“Strange, isn’t it?  How each man’s life touches others?”  You might recognize that line from one of the most well-known Christmas movies of all time, the 1947 classic “It’s A Wonderful Life.”  The movie centers around a talented and ambitious man named George Bailey, who gets stuck in a small town helping everyone out by working in a small-time Building & Loan, instead of traveling the world and building cities, as he dreamed about.  His life seems to be one disappointment after another… always making sacrifices for others…On top of it all, his uncle loses $8000 from his business, enough to ruin him for good.  At this point, George Bailey considers taking his life, as he stands on a bridge in a snowstorm.

In steps his guardian angel, Clarence Oddbody, Angel Second Class, to the rescue.  He dives into the water, knowing that George will rescue him instead of jumping himself.  Later, as the two talk, George explains that because of a life-insurance policy, he is worth more dead than alive.  And maybe everyone would be better off without him.  And then he tells Clarence, “I suppose it would have been better if I would never have been born.”  The angel looked up, “What did you say?”  “I said I wish I’d a never been born!”  Clarence replied, “You mustn’t say things like that….wait a minute… there’s an idea!…You’ve got your wish  ...You’ve never been born!”

The snow stops blowing, George’s lip stops bleeding, and then, through a series of events that start out humorous but get serious, George gets the chance to see what the world would be like if he hadn’t been born. His quaint childhood hometown of Bedford Falls is now called “Pottersville” because the evil businessman Mr. Potter, whom George had always held at bay by giving loans to lower income folks, now owns the town.  And it has become a nasty, creepy place.  Main Street is a red-light district with loud music and flashing neon signs.  None of his friends know him.  The respected druggist that George saved from making a big mistake when he was young, is now an alcoholic because he spent 20 years in jail for making that mistake. 

George’s home is an abandoned house.  His mother doesn’t know him, and she is a miserable person.  The subdivision he built so that lower income people could afford housing is gone, replaced by Potter’s field, a cemetery.  His friends are divorced and cynical.  His brother Harry, whose life George saved when they were kids, actually died drowning under the ice.  And so did all the troops aboard the ship that Harry had rescued as a WWII hero.  George’s wife Mary was an old maid.  Life was dark.  All because George had never been born.

One person can make an enormous difference in the lives of others!  That is true for everyone.  So, if that’s true for a regular person like you, or me, or George Bailey, then just imagine how true that would be for Jesus Christ, the Son of God!  What if Jesus had Never Been Born?  In last year’s sermon, I was a Christmas tree.  Tonight, for a moment, I am going to be Clarence Oddbody, Angel Second Class, and take you on a journey into the past, present, and future to see what life would be like if Jesus had never been born…OK?  Here we go…

Jesus never was born…  Life is dark.  The world is a violent red-light district.  God isn’t in charge anymore.  The devil is.  It turns out that God is a liar.  His prophesies never came true.  Jesus was never born.  The kids at school telling my boys that Christmas isn’t true would be right.  But then, we wouldn’t have Santa either.  There is no reason to feel like spreading good will to people.  Just worry about yourself.  And if we can’t trust God, we can’t trust anyone.

Let me take you into your past.  Let’s bring up all those mistakes you have made. All the things that make you feel guilty you thought you had put behind you.  The times you have hurt others.  The times you have been dishonest and thought no one would find out.  The things God of course does know about and is not happy with.  Bring them back out!  Sorry, but you are going to have to live with your guilt the rest of your life and die with it!  I have no comfort to offer you.  Jesus was never born.  So that means He never lived that perfect life for us.  He never died on that cross.  He never rose again, either.

Look at the present time.  Consider the struggles you are having right now in your relationships.  I can’t give you much hope there, either.  You have no basis to forgive one another.  No one ever said: “forgive as I have forgiven you.”  Most of your relationships and marriages are going to fail.  And those happy times of peace you experience when you forgive one another?  Forget them!  Jesus was never born.  There is no peace to be had.

Come with me into the future.  You are going to die.  We all are.  And what happens after that is unknown.  We live in constant fear of death.  Funerals are awful.  You know how we find comfort knowing that Grandma and Grandpa are in a better place?  Not any more.  Life here is it.  So you better go and have fun.  Get drunk.  Buy stuff.  Cover up all the scary silence with a lot of noise.  Nothing can give you hope.  Jesus was never born.

In the movie, when George Bailey finally sees his wife as an old maid, he can’t take it anymore!  So he cries out, “Get me back!  I want to live again!  I want to live again!  Please, God, let me live again!”  Well, are YOU ready to go back to REALITY now, too?  Can you identify with George Bailey?  Maybe you can identify with the pastor in this story…

A pastor once fell asleep in his study on Christmas morn.  He had a dream about a world into which Jesus had not come.  In his dream he found himself looking through his home, but no little stockings hung by the chimney.  No Christmas wreaths nor holly decorated the house.  He walked out onto the street, but nowhere could he see a church with its spire pointing to heaven.  Returning to his library, he wanted to read a book on the Christian faith, but every book about Christ had disappeared.  His doorbell rang.  A messenger asked him to visit a dying woman.  He hurried to her home.  Sitting down beside the lady he said, “I have something here that will comfort you.”  He opened his Bible to look for a familiar New Testament verse, but the Bible ended at Malachi.  He could only bow his head and weep with her in bitter despair.  Two days later, he stood beside this woman’s coffin to conduct the funeral service.  But there was no message of consolation.  As the service concluded by the grave, there was no word of glorious resurrection, no open heaven, no eternal life waiting, but only “ashes to ashes, dust to dust.”  One long farewell.  Realizing Jesus had never been born, the pastor in his dream burst into sobbing.

Suddenly he woke with a start!  He heard the church choir rehearsing down the hall!  A shout of praise poured from his lips as he listened to the message of the carol, “Joy to the World.”  Joy filled his soul as he realized like never before why we sing “Joy to the world, the Lord has come!” Christmas means JOY is Born!  The dream he had was really a nightmare!  In fact, all of life would be a nightmare if Jesus had not been born…

But friends, now we are back to REALITY!  Jesus Was Born!  “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.”  God became man.  He took on human flesh and became one of us because of his amazing love.  This is the “good news of great joy that will be for all the people”!  This is why we don’t have to be afraid!

When George Bailey realized what a wonderful life he actually had, he went running down the streets of Bedford Falls, kissing people, wishing everyone a merry Christmas, and expressing his joy!  All the things in the nightmare weren’t true!  Friends, on this special eve we celebrate a JOY even greater than that!  Jesus really was born, and because He was, JOY is born! 

We don’t have to worry about our past.  Jesus really did live, die, and rise for us.  Those sins you have committed are forgotten!  You are forgiven!  Live without guilt!  Because JOY is born!  And now, when you get into conflict with people, you have his grace, forgiveness, and love He gave you to get you through any difficulty.  And best of all, because Jesus was born, you have a future to look forward to!  A future with God!  A life that will last eternally!  A real hope.  A real joy.  Grandma and Grandpa ARE in a better place because of Jesus.  It is true – one person DOES make an enormous difference in the lives of others.  Especially when that person is Jesus!  Who was indeed born to give us joy.  Not guilt.

And thus, JOY is Born!  When Jesus was born in that stable in Bethlehem, JOY was born into our hearts and lives.  This real birth brings real joy.  It brings a joy beyond all the kinds of “joys” that we will experience tonight and tomorrow as we open gifts and celebrate with family.  A joy that lasts forever, no matter what the circumstances.

I am going to close with a story about that kind of joy.  It’s the story about a church’s wedding coordinator named Vee Choate.  Vee was a first class joy-bringer.  She could light up a room.  Vee loved Christmas.  And she made the most of it every year.  Every box of her Christmas decorations was numbered and labeled.  She kept photographs of the decorations so she could remember precisely how things had been done the year before.  It took her a full week, but by December 1 each year, her home, her office, her wardrobe, and even her dogs were decorated for Christmas.  Vee celebrated Christmas with beauty and grace and love.  She celebrated Christmas by giving gifts and throwing a big party.  She did it all, and made it look easy.  It didn’t stress her out.  It made her happy.

Vee celebrated Christmas with music.  She loved all kinds of Christmas music.  Beneath it all, Vee loved Christmas so much because she knew the Christ who was born in Bethlehem had been born to give her life.  The love and grace God showed by becoming flesh among us is the love that Vee lived out with her life.

But then, on December 10, 2001, a sudden car accident took the life of Vee Choate.  So full of life, so full of Christmas, and then so suddenly gone.  At her funeral, her pastor said: “Some of us might be tempted to say that Christmas will be almost unbearable because of Vee’s death.  But the real truth is that Vee’s death would be unbearable were it not for Christmas.”

A year later, Vee’s husband wrote an Advent devotion for church.  In it he said, “On December 10, 2001, the greatest joy in my life was snuffed out.”  He described how hard it would be to face Christmas without her.  He began asking what God and what Vee would want him to do.  The answer came: “Do what we’ve always done.  Go to church.  Celebrate the birth.  Sing in the Messiah.  Attend Bible study.  Stay close with friends and family.  And don’t forget to decorate the house with at least two trees!”  That’s what he did.  And he found he could still sing “Joy to the World” and be thrilled by the Hallelujah Chorus.  He concluded, “The nights are still lonely and some days are longer than others, but God is with me and I have been able to find joy!”

Do you know that kind of joy?  Do you?  It’s the joy that comes from knowing Christ as our Savior… and knowing that come what may, Christ will be with us and He will deliver us because He has the power to save us from hopelessness, guilt, and death.   Some years ago, Harry Belafonte recorded a Christmas carol that says it all:  “Long time ago in Bethlehem,  Does the Holy Bible say,  Mary’s boy-child Jesus Christ,  Was born on Christmas Day.  Hark now, hear the angels sing.  A new King born today,  And we shall live forevermore,  Because of Christmas Day.”  Friends, tonight JOY is Born!  Let that JOY be born in your hearts!   Amen.