Good News of Great Joy

This month we're looking at the story of Christmas through the eyes of Luke and his gospel.

This morning we're looking at Luke chapter 2, the first 21 verses.

Luke 2 · chapter mention

You may follow along in your bulletin or in your own copy of God's Word.

Very familiar text, known by many, even those who don't call themselves believers in Christ.

Let's hear once again with fresh ears the word of God.

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.

This was the first registration when Quirinius was a governor of Syria, and all went to be registered, each to his own town.

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.

And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth.

And she gave birth to her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

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 great fear.

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.

And this will be a sign for you.

You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.

When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.

And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger.

And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child, and all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.

But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart, and the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

This is the reading of God's holy and precious word.

We ask the Spirit to teach us this morning.

So we pray.

Father, we pray that the familiarity with this story would not get in the way of what you want to do this morning.

Father, we pray that we would not be deceived into thinking that we understand everything about this or that we've experienced the fullness of the truth revealed here.

So, Father, we pray this morning, would you give us a hunger for more truth to know?

Would you give us a humility to know that we don't know so much about your glory?

And Father, would you teach us as only your spirit can?

We pray this in the name of Christ.

Amen.

Indeed, this is one of the most famous birth narratives in all of Scripture.

A story familiar to many who don't go to church.

We read portions, excerpts of this story all over, and whether it's on Christmas cards or in carols that people sing.

And it starts off with those words from Dr.

Luke.

And you know Luke was the historian.

Luke was the one who especially took great care to detail accurately the history of the time of Jesus.

And so Luke says, in those days, well, it's not like a this is not a fairy tale, you know, once upon a time.

When he says in those days, he's referring to real time, a real place.

In those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus.

So we have to ask ourselves, well, which Caesar is this?

Because we know that there were many Caesars.

This was the Caesar Octavian, the same one who had defeated Antony and Cleopatra.

This was the first Caesar to receive the title of emperor, godlike status.

This is who he was.

The inscription that was written in different cities in the Roman Empire, this was the inscription that was written about Octavian, Savior of the whole world.

You see the irony in this historical account that Luke is giving us?

The one who received praise and glory from so many of his minions, the one who thought of himself as the savior of the whole world, the irony, the contrast with the real savior of the world.

Kent Hughes and his commentary put it like this his relentless arm stretched out to squeeze its tribute even in a tiny village at the far end of the Mediterranean.

Thus it came about that a village carpenter and his expectant teenage bride were forced to travel to their hometown, probably some 100 miles, to be registered for taxation.

And it's helpful to get some of this historical context, isn't it?

There's far more going on there than we oftentimes realize when we read the pages of Scripture.

And that was quite a journey, quite a trip that they had them take.

Yesterday I drove up to Quarryville, Pennsylvania to pick up my mom.

About a hundred miles.

And by the way, yesterday was probably not the best day to be up 95.

Usually takes about two hours.

It took about four and a half.

But don't worry about me.

I was in a nice, safe, warm car.

Mary wasn't.

Mary was pregnant.

Mary must have been very uncomfortable.

How much of that journey did she walk?

How much of that journey did she ride on a donkey?

I don't know.

What I know is that she wasn't in a pleasant controlled weather environment, climate-controlled environment.

And the ride was much bumpier for her than it was for me.

But it was about the same distance.

That was her trip.

All because Octavian, who saw himself as the emperor with godlike status, all because he wanted to squeeze every nickel and dime he could out of every subject in his empire.

And he's way over there in Rome.

With all the beautiful palaces and buildings of Rome that you can still see.

But he says, no, I even in the little town Bethlehem, did he even know Bethlehem?

Probably not.

Did he care about Bethlehem?

No.

What he cared about was the money, was the status.

He was a proud man.

Caesar Octavian thought that he was in charge.

He thought he was Lord over everything.

Little did he know that he was a pawn in the hand of the real king.

Because God had decreed from before the time that this world was created, God had decreed that on this day, in this town, in this place, the real king would be born.

And so this morning we're going to look briefly that there was a day and that there was a place and that there was a need.

First of all, there was a day.

And let that sink in.

Not just any day.

Again, fairy tales, it doesn't matter, does it?

Once upon a time.

Well, what time?

What day?

It doesn't matter.

It's fantasy.

It's a story.

But understand that that's not what this is.

Today, the angels said to the shepherds, in the town of David, a Savior has been born.

This day was like no other day in the history of the world.

Dorothy Sayers, the essayist, who wrote beautifully, put it like this so simply, the birth of Christ is the only thing that ever really happened.

Well, that just kind of punctuates the importance of that meeting.

Moody Stewart, a biblical scholar, put it like this for us today.

We make far too little of the incarnation of Jesus.

Our church fathers knew much more of the incarnate God.

Some of them were more often at Bethlehem than they were at Calvary.

They had too little, perhaps, of Calvary or the cross, but boy did they know Bethlehem well.

They loved Emmanuel, God with us.

We today are too often at Calvary, but are we we are too seldom at the cradle?

And we know far too little of the word being made flesh.

And so it doesn't grip us like it did then.

On that day, the glory of the Lord shone.

It lit up the skies brightly.

And who appears but a chorus of angels?

The shepherds.

Not exactly what we would have expected.

If this was a fairy tale, I doubt that we would have brought the chorus of angels to the shepherds.

The shepherds.

The nobodies.

The people that couldn't even give testimony in court.

Most people today who have studied this would say that they were very much like the gypsies.

When they were around, you held on tightly to your possessions.

They were just really the lowest of the low.

That God would choose to bring his heavenly chorus to them.

A chorus of angels.

And the shepherds heard the message as the skies were filled not only with the brightness of the glory of God, but also with the praise of the angels.

This is the third Christmas carol, if you will, in the Gospel of Luke.

The last two weeks we've seen the prior two Christmas carols.

Mary's, Zachariah's, and now this is the third.

This is Luke's Gloria in Excelsius Deo.

Glory to God in the highest, the angels sang.

Jesus, who had always been praised by the angels in heaven, now is being praised by the angels on earth.

There was a day.

And before I leave this, I just want to say again, there was a day.

If this day had not happened, there would be no Christian faith.

We would not be here today.

There had to be a day.

But there also had to be a place.

In the town of David.

How many prophets had prophesied that it would be in the town of David in Bethlehem?

The house of God.

This week, tens of thousands of people will visit Bethlehem because that's where the Savior was born.

I mean, tens of thousands of people will visit, but it's a much smaller population that lived there.

Back then, when Jesus was born, it was a tiny village.

They most likely would have known each other.

This was a small town.

And this was the place that God had decreed that the Savior would be born.

Again, think back to the place.

How much more convenient it would have been for Mary to give birth in Nazareth.

How much more convenient it would have been for Mary to be surrounded by family, to be in her own bed.

That would have been nice.

For all you who have given birth.

That makes a difference, I suppose.

To be in the most comfortable bed, to have attendants around you rather than your husband, who's never done this before, who probably didn't sign up for this.

I mean, think about the circumstances.

The trip.

And then she gets, she gets there, they get there, and she's in the same room with animals.

With all the smells, with the stench, with the noise.

And then the baby's born.

And there's her midwife, Joseph.

And he tears cloth and he places the cloth around the baby.

Many scholars think that he was actually born in a cave.

We don't know for sure.

It could have been a cave.

Don't think a cute little manger like we see today.

It certainly wasn't that.

It would have been something, if it wasn't an indentation in the cave, which it could have been, it would have been something crude.

It would have been something that was used with the animals.

Not the most sanitary.

That's where the Savior was born.

That place.

Mary.

Not having her mother.

How many of you have had your mother with you when you gave birth?

Not having your mother, not having someone close to you, who knew kind of what to do.

And then the scripture tells us the titles of this one that was born.

In this, for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord.

That little phrase is just chock full of deity.

And Jesus is the Christ.

The word Christ is the Greek term for Messiah, which signifies that the Savior that God had always promised to send.

Literally, the Christ is the anointed one.

The last title that was given to him was Lord.

This term of honor points to his deity.

Luke has already used the term Lord more than a dozen times.

It always refers to the Lord God Himself.

In the Septuagint translation, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, this was the word for Yahweh.

The name that would not be spoken.

It was just too reverential.

All this, the Savior, deliverer points to his role, Messiah points to his office in terms of the promised anointed one.

And yet Luke just rolls it out in this little phrase.

And millions of people will read this little phrase this Christmas and say, oh, that's nice.

That's nice.

I like to sing songs about him.

And yet the apostle Paul says in Philippians chapter 2 that the day will come when Jesus will return a second time.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

And when he comes, the heavens will fill once again and open up with all the glory of God in the highest.

And with a trumpet, with a blast of the trumpet.

And Paul says in Philippians on that day, every knee will bow before him.

And every voice will proclaim him as Lord.

You have the choice.

You either proclaim him as Lord now, voluntarily, for salvation, or you will proclaim his name as Lord then, compulsed, compelled by God for judgment.

And we read this phrase.

We read the phrase, in the city of David, a Savior who is Christ the Lord.

If we truly understood what that phrase means, we would fall on our faces and we would cry out in ways that we never cried.

And we would sing in ways that we've never sung.

One day we will understand the import of that.

And we will worship in a different way.

But beloved, it is now given to us because of the scriptures that have been given to us that we can come to understand now a bit what it means.

And the more we understand what that title means, the more our lives are transformed by this king.

There is a place.

The son of David was born in the town of David.

There was a place, but lastly, there is a need.

There is a need for a savior.

A savior has been born to you.

He is Christ the Lord.

There is a Savior born to you.

He is Christ the Lord.

A Savior, not a teacher.

Thank God.

There are many good teachers in this world, but what the world needed was not yet one more good teacher, or not just one great teacher.

The world needed more than just the best teacher.

It doesn't say that there was born a teacher.

It doesn't say that there was born a moral guide.

It doesn't say that there was born a spiritual director.

All of these things can be helpful in our spiritual journeys.

But this is the only time that God said there is born a Savior.

This one is a savior.

And what that means is he can do for you what you could never do for yourself.

Because this Savior was born that day in that town, and he lived a perfect life.

And he died the perfect death, obedient to the end on the cross.

He died for sinners like you.

Do you know that?

He died for sinners like me.

If you believe that, you can't just sing in a ho-hum way, the Christmas carols.

And when you go to a Christmas service, last Saturday night this place was full as we gave glory to God in the birth of his son.

But you can't go to a Christmas service and just sit back and say, boy, the music is beautiful.

I'd love to hear this choir.

Because it's so much more than that.

Because Jesus came to die for sinners.

He did not come simply to point the way.

He did not come to give us instructions.

We don't need one more person to tell us how to do life.

Some of us are just so weary because all of our life, it just feels like we're just trying to do what we're supposed to do.

Have you had enough of that?

Jesus didn't come to give you a little push.

Jesus didn't come to give you a little help.

He didn't come to give you a little inspiration, a little motivation.

He came to give you Himself.

That's Christmas.

We need someone who can actually save us from our biggest enemy, our own sin, which brings death, our guilt, our shame.

Jesus has a solution.

And that's why when we read, I will bring you good news of great joy.

So as I close, let me ask you this.

Does the good news, does this good news bring you great joy?

And if it doesn't, you don't understand the good news.

Doesn't matter how many years you've gone to church.

Doesn't matter how many times you've read your Bible.

Doesn't matter how many times you've sung Christmas songs.

Doesn't matter.

If the good news doesn't bring you great joy, you don't understand the news.

And here's the way it's supposed to look, friends.

Every year you live on this earth, that you're a Christian, the good news ought to be getting better.

And the joy ought to be going deeper.

And if it's not, something's wrong.

Something's got a hold of your heart.

And Jesus wants to speak to that.

This morning, Jesus is here.

And Jesus is speaking through his word, by his spirit.

And he's saying, this is the good news.

This is the only thing that can bring you that kind of joy.

What are you waiting for?

What are you looking for?

Where do you think you're going to find it?

Other than here.

Those two are always linked together.

Good news.

Great joy.

I loved Christmas as a kid.

I did.

Man, I loved it.

I loved just about everything about it.

But Christmas means so much more to me as I get older.

Because the older I get, the more I discover what a big sinner I am.

And the older I get, the more I realize what a great Savior Jesus is.

I hope that's your experience.

There was a day then, and there is a day now.

Today.

In the city of Alexandria, because he was born in the city of David, in the city of Alexandria on December the 23rd, you can experience a birth as well.

The Bible calls it the second birth.

The Bible calls it a spiritual birth.

The Bible says that as you lift your eyes off of yourself, as you lift your eyes off of your sin, as you look to Jesus Christ, the Lord and Savior, and you put your faith in him, you can be born this day in the city of Alexandria, into the city of God.

That's not my promise.

That's the promise of Jesus.

You can be born again.

And if you've been born again, you can be renewed and revived.

If stuff has just been getting in the way of that great joy and that good news.

The Holy Spirit is here to speak to your heart.

The Holy Spirit is to fill your mind.

He's here.

He wants to speak to you.

He wants to do a new work in you.

What's holding us back?

Pray with me.

Oh God.

We confess how little we really know about Christmas.

Some of us have spent our entire lives singing carols that we don't really understand, hearing stories that we don't fully comprehend, and going through all the rituals, and yet missing the very heart of Christmas.

Father, we acknowledge today that we are so easily blinded to the truth.

Holy Spirit, I pray this morning, would you open the eyes of everyone here, starting with the preacher, that we would see the glory of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, Christ the Messiah, that he would stoop so low as to come to us and become our substitute.

Father, please let no one leave here not believing that your Son is the Messiah.

May we cry out in faith.

If we think we can't even believe, we don't even have the faith.

Holy Spirit, give us the faith.

We cry out, give us the faith to believe the good news.

And may the good news bring great joy to us this season.

We pray this in the name of our beloved, our Messiah Jesus.

Amen.