It’s crunch time! Christmas is a week from today and it seems
like there are a million things to do before Christmas Day, and that can be stressful.
In the hustle and bustle of the season, God wants us to know that Joy has come
into the world, that is what we are celebrating.
The message is clear in Scripture, but are we listening?
Christmas time is the only seasons that has its own genre of
music that is played constantly for more than a month. Many of these songs
declare the source of true Joy is found in the birth of Christ who came to save
the world from their sins. But are we listening?
End of the semester classes, tests, work, Christmas parties,
Christmas activities, snow, cooking, cleaning, family time, shopping, gifts, decorating,
Hallmark Movies, and the list goes on of all the activities we are involved in
that preoccupy our minds and hearts. Some of them are good and necessary,
others are distractions. Most should point us toward the meaning of the season,
but instead of producing the hope, peace and joy found in Christ, it is producing
stress, anxiety and pressure.
Our normal daily tasks, schedules and stresses are now
combined with the fun, eventual but crazy holiday seasons. It can be
overwhelming at times, but it can also be the most wonderful time of the year.
Think back to that first Christmas and what Mary and Joseph
must have felt. They were living their normal lives and preparing for their
future. They were engaged to married, when God supernaturally intervened in a
unique way to bring His Son Jesus into the world through the virgin Mary. Now
that certainly disrupted their plans, but God assured both Mary and Joseph,
through the angel Gabriel, that He was with them.
Now the engage couple, in the midst of planning their
wedding, are going to be the earthly parents of the Son of God. That seems like
a lot of pressure. And yet they were willing and obedient to God. And then the
government decides this would be a good time for a census.
Now Mary and Joseph not only have normal life and
activities, a marriage to prepare, a unplanned pregnancy to explain, but now
they have to travel too. They couldn’t call for an uber, or jump on the train,
but had to travel to Nazareth. No 7/11s on the way, no gas stations or
McDonalds. Then, upon their arrival there was no room in the inn. No Motel 6
with the light on, no hospital bed for the delivery. Only a lowly stable was
found late at night, while Mary’s contractions were getting closer and closer.
Talk about stress, anxiety and fear. In spite of this, God’s
message was “Do not fear.” God was saying, “I got this, and I got you. Don’t
worry.” Yet, how could they have not been fearful, anxious and worried? Any new
parent approaching the birth of their first child must have a million questions,
feelings and emotions jogging around in their heart and mind.
That’s when it happened. All the busyness, stresses and
noise where push away by the arrival of the baby Jesus. The wonder of new life,
little hands, a baby’s cooing, drowned out everything else and a new, different
sensation developed. Joy.
Joy To The World
Christmas is about Joy coming to the world in the person of
Jesus Christ.
Luke 2:10–11
And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring
you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is
born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
The good news and great joy was that the little baby born
was not a typical baby, but the Son of God. He was a human baby, with all the
normal human baby dependencies. The joy His birth brought was not just for Mary
and Joseph, or the shepherds, but for all the world.
Joy and happiness can often look and feel the same, but
biblical joy is so much more. Happiness is an emotional response triggered by
external influences. Joy is deeper and fuller, based on the hope we have in
Christ. In difficult times, you may not be happy, but you can be joyful knowing
God has not abandoned you in your hour of need.
Jesus came to bring joy to the world, for anyone who trusts
in Him (John 1:12). Do you have the joy of Christ? Have you placed your trust
in Jesus?
Your Joy
Christmas is about you experience the joy of a personal relationship
with Jesus.
John 15:11
These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in
you, and that your joy may be full.
The message of Christ birth is intended to impact you personally.
When you hear the message and believe in the Son of God, He becomes your
greatest joy. Jesus gives you His joy and He becomes your joy!
There can be no greater gift offered to the Son of God on
His birthday than to trust Him. If you want Jesus to be your joy, you must
repent of your sins, accept your need for a Savior and acknowledge Jesus as the
Son of God. In doing so, you will be adopted into His forever family and the
Joy of the Lord will become your strength.
God’s Joy
Christmas is about God expressing His joy in His children.
When I think of the Joy of the Lord in the sense of the Joy
the Lord has in what He has done and the joy He has in His children.
1 - God's Joyfully Motivated
Hebrews 12:1–2
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of
witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely,
and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus,
the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him
endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the
throne of God.
God’s joy is the source of and provision for our joy. Jesus consider the joy set before Him and was willing to sacrifice Himself in order to save us. What a demonstration of love (Rom 5:8)!
Luke 15:8–10
“Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one
coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she
finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and
neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had
lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one
sinner who repents.”
God takes joy when a sinner comes to repentance. You could say, when a sinner begins to take Joy in Jesus, the father rejoices in the presence of the angels!
Zephaniah 3:17
The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will
save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he
will exult over you with loud singing.
Such an intimate expression of joy the Father has over His children is to sing over them.
God initiated His redemptive plan to bring Joy to the World
through the coming of Jesus Christ as a baby. As the Christmas story unfolds
and God’s plan of redemption becomes clear to us in the birth, life, death and
resurrection of Jesus, we have joy unspeakable! It is through the lens of
Christ that we see that Christmas is a time to see how our Heavenly Father
expresses His joy toward us.
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