Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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The Gospel of Luke begins by introducing us to Zechariah and Elizabeth.
Zechariah was a priest and his wife’s name was Elizabeth.
They are described as being righteous before God.
They kept the commandments of the Lord.
These are upstanding people.
They do all the right things.
But something is not right.
They have no heir.
They are advanced in years, presumably past the typical age of child bearing.
It is important to understand how important this was in their culture.
First, children were your social security.
It was especially dire for widows if they had no children to take care of them.
Second, there was a stigma attached to not having children.
It was seen as a curse.
Luke explains how they are upright.
But surely the people would be whispering among each other: “what is the secret sin of Zechariah and Elizabeth to have been cursed by God like this?”
As was mentioned, Zechariah served as a priest.
He is on duty with his division.
Typically, a division of priests would serve at the temple for a one week period, two times each year.
The incense offering was made twice a day.
In the morning and the evening.
The priests that offered the incense were chosen by lot.
Once you were chosen for this task once, you could never be chosen again.
This was the greatest honor that Zechariah would achieve in his career.
Zechariah goes into the Holy Place where the Altar of Incense was.
This was outside the Holy of Holies which was the most Holy Place.
The people are praying just outside the Holy Place that Zechariah entered.
The incense represented the prayers of God’s people - which are pleasing to God.
We read in Psalm 141:2:
Poof, out of nowhere appears this angel.
Angel - a heavenly being.
They are messengers.
Contrary to popular spirituality, people do not become angels when they go to heaven.
Angels are angels and people are people.
This angel stands to the right of the altar of incense.
I have never seen an angel.
But when we read the Scripture, the sight of an angel provokes a response of fear.
We depict angels as something beautiful.
Certainly the message that they share is beautiful, but I am not sure if Zechariah or the Shepherds would describe the angels as being beautiful.
The angel brings good news.
The very word gospel is derived from the same word as angel.
Zechariah and Elizabeth and prayed persistently.
Everyone had told them to give up.
Everyone had told them to move on.
But still they prayed.
They prayed that God would give them a child, even now when it still seemed impossible.
Maybe you feel God has given up on you.
You have prayed and prayed, but you are still waiting.
The encouragement here is to keep praying!
Keep hoping!
Keep believing!
God has a plan.
God has a future.
And the next verses point to that purpose.
God delights to give his people joy.
But more than just the joy of material blessing.
The ultimate joy is the joy of his presence.
Jesus comes so that we might experience God’s wonderful presence.
But the gift of the child to Zechariah and Elizabeth is more than for Zechariah and Elizabeth’s joy.
It says that many will rejoice at the birth.
The joy that God gives his people is not a joy to keep to ourselves.
But rather it is a joy that overflows.
God blesses us to be a blessing to others.
And the question we ask, is how do we use the blessings that we have been given to be a blessing to others?
This child is destined for greatness.
He will be great before the Lord.
He is used powerfully by God to bridge the Old Testament and the New Testament.
It says that he must not drink wine or strong drink.
It speaks to the importance of disciplines for the believers.
If we are to be equipped to be used by God, there is a commitment we make to Spiritual Disciplines:
Weekly Worship
Daily Devotions
Prayer
Using our gifts for service
Generosity with our money
Spiritual discipline also involves guarding our lives against the excesses of our culture.
There is nothing wrong with enjoying a good glass of wine.
But when drink becomes the way we cope with the challenges of life.
When we use it as a way to escape our reality.
There is a reason that the word spirits is used to refer to alcohol.
There is a spirit that works contrary to the work of the Holy Spirit.
But it is not just alcohol.
There are other excesses that draw us away from the Spirit and away from fulfilling God’s purposes.
We can take our work and career to excess.
Leisure activities that become obsessive.
Back to the purpose of this child.
He will be used to bring people back to God.
He will be used to reconcile people to God.
Also, he will be used to turn the hearts of fathers to their children.
It speaks to reconciliation to take place in families, in churches, and in communities.
Reconciliation among people.
If you have eyes to see, something to recognize is that there is so much brokenness in our community.
There is so much hurt in our community.
Maybe it is because I am a pastor and people come to me that I see it.
But maybe like no other time I have seen just how pain people are enduring.
The darkness of sin and Satan weigh heavily all around us.
Broken marriages.
Divorce.
I did a wedding last week and I shared with the couple that marriage is the closest thing on earth that you can get to heaven.
It is also the closest thing that you can get to hell.
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