Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

Good morning and Merry Christmas to you.

It’s so good to get the blessing of gathering together as the people of God to worship our Holy God and our Savior Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit of God.

Before we jump into the sermon this morning I just a couple of things to remind you of.

Next week we will have a guest with us.

Kurt Anderson from Youth For Christ will be visiting with us in worship.

Kurt is a missionary with YFC but was also my youth pastor growing up.

You will not want to miss meeting Kurt.

I wanted to give a special time for you to meet Kurt and hear about the ministry sort of informally so what I would like to do is invite you to come to the church building on Saturday night at 6:30 to meet Kurt and for him to talk about ministering to military dependents.

Here’s a short video of what YFC Military Community Youth Ministry is all about.

Second I want to remind you that it is the end of the year and we are behind in our budgeted giving for the year.

In order for us to meet budget and do all of the things we want to do in ministry, we need to meet our budget.

Please pray and let God lead your hearts in this.

If you want to follow along with the sermon, we have an interactive sermon outline that you can access by simply scanning the QR code on the screen right now with your smartphone.

And now for the sermon.

Please turn in your Bibles to Luke chapter 1, verses 67-80.

While you are finding your place, I want to tell you a little about when I was growing up.

My mom is originally from northern Mississippi.

She loved music and grew up listening to a lot of Motown artists.

I can remember when I was younger she had a Marvin Gaye tape that we listened to in the car.

At the time I was interested in it because the California Raisins song was on there.

Later in life I became an appreciator of some of his other tunes as well.

As I was preparing for this message, I found a story about him as recounted by Thabiti Anabwile.

Soul music began largely as a genre focusing on ballads.

The pioneers of soul were “crooners,” bellowing out sultry lyrics for lovers.

Marvin Gaye was perhaps one of the most famous soul singers of his era.

Gaye—who grew up in a pastor’s home in the Deanwood neighborhood of Washington, D.C.—became the poster boy of smooth, sultry, romantic sound with hits like “How Sweet It Is to Be Loved by You,” “I Heard It through the Grapevine,” and with Tammi Terrell “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and “You’re All I Need to Get By.”

However, by the 1960s many artists and genres of music became more concerned with the political issues and causes of the day, including Marvin Gaye.

Gaye released a string of chart-topping hits like his 1971 tune “What’s Going On?,” “Inner City Blues: Makes Me Wanna Holla,” and “Mercy, Mercy Me.”

“What’s Going On?” and “Mercy, Mercy Me” captured the anguished cry of a disenchanted and disenfranchised generation.

The songs were urban laments, longing for an almost mythic day when things like hunger and war would cease to exist.

In other ways the songs gave voice to a question—a prayer, really—that almost irrepressibly escapes one’s lips amidst life’s turmoil.

Gaye seemed to be crying out with his generation for mercy.

The cry for mercy is as old as humanity’s fall in the Garden.

It’s been uttered, whispered, and yelled in every generation among every people since sin entered the world.

When we reach those limits, something in us looks for mercy.

Today we turn to the prophecy of Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist upon the occasion of John being born as promised and God allowing Zechariah to once again be able to speak.

The cry for mercy has been answered in the person of Jesus Christ.

Our God is full of tender mercy.

He had been merciful to Zechariah and Elizabeth by giving them a son.

Their son would be the forerunner of the ultimate mercy, Jesus.

John would prepare the way for the Christ.

If you’ll recall from last week, Zechariah and his wife, Elizabeth were older and had not been able to have children together.

The angel Gabriel came and told Zechariah that Elizabeth would conceive and bare a son.

Zechariah didn’t believe it and so the angel told him he would be unable to speak until these things happened.

So here we are after the birth of John, when Zechariah had written that his name is John and his tongue was loosed.

Let’s pick it up in verse 67.

Just like Mary’s song last week was called the Magnificat, this hymn has a name that it is referred to as.

It’s known as the Benedictus.

This is due to its first word in the Latin Vulgate (an ancient Latin translation of the Bible)

I. Zechariah responds to what God has done with Spirit filled praise.

(v.

67)

Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit.

This is a significant truth.

It signifies that God has renewed His presence among His people.

See

Isaiah 32:14-17

Isaiah 44:1-4

In verse 68 when Zechariah says that God had visited and redeemed his people, this redemption includes corporate and individual aspects.

As God’s people, Israel are delivered from their enemies and individuals experience forgiveness of their sins, granted only though God’s plan of salvation.

Horn of salvation (v.69)

This phrase appears in the tradition of David.

Horn was a symbol of strength.

So we’re talking about the strength of God’s salvation.

It’s strong and mighty.

II.

Salvation has a purpose.

(72-75)

The goal here wasn’t something as simple as physical freedom.

The goal was worship.

It’s the same type of feeling as when God told Moses to tell Pharoah what we find in Exodus 7:16.

Physical freedom is a good goal.

But this goes beyond it to something even better.

When the people were set free, they would be free to worship anywhere they wanted and in any way they wanted.

God will keep the covenant promise He made to Abraham.

There are multiple parts to this salvation.

Let’s look back at our passage and see what we can see.

III.

John was the prophet and precursor of salvation.

(v.

76-77)

Zechariah’s words turn toward his new son.

John is going to be unique among the prophets.

He would soften the ground for the Messiah to come.

He will make ready the way but will be pointing straight away from himself and toward God’s true salvation from sin - Jesus Christ.

Jesus is John’s superior because he’s the Son of the Most High as in verse 32.

John, though, is called “a prophet of the Most High.”

John would be the one to plow the road ahead of the Son of God, Jesus.

His role in this alludes to Isaiah 40:3

Zechariah’s hymn of prophecy here speaks of John’s life in relationship to Jesus’s life and mission.

WE MUST DEFINE OUR LIVES THIS WAY.

Greatness doesn’t come from serving ourselves and looking to get ourselves ahead.

True greatness comes from humbly serving God.

Just as John didn’t try to replace the actual bringer of salvation, so too we should be pointing to Jesus and not trying to wrestle him for his place.

IV.

There is peace in salvation.

(v.

77-79)

Peace is an important concept in John’s Gospel account.

Again, just like redemption and salvation, there is a danger in understanding this the right way.

We should not understand this peace in mere social or political terms.

This points to what one author calls, “a cosmic restoration that God’s final saving act will bring about”.

1. Salvation is spiritual and personal.