Everyone likes good news! Who doesn’t?
Birth announcement? Good news!
Favorable report from the doctor? Good news!
Straight A’s? Good news!
Your kid gets accepted to their dream school? Good news!
You land your dream job? Good news!
Your favorite team wins the big game? Good news!
Everyone likes good news!
The announcement of the birth of Jesus was good news. It was so good it required special messengers to announce it. Messengers dispatched from the courts of heaven! Angels!
We even sing about it in our favorite Christmas carols.
What made their message so special? What made it, in fact, good news. Well let’s look at it.
“Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord…
“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
The good news that should bring great joy to all of us is that Jesus is our Savior. It means that He is the one who rescues our relationship with God.
It’s a relationship we were designed to have. You and I are created in the image of God. As a result, we were uniquely created to have an eternal relationship with our creator.
Yet, it’s a relationship we don’t have because of our sin. Meaning that our disobedience against God breaks that relationship we were designed to have. Everyone has sinned. Everyone knows it… even you. You don’t even have to ask anyone if you have. You already know.
But, it’s a relationship we can have because of Jesus. There. That’s it. That’s the good news. Even though we’ve damaged our relationship with God because of our own choices, Jesus came to mend it. He came to rescue it.
That’s why He’s called the Savior.
Because we sinned against a holy God, the penalty – the consequence – of that sin is death, which means separation.
The apostle Paul put it this way: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” And that “the wages of sin is death.” Sin separates.
So, the reason Jesus is our Savior is that, even though He committed no sin, He died for ours. Why? Because a just God requires that sin be punished. Jesus took the punishment we deserve for our sin.
That lie. He died for it.
Your anger. He died for it.
Those thoughts. He died for it.
That thing you should have done, but didn’t. He died for it.
That affair. He died for it.
I like how the Apostle Paul put it. This is brilliant.
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
THAT, my friend, is GOOD NEWS!
But… there’s one more thing. It’s not a catch, if that’s what you’re thinking. It’s more like a step.
It’s a relationship you must choose to have. No gift, no matter how good it is, is yours until you accept it. The gift under the tree can have your name on it, but, unless you accept it, it’s not yours.
It’s the same with this gift of forgiveness and life Jesus offers. It’s got your name on it, but you have to accept it.
Are you ready?
- Agree that you’ve sinned. It’s painful to admit, but it’s a no-brainer.
- Believe; Trust that Jesus’s death and resurrection from the dead are God’s way to forgive your sin and bring you eternal life.
- Commit to living your life God’s way.