Advent: Joy & the Shepherds’ candle.
(noun) the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying; the expression or display of glad feeling
During the last few weeks, we’ve discussed our free will and the consequences of sin, which isn’t always fun to talk about. But wait, there is good news! When Jesus was born on earth, those around Him were able to see with their own eyes that God fulfilled His promise to send a Savior.
Hallelujah!
Throughout the Bible, when people hear the good news that Jesus is God come down to earth to save us from our sins, those people then go and tell this wonderful information to others. We see this when John baptized Jesus (John 1:19–34), when Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well that He is the Messiah (John 4:1–42), when He healed the sick man by the pool (John 5:1–15), when He healed the blind man (John 9:1–12), and on so many other occasions.
In a similar manner, when Jesus changes our lives and frees us from sin, we experience a kind of joy that we want to share with others — we want to tell everyone! When we have a relationship with Jesus, we can easily see how good and kind and loving He is, how He is able to heal us and make wrong things right. That is good news we should share with others and that process of sharing it is called evangelism. On Christmas, we open gifts that others have given us. That’s fun and exciting! But we also enjoy watching our loved ones open the gifts we’ve given them. Similarly, we are excited to share the news of Jesus.
We have hope despite our sin because God promised He would provide a way to free us from our sin and be with Him. We have faith that God will keep His promise, even when His answer isn’t what we expect. We have joy because God did fulfill His promise by sending us Jesus.
The third advent candle is the Shepherds’ candle and symbolizes joy for the news that Jesus has come.
Questions to discuss
- When we say that Jesus came to earth to save us from our sins, what do you think that means?
- In the Bible, we see that people who hear about Jesus almost immediately go to tell others this good news. How do you feel about this?
- Are there people in your life who know Jesus and are Christians? How about some who don’t know Jesus? Any you are unsure about?
- How do you think you should treat people that either don’t know Jesus or you are uncertain about?
- Have you ever received a gift or experienced a fun activity that was so great and wonderful, so joyful, that you couldn’t help but tell everyone you love about it?
- In your own words, how would you describe joy?
Activities to do together
- Light the Shepherds’ candle
- Read Romans 10:9–15
- Sing Joy to the World
- Read Luke 2:1–14
- Print and color this advent illustration
Series links
- Advent is coming
- Advent: Hope & the Prophets’ candle (November 29, 2020)
- Advent: Faith & the Bethlehem candle (December 6, 2020)
- Advent: Joy & the Shepherds’ candle (December 13, 2020)
- Advent: Peace & the Angels’ candle (December 20, 2020)
- Advent: Light & the Christ candle (December 24, 2020)
