Religion & Spirituality
A Reason to Rejoice – Luke 2:8-20 Luke 2:8-20 ESV And in the same 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 great fear. (10) 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. (11) For unto 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 baby 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 those 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.” (16) And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. (17) And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. (18) And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. (19) But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. (20) And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. We have been trucking through the book of Luke and are nearly at it’s conclusion.In fact, the past two sermons from Luke have talked about the end of the world as we know it…And the next sermon is going to be talking about the betrayal of Jesus…But seeing on how it is Christmas Sunday I thought we would flip back to the beginning of the story and just take this time this Sunday morning to talk about all the reasons we have to rejoice in the gift of Jesus Christ.To talk about the joy that is accepting Christ as savor.The joy that was brought to the world when Jesus was born, and the Joy that is available to all when we say yes to Jesus and no to the world.The joy that only comes through Jesus Christ… and oh what a joy it is!Today, as we go into Christmas week, let us remember that we have reason to rejoice!*Show Title Slide* PRAY PRAY PRAY PRAY PRAY PRAY PRAY PRAY PRAY PRAY PRAY PRAY PRAY PRAY PRAY Point One – Christ is a reason for ALL people to Rejoice This morning I want to start by pointing out an important truth, that sometimes we miss if we focus to much on God’s justice… Christ is a reason for ALL people to rejoice! Everybody in the world from the holiest of saints to the worst of sinners has reason to rejoice at the birth of Christ: Luke 2:10-11 ESV 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. (11) For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. You see that, the angle said “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people!The word here for “bring you news of great joy” is the Greek word from which we get the word “Evangelize”.To evangelize is to bring good news! So the angle here says “I evangelize to you great joy for all people!”Y’all to evangelize is to spread the joy of Christ, amen?Now take a moment to see, at this point in history that we are at, the handful of people this great joyful news has been shared to.Because it is only a select few people at this point who know that the Messiah has come… God selectively choose whom to reveal this news to.First, of course, it was revealed to Mary, a poor Jewish girl of royal lineage.Then to her relatives Elizabeth and Zechariah, Levites with a high position in the temple and serving God.And not just them, but it seems apparent that John the Baptist knew too, and he was still in the womb!We know of course, not from this Gospel, but from the gospel of Matthew, that this joyous new