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Advent of Joy



          
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An angel appeared to the shepherds in the field and said, "I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people." (Luke 2:10).


The birth of Jesus is good news of great joy for all people because all people need a savior. We would never save ourselves from the bondage of sin and death by ourselves. The good news of great joy is that the Savior has come. When you realize how much you need him, this good news will be to you the greatest joy! God has made many wonderful promises to us in His Word, yet sometimes we can get weary in waiting for our breakthroughs. At such times, we must remember the shepherds. Little did they know that “Today” would be the day when everything would change. Today might be your day of the great joy if you welcome Him. Those of us who already accepted Him celebrate Christmas every year with that great joy.


The good news is God coming to this world as a human. The angel was proclaiming that God would provide salvation for mankind through a tiny baby lying in a manger. The Greek word for good news is evangelion and is translated as “gospel” in other parts of the New Testament. So the gospel is the good news. In essence, the entire life of Christ— born of the Holy Spirit to virgin Mary, suffered under pontius Pilate, crucified, died and was buried, the third day he rose from the dead, and will come again—can be summed up in this one word, evangel, or the gospel, meaning the good news.


The good news is that it is for all the people.  Shepherds were the lowest rung in the Jewish culture. Shepherding, as a profession was not highly esteemed. No parent in their right mind aspired for their child to be a shepherd.They spend most of the time outdoors, exposed to the elements. They were near the bottom of the ladder when it came to respect and social standing in the community. Most folks didn’t want to be around them. Part of the reason was the way we looked and smelled like shepherds. Basically, shepherds were a bunch of dirty smelly people. 


Gospel is good news for the outcasts and marginalized. The gospel is not a message of hate; it is a message of hope. It is “good news of great joy,” and it is for “all the people” (v. 10). The good news is that anyone who trusts in Christ can be forgiven of his or her sins. Just as the angel’s good news broke the darkness of that night to the shepherds, the gospel does the same for you and me. It doesn’t matter how dark your situation is right now, the good news of Jesus’s forgiveness bursts as light and dispels the darkness.  Peter says Acts 10:34 "God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.  You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all."


The good news is that God is doing a great thing among ordinary people living ordinary lives with ordinary problems. You can read about it in Luke chapter one, with Zechariah and Elisabeth, the childless old couple who miraculously conceived the boy who would be the great prophet John. And with Mary, just a poor country girl chosen to be the mother of God’s son. And now we see the king himself, the great Savior, the world’s true Lord, come into the world as a nobody from nowhere, without even the courtesy of a clean, comfortable birthing room. Many times see our own lives in the same way as the shepherds, as ordinary and serving no special purpose. But the good news of great joy is that view through Christ coming gave eternal significance to even the most ordinary situations of our lives.


So the coming of this king is not just good news for the elite. It’s not just good news for those who have their act together. It’s not just good news for the powerful and the privileged. As the angel said, “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people…” All. The. People. For childless couples, for the unimportant, for shepherds, for all the people. Jesus story is good news for sinners, and prostitutes, and tax collectors, for the sick and the lame, for the outsiders, the Gentiles, the ostracized Samaritans and it is good news for you and me. The coming of this king is good news for all the people. He is the saviour of the world. 


The good news is that God is with us today.  "All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet "The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). (Matthew 1:22,23). Among all the prevailing "bad news" we hear today — the random violence, terror, hatred, divisions and wars,  and news of illness and loss of life among friends and family. there is one good news that God  is still with us. Immanuel, God with us.  His presence gives us the fullness of joy amidst all of this around us. Many people believe that God is punishing us through tragedies because God is angry with us,. But the angels declare the exact opposite—and this is indeed, good news! God sends Jesus, the Messiah, out of a sense of delight and pleasure with his creation. The Messiah coming as one of us, Immanuel, God with us is the greatest good news we could ever hope to receive. The good news of God's promised Messiah demonstrates God's favor towards all people. 


The good news of our faith is that God says, "I love you and I will be with you."  When you have valleys or shadows you have to pass through, with a case of a sickness or a broken heart, or loneliness or death or separation, remember, God's promise of love to see you through.  “ I know I have plans for you, plans for good and to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  (Jer 29:11). Surely goodness and mercy shall follow when God is with us.


Those willing to go to the manger will find the joy. Our message and our mission must be good news of great joy for all the people–regardless of their level of wealth, success, togetherness, religious experience, political leaning, or general lifestyle. Even if your circumstances aren’t perfect this Christmas, don’t give up your joy. It’s a precious gift from Christ, and He wants you to have it to the full this day and every day. Christmas is just a preview of what awaits us in heaven—eternal joy in the presence of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And that alone is reason to celebrate.


Christ descended from the glory of heaven  for the joy that was set before him as He endured the cross, despising the shame, into this sinful human society, in order to redeem us to be with Him in the glory of heaven. That is the good news of great joy. 





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