Sermon Tone Analysis

As we begin this morning, please turn in your copies of God’s Word to Luke 2 v 8-14.

If you are using one of the pew Bibles, you will find this on page 725.

We will be reading these verses shortly, so please have them marked and ready for that time.

This morning marks Sunday #3 in this years Christmas Advent Sundays.

As we mentioned on the first Sunday of Advent, our desire in celebrating Advent is to both look back, remembering the birth of our Savior, Jesus.

Who became that spotless Lamb of God Who’s shed blood on the cross paid the penalty for our sins, that we might, based on our faith in Him and the price He paid, experience redemption.

It is also a time to look forward, to His 2nd coming.

This looking back and remembering, and looking forward are a fitting part of each of the advents we celebrate together.

The first Sunday of Advent was the Advent of Hope.

We discussed how our hope is a confident expectation based on the sovereign, all powerful God.

Hope that we were able to take hold of as we looked at the many prophecies He fulfilled in His first coming.

As well as those we can confidently expect Him to fulfill in the second coming.

Last Sunday we looked at the Advent of Peace.

For the believer, we can have peace that passes all understanding, knowing He is in complete control of all things.

We saw that in His first coming, and rest assured, we will see it in His second coming as well.

But that peace is not something we come by naturally.

According to Isaiah 26 vs 3-4, it comes as our minds focus, not on the cares of this world, but on the God of the universe.

The first Sunday of Advent, Simon Goldner assisted me in lighting the Candle of Hope.

Last Sunday Heidi Goldner joined me in lighting the Candle of Peace, this Sunday I would like to invite Isaac Goldner to join me as we light the Candle of Joy.

As we prepare to dive into God’s Word, let’s take a moment and bow our heads before the throne of the Almighty.

Heavenly Father, It is with joyful hearts that we approach Your throne on this Advent of Joy Sunday.

We celebrate the joy that dawned on our world that first Christmas Day.

Knowing it was promised from creation, that Your salvation would be unfurled, in the birth of our Savior, the hope for every nation.

That the very One Who set each star in place, that shaped the earth, breathed life into mankind.

You, the Prince of Peace, enable us to have unspeakable joy, no matter the circumstances we are surrounded by, because You have reconciled us to Yourself, through Christ, our mighty champion, our Savior, our Friend.

Our Redeemer, Who by His blood, won the victory over sin and death, and decreed that victory from the cross when He proclaimed, “It Is Finished!”

Father God, we take joy in that victory won, and we take hold of the joy set before us, as we anticipate the day You return and establish Your kingdom.

Because of the cross, we will stand before the judgement seat, not clothed in our own righteousness, which leaves us woefully short, but clothed in the righteousness of Jesus, our Redeemer.

These things we pray, in the Name of that Redeemer, Jesus Christ, Amen

Now, would you please stand, in honor of the reading of God’s Word?

Luke 2:8–14 (ESV)

8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.

10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, Who is Christ the Lord.

12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a Baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased!”

May the Lord add His blessing to the reading of His Word, please be seated.

According to David Mathis of Desiring God Ministries, the word “joy” appears more than 200 times in the English Bible.

It is one of the great themes of Scripture and the constant pursuit of all mankind.

But what exactly is this thing that we all pursue?

According to Websters Dictionary joy is both a noun and a verb.

As a noun it is: “the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires; the expression or exhibition of such emotion; a state of happiness; a source or cause of delight”.

As a verb it’s “to experience great pleasure or delight”.

As for the synonyms for both the noun and verb forms of joy we see “blissfulness, felicity, gladness, happiness, warm fuzzies, blessedness, exult, glory, jubilate, rejoice, triumph, delight, exuberant”.

That is the worlds definition of joy, and it is a joy that does not last.

But how does Scripture define joy?

So how is joy defined in Scripture?

The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary defines joy in Scripture in this way: The experience of deliverance and the anticipation of salvation provide the most significant occasions for rejoicing among the people of God in the OT.

The coming of the Messiah, who delivers His people and brings salvation becomes the basis for rejoicing in the NT.

The response of joy, gladness, or happiness is not only a deep inward feeling, but is expressed in celebration when God’s people gather together.

Clinton E. Arnold, “Joy,” ed.

David Noel Freedman, The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 1022.

Similarly, The Holman Treasury of Key Bible Words states the following;

(In the Old Testament)The source of Israel’s joy was the Lord Himself along with His Words and deeds performed on behalf of His people (Pss.

4:7; 16:11).Eugene E. Carpenter and Philip W. Comfort, Holman Treasury of Key Bible Words: 200 Greek and 200 Hebrew Words Defined and Explained (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 98.

The 2 Scripture passages that Holman Treasury of Key Bible Words points out paint a beautiful picture of Scriptural joy.

Let’s take a moment and look at them.

Psalm 4:7 (ESV)

7 You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.

Historians believe that David wrote Psalm 4 when he was in great distress.

His son, Absalom was in the process of taking the kingdom away from David.

Yet he writes of having “Joy in his heart”.

Psalm 16:11 (ESV)

11 You make known to me the path of life; in Your presence there is fullness of joy; at Your Right Hand are pleasures forevermore.

Did you notice what is missing in the joy that these 2 passages of Scripture highlight?

Worldly success, possessions, wealth.

But what about what it was that brought joy to the heart of the psalmist?

The presence of God.

“You (God) have put... joy in my heart”.

“In Your presence there is fullness of joy; at Your right Hand are pleasures forever more.”

Yes, there may be temporary joy in what the world calls joy, but if you want unending joy, “pleasures forevermore”, this joy is found elsewhere.

The joy of the Lord was God’s goal for His people, and they were to find in Him the subject, the source, and the object of their joy.

God’s people were never supposed to find their joy in anything that in any way opposed the Lord.

(Eugene E. Carpenter and Philip W. Comfort, Holman Treasury of Key Bible Words: 200 Greek and 200 Hebrew Words Defined and Explained (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 98.)

Holman goes on in the discussion of joy and points out that joy is very much the same on the pages of the New Testament.

In the New Testament, the theme of the joy of the Lord continues even more strongly.

The one who finds the kingdom of heaven “joyfully” sells all that he or she owns in order to obtain it (Matt.

13:44).

The joy of Jesus’ followers was a joy that superseded fear (Matt.

28:8)....

The inexpressible joy of believers is possible because even in the (physical) absence of the Lord, we know that we have received the salvation of our souls (1 Pet.

1:9).

(Eugene E. Carpenter and Philip W. Comfort, Holman Treasury of Key Bible Words: 200 Greek and 200 Hebrew Words Defined and Explained (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 98.)

As you can see, there is a significant difference to how the world defines joy and how Scripture defines joy.

If you have been watching much TV during the Christmas season, the advertisers do there best to make it very clear what it takes to have a life of joy and want you to understand that you are not there yet.

One commercial I’ve seen features a young couple in their early 30’s, living in a home that is likely worth 3/4 of a million dollars.

He surprises her with his & her watches worth about $500 each.

Not to be outdone, she takes him out to the driveway where she surprises him with his & her vehicles, a pickup and an SUV.

Each worth $50,000 plus.

No doubt there is great joy in their home, until the end of January when the payments begin.

In the world today, especially for us living in America, much of the time joy, like the definitions I read to you earlier from Websters Dictionary, is tied to things, or what’s in the bank, maybe the size of the retirement plan, it could be how well my favorite team is doing, or whether or not my favorite political party is currently in power.

For many, it’s tied to what your Dr. tells you after an unplanned appointment.

Sometimes, especially around Christmas, joy is tied to who we get to spend time with during the Christmas season.

And while none of those things is inherently wrong, Many of them are almost completely beyond our ability to control.

Yet our joy is tied to them.

Leading up to our communion time this morning, Marc read to us from Hebrews 12:1-2

Hebrews 12:1–2 (ESV)

1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

2 looking to Jesus, the Founder and Perfecter of our faith, Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

I have yet to see a commercial picturing this type of joy, which is not at all surprising, it doesn’t sell.

Unfortunately, much of the times we rarely see joy, as defined in Scripture, declared from the pulpits of our world.