Joy of the Gospel – Luke 2:15-20

Many people believe life’s good because they feel good. Their assessment is based on their emotions. The unfortunate reality is that life is not good. As spiritual descendants of Adam, everyone is under the curse of God (Romans 5:12). Everyone is uncooperative with the Lord and goes against God (Romans 1:1822). Thirdly, everyone is destined to die and to be judged (Ephesians 2:1-2, Hebrews 9:27). For these reasons, there is no true peace or joy in this life. The solution is not to just enjoy what we can, while we can. There is a way for our lives to be worthwhile, in the eyes of God.

In Luke 2:20, the shepherds are glorifying and praising God. Just moments before, they were shepherds stuck in their routine at the bottom of the social status, with no hope of anything different. Life was not good. Yet they were changed, and this change had nothing to do with what they were. In fact, they went back, their job was still the same. Nothing had changed about their circumstances.

What happened to change the shepherds? In Luke 2:10-11 They heard the gospel, they trusted and obeyed, they enhanced by sharing.  The change for joy begins with faith in these three stages.

Hear the Gospel (Luke 2:8-10)
People need to hear first before anything else. Jesus commanded us to teach, so that they may hear (Matthew 28:18). Faith comes from hearing (Romans 10:14,17). They must hear the gospel message of Jesus (Luke 2:10-14), which is found in the Bible, the Word of God. It is not because it was spoken by angels that the shepherds believed, for even though people saw the rising of the dead they did not believe. It is the Bible by the power of the Holy Spirit working in the hearts of men by which people believe (Acts 4:4). Hearing the telling of the miracles in the Bible is better than seeing them in person.

However, you must hear without doubting. Hear the Bible without a preconceived skeptical understanding. The Bible is true! If you have doubt or bias, then even if Jesus speaks to you, you won’t believe (Luke 4:22-23). Then, when you hear the Word of Christ, as you take it personally, it will bring you to repentance, because you will know that is for your sins Jesus died on the cross.

Trust and Obey
After the shepherds heard the message, they trusted what the angel said. Luke 2:15. We too can trust the gospel message because it comes from heaven. The gospel is not from men, but from God. ‘The Lord has made known to us’ the gospel message through the Bible. We can trust God through His word in all circumstances.

Trusting leads to obedience. The shepherd’s promptly obeyed the words of the angel because they trusted what they heard. To obey, you must be willing and determined based on what you hear. Obedience takes bravery and a venturous attitude. The shepherd’s had never visited Bethlehem, they did not know where they were going or how to find Mary and Joseph, but still they went.

Why is it hard to obey promptly?

• Divided hearts have a hard time to obey. It takes a whole-hearted courage to obey.

• It is also hard to obey when we try to obey in their own way (Romans 10:1-3)

• Difficult to obey because we fail to have faith. Hebrews 11:6

Enhance by sharing
Lastly obedience must be proven by sharing (Luke 2:18-19)  They confirmed what they heard with their own eyes and they shared with Mary what happened to them. Afterwards, they went back glorifying and praising God, because the gospel which they heard and saw was now their joy.

As Christians, the gospel is our joy and excitement. If you are not excited about the gospel then you are wrong. The reason we care about the gospel is because it is our life! We’re not waiting or hoping for anything else. God did not spare His own Son! This is the best news by which we are saved. We are freed from sin and death and have eternal life!

Yet there are Christians who think they are not blessed, waiting for something else or something more. They wait because they are not changed by the gospel. They are not changed by the gospel because they have understood it properly. It is silly to want something more when the gospel is the power to save (Romans 1:16). Nothing else can save someone or change them.

The gospel we have heard is everything we need in this life. We trust God’s word and obey with courage. When we obey, the gospel is confirmed. As a result, sharing the gospel is our joy, the joy of heaven.