Sermon Tone Analysis

Title:   "THE PEOPLE WHO MISSED CHRISTMAS"

Introduction

For those of us who know and love the Lord Jesus Christ, Christmas is a time to focus on His birth; the great reality of the incarnation, that God became a man, that tremendous incomprehensible miracle of divine energy that brought God into human history.

But because of the complexity of all that is happening around us and because Satan has cluttered up Christmas with so much needless paraphernalia, most people have missed Christmas.

All you have to do is look around you.

People are busy doing all kinds of things, but they missed the reality of Christmas.

It's not just happening today, it happened back on that very first Christmas in Bethlehem.

Most people missed it then too.

In this message we're going to look at The People Who Missed Christmas:

I.   THE INNKEEPER (Luke 2:7)- MISSED CHRISTMAS

A.   The Relevant Background

1.

The census was underway in Bethlehem and the city was literally bulging with everyone who ever had any ancestry there.

2.             The innkeeper was busy caring for his guests...real busy.

B.  The Reason Why

1.

The innkeeper missed Christmas because of /ignorant preoccupation.

/

2/.  /He was too busy caring for his guests.

3.

He wasn't really hostile or unloving or unsympathetic or indifferent; just too

     busy.

C.     The Resemblance To Today - Many people today are just like the innkeeper.

1.

The chambers of their souls are filled with needless things, human interests, and the stuff that really doesn't matter; they miss the God of Christmas.

2.     Our society is literally filled with the unnecessary, the insignificant and the meaningless.

3.     We are so busy figuring out what we want, how to get it at the cheapest price, buying it, taking care of it, polishing it, storing it, and keeping it up.

3.                  A fortune is spent amassing it.

4.                  All of the pleasures, passions, parties, preoccupations, and presents so dominate our lives, especially during this season, that we miss the real meaning of Christmas.

4.

The world is so ignorantly preoccupied with the mundane and

        meaningless that they don't adore Christ or invest in His kingdom.

/A LONELY BIRTH/

Look at Luke 2:7.

Notice that Mary herself /"brought forth //her first-born son." /The Middle-Eastern people are hospitable people.

The Jewish people are kind and caring people.

They were not barbaric.

They were not the kind of people that sent their women off into the jungle to have their babies by themselves.

These were civilized, intelligent, educated people.

Yet, Mary brought forth her own son, alone!

Where were the mid-wives?

Where was the innkeeper or his wife?

Surely there must have been someone who could help a woman in her travail!

But no; Mary bore the child, wrapped Him up and laid Him in a manger.

All by herself.

The tragedy of it!

The loneliness of it.

In the hour of all hours when womanhood should be surrounded by the tenderest care, Mary was alone.

II    HEROD (Matt.

2) - MISSED CHRISTMAS

A.  The Relevant Background

1.  Herod was known as the king of the Jews.

2.  When Herod heard that the King of the Jews was born he went into a

     total panic.

He reacted this way because:

                             a.

/He// wasn't even a Jew.

/

                             b./

He// shouldn't have been ruling over the Jews but was appointed /

/                                  /by /the Roman Senate as king of Judea.

/

                             c./

He// was a political madman who sought glory, grandeur //and a kingly /

/                                 place./

3.

Herod had always been afraid of losing his position.

a.

He was suspicious of everyone and even murdered:

                                         1)  a brother-in-law,

                                         2)  one of his wives and her mother, and

                                         3)  all of his sons.

b.

When he was about to die:

1)  he commanded that all of the distinguished

     citizens of Jerusalem were to be collected,  

      imprisoned and slaughtered at the moment of his

      death.

2)  All this because he wanted the people to weep when

                                                  he died, even if it was over someone else!

                      c.

He also slew all the children from two years old and under

                                    in Bethlehem and all its surrounding area in order to make

                                          sure the child that was born King of the Jews would be

                                          destroyed.

B.       The Reason Why - Herod missed Christmas

          1.

because /of jealous fear… /

          2./

/Herod feared that somebody else would take his throne.

3.

He wasn't about to let this little Child interfere with his /career, /his position, his

                 power, his ambition, his plans, or his lifestyle.

C.       The Resemblance To Today

1.

People today are fearfully jealous of losing: \\           a.

their own self-determination,

           b.

their own plans,

c.  their own priorities,

d.  their own values and their own morals.

2.            They don't want to come to Christ because accepting Christ will "cramp their style."

a.      Christ will lay claim on their life and

b.     that means they will have to alter the way they live, think, talk, and act.

3.     We have a world of kings who are not about to bow their knee to Jesus Christ; and

      so they miss Christmas….

just like Herod did.

III/ /THE CHIEF PRIESTS AND SCRIBES (Matt.

2:4) - MISSED CHRISTMAS

A.   The Relevant Background

1. /THE CHIEF PRIESTS/ were the theological minds of the day.

a.

They were made up of all the high priests, the captain of the temple police