How Great Our Joy - Roanoke Valley Children's Choir (C Choir)

Good Tidings, Great Joy!

… I bring you good tidings …” - from Luke 2:10

Christmas is about good news. It is the gospel message delivered by God’s messenger to all who will hear.

There was nothing frightening or negative about the message the angel brought to these shepherds Nor was there any indication that they received the word because of any particular merit or worthiness on their part. It came to them by grace and God knew that they would respond with spontaneous, childlike faith, and inquisitive wonder.

God knew that they would receive the message as good tidings.

How do we receive words from God?

To be more specific: How do we receive the Word of God that comes to us with great regularity and is always available to our eyes, ears, and hearts?

Have we grown cold, indifferent, and spiritually grumpy in our familiarity with the good news?

It is no mere concession to secularity that we should say, “Merry Christmas!” It is the ancient wisdom of the Word of God that says, ”a merry heart doeth good like a medicine …” (Proverbs 17:22)

God has diagnosed the essential disease of humankind and has sent forth His healing balm in the person of His only begotten Son.

The very presence of Jesus is good news. It is cause for celebration, merriment, and singing. It dispels fear and brings smiles to the faces of all that honestly and openly receive the news. It is good tidings in that it overshadows all the bad news of the day. It crucifies the curmudgeon inside each of us and wipes out our negativity. Even the Ebenezer Scrooges of the world have to confess that we live in the day that the Lord has made.

Receive God’s Word today as good tidings to your soul. Even if it brings correction, rebuke, and conviction,.

This good news is sent to bring you healing and grace.

“I bring you good tidings of great joy.” - from Luke 2:10

The literary giant, C.S. Lewis said that joy is the serious business of Heaven. There is no sadness, nor are there tears, or pain in Heaven. Every moment is an occasion for rejoicing and praise. Joy is, indeed, the serious business of Heaven.

The angel brought news, and it was goo, but it was good tidings with a specific end in sight: Great Joy!

To continue the theme from the previous portion of the verse, there is an appropriate emotional response to the message of Christmas. It is joy!

If we do not jump for joy at this news, we have somehow missed it. We cannot embrace the Word of God that came to the shepherds without an overwhelming experience of joy. If we refuse joy, we refuse grace; if we refuse grace, we refuse God. It is the harsh but simple truth of the matter. Joy is built into the equation and is as clear and compelling evidence of spiritual conversion as exists.

Christmas, though not biblically mandated on the calendar, is clearly a God ordained, ongoing response to the incarnation of Divinity into the realm of humanity. It is not a day; it is a frame of mind. It is not a season; it s an attitude of the heart. It is not an event; it is an emotional response to God with one’s whole being.

Joy to the world; the Lord is come!

Where do you get it? You receive it in the exercise there of. Confess joy and express joy and God’s joy will fill you. Like any act of faith, the sensation may tarry, but act in joy from the depths of your spirit and you will begin to experience its manifestation within. Fully engage yourself in the worship of Jesus Christ this season.

Rejoice.

We have some great news!

“ … I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people.” from Luke 2:10

God’s joy is of universal application.

There is much talk today about “inclusiveness.” It is very important that we include all the people that God has included and that we communicate that they are included.

Sometimes, we are careful to use inclusive language. That neither endorses nor condemns anyone or any choices, behaviors, or beliefs. It is all about the value of the person to God and to us.

The gospel declares that something outside of ourselves, outside of language and theology, outside of our political beliefs, outside of our self-worth and self-justification has invaded the world with good news.

The good news is that whoever you are, whatever you believe, whatever you have done, whatever your opinion of yourself may be, however you choose to identify yourself, you are the object of God’s love and grace.

The news is that Jesus has come to and for you and that you are no different than anyone else in this regard.

The news is a call to respond in faith and obedience. It is a summons to come and worship, to bow down, to seek out the stable and the manger and the child and fall down before Him. It is a call to leave behind our false pride, self-sufficiency, and stubborn ways and follow the way of the cross.

Inclusiveness means, for the believer, a missionary calling.

It means that this good news must be heard by every human being. It means that when we tell it, we are not condemning people, but affirming their worth to God. They are beloved.

When we tell it, we are not excluding them, but inviting them to the table of grace. When we tell it, we are not being obnoxious, but following the clear and gracious compulsion of love.

This kind of inclusiveness does not mean the welcoming of sin, but seeing sin as a common condition that separates men and women from the God who passionately loves them and deeply desires their healing and restoration.

There is no day on the calendar with any greater missional relevance than Christmas.

When God said, “for all people,” He meant it. Can we mean less? Let us reach out with joy to spread the goodness of joy to all people.

“For unto you is born this day ..” – from Luke 2:11

For the most part, Christmas is past. The season continues, even on the Christian calendar, the lights are still up, and the malls still resound with carols, but something has passed of the wonder, excitement, and joy. In fact, all artificial joy has faded and most of the world is experiencing an emotional letdown at this very moment.

But the Christian is not subject to deflation in the economy of joy. Real joy is something deeper and non-circumstantial.

A New Year is about to dawn. Assessing the old year may bring a feeling of disappointment, but tomorrow is filled with hope and promise. Resolutions for how this fresh opportunity will be embraced are even now forming in our minds. Our hearts are turning slowly to the promise of tomorrow.

But what of today? The psalmist declares that this is the day that God has made. Yesterday is passed. Tomorrow may or may not come as we expect it. Today is now. It s a new creation. It is full of promise and presence. God’s promises are eternal and His presence is a cause for celebration. It is still Christmas and will continue to be Christmas every day we awaken with a heartbeat. Then someday, we will awaken without a heartbeat and we will be in His perfect presence. That will be Christmas indeed.

In the meantime, we have one great task each new morning before any other is performed. We are called to rejoice and be glad, to offer up the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, and to meet God in the day as if it were the only day He had ever made.

This is the day He has made. Let us rejoice! Let us be glad!