Glynlea Grace United Methodist Chruch

In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a city of Judah, ⁴⁰ and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. ⁴¹ And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit ⁴² and she exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! ⁴³ And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? ⁴⁴ For behold, when the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the babe in my womb leaped for joy. ⁴⁵ And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her from the Lord."

And in that region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹ And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. ¹⁰ And the angel said to them, "Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; ¹¹ for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ¹² And this will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." ¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, ¹⁴ "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased!" ¹⁵ 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."

Summary and Purpose

Summary: When God entered our world in the form of a little baby named Jesus, joy came with him. Jesus paid the penalty for our sins by dying on the cross. On the third day, he rose from the dead, conquering sin, death and evil on our behalf. This enables us to receive God’s forgiveness and have a restored, intimate relationship with God. As people with a restored, intimate relationship with God, we receive the Holy Spirit into our hearts. The Holy Spirit works to change our hearts to make us more loving like Jesus. This enables us to continue to grow in our relationship with God. It is this salvation that gives us joy no matter what the circumstances are. We can experience joy because we know that God saved us with the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Our joy is dependent on God’s love and not on circumstances.

God is not a killjoy. God wants us to enjoy life and knows how we can experience maximum joy. If we obey God and allow the Holy Spirit to guide and change us, we will have a joyful life beyond our imagination. Joy came down at Christmas!!

Purpose: To help the congregation to latch on to the joy that became possible for all people with the coming of Jesus Christ.

The Sermon

I. Introduction: God wants us to enjoy life!!!!

1. I love a good party. I love to have fun!!

• I like any party: Birthday, Christmas, weddings, retirement etc…
• I like the games and fellowship
• I especially love the food!!!

2. Jesus loved parties. Just search the four Gospels and you will see

• First miracle occurred at a wedding party: Changing water into wine
• Attended dinner party with tax collectors and sinners after calling Matthew to follow him
• Had a dinner party with Zacheus, the sinful tax collector
• Had dinner parties with the ‘respectable’ Pharisees and teachers of the Law.
• Jesus loved parties so much, he was accused of being a drunkard: “the Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, `Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' “ (Matthew 11:19)

3. This is not to say Jesus was a party animal who got drunk and did stupid things

• Jesus was not a drunkard. Jesus committed no sin and there’s no indication in the Gospels that he ever got drunk.
• Jesus did enjoy having what some people call, “Good clean fun.”

4. So, it shouldn’t surprise us that Joy came down at Christmas.

II. Joy was expressed at the coming of Christ

• Luke 1:39-45: In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a city of Judah, ⁴⁰ and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. ⁴¹ And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit ⁴² and she exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! ⁴³ And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? ⁴⁴ For behold, when the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the babe in my womb leaped for joy. ⁴⁵ And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her from the Lord."

2. The angels announced a message of joy to the shepherds

• Luke 2:8-11: And in that region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹ And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. ¹⁰ And the angel said to them, "Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; ¹¹ for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

III. This joy is not the same as happiness

2. Joy is based upon certain constants

• Jesus has already done everything necessary to save us. We are good to go
• God is always with us and will take care of us
• God wins in the end

• Jesus came not just so we can have life. He came so we can have life abundantly.
• Having life abundantly means enjoying life. God wants us to have joy.

• Scripture makes it very clear we should have sex within marriage and that marriage is between a man and woman. If we wait until we’re married to have sex, we’ll more likely experience a wonderful relationship with wonderful sex. If, however, we do it our way and have sex as soon as possible, outside of marriage, we’ll more likely experience broken relationships and may even produce children when we’re not ready to care for them.
• Scripture makes it very clear that getting drunk is a bad thing to do. If we insist on getting drunk, we lose self-control and find ourselves doing things that can break our relationships and bring heartache to our lives.
• Scripture makes it clear that we should forgive. If we forgive, we let go of our bitterness and anger and become free to enjoy life. If we refuse to forgive, we hold on to our bitterness and anger and block the joy from our lives.

3. So, if we live life the way God wants us to live it, we’ll experience joy

V. Experiencing this joy begins w/ repentance and faith in Jesus

2. Having faith in Jesus means…

• Trusting that his life, death and resurrection is sufficient to wipe away your sins. This is accepting him as Savior.
• Surrendering your life to Jesus. Seeking to obey him as Lord. This is accepting him as Lord