Sermon Tone Analysis

Good Morning! - … Really good to hear from Andy and Jenny Sheer… and to meet their baby William … We are in our third Advent sermon series entitled Hope Rises… Advent is all about having our hearts prepared… We can get so used the traditions of Christmas… that we fail to have “fresh eyes” and see something new in the coming of Christ.

This morning we going to be talking about the connection between Hope and Wonder… Sermon is entitled..

“ Rediscovering hope.. How to put the wonder back into life!’

There was a lady who was preparing her Christmas cookies.

There was a knock at the door.

She went to find a man who was looking for some Christmas odd jobs.

He asked her if there was anything he could do.

She said, "Can you paint?"

"Yes," he said.

"I'm a rather good painter."

"Well," she said, "there are two gallons of green paint there and a brush, and there's a porch out back that needs to be painted.

Please do a good job.

I'll pay you what the job is worth."

He said, "Fine.

I'll be done quickly."

She went back to her cookie making and didn't think much more about it until there was a knock at the door.

She went, and the obviousness of his painting was evident: he had it on his clothes.

She said, "Did you finish the job?"

He said, "Yes."

She said, "Did you do a good job?"

He said, "Yes.

But lady, there's one thing I'd like to point out to you.

That's not a Porsche back there.

That's a Mercedes."’

Christmas is a time of Surprise and wonder.

Psychologists tell that having sense of wonder about the world a is important for our wellbeing and our sense of purpose in the world.

Wonder - speaks of our need to be engaged and impassioned with the world and take pleasure in it, attuned to it and fascinated by it.

Grateful for it.

Psychology Today

There are basically three ways that God has revealed himself.to

us... - God has Revealed himself through His word… we call that Divine Revelation… God inspired about 40 writers to write 66 books in the cannon of scriptures…they are God breathed or inspired...

God has revealed himself through special revelation — supernatural appearances… In the Bible we see that God spoke through dreams and visions… Through angels, burning bushes, through miracles..

God has also revealed himself through General Revelation - Nature…

The reformer Martin Luther said..

“The deficiency of faith is made evident by a lack of wonder, for nature is a revelation only to those to whom God has already been revealed.”

In other words some Natural revelation gets left out of our theology… We may be deficient in the area of WONDER...

Here is the thing it is only the believer or Theist who is going to look at a sunset and say, ‘God is amazing look all the colors in his pallot” — We have the best Sunsets right here is Richvale..

An Atheist might see same exact sunset and attribute it dust particles…and the suns rays.

One thing I love about children is that they see almost everything through “Fresh eyes”

They naturally have this sense of wonder and curiosity about the world…

A Child will be walking and stop and take not of a ladybug, butterfly or beatle - they will pick anything that looks gross and in-fact the more gross it looks the more curious they become---

Children are fearless…they want to jump in puddles and dig in the dirt.

Children don’t worry about getting dirty.

— they are not thinking about hi-gene… they are not thinking about germs when they they put in thing in their mouth...they will taste the play-do or the mud pie…

Why?

Because Everything is an experiment?

The Advent of Christ Coming is really something that ought to bring a sense of Wonder…

John Stott tells of Lancelot Andrewes (17 Century preacher) Who talked about wonder and amazement in his Christmas sermons and the implications of the incarnation… He would be amazed at Jesus being a baby in a manger..

He pondered on - The Word being without words, Eternal Word not being able to speak a word…

Andrews said -

“There lieth he, the Lord of glory without all glory.

Instead of a palace, a poor stable, instead of a cradle a manger, no pillow but a lock of hay; no hangings but dust and cobwebs; no attendants but in the midst of animals.”

Several hundred year before Christ coming - There is this powerful prophecy by Isaiah proclaimed that a son would be given and he would be King a righteous ruler … He would be called Wonderful Counselor, mighty God, Everlasting Father and the prince of peace… while other rulers would come and go his kingdom would increase and be established forever....

When Christ is born it is was quite the opposite… There wasn’t a Righteous Ruler..

Israel the other gentile nations were subject to Roman Rule..… Rome was enjoying the Roman Pax a time of peace and prosperity there were no wars....

Caesar Augustus began all kinds of building programs and set up a massive system of centralized government, regulating commerce and trade.

He strengthened the military and for his entire reign Rome was at peace.

He did much to advance the culture of the Roman empire.

Towards the end of his life he said ‘I found Rome bricks and I made it marble.’

The way that Augustus funded his building program was through heavy Taxation..

This is where Luke picks up in Chapter 2..

Charles Dickens in his “The Tale of two Cities starts off with the words with the famous words, “ It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” — What he was referring to was the French Revolution in 1775 but he was comparing it to his own day…1859… This is kind of the world that Jesus was born into… If you were a Roman Citizen --- It was the best of times --- you had the Roman Pax, time of enovation, beautiful arctecture structures.. human advancement… Good time to be alive.

But if you were not a Roman Citizen your were probably part of the lower class and still subject to Roman laws, regulations and taxations..

Luke tells us this very human story of Joseph and Mary and their journey to Bethlehem… The only reason why Joseph and Mary are headed to Bethlehem and it because Caesar required the whole world to be registered and everyone had to return their town of birth..

There would have been some hardship in this 70 to 80 mile journey that took three full days of travel.…

It probably pushed them beyond their budget… We know Mary is in her last trimester of her pregnancy and is probably very uncomfortable… To Make matters worse when they arrive in Bethlehem tired, dirty and dusty… There are no vacancies - places to stay in the town ..all they could find was a stable (cave) a place for their animals… this was their only option.... Jesus is born into really hard conditions… It was was very simple and ordinary...

There are no trees or lights, just a manger and animals and a too-crowded inn…

What causes wonder in these Verse … On throne is Caesar Augustus.. who considered to be Sovereign and all Powerful… godlike....

But laying in the Manger in this little town is the one whom Isaiah called the Wonderful Councilor the Almighty God.. Whose Kingdom would increase… Her is the thing God is still in control…Caesar is God and God is still on his throne.. Augustus’s decree went out in God’s perfect timing and according to God’s perfect plan to bring his Son into the world.

T/sHope comes with Regaining a sense of wonder in life…

1. Re-discover Wonder in your Uniqueness.

While Mary and Joseph are in Bethlehem just outside the city limits are the Shepherds watching over their Flocks… When Suddenly they are faced with this Great wonder in the Sky.. First Gabriels appears and then a heavenly Choir of Angels come praising God.

Isn’t it fascinating that when God chose to announce the birth of the Messiah to the world, he didn’t inform the rich and powerful leaders of the day?

It wasn’t too the religious Elite.. but instead he chose to announce it to shepherds

Why would God choose Shepherds?

It’s been suggested that..

Shepherds are not easily fooled.

They are practical men of the world who have little to do with fantasy.

If they said that they saw angels and went and found the Messiah, then you could believe them.

Its also been said that Shepherds were often thieves and couldn’t be trusted..

That would explain why they were not standing in line to regester as tax payers… But for some reason God Chose to reveal himself to these men first..

The fact that God uses the ordinary maybe deprived people in culture .. should really cause us Wonder…

God does not discriminate…the reason is that He knows our individual uniqueness.. God chose Mary out of all the woman in history on purpose…He knew each individual shepherd on the hill side.. each character good and bad..

David in psalms 139 talks about the omniscience of God…God is everywhere --- Even if he made dwelling in Sheol the furthest point from God… He is there… if you change your address to the deepest part of the ocean you are there… Nothing escapes God’s light… David gives us this verse..

What does this mean in regard to Hope?

D.A Carson says,The psalmist is not written by one who trying to escape God if he could but rather by one who knows he cannot escape God and finds nothing to regret..

For the psalmist Omniscience is comforting it means that God has complete knowledge of me! Strengths and weaknesses… because as creator understands me…this causes David to wonder.

Not only am I fully known by God but God is with me in every place

You might think that you are living through your darkest day --- yet God does not see your circumstance the same as you… God is interested in you… you are the most important value to him.

God as creator means sovereign ownership of every part of me; and holiness --- His only expectation of me is that I become more like him.

There is something unique… What is your uniqueness?

How God wired you..

T/sHope comes with Regaining a sense of wonder in life…

1. Re-discover Wonder in your Uniqueness.

2. Re -Discover the Wonder in the Message

In the last couple of years Gender Reveal Parties have seem to be a trend with young expecting Parents.

If you not familiar with this term...

A Gender reveal party can be a surprise for everyone attending (including the expecting parents) or, the parents already know what they’re having, but want to spread the news in a creative way to family and friends.

Most gender-reveal parties involve a cake, or cupcakes, and a trusted friend or family member in possession of the results from the 20-week ultrasound.

He or she bakes a cake filled with icing, and pink icing inside means girl.Blue means boy.