Sermon Tone Analysis

What is Christmas and why do we celebrate it?

I logged on to the internet yesterday, typed in Ask.com and asked that very question.

This is what I found:

Christmas is a mid-winter festival observed as the birth date of Jesus Christ.

Many people celebrate the season with gift-giving, tree decorating, and Santa Claus.

The next entries were ads for Christmas music, poems, recipes and games, an attack on the Catholic Church, articles about Santa Claus and holiday customs.

On page 2, I found a Christian website called Christiananswers.com.

They said:

The historic record of the birth of Christ can be found in Matthew 1:18-25 and Luke 2:1-20.

Unlike any other baby, the one born that night in Bethlehem was unique in all of history.

He was not created by a human father and mother.

He had a heavenly pre-existence (John 1:1-3, 14).

He is God, the Son—Creator of the universe (Philippians 2:5-11).

This is why Christmas is called the incarnation, a word which means “in the flesh.”

In the birth of Jesus, the eternal, all-powerful and all-knowing Creator came to earth /in the flesh/.

Why would God do such a thing?

Why would he come as a baby, instead of appearing in power and majesty?

Why make himself a true man and live among us, when he knew full well how terribly he would be treated?

It was LOVE!

It was necessary, if you are to be saved!

Did that tell you what Christmas is?

It was confusing to me, and I know what they are talking about!

If I didn’t know what Christmas was, I probably didn’t know who Matthew & Luke were.

I certainly wouldn’t know why I needed to be saved.

But I kept reading and was then led to take a Christmas Quiz: /Insert Quiz/

 

So I went back to the web and wasn’t prepared for what I found.

More music, poems, traditions, sites by country: an Italian Christmas, Christmas in Wales, Christmas in Iceland…Christmas gift baskets, how Christmas lights work, Books like “Jesus and the Christmas Train”, Christmas trees, coloring books, stickers, crafts, cards… 20 pages!

And not one website that mentioned Joseph or Mary or the Messiah!

This just had to be a mistake: So I logged into my favorite search engine Altavista and asked the same question.

The results were better.

Up popped Sunday School lessons, encyclopedia entries, and more family friendly sites.

I found one I really liked and started reading:

Ø              The word Christmas comes from the words Cristes

maesse, or "Christ's Mass”, the celebration of the birth of Jesus for members of the Christian religion.

Ø              the first celebration of Christmas took place in Rome in

336 A.D.

Ø              The tradition of giving gifts started with the gifts that

the wise men (the Magi) brought to Jesus.

As recounted in the Bible's book of Matthew, “they presented him with gifts of gold, incense and myrrh."

Ø              in 336 A.D. Christian leaders set aside the date

December 25 to celebrate Christmas in an attempt to eclipse a popular pagan holiday in Rome (Saturnalia) that celebrated the Winter Solstice.

Originally, involved a simple mass, but over time Christmas has replaced a number of other holidays in many other countries, and a large number of traditions have been absorbed into the celebration in the process.

Bingo!

That’s what happened.

Just as we have been studying when the Children of Israel intermarried and absorbed the cultures of other people it diluted their religion.

The significance of Christmas has been diluted – polluted.

This morning I want to take you back to the significance of Christmas.

I want to look at the Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament to prove without a shadow of a doubt that Christmas is about the coming of a promised Messiah and that Jesus was the fulfillment.

There are more than 300 prophesies about the Messiah in the Old Testament.

The chances of being killed by lightning are roughly 2.65 million to 1.

The odds of winning the lottery are 18 million to 1. That’s 6 zeros.

Scientists have calculated the chances of Jesus fulfilling just eight of the more than 300 prophecies about the Messiah is one in One hundred quadrillion – 1 followed by 17 zeros.

(100,000,000,000,000,000 the /American Scientific Affiliation/).

The word Messiah comes from a Hebrew term /mashiach/ that means “anointed one.”

the one anointed by God and empowered by His spirit to deliver His people and establish His kingdom.

The Jews thought the Messiah would be their king - an earthly ruler, a political leader who would defeat their enemies and usher in a golden era of peace and prosperity.

In the Greek the word for messiah is /Christos,/ where we get the word Christ.

For Christians, the term Messiah refers to Jesus as a spiritual deliverer, setting His people free from sin and death.

I said Messiah means “anointed one”.

In Old Testament when a person was appointed for a special task the priest or the prophet would anoint him with oil.

Pour it on his head, rub it on his body.

Aaron & his sons were anointed, Saul & David were anointed, in fact in the Old Testament, the word Messiah (anointed one) was used more than 30 times to describe prophets (Num.

11:29), priests (Lev.

4:3, 5, 16), and kings (2 Sam.

1:14, 16).

But none of them fulfilled the prophecies.

Only Jesus did – and he was anointed all three – prophet, priest, & king!

Because of this tri-fold commission the Messiah Jesus is also referred to as the Seed of Abraham, Son of David, Son of Man, My servant, My Elect, the Branch, Prince of Peace, Word, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Turn with me to Luke 1.

As we read the Messiah Jesus’ story, well flip back to the Old Testament and root out the prophesies.

Luke 1 26 In the sixth month [Elizabeth’s 6th month of

pregnancy], God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David.

The virgin’s name was Mary.

Prophesy 1: Turn to 2 Sam 7:16.

This is the passage where God tells David that he is not the one who will build the temple.

That responsibility would be given to Solomon.



13 He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

14 I will be his father, and he will be my son.

When he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod of men, with floggings inflicted by men.

15 But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you.

16 Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’”

Luke 1 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored!

The Lord is with you.”

29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.

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

31 You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.



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

He will not just be any child, he will be God.

Prophesy 2: Isa 7:14: 

14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

Luke 132b The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”

Prophesy 3, 4, & 5: Isa 9:6-7

6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the

government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

7 Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.

He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.

The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.

Luke 1 34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”