Sermon Tone Analysis
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*Experience the Nativity Story*
*The Love of God*
* *
* *
*The Nativity Story…A Story of Love*
* *
*1.
The stable declares* *the love of God*
Luke 2:4-7
4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.
5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.
6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son.
She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
(from New International Version)
* *
*2.
The manger demonstrates* *the love of God*
Luke 2:7
7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son.
She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
(from New International Version)
1 John 4:9-10
9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him.
10 This is real love.
It is not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
(from New Living Translation)
* *
*3.
The love of God demands* *a response*
* *
Luke 2:20
20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
(from New International Version)
John 3:16
16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
(from New International Version)
*Intro:*
* *
It’s Christmas Eve…
Guys, I’ve got one question for you: /Do you have your shopping done?/
* *
You do know how important it is to get a gift for your wife!
Don’t fall for this trick/…”Oh, honey you don’t have to get me anything this year.”/
What that means is: /Show me how much you really love me./
* *
Have you ever given your wife such a nice gift that it was hard to top it in the following years?
That happened to me a few years ago.
You see, my wife never had an engagement ring.
Where I come from we just said, /“Hey Baby, let’s get hitched!”/
This was never a problem until our daughters started asking a bunch of questions like: /How did you propose and why doesn’t Mom have a diamond ring./
This may surprise you…but I don’t know anything about diamonds.
So I started collecting ads from the paper…pricing and comparing diamonds.
I decided I better ask someone who has a bunch of diamonds for advice…so I pulled Laura Martin aside and showed her my ad collection.
I am sure she thought, /“Poor Lisa!”/
She gave me a couple of names of stores and told me to take one of my daughters with me…since they would know what to get.
So Amy and I went shopping...and long story short: I bought a beautiful /past, present and future diamond/ /ring!/
Why?
Because I wanted to show her I love her.
She cried…and I felt great inside knowing that this gift meant so much to her!
I will never be able to top that gift unless I bring home something with four legs and fur!!
You see, that diamond ring was as close-to-a perfect gift that I could give her…because it conveyed my deep love and appreciation for Lisa in an extravagant way!!
\\ The most extravagant and perfect love gift ever given was the gift God gave at Christmas – the gift of His Son.
To help us appreciate that gift, think for a moment of the Nativity scenes you have probably seen all around at Christmas.
They usually feature shepherds and Wise Men and perhaps a few barnyard animals.
But at the center of the scene we always see Mary, Joseph, and the infant Jesus lying in a manger.
\\ \\ I’d like to use that scene to talk about the greatest love story of all…God’s love for us.
As we consider the Nativity scene in Luke ch. 2 we see 3 parts to this love story.
Part one is focused on the Stable.
\\
*1.
The Stable Declares the Love of God*
In Luke 2:4-7 we read these familiar words:
4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.
5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.
6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son.
She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
(from New International Version)
We’ve read the Christmas story many times.
Sometimes we think of the setting as romantic and quaint!
But I can assure you the stable that Jesus was born in was anything but quaint.
It was just like other stables…crowded with smelly animals…dark, damp and rodent infested.
While Luke 2:7 doesn’t say anything about a stable—it does say,
/“(Mary) placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”/
Whenever there is a manger, there are animals and that means some kind of barn.
But instead of the wooden hut that we often picture---the barn was more likely a shallow limestone cave.
Farmers herded their animals into these caves and put barriers across the openings.
If you visit Bethlehem and go down to where tradition says Jesus was born---you’ll find yourself looking into a shallow cave.
A huge ornate Church has been built over the shallow cave…but you can still go out into the shepherd’s fields around Bethlehem and find dozens of examples of these caves.
They are still used to keep animals sheltered.
The question that we need to think about is: /Why was Jesus born in what we call a barn?/
/A barn crowded with smelly animals, cark, damp and rodent infested?/
If God was really in control, wouldn’t you think He would have arranged for Jesus to be born in a Palace?
Bill Hybels writes,
/“From day one, God the Father determined not to shelter His Son from the rude, crude realities of life on planet earth.”/
Why?
Because the stable is a permanent symbol of the fact that God sent Jesus to live in the real world…where there are difficulties and disappointments, hurts and heartaches, ridicule and rejection!
In the cartoon “Peanuts” Lucy putws up her little sign:
/“Psychiatric help -- 5 cents.”/
As usual Charlie Brown becomes her target.
She says to him:
/“Charlie Brown, sometimes I feel we are not communicating./
/ /
/You, Charlie Brown, are a foul ball in the line drive of life./
/ /
/You’re often in the shadow of your goalpost./
/ /
/You’re a miscue…/
/ /
/You’re 3 putts on the 18th green./
/ /
/You’re a seven-ten split in the 10th frame./
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/You’re a dropped rod and reel in the lake of life./
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/You’re a shanked 9 iron!/
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/You’re a called 3rd strike!/
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/You’re a bug on the windshield of life!/
/ /
/Do you understand?
Do I make myself clear?/
Have you ever felt like Charlie Brown—like the whole world is against you?
Jesus was born in a barn so he could relate to us.
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