Sermon Tone Analysis

©Copyright December 5, 2021 by Rev. Bruce Goettsche

This Advent season we are preparing for Christmas with a question that was raised at the tomb of Jesus.

The angels asked: “Who are you looking for?”

It is that question that will spur our reflection on the Christ child.

Who are you looking for this Christmas?

To start us off, the one thing I hear people say more than anything these days is they feel stressed.

They are tired.

We are weary of the turmoil around us and the stress of health alerts.

Everywhere we turn people seem to be ready to boil over.

It may be a comment on the mandate for vaccinations, the right to gun ownership, gender identity, racial inequality, or whether you support the red or blue candidate.

It doesn’t take much to get into an argument.

Our problem is not just that these are heavy issues, it is that they carry such emotion that any true discussion is rendered impossible.

Add to this, inflationary prices, supply chain delays, job pressures from increased responsibilities, increased government regulations, and you are surrounded by triggers for stress.

This is all in addition to the stress of relationships, family and making ends meet.

We know stress is bad for us.

It is physically bad, and it compromises our thinking and productivity.

We are looking for someone who can relieve our stress and lighten our burden.

We may be looking for a political figure, a counselor, a doctor who can help us, or some other person who can help us fight through the burden of weariness.

This morning I want to show you that Jesus is the One we are looking for.

In Isaiah 9:6 we are told Jesus will be called the Prince of Peace.

In other words, one of the reasons Christ came was to bring us peace.

He is the One we should be seeking.

This is the gift the we would love more than any other.

Anxiety and Stress is not God’s Will for Us

Jesus said to His disciples

27 “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart.

And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give.

So don’t be troubledor afraid.

(John 14:27)

The point Jesus makes is HE is the one who gives us peace of mind and heart.

It is a gift the world CANNOT give us.

The Lord established the concept of the Sabbath rest at creation.

It was for the express purpose of getting us a day of rest.

It was set aside to be a day to realign our priorities, to remind us of the eternal nature of our lives, and to give us a chance to reboot.

God built in a stress relief valve, but it is one we have largely overlooked.

Why Do We Have Peace So Seldom?

This promise of peace is not unfamiliar, but it does seem elusive in our day.

There are many reasons we may feel stress,

· A driven personality.

People with a Type A or success driven personality are always pushing for more and feel they can never relax until they have amassed a fortune or reached their arbitrary level of success.

Unfortunately, the measure is always a little bit more than what they have.

· Unrealistic expectations.

In other words, you feel you must be a good family person, be in excellent physical shape, have a great appearance, make a lot of money, and meet the expectations of your friends and family.

You may be trying to please everyone around you, and it is killing you.

· A materialistic outlook.

No matter how much we have we feel like we need “just a little bit more.”

· Overcommitment.

We sign up for everything (sometimes in a made dash for significance) or feel we have to say yes to every request.

If we do not do so we feel we have failed.

We live in a time when there are entire industries that are designed to help us lose weight; health clubs to help us be better looking; credit cards, discount warehouses, Wal-Mart and Amazon set up to help us buy more stuff impulsively while making us think we are saving money on these things we don’t actually need anyhow.

Think about the amount of money we spend each Christmas buying things people don’t want, to give to people we don’t particularly like, because we feel we should do so!

And we do all this to celebrate the birth of Jesus who said, “you cannot serve both God and money.”

The real reason we don’t have peace is because Satan continues to whisper lies that tell us we are never good enough and we do not yet measure up.

Satan’s entire plan is to keep us as far away from contentment as possible.

He will make us think that things will fall apart without us.

He will keep reinforcing this message until we die or have a breakdown only to discover things continue to work fine without us.

At its root, stress is sin.

It is looking to things other than the Lord for significance, meaning, and purpose in life.

Stress carries with it a host of physical problems.

It impacts our sleep, our health, our self-image, and our relationships with others.

Stress can lead to depression, a loss of appetite, an increase in appetite, an inability to concentrate and so much more.

Stress sometimes leads us away from God (we are too busy) instead of driving us to Him.

This is unfortunate because I want to argue that the real antidote to stress is not a pill or a heavy dose of counseling.

Rest, peace, equilibrium all come from the one who was born in Bethlehem: Jesus.

The Biblical Antidote to our Stress

The Biblical Antidote to stress and turmoil in our lives if for us to turn toward Jesus rather than away from Him.

When Simeon saw Jesus at his circumcision in the temple, He said,

29 “Sovereign Lord, now let your servant die in peace,

as you have promised.

30 I have seen your salvation,

31 which you have prepared for all people.

(Luke 2:29-30)

It is true that our souls are restless until they find God’s peace in our lives.

People run frantically to try find meaning in their lives.

Isaiah said,

3 You will keep in perfect peace

all who trust in you,

all whose thoughts are fixed on you!

4 Trust in the Lord always,

for the Lord God is the eternal Rock.

(Isa.

26:3-4)

God is the One who keeps us in peace.

We appropriate that peace in our lives by trusting and FIXING our thoughts on Him.

Sadly, for most of us, we have to learn to think about Him occasionally before we can FIX our thoughts on Him.

Jesus Himself said,

28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.

29 Take my yoke upon you.

Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

(Matthew 11:28-29)

Jesus speaks specifically to those who are weary and carry heavy burdens.

That is us!

Weary is a good word for the result of the pandemic with Covid-19 and its variants.

Jesus does not tell weary people to toughen up, to get counselling, to protest in the streets, or anything else.

His instruction is simple: “come to me.”

We are to come to Him for strength, wisdom, guidance, new life, the power of the Holy Spirit, and that sense of wholeness only He can give.

Our biggest problem is not all we have to do or the threat we face.

Our biggest problem is the way Satan has used all of this to get us to move away from the Lord and from His people.

He has isolated us and created such anxiety we don’t believe we have time for Him!

It is a tactic He has used again and again.