Sermon Tone Analysis

What’s So Special About Christmas

Christmas 2000

*Rick Warren*

* *

* *

*I.

THE RELEVANCE:  ____________________  __________.*

/ /

/“Jesus Christ is the exact likeness of the unseen God.

He existed before God made anything at all, and in fact, Christ Himself is the Creator who made everything...”  /

Col. 1:15-16 (LB)

/ /

/       “He became like men and was born a human being.”/

Phil.

2:7 (Amp)

 

 

*II.

THE REASON: ___________________________________.*

 

       /“He became a man so that He could take away our sins...”/  1 John 3:5 (LB)

 

/“Though He was God...

He laid aside His mighty power and glory, taking the disguise of a slave and becoming like men.

And He humbled Himself even further, going so far as actually to die a criminal’s death on a cross.”/

Phil.

2:6-8 (LB)

 

 

!

Why did He do it?

/“God showed how much He loved us by sending His only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through Him.

This is real love... that God sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.”/ 1 John 4:9-10 (NLT)

 

     

*III.

THE RESULT: __________________________________.*

 

/“We were restored to friendship with God by the death of His Son while we were still His enemies, and we will be delivered from eternal punishment by His life.

So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God – all because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us...” /Rom.

5:10-11 (NLT)

/ /

       /“Let those who love your salvation exclaim, “What a wonderful God He is!”/  Ps.

70:4  (LB)

/ /

       /“For this reason God gave Jesus the name that is greater than any other name...  (One day) all beings in heaven, and on earth, and in the world below will fall on their knees, and all will openly proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God.”/  Phil.

2:9-11 (GN)

\\ What’s So Special About Christmas

*Christmas 2000*

*Rick Warren*

* *

 

This weekend the whole world will shut down for Christmas.

Stores will close, offices will close, there will be very few people on the freeway tomorrow.

It is amazing to me that an event that happened 2000 years ago can have that profound an impact on us today here on the other side of the world.

We even date our calendar by this event.

Every time you use the words “two thousand” or soon to be two thousand and one, the reference point is this event, the birth of Jesus Christ.

What’s so special about Christmas?

What’s the big deal about it?

Today we’re going to look at three things.

First, the relevance of Christmas.

Why is it so important?

The reason for Christmas.

Why did God do it?

Then the result of Christmas.

What difference does it make to me?   

 

*I.

FIRST THE REVELENCE OF CHRISTMAS.*

I can sum up the relevance of Christmas in one phrase – God came to earth.

During World War II it was big news when the allies invaded Normandy on D-Day.

But it was bigger news when God invaded earth 2000 years ago.

It was big news when man walked on the moon.

But it was bigger news when God walked on the earth.

And not only did God come to earth but most shocking of all He came in the form of a human being.

Notice what the Bible says, /“Jesus Christ is the exact likeness of the unseen God.

He existed before God made anything at all.

In fact, Christ Himself is the creator who made everything.”/

Jesus didn’t start in the stable.

His beginning was not that little manger scene.

He existed before creation.

In fact the Bible says He is the creator because He is God.

He made you.

Jesus Christ made you.

He is God.

We have a phrase that says, “Like father, like son.”  It’s true with God.

If you’ve seen the Son, if you’ve seen Jesus Christ you’ve seen God.

The Bible says, /“He became like men and was born a human being.”/

If I was God I wouldn’t have done it this way.

I would have come to earth in a much more spectacular way.

I would have added a little more pizzazz and flash – I would have planned my coming at half time during the superbowl, when the whole world is watching with lots of fireworks and thunder and lightning cosmic sounds.

I would have had all the leaders of the world lined up on the 50-yard line waiting to give me billions of dollars worth of gifts if I was God.

But God had another idea.

He would come into this world the same way that everybody in this world came into this world – by being born into it.

That shocked the angels.

That God who created the universe would so humble and limit Himself and come down to earth in human form.

And not only that but be born of peasant parents in a stable in a little tiny village was unthinkable.

All of God's plan for the world was wrapped up in that fragile little infant.

Why did He do it?

Of all the ways God could have come to earth why did He come as a baby?

I'll tell you why.

Because He came to save us not to scare us and nobody’s afraid of a baby.

God could have come to earth in a lot of ways that would have freaked us all out and scared us to death and made us run in terror.

But He didn’t do that.

He came in a way that we could all relate to because we all had that experience ourselves.

We’ve all been born.

He came in a way that we could relate to Him.

The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ was in every sense a human being.

When He came to earth He limited Himself so that He could become both God and man at the same time.

He was born like us.

He grew up like us.

I don’t want to blow your stereotype but Jesus didn’t walk around in spotless white robes with a halo and a glow on His face like they show in some of these movies.

He was every bit a Palestinian Jew because that’s what He was.

He worked in a carpenter’s shop so He probably had well-developed muscles.

He looked just like an average guy because He was.

The Bible says that while He was here on earth He was tempted just like we are.

He had the same struggles that I have and you have.

The same temptations, the same desires, the same drives, the same problems.

The Bible says He suffered just like we do.