Joy to the World
WORSHIP TOGETHER @ CHRISTMAS • Sermon • Submitted
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· 11 viewsSermon 3 in series on Christmas Hymns, Worship Together, and Scripture
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Let the whole earth shout to the Lord; be jubilant, shout for joy, and sing.
JOY TO THE WORLD:
1. Joy to the world! the Lord is come;
Let earth receive her King;
Let ev'ry heart prepare Him room,
And heav'n and nature sing,
And heav'n and nature sing,
And heav'n and nature sing.
2. Joy to the earth! the Savior reigns;
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy.
2. Joy to the earth! the Savior reigns;
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy.
3. No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found.
3. No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found.
4. He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love.
4. He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love.
…The Hymn Story: If the father of medicine was Hippocrates and the father of the telephone was Alexander Graham Bell, then the father of English hymns was none other than Isaac Watts. Having penned a massive collection of over 750 hymns, Watts’ work is still being printed in books, projected onto screens and sung by Christians worldwide.
Isaac Watts was born in 1674, in South Hampton England. Raised in a deeply religious family, Watts’ earliest memories were of his father’s concrete convictions about religious liberty. Watts Sr. even spent time in prison on two separate occasions for his outspoken Nonconformist views. (Rather than conforming to the Church of England, Nonconformists were typically Presbyterians or Baptists who wanted to worship in a government-free church.) Isaac Watt’ parents saw to it that their love for Christ and His word were passed on to their son.
Believe it or not Watts’ work, in his day, was not always well received. You see, Watts was boldly introducing (what was for his time, contemporary) “praise and worship” songs into the life of the church. (Think of Isaac Watts as the Chris Tomlin or Matt Papa of his day.) Up until that point, the song selection in most Protestant churches was limited almost exclusively to the Psalms. John Calvin, during the Reformation, had translated the Psalms into the common language of his people (French) so that they could be sung corporately. Many English-speaking churches followed in his pattern. When Watts came along, though, he began introducing extra-biblical poetry into his songs. To some, this was anathema. To others, it was a breath of fresh air.
Watts’ lyrical goal, as one author put it, was to wed “emotional subjectivity” and “doctrinal objectivity.” Songs such as When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, Alas! And Did My Savior Bleed, I Sing the Mighty Power of God and O God, Our Help in Ages Past were a blend of personal reflection and emotional reaction couched in rich theological convictions. His songs put the old wine of faith into the new wineskins of English rhyme and poetry. Isaac Watts was giving new life to church worship.
Like Calvin did for the people of his day, Watts also published a work in 1719 that was a translation or rewriting of the Psalms for congregational singing. The hymnbook was entitled (it’s long, so prepare yourself), The Psalms of David: Imitated in the Language of the New Testament and Applied to the Christian State and Worship. In other words, Watts read the Old Testament in light of the New Testament and wrote his Psalm-book to explicitly point to the person and work of Christ. In that collection, you will find Watts’ rewriting of . Watts interpreted this psalm as a celebration of Jesus’s role as King of both his church and the whole world. More than a century later, the second half of this poem was slightly adapted and set to music to give us what has become one of the most famous of all Christmas carols.
(AVB/Acappella v. 4!)
While Watts’ original focus was on Jesus’ return, I believe we can celebrate today—at Christmas—Jesus’ birth…sinless life…death…resurrection…return…essentially = HIS ETERNAL REIGN! JOY TO THE WORLD...
JOY…AT JESUS’ ARRIVAL! [JttW v. 1]
Elizabeth & Baby John the Baptizer […the baby leaped for joy…]
When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped inside her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Then she exclaimed with a loud cry: “Blessed are you among women, and your child will be blessed! How could this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For you see, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped for joy inside me.
Luke 1.
Mary […My soul praises, and my spirit rejoices…]
Luke 1.46-49
And Mary said: My soul praises the greatness of the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, because he has looked with favor on the humble condition of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed, because the Mighty One has done great things for me, and his name is holy.
And Mary said: My soul praises the greatness of the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, because he has looked with favor on the humble condition of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed, because the Mighty One has done great things for me, and his name is holy.
Luke 1.
Simeon
Simeon […praised God…]
Simeon
Simeon took him up in his arms, praised God, and said, Now, Master, you can dismiss your servant in peace, as you promised. For my eyes have seen your salvation.
Luke 2.28-30
Anna […began to thank God…]
There was also a prophetess, Anna, a daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was well along in years, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and was a widow for eighty-four years. She did not leave the temple, serving God night and day with fasting and prayers. At that very moment, she came up and began to thank God and to speak about him to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.
Luke 2.36-38
Time and again, the Timeless One’s birth was met with big-time expressions of JOY!
JOY…JESUS REIGNS! [JttW v. 2]
“Let men their songs employ!”
Let the whole earth shout to the Lord; be jubilant, shout for joy, and sing. Sing to the Lord with the lyre, with the lyre and melodious song. With trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn shout triumphantly in the presence of the Lord, our King.
Come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
Psa
Hallelujah! Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the assembly of the faithful.
Psa
“While fields and floods; rocks, hills, and plains…!”
Let the sea and all that fills it, the world and those who live in it, resound. Let the rivers clap their hands; let the mountains shout together for joy before the Lord, for he is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world righteously and the peoples fairly.
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the expanse proclaims the work of his hands. Day after day they pour out speech; night after night they communicate knowledge. There is no speech; there are no words; their voice is not heard. Their message has gone out to the whole earth, and their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun. It is like a bridegroom coming from his home; it rejoices like an athlete running a course. It rises from one end of the heavens and circles to their other end; nothing is hidden from its heat.
Psalm 19.1-6
Our Savior reigns! Let’s repeat, repeat, repeat the JOYFUL good news!
JOY…JESUS DESTROYS SIN! [JttW v. 3]
Sin and sorrows…thorns infest the ground
The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
Gen 3.6,
And he said to the man, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘Do not eat from it’: The ground is cursed because of you. You will eat from it by means of painful labor all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. You will eat bread by the sweat of your brow until you return to the ground, since you were taken from it. For you are dust, and you will return to dust.”
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
He makes His blessings flow…as far as the curse is found!
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Rom 3.
But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. How much more then, since we have now been declared righteous by his blood, will we be saved through him from wrath. For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life.
For the creation eagerly waits with anticipation for God’s sons to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to futility—not willingly, but because of him who subjected it—in the hope that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage to decay into the glorious freedom of God’s children. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now. Not only that, but we ourselves who have the Spirit as the firstfruits—we also groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.
Rom 8.
From all the impact of our sin....our sinless Savior—for the JOY set before Him—through the cross & resurrection, redeemed us! How great our JOY!
JOY…JESUS IS GREAT & GOOD! [JttW v. 4]
He…makes the nations prove…the glories of His righteousness! [Greatness=150.2b]
Praise him for his powerful acts; praise him for his abundant greatness.
For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on his shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. The dominion will be vast, and its prosperity will never end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from now on and forever. The zeal of the Lord of Armies will accomplish this.
…and wonders of His love! [Goodness=150.2a]
Praise him for his powerful acts; praise him for his abundant greatness.
God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his one and only Son into the world so that we might live through him. Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Our Great, Good, and Wondrous Lord…compels our hearts to JOYOUS celebration!
CONCLUDING APPLICATION...
But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. How much more then, since we have now been declared righteous by his blood, will we be saved through him from wrath. For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.
And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.
[Especially verse 11!]
Sing to the Lord with the lyre, with the lyre and melodious song.