Sermon Tone Analysis

Com let us adore Him!

Come let us adore Him!

, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God.

All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.

He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.

He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

“

When most people think of Christmas, they think of the Christmas stories found in the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke.

In Matthew, we find (1) Jesus’ genealogy on His step- father’s side—; (2) the visitation of the angels to Mary and Joseph; the (3) visitation of the wise men, the Magi; (4) the flight to Egypt; and (5) the slaughter of the innocent first borne sons by King Herod.

In Luke’s Gospel, we find the (1) foretelling of the coming of John the Baptist; (2) the foretelling of the coming of Jesus; (3) Mary’s visit to Elizabeth; (4) Mary’s song of praise; (5) the actual birth of John the Baptist; (6) Zechariah’s prophecy; (7) the actual birth of Jesus; (8)the pronouncement of Jesus’ birth to the shepherds; (9) and Jesus’ presentation before Simeon in the Temple.

Unbeknownst to many, John’s Gospel holds its own Christmas story as well.

While John does not provide many of the historical details that you find in Matthew or Luke, John provides a deeper Christmas story.

John’s Christmas story is found in the first chapter of John’s Gospel.

What does John’s Christmas story tell us?

John’s story tells us that Christmas is really a celebration of the incarnation of Christ.

Where the Son of God, Jesus Christ assumed human form and became both God and man.

John’s story tells us that Christmas is really a realization that God has come to dwell un among us.

John’s story tells us that Jesus must become the object of all our praise, worship, and adoration and that we must all “come and adore Him

What is adoration in the Bible?

Adoration is the deep love and respect paid to someone we revere, especially as it pertains to a divine being.

In the Bible, adoration is required of any and all who profess to know God.

Adoration is akin to worship or paying homage.

Most versions of the New Testament do not use the word adoration in reference to our worship of God, but translate the Greek word proskuneó as “worship.”

Proskuneó means “to bow before or to revere”; the root word means “to kiss,” so the idea of proskuneó is “to kiss the ground in reverence before someone.”

When the wise men arrived in Jerusalem and inquired as to the whereabouts of the newborn King, they said to Herod, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?

We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him” ().

The word translated “worship” is the word proskuneó, which communicates an adoration and reverence for the Son of God.

The refrain of the Christmas hymn “O Come, All Ye Faithful” enjoins us to follow the example of the wise men with the threefold repetition:

“O come, let us adore Him;

O come, let us adore Him;

O come, let us adore Him, Christ, the Lord!”

But I think that this hymn is underutilized because we should sing it all the time; we are call to adore Christ the Lord at all times not just during this Christmas season.

The word in the Old Testament that most often refers to adoration is the Hebrew word shachah, which is also translated “worship.”

Such adoration is forbidden to offer to idols and only offer to our God, for our God is a jealous God.

As a loving husband is jealous of his bride’s affections toward other men.

The Lord made us for Himself and desires that all our worshipful adoration be saved for Him alone.

Jesus said that the Father is looking for those who will adore Him as we were designed to do.

Jesus said that “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.

God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” ().

The word for “worship” in those verses can also be translated “adore.”

Adoration differs from praise, although the two are related.

Adoration, or worship, should be reserved for God alone ().

Praise can be a part of adoration, but adoration goes beyond praise.

Adoration gets to the heart of who we are.

To truly worship God, we must let go of our the worship of ourselves.

We must be willing to humble ourselves before God, surrender every part of our lives to His control, and adore Him for who He is, not just what He has done.

, “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.”

This statement carries no weight in our modern minds if we do not recognize that our sinful nature and rebellious spirit towards God and the things of God, makes us deserving of His fiery wrath.

God is consuming fire that strips us of pride and self-consciousness.

To truly worship God means we must lose ourselves in the adoration of Him.

Our only thoughts should focus on the majesty and glory of the One we adore, Christ the Lord.

When we adore the Lord, our daily activities become acts of worship.

You see, only when our deepest adoration is reserved for our Savior will all other loves take their proper place in our lives.

Only then will we are able to love our families and friends better when our worshipful adoration belongs only to the Lord.

Let us pray...

Come let us adore Him… because He has the divine nature of God.

First, John addresses the true nature of Jesus.

John boldly proclaims that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” ().

John describes the divine nature of Jesus in this passage.

This phrase “in the beginning” is important, it echoes back to the creation story in , yet here it introduces another beginning.

Mark begins his Gospel with a similar way, it says it this way, ‘The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ’, I think that John is making an allusion here to Mark’s work, saying in effect, ‘Mark has told you about the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry; and now I want to show you that the starting point of the gospel can be traced farther back than that, even before the beginning of the entire universe.’

Now in we read this, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

Think about this for a moment, Matthew, Mark, and Luke all acknowledge the beginning of Jesus’ life at his birth, but John takes Jesus’ beginning back to the vast realm of eternity.

He shows us that Jesus is eternal, he wants to show us that Jesus is not just some Savior come lately, and he wants to show us that Jesus not just a baby born in Bethlehem.

John wants to show us that Jesus is the Messiah, the One sent by God, and the one who is God.

Now this might not mean much to you if you do not remember that God sent others as well.

God sent Moses, but we lost an generation in the wildness, God sent Joshua, but he did not fully conquer the Promise Land.

God sent David but David had a problem in his flesh, God sent Jeremiah but Jeremiah lamented and regretted the very day he was born.

God sent Isaiah and Isaiah answered the call but was a man of unclean lips, and what can we say about Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, through all of them things went forward but nothing got fully fixed, so when our God had sent everybody else, God say, forget this I will just become a man my self and He sent Jesus with his divine nature.

A person cannot escape the divine nature attributed to Jesus in John chapter 1. Jesus is described as being eternal with God, being in the very nature of God.

John also describes Jesus as the Creator by saying that “All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made hat was made” (1:2).

Then John doubles down by saying that Jesus is the source of life in , “In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

, “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world.

Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

“I am the Light of the world” is the second of seven “I AM” declarations of Jesus, recorded only in John’s gospel, that point to His unique divine identity and purpose.

In declaring Himself to be the Light of the world, Jesus was claiming that He is the exclusive source of spiritual light.

No other source of spiritual truth is available to mankind.

There are two types of light in the world.

When we are born into this world, we perceive physical light, and by it we learn of our Creator’s handiwork in the things we see.

However, although that light is good, there is another Light, a Light so important that the Son of God had to come in order to both declare and impart it to men.

records, “When Jesus spoke again to the people, He said, ‘I am the Light of the World.

Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but have the light of life.’”

The allegory used by the Lord in this verse speaks of the light of His Truth, the light of His Word, the light of eternal Life.

Those who perceive the true Light will never walk in spiritual darkness.

When we take a candle into a dark room it dispels the darkness, that is physical light.

Likewise, when the Light of Jesus Christ is taken into the darkness of the sin that engulfs the hearts and lives of those who are not following Him, then and there this light dispels the darkness of one’s soul as well.

That’s the condition behind having this Light—that we follow Him.

If we do not follow Him, we will not have this light, the true light which,

is eternal life.

Physical light is necessary for physical life and spiritual light is necessary for spiritual life.

The earth would certainly change very rapidly if there were no longer any sunlight.