Sermon Tone Analysis

RECORD

If you were with us on Christmas Eve than you may remember that I quoted a speech from a modernized version of Charles Dicken’s wonderful story, A Christmas Carol

I’m sure that everybody here is familiar with the original story but just in case allow me to summarize it for you

The story centers around Ebenezer Scrooge a wealthy miser who has placed greed for money above love for mankind

Then on Christmas Eve, a time of year that he despises the most, He is visited by his dead business partner, Jacob Marley, who is being punished in death because of the way that he lived

Marley informs Scrooge that between midnight and dawn he will be visited by 3 ghosts, the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future who will do their best to teach him the real meaning of life and save him from a fate worse than Marley’s

The ghosts come and each in their own way they impact Scrooge so that at the end he is a changed man

Of all of the non-Biblical Christmas stories I think that this one is my favourite

That’s probably in part due to the fact that back in Grade 7 (about a decade or so ago) our class did a video production of this play for the school Christmas pagent

We spent from September to December rehearsing and filming, it was absolutely wonderful

It also has a good moral to it as well although it is disappointing that it concludes that you avoid post death suffering by being a better person in life

I’m sure that we all know and understand that the only way to accomplish deliverance from suffering after death is to place our faith and hope in the person of Jesus Christ

And so this morning we are loosely using Charles Dicken's story as a bit of a model to bring to you the story of the 3 Christmas’, past, present and future as we consider the role of Christ in each of them

Let’s begin where Dickens began, with the story of Christmas past

The Bible starts out with 10 very simple yet powerful words,

Now when the Word says “beginning” it is talking about creation, the physical universe and not about God because God has no beginning, He has always been

David words it this way in

So God always was but at some point during His “being” He decided to “begin” the physical universe

Now let’s keep this in mind as we consider what the Apostle John said about Jesus

John 1:1-

Just so there can be no misunderstanding about which beginning John is talking about he uses the same terminology and phrasing as

Just so there can be no misunderstanding about which beginning John is talking about he uses the same terminology and phrasing as

Just so there can be no misunderstanding about which beginning John is talking about he uses the same terminology and phrasing as

He does this to make sure that we who read his gospel would understand that back before time began when there was no physical universe, Jesus was there

Not only was He there but in His role as the Word of God He played a crucial part in the creation of the physical universe, the very next verse says,

In John chapter 17 Jesus is praying and during His prayer He says,

Before creation began Jesus was

He was also there throughout the earlier journey of His people which we call the Old Testament

Whenever there is an appearance of the preincarnate Christ anywhere in the Old Testament theologians refer to that as a Christophany

There are several of these Christophanys that are certain and several that are suspected but as an example let me give you one of the most well known

The book of Daniel is one that is both historical and futuristic

Futuristic because Daniel contains many prophecies, some of which have been fulfilled and others that we are still waiting on

Historical because it gives us the record of what took place during the 70 years that Israel was held captive in Babylonia

Early on in that Captivity Daniel record for us the story of 3 of his friends Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah but you probably know them better by their Babylonian names, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego the three young men who refused to bow down to the giant golden image of the king

Even under great pressure and the threat of imminent death they stayed true to God and so the furnace was heated 7 times hotter than normal, the boys were bound and thrown down into the flames

Let’s pick up the story in

It doesn’t matter when you are talking about, before time and creation, during time and creation, or after the time of creation, in Christmas past Christ was always there

Now let’s move on to Christmas present

This part of the story obviously begins a little over 2000 years ago when the almighty Son of God set aside the privilege of His role as God and became like us , in human flesh

You already know that it is one of my most favourite verses so let’s go back to John’s gospel and read what he says about it,

God was now present, in human flesh, on this blue marble that we call Earth

He was here, not just in an on again and off again manner like a Christophany but He was actually here

He ate and He drank and He traveled around revealing the Father and showing us the kingdom of God

And then, as if that wasn’t enough, He willingly offered Himself up as the perfect sacrifice for our sins, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world

And then…He rose from the dead and showed Himself among the people continuing His work with the disciples and explaining the kingdom of God

Now some of the more astute and argumentative among you would probably bring up the fact that 40 days after He rose…He left

Your right, Luke records this event in the book of Acts,

While that is very much the truth, there is another truth that goes along with it, let me take you back to that prayer of Jesus in

John 17:

Did you catch those two important phrases, “for all those who will believe in me” so that’s talking about us and then He said “I in them”

The physical body of Jesus may have left this world but the presence of Christ did not for it is still very active within you and I

2 Corinthians

Those were Paul’s words to the Corinthians and he explained it to the Galatians this way,

Notice that he didn’t say that it’s “like” Christ lives in me or that it is almost as though Christ lives in me he said “Christ lives in me!”

says that He “dwells” in our hearts and says that it is this fact which is our “hope in glory”

We need to realize that today is STILL Christmas Present!

Christ is still here as long as there are those who through faith have received Him and who have died to their own selfish, prideful ways and are living for Him with help from the Holy Spirit

But there’s still one more, Christmas future

Remember that passage from Acts where He was taken up to Heaven right before their eyes?

Well let’s read a little farther

Underline, circle and highlight those 3 words Will…Come…Back!

In explaining the importance of the return of Jesus Dr. Robert Jeffress writes, “An overwhelming 25 percent of the Bible is given to predictive prophecy.

In the Old Testament, there are over 1,800 references to the second coming of Christ.

And of the 260 chapters in the New Testament, there are more than 300 references to Jesus’s return.

That is one out of every 30 verses.

And 23 of the 27 books of the New Testament feature the return of Jesus as a prominent theme.

For every prophecy in the Bible about the first coming of Jesus, there are eight about the second coming of Jesus.

It is the primary theme of Scripture.”

Don’t get me wrong, when Jesus appeared on this world as a tiny baby it was a significant historical event

If you want to know more about why it was so important listen to my message from last week called Christmas Miracles during which I explain why it was so important

But even as important as it was, and is, Christmas present is really just a very elaborate staging for Christmas future which is when Christ will return, not as the suffering saviour but as the conquering King

Jesus said in ,

And in we read,

Why will the Earth mourn?

Great question, I’m glad you asked it, they will mourn because He is returning as the victor who has the right and the authority to judge the people of the Earth and He will do so based on His Word and any chance to repent is now gone

Listen to Zechariah’s description of Christmas Future,

Zechariah

In the original story the 3 ghosts are able to convince Scrooge to change his ways and become a better person who thinks of mankind before he thinks of himself

But what is the end goal of our look at the 3 Christmas’?

What should we take out of it?

Well I’ll answer that with one more scripture taken from Peter’s second epistle

Let’s pray