Good News of Great Joy
Luke 2:8-20
One of my favorite Christmas Carols is “Joy to the World, the Lord has come.”
The message of Advent and the birth of Jesus are about joy. The angel announced to the shepherds: “I bring you good news of great joy for everyone! The Savior, yes, the Messiah the Lord, has been born tonight in Bethlehem, the city of David.” Luke 2:10-11
At the end of our Christmas Pageant I mention a time in my life that I experience the joy of Christmas. When I was in the 4th grade I fell through ice when walking across a small creek in Gypsum. I had pneumonia and eventually the pneumonia and in my weakened physical condition I developed Septicemia, a blood infection. After 300 penicillin shots and nearly a month in the hospital in Salina, KS I was not getting well.
My first contact with the Free Methodist Church took place when a couple from the Salina FMC was visiting in the hospital and stopped in to see me on a Wednesday. That night at their church prayer meeting they had special prayer for me. The next day the doctor was amazed that I had taken a drastic turn toward health. My high fever broke and I went home several days later.
To a fourth grader going home was a joy, but an even greater joy happened when my doctor gave me a Christmas Catalogue and told me I could pick any toy out of the catalogue and he’d order it for me. I searched the catalogue. My mother I’m sure was hoping would pick a bicycle or some other major toy. I picked an army rifle. It was a special automatic rifle.
My interest in the rifle lasted a year or so, but my gratitude for the prayer of the people in Salina who hardly knew me has lasted over the years. Their visit brought me great news of great joy.
From the first announcement by the angel that the birth of Jesus is about great news of great joy, joy has been the hallmark of the Christian Faith.
Christmas is all about the birth of Jesus and what Jesus brings to all who believe in him and receive him. The birth of Jesus was a historical event. The birth of Jesus changed the way people experience forgiveness of sin. No longer did they have to take a lamb, bull or doves to the temple to sacrifice for their sins. Jesus came to forgive all who believed in him and received him.
I. Jesus Brings Salvation
Matthew 1:18-21, Matthew gives the account of the birth of Jesus. Joseph was engaged to Mary. Mary was a virgin but became pregnant by the Holy Spirit before they were married. But, Joseph a righteous and just man decided to break the engagement quietly so Mary would not be disgraced publicly. An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him “do not be afraid to go ahead with you marriage. For the child within her has been conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
The birth of Jesus was the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. Isaiah 7:14, “The Lord himself will choose the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel – ‘God is with us.’” In the birth of Jesus God became one of us as a human person, a God-man.
Biblical history from Genesis through Malachi was foretelling the coming of the Messiah. Jesus taught that the Old Testament scriptures stated the truths of His coming and mission.
Following the arrest, trial, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, Jesus appeared to two disciples walking to Emmaus. The disciples were depressed and filled with gloom. They had hoped Jesus was their Messiah and would deliver Israel from the oppression of Rome, but their hopes were crushed when Jesus was crucified.
As they walked along the road, Jesus the stranger became their instructor. Jesus asked them why they found it “so hard to believe what the prophets said in the scriptures. The prophets predicted that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his time of glory.” Luke 24:25-26
Just as the Old Testament prophets prepared Israel for the coming of the Messiah the New Testament writers have prepared us for the second coming of Jesus. At His second coming Jesus will give deliverance to all His followers from the domination of Satan and unrighteousness on earth. Jesus will reign as King of kings and Lord of lords. Revelation 19:6, 16
The message of salvation is good news to all who believe and accept Jesus. The message of salvation that brings forgiveness is good news to all who are living under the weight and burden of guilt.
Jesus was born to live and die and rise again to provide salvation and forgiveness of sin. I know there’s some bad news connected to the life of Jesus, cut the primary thrust of the life and witness or Jesus was good news. Jesus demonstrated compassion to all the common people he met. Jesus was then and is today not a hard task master. Jesus offers love to the person who feels alone and rejected. Jesus offers healing to the broken hearted.
In Copenhagen, Denmark, there is a statue of Christ that pictures our Lord with arms outstretched in love and compassion. When Bertel Thorwalsen, worked on the statue he intended to create a very different kind of figure. His original model was a massive clay figure of Jesus as a hero king. The head was thrown back imperiously, and the hands of Jesus were raised as if in a gesture of command. The great Danish sculptor finished his work and then left the statue to dry in his studio overnight. But the sea mist and fog came in that night and worked a strange change in the artist’s handiwork. When the sculptor returned, he found the head of Christ fallen forward and the hands outstretched in a gesture of love and entreaty. When Thorwalsen saw how the stature had changed over night he decided to make that new clay model the design for his permanent statue. Beneath the completed statue he wrote the inscription: “Come unto me, all that are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (From the words of Jesus in Matthew 11:28)
When Jesus was born he brought good news of salvation. To each person Jesus stands with outstretched arms and says, “Come to me all who are weary and bring your heavy burdens and I will give you rest.”
Jesus not only came with good news of salvation. Jesus also comes with good news of peace.
II. Jesus Brings Peace
Isaiah 9:6 The prophet Isaiah prophesied of the coming of the Messiah, “For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. And the government will rest on his shoulders. These will be his royal titles: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
As Prince of Peace Jesus came to give to all who believed in him and accepted him, Peace.
If you had the choice between receiving a million dollars in cash or peace of heart, mind and soul, which would you choose?
Jesus said that all who live in the world will experience tribulation and stress. Before his departure from planet earth Jesus told his followers: “I am leaving you with a gift – peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give isn’t like the peace the world gives. So don’t be troubled or afraid.” John 14:27
On the night before his arrest and trial Jesus gave a promise to his disciples, “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
All that this world has to offer, financial security, unlimited pleasures, healthy bodies, this world can not give a person inner peace. The peace that Jesus gives is beyond human understanding. To know that all is well with your soul is worth more than anything this world can give.
Jesus brought human kind peace. Because Jesus was born we can sing: “Peace, peace, wonderful peace coming down from the father above.”
Jesus will give you peace if you believe in him, accept him and ask him for peace.
“What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear! What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer.
O what peace we often forfeit, o what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.”
Jesus was born to give all who believe and receive Him salvation and peace. Jesus also came to give to all who believe Him and accept him Great Joy.
III. Jesus Brings Joy
Luke 2:8-11 – “That night some shepherds were in the fields outside the village, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terribly frightened, but the angel reassured them. ‘Don’t be afraid!’ he said, ‘I bring you good news of great joy for everyone! The Savior – yes, the Messiah, the Lord – has been born tonight in Bethlehem, the city of David.”
The shepherds ran to the village and found Mary and Joseph and the newborn baby, Jesus just as the angel had told them. After they say Jesus they returned to their fields and flocks, glorifying and praising God.”
The birth of Jesus brought good news of great joy. Wherever Jesus goes and people believe and receive Him He puts a song of praise in the hearts of people.
Experiencing joy in your heart and life is a choice you alone can make. Without joy our life is colored by doubt and pessimism. We believe that Jesus wants us to be humble, but we are proud. We know the Bible teaches that we can have a “peace that passes understanding,” but we are restless and perpetually worry. We claim to be children of the heavenly King, but we nurture inferiority. We say that from the heart of a Christian perfect love casts out fear, but we are anxious and permit worry to eat about at our soul like termites. We pray that we may be forgiven of our sins and forgive others, yet we harbor resentments, bitterness, and are not strangers to a critical spirit. We declare there is no joy like the joy of a Christian, but we are sad and full of self-pity.
The carols we sing at Christmas time remind us of the good news of great joy that Jesus wants to give us.
“Joy to the world, the Lord is come; Joy to the earth the Savior reigns.”
“Good Christian men, rejoice with heart, soul, and voice, Now ye hear of endless bliss; Joy! Joy!”
“All my heart this night rejoices, As I hear, Far and near, sweetest angel voices: Christ is born…the choirs are singing. Till the air, everywhere, with Joy is ringing.”
Joseph Folliet, writes in “Invitation to Joy” about people whose lives are void of joy. “Nothing and nobdy, from the weather to the people closest to you, can escape your censure. Why his perpetual fault-finding, which is sadistic toward others and masochistic toward yourselves? Isn’t it possible that you see the dark side of everything because there is so much darkness in your souls? Don’t you find the world sad and ugly because you view it with joyless eyes? The cold and gloom are in your first of all.”
Jesus says to us today: “I bring you the most joyful news ever announced, and it is for everyone.”
Our hearts should be full of joy at Christmas time as we celebrate the birth of Jesus. From the beginning of creation God had a plan of redemption and salvation. We sing with joy in our hearts because we know that God is in control. In fact for us to doubt the sovereignty of God, that He is in control, to be pessimistic about our life or the future, and cultivate negative attitudes, is sin. To be despondent and gloomy about ourselves and the world around us is to flatly repudiate the precept and example of our Lord.
Don’t allow what people say or don’t say about you to cause hurts and lasting wounds. Don’t allow past experiences to rob you of joy. Jesus can give you strength to press forward regardless of not receiving affirmation from your parents or memories of bad choices you made in the past. You can choose joy.
The Apostle Paul was in a cold, damp cave confined for preaching the Gospel. In spite of his circumstanced he writes to encourage Christians in Philippi: “Rejoice in the Lord, and again I say, rejoice in the Lord.” Phil. 4:4
The angel said, “I bring you good news of great joy.” Jesus is our good news. Regardless of your circumstance, your pain, or problem, you can look to Jesus is your good news of great joy. Joy is not something you can buy. It is not something you can unwrap in a Christmas present. Joy is a byproduct of a real, vital experience with God.
# A Charlie Brown comic strip has Charlie Brown sitting on a bean bag watching TV when Lucy walks over and abruptly says: “Get up! I wanna lie in that beanbag.
Charlie, staying in the bag, says, “Remember last yar when we were all sitting around the Christmas tree opening our presents. That’s when you said it.”
Lucy answered, “That’s when I said what?”
Charlie: “It was beautiful…”Why do we have to be nice to each other only on Christmas? Why can’t we be nice to each other every day?”
Lucy: “You drive me crazy!”
Charlie looks back at the TV and says, “Joy to the world.”
What do you do when you get down and discouraged? What do you do when faced with unreal expectations, financial pressure, busy schedules, or family conflicts?
Here are some practical suggestions:
- Get with people who encourage you.
- Do an act of kindness for someone
- Do something physical – walk, jog, exercise
- Listen to inspiring music
- Pray
- Memorize scripture that relates to the challenge you are facing.
When Mary was pregnant she traveled to visit her cousin Elizabeth who was 6 months pregnant. Elizabeth gave Mary encouragement.
This Christmas when you get together with your family, think of ways you can give encouragement. Determine to do or say things that will create encouragement and positive memories. Before opening presents read the Christmas story in Luke 2 and sing a Christmas Carol or two. Then give a prayer of praise and thank the Lord Jesus for bringing salvation, and peace and joy.
Plan to have a joy filled Christmas.
Let’s pray.
