Sermon Tone Analysis

\\ !! Scriptures: Isaiah 8,9; 1 Peter 2; John 1

 

! 1     The Incarnation

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/The coming of Christ by way of a Bethlehem manger seems strange and stunning.

But when we take him out of the manger and invite him into our hearts, then the meaning unfolds and the strangeness vanishes.

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/C.

Neil Strait/

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/The shepherds didn't ask God if he was sure he knew what he was doing.

Had the angel gone to the theologians, they would have first consulted their commentaries.

Had he gone to the elite, they would have looked around to see if anyone was watching.

Had he gone to the successful, they would have first looked at their calendars.

/

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/So he went to the shepherds.

Men who didn't have a reputation to protect or an ax to grind or a ladder to climb.

Men who didn't know enough to tell God that angels don't sing to sheep and that messiahs aren't found wrapped in rags and sleeping in a feed trough.

/

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/Max L. Lucado (1955- )/

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John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

[2] He was with God in the beginning.

[3] Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

[4] In him was life, and that life was the light of men.

[5] The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

[6] There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John.

[7] He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe.

[8] He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

[9] The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.

[10] He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.

[11] He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.

[12] Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- [13] children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.  [14] The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Why was it necessary for Christ to take on human form?

a)     *Shedding of Blood* – “In fact the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”

A sacrifice is required as payment for our sins.

God provided the sacrifice for Abraham.

Isaac the promised son was placed on the altar.

When it was clear that Abraham was willing to give what he longed for, then God provided the sacrifice.

b)     *Spotless Sacrifice* -  Not just any sacrifice would do to pay the price for our sins.

It would take something otherworldly.

1Peter 1:17 Since you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear.

[18] For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, [19]* but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect*.

[20] He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.

[21] Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

 

c)      *Satisfaction* of Justice -

 

The basis for this tremendous annual burst of gift buying and parties and near hysteria is a quiet event that Christians believe actually happened a long time ago.

You can say that in all societies there has always been a midwinter festival and that many of the trappings of our Christmas are almost violently pagan.

But you come back to the central fact of the day and quietness of Christmas morning--the birth of God on earth.

It leaves you only three ways of accepting Christmas.

One is cynically, as a time to make money or endorse the making of it.

One is graciously, the appropriate attitude for non-Christians, who wish their fellow citizens all the joys to which their beliefs entitle them.

And the third, of course, is reverently.

If this is the anniversary of the appearance of the Lord of the universe in the form of a helpless babe, it is a very important day.

It's a startling idea, of course.

My guess is that the whole story that a virgin was selected by God to bear His Son as a way of showing His love and concern for man is not an idea that has been popular with theologians.

It's a somewhat illogical idea, and theologians like logic almost as much as they like God.

It's so revolutionary a thought that it probably could only come from a God that is beyond logic, and beyond theology.

It has a magnificent appeal.

Almost nobody has seen God, and almost nobody has any real idea of what He is like.

And the truth is that among men the idea of seeing God suddenly and standing in a very bright light is not necessarily a completely comforting and appealing idea.

But everyone has seen babies, and most people like them.

If God wanted to be loved as well as feared he moved correctly here.

If He wanted to know His people as well as rule them, He moved correctly here, for a baby growing up learns all about people.

If God wanted to be intimately a part of man, He moved correctly, for the experiences of birth and familyhood are our most intimate and precious experiences.

So it comes beyond logic.

It is either all falsehood or it is the truest thing in the world.

It's the story of the great innocence of God the baby--God in the form of man--and has such a dramatic shock toward the heart that if it is not true, for Christians, nothing is true.

So, if a Christian is touched only once a year, the touching is still worth it, and maybe on some given Christmas, some final quiet morning, the touch will take.

-- TV news commentator Harry Reasoner

 

What does the incarnation mean?

What significance does it hold for my life today?

i)        How often in our lives does God provide the things that He asks us for?

If He asks us to do something he gives us the talent or ability to perform the task.

If he asks us to trust Him in financial matters – to tithe – he will honor your obedience.

He will never remove the element of faith – it will always be necessary to trust Him but there is always enough money to survive regardless of what we give away to God.

 

ii)      We talk about cheap and costly grace.

First of all – grace comes from God – He gives the whole package.

Ephesians 2:8 *For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God*-- 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.

10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Grace is always costly – not primarily because of what it costs us but because of what it costs God.

It does require something of us – for sure and we need to remember that.

If you choose to serve God it is going to change your lifestyle, your dreams, your priorities, you perspectives, your relationships . .

.

What we give up however does not cause grace to be termed costly.

It is costly because of what it costs God.

The more faithful we are with the things that He gives us the more He will trust us with greater things.

Stewards are merely managers of God’s provisions.

Thus the N.T. concept of stewardship.

iii)    God goes first – He takes the initiative.

We hardly realize our condition – our lost-ness, our need.

We want so desperately to proclaim our goodness, to prove something to our Maker.

He is the Way-maker.

He saw our need before we were even able to contemplate it.

! 2     The Intervention

 

/1 Peter 2:4 As you come to him, the living Stone--rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him-- [5] you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

[6] For in Scripture it says:/

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/  "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him/

/    will never be put to shame."/

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/7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious.

But to those who do not believe, "The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone, "/

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/8 and, "A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall."/

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*/They stumble because they disobey the message/*/--which is also what they were destined for.

9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

[10] Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy./

a)     The *Cornerstone.*

This is what we celebrate at Christmas – the laying of this cornerstone.