Good news for all

Luke 2:8-20

By Ysrael De la Cruz

If you were to ask people what comes to mind when they think about Christmas, you would hear things like “A time together with family and friends; lights and decorations; generosity and good will toward others; lots of food and goodies. “Christmas is the spirit of giving without a thought of getting.  It is happiness because we see joy in people.  It is forgetting self and finding time for others.  It’s discarding the meaningless and stressing the true values.”  Thomas S Monson. Christmas is a time to remember the birth of the Savior.  This season comes once a year and it’s up to you how you choose to celebrate it; it’s up to you what aspects you choose to emphasize.  However, it is my hope and prayer that you think about the reason God sent you a Savior.

God sent an angel to announce the coming of the Messiah to Mary.

Then God sent another angel announce the arrival of the Messiah.

Luke 2:8-21

Lowly shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock.

They were terrified by the presence of the angel.

v.10  Do not fear, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people, for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Messiah the Lord.

Notice the angel said, the birth of the Savior is good news of great for all the people.

The angel told the shepherds that the Savior is the expected Messiah (Christ) the Lord. (v.11)

-(v.12)  This will be a sign to you: you will find the baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.  A very unusual place for the Savior of the world to make his entrance into the world.

News of great Joy for all.

It caused the heavenly choir to praise God.

v.13-14 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

This great news of joy for all mobilized the shepherds.

(v.15) Let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.

–They went and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger (animal trough).

-The shepherds spread the news of what they were told.

-Mary treasured up all these things she is hearing about her baby pondering them in her heart. (v.18)

-This news also caused the shepherds to praise God on their way home. (20)

The birth of the Savior is good news for all the people.

A savior: someone who rescues someone or something  from danger or destruction.  One that brings salvation. 

A savior is a hero in the story, in the movie.  For someone to become a savior, there must be a danger, a conflict, something bad from which you must be saved.

Some situations are beyond your control, you were drowning and someone pulls you out.  Your car is catching on fire and you cannot free yourself, then someone comes along and get you out right before the car exploded.  You will always be indebted to that person who saved you or recued you.

Why you and I need a Savior?  Because we have a problem that we cannot solve.  A disease we cannot cure.  Sin is that problem, that disease.  We cannot free ourselves from sin, it’s in us, in our DNA; It doesn’t take much for it to be exhibited in us and through us. (a conversation, someone looks at you the wrong way, someone cuts you off in traffic, etc. lust, greed, murders, addictions,). You cannot free yourself from sin even if you tried.  You and I are imprisoned by it.  It’s in our system, in our minds.   This conflict has been around for millennia.  We are born into this sinful world and feel the effects of it daily in our lives.  We become victims of sinful acts.  It has been affecting our world ever since we decided to go against God.

Sin really makes us the antagonist in this story.  It separates us from a Holy God; it makes us enemies of God and deserving of his wrath. Rom.5:10

The savior came to save us from our sin, from its effect.

Hebrews 9:26 ….But now He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
Jesus came to change our role in the story; he will rewrite the script of our lives if we let him.

Jesus sacrificed himself to change our status with God, to change the part we play in the redemption story. He came to fix what is wrong with the world.  He is able right now to rewrite the script of your life if you let him.  As wonderful as he is, he can also save those who want him, those who place their trust in him.God loves you so much that he decided to send someone to clean up our sinful mess.  The Savior came for you to rewrite your story and change your destiny.  Because of him you are heaven-bound, redeemed, and declared righteous or at peace with God.  This indeed is Good News for all!