Sermon Tone Analysis
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Ok, here are a few bad jokes for you: but first, what do you say before you
tell Christmas jokes?
These will sleigh you!
What is the best Christmas present
ever?
A broken drum.
You can’t beat it.
What do you call Santa when he’s wearing
earmuffs?
Anything, he can’t hear you.
Why is Santa afraid of chimneys?
He’s
Claus-trophobic.
What nationality is Santa?
North Polish.
What do you call an elf
that can sing and dance?
Elfish.
How do you know if Santa is nearby?
You can
sense his presents.
What do you get when you cross Santa with a duck?
A
Christmas quacker.
And we all like Christmas, because it’s a time when most
people get Santamental.1
Last week we talked about the dependency of Christmas.
If you missed that
message, it means that just as Jesus came as a child into the world, totally and fully
dependent on the Father for everything, we also need to learn how to become fully
dependent on the Father.
We need to continue to develop a conscious sense of the
presence of God and of dependence on the Holy Spirit’s power in our lives.
Just as
Jesus walked in total dependence on His Father, we have to rest in the same source
of power for daily living.
And as we do that, we will receive and display Jesus’ life
in us. 2
And so today I want to talk about the disciplines of Christmas.
Dependence
on God is huge for our walk and can’t be underestimated, but we won’t ever grow
in our Christian lives unless we grow in discipline and self-control.3 1 Timothy 4:7
AMP “discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness [keeping yourself
spiritually fit].”
Some versions translate this word ‘discipline’ as “train
yourselves.”
The NKJV says to “exercise yourself toward godliness”.
In other
words, we’ve got to do the work, we’ve got to put time and effort into our spiritual
walk and our relationship with Christ.
1
Liles, Maryn.
“150 Funny Christmas Jokes for Kids and Adults.”
Parade, 29 November 2021,
https://parade.com/1059328/marynliles/christmas-jokes/.
Accessed 18 December 2021.
2
Boa, Kenneth.
Conformed to His Image: Biblical and Practical Approaches to Spiritual Formation, P76.
Zondervan, 2001.
3
ibid.
Disciplines of Christmas | 1
You won’t get in shape if you don’t exercise, you won’t learn an instrument,
talent, or skill unless you practice, and you won’t pass a test if you don’t study.
Sadly, though, there are a lot christians out there who think that just because
they mentally assent, or agree with a set of doctrines, that they don’t have to do this
kind of work or put any more effort into their spiritual lives.
The thought is that
because we’re positionally in Jesus Christ when we get saved, and because God
won’t ever love us any more or any less that now we just don’t have to do
anything, we just sit back and watch the show as God does everything.
That’s not
how it works.
James 2:20 ICB You foolish person!
Must you be shown that faith
that does nothing is worth nothing?
Now, there is a little truth in some of the thought process as far as we are
totally loved and positionally in Christ as soon as we get saved and we can’t do
anything to earn salvation or earn God’s love.
The problem is, though, that if we
don’t even try to walk like Jesus walked, if we don’t attempt to do what Jesus did,
if we don’t put any effort into growing in holiness, then we’re not really his
disciples, we don’t really care what He said about how to live our lives, and we
eventually just start to look like everyone else in the world even if God has mercy
still and we get to go to heaven when we die.
Following Jesus takes discipline.
That’s where the word disciple comes
from.
It takes work, it takes time, and it takes effort to learn how to walk like Jesus
walked, how to be dependent on the Father like He was.
I’ll say our catchphrase
for the month again, but grace is not opposed to effort, it’s opposed to earning.
And
I want to talk about growing in spiritual discipline today in the context of the
Christmas story.
Let’s pray before we get started.
Father in Heaven, we honor Your glorious,
holy, matchless Name.
Thank you for meeting with us today and pouring out Your
Spirit on us.
Disciplines of Christmas | 2
Holy Spirit, thank you that you enable God’s will in us and through us, that
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