The Simple Promise of God

Will you be making any New Year resolutions this week?  I gave up making resolutions a long time ago because I never seemed to actually follow through on them.  I might do well for a week or two, maybe even the month of January, but then by February I had forgotten them and then felt bad for not following through.  

In many ways a New Year resolution is a promise we make to ourselves.  I promise to eat better and get healthy.  I promise to exercise more and get healthy.  I promise to read my Bible and get spiritually healthy.  Maybe you are better at keeping these kinds of promises than I am.  What I do know is that God is great at keeping His promises.  In fact, God keeps all of His promises and in Jesus we celebrate the simple promise of God.  

What we have been celebrating these last few days, weeks really, is that in Jesus, God kept His simple promise to love us.  For God so loved the world that gave His one and only son.  Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s love for us, but He is also the fulfillment of the promise God made generations earlier to send the Messiah.  God promised that the Messiah would come from the line of David, and Jesus did.  God promised he would be born in Bethlehem, and He was.  God said the Messiah would suffer for our sins, which Jesus did, and that by His death we would be healed, which is what the cross and the resurrection of Jesus are all about.  In Jesus, God kept His promise to send a Savior.  

In Jesus we see that God keeps His promises.  God keeps His promise to love us, to be with us, and to redeem us.  That is what we celebrate in the Christmas story, but if we read on in Luke’s gospel, we hear about God keeping His promise to one person, a man named Simeon.  

We don’t know much about Simeon other than he was a righteous man who was promised by God that he would not die before he saw the Messiah in person.  Simeon spent much of his time in the Temple looking for the Messiah so he was there the day that Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the Temple.

It was 40 days after the birth of Jesus and according to the law, women had to go through a ritual of purification because childbirth involved blood.  Mary and Joseph came with their offering and after they gave it, they were approached by Simeon.  

Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him.  It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:  “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace.  For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.”  Luke 2:25-32

God made a simple promise to Simeon; you will not die until you see for yourself the Messiah.  Simeon was going to see the consolation, or the hope and peace and restoration of Israel.  While he might not see the fulfillment of this, he would at least see the one who would redeem God’s people.  God loved Simeon so much that He made him this promise, and then God kept it.  Through the gift of the Holy Spirit, Simeon knew the child in the Temple was the Messiah..  

What Jesus was for the world, the gift of God’s love, the assurance of God’s presence, and the hope of salvation, was what Jesus was for Simeon personally.  As Simeon holds Jesus, he knows God is with him, he knows God loves him and he knows that this child is the Messiah.  He knows that God has kept His promise to him.  Jesus wasn’t just the fulfillment of God’s promise to a people, or a nation, or the world, He was the fulfillment of God’s promise to one man, Simeon.

Simeon’s story tells us that God keeps His promises to us personally.  In Jesus, God keeps three simple promises:

● A promise to love us.  

● A promise to be with us.  

● A promise to redeem us.  

Which of these three simple promises do you need to hold on to as we move into a new year?  Instead of making a promise in a New Year's resolution, let’s hold on to one, or more, of God’s promises.  

Which promise do you need to hold on to in your life?  Is it God’s promise to love us?  Many of us really struggle to understand God’s unconditional love.  We think we have to earn God’s love.  We tell ourselves God will love us when we start doing this, or stop doing that.  But God can’t love us anymore than He does right now.  

When Jesus reached out to accept those who were rejected by others, and heal those who thought their situations would never improve, and forgive those who committed serious sin, He was reaching out in love to us.  When we feel unwelcome and unwanted, Jesus says, I want you and I’m here for you.  Every time we read about Jesus loving people during His life we need to see ourselves in those stories and know that He came to love us.  God keeps that simple promise to love us at all times, and in all places.

In 2022 hold on to the promise that God loves you, and remember God’s promise to be with us.  This is one of the enduring promises of God we see throughout scripture.  God told Abraham that He would be with him and make him into a great family and nation - and God did.  God told Moses that He would go with him to lead the people out of Egypt - and God did.  God told the people of Israel that He would be with them through the wilderness and that they would be able to see His presence in a pillar of fire at night, and a cloud during the day - and God did.  God kept His promise to be with them then, and God still keeps this promise today.   

On Christmas Eve, I mentioned two psalms that talk about this promise of God.  Psalms 23 tells us that when we walk through green valleys or by calm waters - God is there, but it also says that when we walk through difficult days and dark valleys, even the valley of the shadow of death, God is there. Through it all, God is there.  

Maybe the promise we need to hold on to in 2022 is that God is still with us and always will be.  In the frustration of our life, in the hopelessness of our job or finances or relationships, in the darkness of our world, God is there for us.  Romans 8:35, 37-39 says, What shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Nothing can separate us from the love of God and if God IS love, then nothing can separate us from God.  God is always with us and God will keep this promise.  How can knowing that the light and love and power of God is with us each and every day change our attitude and actions in the New Year?  Can knowing that we walk with God give us peace?  Joy?  Or Confidence?  God keeps His promise to be with us always, even to the end of the age and that can make all the difference in our lives.  

God promises to love us.  God promises to be with us.  And God promises to redeem us.  Is this the promise you need to hold on to in the New Year?  This promise means that God forgives us and that this forgiveness is the key to eternal life.  While our sin often separates us from God, God’s love redeems us, it draws us back into a relationship with God by grace. 

Maybe what you need to hear going into this New Year is this simple promise; you are forgiven.  A savior has been born for you.  The Messiah has come to redeem you and this opens up for you the door to a new life.  

When we know that we are forgiven and redeemed by Jesus, we can leave the old life behind and step into the new life God has for us.  Our sin no longer has to define us.  Our failures no longer have to dictate our future.  We are made new in Jesus and that new life is ours for the living of this day and every day.  When Simeon held Jesus in his arms and knew that the Messiah had come for all of Israel, he also knew that his life had been redeemed.  He was holding his salvation and that gave him freedom and joy.  His life was now complete and he knew there was a new life coming.  

God has a new life for each and every one of us.  Maybe the resolution we need to make, the promise to God and ourselves we need to make is to leave the sin and brokenness of our past in the past.  Let’s lay aside our sin and take up the salvation that is ours in Jesus.  We can make this new year the best year yet if we will hold on to the simple promise that God loves us, and God is with us, and God has redeemed us and forgiven us and is ready to give us a new life.  

If you want to experience the fulfillment of any of these simple promises of God, all you have to do is what Simeon did.  And what did Simeon do?  He kept showing up.  Every day Simeon just showed up in the Temple courts to worship and pray.  He went to the Temple with the expectation that God would keep His promises and show up.  While for many days and years it didn’t happen, Simeon kept showing up.  To experience God’s love and presence and salvation we need to just keep showing up.    

This doesn’t mean we just show up in worship, although this is a great place to meet God and experience His love and power, but we also need to keep showing up in daily prayer and praise and thanks.  We need to show up and meet God in His word.   We need to show up and meet God in the world as we behold the wonder and beauty and power of nature, and as we serve people in communities.  We need to keep showing up on the days our faith is strong and the days our hearts are full of doubt.  We need to keep showing up when we can see God’s hand at work in everything around us and when nothing seems to be going well.  We need to keep showing up.  

If we will simply keep showing up like Simeon did, we will experience for ourselves the fulfillment of God’s simple promise to love us, to be with us, and to forgive and redeem us.  God keeps His promise to us, so let's just keep showing up to worship Him.   

Next Steps

The Simple Promise of God

What New Year’s Resolutions (promises to yourself) will you make this year?

God keeps all His promises.  Three simple promises we celebrate in Jesus:

● God loves us - see John 3:16

● God is with us - see Matthew 1:22-23

● God redeems us - see Luke 2:10-11

God not only keeps His promise to the world, He keeps it to individual people as well.  Read Luke 2:22-38

● How does God keep His promise to Simeon and Anna?  

● How do they experience these three promises of God?

● What helped them experience these promises when others in the Temple courts didn’t?

Which of these three promises do you need to hold on to as we begin a new year?  How can these promises shape and change your life and your future?  

Simeon and Anna experienced God’s love and presence because they kept showing up.  What might it look like for you to “keep showing up” in 2022?  

A prayer for the new year:

Faithful God, we thank You for keeping all of Your promises.  In this new year, help us to hold fast to Your promise to love us, to be with us, and to forgive and redeem us. May our faith in Your faithfulness to these promises fill us with peace and power in this new year.  For we ask these things in the name of the promised one, Jesus the Christ.  AMEN

A Simple Choice To Love

Christmas is certainly a season of love.  We celebrate the love of family and friends in all of our gatherings.  We celebrate the people we love by giving them gifts.  And we focus on the gift of God’s love given to us in Jesus.  In fact, the reason we have Jesus is because God so loved the world that He gave us His son.  To keep teaching and guiding His people, God could have given more of His law.  He could have given more instruction and direction through His word, but instead God made the choice to give us the word made flesh.  God loved so much that He wasn’t content to just give more instruction, God wanted to come and be one of us so that he could fully love us and know us and forgive us.  This love of God the Father would not have been possible, however, without the simple choice another father made to love.    

Joseph loved Mary.  We don’t know how they met.  Maybe it was an arranged marriage or maybe he saw her one day working in the village and just knew that she was the one for him, the girl of his dreams.  What we do know is that Joseph loved her dearly and they were engaged to be married.  They wanted to spend their lives together.  Joseph had great hopes and plans and dreams, and then one day Mary came to him and said, Joseph, we need to talk.  

Mary had just been visited by an angel that told her that she was now pregnant by the Spirit of God and the child to be born would be the Messiah.  I can’t imagine what that conversation was like.  How do you tell your soon to be husband that you are pregnant and yet you have remained faithful to him?  How do you explain that the child you are carrying is the Son of God and a gift from the Holy Spirit?  How do you possibly convince someone that you were visited by an angel who told you these things?  

I also can’t imagine what Joseph must have been feeling.  Betrayal.  Disbelief.  Disappointment.  Anger.  All the hopes and dreams he had are gone.  What was he going to do?  What should he do?  The law said that women who had sex outside of marriage were to be stoned, but he loved Mary.  He didn’t want to see that happen, but if he goes through with the marriage, people might talk, no, people would talk.  His standing as a righteous and faithful man in the community would be ruined.  What was he supposed to do?  This is where we pick up the story in Matthew 1:18-19

This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

It was a gift of love that Joseph decided to divorce Mary quietly.  He wasn’t going to publicly shame her.  He wasn’t going to call for justice or judgment.  He loved her, so decided to simply divorce her as quietly as possible.  Yes, he would have to deal with gossip and Mary would be disgraced, but she would not be dead.  We see in this first decision of Joseph a simple choice to love.  Maybe it was because of this love and grace that the angel came to him with this message.  Matthew 1:20-25

But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

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”).

When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

It was Joseph’s love for Mary that guided his decision to divorce her quietly.  Maybe it was this simple choice to love that guided God to send the angel with a greater mission, and a greater blessing for Joseph. Take Mary as your wife and the child you raise will be the Messiah.  It is now Joseph’s love for God and Mary that guides his decision.  Joseph decided that from now on it wasn’t going to be about what he wanted, it wasn't going to be about his plans, his reputation, or his hopes and dreams, it was going to be about others.

When Joseph said, it’s not about me, he made a simple choice to love, a choice that allowed Christ to enter into our world.  A simple choice to love.  Not an easy choice, love is not always easy.  Joseph had to set aside his doubts, his fears, and his pride, and he had to set aside his plans and dreams for the future, but he made this choice because he loved God and he loved Mary. 

It is never easy to say that we are going to live for God first and then put the wellbeing of others before ourselves. Sacrificial living, sacrificial giving, and sacrificial loving are not easy choices, but in many ways they are simple.  We simply do what Joseph did and say, it’s not about me.  I don’t know if Joseph actually said these words, but we do know this is how he lived.  What’s interesting to note is that we never hear Joseph speak.    

After hearing from the angel and saying yes to God, Mary sang a song of praise.  Her words were recorded, but Joseph was silent.  He was silent when Mary told him what the angel said to her.  He was silent when the angel came and spoke to him.  He was silent when they made a long trip to Bethlehem and had to settle into a stable.  He was silent when the shepherds arrived.  He was silent when the Magi arrived.  He was not passive - he took action and served God, and Mary, and his son (or God’s son), but he was silent.  It’s as if Joseph was constantly saying, it’s not about me.  

A simple choice to love basically says, it’s not about me.  A simple choice to love is about making God’s plans our plans, and it’s about working for the wellbeing of others regardless of what it means for us.  Love means caring for others first, last and always.  This is what love does and we get a picture of what this love looks like in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. Love does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  

This is what Joseph does.  He always trusts God to accomplish His will.  He always protects Mary and cares for their son.  He always perseveres through the doubts and disappointments and long journeys they have to make.  And He is not self-seeking, in fact he always says, it’s not about me.  Time after time we see Joseph making the simple choice to love.  

What simple choice to love is God asking us to make today.  Maybe it is a choice to forgive someone who has hurt you.  Maybe it is the simple choice to let go of a grudge that has been weighing down your heart and life and making you miserable.  We often think that holding onto a grudge and not forgiving someone will somehow hurt them or make them feel bad, but most of the time it just hurts us.  Not being willing to forgive others eats away at our hearts and it keeps us from fully loving others, so maybe it is time for us to make the choice and forgive.  Choosing to forgive someone really is saying, it’s not about me.  This kind of love is not easy.  It means we may never get an apology or any kind of justice, but we do get freedom and a better life

A simple choice to love might mean giving someone the greatest gift we can, which isn’t anything we can get from amazon, but the gift of ourselves.  It’s a gift of our service, and our time.  Looking back on my life, one of the greatest gifts my mom ever gave me was her time.  Week after week she would say, it’s not about me, and would use her time to take me to piano lessons and tuba lessons. She would take me to church activities and then come back and pick me up, and then wait for me to the last one out.  My mom sat in the car for countless hours at band practices, band competitions, and even spent 2 days basically sitting in a car while I went to All State band.  She constantly said, it’s not about me.  Like Joseph, I never heard her say it, but I saw her live it in every choice she made.  

What simple choice to love is God asking you to make?  Is it to put your spouse first, your children first, or your parents first in some way?  Is it to give your time to help someone who is lonely?  Is it to serve a neighbor in need?  Every day God gives us opportunities to say, it’s not about me, and reach out in love to someone else.  Will we see that opportunity and make that choice?  

For the past 7 years, on Christmas Eve, we have said as a church that it is not about us.  Many churches and non-profit agencies make up all their financial shortfall in the last few weeks of December and for many churches, their Christmas Eve offering helps cover their expenses.  That is not a bad thing, it is just the reality for many organizations. In 2015, we made a simple choice to say at Christmas, let’s not make it about ourselves but about God and others.  

Each year we give away our entire Christmas Eve offering, and to date we have given away over $98,500.  Money has gone to build homes in Bellefonte as well as to rebuild homes after a tsunami in Asia.  We have helped to feed the hungry in Venezuela, Belize, and the Rohingya people who live in one of the largest refugee camps in the world.  This year we are going to help feed those who are hungry here in Bellefonte and help make sure the FaithCentre Food Bank has the resources they need to buy food.  I love that as a church we have made this simple choice to love.  We have said, it’s not about us, it’s about God’s call to care for the poor and to put the needs of others before our own. 

I want to invite you to give to our Christmas Offering this year.  You can give on Christmas Eve at any of our 5 services.  You can give online by choosing the Christmas Offering - Faith Centre / Food Bank option, or simply mark your envelope Christmas Offering.  Any gift we make to this offering is a simple choice to love.  It’s silently saying, it’s not about me.  

Or maybe you need to make the simple choice to love and give your time to the Christmas Dinner.  We still need help in the afternoon on Christmas Day so if you have some time to come in and help serve people in the dining room, or help out in the kitchen, you invite you to do that today.  It’s just another way for us to say, it’s not about me.  It’s another simple choice we can make to love.  

Or maybe we need to say, it’s not about me, and reach out to help the churches and communities that were devastated by tornadoes in Kentucky.  We have seen the destruction those massive storms created across the Midwest and we are collecting money to support the churches and the communities in those hard hit areas.  We don’t often do two big appeals for money at the same time, but we have been called to make a simple choice to love and say one more time, it’s not about me.  If you want to give in this way, we invite you to mark your offerings “disaster relief”.  

Joseph stood silently and said, it’s not about me, and I have the feeling he didn’t just say that when Jesus was a child, he lived this way all his life because Jesus had to learn this from someone.  Think about how many times Jesus said, it’s not about me.  When he was tempted by Satan in the wilderness and told he could turn stones to bread and eat, or that he could have all the wealth, power, and glory of this world, Jesus said, it’s not about me.  

At the beginning of His ministry, when crowds gathered around Him, Jesus could have had a lot of fame and glory, but He said, it’s not about me.  When His own disciples wanted Jesus to do more and elevate Himself, He said, it’s not about me.  When Jesus had the opportunity to defend Himself from false allegations in front of the religious leaders, Pontius Pilate, and Herod, He said, it’s not about me.  

In fact, what’s really interesting is that in Matthew’s gospel, when Jesus is questioned by Pilate, it says that Jesus gave them no answer.  He literally stood there silent.  Just like His father Joseph.  Jesus could have made it all about Himself.  He could have spoken up and destroyed others, but He made the simple choice to love.  It wasn’t about Him, it was about God’s plan of salvation, and forgiveness, and the redemption of the world.  

Every day we have opportunities to say, it’s not about me and make the simple choice to love.  We can love God when we worship Him and place Him first in our lives.  We can love others when we forgive, and when we give all that is valuable to us.  This week, look for a situation where you can say, it’s not about me.  Then like Joseph, set aside your plans, your own wellbeing, and put God first, and put the needs of others before your own.  This week, celebrate Christmas by making a simple choice to love.  

Next Steps

A Simple Choice To Love

Read Matthew 1:18-25, 2:13-14

While we never hear Joseph speak, how do his actions convey the message, “it’s not about me.”

When have you seen someone convey this same message with their actions?  

What do we learn about love from 1 Corinthians 13?

● Using your own words, describe what love is.  

● How do we see this kind of love in God?

● How specifically do we see this kind of love in the life of Jesus?

● Which aspects of love are hardest for you to live out?

● When has this kind of love touched your heart and life?

What simple choices to love can you make this week?

● Who do you need to forgive?

● Where do you need to give your time?

● What can you give to those in need around you?

● What can you give to this year’s Christmas Eve Offering for the Faith Centre / Food Bank.  (Give online or mark your envelope “Christmas Offering”).

How did Jesus live out the love He saw in His earthly father and His Heavenly Father?  (See Matthew 27:11-14)

A Simple Invitation to Joy

What we celebrate in Christmas is really one of the most amazing, powerful, and complex events to ever take place in all of human history.  God, the creator of the heavens and the earth, the one who set the world into motion with His word and then breathed life into us, the almighty and all holy one, chose to come into our world as a human being.  God could have come as a fully grown adult, ready to teach and lead and govern the world with power and authority, but God chose to enter the world as we all do, as a simple baby, born to a simple man and woman, Mary and Joseph.  

Not only did God choose to come as a simple child to a simple couple, God chose a simple location.  God could have chosen any city in the world for His birth and we might assume God would have chosen the most important and powerful city in the world at that time which was Rome - but He didn’t.  Or we might assume God would have chosen the one place on earth He had chosen as His dwelling place, the city of Jerusalem.  It was the Temple in Jerusalem where God’s spirit literally dwelled on earth, so we might have assumed that this would be the city God would send the Messiah to first, but once again, He didn’t.  God chose the simple town of Bethlehem

And we might assume that the people God would have first announced His birth to would have been the most important political or spiritual leaders of the day, maybe the Emperor or the High Priest, but once again He didn’t.  God chose simple shepherds.  In so many ways the first Christmas was simple and it reminds us to try and celebrate a simple Christmas as well.  

In Luke 2, we hear about the announcement of Jesus’ birth first given to those simple shepherds.   Luke 2:8-20

There were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.  But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.  This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”  So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.  When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.  

Now there was a reason God chose Bethlehem as the city of the Messiah’s birth, and a group of shepherds to be the ones to first hear this news, it wasn’t just because they were humble and simple, it was because King David had been a shepherd born in Bethlehem.  God had always said that the Messiah was going to be a King in the line of David, so the choice of Bethlehem and shepherds made it clear that this child was the promised one, the Messiah.  But the simplicity was important as well.   

By choosing Bethlehem as the birthplace, and shepherds as the first to hear this good news, God was making it clear that the Savior was for everyone.  If God had chosen Rome or Jerusalem as the birthplace, it may have sent the message that the Messiah was only for the important people of the world.  And if the message had been sent first to kings and religious leaders, it may have communicated that only the rich, powerful, and well connected were invited into the Kingdom of God.  By choosing the shepherds of Bethlehem, however, God is making it clear that He has come for all of humanity.  As the angels said, this is good news for ALL people.  

The invitation to experience the grace, love, and power of God is given to everyone, and I do mean everyone.  Shepherds weren’t just simple people, they were also outcasts and sinners.  Because of the work shepherds did in caring for sheep, they were often considered unclean and would not have been able to worship in the temple or even associate with other people.  They were known as rough and hard living men who were notorious for telling lies and stretching the truth.  In fact, they were not allowed to testify in a court of law because they could not be counted on or trusted to tell the truth.  

Shepherds were some of the lowest people in the community, and yet it was to them that God sent the angels to proclaim that the Messiah had come.  That the invitation to experience the newborn King was given to these simple sinners drives home the heart of the angels’ message.  This was good news of great joy for ALL the people.  It is for you and me.  We are the ones who have been given this simple invitation to joy.  

A savior has come for you and me.  We are not beyond the reach of God’s love.  We have not fallen so far, sinned so greatly, or wandered so far away that God has given up on us.  The invitation of God’s grace and love has been given to all of us and it is right here for us to receive it.  We just need to grab hold of it with humility and gratitude.  A savior has come for you.  A savior has come to forgive you.  God has sent his son into the world to redeem you, and to restore you into a right and healthy relationship with Him.  God has given you and me the gift of life and life eternal through His son, Jesus.  This simple invitation brings us great joy.  It is good news.

But the invitation goes a step further.  Notice that God doesn’t just tell the shepherds that the Messiah has come for them and that from now on they can place their trust in Him, God invites them to go and find Him.  This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.  The angel gives directions on exactly which child that had been born in Bethlehem was the Messiah, and where He could be found, so that the shepherds could go and find Him.  It wasn’t just good news, it was an  invitation to go and find the Savior.  It was an invitation to go and experience for themselves the love and grace and power of God.  It was an invitation to experience the joy that comes when we enter into the presence of God.  

What I love about this invitation to experience the love, joy, and peace of God is that the shepherds are not told to go and clean up before they make the journey.  They don’t have to go and make sacrifices to purify themselves, or change any of their ways before they go find the Messiah.  They are just invited to go.  I love this because it tells us that we are invited to come to Jesus just as we are right now.  We don’t have to clean up our act before we ask God to forgive us.  We don’t have to go through 30 days of fasting and prayer before we are accepted by God.  We don’t have to change clothes, change habits, change behaviors, or change our lives before we come to Jesus - God will accept us just the way we are.  

This can be a hard invitation for many to accept.  We are conditioned to think that we get what we deserve, so if we come to God in the depth of sin, we assume we will get rejected and punished, but if we can clean up our lives a bit, or strengthen our faith first, then God will love us and forgive us.  But God’s love and grace are free.  God accepts us the way we are right now.  God might want to change us and clothe us in His righteousness, but the invitation is for us to come as we are and experience the transforming love of God.  

What a joy to know that God not only came to redeem us, but that God came to meet us, walk with us, and invite us into His presence.  The invitation God gives all of us today is simple: come to me, for I have come for you.  Just as you are, come and experience the presence of Jesus.  You don’t have to go and find a babe in Bethlehem, you just need to ask the babe of Bethlehem to enter your heart and life.

The invitation of joy given to the shepherds was the good news that a savior had been born for them and for all the people of the world, and that this savior was ready and willing to meet them just as they are.  We know the shepherds accepted the invitation because it says they went with haste and found Jesus lying in a manger.  What makes me sad is that we don’t know what that experience was like.  

What was it like to be the first people beyond Mary and Joseph to see the Messiah?  Think about the joy there must have been in that place.  The shepherds were filled with joy because finding a baby wrapped in strips of cloth lying in a manger was the sign that a Messiah had come.  Finding this child told them that they had a savior, that they were forgiven and redeemed and loved by God.  What Joy!

But think about the joy Mary and Joseph must have experienced.  For nine months, all they had to assure them that the child in Mary’s womb was the son of God was the word of the angels.  Through those long months, they had to wonder if they had heard right?  Was it all true?  When the shepherds arrived and told them what the angels said, it was outside confirmation that their son was the Son of God.  What joy they must have experienced.  What peace must have washed over them in that moment, followed by fear and trembling because now they really were going to be raising the son of God.  But first, what joy!  

But, the invitation to experience this joy is not over yet.  You see, joy isn’t just experienced when we receive Jesus, the fullness of joy comes when we share Jesus with others.  The shepherds weren’t completely filled with joy until they went out and shared their experience and invited others to experience this good news of great joy.  

When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.

We don’t have any record that people heard the news of the shepherds and then went to find the baby in the manger, but you can imagine that maybe some did.  Remember, shepherds weren’t known for telling the truth, so maybe people had to see for themselves if it was true.  Who knows, maybe Mary and Joseph had a long line of people visiting them that night.  What we do know is that the shepherds told their story and invited others to experience the joy they found in Jesus.  The joy of our experience with God is not made complete until we share it with others.  

We love to share joyful experiences with others, just look at facebook.  We share joyful family reunions, joyful events like concerts and games, joyful experiences like trips and unexpected blessings.  We love to share joyful experiences, so let’s share the joy of Jesus and invite others to experience that joy.  Pastor David has said several times that this is a wonderful time of year to invite people to worship.  Family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers are actually looking for places to worship on Christmas Eve and your invitation might be the one that opens to them the joy of God’s love and grace.  

Attending worship at a church for the first time can be daunting.  People are afraid they might be judged for what they are wearing, or how they look and act.  They wonder if they will fit in and if their children will have to behave perfectly.  Your invitation can make it so much easier for someone to feel welcomed.  One of the main reasons people give for not going to church is that no one has invited them.  It’s not that they don’t want to come, or that the church is not for them, it’s that no one has invited them.  Invite someone!  

Pick up an invitation or two after worship today and invite someone to attend the Christmas musical next Sunday, or one of our worship services on Christmas Eve.  Invite someone to attend worship with you next week to sing Christmas carols and hear about how a simple star in the sky led Wisemen to Jesus.  

As you invite them, share with them how you experience joy or peace or encouragement when you attend worship.  Share with them the difference worship makes in your life every week, or how your connection with Faith Church has made a difference in your life overall.  As we share the joy of God with others, our joy is made complete.  

God chose simple shepherds, outside of a simple town, to receive the first invitation to experience the Messiah, and that simple invitation brought the shepherds great joy.  There was joy because they knew that God’s salvation was for them.  There was joy because they knew they could go just as they were to see and experience the savior.  And their joy was made complete because they shared it with others and invited them to experience Jesus as well.  A simple invitation to joy.  

Today this invitation is ours.  Hear this good news: a savior has come for you.  We can experience the presence of God by opening our heart and life to Jesus through worship and service and love.   And our joy can be made complete by inviting others to experience the joy of our savior with us.  As the angels said, this is indeed good news of great joy for all the people.  

 

Next Steps

A Simple Invitation to Joy

Of all the places for Jesus to be born, why did God choose Bethlehem?

Of all the people to first hear of Jesus’ birth, why did God choose shepherds?  

How are those choices good news for us today?  How are they invitations for us to experience great joy?

Read Luke 2:8-20

● How do we know the angels were inviting the shepherds to go and experience the joy of the Messiah?  

● What did the shepherds have to do before they went to Jesus?

● What does it mean for us to accept this invitation?  

Joy for the shepherds was not complete until they shared the good news of the Messiah’s birth and their experience of this new born king with others.  

Who can you invite to worship with you next week?  

Take an invitation to our Christmas Musical and Christmas Eve Candlelight Worship Services and give them to family and friends.  Pray for opportunities to share your experiences of the joy found in Jesus with them.  

One way to share joy with others is to find ways to serve in Jesus’ name.  Consider serving at one of our Christmas Eve worship services (contact the church office), or sign up for the Christmas Dinner in the Sanctuary Lobby or online.