Joy to the World....

“Joy to the World” - An Advent Devotion

Today’s Devotion

We’ve all probably heard countless times the phrase, “Jesus is the reason for the season.”

It’s a bit of a cliche comment at this point, but it remains true. The foundational reason we celebrate Christmas is to commemorate the most poignant mark in history, when God became a human baby to enter this world with the purpose of freeing it from the curse of sin.

So while Jesus is the center of Christmas, the bigger question that we’ll begin this devotional series with is this:

“What was the reason for Jesus?”

And in examining that question, we can take a good look at why Christmas – the observance of God becoming human – exists in the first place.

In order to understand the Christmas story, as we see most prominently described in Luke 2, we have to go all the way to the beginning of the Bible, in the Garden where Adam and Eve failed.

Genesis 3:17-18 NIV

17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.

After the Fall of humanity, there was little hope to restore the broken relationship between humans and God. When humans decided to disobey God, sin was born and the curse came. The prevalence of sin meant that God’s creation was no longer able to remain close with Him, but instead was left to toil in the harsh, sin-drenched world.

We still live in that same world, except there has been one very important change.

Jesus.

The little baby born in Bethlehem, Jesus the Christ, the Redeemer. And that is who we celebrate this season. We celebrate hope. We celebrate redemption. We celebrate that God doesn’t abandon His people, no matter how much they disobey.

As Issac Watts describes it in “Joy To The World,” the hope of Jesus spreads as “far as the curse is found.”

Sin has permeated all of existence, but through the work of Jesus, so has God’s love, mercy and endless forgiveness.

God is good, immeasurably good, and it is the act, where the Word of God left the heavenly realm and came into our broken mess as the baby Jesus that created the path back to restoration with God.

In Christmas, we have a light that points to the day where there will be no more death, no more decay, no more pain. And it is all because of Jesus Christ.

Yes, Jesus is the reason for the season… and heaven and nature sing.

Heaven and nature sing…

Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing!

Prayer

Jesus, Beautiful, wonderful Jesus. Thank you for what you have done for this world and for me. You give me hope and you bring me joy! May my heart catch on fire for the gift of your joy. May today be a day I am bursting with You that the world may see what I have alive in me, and that is You! Amen.

Peace and Hope

Last week was a tough week, I might have been a bit tough on you.

Peace and hope are all good and fine until you wake up on Monday morning and you turn on the television, log on to your email account or look at Facebook.

What we seem to be doing is allowing the circumstances around us to determine how to put a framework around our

Peace and Hope.

Instead why don’t we have a framework of peace and hope and let that frame how we look at the world.

So… here’s how it would look. How about taking a pause when you first wake up and asking God to give the peace and hope that to get you through that one day.

That one day that you can look at the world through a different kind of lens.

Remember this verse

Hebrews 11:1 NIV84

1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

Faith and hope are tied together with our uncertainty of what lies ahead.

Faith and hope lays the foundation for PEACE.

Like I said, Peace can be difficult. But it still comes back to our foundation. The claim that we can make each morning.

John 14:27 NIV84

27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

I’m learning… If you struggle with Faith, Hope and Peace I hope you too are learning the lessons that are necessary to live a different kind of life in the POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

The Power Of Joy!

Joy by the power by the Holy Spirit does allow us to look beyond our current circumstances.

Joy does allows a next effort kind of effect.

Because I am full of Joy when I wake up, maybe after your first coffee or diet Pepsi, Joy lights the fuse during the day to develop Hope and then as a result PEACE.

Our passage for today is once again from the Gospel of Luke.

Joy and happiness is scattered throughout the book of Luke. But if you look at the book as a whole there are 3 separate points where it is the focus of Luke’s writing

Last week we looked at the parts of this passage as it relates to Peace and Hope...

This week of course is Joy

POINT #1 - JOY IS EXPRESSED IN THE BIRTH OF CHRIST

Luke as he says writes this gospel or the “good news” having direct communication with those first witnesses of the Word,

Luke 1:2 NIV84

2 just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word.

It’s a little unusual here… They were the servants of the “word.”

That word translated “word” is “logos” the sense is that these subordinates or servants directly served the Gospel.

Logos = The “Good News” of Jesus Christ.

Luke was a physician, a scientist. he insisted on a succinct, orderly account that he could verify with the original seers and hearers of these words.

Luke sets the foundation of the Gospel of Jesus with the Story of John Baptist.

Zechariah and his wife were way past any ability to have children. But this impossibility was made possible by God.

Luke 1:13 NIV84

13 But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John.

The name “John” in Greek means “Jehovah has been Gracious.”

And God certainly was Gracious to Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth.

Here is comes the first use of “Joy.”

Luke 1:14 NIV84

14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth,

“He will be a JOY and DELIGHT to you...

The “joy” used here is the emotion of “joy.” It’s that welling up to happiness and delight and that is evident when something really great happens

Some of you know my story of coming here to Sunnyside. I waited 18 months and had put out 96 resumes and got a few interviews and talked to a few people but nothing had stuck.

My mentor suggested that I pursue Missions Northwest. I knew nothing about the organization. I had heard about the death of Tim Pettey from a mutual friend of Janette and wondered if that was for me.

It was a fleeting thought and a prayer for this congregation.

Working with the Missions Northwest folks they gave me three churches to look at… Here, Aberdeen, WA and somewhere east of nowhere in Idaho.

We couldn’t wait for anything to happen, so before I even had an interview we jumped in the car and drove to Sunnyside and parked out in front of the church and drove around the town.

Jack Cooper and I think we saw each other.

I had a phone interview and then a request for an in person interview. We met in Cle Ulm and spent 2-3 hours together.

At the end of that time together we were all making plans when this thing was going to happen.

Crickets… Crickets for like a couple of weeks. Well I heard there was another candidate that was being looked at.

My joy went to despair… very quickly.

After listening to some good counsel and praying about it, I rested knowing it was in God’s hands...

Another week went by...

Then finally I request from Tyler Alseth to come over and candidate for the position.

JOY, JOY, JOY! UNSPEAKABLE JOY!

Yes I understand that was not the kind of “joy” that I was supposed to have.

The “joy” that I am talking about, that I am advocating for all of us to have is a JOY that not dependent on a phone call, or someone else’s decision.

But is our decision, in spite of what has happened, in spite of the sufferings we are experiencing, that we choose “joy.”

I told you last week… I’m in process too and I’m getting there letting God’s HOPE, PEACE and JOY teach me and lead to that place.

I hope that you can join me there too!

Let’s get back to the scripture

Luke 1:14 NIV84

14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth,

John was positioned to be the pre-curser of Christ.

He would be a JOY AND DELIGHT to you!

You see God had been silent for 400 years from the end of the Prophet Malachi to the birth of Christ.

John came as a NEW prophet, proclaiming the coming birth of the Messiah… The Messiah, the one promised in scripture from centuries before.

Then the birth story of Jesus was told...

When Elizabeth was 6 months pregnant

Luke 1:26–27 NIV84

26 In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.

Of course Mary was uncertain…

Luke 1:34–35 NIV84

34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” 35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.

Mary’s answer is the only answer that is necessary...

Luke 1:38 NIV84

38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her.

You know the story here...

Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem, just like to prophecy had indicated where the Messiah would be born.

Micah 5:2 NIV84

2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”

Do you get your… “I wonder” look on your face when you hear about prophecy being fulfilled? I do...

For me its a matter of Faith and Trust. The Bible for me is God’s inerrant word. I trust that the words I read are true. Anything less would bring all of scripture into doubt and that is not possible. So I trust that Joseph brought Mary to Bethlehem where he grew up at the direction of Caesar Augustus the ruler for a census. And that fulfilled a prophecy give 500 years before that.

POINT #2 - GOD IS A GOD OF IMPOSSIBILITIES

Let’s look at the birth of Christ as one of those impossibilities.

Born of 16 year old virgin who an Angel told her that the Holy Spirit would come over her and she would carry the Christ child, the Messiah. — IMPOSSIBLE!

Joseph, pledged to her, so like engaged. He heard from an Angel that what has happened with Mary was from God and she should not dump her — IMPOSSIBLE in that culture.

The Angels came to a bunch of ragtag shepherds herding their sheep and told them of the birth of Christ and said to them

Luke 2:10–14 NIV84

10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

In our human way of thinking this is doubtful at best and IMPOSSIBLE at the worst.

God is a God of IMPOSSIBILITIES.

The birth of John and the birth of Christ highlights the IMPOSSIBLE nature of God.

What we hopefully understand looking forward from the birth of Jesus is the significance of these births. I new chapter in God’s efforts to redeem humanity has begun

Christ will grow, be baptized by John, do ministry with his 12, minister to 1000’s and 1000’s of people with His message of the coming Kingdom of God.

Christ will do his best reaching out to the Jews with this message, but it will be rejected and they will crucify Him.

He will be buried and rise again on the 3rd day. HE WILL BEAT THE GRAVE AND SATAN --- THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE!!

He picked Peter and Paul and a whole new generation of disciples to bring the message of Grace, Mercy, Forgiveness by Faith Alone

POINT #3 - THIS IS JOY UNDENIABLE

That God sent his only begotten Son to earth, to chose disciples, to lead and bring a new way of life to us.

That we would have opportunity to bring that new way of life. One of freedom from the the law, freedom from the consequences of sin and freedom to draw others into this relationship with God… THIS IS JOY UNDENIABLE!!!

We are God’s joy, and he is ours. He rejoices in our victories and mourns our failures. But because of what Jesus did 2020 years ago when we confess our sin he is standing with open arms welcoming us back into communion with Him.