Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

The First Songs of Christmas.

When we hear songs of Christmas we may think of Hark the Herald Angels sing.

Maybe Joy to the World.

Maybe Frosty the Snowman.

Maybe Rudolph, Santa Claus is coming to Town, or even Grandma got Run Over by a Reindeer.

But these are not the songs we will look at in this series of sermons.

No, those songs are a mix of worship, fun, and just goofy but all are written by a human.

These songs are from a person but are in Scripture so it is God’s word.

These songs we will look at are from people or angels but all are about praise to Christ who was or will be born.

The first one we will examine is from Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptizer.

An elderly woman who was well beyond the years of childbearing was made able to bear a child because God works in amazing ways.

She had much to celebrate with this miraculous birth yet even her amazing blessing was overshadowed by something far greater.

She did not let herself get in the way of what was more important.

We will see in a minute that she placed the more important far above anything she had going on.

Which leads to a question I want you to think about as we go through this Scripture.

This question is, “Do you celebrate and honor the more important over you, or do you allow you to be celebrated more than the more important?”

The more important is, of course, the Lord Jesus Christ.

There was a farmer named Ralph L. Woods who was unhappy about the yield of his crops.

He heard of a highly recommended new seed corn and promptly bought some.

This new seed produced a crop that was so abundant his astonished neighbors asked him to sell them a portion of the new seed.

But the farmer, afraid that he would lose a profitable competitive advantage, refused.

The second year the new seed did not produce as good a crop, and when the third-year crop was still worse it dawned upon the farmer that his prize corn was being pollinated by the inferior grade of corn from his neighbors' fields.

Here we see a farmer celebrating himself over the more important.

Do you know what the more important was?

It was all the crops receiving the same thing so his crop could stay abundant.

He hoarded the good seed to his destruction.

When we celebrate the goodness God gives us over the God who gave we do the same thing.

God blesses us so we can bless others because we are to glorify Him in all things.

This is money, time, talent, and love toward others.

But if we are to into ourselves we will not celebrate the more important over the less of ourselves.

In this Scripture from Luke 1:39-45 we see Elizabeth show us how to celebrate the more important by being Amazed by Christ.

The text reads...

Mary immediately went to see her elder relative who was pregnant.

Mary was an obedient servant of the Lord.

Look back at verse 38 Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”

She was sold out for the Lord and was to become pregnant as an unmarried but betrothed woman and she accepted this on faith because it was from the Lord.

She faced possible stoning or rejection and shame for this but she was sold out for the Lord.

So the fact that she went to Elizabeth immediately after the angel told her of her pregnancy to rejoice with her because she knew it was from God too, is not surprising.

She has put herself out two times in just a few short verses.

She accepted this task faithfully from the Lord and now goes to celebrate with her relative over her God-given pregnancy.

A faithful woman who upon arriving hears a different greeting than expected.

At Mary’s greeting the baby leaped in Elizabeth and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

In this we see that Elizabeth demonstrated...

Joy Over Christ

She could have taken the adoration that comes from being pregnant.

She could have allowed Mary to ohhh and awww over her, but she was ecstatic over her coming to her.

She was because the more important was in Mary.

Yes, Elizabeth received an amazing blessing with her child.

Yes, Elizabeth was extremely blessed by the Lord having the amazing blessing of giving birth to the greatest prophet and man born of women.

But she demonstrated that her joy is over the more important in the womb of her younger relative.

This is a culture shift because the younger always honored the older rather than the other way around.

She praised not Mary, but the child in her.

I ask, where is your joy?

Is it in some blessing you have received?

Is it in the money in your pocket or account?

Is it in your job?

Your clothes?

Your car?

Your house?

Your vacations?

Your children?

Your position?

You may be saying no to all these and thinking it is in Christ, but is it really in Him?

Do you give to the Lord above what you desire?

Do you allow purchases to surpass what you could have done for the Lord?

Do you allow fear of losing something material to overshadow your love of God?

Do you spend all your money on things that will fade and disappear because it is fun rather than using it for the glory of the Lord?

Joy, Joy indescribable unfathomable Joy because of Christ will cause you to leap and forget yourself and the things in your life.

Joy is not in anything of this world but in Christ alone.

Joy is only made possible by Christ.

The world only offers fading and dying things that bring momentary joy and happiness.

The world takes joy if all your joy is in money, material, or people.

Truthfully, the world is against joy because the world is against Christ.

Joy, true Joy is in Christ alone.

Joy is in the more important over the less important.

Now, do not misunderstand what I am saying here.

I am not saying that we should not enjoy the creation.

We should enjoy what God has given us, but we do not need to make it be the end all of our joy.

It is here for our joy and happiness but that is only possible when we honor the creator over the creation.

If we allow the materiality of this creation to overshadow our Joy in the Lord or Joy Over Christ, then we are not in Joy but in the World and seeking the World to give us Joy.

Elizabeth had every right to celebrate and rejoice over her blessing.

She was old, barren, and disgraced in that world because she had not had a child.

She had all the right in the world to rejoice over what she had, but she gave her Joy to the Lord because He is above all things.

C

Christ is the reason for Joy and happiness.

Nothing else can do that for us.

Only Him.

If you think holding onto the worldly will give you Joy, you will be disappointed and depressed in the long run.

Only Christ can give joy and peace because He is the Messiah, the creator of it all.

He can do far more abundantly above anything we could ever imagine.

When you have the joy in the Lord that Elizabeth demonstrated you too will then allow yourself to have a major...

Celebration of Christ

Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb.

Why is it that you the one chosen to carry the Lord, Christ, come see me?

Worship, praise, exaltation of the Lord and Him coming to us will ultimately follow joy.

We are joyous over the Lord and then we exclaim that joy because we cannot contain it anymore.

Like a child on Christmas day opening a gift and they see it is something they wanted all year, they yell out and rejoice over the gift.

You become the greatest because you gave them something that was so amazing.

Joy becomes worship and praise.