Sermon Tone Analysis

Did you have a dream when you were young?

I bet you had a dream.

What was it?

What did you want to be?

A princess, a fireman, a policeman, a nurse, a Dr.? Or were you on the wild side and wanted to be a missionary, a preacher, a zoo keeper?

As a TV commercial several years ago asked us, did you want to grow to middle management?

We dream.

We day dream.

Your parents had dreams for you.

We parents may have even prayed for you to fulfill our dream, (I mean your dream).

Parents want children to be healthy, wise, financially secure.

Peaceable.

Rarely do we dream our child will be a pacesetter, a trend setter, in the news, on the front of change, a noise maker, a pot stirrer.

We rarely pray, God give me a John the Baptist, or a Paul.

Healthy, peaceable, wise, financially secure.

As we look at several characters in the New Testament, and their role in the Christ Mass, you might find they had dreams too.

They wanted great things for their kids, they had a dream and maybe just maybe, God would make them come true.

Maybe their dreams were ruthless, to rule the world; maybe they dreamt their child would grow in a city without tyranny, horror, or maybe their dreams were simple, to please God and perform all the commandments.

I can only imagine the dream of one named Octavius.

A child born around 64 BC.

He dreamed of conquering the world.

And he did.

As he grew he became a soldier and a politician, and good at both.

His uncle Julius Caesar was assassinated and he left his kingdom to his nephew, Octavius whom Caesar had adopted.

He and his closest counterparts set out on a mission to conquer and take back what belonged to Rome.

When they had completed it, they divided it.

Octavius holding majority share.

John Ortberg, in his book, “When the Game is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box” writes this: Cicero said of Octavian when he was just 16 years old; He is a talented young man who should be praised, honored, and eliminated!” Octavius conquered his first city then second.

He conquered the enemies that had run over his governors () eliminated his rivals, and eventually his name was changed to Caesar Augustus, or magnificent one.

Before you knew it he had an army of 500,000.

He had power and he had success.

But how do you pay for such a feat as this?

How do you feed such an army and keep them working for you?

How do you grow an empire that is already 3 million square miles?

How do the people remember to fear you?

Well we find the answer in Luke, Matthew…to be taxed.

First you get them to register, then you tax them.

says and it came to pass in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus ...

He is now about 60 years old.

He has his way about everything.

He is smart, like a fox.

He is political, he is powerful, he is the King of Kings, so say the people.

They named him Augustus: or Venerable

He speaks a decree and 1500 miles away, a mother to be and her husband begin to move.

They are going to be registered.

But there is this ancient Hebrew prophecy, that says a Messiah will be born in a small town, the town of Bethlehem.

But they don’t live there.

They only went there because a decree was issues from Caesar Augustus the people’s King of Kings; or was that the reason?

What king is at work here?

Who is really calling the shots?

Picture Rome.

Wow, brilliant.

City, walls, stone work, a palace fit for a king!

Picture Bethlehem, a small city, narrow streets, smell of animals.

At least one inn, plenty of stables, working people.

Caesar thought, look at all I’ve built, look what i have accomplished, look at me.

But where is his kingdom now?

You had a dream, Caesar has a dream.

His dream lies in ruins.

His hope was the hope of man, temporary, or as Solomon so correctly stated: vanity, all is vanity.

Caesar had a dream to rule the world.

But He doesn’t rule the world.

He didn’t rule the world.

Unbeknownst to him, his actions were the part of a much bigger plan.

He was beating his chest and raising his arms, and calling the shots, in providence after providence, region over region, or was he? Could it be, Octavius, Caesar Augustus, the Venerable, was a pawn in a much bigger scheme?

Over in the small part of the kingdom, a very pregnant woman, and a young man were following the rules.

They always followed the rules.

They obeyed the commands, they worked at loving the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength.

They were a part of another society within Rome.

The Jewish society.

Two very different worlds, very different people, one with an ego so large, others with humble hearts.

We need our egos to survive

Earnest Becker call it the vital lie He states: we don’t want to admit that we are fundamentally dishonest about reality, that we do not control our lives, that we always rely on something that transcends us.”

Man will use money, relationships, prestigious job titles, to make him feel he controls what is around him.

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But we are not in control

There is a famous philosopher that has stated this better than I can.

His name is Dr. Seuss! Have you read Yertle the Turtle?

Yertle rules over a little pond of turtles.

One day he decides his kingdom needs extending and he sends out a decree.

I want all turtles stacked up to make me a throne.

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So the turtles come.

They obey.

They stack.

First dozens, then hundreds!

Yertle is on top.

He can see for miles!

But his throne wasn’t as secure as he thought!

For at the bottom of the pile there was an obscure, powerless turtle named Mac.

That plain little Mac did a plain little thing.

He burped!

And his burp shook the throne of a king!

Yertle Augustus had a great fall.

And all the kings horses and all the kings men, couldn’t put Yertle the turtle back together again.

The scripture tells us “pride comes before the fall.”

Men, guard your pride.

Be humble.

Give credit where credit is due! lift others up.

Serve your hearts out!

Brag on others.