Sermon Tone Analysis

By Pastor Glenn Pease

George Mason did not want to be bothered with his brother's kids and all the noise, so he refused the invitation to be with them for Christmas.

He planned to just stay home and listen to records.

He was a workaholic and had plenty to do.

On Christmas Eve after all his employees had left he went into the office vault to get some extra cash.

He forgot the large door of the vault had been newly oiled and it soundlessly swung shut behind him and he was plunged into darkness as the click on the automatic lock startled him into panic.

He pounded the door and shouted but he knew it was futile.

Everyone was gone, and even the cleaning lady.

He began to assure himself that he had enough air for the night, but then he remembered that tomorrow was Christmas and no one would come to work.

His heart began to pound and in fear he wondered if he could last two nights.

He remembered that modern vaults are suppose to have a safety hole, and so he began to feel in the dark, and to his great relief he found it at the top of the back wall.

It was small but adequate for air, and so he knew he would not suffocate.

There he sat in the dark through the endless hours of Christmas Eve and all through Christmas Day.

He was lonely, hungry and uncomfortable, but he survived.

The day after Christmas the chief cashier arrived and unlocked the vault, but did not open it.

George just slipped out and was not even seen.

He took a taxi home and freshened up and then came back to work.

Nobody in the office even knew what he had gone through, and that was just the way he wanted it, for it was embarrassing to have missed Christmas.

It was a day of light and love, and he sat alone in the dark.

It was not a very wise way to miss Christmas.

There are many ways to miss Christmas, and none of them are wise, but some are more unwise than others.

I read of an ocean liner which was sailing for Australia in late December, and it crossed the international dateline during the night of Dec. 24, which meant it was immediately the night of Dec. 25th, and so the next morning it was already Dec. 26th.

The passengers on that ship missed Christmas.

That was a very unusual situation, but all they really missed was a date on the calendar, and Christmas is much more than that.

It is a celebration of the Savior's birth, and this can be celebrated at any time.

People get sick and have accidents and are separated for many reasons, but none of these need to lead to missing Christmas.

You can miss the day, but wise men never miss Christmas regardless of the complexities of life that may make them miss the day.

Even the wise men in the Bible missed the day of Christ's birth.

It was after His birthday that they arrived, and so technically, if you are only referring to a date, they even missed Christmas.

But if Christmas is not a mere period of time, but a person we love and worship at all times, then we can see that it is true that wise men never miss Christmas.

There are 3 characteristics of the wise men that we want to consider.

We want to look at these 3 characteristics with the prayer that we would possess them so that regardless of circumstances we too will never miss Christmas.

I. THE WISE WONDER AT THE GLORY OF GOD.

Christmas begins with wonder.

Had the wise men not wondered at the star of Bethlehem they would have missed Christmas.

There are many theories about that star.

In their book The Return Of The Star Of Bethlehem, Kenneth Boe and William Proctor disgusted 6 of these theories, and then conclude that the star was an appearance of the Shekinah glory-that is the visible manifestation of the presence of God.

This theory appeals to me, but whatever you conviction about that star, everyone agrees it was a glorious sight and a symbol of God at work in the world.

It produced wonder in those who beheld its shining splendor.

Wise men are those who respond to the wonder of God's glory in the world.

The Shepherds were wise men too in this sense, for they could have said after their exposure to God's glory in the presence of the angels, "Boy are we glad that is over, it was scary."

They could have gone back to a boring night of sheep watching, but they responded to the wonder of God's glory, and they went to see the Christ child.

Everybody who got in on Christmas did so by means of wonder.

That is the first step toward Christmas, and those who do not take this first step miss Christmas regardless of what they do on Dec. 25th.

You can have a ball and spend a mint;

You can rent a hall and get in print;

You can buy to the sky and be feeling high,

But if you never wonder at God's glory

You have missed the essence of the story.

You have missed Christmas.

Pastor Samuel Marsden back in the early 1800's was on a ship going to Australia.

He met a native from New Zealand who was in a state of awe at the white man's world, and he was open to the wonder of God's love.

When he heard the Gospel he gladly opened his heart to receive Jesus Christ as his Savior.

He urged Pastor Marsden to come to New Zealand to share this good news with his people.

He could not do so then, but he promised he would come.

When the New Zealander returned home and told of what he had heard and seen his people thought travel had affected his mind.

He told of how the white man rode large animals, but they scoffed and doubted, and they were very skeptical of the story that God had become man.

It was Christmas Eve of 1814 that a ship docked and Pastor Marsden rode a horse onto New Zealand soil, and the people were in a state of wonder.

They took advantage of that wonder and the next day heard the first Christmas service in the history of New Zealand.

The crowds came and many responded to the wonder of the Gospel because they were already in a state of wonder because of what they had seen.

Whatever moves people to wonder, be it the marvels of God's creation, or the miracles of the supernatural, it is the first step toward getting in on Christmas.

Without a sense of wonder people will always miss Christmas.

Herod was so hung up on himself that he had no sense of wonder that a God ordained king was born.

He had a chance no other king ever had to be in on Christmas, but he missed it.

He not only missed it, he messed it up for others in Bethlehem by his hatred.

He could have been a hero of history, and there would have been songs and poetry written about him as he joined the wise men to bow before the baby king.

Herod had Christmas in the palm of his hand, but he missed it.

He let the greatest opportunity of his life slip through his hands because he lacked a sense of wonder at what God was doing.

The chief priests and the teachers were in the same boat.

They even knew the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem, and yet when the wise men told them of their experience of the star they merely yawned and went back to their duties devoid of wonder at what God was doing in the world.

Had they had any sense of wonder there would have been a marvelous camel chase to Jerusalem to Bethlehem as they sought to out run the wise men to be the first to bow before their king.

There was no such race, however, and so the scholars of Israel missed Christmas.

The modern day story of Scrooge is the Herod scene all over again.

The crotchety old skinflint is so wrapped up in his own interests that he has none in the interest of others.

It only ends happily because the wonder of human love finally penetrates his hard heart.

Had Herod been touched by love he too may have gotten in on Christmas, but Herod was not open to love, either human or divine.

This is the sad side of Christmas, and it is the main reason why so many miss Christmas.

They have no sense of wonder at the glory of God in love.

We do not see the star today, and the angels song is still, but love is present everyday for those to see who will.

Our lack of wonder at love, even human love, leads many to miss the joy of Christmas.

One wife and mother describes the sterile routine of her Christmas.

"On Christmas Eve, I'm in the kitchen cooking while everyone else is reading magazines or watching TV.

Then we eat, and then a few people help me clean up, and its back to the TV.

The next morning we open gifts.

Then I cook breakfast.

The dishes are cleaned up and then its more TV and sports magazines.

Then I'm back in the kitchen again cooking dinner."

Here is a family missing Christmas for lack of wonder.

We have all been through Christmas much like her.

In fact, this is the major cause for all the negative emotions of Christmas.

A doctor in New York concluded that people are depressed at Christmas because of the fear that nothing will happen.

He calls it the trauma of eventlessness.

Christmas comes and goes and nothing happens.

It is just like any other day.

The problem is that we lose the sense of wonder at what has already happened.

Dr. Muldwyn Edwards returned to a former church he served for their 100th anniversary.

One of the saints came up to him and she said, "Since you left my husband Albert has died and gone to heaven."

Dr. Edwards vaguely remembered that Albert only came to church on Christmas and Easter, and his Christian life left much to be desired.

His response was, "So Albert died and went to heaven, I must say I am sorry."

That did not sound right so he corrected himself and said, "I mean to say I am glad."