Sermon Tone Analysis

This morning we are picking back up in our Christmas series, an MCF Christmas.

If you haven’t been with us, we started this series a couple weeks ago, and as I stated then, when it comes to Christmas messages, they’re not my favorite kind of messages to write or preach.

And a lot of that has to do with the fact, that from year to year, the message of Christmas doesn’t change.

That Christmas is always about a couple named Mary and Joseph, a baby named Jesus, a manger with animals, Shepards, and some Wise Men.

You could say it’s predictable.

It always involves Christmas

over the last couple of weeks we have been looking at Christmas from a little bit different perspective than normal.

And while he consistency of Christmas is important, there is a challenge that comes with it.

And the challenge is that because Christmas is repetitive and predictable, people tend to lose sight of what Christmas is really about and what it offers us.

In a way, we become numb to it.

Add to that the rush to get the best Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, the never ending Christmas decorations and parties, those awkward family get togethers, and so on, and all of a sudden Christmas becomes a season we look forward to and enjoy, but if we’re honest, it wears us out, empties our checking and savings accounts, and kind of leaves us relieved when it’s over.

Add to that the secular influence of our culture on Christmas

And that’s why the Christmas season can be a challenge, because from year to year the busyness and predictability of Christmas, sometimes cause us to lose sight of the true meaning and purpose of Christmas.

But

And so because of all that, I decided to approach Christmas this year from a different perspective by focusing on four certainties that Christmas offers us.

And that’s why Christmas can be a challenge.

Because from year to year it’s a repetitive and predictable season.

Certainties that represent the true meaning and purpose of Christmas.

Certainties that we need to be aware of if we want to avoid Christmas burn out.

Certainties that quite frankly aren’t just seasonal, but eternal.

Certainties that shouldn’t just be celebrated once a year, but all year.

The first certainty we looked at was the certainty of “Unshakeable Faith”.

Our text came from , as the writer defined faith and then pointed us to what our faith should be based upon.

And what we learned from that text is that Christmas was never meant to be a predictive and repetitive holiday, but instead, a continued reminder of the promised faithfulness of God in our lives.

We saw this through the story of a man named Abraham.

A story where God made a promise to Abraham that one day, through his offspring, God would provide a redeemer to save mankind from his sin.

A promise that one day He would provide Christmas.

And the good news for all of us is that God came through on that promise.

A promise that was fulfilled through the birth of Jesus on Christmas morning.

So, what that means then is, if we want to put our faith in something secure, we need to put it in the faithfulness of God.

Trusting in a God that will never let us down.

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Because at the end of the day, that’s what faith is.

It’s you and I putting our faith in the faithfulness of God.

And so if you want the certainty of Unshakeable faith in your life, that’s where it starts.

It starts by putting your faith in the faithfulness of God.

Faith in a God, that when all seemed lost for mankind, He came through on His promise of Christmas.

That then led us to a second certainty.

A certainty we called“Unwavering Hope”.

Last week we looked at the certainty of “Unwavering Hope”.

We saw this certainty play out in the life of a man named Joseph.

And when I say Joseph, I’m not talking about the Joseph in the Christmas story.

I’m talking about the great, great grandson of Abraham.

The Joseph found in .

And what we learned last week is that the story of Joseph is a foreshadow of the hope Christmas offers us.

In other words, prophetically speaking, Joseph is what Bible scholars call a type of Christ.

Meaning, Jospeh symbolically represents God’s future promise and hope for Christmas.

In fact, there are more than 100 parallels between the story of Joseph in and the story of Jesus in the Gospels.

And it’s a story of hope.

The hope that one day God would provide a redeemer for mankind.

For example:

In , Joseph made some outrageous claims that one day he would rule over his brothers, and they hated him for it.

In Jesus made similar claims about himself, and people hated him for it.

In , Joseph’s brothers betrayed him and sold him for 20 shekels of silver.

In , Judas betrayed Jesus and sold him for 30 pieces of silver.

In Genesis

And what we learned last week, is that story of Joseph symbolically represents the hope of Christmas.

A hope that came as a result of a promise God made to Joseph through a series of two dreams.

Dreams that foretold that one day Joseph would rule over his brothers.

Dreams that Joseph embraced and his brothers rejected and ridiculed.

He represents the Hope of Christmas because through Joseph God continued the promise He made to Abraham.

He represents the Hope of Christmas because though Joseph God continued the promise He made to Abraham.

Because

Dreams that seemed to die when Joseph’s brothers, who hated him, sold him into slavery and told everybody he was dead.

Dreams that seemed forever lost when Potiphar’s wife lied and got him thrown into an Egyptian prison.

But dreams that Joseph held onto.

Because while Joseph could have lost hope in the midst of his unfortunate circumstance, he didn’t.

Instead, he remained faithful and obedient to God’s Word and he kept his eyes on the faithfulness of God.

He kept putting his hope in the promise God had given him.

And in the end, when it seemed the enemy had won the day, when it appeared nobody was going to rescue Joseph, God reached down and raised him up, and put him in a place of honor and authority as second in command to the Pharoah of Egypt.

A place where he now had the power to save his family from a famine that was consuming the land.

A place where he would provide forgiveness to his brothers and refuge for the future nation of Israel to grow and thrive.

Joseph puts it like this as he speaks to his brothers in :

And what was true for Joseph would be true for the

You see, Joseph represents the Hope of Christmas.

The hope that God would one day not only provide a physical redeemer for Israel, but a spiritual redeemer for mankind as well.

Because had it not been for Joseph’s unwavering hope, the nation of Israel would have died in the famine, and the hope of Christmas with it.

But not only does Joseph represent the hope of Christmas, he symblizes the hope of what Jesus wou

A redeemer, who like Joseph, would be hated, betrayed, and pay the price for our sin.

A redeemer, who like Joseph, at his own expense, would go ahead of us and prepare a way of salvation.

A redeemer, who like Joseph, when all hope seemed lost for him, God would raise him up

A redeemer, who when we couldn’t save ourselves, would offer salvation to us.

A redeemer, who like Joseph, was given authority and power to save.

A redeemer, who like Joseph, when we couldn’t save ourselves, would offer forgiveness and salvation to us.

And continue it did, as thousands of years later, in a stable in Bethlehem, God sent the redeemer to earth, to live a life we couldn’t live and die a death we deserved.

You see, Joseph represents the hope of Christmas.

The unwavering hope that comes through faith in Jesus.

But because Joseph put his hope in the faithfulness of God, the hope for Christmas lived on as thousands of years later, through the nation of Israel, in a stable in Bethlehem, God sent the redeemer to earth.

A death that resulted in victory as God raised Jesus up and gave him power and authority to rule and save.

You see, Joseph represents the Hope of Christmas.

The hope that God would one day not only provide a physical redeemer for Israel, but a spiritual redeemer for mankind as well.

This is what the writer of Hebrews is talking about when he says:

That’s the certainty that Christmas offers us.

To remind us that regardless of our circumstances, because of Jesus, we can have unwavering hope.

To know that no matter what our circumstances are, and even if God doesn’t work in the way we think he should or on the timeline we’d like, He’s always faithful.

He always comes through.

Christmas reminds us of that Jesus is our unwavering hope.

This leads us to a third certainty this morning.

A certainty we’re going to label “Unspeakable Joy”.

And to introduce us to this certainty and its connection to Christmas, we are going to look an another OT story.