Sermon Tone Analysis
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TROUBLE WITH THE WORLD’S CHRISTMAS
Have you noticed?
There are a lot of opportunities for worship this time of year.
Even though it’s not yet December 25th, in many places various forms of Christmas worship have been going on for some time.
Right now I’m thinking of one particular example.
It is quite traditional.
It’s been around a long time.
It is heavily promoted.
The houses of worship are filled.
Music is always playing.
The sanctuaries are adorned with impressive holiday color and beauty.
This particular example of Christmas worship consistently proclaims a gospel that promises relief from cares and hope for the future.
But there is a problem.
Even though it’s popular.
Even though it claims to celebrate Christmas.
It is Christmas worship without Christ.
With this type of so-called worship “Jesus is NOT the Reason for the Season.”
I’m thinking of the worldly version of Christmas that promotes money and material possessions as the ultimate source of relief and hope.
Jesus described money as one of the world’s gods.
In his Large Catechism, Luther said a false god is something that people ultimately look to in time of need.
Anything besides the true God that we trust in becomes for us a false god.
Money and the things it buys is near the top of that list for many people.
From that perspective, we could say this false god’s houses of worship might be stores and shopping venues.
You can even worship online through the temple of Amazon.
The marketers and advertisers are evangelists for the god money and its worship known as materialism.
You could even play around with this image and say cash registers are like altars of sacrifice that promise blessings if our offering is big enough.
Notice this particular materialistic approach, “Christmas worship.”
Merely shopping for Christmas presents is not in itself worship of money.
Rather, it is the fallen world’s approach to money that makes it worship.
We can buy things, including Christmas presents, for good reasons as well.
Our Christmas shopping doesn’t have to be a materialistic practice.
But make no mistake about it, the devil will tempt and our sinful nature will often fall for such a false hope.
Jesus was well aware of this.
So in the parable of the Sower he warned against what he called “the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches.”
He said that these can choke out the word of God.
TROUBLE IN THE TEXT – THE SINFUL WORLD IS EXPOSED AND JUDGMENT MUST COME
In our Advent services this season, we have been listening to Jesus’s words in that parable to help us focus on God’s word, especially daily devotions.
So far we have considered how Jesus came and still comes to overcome the devil and our sinful nature.
Today, we focus on him overcoming the sinful world.
Hear his description in the parable of the Sower.
“A sower went out to sow.
And as he sowed, some . . .
seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.”
Then he explained that the seed represents God’s word.
He said:
“As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.”
That is to say, when the world’s cares and false hopes close off the word of Jesus from us, it’s like plants being choked out by weeds.
These worldly cares and false hopes can take various forms.
Earlier I described materialism in the world’s false Christmas.
Another is atheism and false beliefs that seek to discredit God’s word and teach empty philosophies.
There is the most basic form in the worship of self, promoted by the world.
God declares that someday he will return to put an end to it all.
Jesus will come back in power to judge the living and the dead.
There is no negotiating with the sinful world, it must be destroyed before a new one is created to replace it.
In his second letter Peter writes,
“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief.
The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.
Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be?
You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.
That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.
But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells” (2 Pt 3:10–13).
GRACE IN THE WORD
And a new thing is coming.
Christmas advertisers tell you to buy the latest new thing, our Lord promises to give us the last new thing, the new heaven and the new earth.
This will happen when he comes back.
It was his plan from the beginning.
The promise of a new world was made by Isaiah in the Old Testament.
As prophesied, Jesus came to redeem his people in the fallen world so that he could come and take them to a new one when he returns, a new and better one, called “the home of righteousness.”
He could do this because he and his kingdom are not of this world.
And when he came that first Christmas promising to bring peace on earth and good will to man, it was not the world’s fleeting form of peace that he promised.
As he said during his ministry,
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.
I do not give to you as the world gives.
Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
(John 14:27)
He produced this peace when he took on the sin of the world and took it to the cross.
It was through the peace of his cross and resurrection that true hope was given in the face the of the world’s lies.
Again he says,
I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.
In this world you will have trouble.
But take heart!
I have overcome the world (John 16:33).
This peace that we know now by faith will transform every part of life in the new world Jesus will bring when he returns.
In the Book of Revelation, John prophesies this: Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.
I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look!
God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them.
They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.
‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes.
There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “ Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” (Rv 21)
GRACE IN THE WORLD
It is through the promise of God’s word that is “trustworthy and true” that allays our fears of this world coming to an end.
Following the end of the world brought by God’s judgment will be a new world where peace with God and one another abounds.
That is why we gather together to encourage one another in communities of faith as we await Christ’s return.
That is what the church does in its worship.
It forms people into the community of faith that draws hope from the word of God amidst the sinful world.
But let me ask, “Is weekly worship enough?”
I would say, “No.”
The world calls us to take part in its false worship seven days a week.
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