Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Christmas is the time of the unexpected.
Today we celebrate the king- the creator of all the universe coming and putting on our humanity to save it.
To redeem it.
And so, every year, we sing carols, we put up lights, we put up trees, we give gifts, and we have certain expectations.
Certain assumptions.
So we assume Jesus looks like the little baby in our nativities, with blue eyes and blonde or brown hair.
What if I told you that he probably had dark olive skin, and black curly hair?
We assume that Jesus was born in a barn.
What if I told you that this was probably more likely a spare room simply separate from the rest of Joseph's family because they were ashamed?
We put the wise men in the manger, but what if I told you that they didn't show up for two years?
We celebrate on December 25th, but what if I told you that Jesus was probably born some time in September?
(http://www.bibleinfo.com/en/questions/when-was-jesus-born)
Sometimes we need to have our assumptions, our ideas, our expectations examined to bring us face to face with heavenly realities.
And don't worry.
I'm not calling for anyone to cancel Christmas.
When were done, we can all retreat to our Christmas bubbles, but I want to pull back the veil a little bit here and see what is going on at Christmas that we do not see.
And at Christmas, just read right through that.
And you might be thinking, "well, that's nothing new."
That doesn't show us anything we don't already see every Christmas.
And we breeze over this passage, not pausing to ask questions.
But I want to stop here on Christmas Day to ask a question:
What are the armies of heaven doing there in the field?
What's the purpose of an army?
To wage war.
So what on earth are the armies of heaven doing there in the field, singing?
At Christmas, there's more going on than meets the eye.
See, in our house, my wife has this really pretty nativity.
It's a Willow Tree nativity, so we have Mary and Joseph, and Jesus and a donkey, and some sheep, and a shepherd, and it's really nice.
Really pretty.
Prim.
Perfect.
But there's one figure that's not a part of the set that lurks in there with it as a reminder.
This red dragon.
And maybe you're laughing a little bit here, but make no mistake, there was a dragon in the manger, doing everything he could to prevent Jesus from being born, from being born in Bethlehem, from living once he was.
The story of the birth of Jesus is not one of peace and quiet, but one of war and danger.
So back to my question: what on earth were the armies of heaven doing there in the field right after the birth of Jesus, singing?
They had just finished waging war.
They had just won a great victory, and because of their work, Jesus was successfully born in the right place at the right time.
Let's pull back the curtain here:
Now, I'm not going to cover this exhaustively here today: that's what the Revelation series beginning next week is for.
But there are a few things I want to highlight.
There was a dragon in the manger that night in Bethlehem.
And he suffered in that moment a defeat of everything he wanted to accomplish.
And the dragon is angry.
He's furious.
His whole being is now dedicated to destroying those who would follow Jesus.
And in this book, Jesus' ministry is done in a verse, but he painstakingly came.
He fought.
He struggled to come here.
To put on flesh.
To give us life.
To forgive our faults, failures, sins, and rebellions.
He lived perfectly.
He died sacrificially.
For you.
Remember that today.
That the birth of Jesus means nothing without the death and the Resurrection of Jesus.
The point is that at Christmas, amidst the pies and the turkeys, and the lights, and the trees and the presents, know this: the dragon is real.
And he if you follow Jesus, he will try to destroy you.
But take heart: Jesus has won the victory.
It was hard fought, full of peril and danger.
He did it at great personal cost.
And he did it to show you how valuable you are.
At Christmas, we celebrate that we have received the best gift we could ever be given: freedom.
From sin, from fear, from death, from Hell, and from Satan.
That though he may kill the body here, he can do nothing to our souls.
So today, it's okay to retreat into your Christmas bubbles.
We all have them.
It's okay to listen to Bing Crosby and open presents and eat pie and turkey, but don't forget the reason that we celebrate today:
Jesus came at great cost to himself to love us, to save us.
He entered into this war.
He stormed the beachhead.
He won the war.
And that silent night was pierced by the cries of a baby boy, and the cries of heavens armies as the sung the song of victory for us to the glory of God.
Merry Christmas.
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