Of Great Joy

Back in my day, we didn’t go to school on camera with all these computers, We went to place with a teacher. - Doug, 10 years old speaking of 2019

At the heart of this comment, and many others There is a lot of talk about Privilege

And a lot more talk in my household about Privilege

IN this way of talking it is not understanding the great place ]you have because you have never lived in another place, you have not taken the perspective of another person

“Kids don’t know how good they got it these days.”

Kids don’t know how good they got it.

Kids complaining about doing chores

But I can complain like I have privilege

voting problems

coronavirues restrictions - Chile

More importantly, in our daily lives we take incredible privilege with our faith.

Privilege hides us from wonder, amazement, gratitude even joy.

Privilege with the Christmas Story can steal from us joy.

Privilege can steal from us the joy of our reality

I am going to tell you what we can do about it before I tell you how we see it in the Christmas Story and what we are going to do about it.

Destroy privilege thinking and accept the reality of our need for savior

Destroy privilege thinking and obey the Savior

Destroy Privilege thinking and celebrate the Savior!

That’s what I am going to tell you know lets look at how the Christmas story takes us there

Luke 2:8 CSB

8 In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock.

Trivial facts:

- How we know Jesus probably was born in the Spring

Shepherds were the regular working class of the people.

These regular people, were doing their regular job, in their regular life.

Imagine: What was the conversation the shepherds had before the angels appeared?

What was the biggest problems of their lives? What might they need fixing?

Was it about shepherding?

I ask this because everything changed in an instant.

Diagnosis, Accident, Government Order, The results on a stick of a baby, the offer of a job, the question of will you marry me

Many people live in utter fear of the “instant.” As our whole lives are focused on resting in the falsehood of our privilege. We actually get a bunch of anxiety about it.

These instants can be super bad but they can also be super good. For those who follow Christ we don’t have to be afraid of the instant.

I’m talking to myself here too.

We don’t have to be afraid of keeping our privilege. Instead we can go through life knowing that in each “huge Instant” God wins.

Romans 8:28 CSB

28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.

But the Shepherds didn’t have that promise yet, they were not living under this. You have this privilege, never forget it, You don’t have to be afraid of the next moment. In the next moment God wins.

The shepherds though had no idea what was coming.

Luke 2:9–10 CSB

9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people:

What did they expect next?

THE ANGEL SAID GOOD NEWS OF GREAT JOY

What good news would you need to hear next?

a millionaire

your kids are ok

the coronavirus is over

Open yourself up to the greater blessings.

The angels gave them a statement we need to rest in today

Luke 2:11 CSB

11 Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord.

We need a savior

I wonder if we understand all that means.

In Buddhism there will always be evil and good, there will never be a time when good wins and its over

In Hinduism we are always in Kharmic debt

IN atheism the only future is that in a few billion years the sun will explode and destroy all of this

But in our end, in the end, we need a Savior. Someone for the now, that we don’t have to be afraid of the instants of life, that we have a God who will carry us to His glory though any circumstance including a pandemic

That evil will be and has been crushed. In the end those who are unjust will be punished either in this life but for sure the next.

Good wins! God wins

Even our own evil will be punished but thanks be to God, the angels told us right, we have a Savior God himself, THe Messiah, Born in the city of David and wrapped in a cloth and lying in a manger.

Destroy privilege thinking and accept the reality of our need for savior

You aren’t ok. We aren’t good. We are messed up. This world is messed up and we are part of it.

Not everyone who dies and sees God is Saved. Only those that accepted their need for a Savior. And those that followed Him

Yet God has made a way today for you to see your need for a Savior just as he made a way for the Shepherds to recognize the Savior.

See the Shepherds didn’t see a star, they saw angels. THere were no wise men and it is very likely that there were many babies in Bethlehem so how would they know which one.

Mary and Joseph went through a hardship of no suitable place to give birth instead Mary had to be pathetic and give birth with animals. But it was this bizarre and sad set of circumstances that made it so easy, so incredibly easy for the Shepherds to find a baby, Just go looking where the animals are.

Shepherds had to know where they kept the animals in the city.

Sometimes your greatest hardship is God making it very easy for His people to find you.

Do you see that you need that Savior.

You need Spiritual salvation of your sins

Do you recognize that God is delivering you not just in the future but right now, to a Higher calling, to bring God’s kingdom right now, to follow Him.

See the angels burst out signing because God will make a way for himself to be worshipped.

Luke 2:13–14 CSB

13 Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: 14 Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to people he favors!

But then the Shepherds were faced with the question you are faced with now. What next.

Luke 2:15 CSB

15 When the angels had left them and returned to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go straight to Bethlehem and see what has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”

What would there lives have been like if they wouldn’t have gone.

It is essential that we obey

Destroy privilege thinking and obey the Savior

When we do the stories that are going to role in about the way God provided.

The Light Show workers

Luke 2:16–18 CSB

16 They hurried off and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby who was lying in the manger. 17 After seeing them, they reported the message they were told about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.

Destroy Privilege thinking and celebrate the Savior!

when you consider all that you have in your spiritual pocket

a savior

forgiveness

all things work together for good

you are called to come along seeing God’s wonders and blessings