The Symphony of Christmas

The Finale Part 2: The Sound of Victory, - Revelation 5

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December 24th, 2020: The Symphony of Christmas, The Sound of Glory - Christmas Eve -

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Sermon Title: The Symphony of Christmas, The Sound of Worship

Date: December 20th, 2020

Text: Matthew 2:1-12

Subject: The wise men had a deep desire to worship the King of the Jews.

Complement: Herod wanted to use their desire for sinister motives.

Key Idea: Herod wanted to use the deep desire of the wise men to worship the King of the Jews for sinister motives.

Memorable Bottom Line: The Sound of Worship Can’t Be Ignored

Introduction:

I want to start by thanking you for your prayers for our family during this time. I know for those who are with us in worship in person, me not preaching in person and looking at an empty pulpit may be a bit troubling for you this morning, but I do thank you for your consideration, your grace and for your prayers for my family during this time.

But I want to help this be as meaningful for you as possible and I want to feel like I’m there with you with a little throwback. In full Romper Room fashion it’s like I can see Sarah Melita sitting right there, and the Erskine’s sitting right up there and Pastor Verlyn right there, no now he’s there, no wait he’s on the move again there, nevermind, Pastor Verlyn is in the building somewhere!

 (As with last week’s b-side explanation, parents, you may need to explain Romper Room to your kids!)

But here is what I want you to know, as with last week when we looked at Mary and how her rejoicing was in God her Savior, my joy is in God my Savior and the times at which I feel most in Christ is when I am preaching the Word so thank you for indulging me in this way to continue to teach while in quarantine.

Transition:

Turn in your Bible with me to Matthew 2 starting at verse 1. As we continue in The Symphony of Christmas and as we look at the advent story through the lens of an agreement of sounds, sounds from the beginning of Scripture to the end of Scripture that sing the song of Christmas, we are in a movement that continues to add clarity to the symphony; it’s a flash forward if you will to when the Christ child is born, the response we will ultimately share together, the sound of worship.

Now singing during advent season is an interesting thing; as you look at the stage and the songs that are represented, Joy to the World, Hark the Herald Angel Sing, Silent Night, What Child is This, O Come O Come Emmanuel there is something unique about these songs and singing in this season. Consider this for a moment, this time of year, advent season, is the only time of year that the rest of the world sings the same songs we sing. The world doesn’t sing This is Amazing Grace any time of the year, but they sing Silent Night this time of year. They don’t sing Good, Good Father or How Great Thou Art but they sing The First Noel and Away in a Manger with Nat King Cole and Mariah Carey. They are listening to the songs that are the anthems of our worship often even performed by non-believing artists and in some sense, unbeknownst to them, they join with the worshiping community, they join with the chorus of the Christ-child coming in flesh.

What we see in this is an inescapable reality: The Sound of Worship Can’t Be Ignored.

We started our sermon this morning with a recording of my son Mateo and Caitie Dawson with a beautiful rendition of Christmas Hallelujah, a duet that was originally planned to be performed in person. Now the easiest thing would have been to scrap this portion of the service because of our quarantine, but as I heard the heart of my son to worship and as I spoke with Caitie about doing the duet this way, these two worshippers jumped at the opportunity because their hearts for worshiping the king of all glory, it demanded a response for them, it demanded, it compelled their worship to be heard.

As we look at our passage this morning the child waits in a lowly place in Bethlehem and there are those who are considering the worship of this  king of the Jews; the wise men and Herod. For one it is a sound heard that

Sermon Title: The Symphony of Christmas: The Sound of Joy

Date: December 13th, 2020

Text: Luke 1:47-55

Introduction:

You really can’t hear that song without smiling without it bringing a sense of joy to your life. It puts you in a place where you know it’s Christmas right? Interestingly enough when Vince Guaraldi scored this Christmas classic titled Linus and Lucy, it wasn’t for Christmas at all. In fact Linus and Lucy was originally written for a Jazz Impressions album Guaraldi was creating and it in fact ended up on the B-side of a single called Good Grief. Parents your homework is to go home and explain to your kids what the b-side is.

It wasn’t until a few years later that Linus and Lucy was used as the theme song for the Charlie Brown Christmas Special and from there it became a Christmas classic.

If you hear this song, you are immediately in the presence of Christmas and when you hear it it brings joy.

As we continue in the Symphony of Christmas and we continue through these movements, these agreements of sound as we tell the story of Christmas, the third movement of the symphony is often the Scherzo, a fun lighthearted dance romp moving us closer to the finale, and our dancers this morning helped us to picture the physical representation of joy attached to Linus and Lucy, to Christmas, but also gave us a framework for understanding the Sound of Joy.

Transition:

Turn in your Bible with me to Luke 1 starting at verse 47. As we’ve moved from the crisis and God’s response with the sound of grace, as we’ve moved closer to the coming of the King with the triumphal sound of prophecy we find ourselves in Luke’s gospel at the doorstep of the biblical reality of God becoming flesh and dwelling among us and as we look at Luke’s gospel briefly this morning we find ourselves with a young woman named Mary, a woman who receives the life altering news of God’s call on her life to carry the Christ child. And her response reveals what our response should be, the sound of joy.

Passage: Luke 1:47-55

My spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”

Teaching:

As we consider the circumstances of this young mother, consider for a moment the whole range of what has been given to her. She is a simple woman, living a simple life and is planning to marry a simple man and out of the blue comes what we would consider a massive disruption to life.

The joyful disruption is given previously in Mary’s encounter with the angel in Luke 1:30-31 (ESV) 30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.

You would think that for such a young woman with little life experience that this type of news would incite something other than what we see in our passage for this morning.

But there is a reason that Mary’s response is what it is according to what we’ve seen so far.

Move 1: The Sound of Joy Begins with the Holiness of God

The anchor to this passage is found at the very beginning in verse 47:

My spirit rejoices in God my Savior. Luke 1:47

Mary’s spirit rejoices, there is joy, there is an exceeding joy at the news of the Christ child coming in the flesh, coming by means of this young Israelite woman, but note very closely where she is re

Theme Details

Title: The Symphony of Christmas: The Sound of Prophecy

Date: December 5th, 2020

Text: Isaiah 9:2-3, 6-7

Subject: The people are lost and in darkness and in need of a king.

Complement: A King will come in power who will bring light, longevity and joy.

Key Idea: A powerful King will come who will take the people from lostness and darkness to light, longevity and joy.

Memorable Bottom Line: The Sound of Prophecy Is the Sound of the King We Are Desperate For

Message Details (Notes/Slides)

Introduction:

The Adagio, the second movement of the symphony moves us from crisis to the beginning of a resolution, something is happening in the Adagio, there is a slow anticipation, a build up of sorts and as we continue in our series the Symphony of Christmas, Mateo has helped us with that build up, with that second movement. With the cadence he played for us this morning there is the introduction of a military feel to Christmas, and rightly so because as we continue in our series of Advent, as we look this morning at The Sound of Prophecy, what we will see is the prophecy of a child, but even more than just a child, more than just a promised offspring that we saw last week in Genesis 3, we see a child who will be promised through the prophet Isaiah who is more than a child, he is a king.

Transition:

Open your Bible with me to Isaiah 9 starting at verse 2. As we consider the symphony of Christmas, the agreement of sounds from Genesis 3 to Isaiah 9, we see a continuity, a sweetness of the sound that works together. This morning as we listen for the sound of prophecy, the sweet sound of God speaking through his people and for his people, we find a people in a monarchy that is slowly falling apart, the kings Israel wanted are not what they expected, in part because of their humanity, their sinfulness. the king that God’s people needed could never be fulfilled in any one man and rightly so, because in God’s economy, his desire is for his people to see and have and experience one king. and the sound we hear as we are faced with this continued crisis in the Symphony of Christmas we hear the cadence of a procession. The processional sound in the Symphony of Christmas of the coming king, the king we are desperate for.

Teaching:

Isaiah 9:2-3, 6-7 (ESV) 2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. 3 You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil. 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

As we look at this passage I need a child to come and help me with something…

So you are going to help me explain the first part of our Bible passage this morning; do you notice something different about this tree compared to the rest of the trees on the stage? All of the other trees have lights that are lit, that is correct! I love Christmas lights and I love Christmas trees with lights on them, I really feel like that is the way they are supposed to be don’t you? During Christmas when we have a tree like this something just doesn’t seem right does it. Well that is what was happening in our Bible passage today, Isaiah says  The people who walked in darkness, they dwelt in a land of deep darkness. They were kind of like this tree this tree is dwelling in darkness no lights, sad little Christmas tree, but when we take what God says to Isaiah, he says even though they were in darkness God was going to do

Title: The Symphony of Christmas: The Sound of Grace

Date: November 29th, 2020

Text: Genesis 3:1-6, 14-15

Bottom Line: The Sound of Grace Drowns Out The Sound of Sin

Introduction:

As most of you know I love music, I love to play music, I love to listen to music and to say that I have an eclectic musical taste would be an understatement. Music is wonderful because it is a kind of universal language. While genre’s may separate us, we may not like all of the same forms as humans you will be hard pressed to find a person, a people, a culture in the world that doesn’t love some form of music.

Kids the reason I love music is because in many ways it tells a story, it tells you how to feel. For example adults when we hear this sound (Jaw’s Theme) what do we know? There’s a shark in the water. Music tells us how to feel.

French Poet Victor Hugo once wrote, “Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent”

On the walls we have some of the classic Christmas Carols that we sing about this time each year, there are often too many to sing during our worship gatherings and they tell the story of Christmas, they point us to something that in the story of Advent we can’t miss.

But the scriptures do the same thing for us. The story of Advent is much like one of the most expressive forms of music, the symphony. The word symphony means an agreement of sound different sounds working together to tell a story in distinct movements that tell us how to feel told by a master composer.

The story of Christmas is just that, an agreement of sounds, expressions, movements composed by the creator of the universe to usher in the first advent of his Son into the world and it is through this incarnation story, God becoming flesh and dwelling among us, that we will get to experience The Symphony of Christmas.

Turn with me in your Bible’s to Genesis 3 starting at verse 14. This is the first movement of the symphony of Christmas and as with all symphonies it begins with the sonata. The first movement creates a crisis, the sound is often low in troubling chords kinds of like this…

The Midnight Sonata is an example of a first movement of a symphony that creates crisis and it mirrors the symphony of Christmas in that the story of Advent begins with a crisis. But out of this crisis there is a sound, a sound that tells us how to feel that points us toward hope, it’s the sound of grace.

Genesis 3:14-15 (ESV) 14 The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

This may seem to be a strange reading for Advent season, but without it, with out the crisis of what is represented in this passage there is no need for the incarnation, for the Son of God to come in flesh into the world.

I want to talk to our children for a second, kids have you ever heard a story with a dragon in it or seen a movie with a dragon? What do dragons look like? They are big,  they are scary, a story from my childhood comes from this story on the screen one of my favorite movies growing up Sleeping Beauty.

It’s a story that ends with a dragon being slain by a hero. Well in this passage a dragon of sorts is introduced into the Bible story. I want you to hang onto that image, lock it into your minds because it’s going to be important for remembering the lesson we are going to learn this morning.

What has brought us to this passage? The crisis of sin. God placed man in the garden to to tend the garden, he provides all that man needs for life, he provides a helpmate for man in his wife Eve, the mother of all living, he has provided all things for him and we read the crisis that leads us to this passage:

G

Ephesians 2:1-10 Thankful for... God, Grace, and Good Works

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Lydia, The Giving Leader

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Lydia, The Giving Leader

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Text: 2 Timothy 1:3-14, Bottom Line: Make the Right Investments In Our Replacements

It was December 24th, last year, Christmas Eve. I was at Peg’s Glorified Ham and Eggs (our version of Wade’s Dinner back in Reno) and I sat across from perhaps one of my best friends and ministry partners Phil Burdoin. Phil, a couple of years older than me ,had a passion for the gospel like few I’ve ever seen. When I got to The Bridge Church I knew he was the guy I needed to make my biggest investment in. Investment in time, investment in prayer and investment in helping him continue to develop his giftings. It wasn’t as though Phil was immature by any stretch, he was a deeply ground believer in Jesus Christ and had been using his gifts in amazing ways for the kingdom, but there was something about him that made me want to make a deeper investment in him and there was a reason; He was always willing to make hard sacrifices in order to invest time in other people even though his full-time job for almost two decades was as an IT professional. He had a full time job with full time commitments and yet still was willing to invest in others. That was the type of man I wanted to invest in.

We met for Bible study with a group every Monday at my house, Phil and I met Tuesday mornings for coffee, we were together on Wednesday nights leading youth ministry some times on the weekends and of course on Sunday mornings. There were times when I literally saw Phil every day of the week.

This encounter over breakfast on Christmas Eve was particularly important because Phil and I both had a sense, even then three months prior to setting foot here in Oswego, that this is where God was calling my family for the next step in ministry and Phil and I, who share an affinity for planning ahead, were dreaming about how to set up the ministry well for my departure.

After a long talk, about two hours, as we sat and we cast a vision for what a proposal would look like to present to the staff and board at The Bridge we had a well laid plan and a thought for the type of individual the Bridge Church would need, and I realized something, he was sitting right across from me, it was Phil; a man I had instructed students numerous times to address as Pastor Phil because he was that to them.

So I asked him, “Phil, what about you? What would stop you from stepping into full-time vocational ministry”. We talked more, dreamed more, took time over the next several months and through some rather God inspired events, here is Pastor Phil today, Associate Pastor at The Bridge Church.

Phil is built for ministry and I saw that in him. But I wasn’t the only one who saw that, Pastor Bill West the Senior Pastor at The Bridge Church had seen that well before I had seen that, Pastor Josh McCrary my predecessor had seen that in him and countless others. We all saw the same thing, Phil was worth the investment.

And as I sat across from him that morning over breakfast I knew, I just knew I had been investing in my replacement. That really is the essence of discipleship, finding your replacement; the person you can invest time in and energy around the gospel of Jesus in a way that says, I know that time is short, who am I investing in to replace me as the gospel goes forth.

Transition:

As we continue in our series Everyday Leaders, Biblical Leadership Principles for Every Christian I would like for you to consider the investment you are making in the next leader. How we are going to see that unfold in scripture this morning is in the life of a man who is everything I described in Pastor Phil Burdoin, today we are going to be looking at Timothy, The Next Leader. Open your Bibles with me to 2 Timothy 1 starting at verse 3.

At this point in Paul’s life he is preparing to go to be with the Lord, he sits in prison, execution is not too far off in his future, this is in fact the last writing we have from the great apostle Paul and who does he write it to…his young protege Timot