Message
Jesus Brings Joy!
Luke 2:8-11
Good Morning to all of God’s People from the Voices Of Hope Evangelistic Team! It’s such a blessing to be able to worship with you today wherever you are! I thank God for the opportunity to serve Him and to share His message with the world through today’s technology!
We are continuing our series on the four Sundays of Advent. The First Sunday of Advent, we looked at the theme of Hope. The theme for the Second Sunday of Advent was Peace. Today is the Third Sunday of Advent and the theme is Joy. The title of today's Message is “Jesus Brings Joy!” Our scripture comes from the New Testament Book of Luke, Chapter 2, verses 8 through 11 and you may want to turn there in your Bible.
There was once a young boy who went to spend the week with his grandfather on the farm. While walking around he noticed the chickens, they were scratching and playing around. The little boy said, “They ain’t got it”.
Next he saw a colt in the field playing and kicking up its heels to which he replied, “He ain’t got it”. After examining all of the animals on his grandfather’s farm and seeing that none of them had “it”, this boy finally found the old donkey in the barn. When he saw the donkey’s long, frowning face and the way that the donkey just stood there, he yelled for his grandfather to come quick. “I found it, I found it” the boy kept yelling. When his grandfather asked what he had found he said, “Pawpaw, I found an animal that has the same kind of religion that you have.”
Is that the kind of religion we have? Do people see us as donkeys, with long, sad faces? Or do we come with smiles on our faces to joyfully worship God?
Now reading from Luke 2:8-11:
8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
Let’s Pray: Heavenly Father, the good news of Jesus’ arrival brings such joy to our world! We thank You for the joy of our salvation. As we read the Scriptures that remind us who You are and the ways You love us, ignite in us a sense of joy that overflows out of our hearts! Let this holy joy be contagious and spill over into the lives of those around us. May it reach those who are lost and searching for the message of hope that we have through the Messiah. As we all go about the Christmas season, let the message of great joy pierce through all the noise and into people's hearts. In Jesus’ Name, Amen
Advent is a time to step back and think about God’s coming; what it meant that Jesus was born, what it means to have God with us now by way of the Holy Spirit, what it means that Christ will come again.
Today, on the third Sunday of Advent, we light the candle of JOY. As the coming of Jesus, our Savior, draws nearer, our joy builds with our anticipation of His birth.
From the Book of Isaiah we read the words of our Lord:
“But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight.”—Isaiah 65:18
From the New Testament, the words of Paul to the people of the church at Galatia:
“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.”—Galatians 5:22-25
A small boy in the front pew of the church suddenly turns around and smiles a huge grin. He looks from person to person, smile stretching all the way back to those in the back pew. He isn’t gurgling, spitting, humming, tearing apart the hymnbooks, or rummaging through his mother’s purse. He is just smiling. Suddenly, his mother jerks him around, and with a stage whisper that everyone can hear, she says, “Stop grinning. You’re in church.” With that she gives him a slap on his backside, and as the tears roll down his cheeks she adds, “That’s better.”
Robert Louis Stevenson the great writer and poet used to keep a diary and in one entry he writes, “I have been to Church today and surprisingly I am not depressed.”
Although we laugh at these stories, I sometimes wonder if the Church realizes that Joy is a gift that Christ gave to all of us and Joy is a gift that belongs in the church. I hope we realize that the church can be a place of smiling because of what the Christmas season is really about. It is a time where it is said that joy has come. It is a time when we sing “Joy to the World.”
But what is joy? This could really be a hard question to answer. There can be so many different things that bring us joy. Joy for me is probably not the same thing as joy for you. The TV has recently been offering hundreds of different shopping ideas, each one guaranteed to bring joy. Get a new car wrapped in a big red bow, get that diamond necklace and earring set, or get that shiny new computer game! But then there is the joy of family, the joy of a job well done, and I could go on and on.
Many people today are searching for joy. The kind of joy they are looking for is not found in the world, but in God. God’s joy is not dependent on circumstances or happiness. God’s joy comes from faith and hope. It is through trusting and obeying God that we find the joy of the Lord.
Some claim you must give up everything to be a Christian, but Christ only asks us to give up self. The fullness of Christ’s love was never designed to make anyone sad. It doesn’t say in John, “I came so that you might have sadness.” It says, “I came so that you might have life and have it abundantly.”
If real joy is to experience great pleasure or delight, what better place than church should one express that emotion? After all it is only through Jesus Christ that one can have meaningful joy.
Joy is not found in temporal things in life. The most miserable people are not necessarily those who suffered from catastrophes, but those who had everything they wanted, except the power to enjoy it.
True joy is not found in pleasure, money, or military might. Lord Byron lived a life of sinful pleasure but wrote, “I am full of nothing but regrets and grief.” Jay Gould an American billionaire said on his death bed, “I suppose I am the most miserable man on earth.” Alexander the Great conquered the known world and having done so he wept saying, “There are no more worlds to conquer.”
The entire Bible is a story about Joy, climaxing with the birth of Jesus Christ. From the Hebrew Scriptures to the Greek Revelation, the Bible is all about God coming into our lives and then going out into the world with Joy.
In “The Tender Touch of God” by Dr. Michael MacIntosh, we read:
The JOY OF THE LORD was at the tomb of the resurrected Lazarus, overshadowing the sadness and disappointment of the dead man’s sisters.
JOY was there when the leper returned to thank Jesus.
JOY was there when a woman caught in the act of adultery was forgiven and released from her sin.
JOY was there when the deaf heard, the blind saw, and the lame walked.
JOY was there when the little children flocked to Jesus!
JOY was there when the boy gave Jesus his lunch so that HE could work a miracle and feed the thousands.
JOY was there when dawn broke and the women knew that Jesus was resurrected from the dead.
EVERYWHERE JESUS WENT, THERE WAS JOY!
We, too, express the JOY OF THE LORD in smiles and laughter and shouts and good cheer, and we experience His Joy through Worship, Praise, Prayer and Song, in Witnessing, in Helping others, in Fellowship and Discipleship. Where can there be more joy than in church!
God created smiles and He created laughter! But sometimes we’re so stressed by trying to live right, eat right, think right, act right, speak right, parent right, exercise right, look right, that we’ve forgotten the joy of Jesus.
The archangel didn’t burst upon the shepherds and say, "Fear not, for today I bring you tidings of great stress which shall be to all people." That’s usually the way it works; when we’re stressed, we bring our stress to all people: husband, wife, children, the family pet, friends and co-workers.
Instead, the good news was: "I bring you tidings of great joy that will be for all people."
Jesus came to this world as a babe in a manger and brought hope to the hopeless. The “Prince of Peace” brought peace to our hearts amid the turmoil of the world. Because we have this hope, because we have this peace, we can have great joy. We can rejoice because God’s Son has come.
As Jesus himself said: "Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh" (Luke 6:21). The laughter of Jesus is the laughter of hope, of peace, and of joy.
Christians should be on a different frequency from the world; we shouldn’t be drab and boring. People should look at our lives and want what we have. Joy! We can have joy even when things seem to going wrong.
Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning. Why? Because God comes into the world, into our lives, and Joy comes out! We hear and see something the world cannot see nor hear. Worship and Praise of God allows us to experience what God desires for all human kind—Joy!
So, on the night of the birth of Jesus, before the nation had an opportunity to reject Him, or even be made aware that He had come in the flesh, the angel announces that this good news is of a ‘great joy for all the people.’
The good news of Christ’s coming in the flesh was a joy for God, a joy for the waiting nation of Israel, and it is a joy for we who did not know; were not waiting; were not searching; but by God’s marvelous grace, the good news came to us also.
The good news is that in the town of Bethlehem of Judea; the birthplace of king David; according to ancient prophecy; on a certain day in history according to God’s eternal plan, a SAVIOR was born, Who was CHRIST, the LORD.
He was SAVIOR: the One who would be the sacrificial Lamb of God to suffer and die and pay for sin.
He was CHRIST: the Anointed One. The One sent from God. The Promised One. The long-awaited Messiah.
He was Lord: King of Kings. The government will rest on His shoulders and He will reign in justice and mercy forever and ever.
What it means for us today is that we may have a joy that is inexpressible and full of glory, because God became flesh and dwelt among us. It means that God has identified Himself with us, when we were unable to identify with Him. It means that we can have joy no matter what circumstances surround us, because the baby in the feeding trough was the God of the universe, who came to set us free.
We can have joy! As we come to realize the real and lasting significance of that night in Bethlehem and its impact on us for eternity, our joy will become full, and it will be a joy that no one can take away.
That one humble birth in Bethlehem was the first step in fulfilling God’s plan for salvation, and because of that one event on that one special night so far away and long ago, we may live now under the sheltering wing of the Almighty, and be assured of a place in His presence for eternity.
Have you believed on Him from your heart? Have you acknowledged Him as your Lord and Savior this morning? If you’ve never accepted Christ into your life, then this is your opportunity. You can receive God’s grace and begin a relationship with Jesus today.
John 3:16 says: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
And I John 5:13 tells us: “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”
Jesus has provided the gift of salvation to us which gives us not only hope for today, but hope for eternity.
In Romans 10:9, we are told that “if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
We receive salvation when we:
(1) Repent of our sins.
(2) Trust Jesus Christ as our Savior.
(3) Confess Jesus Christ as Lord.
If you haven’t accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, invite Him into your life right now.
Or maybe there are those who are far away from Jesus. Have you allowed your comfortable, personally focused desires to act as an eclipse between you and God? Is Jesus obscured or completely blacked out of your life? Do you miss him?
All it takes is to open yourself and say "I want things to be different. I know things need to be different. I know what’s wrong, what doesn’t belong and I invite You, Jesus, to come and change me. I want you back."
When we turn back to Jesus in repentance, when we ask for forgiveness, intending to live a godly life, God’s mercy reaches out to us with a message of love. God is a God of mercy, of redemption, of restoration and of renewal. Just come by faith to the throne of grace to receive it. He is waiting for you with open arms. Repent all over again and get back to fulfilling God’s plan in and through your life.
This Advent you may encounter Grinches who will try to steal the true meaning of Christmas away from you and I pray that you won't let them. Keep asking yourself the question throughout Advent, "What is it that I am truly hoping to receive on Christmas day?" "What is it that God has promised to all of us that no one can ever remove?
As Christians we know that it is our faith and hope in the child that was born that night who brings our salvation and the promise of life everlasting...let no Grinch take that away!
Let us pray: Thank You, Father, for being a perfect Heavenly Father for us, for sending us Your Son to save us from our sins, and for putting Your Holy Spirit into each one of us so that we are never without Your presence. Help us to depend on You, to trust in Your truth, and to serve like You. Help us to find time to slow down this Christmas season; say “no” to the things that distract us from Jesus and say “yes” to the gift that You want us to experience. We ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.