Luke
2: 15-20 December 20, 2009
As we continue our theme for Advent, today I want us to consider the JOY IN CHRISTMAS… As the candle of JOY shines bright, think about the JOY that Jesus brings…
Do you realize
that God has given us the perfect gifts for Christmas – gifts that we need and
can use in our lives…
HE has given us a well-balanced, full meal deal, super-sized… for HE has given us
HOPE, LOVE, PEACE, and JOY… and all of
these gifts have come wrapped in swaddling clothes through His Son, Jesus
Christ…
Have you found
the JOY IN CHRISTMAS? With all the
shopping and decorating, the parties, the cooking, the cleaning of the house,
the sending of the Christmas cards, it’s easy for us to overlook or to lose the
JOY IN CHRISTMAS…
But we need the
JOY in order for our lives to be balanced…
It’s one thing for us to have HOPE, LOVE, and PEACE – but without the
JOY, we’re really missing a BIG part of Christmas… For God wants His people to have JOY in their
lives…
And
real JOY…
This world is full of what I call “Fake-Joy”, I
mean we can find joy in so many different things and in so many different
places…
I mean, how many
of you can find joy in a T-bone steak? I
can! But it’s only temporary joy… We can find joy in many things: a new car, new clothes, new
tools (I love tools)…
Some of us find
joy in working in the yard…
or sharing a movie and a big bucket of buttered popcorn with a
friend, or riding horses, or going hunting…
Children find joy in playing with their friends and with toys…
Joy comes in many
different shapes and sizes and we all find joy in different things… but there is One
Joy that we all can share and it’s the JOY IN CHRISTMAS…
God has given us
HIS gift of Joy through the birth of Jesus… A gift that He wants us all to
experience…
But how do we experience the JOY IN CHRISTMAS? Well, we have to first experience the JOY of KNOWING JESUS… because knowing Jesus changes everything!
In the third chapter of the book of Philippians, the Apostle Paul says, “I count everything as loss in comparison of the value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” (Phil 3: 8)
The shepherds in
our scripture give us some good examples of how we get to know Jesus…
First of all, THE
SHEPHERDS SAW THE ANGEL of Christmas…
I know what
you’re thinking… Well of course they saw
the angel – how could they miss that?
The angel
appeared dramatically… The glory of the
Lord shown around them… The angel told
them about the baby in the manger in Bethlehem… and then, the angelic chorus broke
into song – “Glory to God in the highest!”
You couldn’t miss
that could you? And yet, as powerful as
that was and as glorious as that was, no one else noticed…
According to the
Bible, Bethlehem was jam-packed with people that night but only the Shepherds
saw the angel; and only the Shepherds took notice…
Friends, angels
are messengers from God and only those with the eyes of faith can see them, and
only those with the ears of faith can hear them, and only those with hearts of
faith can sense and feel their presence…
Illus: I remember Christmas morning, 1997… It was early that morning that my phone rang
– it was my neighbor down the road who lived with his wife in a one-room 16’
camper trailer…
When I answered
the phone, he was frantic and asked me to come help him as soon as
possible… I remember it was cold cold that morning… I
got dressed and ran over there and outside, I found his wife half-dressed and
lying on the ground next to the car… She
had had a stroke and he was going to carry her to the hospital but she had
fallen down and he couldn’t get her up to put her in the car… So I picked her up and put her in the car and
off they went to the hospital…
As they went to
the hospital, I went back home and I began crying like a baby… I think the reason I was crying is because I
realized how blessed I was… Without this
incident, it would have just been another Christmas…
But that
Christmas was different, for I had seen the Angel of Christmas in a most unlikely
place, through the hardships of my neighbors…
The man’s wife
never did get any better and a couple of months later she passed away…
Listen! The angels of Christmas are all around
us… The question is: Do we have the eyes
of faith to see them, and the ears of faith to hear them, and the hearts of
faith to sense their presence? The
Shepherds saw the Angel and they responded in faith, hope and love… How do you respond to the angels around
you?
Secondly, not
only did the Shepherds see the angel, they SAW THE
CHRIST-CHILD…
You may say: Well, how could they miss Him? There was that “Bright Star” in the sky… But, most everybody else missed Him… Most people ignored the star and the baby,
but not the Shepherds… They came to see
the Christ-Child… They were
intentionally seeking Jesus… And they
found him!
Illus: There’s a story about a man who was invited
to a wedding party… He really didn’t
know anyone there except the friend who had invited him…
Everyone seemed
in high spirits, dancing, laughing, singing, eating… apparently everyone was having a good
time except for this beautiful young woman who was sitting at a table all by
herself…
The man asked his
friend who she was, and the friend replied:
Don’t you know? Let me introduce
you to her… she
is the bride!
Friends, can you
imagine that? Can you imagine being left
alone and unnoticed at your own party?
Can you imagine being ignored on your “Big Day?”
Perhaps, this is
how Jesus must feel at Christmas… Some
people come to the party but ignore the guest of honor…
The Shepherds
didn’t make that mistake… They had their
priorities straight… They dropped
everything and rushed to the manger to see the newborn king of kings…
The Shepherds are
an inspiration to us today because they saw the Angel and they saw the
Christ-Child, and they responded in faith, hope, and love… How do you respond to the Christ-Child?
(NEWHEBRON) Well,
Thursday night, Christmas Eve, we’re going to have a candlelight service… And I know it’s Christmas
Eve, some families have get togethers on Christmas
Eve, I know that’s a busy night and a lot of stuff will be going on… But we can’t ignore the guest of honor… I think one of the most important things a
family can do on Christmas Eve is worship together… Worship together and then you can celebrate
together…
I’m sure there
will be some who decide not to come Thursday – but for those that do come, I
think will share a special time and a special blessing together and we will
share and celebrate the GOOD NEWS OF CHRISTMAS…
And that’s my
final point this morning: The Shepherds
not only saw the Angel and saw the Christ-Child, but they SAW
THE GOOD NEWS OF CHRISTMAS…
Illus: Another one of my favorite Christmas shows is
Dr. Seuss’s classic story, “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas…”
Do you remember
the story? The Grinch was a character
who despised the celebration of Christmas…
The people of Whoville loved Christmas and
their celebration irritated the grouchy Grinch…
The people of Whoville would gather on Christmas Day around their
beautifully decorated trees… they would sing songs and share gifts… laugh and play… as
they celebrated the JOY of the day…
The Grinch hated
it all… So he devised a plan to steal
their Christmas… He thought that would
stop all the celebrating of Christmas…
So he disguised
himself as Santa Claus, and he went from house to house, and stole all the
presents and sweets of Christmas… He was
so proud of himself…
and he waited on Christmas morning to hear the sound of sadness
when the people of Whoville discovered that their
Christmas had been stolen…
But to his
amazement, he didn’t hear any crying and moaning… what he heard was the same sound of
JOY he had always heard… The people of Whoville were still singing and laughing and celebrating
the JOY of Christmas Day!
The point is
clear… If the Christ-Child is in your
heart, no one can steal your Christmas!
For the real JOY of Christmas is not in the material presents… (as nice as they may be)…
No, the real JOY
IN CHRISTMAS comes from receiving the only gift of Christmas that really
matters; The Gift of God’s love in Jesus Christ… The gift that was wrapped in heaven…
The Shepherds saw
it… And the Bible tells us that once
they received the GOOD NEWS OF CHRISTMAS that they returned to their fields “glorifying
and praising God for all they had heard and seen…”
For they rose to the occasion and responded in faith, hope, and love… How will you respond to the good news of Christmas?
When you experience
the Christ-Child, you experience THE JOY IN CHRISTMAS…
May God put the
Spirit of the Shepherds in us… May God put the HOPE, the LOVE, and the PEACE
of Christmas in us…
But most
important of all – May God put the Spirit of Jesus in us… Because it’s only through
Jesus that we will find the true JOY IN CHRISTMAS…
Let us pray!