Advent 2025- pt3- Joy

We get so confused about joy. Because joy is so confusing.

We tend to use joy as a synonym for happiness. Or even a way to say we are happier than normal. We connect it to people, or events, or situations in life.

But joy is actually not even close to being happiness. It is, in fact, completely detached from, and often in spite of circumstances.

Joy is something that only comes from God. It is, as we discussed earlier this year, a gift or fruit of the Spirit.

Joy is a sense of contentment and well being despite circumstances. It endures despite all that surrounds us.

And Jesus brings that joy.

So turn with me to Luke 1:39-56.

After Mary is told that she is going to bear Jesus, she does what any unmarried, supernaturally spoken to woman in her right mind would do. She gets out of town.

She goes to the one person who just might understand. Her aged, yet pregnant, cousin Elizabeth- who is currently pregnant with the forerunner, John the Baptist, who would prepare the way for Jesus.

When she arrives, there is another moment of confirmation that what is going on is not only from God, but is going to be earth shaking and life altering.

Look at verse 41-44.

John leaps. He hears the voice of Mary and knows that Jesus is present and Elizabeth says the baby in her womb leaps for joy.

Luke Comments

Just as John the Baptist in his ministry was to be Jesus’ precursor and prepare his way (1:17, 76), so even here he prepared the way, i.e., he announced the Messiah’s presence by leaping in his mother’s womb. Compare

Y’all joy comes from the presence of Jesus. He shows up and joy is in the room.

Why is this?

Because Jesus is the source of joy.

Joy is found in His presence- Ps 21:6

Joy is found in His Word- Ps 119:111

Joy is found in His salvation- 1 Peter 1:8-9

Even in the womb we see this come to pass!

Luke Comments

Filled with the Holy Spirit. What was promised to Zechariah (1:15) was now fulfilled. John and Elizabeth were filled with the Holy Spirit even before John’s birth. Thus they were the first persons to realize that Mary’s child is the Messiah

And Elizabeth identifies something else. That joy is with Mary because she was willing to be obedient to God.

Luke Comments

Elizabeth’s praise both begins and now ends with a reference to Mary’s blessedness. The blessedness of Mary’s faith stands in contrast to Zechariah’s lack of faith in 1:20. Her blessedness is a present state (cf. 6:20–22). Again Mary serves as an example for the believer.

Church, can I be frank with you this morning. Some of us struggle with joy because we are not satisfied with what God has brought to us or in the circumstances we find ourselves in. We are robbing ourselves of joy by focusing on the situation and not the Savior.

Can God do what He said He will do?

Can God accomplish all He purposes to accomplish?

Can God deliver when He is ready to deliver?

Can God sustain us in the meantime?

Then why are we so busy trying to do God’s work for Him?

We are missing joy by trying to save ourselves.

Mary could have said no. She could have told a story. She could have run away. She chose joy!

And we see that in her response to Elizabeth’s words, the amazing Magnificat.

Her response to joy is praise.

Verse 47- her soul rejoices!

Luke Comments

This verse stands in synonymous parallelism with

Look at verses 48-49.

We can have joy because He is the God who sees and does.

Luke Comments

This is the first ground for Mary’s praise and has as its background Hannah’s prayer and vow (

Luke Comments

As affirmed in

Joy comes from surrender? Sound familiar? Where did peace come from last week? Surrender.

We are far too confident in our own abilities and far too distrustful of God sometimes.

(2 reactions to AC going out- what happens when you choose joy- you see how God is at work)

Why should we have joy? Because of the character of our God!

merciful- v50- God’s gracious mercy comes upon the humble devout (such as Mary) who “fear,” i.e., reverently obey, him Robert H. Stein, Luke, vol. 24, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992), 92.

strength- v51-52- This is the second ground for Mary’s praise in Luke 1:46b–47. God’s “arm” is a frequent anthropomorphism and symbol for God’s might and the thought of the verse finds a close parallel in Ps 89:10b. The tense of the verb (and the following verbs) is best understood as a futuristic aorist or the equivalent of the prophetic perfect in Hebrew. It describes the future work of God’s Son with the certainty of a past event. Mary saw as already accomplished what God would do through her son- Robert H. Stein, Luke, vol. 24, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992), 93.

generosity and provision- v53-

our helper- v54

His voice- v55

So if joy is not dependent on circumstances, why is it fleeting?

Because it is dependent on proximity.

How do we maintain joy?

We stay close to Jesus

2. We gather with people who love Jesus

3. We turn to Jesus rather than away from Him

4. We see Jesus in the storms

Church, when we focus on the waves, we will never see Him walking to us. When we look for Him amidst the waves we can walk on water.

God wants to restore your joy this morning.