Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Jesus... Savior... Immanuel... the Christ
Luke 1:28, 30-33.
Mary, you are given a great, gracious gift!
God is with you!
You will have a son, Jesus!
He will be the savior!
Matthew 1:20-21.
Joseph, take Mary as your wife.
She will give birth to a son.
Name Him Jesus, because He will save his people from their sins.
He will also be called, Immanuel, God with us!
Luke 2:11.
Today a Savior is born, Christ, the promised one, the Lord!
The names and titles of this baby that we are celebrating still today reveal why we celebrate Him.
Jesus - meaning God Saves
Immanuel - meaning God is with us
Christ - his title meaning God's anointed one.
What God established long before with Israel was that there were three offices, three types of Leaders God would provide for them.
The three offices were the ones who were anointed with oil to show that God had chosen them.
Prophets declared God's message to the people.
Priests served as representatives of the people to God, and God to the people, because people could not approach the Holy God and live.
Kings were anointed to rule on God's behalf, to lead the nation the way God would have them live.
The Christ, the promised one, would do all three of these offices.
He would declare God's message, He would be the go-between for the people and God.
He would lead the people, ruling justly over them.
How could he do all of this?
Because his other title, Lord, showed Him to be none other than God Himself, come in the flesh.
But, why do we celebrate a Savior?
Why celebrate that God is with us?
Why celebrate that God is talking with us, being our mediator, and our leader?
To learn why we celebrate, I would like to use the Christmas Tree.
Christmas Trees.
I remember growing up, we always went to get a real Christmas tree.
Most years, we bought a cut tree, brought it home, and put it up with decorations.
We had decorations that went back through the years, and it was fun to see the old decorations year after year, and the memories of what had happened, captured in the ornaments.
Of course, some of the ornaments were damaged.
I remember having a Santa Claus ornament which had a sled that could hold little pieces of candy or other small things.
The one ski of the sled was broken off.
And there were those glass balls that just liked to fall off and break when you looked at them!
Nevertheless, the tree was always beautiful, smelled wonderful, and is the object of many fond memories.
Back then, we didn't have fake trees.
They were real trees that had been cut.
To keep them going through the Christmas season, we had to water them.
I remember having to water the tree, and getting poked by the needles as I tried to reach in under the tree.
Remember that?
Those needles, which were soft and green on the outside, were hard and pokey underneath!
And, by the end of Christmas, even with faithful watering, the needles getting harder, falling off and many were turning brown.
Why, even with watering were they falling off?
Well, the tree was dying.
It had been cut off from the roots, its source of life.
That tree was just like you and me.
Long ago, when God created this world, God had created man to be with Him.
He formed the first man, Adam, from the ground, and breathed life into Him.
He was the one to provide all that Adam needed, and was his true source of life.
God would spend time with the Adam and the wife He provided for him, Eve, in the garden He made for them.
However, though God warned Adam, one day Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil.
The fruit looked so good.
It looked like it would be everything they would want.
They were told it would satisfy them, and make them wise like God.
God had tried to protect them from knowing Evil, but the day they disobeyed God and ate from that tree, they knew what was evil, and were in fact, evil themselves.
They were no longer perfect as God had made them.
They were now sinful, doing things that God determined were wrong.
They were sinful in their actions, in their thoughts, and in their words, trying to blame others outside of themselves for their failures.
The fruit that looked so good, and seemed like it would be so fulfilling, left them empty, disappointed, guilty and ashamed.
Because they had done this, what God had said came true.
God warned Adam if he ate the fruit of that tree, he would die.
And that day, Adam and Eve, when they ate the fruit, became just like a Christmas Tree.
They were cut off from their root, their source of life, the Holy God who had created them.
They looked healthy.
They acted healthy.
But just like the Christmas tree, they were drying up, and dying.
They still drank and ate, but that only delayed the inevitable.
They were dying, because they were cut off from their source of life, God.
They were no longer with him, and would no longer get what they needed to live from him.
Then, when they had children, those children as well were cut off from God.
Their children were just like their parents.
They too desired, and pursued what God said was wrong.
Their children too, were sinful; all the way down through the generations to you and me.
So we are all like this tree, cut off from the root, the source of life, the Holy, perfect God.
All in the process of dying apart from Him. NO matter how much it drinks in, it is dying.
When I look at the Christmas tree, it reminds me that apart from God, I am dying.
No matter how much I do good, no matter how many times I go to church or receive sacraments, I am dying.
That is like the water the tree drinks in.
It seems to help, but it ultimately does nothing to save the tree.
Those things do nothing to save us.
We need something more...
We need a savior!
When I see the shiny gold, ornaments, they remind me that just like Adam and Eve, I go after all kinds of things that I think will satisfy me.
I go after whatever I want, when I want, the way I want so I can get what I want--what I think will satisfy me.
Those shiny, ornate ornaments remind me of all that I pursue thinking that I will be satisfied.
But, just like those fancy ornaments, I find out it is all empty.
It is all so fragile, and ultimately unsatisfying.
They too often leaving me empty.
When I pursue them instead of God, I feel disappointed.
And, for those sinful things, and the sinful ways I go about getting them, my selfishness all leave me feeling guilty and ashamed.
So the Christmas tree reminds me I am dying.
The shiny gold ornaments remind me of the empty way of life I have which separates me from God, leaves me disappointed, guilty and ashamed.
Merry Christmas, huh?
Well, we aren't done yet!
At the top of the tree, just like the tree when I grew up, is the angel!
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