luke 1.8-10

joy

We’ve already watched a scene from The Chosen concerning the shepherds seeing the Christ. But perhaps it will help us for today’s purposes to see one more view.

Luke 2:10–12 ESV

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. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”

Luke 2:14 ESV

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

Let’s watch the video. It’s the only one today.

What is Advent?

the first Sunday of advent, we talked about turning in HOPE towards Jesus.

The second Sunday of advent, we talked about turning away from shame toward peace.

today, we want to talk about turning away from sadness and moving towards joy. ‘

Light the candles for joy at this time.

What is a Joyful Life?

A joyful life is a life of often cheerful contentedness.

A life of joy is more than happiness- but make no mistake, it will often involve and entail happiness. Did you see the shepherd run? smiles. Laughter. Dropping crutches. Friends excited. Yes, joy can be happiness …. but it can be a lot more too. contentedness.

contentedness is a marked calmness in a person born out of hope and peace. A marked calm born out of the absence of hopelessness and shame.

Look at Mary in LUke 1.26-37….

Luke 1:26–37 ESV

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.”

hope, the confident expectation, that’s born out of the knowledge that nothing is impossible with God — from the first coming of Jesus, which began a work of renewal and restoration for a broken and hurting world, to his second coming, when he will finish his work in full.

Remind them, too, of the peace within that comes in knowing a deep grace and mercy has been shown by the Jesus, even to those seemingly unworthy and long forgotten or cast aside. Revisit elements of the spoken and sung words of the angels to Joseph and Mary and the shepherds, too.

Revisit some of the Scriptures you’ve drawn from in the previous two sermons.

Luke 1.26-36

Luke 1:26–36 ESV

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.

Matthew 1:18–24 ESV

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife,

Draw on the themes of Advent, telling your listeners that, “This is part of the beauty of Advent: the themes build atop one another.

Hope has come in the One who came — a confident expectation in the Messiah who is renewing and restoring all things.

Peace has come in the One who came — a grace and a mercy shown by the Messiah even to those seemingly unworthy and long forgotten or cast aside.

And so joy has come in the One who came — a contentedness, a marked calm, that can never be dimmed or toppled by anyone o

So, let me repeat what I said earlier… concerning joy….

A joyful life is a life of often cheerful contentedness.

Note that I said “cheerful.”. Joy will sometimes be accompanied by smiles, laughter, happiness and comic relief.

But not always. Sometimes a joyful life is contentedness…. and it will be calm, and it will still be hopeful and peaceful-it just may not be accompanied by laughter.

And knowing that Joy is a life marked by sometimes cheerful contentedness…. we could ask,

Why is our world so joyless?

, “It doesn’t seem like much of anyone in the world thinks everything has changed and is changing for the better. Despite moments of happiness, there’s no resolve born out of any confidence in ultimate goodness. You could not possibly argue that most of the world enjoys deep contentedness. Just look at...”

Politics. Media. Music. Mental health. It all points to a world that has no joy, or little. No one is content. No one is content with how things are. No one is content with how you are. No one is content with who they are. ( And on that last note- that means we are not content with how God has made us to be.)

And because we- you and I are part of that world- it ought to move us to look at the part of the world that we are- ourselves.

We ought to look at ourselves.

journey back through some of what we just covered- politics, media, music, mental health. thee world’sjoylessness. (“It’s hard not to see that significant corners of the Church have embraced cynicism — a posture that ‘it just doesn’t seem to matter anymore, who we are and what we’re doing.’ And you can’t miss the despairing vernacular of believers when discussing politics. And isn’t it true that we hide away in the virtual just as much as the next person, trying our best to distract ourselves from the worry, from the pain? It sure seems like anger is making far more cameo appearances in our conversations, in our social media posts, and even out on the literal highways of life. And we’re not always exactly beams of sunshine in the workplace, are we?”)

We can observe it in the world out there....

and we can observe it in ourselves. that’s called introspection.

“But we’ve been given a joyful life to live. So let’s live it in a joyless world.

Remember, We’ve been given a joyful life to live.

we have been given hope in the one who came to renew and restore all things for us.

We have been given peace- contentedness and even cheer- because peace has come to us in the One who came, a deep grace and mercy shown to us by Jesus.

So if we’ve been given a joyful life tolive- we should live it even in a joyless world.

Joyful people are not cynical people. We can’t say nothing matters when everything really does. The hope and peace of Jesus insists that everything and everyone matters.

Every word spoken or not, every deed done or not, everything matters.

Exhale.

a joyless world is crying out for joy — desperate for a reason to have abiding cheer and deep contentment.

A Joyful Life Draws The World To The Light of Jesus

Matthew 5:13–16 ESV

“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

A Joyful Life Draws Your Friends and Family To The Light of jesus