Good News of Great Joy for All People First B Jackson 2021-12-21 Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record. ---- Hey. It's Florian. I thought would Florian take a night off? No. Of course he would. Not bad. Greetings, everybody. How are you? Good. Miss Florine. Did Christmas kind of I thought we'd really sneak it up on you this year? Yes. More than other years? Or It sneaks up every every year. Year. Yeah. It does for me too. Mhmm. But I felt like, wow. It's like, it's this week. Yeah. We have the Christmas Eve service this Friday already. Alright. Yeah. Well, welcome. Glad to see you. Glad you're here. Couple announcements here. The Christmas Eve services, they'll be this Friday, 04:30 and 06:00. So come and join us at one of them. It'll be a blast. It's one of it's Ray's favorite Christmas. I agree. His favorite service of the year. And, also, you can sign up for those weekly bulletin whatever. You guys know where to find us. I I and we're contractually obligated to mention that one. Just read this line, girl. It's fun. It's fun. And then know this. There's no Monday night next Monday night. We're gonna take one off because we've got Christmas Eve services on Friday, regular church Sunday. We're like, hey. Let's We're gonna skip Monday and go straight to Tuesday. That's right. Does anybody else have any other announcements? Alright. Should we stand and sing together? Yes. My soul magnifies the Lord. Mary's prayer. God, there's always something in the song that grabs a hold of me. And tonight, it's the come and worship and do not be afraid. You are always extending grace in our favor, in our direction. Your goodness, your it it it's always coming our way. But, Lord, that we would reach back truly, that we would prepare room in our hearts. That's another one of those themes from this Christmas that's just grabbing hold of me. Let every heart prepare in room. So, Lord, would we, right now, give you our hearts? Just I'll and ask God, Lord, would you would we say, we want to make room for you. We want to hear from you. We want to see you. Think of the shepherds. Come and see this thing. They experienced it for themselves, and they wanted other people to know. God, that's the same for us. If we have peace, we want other people to know where this peace comes from. Amen. Yes, sir. Thank you. Amen. So from Isaiah, this prophecy, old old testament, and it says I mean, this is, like, seven hundred years before Jesus was born. For a child is born to us, a son is given. The government will rest on his shoulders. We're not making this stuff up when we sing it. This is real. And Jesus this is true about Jesus. And he will be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace. And his government and its peace will never end. These do come to an end. Worldly powers and authorities and kings and rulers, they come and go. Jesus reigns forever. That is so encouraging. Speaking of Jesus reigning forever, Joni wrote a poem from Simeon. Remember Simeon last week, he took Jesus in his arms. He says, now you can let your servant die in peace. I've seen I've seen your salvation, the one that you sent. And thank you, Joni, for writing a poem. She says, Christ. She says, Simeon knew much of the Christ and his life and his knowledge of the savior's life, the legend of our king of kings. Such truths as this were told in Isaiah, speaking of this Isaiah right here, telling of God's own son. Amen. He knew, and he could die in peace after holding that little Christ child in his arm, and he didn't get to see all of it. He didn't get to see Jesus' life, his death, and his resurrection, and his ascension, and the establishment of the church. That was enough for him. It was enough because the Holy Spirit revealed, hey. You're not gonna pass away until until you've until you've met the Christ. And he did. Just encouraged by it. Speaking of king of kings, let's sing some more. So we're singing about the whole story of Jesus, and here's about his death and his resurrection. Amen. You can have a seat. I wanna show you just a little video. Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about? Yeah. Sure, Charlie I can tell you what Christmas is all about. Lights, please. And there were the same country shepherds, abiding in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night, and, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them. The glory of the Lord so round about them, and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, fear not, For behold, I bring your tidings of great joy. This will be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign unto you. You shall find of Abraham from swaddling clothes lying in a manger. And suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace would go toward men. That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown. Behold, I will be guiding you great joy, which should be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior, which is Christ the Lord. And they should be a sign unto you. He kinda nails it, doesn't he? I I love it. Have you ever seen that before? Like like, a 100 times. Right? What is Christmas all about? Christmas is the good news of great joy for all people. The savior, the messiah has been born. Isn't it good just to be redirected to that message? Because it's just not really what we hear from day to day. I mean, just on on any just TV and and commercials and just everything. It's just the world isn't steering the store. This message right here, the good news of great joy for all people. Jesus, the messiah was born. That's what Christmas is all about. Let's be reminded of it. Let's be reminded of it. I know that many of us have heard that message since we were a little literal. And if you're watching here online or if anybody in this room has never heard that message, I just I consider it such a huge privilege to be able to to be able to share Mhmm. The good news Mhmm. Of great joy for all people. It doesn't come from me. It doesn't come from you. It comes from Jesus. Jesus is truly the reason for the season. God was made flesh, and he made his dwelling among us. It's the greatest news that I've ever known, and that's my testimony. It is truly the greatest knows news that I have ever heard and known and experienced in my own life. And I can say with all my heart, Jesus is good news of great joy for all people, for everyone. So let's hear it again. Luke two eight through 20. Let's just read through it. The birth announcement of Jesus to the shepherds. It says this. That night, the shepherds were staying in the fields nearby. They were guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of God's sorry. The radiance of the Lord's glory surrounded them, and they were terrified. But the angel reassured them, don't be afraid. He said, I bring you let's say it together. Good news that will bring great joy to all people, the savior. Yes. The messiah. The Lord has been born in Bethlehem, the city of David. And you will recognize him by this sign. You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth and lying in a manger. Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others, the armies of heaven, praising God and saying, glory to God in highest heaven and peace on earth to those whom God is pleased, where God's favor rests. Verse 15. When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, let's go to Bethlehem. Let's see this thing that's happened, which the Lord has told us about. They hurried to the village. They found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby lying in the manger. After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about the child. All who heard the shepherd's story were astonished. But Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought of them often. The shepherds verse 20. The shepherds went back to that flocks, glorify glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them. So there it is. There's the scripture for tonight. Let's pray first. I wanna share a few thoughts, and then I'd love to open it up to you as well. So if you're like, oh, I gotta share something tonight. Get ready. Get ready. I wanna hear it. Let's pray first, though. God, we do thank you for the good news of great joy for all people. That's truly what it is. And, Jesus, you are that news. You're the good news of great joy for all people. It's found in you. Think of what you said in John eight. You're the light of the world. And when we follow you, we don't have to walk in the darkness because we'll have a light that leads to eternal life. Thank you for coming as light and life and love and joy. Truly, you are that good news. God, may we tap in. You're extending it in our direction. But, God, I can say personally for me how many times I say, I'm alright. I'm okay. I got this. I got this. And I work myself into I just I I I spin. And I don't need to. We don't need to. You're offering peace. It's ours. You're offering joy. You're grace recognized. And may it be ours because we want to. We want you. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. It's amazing that, like, every time I hear this story, there's there's something new that that will strike me like never before. And for me, right out of the gate, it's shepherds. Shepherds verses eight and nine. God sent an angel and a vast host of the armies of heaven. Hold on just a second there. K. So you're on a dark field, your shepherd suddenly see heaven open up. Like, heaven. Not just one angel, but a vast army of angels. What must that be like? Exactly. Right? It says they were terrified. I didn't know what that terrified means. Like, you know, not like terrified like haunted house terrified, but like terrified like, this is so great and grand and huge that, like, I feel so small right now. Have you ever felt so small in the world before? You know, if you stand at the edge of the ocean and go, this thing could swallow me up. It's that feeling of this of being small. I I can't I guess what I'm trying to say is I'm trying to understand what it must have been like because I don't know. So I I'm only speculating here that they felt really small watching the angels, God's messengers, give this message and heaven open up to them. To shepherds, though. That that's what really grabbed ahold of me. Shepherds, everyday, ordinary, average, humble, working class people. You know? Like, there's there's nothing that special or grand about them. They're not rich. They're not prominent. They're not highly influential. They're not on TV. You know? They're just they're shepherds. They're just people. Just normal people. Isn't that encouraging to you? Yes. That's encouraging to me because that's who I am. I'm just a normal person. This is who God reveals himself to. Normal people. Everyday, average, ordinary people. The good news of great joy is for all people, everybody. And and maybe those shepherds knew that, but also maybe they didn't. You know? At a time when the religious was, oh, you don't go there. They're special, special people. Maybe they didn't feel like God could ever really they can have a relationship with God. I don't know. But you know what? When they got visit that visit from those angels, it it made a big impact on them. A huge impact on them. So much so look at verse 15. When the angels returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, let's go. Let's go. We have got to see this. Because what else do you do when you hear, you know, have to see heavens open up and and messengers from heaven going, hey. Good news. Great joy. All people, peace on earth, goodwill toward men. That is good news, especially for them. Like, when you're waiting I'll say it this way. Think about that time period. They're living in a time of oppression, war, and they're waiting for a promised messiah. They were ready to hear that message. You know what I mean? Let's bring that to today. Are we ready to hear that message? Or could our attitude sometimes be, I could take it or leave it. I'm good. You know what I mean? Those shepherds that day, they were ready for that message. They said this is for us. That good news, great joy, all people, peace on earth, God's will, God's goodwill toward us, I'm ready for it. Me. I'll take that. I'll take that. And it moved them so deeply, they had to check it out for themselves. And and my prayer for us when we hear this message of good news, of great joy for all people, peace on earth, goodwill toward man that we would check it out for ourselves too, that we go, I want that too. Because that message has not changed. It's still the good news of great joy for all people. God is offering his peace on earth. And you know what? We're waiting too. Just like those shepherds, we're waiting for his second coming just like they were waiting for his first. The good news is still good news. God became flesh, and he made his dwelling among us. And he came to love and to forgive and to redeem this broken and fallen world. He did. He came for you and for me. He came for everyone who would believe. And hearing it hearing it is good, but seeing it for yourself is even better. Are you with me? And that's their story. They didn't just hear it. They sought for their for for them for themselves. Here's one of my favorite verses from Psalm 34. Taste and see. See for yourself that the Lord is good. Because he is. You know, you can hear news from other people and go, oh, that's pretty good news. Like, when Devin Rose was born. And we got that call because it was mean, I it was in December. And we get the call, and he's excited. And I didn't you know, of course, I believed him, and I took his word for it, but I wanted to see for myself. You know, I wanted to go to the hospital and hold Devon for myself. It's one thing to to hear it, but you want to see for yourself. They went there. They saw for themselves. They hurried to the village. They found Mary and Joseph, and there was a baby lying in the manger. Message confirmed. It was just as it had been told to them. So what next? Verse 17. What next? After seeing him, the shepherds told everybody about what had happened. And I could just, you know, I can just imagine them telling anybody who'd listen. Hey. Guess what? Guess what? Guess what I saw tonight? An angel. You wanna know what he said? Seriously. Ask my friend. He was right here. You know what I mean? Like, when you have when you have something worth sharing, you just say it. You don't really care whether people are really listening or not. You're just you just wanna share it, and that's what they did. The point that I'm trying to make here is they heard it, they sought for themselves, and they shared it. And I think that's a pretty straightforward evangelism plan right there. I really do. First, we hear the good news. Faith comes by hearing. And then we see it for ourselves. Taste and see. The Lord is good. In Matthew seven seven, Jesus says, seek. Seek and you will find. Check it out for yourself. Know this. God wants to be found. He is not hiding from you. He wants to be known. And then share it. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. It doesn't mean we're all gonna be, like, street evangelists. You know? That's not everybody's method. But as we are going, as we are working, as we have opportunity in word and indeed, sharing the good news is great joy. Let me ask you this. How do you think most people see the good news of great joy through us? Hopefully, through our actions, Yeah. How we live by faith. Yep. I I absolutely agree. I think a lot of times it's what do they do you wear it? You know? Do I do you smile? Do you laugh? Do you have joy? How do you treat other people? I think a lot of times that's how people see Christ in us the most. You know? But here here's what struck me too in verse 20. I'm gonna end with I'm gonna end with this one. This one just kinda hit me like it never before. After all the excitement, it says, the shepherds went back to their flocks. They had to go back to work. They had to go back to work the next day. You know? But this time, it was different. This time, it was different. They went back glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. God had given them this renewed hope and a renewed faith and a renewed joy, and it caused them to glorify and praise God as they went back to work. You know what I mean? And you know what? Maybe that was just for me. Maybe that's for you too. I I don't I don't know. But I know that God can do that. He can give us a renewed hope and a renewed faith and a renewed joy as we go back and do the ordinary tasks that God's given us to do. We really can. And that would be my prayer for us that God would give us God, would you give us a renewed hope, a renewed faith, a renewed joy as we grab ahold of this good news of great joy that is for all people, your peace on earth and your goodwill toward us, that it would change us and impact us in a way that the ordinary can seem extraordinary because you're with us, and we know that you're with us. And you're renewing our confidence and our strength every single day. Would you do this? In Jesus' name. Amen. So those are just a few of my thoughts from Luke two verses eight through 20. If there was something that just reached out and, took hold of you, I would love to hear yours. I do think we have a mic to pass around too so that people can hear at home as well. Last week's gospel conversation was fantastic, by the way. I'm sorry it didn't show up on line. We just had a little technical difficulty there, but I'm I'm hoping this one will. But would anybody be willing to to open up a conversation this week from this passage right here? I'd like to say something, Carl. Please. When when our Bonnie was about four, I guess, and we got talking about, you know, Jesus being born at Christmas time, Mary, her mother Mhmm. And that God and Jesus were the same and, you know, all that stuff. Right? With a four year old. And she said, oh. And she went back in her bedroom, came back out, and she said, you know what, mom? God just watched his son be born. And I I've never I've never forgotten from a four year old. Yeah. Yep. That's really cool. Yeah. Thanks for sharing that. I can count on Florine to call me up. When I think of Christmas, it's like a it's sure. It's it's great joy, peace, all of these things. It's it's sort of a lot to unpack, really. It's like the the the whole enchilada. It's Christmas. When and it made me think of how when I have to feed my oh, I have a four year old, and we're if we're having tacos, she doesn't want it all together in a taco. She has to have a deconstructed meat over here, tortillas over here, and the cheese over there. And so that's kinda how I think about this. Like, I've heard this Christmas story in this part of Luke plenty of times, but I think, what does it mean to have great joy? The first they're talking about this is the first coming Christmas, and those people in that context are super stoked, but I think that they even have a misunderstanding. Some of his followers want him to be a conqueror. And here in this context, I feel like sometimes we get it out of miss the point. We're so focused on the on the second coming when it really it's about when I think about Christmas, I think about Good Friday. And it's that, what does it mean that this savior was born? What does it mean that this child was born? Well, means that he lived a perfect life. Not about the birth, but it's about this life and the sacrifice and the work that is already done and it's done on hard I mean, the whole thing is about his sacrifice, his works, and and not ours. And all of the goodness, the unfavored merit that comes, this grace that we all live in, and it's because of this life lived and this life given up, which of course spawns from good Good Friday. But it's it's more about have a couple of notes here. There's a couple of other things, but I just can't always help but to think that because of that Good Friday, because of the perfect life, he was born in this scenario, lived a perfect life, that we have all of these blessings that we have all of these blessings in our life. And recently on a Sunday, Ray and we covered it here tonight too several times. Whenever angels show up, they're like, don't be afraid. Everybody's always afraid when the angels are there. And the point was made on Sunday, don't be afraid because God has your back. Hasn't he always taken care of you? And that's sort of what this thing is about for me too, what Christmas is about. It's about Good Friday, and it's about sometimes when we live our life, and especially in this season, like, it's about joy for so many people, but it's a really hard season for a lot of people too, and you wonder why. Because you don't have left without right, but I'm I'm kind of going all over the place. But when I think about that joy and when I think about the reason for the season, and sometimes when we drift away from that, like some people have a hard time in this season, then it's like we're forgetting that Jesus died for our sins. If I'm ever angry or I'm upset with my work or a friend upset me, I'm forgetting that Jesus died for our sins. I'm forgetting that he was born and then died for our sins. If I'm ever disappointed in myself or some other situation at work or with a friend or I'm mad at Carl Mhmm. And forgetting that Jesus was born, yes, but then also died died for our sins. So it helps me to unpack it and not just think that, oh, Jesus was born. Great joy and peace, but then there was a perfect life lived and a sacrifice that gives us blessings and grace that we don't deserve and continue on. Yep. Thanks for sharing that, Blake. That was Florian's turn. We have to prepare him for Romania when he's put on the spot. It's pretty similar. Sorry. No. It's okay, mate. God is good. Amen? Amen. Verse 20, I really like verse 20. In Romania, it says that when they came back, they they they came back praising God because what they saw, it was exactly how it it has been told Mhmm. By the angels. We heard the news, like you just said earlier, and would it be awesome if we take the news that we have in our heart and express it in our everyday life? Although life is not easy. Every day, one day at a time, with struggles, with problems, with working with people, happy people, sad people, bad people sometimes. No matter what, that joy that is in us, that joy that comes from Christ should always be there and always show the grace of God to others too because we understand that good news that comes from the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen? Mhmm. Amen. I just wanna say that Jesus is always with you every second of every day, and Jesus is always here for you to lean on in this troubled world and onto eternity. I just wanna say I love you guys. Thanks, man. You too. Way back when of of the part where it says peace on earth goodwill towards men. Mhmm. And so that in my head always sticks out because when it whenever it says peace on earth, good, and God's favor on those that God's favor rest on, whatever. Could you flip back to that, Blake? So the NLT says for that. Yeah. The NLT I forget exactly the translation, but it always throws me a little bit. And it's because of what I remembered when I was little. Peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased. And that's absolutely true. There's no doubt about it, and there's no greater peace than being than knowing that you're one of those with whom God is pleased. There's no greater but I love the the older traditional, older translations all say, peace on earth, goodwill towards men. And the pleased at the end and I know the reason for it, and this is something that hangs in my head. I've preached sermons on it in years past. The it's a squiggly. It's literally a funny looking s. It's a lowercase sigma that comes at the end of a sentence. It's a squiggly. Looks like that. And that's the only difference in the two manuscript changes. And it's a 2,000 year old question because both of these things are absolutely true. Right? And one of them kind of emphasizes the sovereignty of God and the love that God has for people. And the other one has an emphasis that is in the responsibility of man and what they do with the good news that is coming towards them. And I just love it. I love that that little weird sigma is a debated squiggly. You know? But the difference is, does it mean glory to God in the highest heaven? Yeah. It means that there's no doubt about that. Those are exactly the same. So glory to God. Give him all the credit that he's due. He's in the highest heaven, and he cares about earth. So peace on earth. That's not in dispute either. Peace on earth is from God's decree. He is declaring that there should be peace on earth. And then goodwill, God has goodwill towards men. And for those who accept it, God is pleased. That's great. I just I love that. I think that's a whole it's just a mind bender to get your head around that God is sovereign and yet he's Peace on Earth, pardon me. Because there's plenty of no non peace on Earth right now. Absolutely. Is he speaking about Jesus is on earth? Yes. That's peace that's on earth? That's it. Yeah. He's saying he's he's done his part and given us the opportunity to have peace on earth. And so even in the midst of the storm, trials and tribulations, Jesus said in this life, you will have trouble. He knew he was I mean, he's got the crucifixion itself. Right? He says that in John. That's where we're at in John. Yeah. Totally. That's right. Where are. My peace I leave to you. My peace I give to you. I don't give as the world gives. Not as the world gives. This is right before Jesus goes to his death. Right. Right before the disciples would be going to theirs. Yeah. In this world, you will have trouble, but take heart. I've overcome the world. Peace on Earth is for those I I also think of this, it may sound sacrilegious, the John Lennon song, the Happy Christmas. The in the background of Happy Christmas. Oh, this is Christmas. What have you done? Another year older. That song that we hear a thousand times a year at this time of year. In the background is a children's choir that's singing. War is over if you want it. It's saying that peace is possible. This, God in his highest heaven has said peace is possible for anybody who'll accept this good news. So I like that. I've always liked that song because it's like, you can lay down arms. You don't have to keep fighting. Even though it is a world that's pretty wicked and all around you, Jesus lays down his life and that lamb that was slain asks us to follow him. He's the only one worthy to open the scrolls. He's the only one worthy to fight the fight. And and if we look back at our picture from Revelation, he's the one that's already bloody before the battle begins. And then we're just supposed to you know, war's over if you wanna. You just stand in line behind him. And the word of your testimony and the blood of the lamb are how we conquer, how we overcome it. So, anyway, that's my 2ยข. Thanks, Ray. It is just it is just simply when it says peace, when the angels is they give the hope because it was seven hundred years for Israel to be quiet, and then they see the shepherd sees the prophecy, and that's what is the peace because it gives us peace because he was born, and he will take care of the his plan for salvation. That's just the Christmas. Mhmm. Anybody else? We hear a lot about Jesus in his thirties. That's where most of the story is told. And then, of course, the beginning in this Christmas story. But later on, just in Luke, it talks about Jesus as a boy, which I think is pretty cool too. That's where that's where we're going on the twenty sixth. Mhmm. On the twenty sixth is Jesus as a boy. Yep. Yeah. And he's just, worrying his parents, the human part of them, but he's just hanging out in the synagogues and and just laying down some truths for some people that are, like, kinda mind blown by him, which is kinda cool because we don't hear much about Jesus as a boy. Yeah. But it's if that peace is available, he's born, and then he's here for thirty years before he really starts his ministry, but there's a little nugget right there of him in a synagogue worrying his parents. Should we sing again? I wanna leave you this. This one here. The angel reassured them, don't be afraid. He said, I bring you good news. I bring great joy to all people. The savior, yes, the Messiah. The Lord has been born. Lord, as we believe in you, you are born into our hearts. And that is the greatest gift I can think of of Christmas. Emmanuel, God with us. Lord, you're with us every day, every moment, every second. May we realize it, and, God, may it stir in us a joy, Lord, that's greater than anything we can manufacture on our own. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.