Sermon Tone Analysis

OPEN WITH VIDEO, “Christmas According to Kids”

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I know that basically each year, at our Christmas Eve service, I read this passage from the Bible, that most people refer to as the Christmas story.

I don’t read it for the sake of tradition or liturgy, or because of the expectations of people.

Rather, the reason that I read this particular passage each Christmas Eve, is because I feel led to and because it is one of the most beautiful passages within the Holy Bible!

This morning’s service will be a little shorter than usual and the message will be something that I hope and pray that each and every one of us will take home and take to heart, both today and for this night!

And since it is Christmas Eve service, I found a cute little story to share with you guys.

PAINTING THE PORCH

There was a lady who was preparing her Christmas cookies.

There was a knock at the door.

She went to find a man, his clothes poor, obviously looking for some Christmas odd jobs.

He asked her if there was anything he could do.

She said, "Can you paint?"

There was a lady who was preparing her Christmas cookies.

There was a knock at the door.

She went to find a man, his clothes poor, obviously looking for some Christmas odd jobs.

He asked her if there was anything he could do.

She said, "Can you paint?"

"Yes," he said.

"I’m a rather good painter."

"Yes," he said.

"I’m a rather good painter."

"Well," she said, "there are two gallons of green paint there and a brush, and there’s a porch out back that needs to be painted.

Please do a good job.

I’ll pay you what the job is worth."

He said, "Fine.

I’ll be done quickly."

She went back to her cookie making and didn’t think much more about it until there was a knock at the door.

She went, and it was obvious that he had been painting: he had paint all over his clothes.

She said, "Did you finish the job?"

He said, "Yes."

She said, "Did you do a good job?"

He said, "Yes.

But lady, there’s one thing I’d like to point out to you.

That’s not a Porsche back there.

That’s a Mercedes."

This morning, I wanted to read you a little history behind a very familiar Christmas song.

This song that I mention, is noted to be the most of all of the Christmas hymns that we sing each year.

It has recorded in more languages and sung around the world more than any of the other Christmas songs and is hands down the most popular of all times!

Does anyone know what this song might be?

Right, Silent Night!

Which, I can personally attest to it being my favorite!

Allow me to briefly tell you the story behind how this famous Christmas tune came into existence.

The lyrics to Silent Night were written by Josef Mohr, a man whose name was unloved in his home town of Salzburg.

Mohr was one of three illegitimate sons to Anna Schoiberin, while his father, Franz, was a mercenary soldier who eventually abandoned the family.

To make matters worse, Josef’s godfather was the town executioner.

Perhaps due to his mother’s poverty, the curate of the local Catholic cathedral took Josef in as a foster child.

Josef had a proclivity toward music, which was encouraged by the church, and he eventually decided himself to pursue the priesthood.

He was ordained August 21, 1815, and was sent to Oberndorf, just north of Salzburg.

He there met Franz Xaver Gruber, a local schoolteacher who would become organist at Old Saint Nicholas Church the following year.

Gruber came from equally humber origins, and himself took comfort in his music.

The friendship of the two is what led to the creation of Silent Night.

Silent Night—or Stille Nacht in the original German—was created because Mohr needed a carol for worship.

On Christmas Eve of 1818, Mohr visited Gruber with a poem he had written a few years earlier.

Gruber quickly arranged the song to be played on a guitar with a choir because, the story goes, the church organ was broken.

That evening at Midnight Mass, Gruber strapped on his guitar and led the congregation at St. Nicholas in the first rendition of Silent Night.

The original arrangement was a bit faster than the slow, reflective version of the song we know today.

But the song was an immediate hit, later being sung by traveling tours and performed before King Frederick William IV of Prussia.

Later in the 1800s, the hymn was translated into English and made its way to America by way of a book called Sunday School Hymnal, though with only three of the original six verses.

Today, Silent Night is perhaps the most famous Christmas carol in history.

It has been translated into most languages, and the Bing Crosby version is the third-bestselling single in history.

Today, Silent Night is perhaps the most famous Christmas carol in history.

It has been translated into most languages, and the Bing Crosby version is the third-bestselling single in history.

The reason that I am even telling you this story this morning, about the song Silent Night, is two-fold.

First, after doing some reading and research on the Biblical narrative of the birth of Jesus the Christ, I wanted to pose the thought that maybe it wasn’t such a silent night.

Or at least not to the extent that many of us have thought it be based upon tradition!

And second, I wanted to take the thought of Silent Night, since it is such a beautiful thought, and link it up with one of the greatest gifts that Messiah brought to the earth at His birth and one that He personally mentioned that He would be giving to all of His faithful children!

So, I am going to share with you a few thoughts this morning that I have read about, over the last day or so.

In doing so, I hope to give you some things to ponder about the birth of our Lord and Savior.

Now, please hear me out!

I am not saying this morning that I am right and that the traditional way that we view His birth is wrong.

I am not saying that the thoughts that I am getting ready to share with you are the all inclusive, “thus says the Lord”, or anything like that.

I have read about some things and studied a few thoughts, based upon the story of His birth as we just read in the gospel of Luke and I find them interesting and on this day, of all days, I thought it relevant to share them with all of you.

You have probably heard me say before, that we are to study the word of God, not just read it.

The Psalmist wrote, “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

“Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.”

All three of these verses share a common idea.

You must get into the Word of God and STUDY it, to have true spiritual insight and to see the deeper things of His word.

YOU MUST meditate upon the Word.

This is why David wrote in ,

3He is like a tree

planted by streams of water

that yields its fruit in its season,

and its leaf does not wither.

In all that he does, he prospers.

If you remember, I said that meditation is like a cow chewing its cud.

It chews it up some and swallows it and then later on, it brings it back up again and chews on it some more, getting more of the nutrients out of it.

It is the same way about God’s Word to us.

You and I must read and STUDY the Bible, so as to truly be transformed by the renewing of our minds, as Paul says in .

All this said and done, I have looked into the Word and done a little background research about the Jewish culture and customs of the day and age of Yeshua and in doing so, I have found some thought provoking questions that I would like to leave with you to ponder today.

So, I’ll do this before I make my overall point about the gift that came with Jesus and its tying into, Silent Night!

Does that sound alright with you guys?

OK, so let’s look back at the Biblical account of His birth in and I’ll show you the few thoughts that I have come across and been pondering myself.

The first point that I want to make, and it’s an assumption that I have been under since I was a small child and have been taught the story of Jesus’ birth, and it deals with the timing of His birth in correlation to when Mary and Joseph travel to Bethlehem.

So, what I am talking about is this; when do most of us think, or when have we been taught that Jesus was born, in regard to when Mary and Joseph travel to Bethlehem?

You know, like they travel and come rolling into the city and then what happens?

RIGHT, we have been programmed to believe that He was born that night!

RIGHT?!

Well, just look at ,