Rediscovering Christmas
#3 Joy to the world
Good Morning everyone
As the church right now is being restricted by what it can do because of the pandemic, I want you to know that the church is also seeing some miraculous things being done in the life of its people.
God has not turned His back on the very church that He has built.
“I will build my church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.” That is the words of Jesus.
Amen! Take that deep into your spirit this morning.
At anytime but mostly at Christmas one of my favorite songs to sing is Joy to the world-
Joy to the world the Lord has come, let earth receive the King. Let every heart prepare Him room. And heaven and nature sing!
There may have been no room at the inn when Mary was to birth Jesus, but there has to be room for Jesus in your heart and my heart.
Prayer- Lord make this Christmas the best Christmas ever! When everything that was normal becomes abnormal, let this Christmas not just be like the rest, but this one may we rediscover or maybe discover for the first time Jesus as Lord and savior of our lives. Grant it Jesus.
As we move toward Christmas, we have looked at hope and last week we looked at peace.
This morning I swing back around to tell you that until you have hope in God that you will never have the joy of God. Amen!
I remind you that we all must rediscover Christmas each year with the hope that God would show us something fresh and new about it that we didn’t know or had forgot that was important.
What is the purpose behind the celebration of Christmas?
For those who are in Christ, Christmas’s lies solely in the birth of Jesus.
Based on his own careful investigation, Luke’s account of Christ’s birth is more than a heartwarming story or a call to blind faith—it is true, historical, and life-changing.
It is good news, and it brings great joy to a world darkened by sin.
Luke 2 tells us that Mary and Joseph went from Nazareth to Bethlehem so that they could register as the law required. While they journeyed Mary, who was pregnant and pledged to be married to Joseph had labor pains and was giving birth to a baby. There was no room at the inn so she gave birth to her baby in a barn, a man made manger because there was no other place for Joseph to take his wife to be.
The birth of Jesus-“The Christmas story”-Luke Chapter 2, read every year in services all over the world.
The announcement of a savior and an opportunity for each of us to know Him and receive Him.
Seems to me that there should be more to the story. To me, there should be more pizzazz!
Seems to me like the old dragnet series where Jack Webb plays Joe Friday and says “just the facts’!
The joy we are all searching for comes after you know who Jesus is. (repeat)
Why he came-
Why the Son of God would come to this world to live and then die and then miraculously be resurrected to become our savior.
After you take deep into your soul that Christmas is about Jesus.
You take Christ out of Christmas and you just have gift giving.
After you understand that it is not just another birth, but the birth of our savior.
The joy of the Lord comes from choosing the Christ child like the shepherds did. Experiencing Christmas!
Luke 2:8-20 Read from bible
The shepherds were doing their own thing- living life with all its ups and downs.
(you relate to that)?
The shepherds who were not the most liked people in the area.
The ones who were considered unclean by the priests and not allowed to go to Temple were the ones given an opportunity to experience Christ fresh and new on that monumental night.
Angels light up the sky in the fields- “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people.”
Can you picture that amazing moment.
I am glad this morning that I am included in the “all” people.
The good news which is really great news is that all of us who have heard the good news has an opportunity to do like the shepherds in the field did- (15) “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
Each one of us this morning, right now has a choice wither we will receive that good news and do something with it or ignore it and make today just another day.
Is your heart open for the Lord to speak to it this morning or have your allowed your heart to become cold or indifferent. I am praying that it is open and sensitive and He will be allowed to speak to you.
The way things were then and the way things are now hasn’t changed in one respect-
The Lord is speaking and we have a choice of wither we will be listening.
You and I are getting a chance to change destiny.
Our destiny can be changed because of the Christ child Jesus.
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, prince of Peace.”
“Today in the town of David a savior has been born to you; He is the Messiah the Lord
I said last week that hope is not the absence of problems. That is true and I stand on God’s word to defend it.
I also say that Joy, the greater Joy, the good news of the gospel. The joy that the angels proclaimed is not a thing but a person- lasting joy comes in the hope and peace of Almighty God and can be had no other way!
Tonight, you have a home work assignment- gather your family in the living room over hot coco and ask them this question-
What would you want for Christmas if we told you that we didn’t have money for presents?
After a time of settling them down, take time to express what Christmas is all about.
That gift giving is an expression of love but the greatest expression of love ever shown was a God who came for each one of us so that we could have the best present ever- the gift of eternal life.
Make sure your family know that they can count on you – not only for presents, not only for fun, but for the future-
“For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”
Let’s take a minute and look at the joy of the Lord and the joy of the world-
Joy of the world-
In most surveys taken, the most important thing to most people is… drum roll please- themselves!
Then family, jobs, relationships, future all fall into the first 5 places depending who you are talking too.
Joy to most people are things that are temporary.
To most, they are willing to give up long lasting eternal things for things that only last awhile.
Matthew 6:19
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.”
Proverbs 25:27
It is not good to eat much honey, nor is it glorious to seek one's own glory.
Matthew 6:33
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to yo
Illustration-In a Charlie Brown Christmas Charlie Brown was having trouble getting into the Christmas spirit so Linus said, “Charlie Brown, you’re the only person I know who can take a wonderful season like Christmas and turn it into a problem.”
We are all guilty in some respect of that because our joy should not be based upon what we are going through- it is based upon what Christ has already done for us. It is based upon the fact that this is not all there is and the Lord as savior of our life has secured our future and it is bright and it is beyond comprehension and is not ever to be in doubt.
Illustration-
A Russian countess accepted the Lord Jesus as her Saviour and was open about her testimony. The Tsar was displeased and threw her into prison. After 24 hours with the lowest level of Russian society, in the most miserable conditions imaginable, he ordered her brought into his presence. He smiled and said, “Well, are you ready now to renounce your silly faith and come back to the pleasures of the court?”To his surprise, the countess smiled and said, “I have known more real joy and more real happiness in one day in prison with Jesus than I have known in a lifetime in the courts of the Tsar.” She found out what real joy was..
Illustration-
The story is told about two wives who were doing their laundry in a laundry mat. They were both mending their husband’s pants.
One wife said, “My husband is so miserable. Nothing goes right at work, and he can’t find anything good on television. Our home is a place of despair. When we go to church, the song leader is terrible and the pastor is an idiot.
The other wife said “My husband is so excited.” He can’t wait to go to church. He loves the sermons. We laugh all the time and enjoy our family.
It got very quiet in the laundry room as the women continued sewing the pants. One was patching the seat of the pants, and the other was patching the knees.
You think about that for a minute-
Unfortunately, some Christians seem to have the same problem as Charlie Brown had.
Instead of lifting up your problem… lift up Jesus and you will find true Joy.
let me read another verse-
Romans 15:13- “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Recite this three times clearly and slowly
Finding Joy is a choice-
Apostle Paul gives us a glimpse of joy and peace-
Those who have strong faith unite with those of weaker faith
Jew and Gentile have common fellowship- getting past some differences and loyal to Christ.
He was convinced that just as Christ came into this world to save people that the church of Christ must also love the people God has brought before them.
That the Joy of the Lord will move us to compassion and move us to look not only at what God has done for us but what He has done for the one that is far from God.
God still cares for them and desires them to experience Christ fresh and new.
That as the Hope of God fills us with Joy and peace that we will share that joy and peace with others!
That the hope that is with us can be experienced by those that we come into contact with.
As I wind this up- there is a big difference between joy and pleasure.
Nothing wrong with the pleasures of life, but these pleasures do not help you through the tough times of life but the joy of the Lord will!
One person has said that pleasure is only the pause between two pains.
That without the joy of the Lord that pleasure is temporary and only a mask for the pain we hide.
The joy of the Lord is not dependent on things outside of us but the presence of God inside of us. (Repeat)
Personal illustration-
Most people want to throw 2020 out as a year that has devastated many and for a New Year to come in and begin fresh. I can understand that and there are many things I will be throwing out. There are many hurts and many loved ones that will be missed including my mother because of the Covid-19 virus. But there are also some people who hold some things of 2020 with a heart of Joy and gladness. As most of you know 2020 has not been a good year in the health of my wife Becky. It has seen her go through several surgeries, dangerous chemo treatments, and radiation to the point of not being able to do anymore. But the Lord has seen fit to give us some more time together and we do not take anything for granted. How can people like us in our situations make it through tough times- because the joy of the Lord is our strength.
People live distracted lives and the word distract literally means to pull apart and we choose and you can choose to not let anything pull you apart from the Lord and the people that God has given you.
As long as people are living with a civil war going on inside of them, they will not be able to personally experience the joy of the Lord and certainly will not experience the peace of God which passeth all understanding!
There is only one way to handle this- that is for self to turn over the reins of control over to the Lord.
Where the external things of life cannot rob you of the internal blessings of the Lord!
As I close, it is my prayer that each of us would experience the joy of the Lord, the sustaining power of the Holy Spirit to give us strength and peace that only the Lord Almighty can do.
Amen.
Prayer-
