Sermon Tone Analysis

A voice says, ―Cry!‖

And I said, ―What shall I cry?‖

All flesh is grass,

and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.

The grass withers, the flower fades

when the breath of the LORD blows on it;

surely the people are grass.

The grass withers, the flower fades,

but the word of our God will stand forever.1

Though he battled tuberculosis throughout his life, the Anglican rector, Henry Lyte, was nevertheless a man strong in spirit and faith.

Without benefit of the powerful, almost miraculous medications that are readily available to those suffering from tuberculosis in this day, the dread disease progressed and his health deteriorated, until at last he was forced to seek a warmer climate in Italy.

On September 4, 1847 the good rector‘s final sermon was preached to the parishioners gathered at Lower Brixham, England.

It is recorded that the pastor nearly had to crawl to the pulpit before delivering that final message to his congregation.

From the pulpit, he proclaimed, ―It is my desire to induce you to prepare for the solemn hour which must come to all, by a timely appreciation and dependence on the death of Christ.‖

Shortly before that final sermon, Lyte was inspired to write a hymn that has blessed the people of God—whatever their communion—in the decades since.2

I cannot help but wonder if the hymn writer thought of the verses of our text when he wrote these words:

Abide with me—fast falls the eventide.

The darkness deepens—Lord, with me abide;

when other helpers fail and comforts flee,

help of the helpless, O abide with me!

Swift to its close ebbs out life‘s little day;

earth‘s joys grow dim; its glories pass away;

change and decay in all around I see—

O Thou who changest not, abide with me!

I need Thy presence ev‘ry passing hour—

What but Thy grace can foil the tempter‘s pow‘r?

Who like Thyself my guide and stay can be?

Thru cloud and sunshine, O abide with me.

Hold Thou Thy word before my closing eyes.

Shine thru the gloom and point me to the skies;

heav‘n‘s morning breaks and earth‘s vain shadows flee—

In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.3

Though our world is defined by change and decay, this text assures us that there is certainty for all who hold firmly to the eternal Word of the Lord.

We who follow the Risen Son of God know that we may rest secure in the knowledge that our times are in His hand and that we are safe from death that marks this dying world.

The Advent Season must become for all who know their God a time of preparation for what is surely coming.

To be certain, we rejoice in the knowledge of His first advent, but it is the anticipation of His return to receive us to Himself that causes us to exult in Him and in His mercy.

THE DEATH OF OUR CULTURE — This could be the last Christmas celebrated in this Church Age, this Age of Grace.

The shadows are lengthening; the sun is setting on Christian civilisation in the west.

Culture as we have known it is experiencing a cataclysmic upheaval.

Wickedness is in the ascendency; righteousness stands far away and truth has stumbled in the public squares [see ISAIAH 59:14].

If the outline of history as provided in the opening chapters of the Apocalypse is correct, then it seems apparent that we are entering, if not already present in, the final dispensation—the Laodicean era.

Sir Edward Grey, British Foreign Secretary, standing at a window in the Foreign Office, watching the lamps being lit as dusk approached, famously remarked, ―The lamps are going out all over Europe.

We shall not see them lit again in our time.‖

The occasion for that dark statement was Germany‘s declaration of war against France on August 3rd, 1914.4

Some two decades later, on the cusp of yet another world war, Winston Churchill pleaded with the people of the United States of America, unequivocally stating, ―The lights are going out.‖

The occasion for that speech was the growing restrictions on free speech and an increase in assaults against Jews perpetuated by Germany.5

A similar alarm must be sounded today as the lights are going out in the west.

Despite denials from self-serving politicians, and a multiplication of agnostics and atheists together with religious sympathisers who live as though God was not a factor in our continued existence, the western world was founded on the Faith of Christ the Lord.

When the Faith is marginalised, whether through direct assault or through neglect, the lights will indeed be extinguished.

Despite a current recession that threatens the extravagant lifestyle to which we have grown accustomed, this is nevertheless an era marked by unprecedented luxury and ease.

Modern Canadians enjoy lives that would have been unimaginable to earlier generations, a lifestyle that was utterly unknown to our fathers.

Consequently, the culture of convenience and comfort in which we now live has surely dulled the spiritual perspicuity of professed followers of the Lamb.

We modern Christians enjoy an entertaining sermon, though we are uncertain about being challenged from the pulpit.

Should the preacher call us to repentance—a return to righteousness, like inhabitants of some hot, sleepy Southwestern village roused from our midday siesta, we murmur, ―Mañana!

Mañana!‖ to any call for action.

We are witnessing an all-out assault against the Faith, and few believers seem alarmed.

Charged with being salt and light in the midst of a decaying, darkened world, Christians have grown quiescent and their light no longer penetrates the dark shadows.

The Master‘s warning may well apply to this generation.

Jesus warned, ―You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?

It is no longer fit for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people‘s feet‖ [MATTHEW 5:13].

We Christians are being intimidated into silence, and the greatest weapon muting our voice—greater even than fear of disapproval—is an inordinate desire to be liked by the world.

We have ignored the warning Jesus issued to those who would follow Him: ―Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets‖ [LUKE 6:26].

Each day brings more disturbing reports of attack and assault against the Faith; and these incidents are never more vigorously prosecuted than during the Advent Season.

It is as though the idea that someone would worship the Son of God drives otherwise gentle people into a frenzied rage.

Perhaps we should not be surprised at this anger.

You will recall that the Master Himself warned His disciples, ―If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.

If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Remember the word that I said to you: ‗A servant is not greater than his master.‘

If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.

If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.

If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.

Whoever hates me hates my Father also‖ [JOHN 15:18-23].

Each year during the Advent Season, we witness an increase in the number of attacks against Christian symbolism such as nativity scenes, prayer at public events and crosses erected to honour war dead.

We have grown used to the ongoing spectacle of ―holiday trees‖ which are somehow less offensive than Christmas trees, feigned outrage at Christmas parades as one or two individuals manage to set a new agenda for communities and even entire nations.

Now, even playing Christmas carols is deemed offensive.6

One complaint was enough to ensure that no Christmas Carols were played because it excluded other religions and even atheists!

Even entertainment and the arts are enlisted in the ongoing effort to denigrate the Faith.

Crucifixes are dunked in urine or filmed with ants crawling over them, and called art.

―Paintings‖ intended to represent Mary, the mother of our Lord, are daubed with elephant dung.

This, too, is called art.

Anyone objecting to such desecration of holy concepts is charged with censorship and mercilessly attacked as attempting to impose their religious beliefs on others.

Somehow, the media seems never to notice that the anti-religious crowd is attempting to impose its view on entire communities.

Cartoon characters representing the Son of God are presented as foul-mouthed and morally filthy,7 and wicked people dare the righteous to object.

Religious leaders are publicly insulted and ridiculed by comediennes who are actually ignorant of what is humorous; this is done because the religious leaders dare call for righteousness and morality, or because they oppose the mad dash to desecrate all that is holy.

This past summer, federal Judge Vaughn Walker overturned California's Proposition 8 that sought to define marriage.

In his ruling, against all evidence to the contrary, Judge Walker said ―…beliefs that gay and lesbian relationships are sinful or inferior to heterosexual relationships harm gays and lesbians.‖8

In his judgement, he censured multiple religious groups, including the Southern Baptist Convention and the Roman Catholic Church, for holding to biblical morality in the face of growing opposition to what is good and noble and holy.

More recently, Apple killed the iPhone app designed to assist those wishing to sign the Manhattan Declaration because, according to their press release, that particular application ―offended large groups of people.‖9

In keeping with what has become a standard, those offended appear to have been advocates for same-sex marriage and homosexual and lesbian activists.

Turning from battling racial inequities, the Southern Poverty Law Center, in its 2010 Winter Report, lists as ―hate groups‖ a number of Christian organisations, such as the American Family Association, Coral Ridge Ministries, Family Research Council, Focus on the Family, Liberty Counsel, the National Organization for Marriage and The Manhattan Declaration.

These Christian groups are lumped in with the Klu Klux Klan and a multiplicity of racially identified gangs and neo-Nazi groups because they advocate marriage as being between one man and one woman.10

This can only be seen as a frontal assault against righteousness and anything that speaks of goodness in our world today.

While the world trembles at the thought of offending Muslim sensibilities by questioning the validity of the Koran, few are fearful of offending Holy God.

However, a day is pending when the Living God will say to a world enraged against Him and His Christ, ―Enough!‖

Perhaps you will recall the prophecy we have received as the Second Psalm, which begins with these words:

―Why do the nations rage

and the peoples plot in vain?

The kings of the earth set themselves,

and the rulers take counsel together,