God's Gift of Joy for you

Choose to hear the Good News

When have you heard some good news? It could be recently or maybe a while ago, but think of a time when you have heard some good news.

For me I know my good news of recently was that my younger sister is getting married. You see my younger sister is a year younger then me and so she is 22, I am a protective big brother and so I am excited to hear that her and her Fiance will get married.

Even more is the good news that I get to officiate the wedding, how exciting that I can help them celebrate their special day.

Have you ever had some Good News?

For some that could be the hearing a glowing review from a boss

For some that is hearing your kid won a award at school

For some that could be hearing that your check engine light was only something minor with the car. ( I am still waiting for that good news)

For some it could be the chance to do something exciting, new, inventive, seeing beauty.

What is something that is good news to hear?

See good news evokes a response in us that make us cheerful!

We are happy when we have good news since it is something that is good. We respond positively to something positive coming our way, even if it is just the news of something, we start to respond positively because we know that something good is coming.

Now that something is usually want makes and decides the level of happiness,

Someone telling you they got you a gift is more exciting them someone telling you they were thinking of getting you a gift.

Both are good news in verifying levels of cheer.

However we are here in the advent season where the Good news brings the best response.

The good news brings Joy into our lives however we must work to actually have that Joy be persistant in our life following. We know the Christmas story, and it makes us have a warm fuzzy feeling, where it’s a feel good story that we hear every year, but we need to see that this Good news of a saviour coming for all mankind is a not a good news, its a great news.

This news envokes within us a stirring of Joy,

See being joyful is not

Happiness - a fleeting think that comes and goes, a mood

Cheerful - a characteristic of someone who is constantly happy or optimistic

Care-free - a almost ignorance of the bad things in life as a way to find a better state of mind

Optimistic - putting a positive spin on it all even when it does not look good

Joy is knowing that God loves you

Joy is dependant on JESUS not OUR CIRCUMSTANCES

But how do we get from

A: Knowing Joy is realization God loves us

to

B: I know full well God loves me and I live it in my spirit

Response to the message of Christ

Well we have to respond to God’s message that we call the Christmas narrative: Turn to Luke chapter 2:8 and we will be reading through what God’s message to his people would look like through the party of the shepherds.

These bystanders are not in on the original story, they may not know Mary or Joseph, nor would they know what Luke writes in chapter 1 how important this baby is going to be, so lets as we read look at this from the perspective of the shepherds who are invited into this narrative.

Luke 2:8–9 NIV

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.

These shepherds are minding their business when suddenly they are invited in and they have no sense of Joy at this point, that they are just doing their job and minding their time.

See we can tell they have not experience this revelation of Joy as they are terrified before the angel, a very realistic emotion that we would experience, however their fear does not diminish in the presence of the Glory of the lord that the Angel brings with. When I read that today I cannot help but think about how wonderful that experience would have been, yes scary but that we would want to experience the angel bringing the glory of the Lord.

See response is this:

Luke 2:10 NIV

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.

Do not be afraid, the angel who has appeared to our shepherds in the field does not bring the wrath of god but rather brings the Good News with him!

That news will be the catalyst of great Joy!

See it is not just hearing the news for the shepherds that will bring them great joy but is the knowledge that the Messiah would be born. The saviour will come and he will be God with us, what great knowledge is this. Even more so that it would not just bring the Shepherds great Joy but Everyone!

How joyful do you feel that Jesus was born that day?

The Joyful feeling is in response to having heard the Good news, however our response is what really sets us apart.

Choose to hear the good news

We can hear the message and still never have Joy because we distance ourself between God’s love as being our whole person and the knowledge that he loves us.

See we know that God would send his son for us that is what even the angel tells the shepherds:

Christ’s narrative is a joyful experience for us.

Luke 2:11 NIV

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.

A Saviour, he is Messiah, The Lord, What a loaded statement the angels release on to the men in the field, that they would be witness to the one who bears not just his earthly fathers name, but all these tittles and the expectations that come.

The joy comes from knowing as our whole being that God would send his Son to earth for us.

can you believe how joyous that is? The one who has created all the earth and who watches and tends to it in such care, loves it so much that He would send his Son to make it’s wrongs be cancelled out.

We cannot just know that Jesus is these things we must believe it:

Choose to do what God says

How do we show that we believe what we have heard? We act on it. That we would go and actually follow through with the instructions that God gives to us, today that looks like following his teachings and law through scripture, but for the Shepherds it was that and the addition of listen to the words of the angel in Luke 2:12 when they say:

Hear the instructions

Luke 2:12 NIV

This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

I can only imagine the strange look on the shepherds faces as they are told to go and find the messiah.

Well what do you mean that it is I who will find the Messiah

You see some background information on the Shepherds are that in the class system that framed this time period, shepherds had a bad reputation, they where considered to unreliable people, that they were not aloud to give testimony in the courts because of who they are. So with this idea the the shepherds are the undesirable people of society who should have absolutely no right to see the King of Kings as a baby means so much more.

When I say that the shepherds must have had some kind of strange look on their face this is what I mean.

They must have wondered why God would choose them if society would not choose them

They must have wondered if they would even be believed if they had even told anyone.

They must have had so many question over why they had received not only the revelation that the Messiah would be born but also to be the first few to see the Messiah.

So when the angel tells them to go they must have had these thoughts, and they are a lot of what we have, these thoughts that create blockage when we are trying to follow God’s command. These blockages ultimently block us from experiencing Joy because we must know that following God’s word brings Joy to our life, Look at what: Ps 19:8

Psalm 19:8 NIV

The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes.

However there are things that will block our following of God’s commands and in same part blocking our Joy so we have to watch out for these things,

These are some Joy Killers:

Guilts - We cannot get over our personal failure and we allow ourselves to live in the guilt of yesterday instead of living in the joy of today.

Fear - Maybe I am not good enough, God’s calling feels to big, When we let fear lead our life we miss out on the Joyful life that transcends fear.

Despair - God I am not the right person for following this, I have too much broken and so much loss to be joyful in the word.

Discontent - When we think that God’s ways are uninspiring we grow discontent but in the real sense of it all that God’s ways are perfectly crafted for us.

Anger - Maybe there is a bitterness that holds you back from follow God’s command, a person or a situation that you still hold back in your heart that really needs to be taken down so you can experience true joy.

wherever you sit on this list or maybe even something unspoken that the Holy Spirit is nudging onto your soul that you know keeps you from Joyfully following. I want you to know that God chooses Shepherds, the low lifes of the ancient work world to see the Messiah. How much more does he want you to see that you are so deeply valued that he would call you to follow him.

So Joyfully go And follow,

but lets keep reading together in Luke 2:13

Luke 2:13–14 NIV

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

Choose to do what God says

Luke 2:15 says there response

Luke 2:15 NIV

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

Let’s go to Bethlehem! What a blessing is the unspoken words!

When the Lord speaks to us we can either hold on to those ideas which kill our joy and just stay home OR we can go off into the world knowing that (YES) God has told me to follow and so I will!

When you wake up in the morning let your Yes be Yes with a joyful resound that you GET to follow the Lord today! It’s not a chore, it’s a choice, and so when you daily make that choice to follow Jesus know that it is such a blessing.

Look to the Shepherds in the narrative:

We get to see the Messiah! The angel did not invite the shepherds to see the Messiah because he knew they would have rather stayed home to watch the sheep but rather because there was a greater building of faith be had. Come see the Messiah, even if no body would believe you, you should see him for yourself.

Joy comes from our choice

The Joy on the shepherds face as they head to Bethlehem,

Let us see what we have been told about.

Maybe even a side note, won’t we say the same things when we enter into eternal life with Christ, “Oh let us see what we have been told about”, “It was worth the faithful walk” just as the shepherds faithfully walked with smiles gleaming from ear to ear on the shepherds faces.

Choose to do what God says

The response of Joy

So the Shepherds in the story not just say

“Hey lets joyfully go”

By they:

Luke 2:16 NIV

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.

They Hurried! Following through with God’s command immediately, that they would be joyful and go quickly begin their travels towards Bethlehem.

not that they would complete their journey in such a quick amount of time as they travelled from what we assume as a good length away.

However the urgency to go is what matters. Joyful and quickly let us choose to see and participate in follow in the Messiah.

How often do you say that,

or even something along those lines?

Lets be a church who chooses daily to Joyfully follow the Messiah and with great urgency!

Choose to tell someone else

But the story does not end there,

We continue reading about these shepherds experience in Luke 2:17

Speaking of these things on the way home

Luke 2:17 NIV

When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child,

There Joy did not stop as they completed God’s tasks that they had been given, but because of their obedience and faithfulness in going to Bethlehem and seeing the Messiah they began to become even more joyful that they would go and share the message.

Joy is the response to Obedience but it does not cease with the completion of obedience.

The shepherds could not hide their Joy as they head home telling everyone they see about Jesus,

It’s like if you have ever been on a plane after coming back from a awesome vacation and your sitting next to someone you do not know and they strike up a conversation with you and you just want to tell them everything about your time in Hawaii.

It’s kinda like that feeling

However it’s trumped by the consistance, because I doubt the Shepherds ever stopped telling that story, that they would have carried that memory and that event with them for the rest of their life, telling anyone who has a ear to listen how they met the messiah as a baby.

When we *Hear the good news* and *Follow what He says* Then we will have a great passion and desire to tell others.

However we can let our Joy die out here, if we think things along the lines of

they do not care

I am over bearing

I am annoying

Let me tell you this, Joy overcomes any of those things.

If you share your Joy with others and they do not care it is not your fault, its theirs

Scripture even says

Matthew 12:34 (NIV)

For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

When we choose to live a Joyful life out in these ways this last choice becomes that much easier becuase we have seen his promises?

You have seen his promises and how he has brought his love to you each and ever day, I garentuee that, you just might not know it.

If we choose to hear the Good News and choose to follow God’s why then all we need to do next to tell people

Choose to tell someone else.

on your way home honk the horn 7 times to signify his holiness,

Or tell the waitress at the ressurant,

“Hey I have a joy that is overflowing from my heart, do you want to hear it? His name is Jesus here is what he has done for me”.

See Joy is our response, everyday we get to make the choice to have Joy, I can choose to follow God with my bitterness and resentment or I can choose to follow him Joyfully.

Look at even the shepherds who in their journey choose to joyfully accept this calling

Joy is a response to Christ

Joy is our response to life around us not the cause of it.

Joy will never be bought with money, traded with possessions or won with hard work. Rather it is the choice to accept Christ as our saviour, that we choose to follow him, that we choose to live his way, that we choose to share our faith.

Joy is a choice,

We have to actively choose that we want to live this way, Christ brings the joy but we must bring the mindset that yes Christ did die for me and that is what I want to be joyful about.

Imagine the shepherds choosing to reluctantly go to see Jesus, imagining they have better things to do. They choose to follow God’s calling and are rewarded with the Joy of Christ.

God wants you to experience his gift of Joy this Christmas, he honestly does, that’s what he has been doing all along, is bring you into the fold to experience his presence which brings such Joy.

How will you respond today?

Will you walk out of here today and be filled with the joyful pressence that is Jesus Christ?

Will that Joy follow through into you encounters today? this week? This Month?

Will you let that joy seep out of you in ever essence, as you serve in hospitality, as you speak to those you work with and those who might work for you,

Could you imagine that here in Vermilion and the surrounding area that there would suddenly be a change in the mood, that this Advent season we would open the doors with a joyous perspective that leads others to also hear the Good News?

One person who I can share the good news with this week: