Christmas Joy
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Introduction
Introduction
What brings you joy at this time of year? What brings a smile to your face at Christmas?
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Is Joy that first taste of Christmas cake? or Cherries?
Is Joy when the relatives all roll in from out of town?
Is Joy that anticipation of what gifts you will receive tomorrow?
I for one love feeling after a Christmas lunch when you roll your belly that grew two shirt sizes at lunch into the lounge and just relax in the company of friends or family. I love that after lunch bliss.
The unfortunate part of this is that it’s all short lived. My joyful post lunch bliss soon gives way to the dread of washing up.
The joyful anticipation of Christmas gifts gives way to the disappointment of a well-meaning but underwhelming present.
The joyful reception of the rellies gives way to bickering and backhanded comments about nagging about some unresolved family issues.
The joyful first taste of Christmas cake gives way to a second, and a third and a fourth and a fifth then growing sick of the taste and wishing you’ll never see another slice again! (well not for twelve months anyway!).
The thing is that all the joys of this life are quite fleeting. They come with great anticipation, they are enjoyed and then they fade with surprising quickness. They are like flowers which after heaps of waiting, they bloom in brilliant colouring, and then fade into a wilting death.
Our fading joy and happiness is a common feature of this human life, and will probably be part of your Christmas this year, and the next.
But,
I want to tell you this morning about a Christmas Joy that transcends these fading and fleeting joys.
A Christmas Joy that transcends history.
A Christmas Joy that both transcends our lives, and can change our lives forever!
I’m going to spend some time talking about that portion of the Christmas story we read from the Biography of Jesus written by Luke. We’re going to run through and have look at Three aspect of Christmas Joy.
1. Christmas Joy is Good News for All
1. Christmas Joy is Good News for All
The story starts with some fellas out in the paddocks watching sheep about 2000 years ago in Palestine. These guys are not well respected in society. They looked after the sheep to protect from thieves and wild animals. But you know, they don’t need much training or skill for this work. These shepherds were lower class folk. There just minding their own business on the night shift.
Then an angel appeared!
Angels are God’s messengers. They are not cute or cuddly. They are terrifying!! They are overwhelming!!
That is why the shepherds lose their cool. They are scared and afraid. It’s not uncommon for folks in the Bible to just fall down in shock when they come face to face with an angel.
Despite this instant fear, the angel says:
But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.
The angel comes with a message, from God to people. A divine message from the heavens!
This message is Good News for All.
Good news of Great Joy!
Not "some” joy...
Not “a decent amount of” Joy...
Not “mediocre” joy...
GREAT JOY!!
The angel brings good news of Great Joy for all the people. That news was not only for the shepherds, but for all. For the low class, for the well off, the sick, the healed.
This news was for their kids, and their kids, and the kids, kids kids. This Good News is for us even today. This Good News of Great Joy is even for us today.
This Good News means Christmas Joy for us.
This news of the angel, this message he brought can bring Joy to all. It brings Joy to the World.
Anyone can receive this good news. Anyone may hear it - Race, gender, class, age, sexuality, past failure, doesn’t restrict you from this good news.
You’re never too dirty, or too far gone to receive this Good News!
Whoever you are, whatever you have done, you can have everlasting Joy by receiving this good news.
But what is the content of this message? What is the Good News?
2. Christmas Joy is a Saviour Born
2. Christmas Joy is a Saviour Born
Well, the angel announces the birth of a Saviour: One who saves. If you’re stuck at the side of the road and you have to call RACV, the mechanic they send to you is your saviour; they came to rescue you from a difficult situation - where you were trapped and needed help beyond your power.
But the saviour who brings everlasting joy is no mere technician - but strangely it is a baby!
This is a baby who from birth is expected to rescue people! It says:
Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.
Why is this good news? Why is it so significant?
When a future doctor is born, angels don’t turn up in the maternity ward and say “some day this baby will save lives”. So what is special about this Christmas baby? Why do angels turn up to announce it?
He is the Messiah. He is called Christ the Lord. That’s what sets him apart!
He is the Christ, the Messiah. The “anointed one”.
If you read or watch enough fantasy and sci-fi, you will be very familiar with the “promised one” trope. It has been done to death. It’s basically a cliche now to have a prophesy of an unexpected person who will arise to save the day. Here’s the thing, long before it was an overdone storytelling mechanic, Jesus embodied the reality of it. He was the OG promised one - prophesied and expected, yet still unexpected when he turned up.
He is the long awaited rescuer. He is the baby that was prophesied centuries before he ever turned up. He is a baby that will bring Rescue. He will bring Salvation to mankind. People have been hanging out for his arrival since the dawn of time.
His Rescue will transcend fading and fleeting political empires.
A Rescue that transcends the ebb and flow of history.
A Rescue that both transcends our lives, and a Rescue that can change our lives forever!
But What do we need rescue from? Why do we need a Saviour?
Most of us have pretty comfortable lives, roof over our heads, food in our bellies, clothes on our backs. We’re not an enslaved country, we pretty free to do as we please. We’re living a good life.
So why would you and I need rescue? What do I need rescue from?
If you read on in the story, you soon find our that this baby, Jesus Christ, was born to rescue mankind from death and sin. Jesus saves from death and sin.
Jesus saves from Death, not from growing old and dropping off your perch. But Jesus saves from everlasting death. He saves from Hell. He saves from eternal damnation to eternal life!
But Jesus also saves from Sin.
Sin is a religious word for “failure”. Sin is failure to live rightly. Sin is failure to live ethically, not by our ethics, but by God’s ethics. Sin is failure to live in a morally good way.
But wait, sin is not just passive (like “oops I did it again”) like its always an accident. Sin is active rebellion away from God. Sin is to say I like to live my life my way instead of God’s way. It means saying “God be blowed, I’ll do what I want.”
Sin is serious. Sin is what leads to death in the first place. If you never sinned you’d never die. The wages of Sin is death.
The thing is, we’re all stuck in a predicament: All of us have sinned. All of us are going to die. And all of us are offensive to God.
It’s not like there’s the holy ones over here who are better than everyone else.
All of us here are in this situation - Christians and non-Christians. Old and young. Weak and strong.
Even if someone looks like they live the perfect moral life and do more good than bad, give to charity, be nice to folks. Doesn’t matter. They have sinned, and they’re headed to the grave. They have committed cosmic treason against God.
So with this in mind, I’d really love it if there were someone who could Rescue me from this predicament.
This is why Jesus the Rescuer, the Saviour Born, is our Christmas Joy!
He rescues us from Sin and Death. He saves people from their transgressions, their stuff ups, their failure. He is an eternal saviour, he saves people into eternal life, joy, peace and happiness.
It is our greatest Christmas Joy to be rescued from sin and death by a loving savoir who will enfold us in the arms of a heavenly Father who desires us, despite our brokenness.
Unlike some of our earthly fathers, our heavenly father will never fail in his love and faithfulness. He is always good, and always right. He sends Jesus into the world as a baby on an epic mission to save people form sin and death and reconcile us to our heavenly Father.
3. Christmas Joy is Peace from God
3. Christmas Joy is Peace from God
Which brings me to the next point; 3. Christmas Joy is Peace from God. The angels in the story we read mention this peace. Peace from God.
After the freaked out shepherds herd the message from the first Angel, a vast multitude of his mates turn up to praise and worship God; they burst forth with praise:
“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
The arrival of this baby, Jesus Christ the Lord, brings forth the hosts of heaven into rapturous praise an honor. They hope and pray for peace, but strangely it is not peace for all.
This hope for peace is for those with whom God is pleased. Those in whom God finds pleasure. On whom his favour rests.
You see the arrival of the Baby who is the Rescuer is not peace for all. It is Good News for all that all who come to him for rescue will find that Salvation. But for those who do not receive this Good News, or outright reject it, Jesus will deal with them appropriately.
It’s Good news for all, but it is only peace & joy for those who receive the rescuer. The Good News is only effective if it’s acted on.
Imagine a doctor comes to you and says, “I have a cure for your cancer”. You say “Great! That just what the world needs, how wonderful for everyone suffering under this illness!” But if you never actually receive the cure, what good is the news for you? Good News is only effective if it is received!
That the Good News of Jesus born into the world brings peace for all who want to be rescued from the scourge of sin and death. It is good for all those who want God to save them!
You see the baby Jesus born in Bethlehem was not only a Rescuer, he is God himself - jammed into a human body. This Christmas baby, Jesus, was God and man. Human and divine. He is the creator and ruler of the universe. To reject him is to reject all that is good and lovely, beautiful and holy. To reject him is to devalue you own life!
And while it’s beautiful to think of a cute baby in a feed trough in a shed, that baby would grow up to say;
“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.
Jesus is inherently divisive. He forces you to make a choice:
Do you want Rejection or Rescue?
Do you want sin and death or do you want life and light?
Are you going to serve yourself or serve God?
Do you want only the momentary joys of this life, or do you want everlasting Joy?
The arrival of Jesus into that manger many years ago brings peace, but only for those who are on God’s side. Only for those with whom he is pleased.
How do you get the pleasure of God? How can God be pleased with me?
He’s not pleased with you by default, in fact by default you are God’s enemy. Every time you disobey him, you set yourself up in rebellion against him. This is what evil is - opposition to God. Evil is wickedness, darkness, sin. God will wipe all that is evil from the face of the map, driving it back and decimating it’s force.
So if by default you’re opposed to God, how can you gain his pleasure?
Well you could try living better, trying harder, doing more. You can stop telling lies. You can stop watching porn. You can stop pirating content. You can stop gossiping about your friends. You could stop hating and being angry at people. You could start showing kindness and mercy to those around you, you can start being generous to your friends and family. You could be self controlled in your habits.
Will all this please God? Yes! All of these are things that God commands and expects of you, but it’s not enough. It won’t win God’s affection for you.
God’s pleasure does not come from living a good enough life, you would never be able to do enough.
Sin is sin. And being a little less sinful doesn’t stop you being a sinner.
God is perfect, and he expects perfection. You and I are not perfect.
We need something that translates the difference between God and us. Someone to rescue us...
Enter Jesus.
Jesus is both God and Man. He is perfect. He lived the perfectly ethical, moral and holy life. He is what we should be like.
He is righteous, and he is willing to give you His righteousness. He is willing to give you his holiness, his goodness. He is willing to give you his own divine Spirit. All you must do is submit to Him.
You need a perfect life, the life of Jesus Christ. He will give it to you if you would yield to his rulership as King of the Cosmos. To receive God’s pleasure, you must abandon your rebellion, and join him in his mission to wipe out sin and death.
Receive Jesus, and receive God’s peace. Receive God’s Peace as proclaimed by the angels. This peace through Jesus is our Christmas Joy.
Bringing it all together
Bringing it all together
Christmas Joy is
...Good News for All - the news is proclaimed to all, you must receive it!
...A Saviour Born - Someone to rescue us from Sin & Death to bring us to God.
...Peace from God - God’s peace is for those who please him, we can only truly please him through our rescuer Jesus.
When we have all these things we can have true Joy, a joy that lasts forever and never fades. We will have ups and downs in life, but we have a sure and steadfast hope, secured by our saviour. He is Christ the LORD, both God and man.
I’m telling you this morning about a Christmas Joy that transcends the fading and fleeting joys of this life.
A Christmas Joy that transcends history.
A Christmas Joy that both transcends our existence, and can change our lives forever!