The Gift of Joy
As your pastor – I felt the need as Christmas 2001 shifts into high gear – to talk about, to remind you, to remind me, to remind us, of what the true meaning of Christmas really is. Now I don’t really expect to tell anything you don’t already know… I’m just trying to do what Peter did in his second letter;
“So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them…I think it is right to refresh your memory…” 2 Peter 1:12,13
This morning, we kick off a 4 week sermon series, I’m calling, ‘The Gifts Of Christmas,’ During the next 4 weeks, we will talk about the gift of significance, the gift of joy, the gift of Christ, and the gift of seeing Him.
TODAY – I want to begin with the gift of joy… AND I want to talk about joy for 2 reasons. #1; because it is most definitely one of the gifts of Christmas… Luke records the following words in the second chapter of his gospel;
Luke 2:8-11
“I bring you good news of GREAT joy…” CIRCLE – “great joy….”
Now, the word ‘great’ is the Greek word ‘megas’ it’s where we get our English word mega. I like that… LISTEN – the good news the angels proclaimed was not just the good news of ‘joy’ – NO it was the good news of MEGA joy… Mega joy for all people, mega joy for me, mega joy for you…
The second reason I want to talk about joy, as we begin this series, is because for many – Christmas is NOT a joyful time…
SURE – we sing, “Joy to the world the Lord is come” “O come all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant” “repeat the sounding joy” and “Tis the season to be jolly” - BUT joy – real joy seems to elude so many. BUT I am sure that is not news to you – hey we have all heard the statistics (maybe we’ve been part of them, a time or 2) statistics, of how the Christmas season is a time a great depression for so many, statistics of how the suicide rate goes up this time of year…
AND LISTEN – it’s not only those out in the world who feel this way, I’ve seen people, even people who belong to...