frankincense was primarily used in the Bible for worship, frankincense speaks of the worship of God.
Myrrh was used for a variety of purposes in biblical times as a perfume, an anesthetic, embalming, (death and burial) as an ingredient in anointing oil, and to deodorize clothes.
It was also used in a cosmetic for women.
Records show that myrrh was used in Jesus’ burial.
The Magi - took the time to seek out the Messiah.
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