Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Details are extremely important to me.

I have a slight touch of OCD and it honestly drives me crazy when things are out of place.

A good example is when we were hanging the wreaths this week, There were a couple ornaments hanging below the wreath.

Most of you wouldn’t have noticed, but I would have noticed and it would have really bothered me especially when I am preaching this morning.

I quickly grabbed the ladder and moved the ornaments that were out place.

When I wash my truck, it drives me crazy if I miss a spot.

In fact the other day I washed and detailed my truck and as I was driving there was a smudge of the windshield.

I couldn’t even wait to get home to get the smudge off so I pulled in to an Advance auto parts to purchase some glass cleaning wipes to get the smudge off.

Details are very important to me.

This morning, I want to take a look at the Birth of Christ and some of the key details surrounding the story.

These details are so important for understand the story and if we miss them, we may miss the miracle of Jesus being born.

Turn to Luke 1:26-30

Detail 1: Angel Appearing to Mary

A story is incomplete without understanding characters in the story.

It always helps to have background to a story to understand what exactly is happening.

We read in that an angel named Gabriel was sent to a woman named Mary to deliver some news to her that would change her life.

When looking at this passage, there are a few things that are important for us to understand:

1. Gabriel was sent by God: We can read all throughout Scripture of some of the miracles that God performs in and through his people and this story of the birth of Jesus Christ begins with a miracle itself.

God sent an angel to Mary to tell her the news that she was going to bear a son.

In fact, notice Mary’s reaction in V. 29 “Bur she was greatly troubled at the saying and tried to discern what sort of greeting this may be.”

Any of us would be completely astonished if an Angel appears to us with any type of news.

Here, you have this young girl who was greeted by an angel.

Before the angel gave Mary any type of news, she was afraid but also in awe that the angel was there speaking on God’s behalf.

2. A city of Galilee named Nazareth:

2. A city of Galilee named Nazareth:

The other interesting background piece to the story here is the fact that Mary was from Nazareth.

Nazareth was never mentioned in the Old Testament.

It was a small, forgotten town off the beaten path that really had no credibility in the eyes of those who knew how small it was.

Fast Forwarding the story, Jesus was made fun of for being from Nazareth.

Due to Nazareth being a small town, many doubted that a man who was from there really was the savior they had heard about.

In John, we read about Jesus calling his disciples and he finds Philip and says’ “Follow me.”

Philip then goes to Nathaniel and says “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote , Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.

Nathaniel makes an interesting statement that will explain the significance of Jesus being from Nazareth.

In “Can anything good come from Nazareth.”

Nazareth was not a major city but it is the city where the story of Jesus begins and it’s important for us to realize that God can use anything, anyone, any place to accomplish His plan.

He chose to use a woman from a little town of Nazareth.

3. Mary was betrothed to a man:

We also read in V. 27 that Mary was betrothed to a man named Joseph.

The process of getting married during this time was a two step process.

If you have a daughter you might want to write this down because it would probably be a good practice to use today.

We also read in V. 27 that Mary was betrothed to a man named Joseph.

The process of getting married during this time was a two step process.

If you have a daughter you might want to write this down because it would probably be a good practice to use today.

The first step was initiated by the father of the groom.

The father would seek out a bride for his son and meet with the Bride’s father and agree upon a purchase price in exchange for the woman’s hand in marriage.

So at this point, there was a contract and the man and woman were considered husband and wife, but they lived separate for a year.

Step two the man and woman moved in together.

So Mary and Joseph were in that in between period where there had been a contact in place between the Bride and Groom’s fathers for them to be married.

We will look more at why this is important in a minute.

4. The Angel calls Mary the favored one.

We know that Mary was a faithful follower of God, but we must not overlook the phrase that Gabriel tells her.

“O favored one, the Lord is with You.”

Mary is the receiver of God’s grace, not the other way around.

Although Gabriel is telling her she is the favored one, the angel is preparing her for what he is about to tell her.

He wants her to know that God chose to use Mary as an instrument in his perfect plan to bring about a son that would be the Savior to the world.

God could have used anyone to bring his son Jesus to the world, but he sovereignly chose a young girl from a small town in Galilee called Nazareth.

Let’s read on in to see the second big detail of the birth of Christ.

Detail 2: Virgin Birth

Luke 1:

Gabriel continues his announcement to Mary that she will bear a son and his name will be Jesus.

One of the greatest miracles of the story of the birth of Jesus is the truth that Jesus came to earth born of a virgin.

The virgin birth is a detail in the story of Christ’s coming that is essential for us to not only understand but to uphold as an essential doctrine.

Out of all the questions Mary could have asked Gabriel after hearing of Jesus being born, she asks: “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”

Think about this situation Mary was about to be put in.

She was a young girl who was engaged to a man and now was going to be pregnant with a baby, but not just any baby.

This baby was going to be King and salvation belonged to this King.

Do you think maybe Mary was a little worried about what Joseph would think?

What about her father?

Her father would have already made a contract with Joseph’s father for him to take her in marriage, what if Joseph and his father thought Mary had been unfaithful?

We can’t imagine the fear and uncertainty that was going through Mary’s mind, but we know that she was perplexed by the fact she was about to give birth to a son.

We can affirm that God works in mysterious ways and that he accomplishes his purpose and plan in ways we often to not understand.

The virgin birth of Jesus is just another one of those miraculous acts of God that proves He is a God of miracles and a God who works in ways that are higher than we can ever think.

After Mary questions the angel on how is it possible for her to give birth, the angel answers in

35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.

Gabriel explains to Mary that the Holy Spirit will produce the child and due to this miraculous act, the child will be called “Holy”

The term “Holy” as it appears in this passage is an adjective used to describe Jesus and has the meaning of being anointed or set apart for a particular task.

There are some major implications for Christians when we look at the Virgin Birth:

The Virgin Birth explains that God was both fully man and fully God.

That’s what makes Jesus the perfect savior is that he has two natures:

Fully God: Due to Jesus being fully God, he is the adequate Savior.

Our salvation is complete and secure due to the fact that Jesus was fully God.

Fully Man: Jesus experienced the same things we do.

He can identify with us more intimately.

Our savior can sympathize with us because he walked the earth as a man.

Believing in the virgin birth is such an important detail in the birth of Jesus.

A controversial book was written in 2012 by a Pastor who was involved in the Post Modern movement.

This Pastor affirmed the Virgin Birth but wrote that if evidence was found that Jesus had not been born of a Virgin that it would be like if a Spring were taken out of Trampoline and that you could still jump of the Trampoline without that Spring.

He couldn’t be further from the truth.

The fact we read in Luke that Jesus was born of a virgin is an essential detail in the coming of Jesus.

The book is filled with bad theology but one of the statements this pastor made was that the Virgin Birth

Albert Mohler who serves as President of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisvile, Kentucky wrote an article of the essential belief in the Virgin Birth.

He says:

Implications, indeed.

If Jesus was not born of a virgin, who was His father?