Sermon Tone Analysis

Larry King was once asked: "If you could select any one person across all of history to interview, who would it be?"

Mr. King's answer was that he would like to interview Jesus Christ.

When the questioner followed with, "And what would you like to ask him?"

King replied, "I would like to ask him if he was indeed virgin-born.

The answer to that question would define history for me."

Man’s maker became man so that those who were exhausted by religion could be energized by relationship.

We keep his commandments because we are loved not to be loved.

Man’s maker became man so that we could live in the world but not be of it.

Listen to the prayer of Jesus in

In other words, we pursue holy lives of obedience and sacrifice even as we engage in our cities, neighborhoods, and families.

The Incarnation reminds us that Jesus did not come to isolate ourselves from the world but the infiltrate it.

Man’s maker became man so that we could deny ourselves without degrading ourselves.

Self-denial is not a popular topic in our culture, but it is the starting point for Christian growth.

The Incarnation of Jesus meant crucifixion.

The Indwelling of the Holy Spirit means cross carrying.

The Incarnation frees the Christian from dying for their sins.

Cross carrying is the means by which we put to death the sin that remains in us.

When Jesus became incarnate, he voluntarily denied himself the privileges of being God in order to be mocked and killed.

He did this because he longed to redeem us and knew that, in order to accomplish our salvation, the demands of his holiness had to be met.

We could not meet them, so he met them for us.

We, in turn, are to have the same mind, “do[ing] nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count[ing] others more significant than [our]selves” (Philippians 3:3).

We deny ourselves to love others.

True humility is not thinking less of yourself it is thinking of yourself less.

Man’s maker became man so that we would not love our money.

God is the richest being in the universe.

Yet as he looked upon the world and decided into what family he would come, he chose the poorest of the poor.

When Mary and Joseph went to the temple after the birth of Jesus, Luke recalled,

Under the law, the regular sacrifice was a lamb, but there was a provision for poor mothers:

Jesus, who had all the riches of the world at his disposal, chose to be incarnated into a family that could not even afford a regular sacrifice.

Let us not love riches.

Jesus incarnates himself so that we can freed from greed and filled with generosity.

Greed is when when we love money more than God and do not love God with our money.

Generosity is not a means of purchasing our justification it is a means of storing up joy in heaven.

We are given these eternal rewards for doing good works (Ephesians 6:8; Romans 2:6, 10), persevering under persecution (Luke 6:22-23), showing compassion to the needy (Luke 14:13-14), and treating our enemies kindly (Luke 6:35).

God also grants us rewards for generous giving:

It can’t be wrong to do that or He wouldn't have commanded it!

Our job is to follow Christ and leave the rewarding to Him.

But our job is also not to disbelieve or minimize what He said about rewards.

We are to want rewards because it pleases Him to give them to us...and what pleases our Father should give us delight.

No one has ever become poor by giving.

The world asks, “What does a man own?” Christ asks, “How does he use it?”

Man’s maker became man so that we would not overvalue physical beauty.

Our culture loves external appearances, but the incarnate Christ chose to come as someone who had no physical beauty or majesty.

He is the most glorious person who has ever lived, but we did not recognize his glory.

Thousands saw him with their eyes, but they saw nothing with their hearts.

We, in turn, must look for beauty in our world with the eyes of our heart.

What will we see when we look at the world this way?

We will see that, today, the Lord lives in the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, and the prisoner.

As Jesus taught, when we care for such people, we do this unto him.

Man’s maker became man so that we would know that God is for us.

Finally, the incarnation means that God is for us.

Paul was not merely referring to the crucifixion when he wrote,

He was also referring to the incarnation, when Jesus left the side of the Father to become man and accomplish our salvation.

The incarnation means that God is for us.

Jesus left the godhead and all the privileges thereof to die.

He lived a humiliating and self-denying life to bring us to God, where there are pleasures forevermore.

He veiled his awful and fearful holiness so that we could touch him, see him, know him and love him.

No longer does he say, “No man can see my face and live.”

Today, he says, “See my face and be satisfied”

When we live in light of the incarnation of Christ, our lives will be shocking to others.

Although we are sons and daughters of the King, we will humiliate ourselves by serving others.

All things may be permissible, but we will deny ourselves certain things or activities so that we can grow in our love for God and others.

We will earn money, but we will strategize how to give it away for the sake of the kingdom.

Living in a physical world, we will spend more effort on cultivating our inner beauty than our outer beauty.

We will trust in the promises of God more than our circumstances because we know he is for us.

When we live this way, people will think we are ludicrous.

They will find our choices shocking.

Yet we will point to the miracle of the incarnation of Christ.

Our lives will testify to the great news of Advent: Christ has come, God is with us.