Joy to the World

JOY TO THE WORLD 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.” Luke 2:10-11 Bethany Hamilton, once ranked as the best amateur teen surfer in Hawaii, lost an arm to a tiger shark in October 2003. Both her compassion and competitiveness, however, have reached a new level. Soon after the attack she began to raise money to restore a man's eyesight. While visiting New York City, she gave her ski coat to homeless girl. When asked about the gift, she said she had more than she needed in life. Her pastor, Steve Thompson, said, "She's looking forward to the future. She's asking herself, 'How can I show the world I still have a life, that I enjoy my life, and that my life is filled with joy?' She has an underlying trust that God is taking care of her." The amazing thing about Bethany’s story isn’t just how she has overcome such a vicious and debilitating attack, but her great attitude towards it all. But what should be more telling for us is that her attitude of joy is so unusual in our contemporary world. In this Christmas season, as we sing great songs like “Joy to the World,” it is hard not to notice that most people aren’t really all that joyful. Today I want to talk about the Christmas story from the perspective of joy –both the joy that it originally brought to our world, and the continuous joy that is available for everyone who claims Jesus Christ as Lord –let’s begin with: 1. THE DELAY OF JOY a. For the Jewish people, the wait for the coming of Messiah had been long and difficult. i. Their nation had been taken captive many times, and their history was one of both years of triumph as well as many years of slavery. ii. From the book of Genesis to the book of Malachi, God had promised and prophesied that the Messiah was on His way, the Deliverer they had hoped for. 1. Yet day after day, month after month, year after year passed by, and no Messiah arrived on the scene. 2. To top it off, by the time we reach the New Testament era, the people of Israel had not heard a word from God… any word from God… for over 400 years. b. I’m sure that some were beginning to doubt God’s promises i. others likely wondering if they had done something to cause Messiah’s delay ii. others held out hope that He would arrive on the scene any day now. c. Something very similar has taken place in most of our lives. i. We are longing for that joy that can only come to us as a gift from God. ii. I am convinced that without Christ in your life you cannot experience joy to its fullest extent. 1. You can be happy… you can have a good time… you can enjoy life to a certain extent… but 2. You cannot experience joy at its deepest, most satisfactory level until you know Jesus as Lord and Savior. d. The good news for us is that that joy is available to us as a free gift from God. i. The delay of joy was over for the Jewish people 2,000 years ago who believed in Jesus, and the delay can be over for us when we place our faith in Jesus the Messiah. ii. Jesus told His disciples of His love for them, and then He said: These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. John 15:11 e. If you don’t know that joy today, please keep listening, because I’ve got a lot more I want to tell you about it. 2. THE DISCOVERY OF JOY a. At the first Christmas, when the angel appeared to the Shepherds in the field he said: “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.” –Luke 2:10-11 i. When the angel Gabriel visited Mary and told her that she would give birth to the Messiah, she ran to tell her cousin Elizabeth who was pregnant also. ii. Elizabeth said: “For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.” –Luke 1: 44 b. Are you noticing the pattern here? i. Everyone who is receptive to the Messiah becomes filled with joy. ii. Those that discovered Him 2,000 years ago experienced it and it’s no different for those who discover Him today. c. Once a man named Zacchaeus, who was much despised by other Jews, climbed up in a tree so that he could hear Jesus speak. i. Jesus looked up at Zacchaeus and invited Himself over to Zacchaeus’ house for dinner: 1. So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. –Luke 19: 6 2. And when Zacchaeus placed his faith in Jesus, Jesus said: “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” –Luke 19: 9-10 d. Jesus mission on earth, both then and now, is make Himself known to those who have open hearts to discover Him. i. His purpose is to seek out those who don’t know Him and reveal Himself to them. ii. Even on the Cross, as Jesus hung there breathing His last breath, He turned to the repentant thief hanging next to Him and said: “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” –Luke 23: 43 e. Jesus offers the same promise to those of us today who have discovered Him i. He promises eternal life, security for the future, hope for tomorrow, peace of mind, and everlasting joy. ii. So Jesus makes the offer, but He leaves it up to us to choose whether we will accept His offer or not. 1. For those of us who have discovered Jesus, we experience the same joy as Mary, and the Shepherds, and so many others 2,000 years ago. 2. It isn’t joy in the sense of a cheap laugh, or that we are always happy and always have smiles on our faces. 3. It is the kind of joy that comes from having the deep-seated satisfaction of knowing that you are in an eternal relationship with the God of the universe. 4. If you don’t have that today, you can if you’ll put your trust in Jesus Christ. 3. THE DEVELOPMENT OF JOY a. At the beginning of this message I told you about Bethany Hamilton, the surfer who lost her arm in a shark attack. i. Let me read to you again what her Pastor Steve Thompson said about her: "She's looking forward to the future. She's asking herself, 'How can I show the world I still have a life, that I enjoy my life, and that my life is filled with joy?' She has an underlying trust that God is taking care of her." ii. Let me tell you, that kind of an attitude didn’t come about overnight. 1. I don’t know Bethany personally, but I can pretty much guarantee you that her faith in Christ was extremely mature prior to the shark attack. 2. It’s one thing to experience joy when you first become a Christian, or if life is going great, but to be able to experience joy when tragedy strikes takes a level of maturity that has to be developed over time. a. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. –James 1: 2-4 b. God never gives us any guarantees that trials won’t be a part of our lives. i. I’ve known Christians who have had cancer, who have lost their children, who have been in horrible accidents, and who have suffered every imaginable tragedy. ii. And you know what? as difficult as it may seem, God can actually use these times of trial to bring joy into our lives. a. Jesus didn’t come to remove every problem that we have b. but He did come to equip us to deal with them in a way that would bring us joy. i. James says that when our faith is tested, and we endure the test, we begin to develop into joy-filled, mature Christ followers. ii. Now to endure the test, and to overcome, and to develop joy we need to focus our lives upon the Christ of Christmas, as well as the Christ of the Cross and Resurrection. c. One thing that helps me in this area is to place my focus on what Jesus Himself endured. i. He left the glory of heaven to live in an impoverished state in a sin-sick world. ii. He came to save His people from their sins but most of them rejected Him. 1. In fact, they rejected Him to the point that they had no qualms about having Him nailed to a Cross and crucified. 2. Yet in the end, Jesus proved through His resurrection from the dead, that God has the power to conquer anything and everything that would try to rob us of joy. d. After listing many hardships he had to go through for the Kingdom of God, the Apostle Paul said: As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything. –2 Corinthians 6: 10 i. Paul understood that the development of joy doesn’t derive from the best of circumstances, but from having the presence of God in our lives. ii. And that presence of God becomes known and developed by placing our trust in Him, come what may. 4. THE DESTINATION OF JOY a. Sometimes I think We tend to think of the temporal, and what will bring us immediate pleasure. i. Yet the Christmas season should force us to contemplate much deeper things. 1. The God of the universe came to earth in the form of a man, 2. lived amongst us, 3. died for our sins, 4. rose from the dead, 5. and promises all that accept Him as Lord eternal joy with Him in heaven. ii. While we have to focus on the here and now, if we place some level of emphasis on what is to come, it will help us to better deal with the here and now. iii. When I know that one day I will have the privilege to worship at the feet of the one who came that Christmas day so many years ago, it helps to put my life leading up to that moment in a whole different perspective. b. Paul was writing to the Church at Thessalonica and he had this to say: For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? For you are our glory and joy. –1 Thessalonians 2: 19-20 i. He was talking about the eternal joy these Christians would share, not just with Christ, but with each other, when they arrived at their final destination. ii. One of these days we are going to be standing together, hand in hand, in front of our Savior worshipping together. iii. And unlike today, we will come before Him with no sickness, and no cares, and no sin in our lives. iv. The joy that we experience today in Christ, as great as it is, will pale in comparison to the joy that is our destiny. v. And I, for one, can’t wait until that day becomes a reality for us. Conclusion: As I stand up here and speak of “joy to the world” today, I know that there are some here who aren’t experiencing joy. while I don’t claim to know everything you’re feeling, I do know that even in the midst of trial, joy can be yours. Please place your trust in Jesus Christ, and you will begin to see the difference.