The Glory of God in Christmas

Introduction

Christmas time for the Christian is a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus. You may have seen it on billboards and signs, “Jesus is the reason for the season.” Even if you haven’t been to church in awhile, you probably know the Christmas story at least from the peanuts rendition of the story given by Linus. In that scene, Linus was quoting Luke 2, our text today. At the birth of Jesus, some angels appeared to shepherds in their fields and said these words Read the text. The last verse is a song of praise: Glory to God in the highest! But how does God get glory from the birth of a little baby in a small backwater town in a manger stall? To find the answer to that question we are going to go back to the beginning of the angels message.

Text vs 10-14

God gets glory in bringing Joy to all people.

Prior to the first Christmas, God’s relationship with mankind was primarily through the Jewish people. Mankind lingered in sin and rejection of God, but from the beginning God had promised a savior. In Gen 3:15 “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” God promised a virgin born offspring who would destroy Satan.

Even when God established His relationship with the Jewish people, God said that through Abraham’s offspring all nations of the earth would be blessed. Gen 22:18 “And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.” Israel was supposed to be a witness to the one true God but they failed over and over and they squandered that message of Joy.

But ultimately, this promise was fulfilled in the birth of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ the descendent of Abraham came to bring Joy to all people. I know Christians sometimes don’t show this the best and life is sometimes hard, but Jesus came to bring us Joy.

Every time he healed a blind man, a lame man, a child possessed of a devil; he brought joy. Why is it that the Apostles could be beaten and then walk out rejoicing? It was because they had found a joy that survives even in difficult times.

Everyone of us was created for more Eccl 3:11 “He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.” God has filled us with a sense of wonder, awe and searching so that we would all know that something is missing in our lives. Without God in our lives, there is an emptiness and purposelessness to life.

One author defined Joy as a hopeful and peaceful outlook on life, a deep-seated sense of well-being. C.S. Lewis explained in his autobiography, Surprised by Joy, you don’t find joy by pursuing joy. Joy is a byproduct. Joy is always a surprise. There are many who go about seeking happiness and joy in life, but they never do. Joy is the response to finding something else more meaningful and satisfying. Joy is the surprise of finding pleasure, satisfaction, and peace in something you didn’t even know you were looking for. It is like the feeling you have when you have lost your keys, but you finally find them in the seat cushion. The universe has aligned and life is back the way it should have been.

If we truly grasped what it means that Jesus came, died for our sins and has saved those who put their faith in Him; it would change how we see life. Joy is finally finding what I was created to be. Finding that missing piece in my life, that thing which makes me complete and brings satisfaction. You might argue but so many Christian’s don’t live like they have joy. They had it once, they just forgot what they had. Joy has eluded them because they stopped living for Him who is deepest need. Hard times made us forget, business makes us forget. Sin makes us forget.

Christian, God gets the most glory out of you when you find your satisfaction and greatest joy in Him. Why do we linger in grief and sorrow when we have so much joy available to us in our relationship with Jesus Christ. You see God’s glory isn’t some sort of self-serving motivation behind a cruel God. God’s glory is for our ultimate good. it is when, we function for the purpose that God created us that we can find the most satisfaction in life. Are you missing out on the Joy that Jesus offers?

God get glory because He sent a Savior to rescue mankind.

This promise was primarily about receiving joy because God was sending a rescuer. You see mankind is in a pretty bad situation and they don’t even know it sometimes.

A. We need to be rescued from our sin- Romans 3:10-18 “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Our problem is that we are all sinners. When it says there is none righteous, Paul is saying that none of us have anything in us that is right. It is all tainted by sin. To further show his point, Paul says there is none that seeks after God. We all live our lives with God on the outside. People don’t really want God involved. They don’t love Him for who He is or glorify Him. But seeking is more than that. Seeking means wanting to find. We go on about our lives just doing what we want to do. Because of that Paul says, we have all gone out of the way. We stray from what is right because we don’t really want to do whats right. Let’s face it when you choose to do bad things it is because you wanted to do those bad things. It was either easier, it brought you pleasure, or it made you feel better to do it. Paul also concludes that none of us does good. You might argue but what about those who donate millions to help relieve suffering around the world. One thing that is true of all of us is that those good things were not done for God and often they are tainted by selfishness. We do them because it makes us feel better about ourselves or to gain some kind of respect. Companies do it because it gets them social credit with investors. In the end, Paul says there is no fear of God before their eyes. We are so tainted by sin that we can’t shake it off. We struggle with addiction, we continually treat people in ways we regret later but we can’t seem to help ourselves. Every moment of our days is consumed by selfishness. Even when we do seem to give up one sin, we just trade it in for another. Have you ever thought about how often you live selfishly or in pride? We are hopelessly flawed and we need someone to rescue us from sin. Only Jesus can set us free from the chains of sin.

B. We need to be rescued from the consequences of sin Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Sin has consequences. I am seeing this more and more in the lives of those touched by sin, but sin brings death. This is true in the physical sense, we all die because of that first sin by Adam and Eve in the garden, but sin also brings relational death. Think about all the family disfunction that you see around you. Families that can’t even celebrate Christmas together because someone’s feelings were hurt and they can’t forgive or someone who did something really bad to someone else and now they aren’t invited to Christmas . Sin brought relational death in our relationship with God. All sin is ultimately against God. It is like spitting in his face. We were created for a relationship with Him, but sin has broken that relationship. Sin also brings spiritual death. Rev 20:14-15 “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” There is a death that follow physical death: an eternity in hell. Hebrews 9:27 “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:” But here’s the things: Jesus came to rescue us from those consequences of sin as well. Jesus can save you from sin and an eternity in hell.

God is glorified when one person gets saved. 2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” God does not desire anyone to die and go to hell. It brings Him joy and glory when people turn to him and place their faith in Jesus Christ. The bible says there is Luke 15:10 “Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.” contrary to common belief this verse isn’t technically saying the angels rejoice over people getting saved. The Joy is God’s joy that all the angels see over every sinner who repents.

Christmas present illustration

God wants to rescue you today. Will you let Him?

Conclusion

I hope the music today was a blessing to all who came, but it isn’t really about the music. If you have never been rescued from your sin, if you have never placed your faith in Jesus Christ; I can’t think of a better time to do it than this Christmas season. When the piano plays in a second, I want to ask that you come forward and I will have someone take you to a side room where they can show you how to be rescued from your sins.

Christian, here is my take away for you this morning. Jesus came to give us joy, peace, good will toward men. Are those things true of your life? This is what should be there in the lives of believers; so if we aren’t experiencing that something is wrong. Maybe we have forgotten what Jesus has done for us. Let’s remember everything he has done for us this Christmas season.