Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Emotion Tone
Anger
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Disgust
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Fear
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Joy
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Sadness
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Analytical
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Confident
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Openness
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Conscientiousness
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Extraversion
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Today, as we celebrate the Christmas season, we will be focusing on Joy.
Christmas is supposed to be a time of joy, isn’t it?
Even our culture at large--that does not know the real meaning of Christmas--knows that this time of year is to be a time of joy.
Why?
Why is Christmas a time of joy?
We heard the Christmas account read to us by Todd, and we celebrated through song.
We heard the real reason for joy in the Christmas account.
Did you hear it?
It is found in Luke 2:10-11
The angel was bringing news that will cause great joy for all people.
What is this great news?
It was that the Savior was born!
This was supposed to bring great joy to all people.
Isn’t it wonderful that our Lord provided a savior, and joy?
In fact, in these verses, God emphasizes that He is bringing JOY to all people, through the coming of the Savior.
This shows us that God cares not only about us being saved from sin, but He wants us to know Joy!! God cares about our state of mind.
He wants us to know joy.
One of the great themes of scripture is that God causes His people to know joy.
He causes them to rejoice.
If God wants us to know Joy, and that is what He sent the angels to communicate, then we need to take time to understand joy, and how we can have it.
That is what we are going to look at this morning.
What is joy?
What is joy?
Is joy being happy?
What is the difference between happiness and joy?
First a definition of happiness:
Happiness: a state of being pleased with one’s circumstances
Happiness is a feeling of pleasure that is directly tied to circumstances.
I am truly happy when eating chocolate chip cookies, or Dutch chocolate ice cream.
Happiness can be having your family all together.
Happiness can be having a quiet moment.
Happiness can be time spent in creation, at the beach, or in the mountains, or beside a stream.
Happiness is always tied to circumstances.
Now, what is Joy?
I found this definition of joy.
Joy: an attitude of pleasure and well-being
Happiness is a feeling we have which is directly tied to our circumstances.
Joy is an attitude.
Attitudes are not tied to circumstances.
Attitudes are choices we make in our minds about how we approach life.
I think it is important to see that Joy is an attitude because attitudes are choices.
Joy is an attitude of pleasure and well-being which is gained by choice.
I think it is important that God wanted to bring joy, and not happiness.
Why is that?
Why did God say the news would bring joy, and not happiness?
Because this world is full of sorrow.
The circumstances of this world are often hard and difficult.
True, unending happiness will be found in the new heavens and the new earth once all sin, sickness, death and sorrow will be removed.
Once all of the negative circumstances are removed, we will know true unending happiness.
But, here in this world, that is not the case.
There are often circumstances which will cause us to not be happy.
Think back to the setting of Christ’s coming to Earth.
At the time the angel said this, the people of Israel were feeling the burden of oppression.
They just had to uproot their families and lives to travel to the cities of their family lines in order to be taxed.
Travel was not fun, nor was it easy in those days.
They didn’t just hop in the car.
They had to primarily walk.
And when they walked, they had to carry everything with them.
Imagine if you went on your family vacation, but instead of loading up the car, you had to carry all of your luggage, and walk to your destination.
Oh, you have to not only carry your luggage, but your food.
And you have to carry water to drink.
How many of you have been to New York City?
The distance Mary and Joseph would have travelled would be nearly the equivalent of travelling from here to New York City.
Walking.
Now imagine you had to do all of that, not because you were going on vacation, but you had to do it to register to pay for taxes!
Oh, and you lose all of the income you should have had for the time it takes you to go there and come back.
Does the thought of loading up your family and going on a trip like that warm your heart?
Now, think of the men who were first told about the Savior coming by the angels.
They were shepherds.
These were the lower class citizens of the day.
They were not the popular crowd.
They were not the rich.
They were not the middle class.
They were the poor.
They were looked down-upon by others.
They did not have the best clothes.
They smelled like sheep.
Their job had them out in all kinds of weather.
They were responsible for the care of the sheep.
They had to fight off wild animals, and keep alert for thieves.
Any loss of sheep they had to bear.
They did not have easy lives.
Their circumstances would have made happiness hard to come by.
They certainly had their share of hardships and sorrows.
What about us today?
Sorrows that rob us of happiness
Do we have circumstances that make happiness difficult?
Do we face circumstances that bring sorrow?
Yes!
Sorrows:
Poverty
Sickness
Losses in business
Cars breakdown
Money seems to fly away
hopes dashed
friends who leave
Strife in the home
uncertainty in the future
enemies who hurt
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