Sermon Tone Analysis

Looking for a Sign

Have you ever been driving down the road and you were looking for a road sign that would give you directions?

Maybe its me, but I’ve always paid attention when I travel and try to remember signs or roadside attractions that serve as a reminder of where I’m at or how close I am to getting to where I am headed.

Signs don’t necessarily have to be on a post along the highway.

People in church often say “it’s a sign of the times.”

What time are they referring to?

It is actually a phrase from the Bible that Jesus spoke.

Matthew 16:3 (NIV)

You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.

I think that a lot of us are looking for a sign.

Here we are into our second season of Advent and this virus is again locking down the world.

We learned of a new “variant” just this week.

I’m not sure we are surprised that there are variants.

Look at the seasonal flu, it’s never the same variant each year that we get immunized for.

People are making a choice to get immunized or loose their job.

It seems like our government has gone crazy with spending money that we don’t have.

There was a Home Depot that was robbed just the other day out west.

The thieves stole crowbars and hammers.

Why you might ask?

It is presumed that those tools will be used to break in to high end stores so that they can smash and grab stuff.

In California it is a misdemeanor to steal less than $1,000 in merchandise from a store.

Just last weekend families were enjoying the beginning of the holiday season and some guy drives through the parade running over people, killing 6.

What is happening to our world?

Are you looking for a sign this morning?

Jesus said there in verses 25 & 26

Look at what fear has caused.

For us as Christians we know that these things are going to happen.

The Bible contains lots of reminders that bad times are going to happen before the end.

Jesus said these things are a “foreboding of what is coming.”

He didn’t leave us without hope.

This first Sunday of Advent is the Sunday of Hope.

Look there at verses 27-28.

We are one day closer to our final redemption.

Jump down to verse 33

I don’t think it is to much of a stretch to say that He is talking about his spoken words but about himself as well.

The Apostle John opened his Gospel with these words:

and you jump down to verse 14 and he wrote

John 1:14 (CEB)

14 The Word became flesh and made his home among us.

John refers to Jesus as "the Word."

Of all the names of Jesus, this is probably the most puzzling names.

Paul quoating from the Psalms wrote:

2 Corinthians 4:13 (CEB)

I had faith, and so I spoke.

We also have faith, and so we also speak.

For the Psalmist and Paul his words stood for his faith.

William Wordsworth the great poet said that "language is the embodiment of thought."

He likely got that saying from this chapter here in John.

Jesus on earth was the outward expression that people could see of the thought, heart, and the love of God.

Because of that, it was said of him that he was God present in the flesh.

I really love how the Message Paraphrase put that passage together

John 1:14 (The Message)

14 The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.

I think only John could have put it just that way.

He was one of the beloved disciples, one of the three who were closest to him.

When he writes those words you can almost picture Jesus living in that house just down the street from you.

The words in the original language means that he pitched his tent among us, lived with us just as one of us.

No other word could be used that would mean more than the word "home."

Where a person lives, they make themselves known.

At work I really don’t know what most of by clients look like because they have to wear a mask.

A person may wear a mask when out in the public.

Where a person makes their home, people know them, and their true self comes out in their home.

Jesus left all of the glory he had with the Father before the world was, leaving his Father’s home.

He came down to earth and was born among us, among the ordinary people, among the everyday common folks.

He might have been born in a palace.

He might have come in the full glory of adulthood, leading legions of angels in his train, but he chose to be born in the manger at Bethlehem, in the home of common everyday people

How close this brings Jesus to us! Thank God that, as the writer of Hebrews expresses it,

I like that little touch where he says that he "had to be made like his brothers and sisters in every way."

That comes close to my heart.

Jesus wanted to be like me so that he could understand my troubles and my weakness.

How amazing is that?

This is the most marvelous thing in the world that he who had infinite riches, for our sakes, became poor.

He who had all power in heaven and in the earth, keeping his divine power, He came down and was born in Bethlehem as the child of a poor carpenter.

He became a part and a parcel of our humanity, just as completely wearing our humanity.

He who was God became a little babe and was subject to his parents, and grew in wisdom and stature, and toiled day after day in a carpenter shop, in that little town of Nazareth.

He grew weary and tired.

He became hungry and thirsty.

He made friends.

He loved, hoped, and rejoiced.

He bore pain, heartache, and loneliness and died.

He did everything that we do except to sin.

Look at how close this brings the Savior to us!

For thirty-three years, he dwelt among us.

He talked with us.

He opened his heart to us.

He shared all our trials.

He who was God over all became the tenderest brother to rich and poor, ruler and peasant, high and low, the good and the bad.

His was not the kind of goodness that frightened bad people away from him.

How can we ever thank God enough for the Lord Jesus who moved into the neighborhood.

This is the Jesus I bring to you.

The One who had all riches and yet came and shared your poverty.

Have you had a challenging year?

Have you been out of work?

Have you had to figure out how you would make both ends meet?

I bring to you the Savior who made all the gold in the mountain secure, and came down from heaven where the streets are paved with gold, and took upon himself such poverty that he was able to say of himself, with all truth, "Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."

Do you get tired of life?

Are the burdens too heavy for you to carry?

Do you come to the end of your day tired and worn out?

I bring to you the blessed Savior who possesses all power in heaven and in the earth.

He came and took upon himself our weakness, he came not to be ministered to but to minister.