Good News of Great Joy for All People

Introduction

Tonight we celebrate the greatest gift ever given. For, as the prophet says,

Isaiah 9:6 ESV

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.

That child was born in Bethlehem, the city of David, over two thousand years ago, and yet still we remember and celebrate that fateful night.

Exploring the depth of the Incarnation and the mystery of “God with us” is an inexhaustible task, and yet even the glory of this evening pales in comparison to the glory of this child’s empty tomb. The angels say to the shepherds

Luke 2:11 ESV

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

but the shepherds do not know yet what it will cost this child to be the Savior of the world. The shepherds know only part of the story. They know, we can presume, that Israel has been waiting. The glory of the Lord had once departed from the Temple, the prophet Ezekiel had prophesied a new temple that would one day be filled again with the glory of God. But that moment never came, even after a new temple had been built. Israel was still waiting for the return of the glory of God, and then, on this night, as shepherds were keeping watching over their flock,

Luke 2:9 ESV

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.

The moment had come. The glory of the Lord had returned, and it returned not to the halls of Caesar Augustus nor to the rebuilt temple but to lowly shepherds.

The angel of the Lord announces the birth of this child, who is simultaneously Savior, Messiah, and Lord, and it is as though all of heaven cannot help but burst forth in praise that Jesus has been born in the city of David.

Luke 2:13–14 ESV

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

One of the first names we see when we open our Bibles to Luke 2 to read of the birth of Jesus is the name Caesar Augustus. If we don’t linger for a moment on that name, we will miss the point of what Luke is trying to tell us. Less than three decades before the birth of Jesus, Caesar Augustus had brought an end to Rome’s bloody civil war. He was heralded as savior and Lord. To him all glory was owed, for he had founded the Roman Empire and brought peace to the world, and so, under Augustus, the imperial cult began.

But tonight, far removed from the throne of the empire, heaven breaks forth in song, ascribing glory not to the kingdoms of this world, but to the God who sits on the highest heaven, and announcing that peace, true peace, God’s shalom, had come to the world.

I know some might say this is too subtle, that Luke isn’t setting up a contrast between Jesus and the empires of this world. But Luke makes the same point again at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry as John begins to prepare his way. Luke writes:

Luke 3:1–2 ESV

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.

The glory of God comes to shepherds, and the word of God comes to John in the wilderness. The God who sits in the highest heaven alone is worthy of glory and praise for he, not Caesar, has brought true peace to earth with the birth of this child, whom the shepherds will find wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.

That child brings God’s shalom, but he also brings God’s grace and salvation. Paul writes:

Titus 2:11 ESV

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,

The announcement of the angel of the Lord may have come to shepherds outside Bethlehem, but it was not meant for them only. This story is, as the angel says,

Luke 2:10 ESV

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.

Great Joy

Tonight isn’t good news only for me and for you, and it isn’t the type of information you receive and then casually move on with life. There are two phrases here in this verse that I want us to focus on this evening. The first is “great joy.” We all know the birth of Jesus is Good News, but it’s more than that. It’s good news of great joy! The Gospel of Jesus Christ, which becomes a reality as God is born of a woman this evening, ought to elicit tremendous joy in us every time we think about what it is that God has done for us in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We’ll all get gifts this Christmas, but most of what we will receive is ultimately fleeting and temporary. But the gift we receive in Jesus Christ is the gift of eternal life. It is the gift that keeps on giving tonight and forevermore. It is the gift of “God with us”, but even more than that, it is the gift of “God becoming one with us.” No longer do we have to be cut off from God. No longer does death get to write the last words in the story of our lives. No longer do we have to be slaves to sin, death, and the devil. And all of this is true because of the good news of this holy night. If that isn’t a cause for great joy, then I don’t know what is.

For All People

Secondly, I want us to focus on that phrase “for all people.” Tonight isn’t good news of great joy just for me and for you. We are not part of some secret society who has this private information that we must protect and keep to ourselves at all costs. The good news of this night is for everyone. There is no one that you know and no one that you will ever meet for whom the birth of Jesus Christ is not good news. On the first Christmas, the angel of the Lord announced the good news to the shepherds. This Christmas, the responsibility to announce the good news falls to us. We are the ones now tasked with announcing the good news of what God has done in Jesus Christ our Lord to the whole world

The thing is, the two phrases I want us to have in mind this Christmas are related because our compulsion to want to tell people about Jesus Christ should come from the great joy that we feel from having received this incredible gift. And it is a gift. What God offers you tonight in Jesus Christ is a gift that you can not buy and you cannot earn. If you have not received this gift, then let tonight be the night. There is great joy in the Gospel, and it is good news for all people. No matter who you are and no matter what you have done, God is offering you this evening the gift of eternal life in his Son. This is the good news of Christmas. This is why we are gathered here tonight to celebrate. Because the greatest gift ever given was born this night. God with us. For ever and ever.

Amen.