Sermon Tone Analysis

Why do we celebrate Advent?

The Advent season is the four Sundays before Christmas.

It is a time of anticipation and renewal.

The word Advent comes from the Latin word, Advenio - it means “to come to” or “to arrive.”

And so Advent is the time we look back the Messiah’s first coming – the birth of Christ.

But we also look forward to His second coming.

That one day when Christ will return.

So Advent is a time of remembrance and anticipation.

Looking back and looking forward.

That is Advent – but, why do we celebrate?

If someone were to ask you, “Why do you celebrate Christmas,” how would you answer?

Many of us say, “Jesus is the reason for the season.”

“It’s the Savior’s birth.”

True – but that doesn’t really explain why we celebrate.

So let me ask this - what compelled a holy, righteous and just God to leave the beauty and majesty of His throne to walk the dusty roads of this messy sinful broken world?

What caused God to come in the flesh and live an innocent sinless life only to be beaten by Roman guards, and then nailed to a cross, to be pierced and crucified among criminals?

What compelled the Son of God to become a sacrifice – not only for a few, but for the whole world!

To fully celebrate the significance of Advent, to deeply appreciate the baby in a manger - we must know why we celebrate.

To be able to sing "Joy to the World" or to be able to say with the angels, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy … for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord,” to proclaim that we have seen a great light, we must answer the question – why.

Why did God do it?

To answer that, let us travel back to the day when Darkness Came.

Thus, was the day darkness came – Thus was the day sin entered our world.

But what is this darkness, this sin?

The seed of sin begins with a thought in the mind and heart – it doubts God, questions His motives and purity and His holiness – sin questions His character - and when left unchecked it creates a desire within the human heart to rebel against God and once conceived it gives birth to sin, and when fully grown sin brings forth death.

And what is death – permanent separation from life.

And that is what we see in Gen. 3 – death and separation, specifically death and separation from relationships.

God, others, self, creation.

Sin is Rebellion against God

Sin – it is personal rebellion against God.

Sin desires autonomy.

Sin says to God, “Don’t tell me how to live – what I can and can’t do!”

And when we rebel against God and choose to do life our way, there is always a price - a deadly destructive price that creates a permanent separation from God and from others.

The wages of sin is death – physical, spiritual, emotional – something always dies.

Sin is Rejection of God

Not only is sin rebellion against God, it is also rejection of God.

Sin is a rejection of God’s holiness, God’s perfect standards, God’s morality.

Sin is an offense to God – why, just because we did something wrong?

Partly, but mostly because it’s personal – sin is a personal offense to God’s perfect and righteous character.

Sin is a Reality

Sin is rebellion, it’s rejection, but’s also a reality.

Sin is not a theoretical religious word.

Sin is not a subjective archaic teaching of the past that’s out of date with modern society.

Sin is not old-fashioned – it is a reality.

It is in our very DNA.

Sin is in the very fabric of our being.

A.W. Tozer – writing about the sins said this -

“They are not something we do, they are something we are, and therein lies their subtlety and their power.

They dwell too deep within us and are too much a part of our natures to come to our attention till the light of God is focused upon them.”

Sin is a reality – not only did Adam and Eve eat of the forbidden tree, but in essence, we have all taken a bite and therefore every person knows too well the reality of the pain and death and guilt and shame and the anguish of sin and living in a sinful world.

In other words, choosing to live in sin is a rejection of Christ and to reject Christ means condemnation, judgement and Hell.

Sin is a reality – and it separates us from truth, from hope, from what is good, right, and virtuous.

Sin is destructive and it creates a culture of death and chaos and fear and confusion and hate.

Sin destroys individuals, families, communities, nations – sin destroys everything in its path.

Sin leaves us without hope as we attempt to make our way in the deep shadow of darkness.

Sin leaves us dead – separated from God and from life.

With sin there is no hope of self-resuscitation – we cannot save ourselves, let alone someone else.

Dead people can’t save anything or anyone.

Every one of us has eaten from the tree.

Each of us has incurred guilt and condemnation.

For there is no distinction, doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from, the color of your skin, rich or poor, male or female “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” “Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, and the wrath of God remains on him” – John 3:36.

We are all doomed to Hell.

So what do we do?

Let me read to you again

This is known by many scholars as the protevangelium – it’s Latin, and it means the First Gospel.

Even at the onset and entrance of sin into the world God promised good news - that the seed of the woman (Jesus Christ) would conquer the seed of the serpent (death).

Even before Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden, God promised hope and salvation!

He promised, that one day a Redeemer would come to Zion who is Jesus the Christ, the Messiah, and He would be born of the line of David, born to the virgin Mary – God promised hope and salvation for all humanity!

That Jesus, the Son of God who was perfect and sinless, would become sin for us, He would become our sin that we might become the righteousness of God.

God promised to undo what was done in the Garden.

God promised that one day, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ would die for the ungodly.

That God would demonstrate his own love for us that while we were still sinners, Christ would die for us.

God promised to justify, to declare us not guilty in His sight – He promised to redeem us, that the blood of Christ would be the propitiation of our sin if we receive Him by faith.

So let me ask again, why do we celebrate Advent?

Jesus has given the promise of forgiveness of sins, the promise of new life, the promise of eternal life, the promise of a restored life … He has promised that

And when Jesus sets us free – we are free indeed!

Again, why do we celebrate Advent?

It’s not about the nostalgia.

It’s not about the lights, the trees, the songs, the shopping or presents – it’s not even about a baby in a manger – but why there was a baby in the manger.

God, in the flesh, came to seek and save the lost.

Need I say more?

Unless you know Christ as your Savior, you have confessed Christ as Lord, that He died and rose again on the third day and you have repented of sins and you are actively pursuing Christ – you really have no reason to celebrate.

However …

ADVENT CANDLE with children