Christmas Eve 2017 ~ Good News of Great Joy

Christmas Eve                                                                                     12/24/17

“Good News of Great Joy”

Isaiah 9: 2-7; Psalm 96; Titus 2: 11-14; Luke 2: 1-14

 

Pearl: Accepting, believing, and living within the Good News of Great Joy

Function: To have worshippers pause, taking a break from the negative stories and behold the wondrous truth of God’s in-breaking presence in our world.

This past week I visited a 105 year old woman named Luda. She is a woman of deep faith who was a nurse. She was the pastor of her church. In the last two years she lost two of her children who were both in their 80’s. She deeply grieved their deaths. Her daughter even lived with her. Luda has outlived her family and still has her faculties about her. She was eating a hearty lunch when I entered her room at a nursing facility. I always treasure the things Luda has to say because I am in awe talking to anyone 100 or older. We have two dear ones in our Highland congregation in that category.

1. We talked about the Christmas season and Luda said she loved Christmas. I asked her to share her favorite thing about Christmas. She thought for a moment and she said with joy in her countenance, “Our Savior is born.”
   1. That answer came from someone who has lived over 100 years. She has seen so much. She has experienced so much. “Our Savior is born!”
   2. I announced that I would like to read from the Bible to her. She became delighted. She said, “It’s time for a lesson.”
   3. She insisted that I use her Bible. I obediently retrieved it and opened it. To my delight it was well-marked up. It easily fell open giving evidence that it was used regularly. I began to read Luke, Chapter 2—my go-to, favorite Christmas gospel account. As I read she affirmed verses audibly with her eyes closed. She nodded her head in agreement. I thought verse 14 was a good stopping point.
      1. She looked up and said, “Are you stopping there?” I said, “I can continue.” She smiled and closed her eyes again.
      2. I read through the entire 54 verses of Luke, Chapter 2. By that time she had fallen asleep and was resting in what I think was a very satisfying rest for this woman of deep faith.
   4. Luda’s deep joy which sustains her through all times and all seasons is this: “Our Savior is born.”

The angels said to the shepherds out in the fields, “I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord” (Luke 2: 10, 11).

Do you need some good news? Would some good news help you?

1. Perhaps you are waiting for some very specific good news about:
   1. A job opportunity
   2. A health issue
   3. A sense of direction
   4. A decent grade; an acceptance into a certain college or university; a passing grade; an appointment;
2. There is a lot of bad news these days. There are all kinds of worries and anxieties for us due to many different things.
   1. We live in a dangerous world.
   2. We are mortal and life is fragile.
   3. We have burdens which are real and heavy.
3. Christmas reminds us year after year, no matter how difficult the times, to look in the direction of God.
   1. With the birth of the Savior, the Messiah, God has done a truly great thing. God has entered into our world. God remained in our world, and God will come again to our world.
   2. In the vast, far-reaching universe which tiny earth travels through, Almighty, Creator God, chose to be with us.
   3. God Almighty remains present with us and will never forsake us. God will never forsake his world.
   4. This is the truth of the ages which draws everyone out to worship tonight. This truth will remain a constant always and forever. This truth is the source of real and lasting joy.
      1. This great truth cuts through. It cut through during a moment in World War I when the troops of warring factions actually set aside their weapons and met on the field of battle. These troops on the front lines called a temporary truce so that they could meet as human beings to celebrate the naked truth of Christmas.
      2. They were overcome by the need to put aside whatever their countries saw as reasons to kill each other, and they celebrated their common humanity around the Great News of Great Joy that “Our Savior is born.” They recognized that their real salvation lay way beyond whatever was happening on the battlefields of that war and between the nations at war. They realized and paid tribute to the fact that their salvation was in God above all else. Their “God of peace” was the true reality that Christmas night.

We have very good news and it is available to all! That the angel went to the shepherds and not to the emperors is a very important thing. It means that the good news is for everyone, bar none.

1. Sometimes the good news is really only for a select few.
2. This news of the Savior’s birth is for EVERYONE!
3. Look to the people surrounding you right now here in worship. Look beyond your family and to the people you have worshipped with for a very long time. Look to the people who are just now beginning to worship here. These are your people. Treasure your people. You all have the good news of great joy.
4. Shed a tear for those you miss sitting next to you. We miss many in this congregation. All of the beautiful poinsettias remind us of the many who we remember sitting next to us over many years.
   1. After wiping our tears of joy and sorrow, together we all look to God and we behold the God who has come, who remains, and who will come again.
   2. And we trust that in God we will once again be with those we so miss! Praise the Lord!

Life is so very good and at the same time it is so very hard. There is a line from the Christmas carol, “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” which goes “…the hopes and fears of all the years are met in Thee tonight.”

1. That is a very profound statement.
2. The birth of our Savior is a match for the “hopes and fears of all the years!”
   1. That means that all of the terrors of all of the wars “are met in Thee tonight.”
   2. All of the crushing blows of life are “met in Thee tonight.”
   3. All of the losses and failures.
   4. All of the tragedies and all of the forgotten people.
   5. All of the evils performed “are met in Thee tonight.”
3. Not only are the “hopes and fears of all the years” met in Christ tonight, they are transformed in Christ tonight.
   1. Our Lord does not just a “meet” the hopes and fears of all the years.
   2. Our Lord fulfills all of the hopes that were ever hoped.
   3. Our Lord dispels all of the combined fears of all of the peoples of all of the millennia!

How did God do this? How did God meet the “hopes and fears of all the years?”

1. God fulfilled all of the hopes of all the years and dispelled all of the fears of all the years…
   1. BY BEING BORN!
   2. BY COMING TO US!
   3. BY STAYING WITH US!
   4. BY THE PROMISE THAT GOD WILL COME AGAIN!

What is your favorite thing about Christmas?

1. Remember what dear Luda said: “Our Savior is born!” It is that simple. It is that awesome!