Sermon Tone Analysis

By Jeff Strite

By Jeff Strite

OPEN: A Nashville grandfather took his four-year old grandson out in the woods to select a Christmas tree.

They tramped all over, but the boy couldn’t find a tree that suited him.

Finally, it began to get dark and cold, and the grandfather shook his head and said: "We’ll HAVE to take the next tree." he said flatly.

OPEN: A Nashville grandfather took his four-year old grandson out in the woods to select a Christmas tree.

They tramped all over, but the boy couldn’t find a tree that suited him.

Finally, it began to get dark and cold, and the grandfather shook his head and said: "We’ll HAVE to take the next tree." he said flatly.

The boy looked up in bewilderment: "Even if it doesn’t have any lights either?"

The boy looked up in bewilderment: "Even if it doesn’t have any lights either?"

It’s a little wonder that boy was confused… Christmas is a time of lights.

It’s said that about 500 years ago, Martin Luther lit the first "Christmas tree".

Granted he used candles – which was a bit unsafe – but from that day on people lit candles in their homes to decorate for the season.

It’s a little wonder that boy was confused… Christmas is a time of lights.

It’s said that about 500 years ago, Martin Luther lit the first "Christmas tree".

Granted he used candles – which was a bit unsafe – but from that day on people lit candles in their homes to decorate for the season.

Then, in 1895, someone invented the first Electric Christmas tree lights.

Now, all thru December, the evenings will be lit up as homes, businesses, and city streets fill the night with beautiful colored lights and decorations.

Some communities even have competitions to see who can put up the prettiest and most colorful light displays.

And that seems fitting - because the Birth of Christ was also decorated with lights.

· There were the Angels who lit up the night for the Shepherds.

· And the Star in the East which led the Wisemen to find Jesus.

Christmas is a time of lights.

And that’s only right… because Jesus is the light of the world.

That’s what it tells us here in .

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

The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.”

In Jesus… said, "I am the light of the world.

Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

And again in Jesus declared “I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.”

That’s what the prophets had predicted about the coming Christ:

for example declared: “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings…”

The Prophet Isaiah described Jesus’ coming this way: “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”

It’s a repeated theme:

Jesus is the light of God to a people filled with darkness.

ILLUS: One atheist admitted to being puzzled by that.

Hemant Mehta became the "eBay atheist" when he posted his soul on eBay… and later he began accepting bids to visit churches and then share his thoughts.

"I didn’t want anyone to be able to tell me that I was just an atheist because I had never even thought about Christianity," Mehta says.

Some 30 church services later, he’s still an atheist.

But… Mehta observed:

"At one church I visited, some people were asked to write down how they felt before and after becoming Christian.

They said things like ’dark and light,’ ’lonely and befriended,’ which got me wondering: Is being down or lonely or desperate a prerequisite to finding God? …Do I have to go through some sort of trauma or crisis before finding some ultimate meaning?"

Outreach Magazine Newsletter, February 2007

I can understand his confusion, because I’ve seen people who’ve made dramatic changes in their lives.

They’ve turned from darkness to light… from lonely to befriended… from dominated by sin to being dominated by Christ.

BUT, you don’t need to make such a dramatic turn around to become a Christian.

Eleven and 12 year old kids have rarely had the time experience the darker sides of life.

They haven’t lived with darkness.

They haven’t tasted it, or felt it, or suffered from it.

But they do understand enough of their own personal darkness (sin) to want Jesus.

They can still know enough to believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the living God.

They can still know enough to understand their sin and their need to repent.

They can still know enough to confess as their Lord and Savior

And be buried in the waters of baptism and risen up to walk in newness of life.

The people who caught Mehta’s attention were those who HAD lived with darkness, and tasted it, and felt it, and suffered it’s pain and sorrow.

For them, the contrast is obvious because their darkness was so black and empty.

And when Mehta looked at these folks… he missed the real genius of Christ.

You see, it’s the lives of people who’ve lived in the depth of the blackness of despair that proves the power of Jesus’ light.

They’re the kinds of people which “polite society” would cast aside as ‘undesirable’.

· They’ve done terrible things.

· They’ve lived unsavory and darkened lives.

· They’re not the kind of people most folks would invite to tea parties, let alone invite to church!

To many in this world, only the “good” deserve acceptance.

And that’s one of the bizarre mindsets of Christmas.

ILLUS: You remember the phrase from that song (sing it with me if you know it).

“You better watch out, you better not cry

You better not pout I’m telling you why

Santa Claus is comin’ to town

He’s making a list, checking it twice

gonna’ find out who’s naughty, who’s nice

Santa Claus is comin’ to town

He sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake

He knows if you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake”

Cute little song isn’t it?

Yeah, cute song… but really bad theology.

What’s the bad theology of that song?

Think about it.

Who does the song say deserves to be accepted and receive Santa’s gifts?

(only those who’ve done good)

In other words: “Only the righteous deserve acceptance.

Only the “good” will receive their Christmas gift”

ILLUS: Lewis Sperry Chafer once said:

“Anyone can devise a plan by which good people may go to Heaven.

Only God can devise a plan whereby sinners, who are His enemies, can go to Heaven”

Only God could devise a plan by which people who’ve made terrible decisions in their lives could receive hope, mercy and forgiveness.

That’s what frustrated the Pharisees of Jesus’ day.

Here was Jesus spending His time with those who’d been naughty… not nice.

Jesus ate with prostitutes, and tax collectors/ sinners

These were the folks that deserved a lump of coal in their sock.

And then He had the gall to condemn the ones who should have gotten the “good Christmas gifts” because they were “Righteous”.

ILLUS: In , Jesus told the story of two men who came into the temple to pray

One was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

“The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men— robbers, evildoers, adulterers— or even like this tax collector.

I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

"But the tax collector stood at a distance.

He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

"I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God.

For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

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The message of the light that came into a dark world was this:

You can’t be good enough to be good enough to be acceptable to God.