Sermon Tone Analysis

INTRO ADVENT

Welcome

Advent is a time of anticipation at the “coming of Jesus”

(1) Both in our remembrance of Jesus coming to earth in human form at Nazareth... and also (2) in his second coming.

(We look to a day when Christ will return)

And so Advent is a celebratory anticipation and remembrance.

And it’s radically significant, this incarnation… literally meaning “in flesh”

Tim Keller writes in Hidden Christmas, “He is the Mighty God.

He is the Everlasting Father, which means he is the Creator, and yet he is born.

There’s nothing like this claim in any of the other major religions.

He is a human being.”

This idea that God, who made everything — who created all the universe with his words… comes to take on human flesh and dwells amongst his creation.

It’s a radical reality and it’s significant.

And Christmas is the time we remember and celebrate that reality.

“Those Who Sit in Darkness and in the Shadow of Death” (vs.

79b)

The Bible doesn’t shy away from pain and sorrow.

It’s honest about the situation of the world… the brokenness, the pain, the misery so many face.

There is NO illusion that everything is fine.

Because the world isn’t fine.

People are innocently murdered.

Rarely can people get along, even those who say they love one another.

The last couple years… death, racial tension, bickering, mistrust, violence… on and on…

not much was different at the time this scripture passage was written.

And yet, this is one of the themes that the Christmas season reminds us of!

That we are in need.

That we are broken.

That we are in darkness.

So we hang up lights on our homes, on Christmas trees, on buildings… it’s a holiday filled with lights.

Keller writes, “the world is a dark place, and we will never find our way or see reality unless Jesus is our Light… (many) are “looking toward the earth” and to human resources to fix the world… if we look only to the earth and human resources, the darkness only gets worse.”

The lights then act as a symbol of a greater reality…

the savior coming to bring light and peace to his people

Scripture is filled with these tensions...

Light and darkness

Good and evil

Right and wrong

Christmas is about a light shining through the darkness of the world!

Good News vs. Good Advice

This idea of redemption and salvation are not new… as a matter of fact, God made promises to his people long before this passage in Luke.

This passage makes reference to those previous promises… to the promises God made to Abraham and Abraham’s family many many years prior

And this theme has continued on throughout the Old Testament and is now being realized in the New Testament… God is fulfilling what he promised!

God did not forget what he promised.

God is accomplishing what he promised.

Really highlights the difference between good news and good advice…

Tim Keller writes, “Advice urges you to make something happen.

News urges you to recognize something that has already happened and to respond to it… Advice says it is all up to you to act.

News says someone else has acted… These Gospel narratives are telling you not what you should do but what God has done… You don’t save yourself.

God has come to save you.”

This often gets confused and becomes a controversial point of contention in Christianity… what do we do and what does God do?

But at the end of the day, Christianity teaches about good NEWS!

The Bible is not an self-help guide book…

We don’t hike our way up to the throne room of God through any work of our own.

The reality is, we are in desperate shape… and it’s actually those who can admit their neediness and humble themselves that find favor with God a thing to be grasped.

“I remember roughly 6 and half years ago, a month after my first-born daughter, Stella was born, I went on a trip to England with some of the other pastors at the church… we were going over to see other church planters and support them

It was a great time and very encouraging.

And I remember coming home, coming up to my bedroom to unpack my bag and noticing that our carpeted floor was now bare wood.

And I was like, “Amber, you took the carpet up?!”

She responded, “well actually the ceiling caved in on our bedroom because there was a leak in the roof...”

I am noticeably shocked at this point

She didn’t tell me.

Rather, she called my dad.

He contacted a couple guys and they fixed the roof, replaced the ceiling of our bedroom, removed the carpet, and cleaned the floor.

IT LOOKED GREAT!

I came back home and received good news, not good advice.

The fix was done despite me… it was a gift of grace!

I didn’t deserve it.

I didn’t earn it.

I wouldn’t have known how to fix the ceiling or what to do… if Amber would have told me while I was gone, I would have been stressing the whole time.

I didn’t get advice… instructions on how to do it myself… it was done FOR ME, despite me!

It was a gift of grace!

This is what is happening with the INCARNATION.

This is what Christmas is all about!

It’s good news!

…In my case, I could NOT refuse the gift.

The ceiling was completely re-done, the roof was patched up, the floor was cleaned up and ready to go… IT WAS DONE!!!

Like this illustration I am describing, “Jesus comes whether humanity likes it or not… And Jesus takes on our frail experience… Jesus lives a sinless life we could never do… Jesus took our suffering on his shoulders… Jesus went to the cross to pay our sin debt… and Jesus resurrected the third day.

He did all this despite us!”

Jesus came into the world as fully- God and fully-man, not because we had finally earned it… If you have read the Old Testament, you will notice, we simply proved that we would never earn it.

Jesus came because he promised us he would.

Jesus came in the flesh because he would not go back on what he promised even if we did!

“He has Visited and Redeemed His People” (vs.

68b)

And this is where I want to end today… we’re moving backwards in the text… but this passage really does start with end in mind!

Jesus came into the world to fulfill his promise to SAVE HIS PEOPLE!

Jesus did NOT come to give us good advice

Jesus did NOT come to help us help ourselves

Jesus did NOT come to model a way that we should then imitate to make our own way

JESUS DID EVERYTHING THAT WAS REQUIRED FOR US TO BE MADE RIGHT BEFORE A GOOD AND HOLY GOD THAT LOVES HIS CREATION!

In Jesus’ birth, the promises made to Abraham and Moses are being fulfilled…

And here’s the problem we face with this...

We don’t trust most of the promises made to us…

Many of the promises made to us by people we love have been broken.

Frankly, we have broken some of the promises we have made.

The good news here is that God does not break his promises!

God does what he says he will do!

Reflecting on this passage reminded me of the dark season I was in in 2018 and 2019…

I found myself in a place where I didn’t know what to do… I was overextended, tired, doubting my faith, angry, losing hope… and all the while I was a pastor!

Looking back, I don’t know who that guy was… I was in such a weird, disorienting place… dealing with anxiety and depression and feeling hopeless.

My thoughts were dark, I felt stuck and alone.

The past two years, I will often go back and read my journal from that time… and it is sad and scary.