The Joy of Christ
Notes
Transcript
Today is the third Sunday of Advent. As we go through the weeks of Advent we light all the previous lit candles plus an additional candle of the advent wreath.
We have seen that the first candle represents hope, and the second candle represents peace. Today we are going to cover the third candle on the wreath.
You may have noticed that the candle we lit this morning is a different color from the other three. There are three purple candles and one pink candle. The pink candle is the third candle of advent which represents Joy.
The traditional reading for the third candle primarily comes from Philippians 4:4-7 that emphasizes “Rejoice in the Lord always.” Other key scriptures for joy include the one we read this morning Luke 2:10-11 and prophetic passages like Isaiah 9:2 and Isaiah 35:10 that focus on light and gladness in God’s coming salvation.
We’re going to be looking at several scriptures this morning relating to Christmas and joy, but we will begin with these verses from Luke 2.
8 In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock. 9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
10 But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: 11 Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be the sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped tightly in cloth and lying in a manger.”
Christmas is a season of joy. All season long, for some it starts before Thanksgiving, we celebrate with music, song, lights and decorations. We come together with family and friends for fellowship and exchanging gifts. It truly is a joyful time of year.
However, the world, and our society, have slowly began hijacking the joy we have in Christmas. Because the only way we find that true joyfulness doesn’t come from the music, lights and decorations, but comes from the meaning of Christmas.
When Christ is removed from Christmas we have absolutely no reason to come together and celebrate. Christmas only becomes nothing more than a party and exchange of gifts.
The very heart of Christmas is the magnificently wonderful good news that Jesus Christ was born as Savior of this world. From beginning to end the Christmas story is full of joyous moments, with the birth of Christ as the central focus.
It’s impossible to avoid it and you can’t get around it. You can’t spell Christmas without Christ, and you can’t find the true joy of the season without Jesus.
We’re going to look at three truths about Joy at Christmas.
Jesus Brings the Joy of Salvation
Joy Leads to Proclamation
Joy Leads to Praise
We find these truths in the very Scripture passages that tell the Christmas story. All three of these truths combined capture the true meaning of joy at Christmas.
Jesus Brings the Joy of Salvation
Jesus Brings the Joy of Salvation
Let’s look at the first truth, Jesus brings the joy of salvation. We can find many areas of our lives where Jesus brings joy, but the primary and foundational place all our joy comes from in Christ’s birth is in our salvation.
Last week I talked about the very meaning of the name of Jesus actually means salvation. This week I want all of you to see the connection the Bible makes between salvation and joy.
Look at David’s prayer to the Lord in Psalm 51:12
12 Restore the joy of your salvation to me
This was David’s prayer after committing adultery with Bathsheba. David had sinned greatly against God. Isn’t it amazing how our sin destroys and takes away our joy? Have you ever sinned and had such a pit in your stomach that you were completely miserable until you actually repented?
David understood the connection between joy and salvation. He repented from his sin, asked God’s forgiveness, and asked God to restore to him the joy of his salvation.
I’m not saying we can lose our salvation, but in our sin we can lose all of the joy the joy in our salvation. Another place we find the connection between joy and salvation is in Isaiah 12:3, where Isaiah writes Isaiah 12:3 “3 You will joyfully draw water from the springs of salvation.”
What a magnificient picture!! Isaiah is prophesying about the second coming of Christ here which is a large part of the focus of the advent season. Advent, the Christmas story, not only reminds us of Christ’s birth and first coming, but also points our focus to anticipation of Christ’s second coming.
Last week we looked at Isaiah 11 in which Jesus brings peace to all of His creation us, nature, animals, and the heavens. Now Isaiah follows that up by saying just imagine the great joy that accompanies that salvation!!
We can’t have true joy without salvation and we can’t have salvation without true joy. We have a prime example of this in Luke 1:39-45.
39 In those days Mary set out and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judah 40 where she entered Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped inside her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
42 Then she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and your child will be blessed! 43 How could this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
44 For you see, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped for joy inside me. 45 Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill what he has spoken to her!”
What a magnificient scene of joy. The moment Elizabeth heard Mary’s voice John the Baptist, who was filled with the Holy Spirit from the womb, starts jumping for joy!!
Why?
Because Mary, the mother of the Lord, was pregnant with Jesus, who is the Lord, and thus the two babies, still in the womb were in close proximity to each other. John, filled by the Holy Spirit, felt the presence of Jesus Christ who entered creation to bring salvation to all who would believe in Him.
The Holy Spirit fills us, indwells in us, that we will joyfully glorify our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. When Jesus entered the house in Mary’s womb John the Baptist leapt with Joy in the presence of Jesus Christ.
In Matthew 2:9-10 we have another example of Jesus bringing the joy of salvation.
9 After hearing the king, they went on their way. And there it was—the star they had seen at its rising. It led them until it came and stopped above the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overwhelmed with joy.
The wise men traveled a long way to see the Messiah and worship Him. They had seen the star in the east, but not being Israelites they didn’t know where the Messiah was supposed to be born. So they stopped and asked King Herod for that information along the way.
Once again we see where they rejoiced to find the place where Jesus was born. They were overjoyed because Jesus is the Messiah who came to bring salvation.
Joy and salvation belong together, and so do joy and Christmas belong together, because it;s the time we celebrate Jesus coming to bring us joy and salvation. Our first point is Jesus brings joy, especially the joy of salvation.
Joy Leads to Proclamation
Joy Leads to Proclamation
Secondly, joy leads to proclamation. In our joy of salvation we are led to share that good news with others. We saw that truth demonstrated by the angels appearing to the shepherds when we read Luke 2:8-12. Let’s look at it again.
8 In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock. 9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
10 But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: 11 Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be the sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped tightly in cloth and lying in a manger.”
Notice the news about Jesus’ birth isn’t just news, it’s good news! And it’s not just good news, it’s good news of great joy!! It’s not just good news of great joy, it’s good news of great joy for all the people.
How will all the people hear of this great news of joy? They will only hear and know about the great news if we share it with them.
We share good news with each other all the time. Whenever something good happens we joyfully share it with all the people we know. Many post it on Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites.
If our good news is the birth of a baby in the family we especially share that news with everyone. Birth announcements go out. We take pictures and share them all over the place. The birth of a child fills us with so much joy that we can’t help but proclaim it. We want everyone to know and share in our joy.
If we tell everyone about the birth of our own babies or babies in our family, then how much more should we be proclaiming the birth of God’s Son? We constantly share good news, as we should, and there’s no better news than the good news the shepherds received from the angels on that first Christmas Eve. In Luke 2:11 “11 Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”
What did the shepherds do when they received the good news of great joy that was for all the people? We find that answer as we pick up the story again in Luke 2:15-18.
15 When the angels had left them and returned to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go straight to Bethlehem and see what has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”
16 They hurried off and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby who was lying in the manger. 17 After seeing them, they reported the message they were told about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.
When the shepherds heard the good news the first thing they did was check it out for themselves. When they found this good news of great joy to be true they couldn’t help but share it with others. Why? Because good news compels us to share it with others.
And this was good news of great joy that compelled them to proclaim the good news.
Joy Leads to Praise
Joy Leads to Praise
We’ve looked at how Jesus brings the joy of salvation, joy leads to proclamation and last we’re going to see the truth that joy leads to praise. We’re going to look at two places where this truth is found in the Christmas story.
The first is in Luke 1:46-49.
46 And Mary said: My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 because he has looked with favor on the humble condition of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed, 49 because the Mighty One has done great things for me, and his name is holy.
This comes right after the prophetic words from Elizabeth that we just read earlier. It is commonly referred to as “Mary’s Song” or “the Magnificat.” The Greek word translated magnifies in vs. 46 is translated exalt, magnify, or glorify. It means to praise a person in terms of that individual’s greatness.
Mary’s joy couldn’t be contained and she broke out in a song of praise. She exalts, magnifies or glorifies the Lord for choosing her to be the mother of Jesus. And notice that this joy still has to do with salvation. Mary rejoices in God her Savior. She is so overjoyed by God’s goodness to her that she can’t help but praise God.
We see the same pattern in Luke 2:20.
20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had seen and heard, which were just as they had been told.
The shepherds were returning from seeing Jesus and proclaiming the good news to all the people in town. The joy of seeing Jesus led them to spread the good news. Overjoyed by what they had seen and how the people responded to the good news compelled the shepherds to glorify and praise God as they returned to the fields.
Do you know the joy of being restored to right relationship with God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior?
The message that the angel gave to the shepherds that first Christmas Eve is just as applicable to us two thousand years later: “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11) There is no true joy without salvation, and there is no true salvation without joy. Jesus is the reason for the season and we can have no true joy without faith in Him.
Is your joy so great that people ask you about your joy?
We should be so joyful as we live in Christ that people ask us about our hope, peace, joy and love. Peter tells us to always be ready to be witness to Christ when people ask about our hope, peace, joy and love. Our Joy should lead to people asking and us proclaiming the true reason we celebrate Christmas, Jesus Christ.
Does your joy lead you to praise God every day?
The joy we should have in our salvation should compel us to praise God. Praise God for His goodness and kindness and praise Him for His grace in our salvation. Praise God for sending His Son into this creation to take on our sins and be our Lord and Savior.
Isaiah says in Is 9:6
6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given;
And in:
3 You will joyfully draw water from the springs of salvation,
The 3rd candle, the pink candle, the Advent Candle of Joy reminds us of three important truths about joy this Christmas season:
Jesus Brings the Joy of Salvation
Joy Leads to Proclamation
Joy Leads to Praise
These three truths should become application for us as we respond to the good news of great joy for all the people. For unto us a Child is born.
