CHRISTMAS IS: GOOD TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY

Religion

This sermon is from the series CHRISTMAS IS and was preached at Cornerstone Baptist Church in Cherry Log, Georgia by Pastor Paul Mims on Sunday, December 22, 2013. You can hear this sermon at www.csbccl.org

Luke 2:1-20There are Four Stages in a Man’s Life at Christmas:
1. He believes in Santa Claus
2. He doesn’t believe in Santa Claus
3. He is Santa Claus
4. He looks like Santa Claus

Do you remember the excitement and joy that you experienced as a child waiting for Santa? That was a very happy time with our children. The joys of childhood are forever in our memories. I came across a collection of letters that children wrote to Santa. Some of them were pretty good. One said, “Dear Santa, you did not bring me anything good last year. You did not bring me anything good the year before that. This is your last chance. Signed, Alfred.” My favorite went like this: “Dear Santa, there are three little boys who live at our house. There is Jeffrey; he is 2. There is David; he is 4. And there is Norman; he is 7. Jeffrey is good some of the time. David is good some of the time. But Norman is good all of the time. I am Norman.”

There was a little boy who was in a Christmas pageant at his church. He was given just one thing to say. It was: “Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy.” After the rehearsal he asked his mother what “tidings” meant. She told him that it meant “news.” So he understood. While in the pageant before the congregation, he forgot what he was supposed to say. Then the idea came back to him, but not the words. When it came his time to speak he blurted out, “Hey, I’ve got good news for you.”

That is what I want to say to you today. “Hey! I’ve got good news for you.” And it is good news about Joy. I realize that some of us face this Christmas season with sickness, sadness, hurt, and with needs in your life that are overwhelming from the human standpoint. It may seem on the surface that to talk about joy is difficult for you, but the reality of Immanuel – God with us – transcends all things of daily experience.

I. JOY IS SOMETHING YOU CANNOT CREATE YOURSELF.
All of us try to do things that would create a particular feeling or emotion that we want to have at this Christmas time. But Joy is something that you cannot create on your own. We live in a very hedonistic world, a pleasure seeking world, a world where we are entertained constantly, and a world where we try to satisfy the needs of our hearts by seeking for pleasure. I have good news for those who try to fill that empty void by such a search.

Look at where great personages have searched for joy but did not find it.
Not in Unbelief — Voltaire was an infidel of the most pronounced type. He wrote: “I wish I had never been born.”
Not in Pleasure — Lord Byron lived a life of pleasure if anyone did. He wrote: “The worm, the canker, and grief are mine alone.”
Not in Money — Jay Gould, one of our American millionaires, had plenty of that. When dying, he said: “I suppose I am the most miserable man on earth.”
Not in Position and Fame – Stars such Peter O’Toole who died last week, indicated that he had not found it.
Not in Military Glory — Alexander the Great conquered the known world in his day. Having done so, he wept in his tent, because he said, “There are no more worlds to conquer.”

Let a man from the Bible speak to us. In Ecclesiastes 2 is a statement from King Solomon about his pursuit of joy through things and pleasure: “I thought in my heart, ‘Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.’” But that also proved to be meaningless. Laughter I said is foolish. And what does pleasure accomplish? I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly – my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was worthwhile for men to do under heaven during the few days of their lives. I undertook great projects. I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired men and women singers, and a harem as well – the delights of the heart of man. I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me.

Sounds like the American dream doesn’t it? Sounds like the mad rush to win the lottery this past week. Listen to the end of the story. Solomon said: “I denied myself nothing my eyes desired. I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wing; nothing was gained under the sun.” Don’t you think that we, as Americans, need to understand that passage of scripture!

We have pursued joy by doing, by having, by achieving, by accumulating. Solomon says, “I did that and I did not find Joy!”

The Bible has a path to Joy that is undisturbed by the changing weather of life.

Joy is mentioned 650 times in the Bible (joy, rejoice, rejoicing, glad, gladness, delight) Here are a few of them:

• Psalm 5:11 – God wants us to rejoice, shout for joy, and be joyful! “But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy!”
• Psalm 43:4 – the Psalmist calls God His “Joy” “Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight.”
• Job 8:21 – “He will fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy.”
• Matthew 25:21 – heaven is called “the joy of the Lord”
• Acts 13:52 – the disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit
• Romans 14:17 – the kingdom of God is righteousness peace and joy
• Galatians 5:22 – joy is the fruit of the Spirit

Perhaps a conversation similar to this took place in heaven between and angel and Jesus: “Don’t you know that down on earth men and women are seeking things to fill the void in their hearts, but they are not giving attention to spiritual matters. Don’t you know that they will not listen to you?” “Yes, I know that.” “Are you still going down there amidst greed, sin and danger?” “Yes I am going because they need hope, and they are searching for joy and they don’t know where to find it. That is why I am going!”

II. SPIRITUAL JOY IS FOUND IN THE PERSON OF JESUS THE CHRIST.
Joy is a part of the meaning of the coming of Christ. Mary went to visit Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist to tell her what was going to happen to her. Elizabeth, who was already six months pregnant, said that John, the babe, leaped in her womb for joy. Just the mention that the Savior would come caused joy in the unborn.

Then there was the announcement from the angels to the shepherds. There will be great joy because He has come.

Matthew records that when the Wise Men saw the star in the East, that their emotion was joy.
In John 15:11 Jesus said, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” In John 17:13 he said, “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.”

Pastor Mark Altrogue offers some good advice about living in the joy that Jesus gives: “For some the battle for joy is much harder than others. Some must deal with their own tendencies to being downcast. Depression and hard, long, sad afflictions can make Jesus’ joy seem beyond reach. Yet God’s word says it’s his intent to give us his joy both in this life and especially in the next. So here are some ways to pursue joy in Christ:

1. Praise God for the cross: for his mercy and grace in saving you.
2. Thank him for all his spiritual benefits: forgiveness, adoption, the Word, spiritual gifts, the church.
3. Ask Jesus to fill you with his own joy (JN 15:11).
4. Thank him for his steadfast love that never ceases.
5. Thank God for your temporal blessings: for your spouse or for the blessings of kids, health, sight, food, strength, home, computer and coffee.
6. Praise God for his attributes: his greatness, sovereignty, goodness, love, wisdom and power.
7. Praise Jesus for being a compassionate high priest who intercedes for you.
8. Thank him for all the specific good he is producing in you through trials: patience, perseverance, and faith.
9. Thank God for his past faithfulness.
10. Give to the kingdom.
11. Give to the poor.
12. Serve others (PHP 1:25).”

It is true that the joy that Jesus gives transcends the struggles we all have. The Apostle Peter writing to Christians who were under oppression and in fear of their lives said in I Peter 1:6-9: “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith of greater worth than gold which perishes even though refined by fire may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
That kind of joy isn’t dependent on circumstances. It doesn’t matter what we will face in this next year, the joy that we celebrate at Christmas that comes through Jesus will be available to us each and every day.

III. OUR JOY DEPENDS ON OUR WALK WITH THE LORD.
We read about our walk with God in the scriptures. It will be similar to those recorded there. In Genesis 5:24 we read about Enoch’s walk with God. In Genesis 6:9 it says that “Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.” The prophet Micah, who foretold the coming of Jesus, said: “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8)

I take a walk most every day. Sometimes, one of the neighbors will come out and walk with me up the trail through the woods. We talk and catch up on what is happening in our lives. Sometimes, family members will come for a visit and we will walk together through the beauty of nature and we will talk about personal things. Most of the time, I walk alone with God and we talk and I praise Him for His goodness in my life. Those are times when I tell Him whatever is on my mind and I listen for what he will say to me. Usually His answer comes through a distinct impression or a thought or by the Holy Spirit bringing a scripture to my mind. I walk with my solar Bible playing a recording of Scripture and the Lord speaks to me through the scriptures.

It is this daily walk whether it is literal or spiritual that keeps my joy bubbling.
Hey! I’ve got good news for you. The Joy of Christmas is not a seasonal thing. It is a forever gift that keeps on giving.

Have you received this gift of Joy?

Some of you will remember Dave Garraway, who was the host of the “Today” program many years ago. He would always end the show by holding up his hand and saying “Peace.’ Later in life, Garraway was asked, “What is your understanding of Christmas?” He said, “I’ve noticed that when people are asked what they want for Christmas, nine times out of ten, they will say something material. That used to be amusing to me, but it is not amusing anymore. I can afford anything I want, but what I really want I cannot buy. I want peace of mind, peace of soul, the kind of peace you have when you really don’t want anything.”
What Garraway was describing was THE JOY OF THE LORD. I hope he found it. But what about you – have you found it?

At this very moment you can open your heart and receive Jesus the giver of Joy. This requires repentance of sin and faith that Jesus can and will save you from your sin. It requires a commitment to be His disciple and it requires a public acknowledgement of Him as your Lord and Savior.
THE GOOD TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY ARE YOURS!

Praise Be To His Name!

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