Sermon Tone Analysis

On the road that leads us to completeness in Jesus Christ we find ourselves facing an ongoing struggle that sets our hearts and souls on edge.

Some among us are facing it today, and some among us have learned how to overcome it in time, yet others here today remain clueless about the problem, altogether.

Here are some expressions on this problem from faithful followers of Jesus, also called disciples, who have gone before us:

“Man cannot live without joy; therefore when he is deprived of true spiritual joys it is necessary that he become addicted to carnal pleasures.”~~Thomas

Aquinas

“When large numbers of people share their joy in common, the happiness of each is greater because each adds fuel to the other's flame.”~~Augustine of Hippo

“You must submit to supreme suffering in order to discover the completion of joy.”~~John

Calvin

“Gratitude changes the pangs of memory into a tranquil joy.”~~Dietrich

Bonhoeffer

Advent, the expecting of Jesus, provides each among us the opportunity to see the redeeming power of the Gospel, the good news of salvation, in real and applicable ways as we prepare to celebrate YHWH’s incarnation in the second person of the Trinity—Jesus Christ.

What hardships have you endured in the year 2022?

What are the deepest pains and sufferings you wear upon your sleeve or attempt to mask behind a smile or happy face?

There is little doubt that the list of examples is endless and painful to say the least.

Loss of family and friends, the transitions from one chapter of life to another, uncertainty about what tomorrow might bring to you and your loved ones, the real sense of loneliness because some relationships have shifted or have come to an end?

The list goes on and on.

Where have you decided to fix your gaze?

What lies at the core of who you are?

These are the questions that we must ponder as we aim to live under the auspices of immeasurable joy.

Here is our clue, it is the power of the Gospel that provides this kind of joy.

Nothing else will do, only Jesus the Savior and the message of His resurrection.

In ancient literature we have the phoenix, and no we are not talking about the capital of Arizona.

The Phoenix is a mythical creature that is written about in Roman, Greek, and Egyptian literature.

The most basic element of the eagle-like bird, with a plumage of golden and fiery red feathers is its immense strength, Its capability to bring healing, and it regenerative life cycle.

Meaning, the Phoenix dies in a blaze of glory and its reborn from its ashes.

Friends, God-given joy is similar in quality and far better because it is not mythical.

Join me as we see why this God-given joy is far better than anything else the world could ever provide for us.

Hebrews 2:1–18 (ESV)

Advent, the anticipation of Jesus’s birth, looks back to the beginning of God’s total fulfillment of the many promises He made in the Old Testament.

The writer of Hebrews makes sure to remind the readers of all these promises and points to a singular, yet a most excellent answer to them all.

Jesus, the Son of God, Savior of the World, is the answer of the ages; the hope of all creation; the source of all joy and joy giver to the nations.

Yet, we must look at the beauty of joy being born from the ashes of pain, sorrow, suffering, and death.

Yes, Dear Ones, you may hear Christmas carols echoing “Jingle Bells,” “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” and “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas,” and “Feliz Navidad;” BUT there is more than the temporary happiness of a meal with family and friends, and most definitely more than the misty-eyed conversation remembering those who are no longer sited around the dining room table or around the tree.

1. Jesus Christ is the Joyful message of the Season.

a. Life in its course will throw many hits our way and we will feel the sting of pain and suffering because this world is lost and enamored with darkness.

b.

We may suffer the consequences of our sinful actions, or someone else’s actions, and yet we are guided in the text to someone better, someone higher, someone mightier than all these combined.

c.

The message of Christmas is greater than the audience and the messengers.

Therefore, when we face a life that seems less than desirable and far from fair, we must remind ourselves and each other that joy is not a feeling or a mystical state of mind.

Joy, a deep sense of happiness and gladness, is best defined in a person and His name is Jesus Christ.

The conditions to this are simple: No additions.

No exchanges.

No subtractions.

No substitutions.

No stand-ins.

Jesus alone has and will continue to do just fine as the disciple’s sole source of joy.

2. Jesus Christ is the core message of Advent and the Christmas Season.

a. Notice that all things are subject to Him and to Him alone.

Dear friend that means that nothing else will do to fan the eternal flame of joy.

Any gift, however delectable, glamorous, luxurious, fashionable, and dazzling will end in the heap and rubble of a landfill or burn pile one day.

b.

The “Season of giving” as Christmas time is known for is more than the accumulation of debt or the emotionally driven spending to supply gifts for the “Nice” ones on our lists.

If we desire to see wholesome giving and eternal savings, we have no further to look but to the work of Jesus as in the text today.

c.

Jesus emptying Himself, taking on the flesh, blood, and bones or human existence gives all who surrender to Him the many-fold blessing of a transformed life and a sense of holy joy only the Son of God can give each of us.

i.

We are redeemed and freed from slavery to death and sin.

ii.

We are propitiated, counted as holy before God, as sons and daughters, not by blood running through our veins, but by the blood that covers our many sins.

iii.

We are set on a path called sanctification, which simply means we are being transformed into the likeness of our Savior by the work of the Holy Spirit.

Heaven may be filled with angels, but you and I can rejoice because we are sons and daughters by the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of the Christ child born in a manger, in the city of Bethlehem.

3. We can experience eternal joy because He had many earthly sorrows.

a. Jesus did not count equality with God but came to fulfill the words spoken to Isaiah, the Prophet, in Isaiah 53.

However, we must remind ourselves that it was the same Prophet who recorded God’s word in Isaiah 9:1-7.

God made joy complete, as it pleased Him, through suffering and pain.

The Old hymn, “The Holy and the Ivy” testifies to the grand redemptive choreography God designed to save those who surrender to Him by balancing the beauty of Jesus’s birth with the life He would lead and the death that pleased God to subject Him to on our behalf.

b.

This Christmas we have the opportunity rise from the ashes of our gloom and despair because Jesus Christ has made a way.

Have you lost someone dear to you? surrender the pain to the one who lost a good friend.

Have you been betrayed and affronted by your closest family and friends?

Place it at the feet of the one who was sold for 30 silver coins.

Are you hurt by insults and lies spoken about you?

Tell these to the one who bore the lies of those He came to save.

Are you lost and tired of wandering in sorrow and hopelessness?

Surrender your life and let the one who was born to die set you free from death and give you eternal life!

Do you desire to know and experience joy unlike anything else?

I invite you to surrender your life before God and repent of your sins.

Are you carrying sorrow, malice, anger, hate, loneliness, and fear?

Where you are or as led of the Holy Spirit, come and pray and we will pray alongside you.

Are you seeking for a family that will walk beside you and will encourage you to seek God’s face continually, then come let your request be made and we will rejoice in having a new brother or sister in our midst.

Whatever God leads you to do, follow in obedience and we will rejoice as God continues to work among His children to reach this community and the world!