Great Joy For All | Christmas Eve | Prepare The Way

Sermon Transcript:

(transcribed with AI)

Well, Merry Christmas everyone. It is good to be here with you all. Thank you so much for coming, for celebrating with us together. My name is Jonathan. For those of you who might not know me, I have the privilege of being one of the pastors here and, if you are new with us, thank you so much, for joining with us today. It's always an exciting thing to be able to celebrate Christmas together, so thank you for, for coming and being part of this.

This is a family service. Kids are with us for the time. Parents, we know kids make some noise, we know they wiggle, it's all right, it's OK. We love it. It's a beautiful thing, but if you do need, there are coloring pages at the back and if we're really, really squirrely and feeling like we gotta run, our pre-K room is open, so please make yourself available to all those things, but thank you for coming.

Christmas is a celebration. It's a time of joy where we get to celebrate together. But the truth is, it's also very easy to feel a little bit on the outside of this one, isn't it? It's easy to feel a little bit like in the midst of all the lights, the cozy feelings, the ambience, the candles and everything else to feel somewhat on the outside. It's a little bit like going to sort of a party where you don't really know the people, right?

A few years back, actually, my wife and I, we were invited over to somebody's house. It was at, we were visiting a church for the first time and they said, hey, come have, come have lunch with us. We said, OK, that's very nice, very gracious. So we went over and we found out it was their daughter's first birthday party. And I mean, I don't know if you've ever felt uncomfortable somewhere before, but that was pretty uncomfortable. I thought, whoa, I wasn't expecting to walk into this, but they were so gracious, they just welcomed us in. And so we joined in this birthday party. We sat, we ate with them, we had the cake together, we sang happy birthday, and we kind of were part of it. But there was also a big difference, right? To the other people who knew the couple, knew the child, I mean, they were celebrating, and we were kind of watching it. Right?

Christmas can so easily feel that way. Like you're almost watching a celebration, a birthday party for someone you don't really know. And so the beauty of Christmas is that. Actually, even if that is you. Nobody is kept out. Nobody is kept away from the joy, from the celebration of what Christmas is all about. So for just a few minutes here as we're together, would you allow me just to introduce you. To show you why we celebrate, why this is a season of joy, and actually invite you in as well.

See, this past number of weeks as we've been getting ready for Christmas as a church, we've been doing this series called Prepare the Way, looking at all the people that God sent before Christmas ever came. To get people ready, get them prepared for what Jesus was going to do. Some of the prophets were hundreds of years earlier, leading all the way up to people right before him. But today we want to look at the final one, the final messenger before Jesus is born, and that is the angel who announced the birth of Jesus.

So if you have a Bible, and I'm not sure if you will today, but if you have one, you can open to Luke chapter 2. It'll be on the screen behind me as well, so please don't worry. It's our tradition here, we stand as we read God's word. It's just a way of showing respect. If you're able to, would you stand with me? Luke chapter 2, starting in verse 8.

And in the same region, there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. 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.

You may be seated.

You know, for many of us, these are very familiar verses, right? This is the story we read every Christmas season and for good reason. The Christmas story is a genuinely incredible story, right? As you meet this young couple, right, in the late stages of Mary's pregnancy, having to travel, having to go a long distance, right? And find themselves. In a small town that is just overrun with travelers, right? This is during a Roman census where everybody had to go back to whatever ancestral home they had. And so here's little Bethlehem, now overrun with people all trying to crowd in. And so by the time they arrive, there's nothing left. Everything is full. And so they find just some space out back, somebody shows them a stable. Probably nothing more than a cave they use to feed animals in, and it is there that Jesus is born, wrapped in, wrapped up and laid in a manger.

Right, and while we've maybe heard this story many times before, please do not miss the fact that this would have been, by all accounts of those in Bethlehem at that moment, a fairly insignificant thing. Right? There was a lot happening at that point. People were traveling all over the place. Everybody was having a rough night that night. Everyone was a little bit stressed about what was going on, a little bit upset about the fact that they had to do this giant trip just because their government told them to, and they were thinking to themselves, man, I don't really like this. The fact that there was one baby born that night would have hardly even registered on anybody's radar. In fact, I might be so bold as to say, probably he wasn't the only baby born in unusual circumstances during that time. Right, by all accounts, this would have just been another day, another night, easily overlooked.

And even in that, should we not see a bit of a lesson for us. That so many times the things that demand our attention are not the most important things. And actually the things we overlook tend to be some of the most important for us to pay attention to.

But see, God was not going to allow the birth of Jesus to go unnoticed by everyone. Rather, he sent an angel to go and announce this birth, that Jesus was born. But not to the rich, not to the elites, not to the rulers, nor even the very pious. Rather, God sent His angel to go announce this birth to the shepherds. Those who were very much on the outside of everything that would happen in town, right? These were the guys who worked out in the field, they probably didn't smell great, and these are even in particular, the guys who pulled the night shift. Right, they're probably not even the owners of these sheep. They are just the hired hand who drew the short straw that night and had to stay up watching. It is to them that God announces the greatest news the world had ever heard.

And when the angel shows up, verse 9 says they were filled with great fear. Yeah, they were terrified seeing these angels. This is not what they thought they were going to encounter that night. But verse 10, the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Right, their announcement was one of joy, it was a good thing, good news was coming to them, and noticed not just for one person, for all people. This was good news for everyone. Everyone is invited and welcomed into the joy that Jesus brings.

But the question then remains. What is this joy? What is this good news? What exactly is being announced at Christmas? And the angel gives us the reason, verse 11, for unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior who is Christ the Lord. Here is the reason why we celebrate. Here is the reason why this is a season of joy and celebration. The angel announces and says this Jesus who has been born shall be a savior. He is the Christ. He is the Lord. All three titles the angel gives to him show us a picture of why this is such good news. We rejoice because God entered into our world as a baby born in obscurity that we might be saved.

The angels announced that he will be a savior. This will be a savior, and a little part of us should probably hear that announcement and ask the question, what do you mean by that? Right, a savior from what? Right, I imagine you were just walking down the street, minding your own business, and suddenly someone ran up to you, grabbed you and said, I just saved your life. The first question or the first thing you said is probably not, wow, thank you, but what are you talking about? Someone just shows up and announces themselves as a savior, you're gonna have some follow-up questions. What are you even talking about? This sounds closer to a scam than good news. You can't save someone who's not in trouble. You can't.

But here's the question. Are we sure we've paid attention to all the right things? We tend to spend our days looking at the trouble around us, don't we? The trouble that goes on in our world, the political mess we live in, the trouble overseas. Maybe your mind is occupied with all the mess that goes on at Christmas, Family gatherings bring their own share. Maybe it's the price of gas, the price of groceries, family dynamics, your own health, debt, all these things occupy our attention, and the truth is they matter. Right? Just like all the travelers who were going around in Bethlehem at the time, their issues actually matter, but often they distract from what matters most. We get distracted.

I don't know if you ever heard the saying, you know, I can't control what other people do. I can only control what I do. Right? It's good advice, right? And in many ways, we need to hear that lesson, even for ourselves. We can't control the problems all out there. Are we paying attention to the ones in our own hearts and lives? See, the bigger problem is actually what lives in our own hearts. We don't actually always do what is right. We don't even think what or want what is good. Right? The Bible calls this sin. We see it in our own lives, we don't live up to our even our own standard of what a good person should be like all the time, and far less God's perfect standard.

In fact, let me argue this is our greatest problem we so easily overlook. Our greatest problem is our sin before God that not only separates us away from Him, but ultimately the Bible says God will deal with all sin, all evil, all wrongdoing. In fact, we want a God that's going to deal with evil. We want justice, we want things to be set right, and God promises they will be, but the problem is that we're part of that. Actually, it's the sin in our own lives that is our greatest problem.

See the angel showing up and saying, I have a savior for you is less like a random person running up on the street and more like sitting in a doctor's office and him saying, I have a cure. Actually, you might not have even been aware, and yet, Once we realize what's going on, we realize how desperately we need a solution. Our greatest problem is that we are at odds with the God who created all things, who will deal with evil. But the beautiful thing is that while we cannot do that ourselves, God has provided a savior.

This is why Jesus came. Jesus came to this earth to be born as a baby, not simply so that we would have warm and fuzzy feelings in the dark part of the year, but that he would take our place, that he would live a perfect life in our place, that he would die for our sin. That Jesus would go to the cross in our place, that he would rise again so that whoever would trust in Him. The punishment for our sins would be taken in Jesus. How does Jesus save? By taking the weight of our guilt, the punishment of our sin, the shame of our depravity on Himself. So that anyone who would trust in him would be saved. Hear me, no one has ever been saved because they were a good enough person. No, in fact, to be a Christian is to recognize that I cannot do it on my own and that I actually need a savior, that Jesus is the only one who can deal with my greatest problem.

Later on in the New Testament, Titus chapter 3, we read,

but when the goodness and loving kindness of God, our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy.

It was not because we were good people, it was because. God loved us so much that he sent Jesus to this earth to die on the cross, to deal with our sins so that anyone who trusts in him would be saved. The joy that the angel announced on Christmas is that a savior had come.

But even that was not all the angel had to announce. In verse 11, the angel says, for unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior who is Christ. We need to realize, here, please remember, Christ is not Jesus' last name. OK? I know that's often very confusing and a lot of people think about that, but Christ is actually a title, right? It's the Greek word for Messiah, the anointed one. See, in the first half of the Bible, we'd get these people who were anointed for a specific purpose. Often it was a king, right? The king was anointed, often prophets were anointed. And we're actually given a promise, early on in the Bible, that there would be a king who would sit on the throne of David. David was the greatest king in Israel's history. And God promised that a king would come who would sit on an eternal throne. But the problem is it had been hundreds and hundreds of years had gone by. The people of Israel had been waiting and yet no king had come. And so when the angel comes and announces that in the city of David, his hometown, the Messiah has been born. What the angel is announcing is that God has been faithful to his promises. That God has not forgotten, but that he has actually kept his word.

See, I don't know about you, but I have probably lost track of the amount of times that people have said to me something along the lines of, OK, yep, later I'm gonna give you a call. I'll text you, I'll email you, and then. Nothing, right? In fact, it's probably so common, you don't even really think about it at this point. There are so many reasons. I mean, someone, they just forgot, right? Life got busy, they had other things on their mind, maybe they tried and it wasn't able to, right? Maybe whatever else happened. In fact, it's just a normal part of life that we recognize that not every promise gets kept. Right, maybe we're coming up to Christmas and some parents are thinking, I know my kids asked for presents. That maybe they won't get, right? Maybe some family get-togethers that aren't going to happen. Life continues. We hardly even pay attention to it. It's our normal way of operating.

But in contrast, God does not do that. God does not break even one of his promises. God does not forget about anything that he has promised to anyone. Though hundreds of years may go by, God's memory is good. God is faithful to every single thing that he has promised. When the angel came to announce that the Messiah had come, it was a reminder to the people, God's promises are not forgotten. And hear me, that is such good news for us, because we sit here 2000 years after all of this has happened. And it would be fair for you to ask the question, I mean, surely this is outdated, right? The these things are expired, they no longer count. I mean, God doesn't really expect us to hold to any of this thing and we wouldn't hold God to it. Hear me, please do not put God in the box of how we operate. God is faithful to every one of his promises, none of them are forgotten.

In fact, this is why many of the writers of the Bible wrote things down. The end of John's Gospel, he writes, he says,

but these things are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Right? You can't believe in a savior who doesn't keep his promises. In fact, this is written down so that we could be certain that when God gives us a promise, it is sure, it is good, he will keep it all the way that when Jesus says your sins are forgiven, God doesn't go back on that. That his promises are sure at all times. The angel came to announce that the fulfillment of God's promises were here, the Messiah has come.

Jesus is our savior, our Messiah and Lord. Here is the final title that Jesus is given at his birth. The angel announces, for unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior who is Christ the Lord. In many ways, this final title that's given to Jesus is the greatest of them all. Many people have been called a savior before, even some who've been called a Messiah, and yet this final one, Lord is given to Jesus and to him alone. See, more than just a title of authority or a position that he held. Jesus is called Lord because he is God Himself. God Himself, wrapped in human form, comes into our world at Christmas, this is why we celebrate. Right, the eternal God who created all things at the sound of his voice, now cries in a manger. The one who stands and holds all power, all authority, seated on the throne of heaven, humbles himself to insignificance as a baby born in the back stable, announced only by shepherds on the night shift. God Himself stepped into our world because only he could save us. Who else could pay the full punishment of our sins? It was only God. Who else could live a perfect life, it was only God. Who else could reconcile us perfectly with God? It was only God, the great joy for all people that is announced at Christmas. Is that God Almighty entered into our world. We rejoice because God is with us.

In fact, that he would go to the cross, forgive our sins, that he might be exalted as Lord. Philippians 2 writes,

therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Jesus is our King, our Lord, our God. Our response at Christmas is to break forth in worship, to join in the angels who cried, glory to God in the highest.

The Christmas story is the story of God Himself coming into our world to keep his promises, to forgive our sin. That's why we celebrate at Christmas. That's why we rejoice during this season. And so, I wanna encourage you, I wanna invite you, would you celebrate? Would you rejoice this Christmas season? Leave aside all of our Canadian reservedness, be unapologetically joyful in this season of joy, because Jesus has come to deal with our sins.

If you're here this evening, this afternoon. And you don't know Jesus, please hear the invitation. This is good news for everyone. Nobody is kept out. Right? Please do not leave this place until you have dealt with Jesus. It is as simple as confessing our sins before God and trusting in his death and resurrection for your forgiveness. If you don't know how to do that, come talk with me, come talk with someone you know, we would love to help you take that step. Jesus came so that we could be saved from our sin. That is the joy the angels announced for all people. Let us worship our God who came to save us.

Let's pray together. Our heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you so much for this season. Thank you for the joy of Christmas. Thank you for what we get to celebrate together. Father, you have blessed us by telling and giving. Preparation, sending messengers before Jesus so that we might understand this incredible good news. Our heavenly Father, may we rejoice because we know you as our Lord, our savior, Messiah. Father, I pray, work in our hearts that we might rejoice with all the joy for what you have done in us. We ask all these things in your name. Amen.

Amen. This Christmas season, we remember that the light of the world has come.