Good News of Great Joy
Notes
Transcript
This time of year, we get real invested in the holiday that we celebrate. We like going to the events, the parties, the family gatherings, the church services. We look forward for months on end to this time of year. There is something special about it. But when we think to history, there was not always something special about this time of the year. Even when Jesus was just born and laying in the manger, to most, this was not front page, breaking news. But in the passage we are looking at tonight, there is this proclamation that is made that tells some shepherds and even tells us today, that this in fact was a night of good news of great joy.
Just a few moments ago, we heard the scripture read that recounts the birth of Jesus Christ. I want us to pick up right where we left off.
8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.
10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
Pray
I am sure that many of you are familiar with this passage. The angel appears to the shepherds in the field and tell them about the birth of Jesus and they declare it good news. What I want you to leave with here tonight is that we need to understand that the good news that they are talking about it is that Jesus is Lord and savior.
8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
Maybe you have never heard why this verse is significant to this passage. For us to really understand the magnitude of these shepherds in this story, we need to know a little bit more about the shepherd. These shepherds were out at night watching over the sheep. The job of a shepherd was not one that was a very glamorous. Shepherds were considered some of the lowest of lows. They had bad reputations, they were not able to even testify in court because they were considered unreliable. In many cases, when it was not as dangerous, they would have children be the ones to watch over sheep. So these men held the jobs of children. And even worse than that, they had the night shift rotation which is the worst job of the worst job. But God revealed his plan to them through the angel.
9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.
They were just minding their business, watching over the sheep. I picture them sitting around a campfire, probably just having some casual conversation. When all of a sudden an angel appeared. And the glory of the Lord shone around them. It is hard for us to picture what this may look like. We don’t have details about what the glory of the lord looked like. Maybe a blinding light, maybe a beautiful glow. But we do know one thing, they were filled with fear. In the book of Luke so far, the angel of the Lord has appeared 3 times. And all three times, the people witnessing it have the same reaction, they were filled with great fear. In the Old Testament when people were in the presence of the Holy, they were always afraid. And you may think that this doesn’t make sense why someone would be afraid in this situation. But think about the overwhelming emotions that would take place.
And for these men to be afraid would probably be quite a feat. They were shepherds. Their job was to protect these sheep from predators. Some of the meanest, scariest creatures that you would imagine. But an angel shows up and they are afraid. This must have been such a glorious and overwhelming sight that they didn’t know what to think so their instinct is fear. But then the angel spoke to them.
10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
Fear not. In the face of something unknown and overwhelming, the angel gives them comfort. Fear not, because I bring you good news. The angel was not the bearer of bad news but good news. In Christianity, we have this word that means a lot to us. The Gospel. The word gospel is literally translated as good news. And this good news that the angel is telling them about will bring people great joy. The gospel is that, good news of great joy.
In the season that we are celebrating, many times our emotions get magnified. If we are joyful, then we are a little extra joyful. But if we are sad or depressed then in this time of year, we are a little extra sad and a little extra depressed. I am sure that these shepherds did not have the best situations that were going for them. They were likely not at home with their families, society considered them to be scum, and I am sure that this position did not pay the best. Maybe you feel this way too.
Maybe you spent way too much money on gifts and you were holding out for the Christmas bonus and it didn’t come and you don’t know how you are going to pay your power bill.
Maybe you went through a traumatic event this year and now you are having to put on a smile when you are around your family when you really don’t want to.
Maybe this is the first Christmas you are spending without a loved one. Maybe you have lost your spouse, a parent, or a child this year. And being around your extended family only magnifies the loss that you have felt.
Maybe your family has pushed you away and you feel isolated and alone.
These are all real things that are happening right now in the lives of people we know and maybe even you. And you don’t know how you are going to make it. And you hear me talk about this angel that is bringing good news of great joy and you think to yourself that this isn’t what you need. But the angel brought this news not only the the shepherds. He said that this good news of great joy will be for all people.
This is going to be for the shepherds and for the inn keeper. This is going to be for the people of Israel but this is also going to be for all nations. This news is for the ones who have everything falling in place in their life but it is also for those who feel like their life is falling apart. So what is this good news?
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
A savior is born. This is the good news. This was especially relevant to the people of Israel who were promised a savior. The promise has finally been fulfilled. The good news is a promise that God made that he kept. God keeps his promises. So how will Jesus be a savior. If you read a little bit before this, you will see that he is from the lineage of David. So does this mean that he is going to become a political figure who becomes the literal king of Israel and pushing the Roman empire out so that they have control over themselves once again? This is what the people of Israel wanted but this is not what would happen. Jesus would grow up in a working class household. He would study scripture and memorize scripture, just as all Jewish children would. He would not come to any sort of prominence till he was a man. It was then that he began his work in ministry of making disciples and teaching them. And that would lead to him going to the cross to be executed.
And you may be thinking “I thought this was good news. Sounds pretty bad to me”. Well it is only good news because Jesus was God. He lived a sinless life because he was fully God. He was the perfect sacrifice to be made to God. See in the time period before Jesus going to the cross, they would need to take an animal sacrifice to the temple for the priest to make on their behalf so that their sins would be forgiven. But they would have to do this over and over again because an animal was lesser than a human, so the sacrifice was not enough to have their sins forgiven forever. But Jesus, because he was fully God and fully man, and lived a perfect sinless life, his sacrifice was enough to cover someones sins for all of eternity. This is what makes him savior.
But then we get to this word that the angel uses to describe Jesus, Lord. In the church world, we tend to use these words synonymously. But they are not. Jesus as savior is the one who went to the cross and did what you couldn’t do for yourself. He lived the perfect life we should have lived, died the death that we deserve, and rose from the grave 3 days later to prove that he has the power over sin and death. This is the Jesus that we all want. But then we have to reckon with this other word. Lord. For Jesus to be Lord is different than savior. I do believe that he needs to be savior for him to truly be Lord. But for Jesus to be Lord, this means that we bow down to him. He is the one that we worship, he is the one who reigns on the heavenly throne. And you may still be tracking with me here. But now I am going to take it a step more.
For Jesus to be Lord, this means that you do what he says to do and you don’t do what he says not to do. And this Jesus is not some guy floating around in our head that we are shaping into our image. But this is the Jesus of scripture that we are being shaped into his image. This means that we are getting to know him through prayer and reading our bibles. This means that we love the things that Jesus loves, we hate the things that Jesus hates, and that we will do whatever Jesus tells us to do in his scripture. And many of us are not on board with that Jesus. We want him as savior but we do not want him as Lord. And this boils down to authority. If you have surrendered yourself to Jesus, this means that you have given up any and all authority you have over yourself. This means that he is the one that is in control of you. This means that Jesus and the bible have authority over you and that you no longer have authority in your own life. We have this image of slavery in the bible. People are either slaves to sin or to righteousness.
17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed,
18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.
When we become obedient to the teaching of Jesus, we become slaves of righteousness. This is what it means for Jesus to be savior and Lord. And this is the good news of great joy that is for all people. I want us to look at this rest of this passage.
12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
So he tells them how to find Jesus. He is going to be lying in a manger. A manger is a feed trough for livestock. Now, there may have been other babies that were born in Bethlehem that night, but they knew that he would be the one that is lying in a manger. And then it wasn’t just the one angel in front of them but a multitude of angels. And they began praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
They are praising God for what he has done. He has sent the messiah, the savior, the Lord to save his people. And for those whom he saves, he brings peace. This response to the word of God being proclaimed should be the same response for all of God’s people. Praise. This is our offering to God. Praise. To God be all the glory and honor and praise. Why? Because he sent Jesus be in our place. To live a sinless life, to die a horrific death, and to raise from the grave to prove that he has power over life and death. To Him be all the glory and honor and praise.
I do not know the spiritual condition of everyone that is here. You may be the closest to Jesus that you have ever been but you also may not have any sort of relationship with Jesus. So I want to ask you today, do you see that the good news of the birth of Jesus is that he is savior and Lord? Are you seeking this peace that can only be found in Jesus? I want to tell you how you can do that.
You may have heard the word salvation in terms of Christianity but do not know exactly what that means. Salvation is what we are drawn toward when we believe that Jesus really is who he said he was, which is God. What are we saved from? We are saved from the consequences of sin. Sin is what we do when we are disobedient to God and his commands. This is what has separated us from him. Because of this separation, we need salvation. This is found in the turning from our sins and turning towards Jesus. You need to go towards Jesus and believe that he is God in the form of man who lived a sinless life, died a horrible death in our place and defeated death by rising from the grave to prove that he is God. And when we do that, we are saved. And with salvation we find this relationship with Jesus where he is our Lord. And we follow him completely. And you can have this right now.
Maybe you feel like God is pulling you in. There is no magic formula, no special prayer that you need to say. Just surrender. Turn from your sins and turn towards Jesus as your Lord and savior. And when you do that, you are saved. You now have the peace of God, you now have the hope of Jesus. And when those difficult times come, when you are coming up on a holiday and feel like you are alone, you have Jesus. And that is the best gift that has ever been received.
Prayer.