PEACE & JOY BUNDLE!
Introduction:
These
past two years brought much bad news and very little good news. At every turn,
we were confronted with: unrest, pain, sorrow, death, grief, agony, depression,
and hopelessness. Last year around this time, we were in complete lockdown,
lived in fear. We couldn't gather in person to worship and celebrate Christmas
with our friends and families.
The world mourned as though it was
void of two critical ingredients for survival: Peace and Joy. Imagine a world without
them? It would be a miserable world, and none of us want to live in such a
world. How many of us need a little bit of Peace and Joy today? Listen to this
classical Christmas story that unwraps these two precious gifts of life. Luke
2:8-20.
I.
The Gospel first came to the Social Outcasts. (8-14)
It was like any other cold winter
night in the mountains of Palestine. A group of shepherds was grazing their
flock in an open field under a starlight sky. These shepherds may have engaged
in a conversation to keep them awake as they watched their sheep at night.
Suddenly, an angel appeared, and the whole place was lit up with the glory of
God.
The shepherds were frightened to
death. The angel said, "don't be afraid." I came to bring Good News
that will bring great Joy to all people. Today, in the town of Bethlehem in the
city of David, the savior, the king, and God is born. You will find him by this
sign, "a baby wrapped in a bundle lying in a manger. As if one angel
wasn't frightening enough, a host of angels joined this messenger angel and
sang in the first Christmas choir. The song went like this:
Glory to God in the highest of
heaven and Peace on earth to those with God is pleased. After delivering the Good News of Great Joy,
the host of angels went back to heaven as quickly as they came. Have you
wondered why God left all others aside and sent his angel to shepherds? There
could be several reasons for this first visitation. During Jesus' days, by
their occupation, shepherds were in the lower strata of society. Their work
made them ceremonially unclean.
The most obvious implication is that
the Gospel first came to the social outcasts of Jesus' day. We see this
reoccurring theme of Jesus reaching out to the lepers, tax collectors, and
socially marginalized in the Gospel of Luke. Isn't that how it is even these
days? God has entrusted the Good News of the Gospel to unworthy people like us.
What are we going to do with this tremendous responsibility? Let's see how the
shepherds responded to the Good News.
II.
THE SHEPHERD'S RESPONSE (15-20)
Today there is much suspicion of the
news media. We doubt everything and question everyone. In the end, we derive
our alternative truth. It was not how the shepherds reacted. We don't see any
questioning or skepticism about what the angel pronounced to them. Instead, we
see in them intentionality and a recognition that the message was indeed from
God.
They said to each other, let's go to
Bethlehem, let's see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us
about, so they went hurriedly to the village. What did they find upon their
arrival? They found Mary and Joseph and a baby bundled up lying in the manger.
After seeing baby Jesus, the social
outcasts became the first evangelists. They told everyone what had happened and
what the angel told them about the child. While all those who heard about those
beautiful events and the Great News were amazed, his mother Mary kept them in
her heart and pondered them often. The shepherds went about tending their
sheep, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just
as the angel had told them.
What can we learn from this classic
Christmas story? First, when the Good News of Great Joy was delivered to the
shepherds, they took it to heart but went to Bethlehem to verify it. Similarly,
when you hear the truth from God's word preached to you, take it to heart, then
go and search the scriptures to find out whether what you heard is true or not.
Secondly, once you know the truth like Mary, keep it in your heart and meditate
and act on it.
Thirdly, the gospel truth you have heard
is not meant for you only, like the shepherds, become an evangelist, go out and
share it with as many people as you possibly can. So that they too may come to
know and believe the Good News of the Gospel. Let us look at what this Good
News is all about and how that might impact our lives today.
III.
PEACE AND JOY BUNDLE
Many things in life come in bundles,
especially insurance packages. We use certain words in bundles, for example,
fear and anxiety, grace and mercy, pride and prejudice, etc. When God wanted to
send a gift to humanity, he sent a peace and joy bundle. That is the Good News.
The angel's announcement to the
shepherds contains two critical ingredients of survival: Peace and Joy. This
bundle of Peace and Joy is extended to everyone but not randomly given to
everyone. Then who would receive this bundle? The angels proclaimed,
"those with whom God is pleased." We tend to search for Peace and joy in the
wrong places.
C.S Lewis noted, "We are
half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when
infinite joy is offered to us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making
mud pies in the slum because he cannot imagine what is meant; by the offer of a
holiday at sea."
People are searching everywhere for
Peace and Joy, while God has sent His son who could give us what is missing in
our lives. Let me unwrap this Peace & Joy bundle. What does the Bible say
about Joy, and how is it different from Happiness? Happiness is a state of
well-being and contentment. It is a pleasurable or satisfying experience.
Happiness is an emotion, and Joy is
an attitude. Emotions come and go, but attitudes come and grow. Biblical Joy is
rooted in who God is, not in our circumstances. We see it at work in Job, who lost
everything, his children, wealth, and health. His wife said, "Are you
still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!" Everyone seemed to
have deserted him.
Job replied to his wife saying. "You
are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God and not
trouble? "In all this, Job did not sin in what he said—Job 2:9-10. One of
Job's friends assured him, saying, "He will once again fill your mouth
with laughter and your lips with shouts of Joy. Job 8:21 In the end, God gave
twice more than what the devil took from Job.
What gets us through tough times in
our lives? It is not our strength but God's strength that comes from the Joy of
the Lord. Nehemiah 8:10. How and where do we find this joy we so desperately
need? You can't find it in alcohol, drugs, or other false pleasures of sin. It
is only found in the presence of the Lord. Psalm 16:11, "You make known to
me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal
pleasures at your right hand."
The Good News of the Gospel will
indeed bring great Joy to all those who believe in God. Obeying Jesus'
commandments will make our joy overflow and prepare us to go to heaven where
there will be never-ending Joy. When we come to Jesus, he gives us joy but,
along with that, His Peace. He said,
"Peace I leave with you;...I do not give to you as the world gives." Worldly Peace is the absence of
trouble—a state of tranquility or quiet: freedom from civil disturbance. In
contrast, Biblical Peace is God's assuring and enduring presence amid crisis,
pain, fear, and death. Biblical Peace and Joy are a bundle together, and they
go hand in hand.
Consider these scriptures: Isaiah
55:12, "For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace." (ESV)
Romans 14:17 For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink,
but of living a life of goodness and Peace and Joy in the Holy Spirit."
(NLT).
Peace and Joy are the fruit that the
Holy Spirit produces in the life of a believer. Galatians 5:22-23. Is your life
void of Peace and Joy? Let me close with this prayer. "I Pray that God,
the source of hope, will fill you completely with Joy and Peace because you
trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of
the Holy Spirit." Rom 15:13 Amen!
