The Gift Of Good News Of Great Joy Series

But it’s not just the worries of life that can get us down, it’s also the realities of life. Realities which are painful vivid reminders that we live in a fallen world. There are many in our community who will be spending Christmas alone this year, some perhaps for the first time. When my cousin Jimmy died in an awful construction accident a number of years ago just weeks before Christmas, his family was left with the daunting task of staring at the unopened gifts under the tree with his name on them. And now each Christmas acts as a reminder that their loved one is gone. Death is a reality which can cause despair, but when you add to it the reality of the horrors of our world, it seems almost overwhelming.

Just consider the front page headlines from just this week. North Korea activates its nuclear program in defiance of the US. The US suspects that Iraq has given nerve gas to Al-Qeuda. In Florida, two 9 yr old kids were arrested at their school for trying to sell Marijuana at their elementary school. The world can be such a depressing place and that‘s from just this week alone. Anne Murray had a song out in the 80’s, “We sure could use a little good news today.” and I agree with her, and here is the good news. The angel said, “I bring you good news of great joy unto you is born a Savior.” Into this dark depressing world was born He who is the light of the world. What good news! What great joy!

Now why is the message of the angels such good news of great joy? What was his message? Well it was basically the gospel. A Savior has been born unto you. The word gospel literally means good news. What’s the good news, it’s this. God left all the splendor in Heaven and came into this world in the form of a tiny infant. He lived a perfect life and when the time was right, he willingly went to the cross and died a substitionary atoning death on our behalf. He was crucified and dead, but on the third day He was raised from the dead. Now by placing our faith in Him, even though we may be deserving of Hell, we can be forgiven of our past, restored to our right relationship with God, renewed into the image of Christ, and promised the gift of eternal life in Heaven. Now I don’t know about you but that’s good news to me!

Now along with the basic message of the gospel, I want you to see other messages imbedded into the Christmas story that cause us to rejoice. The first message communicated to us is that no matter what the world may think of you, God thinks the world of you. God says that you are special and you are the object of His affections. There was an article in this month’s edition of Christianity Today about how the so called “untouchables” of India are quitting Hinduism and flocking to Christianity because it gives them a sense of worth. For their whole lives they were told they were nothing, lesser that others, but in Christ they are called the children of God.

Jill Brisco is a women’s ministry advisor and author of several books, and in a message she gave she told a story about a friend of hers who is a schoolteacher in the Milwaukee school system. Just at the beginning of last semester, she was passing in the corridor by the lockers, and she came upon two 9-year-old children talking. One of them said to the other, “What sort of vacation did you have?” The little boy said, “Well it was sort of tough. My dad trashed me.” “Oh,” the other boy responded, “that’s tough. I know what it feels like, because my dad trashed me last year. Why don’t we be friends?”