Sermon Tone Analysis

As we begin this morning, please turn in your copies of God’s Word to Luke chapter 1 vs 26-33, but would you also put a mark in Mt. chapter 1 vs 18-25?

We will be reading these 2 passages shortly, so please have them marked and ready for that time.

If you are using one of the pew Bibles, you will find the Lk passage on page 723 and the Mt passage on pg.

682.

This morning marks Sunday #4 in this years Christmas Advent Sundays.

As we mentioned on the first Sunday of Advent, our desire in celebrating Advent is to both look back, remembering the birth of our Savior, Jesus, but it is also a time to look forward, to His 2nd coming.

This looking back and remembering, and looking forward are a fitting part of each of the advents we celebrate together.

The first Sunday of Advent was the Advent of Hope.

We discussed how our hope is a confident expectation based on the sovereign, all powerful God.

Hope that we were able to take hold of as we looked at the many prophecies He fulfilled in His first coming.

As well as those we can confidently expect Him to fulfill in the second coming.

Two Sundays ago we looked at the Advent of Peace.

For the believer, we can have peace that surpasses all understanding, knowing our sovereign, all powerful God is in complete control of all things.

We saw that in His first coming, and rest assured, we will see it in His second coming as well.

But that peace is not something we come by naturally.

According to Isaiah chapter 26 vs 3-4, it comes as our minds focus, not on the cares of this world, but on the God of the universe.

And last Sunday morning we looked at the Advent of Joy.

We compared the difference between what the world considers joy, and what Scripture declares as joy.

We found out that worldly joy is fleeting, and mostly dependent on things for which we have no control.

Whereas the joy found in Scripture, is never ending, as it is not based on ones wealth, possession, power or other circumstances.

Instead, it is bound in the sovereign Lord, and comes first from remembering what He has accomplished in the past, both on the pages of Scripture, as well as what He has accomplished in our own life.

Then, on what we see Him doing in the world and in our lives in the here and now.

And finally, we can draw joy from what His Word assures us will happen in the future.

Knowing that if God assures us something is going to take place, as the all powerful God, Who is always true to His Word, we know we can trust His Word.

As a result, we can have joy in that which is set before us.

The first Sunday of Advent, Simon Goldner assisted me in lighting the Candle of Hope. 2 Sundays ago Heidi Goldner joined me in lighting the Candle of Peace, last Sunday Isaac Goldner assisted me in lighting the candle of joy, and this Sunday, I am privileged to have Matt Goldner help me in lighting 2 candles this morning, both the candle of love and the Christ candle, which really ties all of the candles together.

For in Christ we have hope, peace, joy and love.

Now, as we prepare to dive into God’s Word, let’s take a moment and bow our heads before the throne of the Almighty.

Heavenly Father,

In the Bible, Your love letter to us, You say “Greater love has no man than this, that He lay his life down for his friend”.

Then You, as our God separated Yourself from all mankind by going above and beyond.

First, You as God, came to earth, became God in the flesh through the birth of Your Son, Jesus.

Born, not in a palace, but in a cattle stall.

Laid as a baby, not in a crib for a prince, but in a feeding trough for animals.

Raised, not in the lap of luxury, but in a poor carpenters shop.

It was enough that You condescended as God and become Emmanuel, God with us, but it wasn’t enough in Your Eyes, You wanted to do more.

You, King Jesus, our Savior, then bore the weight of all our sin on Your perfectly holy shoulders, when You laid Your life down on the cross of suffering.

You didn’t show Your great love by laying down Your life for we, Your friends, but according to Scripture, You showed Your great love in that “while we were still sinners”, still Your enemies, You laid Your life down for us.

You are far more than just a loving God, You are love personified.

And here, on this Christmas morning we want to say, Thank You for Your love!

And as imperfect as it is, we’d like to say, we love You!

We pray these things in that Name above all names, Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen

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

Luke 1:26–33 (ESV)

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth,

27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David.

And the virgin’s name was Mary.

28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”

29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.

30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a Son, and you shall call His Name Jesus.

32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.

And the Lord God will give to Him the throne of His father David,

33 and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”

Now, would you go back in your copies of God’s Word to the book of Matthew 1:18-25?

If you’re using a pew Bible, it is on page 682.

Matthew 1:18–25 (ESV)

18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way.

When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with Child from the Holy Spirit.

19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.

20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

21 She will bear a Son, and you shall call His Name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).

24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a Son.

And he called His name Jesus.

May the Lord add His blessing to the reading of His Word.

Please be seated.

Come Christmas time every year, you will find both my mom and my mother-in-law flipping through the channels until the remote finds the Hallmark Channel.

There, they will stop and put the remote control off to the side and then spend hour after hour watching all of this seasons new Hallmark Christmas love stories.

Despite the fact that it takes approximately 1:37 seconds, give or take, to determine what unlikely couple will embrace and kiss just before the closing credits roll.

One of the great blessings of my life is that Pam has the same feelings as I have about Hallmark love stories, which will remain a secret as my mom watches my Sunday sermons....

For Pam, well if it is a love story featuring Sandra Bullock, all bets are off!

Hope Floats, Two Weeks Notice, The Proposal, While You Were Sleeping, Miss Congeniality, Speed 1 & 2… I’m sure there are others I am missing.

But Pam and I have watched them all, usually more than once!

Why, because almost everyone loves a... well a love story.

And some of the best real life love stories include a baby, or a baby on the way.

Well this morning we are going to look at the greatest of all love stories, which includes a Baby on the way, and in the end, the birth of that Baby.

This particular love story is a love story on several fronts.

First, we see it as a;

Love of Mary for Joseph.

Now, perhaps you may be thinking right now, wait, weren’t Jewish marriages in Biblical times arranged by the parents?

And you would be correct, marriages were arranged, and while there certainly were cases where they were nothing more than business arrangements between the 2 fathers, most of the arranged marriages were made by parents who wanted their children to experience great love.

Generally, when marriages were arranged, the process was called Betrothal, and betrothal had three stages in the Jewish marriage.

Engagement - parents chose who would marry at early age.

Betrothal - at a determined time, the couple agreed or disagreed with engagement.

If they agreed, the betrothal was legally and immediately binding for one year and could only be broken by divorce.

The marriage - after the year, the couple moved in together to begin their married life and consummated the marriage.

In the Biblical accounts of the Christmas story, we see that Mary and Joseph were in the midst of stage 2, meaning they both had determined to move into a binding contract.

While I am not completely certain, this causes me to believe that Mary had already grown to love Joseph.

While we cannot be completely certain of Mary’s love for Joseph, the next front on this Ultimate of Love stories seems very clear.

Love of Joseph for Mary.

Mt. 1:18-19

In the era we live in, very few would have given this type of thing a second thought.

But in those times, the news of Mary’s pregnancy was likely the biggest news in that small town.

Even more so, it had to be devastating to Joseph.

Devastating on more than one front.

First, it was devastating in:

Mary’s Perceived Unfaithfulness.

Here, the woman he was betrothed to was found to be pregnant, and she has the nerve to claim she was still a virgin!

The crazy thing was, my guess is, that there was a part of Joseph that wanted to believe her.

In all the time he had known her, she had always been righteous and upright in every way.