Joy Is at The Heart of Christmas – Advent 2023, Week 3
Do you feel robbed of joy? Learn how to hold onto joy no matter the situation you’re in with this week’s encouraging message.
Frustration, disappointment, and loss can crush your spirit and will to live. But, Jesus’ birth is a reminder that, no matter how hard life is, you’re not alone. God has come with grace and truth, and that should bring joy. You can trust that Jesus’ presence will reveal the truth about your life and at the same time offer the grace to see things change.
During this series, we are looking at how hope, peace, joy and love are at the heart of Christmas. Jesus is at the heart of Christmas. His birth, life, and death offer a saving grace we can find nowhere else. This series centers on the story of Jesus’ birth. It’s meant to help you grow in faith and prepare your heart to focus on the real reason for the season: Jesus!
Lasting Joy Is Realized in The Heart of Christmas
The excitement of the Christmas season grows as we draw nearer to Christmas day. The same is true for children and many adults. The hope, peace, and joy of the birth of Jesus will be celebrated soon. The birth of Christ is the best gift anyone can receive; the gift of God that is priceless yet not beyond anyone’s reach to enjoy; the gift of God that believers everywhere have found to be full of hope, peace, and joy. Christmas is the gift of God’s son that whosoever believes will receive. The gift of God’s son, Immanuel—God with us, being born in the flesh—is the gift of God to all the world.
On that first Christmas day:
The promise of the savior was fulfilled.
The news was proclaimed by a heavenly host.
Shepherds witnessed the new born Jesus.
Jesus was welcomed by some and rejected by others.
Jesus was received by those who placed their faith in him and then they enjoyed the hope, peace, and joy of the blessed hope, the forgiveness of sin and eternal life with Christ in glory.
You can believe the promise of the savior, Jesus the Son of God. You can believe the promise of the Word of God in the flesh and have no reason to doubt the birth of Christ or the promise of God.
He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The promise that he will never leave you or forsake you is as true today as when it was first spoken.
The birth of Jesus is true and the hope, peace, and joy of knowing Jesus as Lord and Savior is for all who believe. Jew and Gentile, young and old, rich and poor.
At the heart of Christmas is the joy that comes from knowing Jesus as your savior.
Knowing hope and peace is possible will bring joy to your heart. Do not get distracted by shopping for gifts, by the lights and decorations everywhere, or the celebrations you attend. Do not become so consumed by the busyness of the time of year that you miss the reason we celebrate Christmas. The reason is the birth of Jesus, the Word of God made flesh.
In the first week of this Christmas series, we learned that the promise of a savior was fulfilled, and that Jesus’ birth gives us hope for both today and the future because God is faithful to his word. No matter the situation you find yourselves in, you are not alone.
Last week we learned of the peace of God that can come to a person’s heart when you have confidence in the hope you have in Christ the Lord. The brokenness between God and man that was due to Adam and Eve’s sin in the Garden is made right and sin is forgiven and paid for, at the cross. Jesus paid the debt of sin that we could never pay by his sacrifice and shed blood; your faith in Jesus gives you the gift of peace. The true peace that you experience in Christ will lead you to share the peace of God with others. The peace God has shown you, you will glorify God in your life as you share God’s peace to one another.
This week we learn of the true joy that we can experience in our hearts when we know Jesus as Lord and Savior. A joy that is yours, no matter the situation you find yourself in today or in the future. A joy that wells up in your heart because of the hope and peace you have knowing Jesus. A joy that comes from knowing that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
True peace and joy come from focusing on Jesus rather than the problem. Focus on the faith you have in Christ. Focus on the presence and promises of God that are yours in Christ. That you are never alone.
Choose to:
Focus on the hope you have in Christ.
Focus on the peace that is yours in Christ.
Embrace the joy of knowing Jesus.
What brings you joy?
Seeing your grandchildren.
A quiet night at home.
No work tomorrow and you can sleep in.
Breakfast in bed.
The kids have a sleepover at a friend’s home.
All the Christmas decorations are up. Or that it is snowing outside.
The kids are all asleep and you can now put those Christmas presents together, using instructions of course.
Knowing the monthly bills are paid and you still have a few dollars in the account.
Joy has been defined as a feeling of great pleasure and happiness. Joyfulness is said to be a feeling that is expressing or causing great pleasure and happiness. For many, their joy is connected to their circumstances in life. If things appear to be going well, they feel good and have a sense of joy. If things appear not to be going well, they feel poor, anxious, and lack joy. For many, their joy depends on how the day is going and how they view their future: either negative or positive. If they see no hope, if they have no peace about the present or future, joy is then absent from their hearts and lives.
As we have seen, Jesus’ birth brings hope to the hopeless. Jesus’ birth brings peace to the troubled heart. Jesus’ birth can bring joy to the one who focuses on the Lord because the message of the gospel does not change.
Joy for the believer is in the promise of God fulfilled. Joy for the believer is that eternal life awaits. The joy spoken here is the joy that is as sure as the sun rising in the morning.
‘There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
15 (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) 16 Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ’ (John 1:6-17, NIV).
We Can Have Joy Because God Came to Us
In verse 14, “the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us,” the gospel writer capitalized the “w” on Word because it speaks to Jesus being the Word and his being born in the flesh. It’s the Greek word logos. It is the word referring to the incarnate, the Word of God, (Jesus) becoming flesh. Jesus is the Word of God in flesh, having been born and placed in the manger.
“For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross” (Colossians 1:19-20).
Jesus is 100% God and 100% man. The truth of Jesus being the Word and having been born in the flesh is the exact reason you and I can have joy no matter the circumstances. Only Jesus can reconcile to himself all things.
“Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:16-17).
The true peace and joy in your heart is only because of Jesus and his shed blood on the cross. Let your heart sing and rejoice with all gratitude for the hope, peace, and joy that is in your heart because of Christ, and by doing so God receives all the glory.
“But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you” (Romans 8:10-11).
You can have joy, knowing Jesus came that you could have life eternal, forgiveness of sin, and be united with God. Let your faith in Jesus and in his death and resurrection, bring peace and joy to your heart this Christmas.
The enemy of your soul will try to cause you to doubt and disbelieve the word of God, but Jesus’ resurrection is living proof that your peace and joy are secure in Christ the Lord, no matter the situation. Remember, Jesus is victorious over sin and death. Nothing can change that.
You are not perfect, but Jesus is. You are not sinless, but he is sinless. You will sin. You will make mistakes but as you confess your sin, he is faithful and just to forgive you.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us” (1 John 1:9-10).
That is another reason for joy this Christmas: the forgiveness of sin and the peace with God that comes with the gift of God.
At times life can look like a disaster from our perspective. It can be hard for us to find a reason for joy in our circumstances; however, if we look closely, we will see God coming near to us as he did that first Christmas night. In doing so, he lets us know he is making something of our lives even when we are tempted to feel hopeless.
You are a child of God. Allow the joy and the truth of knowing you are a child of God fill your heart with hope, peace, and joy. Allow the joy of knowing Jesus as both the Word and Savior to be seen and heard by others in all you do and say.
Allow your joy to be at the heart of Christmas, knowing that Jesus is the Word of God made flesh and that he lived and walked upon the earth, and Jesus lived a sinless life. Jesus is the lamb of God.
‘The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”’ (John 1:29).
Let the grace of God be a reason for joy in your heart this Christmas and every day forward.
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
The grace of God is witnessed by God’s love for you in that while you were still a sinner, Christ died for you. But he wouldn’t have been able to die for your sins if Jesus had not first come and been born in the flesh.
God Loves Us Just as We Are and Too Much to Leave Us That Way
Jesus’ birth should bring you joy. God’s love for you, should bring you Joy. The promise of the birth of a savior being fulfilled should bring you joy. The gift of God’s son being born in the flesh is the gift of God’s love, and grace to all who will believe and are saved. And that truth should bring joy to your heart and soul. We do not deserve the grace of God. We do not deserve the love of God. We do not deserve the hope, peace, and joy that is at the very heart of every Christmas. But God offers, hope, peace, joy, and the love of God to all who will believe.
Your faith in Christ and in his birth; your faith in him being the Word made flesh; your faith in his birth, life, death, resurrection and soon return is the reason for joy this Christmas. Your faith in Christ the Lord is the reason he gave you the right to be chosen of God and be called a child of God and enjoy eternal life with him in glory.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
“This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:9-10).
Joy Is a Result of Grace
Let the story of Jesus’ birth, the story that the Word became flesh and that he, Jesus, dwelt among us bring you joy. It’s a story of God’s grace witnessed by shepherds, proclaimed in the heavens and displayed in God’s love for you that the savior has been born, Christ the Lord.
Allow the joy of the Lord that is in your heart to be contagious. Let the bells ring out loud this Christmas day and proclaim the hope, peace, and joy that comes from the birth of the Messiah. Proclaim the love of God that is expressed in the written word of God, and let it be displayed through you because the living word of God came to earth and was born, lived, died, and rose again forever.
Our heavenly Father sent Jesus to a manger in Bethlehem because he wanted to dwell among us to demonstrate his amazing grace and life-changing truth to all the world. You can experience joy in your life no matter the circumstances because you can be confident in knowing that God is with you, and God is for you. Jesus is the Word come in flesh. He is sinless, timeless, and glorious. Let that truth bring you and all the world true joy every day.
Consider Paul’s words in Colossians:
“Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant” (Colossians 1:21-23).
So let the truth of God be clearly witnessed in your life by others. Let the hope, peace, and joy you have knowing Jesus be witnessed in your life by others this Christmas and every day. Remember, you are a child of God. You, who were once alienated from God, are now reconciled to God. Proclaim that joy you have in your heart for all to hear today and always.
Suggested Praise and Worship
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