Joy to the World

The Joy of Advent is Found in What Christmas Teaches Us About God.

I love Christmas...

I love the lights...

I love the food...

I love the movies...

I love the songs...

I love the presents...

I love the time with family...

I love the cold...

I love the fireplace...

It really is the most Wonderful Time of the Year…as the old song says

I dont want to hate on any of that…and I would be sad…truly sad... if they went away...

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But the best Christmas I ever had didnt have any of those things...

What is most interesting part of Jesus’ birth in the Bible was just how uninteresting it was...

What should shock us the most about the first Christmas day…the day Jesus was actually born in the likeness of man…is just how it wasn't shocking at all.

God Comes at Unexpected Times (1-3)

Luke 2:1–3 ESV

1 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And all went to be registered, each to his own town.

No-one expected Jesus to come when he did.

“In those Days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered...”

Now I know all of you have had long sleepless nights wondering why Luke tells us that Jesus was born during the time of the Roman census... Im sure you’ve layed awake many nights just pleading with God to help you understand this verse...

Census’ are a reminder of who’s really in control.

When our government sends you the census in the mail…their is a due date…if you don’t show up, you get penalized. Census’ are a way for the government to keep tabs on you…basically…

And Jews saw this as a personal and religious offense...

They believed God was in control…yet here they were having to follow the orders of some Pagan ungodly human leader in Rome...

“And all went to be registered, each to his own town...”

No-one was pushing back…they were totally under the control of Rome…they were like cattle blindly following the orders of Rome...

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Noone was thinking about God being in control...

And yet this is

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The Jews would have thought that the Messiah would have come at a point of power…not at a point of weakness...

And yet…When Israel was at the lowest of the lows…that’s when God stepped in through Jesus Christ

And here’s what this means for us....

This morning we don’t have to bite our nails to their root wondering if God is in control.

God seems to function best during times when everything seems to be out of whack…where there seems to be no hope.

He comes at unexpected times…times kind of like the world we live in today...

When Satan thinks he is winning…He is just walking into a mouse trap that God has set for him.

This is true for the whole world…but more importantly for us this morning…it is true for our lives individually.

You may look at life and go… “How in the world could God be ruling in my life right now…and what I would say is… Look to Christmas…God comes in the most unexpected of times...”

The joy of Christmas is found in the reality that God came to us in an unexpected time…and he still comes at unexpected times...

God Comes to Unexpected Places (4-7)

Luke 2:4–7 ESV

4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. 6 And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

When you think of a King coming into your town…what typically comes to mind?

Big cities

big lights…

big palaces…

big parades...

Loud music...

If I would have wrote the Christmas story…it would look a whole lot different I think…It would look like Baby Yoda in the Mandalorian being able to lift up dinosaurs with his mind...

If I wrote the Christmas story…I would make Jesus’ birthplace more impressive...

Think about it...

Jesus was born in Judea…a small unimpressive state

Jesus was born in Bethlehem…a small town in the middle of nowhere…it was farming community.

And Jesus isnt just born in a small town…the story of Christmas is even more obscure...Even smaller…Jesus was born in a stable outside the city limits most likely...

Here’s the point…God’s got a big heart is for small towns…kinda like ours...

In the worlds thoughts:

Power is reserved for the big “important” places...

God cares about the huge cultural centers

Im sometimes tempted to think this way...

Sometimes I think that God can only do important things with people that live in important places...

I want you to take this home with you today...

Christmas Teaches us this:

Obscurity and successful living are not enemies...

You don’t have to live in an “important place” for God to use you...

You and I…we can understand apart of Christmas that people who live in big important cities cant…because we live in a small “unimportant” town in the world’s eyes.

Jesus lived in the unimportant places in the world

He was raised in Nazareth…(he was shamed for being from Nazareth later in his ministry)

He was a carpenter that live a nomadic lifestyle throughout his ministry.

He spent the majority of his life in total obscurity as a carpenter.

He died outside outside the camp of Jerusalem...

And he invites us to join him there…living in obscure places...

The Joy of Christmas is found in the fact that God comes to unexpected places...

A place like Bethlehem…And He’s come to Brookhaven!

God Comes to Unexpected People

Luke 2:8–9 ESV

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.

This point is similar to the last one…but a little more personal...

Luke tells us that the people that God entrusted with the news that the Savior of the World had been born was a group of shepherds...

Here’s a list of what Shepherds were renown for:

They were Rag-tags

They were Rough necks

they were Fowl mouthed

they were nasty and Dirty (they literally slept outside with their sheep all night)

They were the most unexpected people that God could have announced his advent too...

You see the Christmas story teaches us that…God comes to unexpected places and he comes to unexpected People...

I love the words of William Barklay on this topic…he writes...

The Gospel of Luke Shepherds and Angels (Luke 2:8–20)

IT is a wonderful thing that the story should tell that the first announcement of God came to some shepherds. Shepherds were despised by the orthodox good people of the day. They were quite unable to keep the details of the ceremonial law; they could not observe all the meticulous handwashings and rules and regulations. Their flocks made constant demands on them; and so the orthodox looked down on them. It was to simple men of the fields that God’s message first came.

Maybe this morning you feel a bit like a shepherd

You feel like you cant quite keep all the rules and regulations of religion

You feel like you are a rough neck

You feel like you are unimportant...

You feel like you are nasty and dirty...

You feel like that God could never use you?

Ive got some good news for you...

God shows us in the Christmas story that he comes to unexpected People...

People like you…and people like me...

God Comes with an Unexpected Message

Luke 2:10–14 ESV

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!”

So understand the context here...

Some shepherds are keeping watch of their flocks by night...

An angel appears...

Their first thought must have been something to the tune of… they probably thought that the angel was there to bring God’s judgement on them because of their failure to live religiously enough...

They probably expected to hear… “The day of wrath has come...”

And instead this is what they heard… “Fear Not”

Why? because they were bringing “Good News of Great Joy...”

What’s this news?

“For all people...”

Even people that dont expect it

Even for people like shepherds that dont deserve it

Even for people like you and like me...

“For unto you is born this day in the city of David…a Savior…Who is Christ the Lord.”

the message that God brought wasnt one of condemnation and wrath

It wasnt one of good advice...

It was a message of Good News that God had sent a savior...

It was the gospel...

God was telling these shepherds that He was saving them...

And this is the true joy of Christmas...

That in this story of Jesus being born in an unexpected time, in this unexpected place, surrounded by these unexpected people…that God sends this unexpected message of salvation...

The unexpected good news of Great joy is this…Jesus came to save us church...

Through Christ we have fellowship with God and with one another

Through Christ we have peace with God

Through Christ we have hope that sin and Satan dont have the final say…but God does

And he does it all in the most unexpected way…through a baby…born in the middle of nowhere, in the company of a bunch of nobodies, with the most crazy unexpected message of Good News—that he came to save us from our sin...

Is this the joy of Christmas for you this morning?

I pray that before you leave today…if it isnt…that you would make it so...