Sermon Tone Analysis

Text: Luke 2:8-20, Mt.2:1-11

The Latin version ‘Adeste Fideles’ - Meaning “be present or near, ye faithful.”

One of the great ironies of our day is that even people who are adamantly against Jesus Christ and all He stands for, can’t resist singing “O Come All Ye Faithful”.

Even if under duress from a menacing usher, people cannot resist singing, “O Come All Ye Faithful”, and in so singing, they offer worship to Jesus Christ.

- Written by John Francis Wade (1711-86)

- Fled England after the 1745 Jacobite rebellion

(England & Scotland) to teach music in the school for British Roman exiles in France.

- First published in 1760, it might have incidentally served as a coded rallying cry for the Scottish cause.

- The English translation was made by Frederick Oakley and William Brooke in 1841.

O Come all ye Faithful

Calls us to Bethlehem – Where it began

Do you recall your starting place ?

What was your experience?

You can here two great themes in this song that let us into to the heart of the author.

John Wade wanted to take us back.

He wanted us to reflect on those essentials.

It is a call to worship – "Behold Him”

Chorus - Speaks of Adoration

Again we reflect on that first of Christmas Carols.

The Angels in Heaven burst through the quiet night sky looking exalt and lift high the name of the Lord.

The Shepherd however were not the only ones that Had received the message of a new born babe.

Matthew tells of the “Wise Men” that travel from the east having seen the star of the king.

The “Faithful” Once Lived in Darkness

All Hail! Lord, we greet Thee,

Born this happy morning,

O Jesus! for evermore be Thy name adored.

Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing;

SHEPHERDS – Low class

- Little notice – Without breeding

Shared the same status as the sheep.

- No time for worship

The beautiful irony of this profession

Alfred Edersheim suggests a beautiful picture here.

Although we know very little about these shepherds, they likely did not observe religious practices, since their isolation in the fields and the necessity of their constant attention made this impossible.

But their lack of religious obligations doesn't mean their service was strictly secular.

Somewhere deep in Jewish tradition (revealed in writings called the Mishnah), a belief had arisen that the Messiah would be revealed from the Migdal Eder ("the tower of the flock").

This tower stood close to Bethlehem on the road to Jerusalem, and the sheep that pastured there were not the type used for ordinary purposes.

The shepherds working there, in fact, took care of the temple-flocks, the sheep meant for sacrifice.

We can trust that God had a specific purpose for this shepherd audience, and the work they performed suggests the reason.

These men who watched the sheep meant for the slaughter received a divine message about the ultimate Lamb who would take away the sins of the world through His death and resurrection.

MAGI – Upper class

- Much notice - Mt 2:3

Troubled Herod & City- Superstitious

- Each lived according to their own insight

II.

The "Faithful" Are Drawn By God

- SHEPHERDS by the Angel's Song

- MAGI by the pointing star

- Power of His Word pointing us to Jesus

O Sing, choirs of angels,

Sing in exultation,

Sing all that hear in heaven God's holy word.

Give to our Father glory in the Highest;

We are invited in…

If you look at the first part of the hymn, you’ll see that we are invited to worship Jesus Christ.

Why are we invited to worship?

Not for all that Jesus promises, not for Jesus’ great teaching, but for His divinity.

We see that Jesus is God of God, light of light, begotten and not created, Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing – all references to the divinity of Jesus Christ, all references to the fact that Jesus is God himself.

Right up front in the hymn “O Come All Ye Faithful” it is declared that Jesus is “born the king of angels” - another reference to His divinity.

If you will turn with me to our Scripture in the book of Hebrews chapter one we’ll see what it means to be born king of angels.

… You will notice it says that, “God brings his firstborn into the world”.

This is not saying that Jesus is a created being.

The term firstborn here carries with it the connotation of close relationship.

Here it means that Jesus is closest in relation to God.

In other words there is no one, there is no thing that can come between God and Jesus.

That makes perfect sense since Jesus is God – remember Christians believe, and the bible teaches that God is made up of Father, Son and Holy Spirit – all God, three distinct personalities, yet one God – nothing can come between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Highest and closest relationship.

Now, at first glace we may assume that “firstborn” here in verse 6 is a reference to Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem, but scholars tell us that being “firstborn” is not in reference to Jesus’ physical birth, rather it refers to His “birth” in the new age.

In context, what we see here is Jesus’ entrance into the heavenly world after his sacrificial death.

Jesus is born, he lives, dies, is buried, and enters into the realm of the dead – here God commands the angels to worship Jesus because of his greatness of being able to conquer sin.

God calls us to come

The "Faithful" Go And See

O Come All Ye Faithful

Joyful and triumphant,

O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem.

Come and behold Him,

- ANGELS pointed to Bethlehem

- MAGI enquired of scripture

- WOMEN AT THE WELL

The "Faithful" Position for Worship

O come, let us adore Him,

Christ the Lord.

Raise the Hands

Bow the Knee

Pour out Your Heart

Give a Gift

-SHEPHERDS – We surmise their response of seeing the truth

THE MAGI we know

- GIFTS

• Gold – Divinity

- Given to honor a King

• Frankincense – Incense for Worship

– His holiness & Rightness

• Myrrh – Oil Spice for His death & burial

- His Bitterness & Suffering

ALL – Will Bow

“Christianity, in its purest form, is nothing more than seeing Jesus.”

“Christian service, in its purest form, is nothing more than imitating him who we see.”

“To see His Majesty and to imitate him, that is the sum of Christianity.”

- Max Lucado, When God Came Near