Advent 2022: Joy

CHRISTMAS JOY 2022

1 Peter 1:3-10

Earlier I asked you to think about what kinds of things bring you joy.

You may not be surprised that one answer I would give to that question…is music.

Music brings me joy.

Especially Christmas music, which has an ability to lift the spirits of even the most Scrooge-like character.

In my opinion, Christmas music isn’t just background music for a pleasant holiday. It’s a ministry that can do wonders for the soul.

A couple of years ago I read a news story about this brass band:

(SLIDE—BAND PIC)

This is a Salvation Army brass band from Chicago, Illinois.

Every year one of the highlights of their Christmas season is the trip they take to Cook County Jail.

Where they share Christmas music and Scripture with men who feel as far from Christmas cheer as you can possibly get.

Criminals who face every day the reality of their sin and brokenness.

One of the brass band members said this about the moment when they stop to read the Christmas story from Scripture and begin leading the inmates in “Silent Night.”

(SLIDE)

“The cell block becomes a scene as spiritual and holy as any Christmas Eve service I’ve attended. Even hardened gang members are touched to the point of tears singing this unlikely, culturally irrelevant old German carol. God’s incarnation is experienced afresh.”

That’s the power of the Christmas story, a power that is enhanced when coupled with heart-stirring music.

It’s a power that means in the most unlikely of places…you can experience hope, you can experience peace…and you can experience…joy.

The Christmas story is all about joy. Right from the very beginning.

When the angel tells Mary she will be the mother of God’s chosen, Messiah, remember how she responds?

(SLIDE)

“My soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”—Luke 1:46 (NIV)

Think about it for a second: this is a terrifying situation for Mary.

For one, in that ancient culture she could be stoned, executed for becoming pregnant before her marriage is complete.

And it’s also scary simply because she is being tasked with raising the Son of God, the one who would bring salvation to the world.

Talk about a huge responsibility.

And yet even in the midst of that, Mary’s joy is unbridled. She can’t keep it in, and she bursts into a song of praise.

Why?

Because Mary sees exactly what’s taking place…she sees it with absolute clarity.

God is fulfilling his promise to bring restoration and reconciliation to his people.

No wonder she’s filled with joy, even as she’s facing a great deal of uncertainty and has every reason to be fearful.

But, again, that’s what Christmas does.

It gives birth to joy…even in places where joy seems difficult to find.

I wonder if you can identify with that thought.

Our text from 1 Peter definitely resonates with that theme.

Especially verse 6:

(SLIDE)

“In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.”—1 Peter 1:6

Think for a second of all that the first century Christians were experiencing…persecution for their faith, even martyrdom…

…and yet here’s Peter reminding them that, even in the midst of that, there is cause to rejoice!

“In all this you greatly rejoice…”

That’s not usually how we think about the relationship between joy and trial.

Normally joy is what we anticipate AFTER the trial is finally over.

But Peter says, no…you rejoice, even here, even while you face these trials and all the grief they bring with them.

And they key words to his thought are right at the beginning of verse 6:

IN…ALL…THIS

Peter isn’t just throwing out a random cliché, trite Christian soundbite…

…he’s building an argument, a reminder to those first-century Christians, and to us as well, WHY it is there is reason to rejoice even in difficult circumstances.

It’s a reminder he started right at the beginning of our passage:

(SLIDE)

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.”—1 Peter 1:3-4

In those 46 words (39 in the original Greek), may not be a typical Christmas text, but maybe they should be.

Because in these words Peter summarizes the whole reason Jesus came in the first place.

Because of God’s great mercy, Jesus came:

(SLIDE)

· To give us new birth

· To give us living hope through his death and resurrection

· To give us an eternal inheritance in God’s kingdom

Peter isn’t just saying to those 1st century Christians:

“C’mon guys, buck up and deal with it. Muster up some joy, whatever it takes!”

He’s giving them very specific reasons why they can have joy in the midst of trials, reasons that we would do well to think about each Christmas season.

Let’s take a brief look at each of these:

(SLIDE)

WE CAN HAVE JOY BECAUSE JESUS GIVES US NEW BIRTH

“In his great mercy he has given us new birth.”

We spend a lot of time at Christmas reflecting on the birth of Jesus, but we should never forget that his birth…is all about our new birth.

In the simplest of terms, Jesus came so that you and I could have a fresh start with God.

Here’s an interesting question for you: do you happen to know what the most well-known verse in the Bible is?

It’s John 3:16.

Where we’re reminded of the reason for Jesus’ coming:

(SLIDE)

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”—John 3:16 (NIV)

That verse appears in a passage that’s all about new birth, as a Pharisee named Nicodemus asks Jesus about his teaching and his mission.

I always find it interesting that right after the excitement of Christmas, we enter into the excitement of the New Year, when one of the themes we latch onto is that of “fresh starts.”

With our new year’s resolutions, and just a general sense of new beginnings in the air, we love to look at the start of a new year as a chance to begin again, putting the mistakes and stresses of the past year behind us and starting over.

When, in fact, that is actually the meaning of Christmas.

Christmas is all about starting over.

In that manger God gives humanity a fresh start, an invitation to begin again.

In the story of Christmas, God is saying to us, to you and me:

“I know how your past has hurt you. I know the sin and brokenness you deal with. And you know the pain and heartache it brings with it. You know you want something different, something new. Come to me and find it, come to me and find the forgiveness, mercy, and fresh start you so desperately need.”

In coming to earth, God is saying we are not condemned to lives of “quiet desperation” as the poet says.

God says we are valuable enough to him that he is willing to send his own son to open the door of transformation for us…to move us into a life that is meaningful and fulfilling, and life that can know joy even in the midst of our trials and suffering.

Jesus gives us new birth…that is a reason for joy!

As is Peter’s second point from these verses:

(SLIDE)

WE CAN HAVE JOY BECAUSE OF WHAT JESUS ACCOMPLISHED

I know some people get a little uncomfortable when we talk about the cross and the resurrection at Christmastime.

“Can’t we just save that for Eastertime?”

I get it.

But I also disagree with it.

Because we can never forget that the new birth that Jesus came to offer us is only possible because of what that tiny baby grew up to do for us.

Peter says we are given “new birth” into a “living hope” “THROUGH the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

We don’t need to dwell on it too much at Christmastime…after all, the incarnation is miracle enough to fill our hearts and minds…

…but we should never forget that Jesus was born…to die.

It’s a truth you can’t escape in the Christmas story.

When the angel appears to Joseph and lets him know what’s happening, he tells him: you will name the baby Jesus, because he will save the people from their sins.

The baby’s name, Jesus, means “God saves.”

It’s the purpose for his coming to earth.

We sang it earlier, didn’t we?

Now ye need not fear the grave

Peace peace Jesus Christ was....born to save

It’s why he came...and it will lead to a cruel Roman cross.

Where he will die for us, to make the new birth a reality.

I once heard a teaching that suggested that the shepherds in the Christmas story were a specially-trained group who had the responsibility of identifying spotless lambs that would be used for sacrifice in the temple.

I don’t know if that’s true, but if it is how cool is that?

The idea that the ones who prepared the lambs for sacrifice were the first ones to visit the Lamb of God who came to earth to save people from their sins?

That’s a reason for rejoicing.

And as much as we may want to shy away from images of the cross at Christmastime: let’s remember what the cross teaches us about God’s love.

The cross and the empty tomb remind us that God’s love is victorious.

They remind us that sin and death and suffering and trials and brokenness and alienation and heartache and hatred and war and sickness do NOT have the final word.

God has the final word, and that word is victory.

It’s because of the cross and the empty tomb that Paul can write in Romans:

(SLIDE)

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”—Romans 8:38-39

It’s because of the victory ultimately achieved by the one who lies in that manger, that joy can show up in the most unlikely of places.

Let’s never forget that.

And let’s never forget what that victory points to for the future:

(SLIDE)

WE CAN HAVE JOY BECAUSE OF WHAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR US

Peter says:

(SLIDE)

“In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.”—1 Peter 1:6

We have been given new birth…into a living hope…and into an inheritance that is eternal.

What a lot of people don’t realize about Advent is that it is both a time of looking back…at the first coming of Christ…but it’s also a time of looking forward, to when he returns again.

And when that happens…we will receive the fullness of our inheritance as God’s children.

I love the image of inheritance…it’s an image of promise, and an image of completeness.

And it’s an image of love. The love of a Father who wants to give good things to his kids.

We need to be reminded of that love and that hope.

It’s the hope Isaiah described in the passage we heard, where he describes the joy of that eternal kingdom:

(SLIDE)

“No lion will be there, nor any ravenous beast; they will not be found there.

But only the redeemed will walk there, and those the Lord has rescued will return.

They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads.

Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.”—Isaiah 35:9-10

Gladness and joy will overtake them…sorrow and sighing will flee away.

Friends…when we focus on the glory God has for us…the promise of what his final redemption will bring…

…everything else fades in comparison.

When we put our faith in Christ.

When we experience that new birth…when we accept for ourselves the reality of what Jesus’ death and resurrection accomplished for us…

…we become heirs of that promise.

There’s a story that I love about an estate auction held long ago, after a very wealthy man had died.

He had no heir, because his only son had died at a very young age. And in the absence of a will an auction is held of all his valuable earthly belongings.

At the auction, in the midst of elaborate furnishings and expensive trinkets…the first item put up for bidding is a tiny, simple picture frame…inside it a photograph of an infant boy, the dead man’s son.

Nobody bids on it at first…they want to get moving to the “good stuff”…but then an elderly woman, frail and poor, bids a small amount. It turns out she was the dead child’s nurse who took care of him through his illness, and she had great affection for the boy.

She wins the item, and when she takes it she notices a heavy bulge in the back of the frame. She removes the back, and inside she finds the dead man’s missing will, along with a note indicating that whoever was kind enough to hold the dear memory of his beloved son would inherit…everything. His property…his fortune…she received it all.

The auction was cancelled. The woman inherited…everything.

What a beautiful image of what happens when we put our trust, not in the memory, but in the reality of God’s beloved son.

We become heirs of God…heirs of his love, his mercy, and his promises.

How does joy show up in the unlikely places of our lives?

That’s how.

(TRANSITION TO PRAYER)