God with us brings Joy

God with Us Brings Joy

Advent Week 3

Series Slide

Good morning and welcome to worship on this amazing day that the Lord has made…

Prayer

Sermon Series

How many of you have seen the GMC commercial… The one with the couple standing in the snow, and he tells her, “I got something for you,” whistles, and a cute Bernese Mountain Puppy comes bounding through the snow.  Then, of course, not to be outdone, she whistles, and a beautiful new $60,000 GMC Sierra comes bounding through the snow.  The excitement and joy on their faces would be contagious if it weren’t so outrageous. 

Have you ever given a child a puppy as a Christmas gift? It was about 20 years ago that our dog Shadow came into our lives, the same dog that lived in the parsonage next door when we were here the first time. 

Without going into detail, we saved little Shadow from what we discovered was a puppy mill.  We picked him up on Christmas Eve, and that is when the fun began… I went by the puppy mill on my way to the church for the Christmas Eve services.  By the time I drove the 25 miles to Salado UMC, I was covered in puppy love, also known as puppy slobber.  Then, I had to figure out a way to contain him, without the kids seeing him, and without him making a mess at the church… so, I put him in the youth house… literally a house that the youth used for Sunday School, Confirmation, youth events, and Sunday night Youth.  I figured nothing was going to hurt that place.

Then, Renee brought the kids to church, but we kept them at the church, and no one went to the youth house except me.  After worship, Renee took the kids home and got them ready for bed, then I came on a little later, this time with Shadow in a little kennel.  I knew when I got home I’d have a few minutes with the kids, so we left Shadow in the car while we set out the cookies for Santa, tucked the kids in, and wished them a good night.

Then the real work began.  We had to find a way to keep Shadow quiet all night, take him out to do his business, put him back in the Kennel, and find a way to wrap him up… Think about that… you have an excited little puppy, this little bundle of energy, joy, and delight, that you are trying to contain… in other words, you are trying to contain that which is uncontainable. 

You have to time it just right or else the gift will give itself away.

Finally, the kids are up and opening gifts, and the first gift opened is the one making all the noise and moving.  Out comes the cute and cuddly little furball… and life was never the same.  That puppy went everywhere with us for a while.  I think Reagan even got to have him at school one day for show and tell.  There is just something about a puppy that exudes joy.  

In fact, Joy is a lot like puppies.  Fortunately, it’s not as hairy and doesn’t make a mess on the floor, but joy is boundless and uncontainable.  Joy overflows; it exudes from the pores of life.  When we feel joy, we can’t contain it; it must be shared with others.

Joy is what we are celebrating today on this third Sunday of Advent.  For those who missed the first couple of weeks or who are not familiar with this thing we call Advent, the word Advent means “coming” or “arrival.” It is the four weeks leading up to Christmas where we anticipate, where we live in expectation of the arrival of Baby Jesus, but even more than that, it is the realization that Jesus has come into the world, and He is coming again.  Advent looks back in celebration at the hope fulfilled in Jesus Christ’s arrival, while at the same time looking forward in hopeful and eager anticipation to the coming of Christ’s kingdom when he returns.  During each of these weeks, we focus on a different attribute of God represented in the coming of Jesus Christ:  hope, love, joy, and peace. 

Jesus is the full embodiment, the incarnation if you will, of “God with Us.” This week, we are looking at the fact that God with us brings Joy.

Sermon Slide

If you were here on the first Sunday of Advent, you may recall that we talked a lot about Zachariah and Elizabeth. In the part of the story we discussed, we looked at how much hope was found as Zachariah and Elizabeth discovered that they were going to have a child in their mature age… I’m talking like 80 to 100… imagine birthing and raising an infant when you are 85…

 But this was a special occasion; in fact, this is what the angel told Zachariah, “Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John. You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord.” (Luke 1:14-15) 

To understand the joy of Zachariah and Elizabeth, we have to understand the pain and heartache they had experienced.  In the Jewish culture 2000 years ago, children were a tremendous blessing.  Psalm 127 would have reverberated in her mind, “Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward for him.”

Children allowed a name to be passed on… they supplied more work for the family… but most of all, they were seen as a sign of God’s blessing and favor.  Not to have children at that time would have been seen as someone out of God’s favor.  And for Elizabeth, the wife of a priest, it would have been especially hard.  To be childless would have been a great source of frustration and shame.

Some of you know something of this pain.  Infertility, miscarriages, and birth challenges have been a part of your story and the story of your children. Like with many of us, Elizabeth’s friends and family probably offered encouragement and shared her sorrow.  They probably offered well-intended advice… but somehow, trying to convince Elizabeth that she didn’t have a child because of unconfessed sin just wasn’t as helpful as they might have thought.  I’m sure that after the age of 40, then 50, and then 60, somewhere the hope began to fade.  At some point, maybe she even grieved the loss of the potential of motherhood. 

I’m sure she had times of happiness as well.  Rejoicing with the family… enjoying the social events that she and Zachariah would have attended as the family of a priest.  They were faithful people… Luke 1:6 tells us that “both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly.” 

Then God came.  God stepped in, and her life was forever changed.

Elizabeth took the news better than Zachariah.  He questioned it and was unable to speak until after John was born.  But Elizabeth rejoiced immediately.  As soon as she knew she was pregnant, she exclaimed, “The Lord has done this for me.  In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people. (Luke 1:25)

Here is another interesting point about all this… Elizabeth spent the first 5 months in seclusion.  We aren’t sure why; maybe she spent the time praising and worshipping God for the miracle.  Maybe she wanted to avoid the danger of illness during the first couple of trimesters… We aren’t sure, but what we do know is that one of her first visitors was Mary.  This was a moment of pure, raw joy brought on by her encounter with the mother of the Messiah.  In fact, Luke describes it this way in verse 41, Elizabeth’s baby “leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.”

Her joy took to song as she proclaimed “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.” (Luke 1:42-45)

Just like a puppy bounding from the wrapping on Christmas morning, joy was overflowing… and in the true nature of joy, it was contagious. 

Mary burst forth in her own song that has come to be known as the Magnificat.  In that moment, Mary was understood.  Someone knew that she carried the Savior of the world in her womb.  Elizabeth believed her.  And Elizabeth was carrying the forerunner, the prophet who would prepare the way for Jesus.  More than anyone else in the world, these two ladies understood each other and could share the unlimited joy that would carry them through the difficult days ahead.

Already, God with Us, Immanuel, was unleashing joy on earth.  It was a joy that would spread quickly.  In verse 58, Luke tells us that“Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her, and they [were filled with joy].  (Luke 1:58)

For Elizabeth, this joy must have been wonderful.  Not only did she have the joy of holding her newborn baby in her arms, but she was witness to a miracle… a miracle that healed a lifetime of pain, sorrow, and shame.  And it was only the beginning of the witnesses she would have a ringside seat to in the years to come.

Sermon Slide

What would you and I do for that kind of joy?  The pain and sorrow of years of shame and misery washed away in a dramatic moment…

As we finish up today, I want to share with you three important understandings about Joy.

First, I want you to understand that the joy experienced by Elizabeth is available to you today.  This is the joy brought to us when God became flesh… the joy of Immanuel, God with us.  You see, Jesus is the source of our joy.  Jesus may have walked the earth 2000 years ago, but his life and his joy are as available to us today as they were when he walked along the shores of the Sea of Galilee.

The Disciple Peter said it this way, “Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”  (1 Peter 1:8-9)

Did you hear that description, and “indescribable and glorious joy.”  That is the kind of joy that we seek… not just to be happy… happiness is based on our circumstances, joy is based on our being, our person, it is who we are.

So often we pursue happiness, this fleeting and fainting thing.  Victor Frankle, a survivor of the Jewish Holocaust, wrote in his classic work, Man’s Search for Meaning, that “It is the very pursuit of happiness that thwarts happiness.”

Happiness is a part of Joy, but Joy is so much deeper.  Joy is rooted in gratitude, meaning, and hope.  Joy comes from God with Us – Jesus is the source of our joy.

Like Nehemiah, the Old Testament prophet expressed, “The joy of the Lord is your strength.”

We’ve already compared joy and happiness, but if there is one defining characteristic of joy for us today, it is that Joy Defiesour Circumstances and that is our second point.

Happiness comes and goes with our circumstances.  It waxes and wanes as we experience the ups and downs of life.  But Joy flows deep even in the face of challenge, hardship, or suffering.  Joy, drawn from Jesus, God with Us, sees the big picture beyond the immediate pain.

James, the brother of Jesus wrote, “My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2-4)

Joy understands that there is more to the story than what meets the eye. Joy understands that God is at work even in the midst of the pain and suffering of life.  Joy understands that eventually God will make everything right.  That is the meaning of Advent… God with Us… that God is in the process of making everything right, starting with your life and mine.

What are the circumstances you are facing right now as we journey toward Christmas?

What are the situations that are stealing your joy?

I want to encourage you to take those circumstances to Jesus.  I want you to lift those situations to the Lord, to God with us, so that as you pray, you may begin to see God’s big picture.

You may not experience a miracle as clear as Elizabeth did, but in Advent and in Christmas, there is a miracle for us all:  the miracle of God coming to earth to be with us, to heal us, to forgive us, to redeem and restore all of our pain and turn it into good.  That is the same message that has been proclaimed since Jesus’ birth, remember what the angel said to the Shepherds? “Do not be afraid, I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.” (Luke 2:9-10)

Jesus is God with us… and Jesus came to bring us joy, no matter what we are facing.

And that leads into the final point for today as we look at this attribute of God.

Joy is a Choice.  Not only that, but joy is an action as well.

As we wrap up I want to step out of the story of Mary and Elizabeth and Zachariah and Joseph.  I want us to very briefly look at Paul.  Paul is an interesting character.  He was a persecutor of Jewish Christians until he experienced the life-changing presence of Jesus himself.  Then he became the greatest evangelist for Jesus that the world has known.  At the beginning of his ministry, he had a short time when everyone liked him.   He was a Roman Citizen… He was a scholar of the Jewish faith… and yet he was a follower of Jesus.  During that time, he wrote in 1 Thessalonians 5:16, “Rejoice always.” It’s easy to rejoice when all is good… but that isn’t the end of his story.  In fact, as we read the story of his life, we find that he was beaten, he was whipped with lashes and with rods.  He was stoned and left for dead.  He was shipwrecked and snake-bit.  He was kept in cells that weren’t fit for a rat… and yet at the end of his ministry, we find his words in his letter to the Philippians, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.”  (Philippians 4:4)

Joy wasn’t something that was based upon his circumstances… joy is the choice he made.  He chose joy.  We can look back at today’s story and read the Magnificat and see that Mary chose joy in the midst of her circumstances… when her betrothed husband had threatened to leave and her parents had sent her to her aunt… she still chose joy.

Sermon Slide

It is my hope today that we will choose joy this season… but there is one more thing I must say about this…

You will never experience joy, real joy, until you accept the free gift that is Jesus, who came to us, God with Us.  Oh, you may experience happiness.  You may have joyous moments in life… but you will never experience the joy that comes from the abundant life lived in Jesus Christ.

PRAYER