Sermon Tone Analysis

Music is part of all of our lives.

We are blessed this evening to have some talented musicians to lead us in song.

Some of you, I’m sure, have learned an instrument at some point, or sang in a choir.

If we were to survey our whole group this evening, we would find that there are some very musically talented folks among us as well as some who may not be so talented.

We all fall on a spectrum of where we are in our musical know-how.

Some among us just like to enjoy the music, and don’t care much how it all comes together, but really, most of us, if we were to hear music and suddenly, a really discordant or out of tune note was played, or the wrong note, most people would notice.

The more technically trained musicians may be able to identify the exact problem, but many others would not be able to put their finger on the exact problem, but all the same, they would know there is a problem.

Growing up, I learned the trumpet.

And in Junior High, I learned about the blessing and curse of knowing someone with perfect pitch.

Perfect pitch, or absolute pitch, is not something every musician possesses.

It really is pretty rare.

Perfect pitch means that the person who has it has no need for a tuner.

They can tune their instrument just based upon their hearing.

A singer with perfect pitch does not need a piano or anything to find the right note, you can tell them to sing a note and they will have it for you.

My Junior High band teacher, Mr. Stenjhem, had perfect pitch.

In some settings that could be a blessing.

Maybe not so much when you are trying to direct a group of 7th and 8th graders.

Mr. Stenjhem had plenty of off notes to notice.

But his perfect pitch meant that when something was off, he could identify it perfectly.

I know this for a fact.

During practice with the full band if a trumpet player like me played a note wrong, he would call you out.

If you were out of tune, he knew it.

I was amazed by it then and am amazed as I recall it now.

Of course, I moved on from Jr. High and into High School, and no longer was in mr.

Stenjham’s class.

In High School, I kept playing Trumpet, and one time a traveling group came to our town called the Dallas Brass.

They were a very talented group.

A few of us students were given the opportunity to practice with them, and play one song side by side with them in their concert.

Coming from the High School level and standing between two professional trumpet players was a brand new experience.

On either side of me were two men who had practiced and played together professionally, and they were in such perfect sync, and so perfectly tuned with one another, that I felt as though I was hearing one trumpet.

They were near perfect.

It’s always cool to be able to see this level of professionalism.

After High School I joined the Marines and played my trumpet a little, but after I got out of the Marines, I came back home, and for a while, I played in the city Brass Band.

I had to switch from Trumpet to Cornet, because that was what was used in the brass band.

We would play in the park, or at special events, and it was pretty fun, except for one thing.

There was a French horn player seated right in front of me who had perfect pitch.

His name was Mr. Stenjham.

Maybe as an adult I could have called him by his first name, Gary, but I had such a fear of him I couldn’t dare.

Every time I played a sour note during my time in brass band, Mr. Stenjham would turn around and give me the stink eye like you wouldn’t believe.

If looks could kill...

Perfect pitch - Developed through a lifetime focus on music, developed ability to know exactly what was wrong.

Non-musically trained person - may not even notice a bad note.

Or, if they do, they would never be able to tell what the problem was, only that something didn't seem right.

Well, in our world, in this symphony of life, all of us have noticed that there is something not quite right.

Some people, like the ones who don’t know much about music just have a sense something is wrong, just realize something isn’t right.

Others, who have a little more understanding, can tell you exactly what is wrong with the world.

These are people who have been given the task of sharing with others what the problem is.

One of these was a man known as the Apostle Paul.

Among his writings, we find that he has identified the main problem among mankind:

God was the master composer and conductor.

He designed man to be in perfect concert with Him.

Yet, the first man, Adam, by his sin caused mankind to be out of tune, out of harmony, with God.

Some people have spent their life seeking to be in perfect tune with God.

They have made devotion to Him the center of their lives.

Their pursuit of the perfect and their study of God helps them to clearly see what is wrong.

Just like the musician with perfect pitch will use their trained ear to pick out what is causing disharmony in a musical selection, the person who pursues God with all their heart is able to discern what is wrong, they are able to quickly notice something that is interfering with their relationship with God.

They can then take action to put things back in tune, back in harmony.

The person who does not know God goes through life, like the person who has never studied music, sensing something is wrong, out of tune.

They hear the sour notes of the effect that sin and evil has on the world, and realize something is amiss, something is not quite right.

Some will just complain about it, and be angry about it, never realizing that they are part of the problem.

They are humming or singing along with the great symphony and it is them who put the discord into the song.

They don’t realize their own responsibility in the matter.

Others seek out the reason for the discord.

They know they are out of tune with God, and they want to know what to do about it.

The Bible says those who seek God will find Him:

Ever since Adam and Eve first broke their relationship with God through their sin, all of humankind has been aware that something has broken the perfect relationship that God intended to exist between He and us.

That sin is the sour notes that put us out of tune with the Almighty God.

Our sin ruins the concert, so to speak.

God was grieved over the situation, and wanted restoration with us.

He wanted again to have things in tune, in harmony.

So like the master composer of the symphony, the conductor who wants the orchestra to be perfectly tuned, he provided a way.

To put the band in tune, the conductor will have a note played.

This note is then to be matched by all the instruments.

If all of the instruments are tuned to that one note, they will also be in tune with each other.

And just as the conductor gives one note for each musician to tune to, God gave us Jesus Christ.

We celebrate Christmas because at the first Christmas, the world was desperately out of tune, the sour notes were more than the good notes, the people were out of harmony with each other and with God.

God provided on that day the perfect note for all who wanted to be in tune with Him.

Jesus was that perfect tuning note.

Those who put their faith in Him have their relationship with God restored.

Perfect harmony between them and the composer.

Our God is so much more than just a composer, though.

He is the one who lovingly created each instrument with the desire that the instrument would be perfectly tuned and used the way He designed it to be used.

He wanted all of the instruments to be in concert with one another, and that together, if all were being used the way they were designed and in tune with their creator, the symphony would be beautiful and perfect, and as the creator said before that sin entered the world, it was good.

There is no way for us to be in tune on our own accord.

Each one who tries to tune themselves without listening first to that pure note being played will not ever be in tune with the rest of the instruments, but more importantly, will be out of tune with the composer and conductor himself.

Musicians will tell you that the best conductors demand the best from their musicians.

If one was consistently out of tune, and refused to be tuned to that perfect note, a time will come when the conductor will dismiss that musician from orchestra.

They will find themselves forever outside.

Eventually, all people who reject the Savior, the one we celebrate today, will find themselves permanently outside his favor.

Fortunately, for everyone hearing His message to us right now, He is still offering that opportunity to get in tune.

He loves you and wants to be in concert with you.

Christmas is our reminder that God cared enough about His relationship with each of us that He provided the only way to restore that relationship.

Through His son, Jesus Christ.

God loved the world so much that He gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in Him will not die, but have everlasting life.

It is no wonder to me why God chose music to announce to the world that He was providing a solution to our sin problem.

The shepherds heard the angels singing, and we celebrate and are filled with joy at Christmas time because so many talented musicians have been inspired to write and sing and play those songs.

Those who get in tune while they have a chance to respond to that perfect tuning note, the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, will also in heaven be singing marvelous songs of harmony and beautiful melody together as we praise the God who provided to us on Christmas day the way for our relationship with Him to be perfectly restored as it was always meant to be.

He told us hundreds of years before that of His plan:

Isaiah 9:2–7 (ESV) 2  The people who walked in darkness

have seen a great light;