INTRODUCTION:

If you were only going to get one gift this Christmas what would you ask for? Well I’m sure that would depend on who you were. If you were a small child it would be your favorite toy. If you were a teenage boy it would most likely be the latest video game, movie or sports equipment. Who knows what we’d ask for.

Perhaps If you haven’t been well if you’ve been experiencing problems with your health you would ask for healing

If you’re having financial problems most likely you would ask to have your bills paid off. Every year at Christmas people come to us looking for assistance people who are out of work and can’t afford to buy a turkey or toys for their children. And we do our best to help them out so they can enjoy Christmas.  I’m sure these people would love more than anything else to have a job to go to on Monday morning.

There are many things we might ask for. We all have our list. Yet what do we really want more than anything else? Think about it! Deep down inside what is it you really want?

More than anything else I believe, we want the gift of joy. Today is the Sunday of Joy. Earlier this morning we lit the third Advent Candle. The Candle of Joy.

Even the person living with cancer deep down inside desires something more than physical healing many people going through financial difficulties say the one thing they want most is money. But is that really the honest truth. I don’t think so!

What do you really want? I’ve heard stories about wealthy people celebrities movie stars who have become alcoholics or turned to drugs simply because they just can't cope with life. And there are others who are in perfect health but they struggle with thoughts of suicide.

We’re all familiar with Alcoholics anonymous. They meet here several times during the week. Well did you know there’s another organization called Suicider's Anonymous.

It’s a fast growing organization in the states that reaches out to those people who have come to such a point of despair in their life that they just want to end it all. These people aren’t necessarily suffering from poor health. Actually the majority are very well off financially. You would think they had everything they wanted. But these people lack one thing “JOY.” We can have health, wealth, and fame, but if we lack joy, everything is nothing. What we all need is joy.

WHAT IS JOY:

What is joy? First of all, joy is not the absence of tension. I don't think there are many families that are happier than our family is. But as in every family we have our times of tension. We’re not free from tension. Joy is not the absence of tension.

Neither is joy the absence of sorrow. Over the years as a Pastor I’ve conducted many funerals. I’ve seen people cry over the loss of a loved one yet because of their faith even through their sorrow, there was joy.

Joy in knowing that because their loved one or friend served God, they were at peace. I’ve seen tears of gratitude for the years of love and joy that were experienced. There can be great joy in sadness, because joy is not the opposite of sorrow.

Joy is another word for love. We all need joy.  Joy is the positive emotion that we experience when we are touched by God. When we have a spiritually positive feeling, it is joy - God’s gift to you and me!

THE THREE GIFTS OF JOY:

How does God give us His gift of Joy? He does it by giving not one, but three gifts. If we get all three separate gifts and add them up, we will get joy. The first gift is salvation. The second is self-esteem. And the third gift is service.

There’s nothing more wonderful than salvation, self-esteem, and service. These are the three gifts of God;

That’s joy, God's gift to us. Just as the wise men brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the Christ child, God offers us these three gifts.

He doesn’t offer us gold, frankincense, and myrrh, but something much greater salvation, self-esteem and an invitation to service. If we have salvation, and if we have self-esteem, then we will want to be of service to God and the people around us. Then we will have joy.

THE GIFT OF SALVATION:

First of all what is God's gift of salvation? Salvation means to be forgiven of our sins. Salvation is to know that our guilt is gone. It is the freedom to be able to put our head on the pillow at night and know that in the morning when we awake God will be with as us as we go about our daily routines. And if we don’t wake, we know God will be there to meet us at the gates of heaven.

Salvation is God's gift to you and me when we receive Jesus Christ as our Savior. Luke 2:10 reads, "I bring you good tidings of great joy. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord."

When everything is taken away, what is the bottom line of life? The bottom line is death which is both an end and a beginning. Every end is a new beginning. To be saved is to know that when we come to the end and leave this earthly life, we will meet God as our friend. That's salvation, the gift God offers to us. That’s God’s Christmas gift to us!

THE GIFT OF SELF-ESTEEM:

The gift of Salvation leads to self-esteem. Knowing we are forgiven and God is our Father gives us a great sense of self respect. We begin to feel a sense of worth. We know we are a special person created by God.

When God became a human through the birth of Jesus Christ, it was His way of saying that we are his greatest creation. We’re worth more to him than anything else he created. When God gives us salvation, He gives us self-esteem. We know we are special. And with this new mind-set we can do great things.

THE GIFT OF SERVICE:

And with this feeling of worth, God leads us into the third gift of joy: service. We can be used by God!

I remember an elderly lady from a previous appointment in Ontario who was in a Nursing home. She wasn’t very well and she was confined to her hospital bed. She wasn’t capable of moving around. She wasn’t able to do any physical activities. But she was a faithful believer and she could pray. Every week I would bring her a list prayer concerns from the church and she would take that list and during the week she would spend hours in pray. I was able to see many of those prayers answered. She was a true servant of God.

Anybody can be a servant of God. Whether they are shut-in at home, sick in a hospital bed or active at work, we can know the salvation of Jesus Christ. We can have self-esteem and we can be his servants.

There are many ways we can serve. As many ways as there are individuals. We’re all different, that’s the way God created us. But God has given each of us different gifts and talents we can use as a service to him. And if we’re willing to be his servant he will use us and he will bless us.

What is joy? It is the three great gifts that God desires to give us today. The secret of joy is simple. Someone once said J-O-Y stands for Jesus first; others second; and yourself last. Where do you stand today? Have you accepted God’s gift of Joy?

CONCLUSIONS:

Joy is the greatest experience any of us will ever will have, it will bring tears and it will bring laughter. I’ve experienced both! And when you know Jesus you too will experience joy. He will be your Savior. He will give you self-esteem, and He will give you the desire to serve. 

My pray is that this Christmas we all would experience God’s gift of joy. Let us pray.