Luke 2:11 -- The Joy of Christmas

“BEHOLD, I BRING YOU GOOD TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY!”

Luke 2: 10-11


It was the middle of a cold, dark night, and simple shepherds were watching over their flocks of sheep while they slept. Suddenly, angels appeared before them and lit up the night sky. The shepherds were terrified, but the angel said,

“Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all the people! For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

That message is where Christmas joy comes from. It’s not about the tree or the decorations or the lights or the presents or the music. Those things make us happy and get us in the spirit, but they don’t give us joy. Joy is bigger and better than that. And Christmas joy is SO big and SO precious that God sent His angels to tell us about it. But what exactly is Christmas joy? Why is it so special, and what does it mean to us?

The joy of Christmas is… MORE THAN JUST BEING HAPPY.
According to the dictionary, joy is the feeling or expression of intense happiness. So, the dictionary says that joy is something even better than being happy. Take a moment and think of what kinds of things make you happy.

Most people think of friends, family, hobbies, or certain possessions. Those are all great things, but they all come up a little short in the end, don’t they? First, those things are all temporary. They don’t last forever. Vacations end, new things get old and wear out, and even people we love don’t stay with us forever. Second, when the things making us happy do go away, we get depressed. Have you ever noticed that? Have you ever felt kind of down on Christmas night, knowing it was over and you had to wait another whole year? How about the day after your birthday? Third, the things that make us happy are not always available, are they? Christmas and birthdays only come once a year. Vacations only happen when school is out and we have the money. Sometimes friends get too busy to hang out with us, and sometimes people we care about move away.

Let me give you a couple of examples of people who found out the hard way what the difference is between joy and being happy…

By the time he was 22, Deion Sanders had huge contracts from the NFL and Major League Baseball, and he even released a music single that was popular on the R & B charts. He had almost everything a man could want – more money than he could ever dream of, women, cars, jewelry, and fame.

In 1994, he was signed by the 49ers for one purpose – to win a Super Bowl. Surrounded by so much talent and finally on a winning team, his spotlight got even brighter. That year, the 49ers did win the Super Bowl, and Deion had what he had worked for so long. He had his ring.

But that wasn’t enough to keep him happy. During an interview on ESPN, Deion remembered the day his team won the Super Bowl. He said, “All I could think of was, ‘Is this it? Is this all there is?’ It was depressing. I was the first man into the locker room, and the first one to go home that night. I didn’t even really celebrate.”

The next season he was signed by the Dallas Cowboys to a 50 million dollar contract, the richest in history for an NFL cornerback. As always, Deion was the center of attention. He was far and away the best defensive back in the NFL. Quarterbacks were terrified of him, and all but refused to throw to his side of the field. He had big money, a lot of attention from the media, and millions of fans.

But it still wasn’t enough. Within two years of his signing with the Cowboys, Deion crashed his Jaguar into an overpass embankment. At the time it was viewed simply as an accident, but he revealed in an interview he did later that he had tried to kill himself. He told the interviewer that he had everything he ever wanted, but he was empty. And the depression was too much to bear.

That year, a friend stood by him and helped him through his depression. He brought Deion to his church, and it was there that he asked Jesus to be Lord in his life. Deion’s depression was gone — swallowed in the joy of knowing the Lord — but his physical talent began to falter. He spent much of the next few seasons battling injury after nagging injury. He was released by the Cowboys and signed by the Washington Redskins. He was only in Washington for a brief two seasons, and only a shadow of his former self. But he became alive in his faith, and began to share it with anyone and everyone who would listen. He is now a very active and outspoken member of his church outside Dallas. He is retired from football, and working as an analyst for CBS’s “NFL Today” pre-game show.

Let me tell you another story about someone who knows about joy. When I used to go to the races, I knew a couple named Ross and Myrna. They were the happiest couple I knew at the time. They were always happy, always friendly, and very much in love. Sounds like the perfect couple, right?

You might not think that if you saw them up close. Myrna had a physical condition that made her permanently bound to a wheelchair. Ross had to do almost everything for her. He had to bathe her, dress her, and cook for her. Ross worked very, very hard as a mechanic to make enough money to take care of her. He also did odd jobs for people whenever he could for extra money. He drove an old orange Chevy pickup that always looked like it was about ready to fall apart. It looked like it was held together by dirt, duct tape, and a lot of prayer.

But Ross and Myrna always had a smile on their faces. Ross had a big mustache with waxed tips that curled up whenever he grinned, and Ross grinned a lot. All they had was each other, and they made the most of every moment they had. But even when Myrna passed away, Ross was filled with joy. We all thought he was in denial at the funeral, but I know better now. I remember Ross told us that day, “Don’t be sad. This is a time for celebration!” He didn’t share much about his faith, but you could see it in the way he served his wife, and his friends. He was happy with Myrna, but he had joy because he had Jesus in his life.

That’s the kind of joy I’m talking about. It’s that inner glow that you have, no matter what happens in your life, and no matter how hard it gets. That’s the kind of joy the angels told the shepherds about that first Christmas.

The joy of Christmas is… SPECIAL.
The delivery. Even the way the good news was delivered makes it special. God sent His angels down to earth to tell the people that Jesus had been born. It was really something to see. They lit up the sky and started singing and worshipping God. They absolutely terrified those poor shepherds! God does not send angels very often to deliver news – only on very special occasions, and only with very important news.

The anticipation of a promise kept. Jesus’ birth was special because God had promised Israel long before that He would give them a new king and Savior. Israel had been anxiously waiting for Jesus for over 100 years because of all the prophecies that predicted His coming. At that time, Israel had been taken over by the Romans, and Jewish people wanted to be free again. Israel desperately needed God to fulfill His promise to them and on that night, He did.

We need Jesus just as much as Israel did. They needed freedom from the Romans. We need freedom from evil itself. And both the Jews of Jesus’ time and people here in the 21st century need a Savior to reunite us with God. We can celebrate the fact that God’s promise to deliver a Savior wasn’t just for them, it was for us, too – and He kept His promise to all of us.

The message. When the angel spoke to the shepherds, he said, “for unto you, a Savior is born. He is Christ the Lord.” Israel used to be the most powerful nation on earth. But they turned away from God and did whatever they wanted to do, so God abandoned them. That was when the Romans took over their country. They needed a Savior to free them. We, too, have turned away from God and done what we wanted instead of what He wanted. We need a Savior just as much as they did.

Israel knew Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God. They knew He was the only one who had the power to save them from the Romans. Today, we’re under attack daily by fear, worry, and evil itself, and the Son of God is the only one who can free us. We celebrate because the birth of Christ means we are no longer powerless against the evil of this world.

Jesus and God are one in the same. He is the Lord. He is also called Emmanuel, which means “God with us”. Before Jesus was born, Israel had been separated from God for decades. Jesus’ birth means that God is with His people again. He returned to be reunited with His children – the people all over the world who love Him and follow Him.

The joy of Christmas is… FOR EVERYONE!
The first people to experience the joy of Christmas were the Jews, but verse 10 says Christmas joy is for everyone! “…I have brought you good news of great joy that will be for ALL the people.” Christmas was never just a Jewish holiday. Jesus came to save everybody in the whole world, not just Israel. And He came to save everyone who had yet to be born, too – not just the people who were there. That means we ALL get to celebrate Jesus’ birth because Jesus came for ALL of us!

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The joy of Christmas – that intense, emotional happiness that God wants all of us to have – comes from knowing who Jesus is, and why He came. His birth was special to the people of Israel because they were hoping and praying for someone to forgive their sins, to reunite them with God, and to free them from the Romans who had taken over their country. But Christmas was not just for them, it was for everyone – including you and me.

But Christmas is more than just celebrating Jesus’ birthday 2,000 years ago. We celebrate Christmas because of what His coming to earth means – not just to the shepherds that night, but to you and me, here and now. It means God hasn’t forgotten about us. He wants us to be with Him. It means God wants to forgive us for all the bad things we’ve done, so we can ALWAYS be with Him. And it means we never have to be afraid again, because He’s ALWAYS with us. And that is something to be joyful about.

 

Shepherds would not have been in the fields in the dead of winter. Jesus was born in springtime. Christmas is a pagan holiday no matter how many Bible verses are quoted.

 

Everybody knows tax time is in April.

 

Did I say it was winter?

I, too, have seen research to suggest Jesus was likely born in springtime (April, IIRC), and I don't disagree. I'll admit the 'cold night' bit was artistic license on my part, but that doesn't mean I'm wrong. Spring nights are often cool.

 

Why does it matter when you celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, we (this household) frequently move anniversaries and birthdays to other days to facilitate the largest family gathering.

 

I didn't know the man personally, but I highly doubt Jesus would want his birth tied to pagan rituals.

 

Could have just read the scriptures to find that out.

 

Think your missing the point, and not having the "Joy" either.

 

The only rituals Christ is concerned about is the one where you accept him as your lord and savior, all the rest are irrelevant.