Sermon Tone Analysis

Christmas is to be a time of joy; a time of celebration; a time of tradition; family, friends, parties, gifts, decorations, lights; a warm bright season in the long dark days of winter.

It is arguably the most popular religious holiday on the calendar.

But, today, it brings with it a clash of competing world views, a clash of the Holy and the, arguably, profane…

It is religious, but has become incredibly commercial.

It speaks peace and rest but is noted for stress and busyness.

It celebrates the incarnation of God but the god so often worshiped is the god of self, or the god of kids, or the god of keeping up with the Joneses.

It heralds love but causes so many to feel cold and distant and alone and abandoned (in addition to stressed and busy).

Why is this so?

One obvious reason is the world, which wants nothing to do with Jesus, makes its own counterfeit Christmas with its own narratives of giving and joy.

But, I think, a subtler reason is maybe, just maybe, we have lost sight of the Love that is at the heart of the Christmas narrative.

And maybe, just maybe, we have this struggle because of how we use the term love in our culture.

There is probably no more abused word in the English language than “love.”

Why do I say that?

I love fishing; I love the Philadelphia Eagles (or Packers, or Bears or Vikings); I love raw chocolate chip cookie dough; I love my truck; I love my job; I love my brother Russ; I love my parents; I love my children; I love my wife; I love Jesus.

The word love is ambiguous in the English language.

This ambiguity causes difficulties when translating Hebrew and Greek into English because those languages have multiple words for “love,” each with a particular meaning.

The most frequent noun form of the word love in the OT is – as you might have guessed by the title of today’s sermon – CHESED.

Now, for you grammar geeks, while Hesed is a noun, as we will see, it acts like a verb.

Hesed is a word that gives English translators fits.

There is not a 1:1 equivalency between the Hebrew and English.

It is difficult, if not impossible, to fully convey its meaning of Hesed in English.

So, throughout the OT you will find it translated many different ways.

I reviewed every way it was translated by the ESV, NIV, KJV and NET bibles and here is what I found: It was translated

Love · Unfailing Love · Steadfast Love · Covenant of Love · Lovingkindness · Kindness · Great Kindness · Marvelous Kindness · Loyalty · Merciful · Faithfully · Favor · Devotion · Fidelity · Goodness

Hesed is a covenantal, relational term – it only applies to those who are in a relationship – parent/child, siblings, other family and friends; it represents a type of loyalty or fidelity or devotion that leads to or is related to concrete actions.

Here’s what I mean by that: unfailingness, steadfastness, kindness, loyalty, mercy, faithfulness, devotion - these are all active character traits, they are not passive, they are all actions.

So, going back to my grammar friends – it is a noun that plays like a verb.

In 1 John 4:16 we learn that God is love.

While John, writing in the NT, did not have the word Hesed to use in this verse (he used agape), I believe the concept of Hesed is what John had in mind.

I also believe it is what Paul had in mind when he wrote 1 Cor 13.

This Hesed love of God is at the heart of the Christmas story; but the story of Christmas did not arise in a vacuum – the story of Jesus’ incarnation, God with us, Emmanuel, is a natural outworking of the character of God as observed and told through the stories and narratives, of the OT.

When we keep the Nativity story in this greater context, I believe we are far less likely to lose sight of the “reason for the season.”

This isn’t just a nice heartwarming story about a baby born to a teenage mother in a humble setting that makes for a Hallmark moment.

My goal today is to introduce you to a little bit of that greater context as found in the OT, and, for each OT narrative, I will also give a NT reference so we can see how these themes and narratives are all tied together in this babe born in a manger, Emmanuel, our God, King Jesus.

When approaching the OT, it can be easy to miss the interconnectedness of all these seemingly unrelated and diverse writings, but, they are anything but unrelated.

The OT is an incredibly sophisticated piece of literature that includes intertwining stories and poems and writings and histories collected over about 1500 years.

Each of them stand alone in their own right, but they often foreshadow or present a typology of a person or character trait or a prophecy that, when combined, tell their own story – the story of God’s faithfulness toward us.

As Dr. Tim Mackie says, the authors of scripture are Bible Ninjas who stealthily layer this cohesive beautiful complex narrative into these seemingly unrelated writings.

(spoiler - the Ninjas had a little help called divine inspiration) God’s nature, His Hesed love, is at the heart of this narrative…

Hesed Creates

The Prologue

So, where does this story start?

Like all good stories, it starts “In the beginning…” there was nothing, but God.

Creation was born out of God’s Hesed nature; His steadfast, unfailing, good, faithful, loyal, covenantal love.

Remember Hesed is active; It is as if creation just “boiled” out of God’s Hesed nature – He didn’t have to do it, but by His nature He couldn’t not do it.

And, because of His nature, the creation was good and beautiful and perfect and teeming with life.

Hesed Loves

The Garden

Chapter #1 of our story starts Eden – this perfect place made by God, where the Divine and mankind cohabitate – they live together – stop and think on that one for a minute – imagine what it was like to live with God.

Like a good parent, God provided shelter, food, care, companionship, guidance, teaching, opportunities for growth, and, most importantly, love.

We see in the garden that God’s Hesed is freely given.

Even at the fall, God promises, in Hesed, to Rescue, Redeem, Restore, and ultimately, Reconcile us to Him.

It is so easy to focus on the fall, about what Adam and Eve did wrong, about the serpent and punishment – because those things are dramatic, they are attention grabbers just like a good movie plot.

But, what is even more amazing, is what God doesn’t do – He doesn’t lash out in anger or wrath, He doesn’t wipe Adam and Eve out and start over.

In patience and kindness, like a good parent, He lets us suffer the consequences of our decisions.

But, like a good parent, He doesn’t let us wallow there forever.

Because Hesed love is God’s nature, His love was not dependent upon Adam and Eve being perfect.

Hesed loves.

The point to remember here is – God loves you, and He embodies that love in that babe in Bethlehem.

Hesed Rescues

The Story of Joseph

Chapter #2 of our journey today has us jumping forward to the story of Joseph.

By way of a little background, Joseph was the oldest son of Jacob and Rachel [Bethlehem] – of 12 brothers (the patriarchs of Israel), Joseph was second to youngest, but he was most loved by their father Jacob.

He received a special gift – a special coat – a coat of many colors – that made his brothers jealous.

But Joseph also had dreams – two dreams (one of stars, one of grain sheaves) that specifically portrayed his older brothers bowing down to him.

These dreams put his brothers over the edge and they decided to kill Joseph.

His brother Ruben rescued him from murder, but he was sold into slavery in Egypt – Potiphar’s house and the brothers lied and told their father that a wild animal killed Joseph.

In Egypt Potiphar’s wife took a liking to the strapping young lad and put her moves on him, he, being a gentlemen rebuffed her and ran.

She screamed and told a lie that Joseph had put the moves on her – this landed Joseph in prison.

While in prison we get this little piece of text:

Through a series of events and another couple dreams, Joseph became second in command over all of Egypt.

A famine struck and then Josephs family came to him (not knowing it was him) begging for help – bowing before him.

And, Joseph rescued his family – this is how the Israelites ended up in Egypt.

Maybe, like Joseph, you have had a tough go of things through no fault of your own.

Maybe it is hard to see the good when you are standing in the valley.

If that is you, remember There is hope because God’s Hesed rescues.

Hesed Redeems

The Exodus

Chapter #3 of our story has us staying with Joseph’s family.

After their rescue, Joseph’s family, otherwise known as the Israelites or Hebrews, hung out in Egypt for about 400 years.

Their numbers increased greatly and Egypt’s Pharoah came to view them as a threat.

So, the were enslaved.

They cried out to God and God responded.

When you are a slave, you can’t just run away to freedom – if you do you will always be looking over your shoulder because you haven’t actually been freed, you’ve just escaped.

In order to be freed, a price must be paid for you and your owner must decree your freedom – in other words, you must be redeemed.

This is where the story of the plagues and the Passover come into play.

If you remember, for the Passover, a lamb without spot or blemish was sacrificed and its blood was painted on the doorposts of the Hebrew homes, so they were protected from the plague of the death of the firstborn.

The blood of a perfect lamb covered the Hebrews and protected them from God’s wrath.

The Hebrews were redeemed from death and slavery by sacrifice.

Remember when I talked about typology – that sacrificed lamb was pointing to Jesus, the perfect sacrifice whose shed blood covers our sins and redeems us from slavery to sin.

After the Israelites were led through the sea, the narrative gives us a beautiful song of Moses where he sings, “You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.”

Maybe you feel like you are unsavable – that if God knows what I’ve done there is no hope for me.

If that is you, remember no one is beyond God’s reach because His Hesed love redeems.

Hesed Restores

Chapter #4 of our story has us going to an unlikely place – to the story of Ruth.

If you are not familiar with the story of Ruth, please go read it this Christmas.

It is 4 short chapters sandwiched between the books of Judges and 1 Samuel.

This story is a goldmine of foreshadowing and typology.

The story starts with a man named Elimelek during a time of famine.

Due to the famine, Elimelek has to leave Israel with his wife Naomi and their two sons – they go to a foreign country, his sons marry two foreign women – Kilion marries Orpah and Mahlon marries Ruth.