Joy Worth Filling Up On

Joy to the world! Joyful Joyful we adore Thee!, Ode to Joy! O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel! O tidings of comfort and joy! Good Christian men rejoice! Joy is the song that we sing this season. Joy is the art on my Christmas card. It is the theme of my ugly Christmas sweater. Joy is plastered on my coffee mug in candy-cane stripes. It is the centerpiece of a thousand commercials and radio spots. Joy is a giant inflatable yard decoration, and if you are a For King and Country fan, it is what I must choose to let it move me.

Joy is the buzzword of Christmas. It’s shiny and cheerful, glistening in shiny bows and metallic wrapping paper.In fact, joy has been commandeered by Christmas. It comes out to play every 25th of December, and then it goes sliding away with Frosty the Snowman until it comes back again someday. But what is joy? How does joy fill you?

Is joy what you experience as you finally rip through the wrapping paper covering the gifts that your loved ones have given you? Is joy what you feel when you get everything that you asked for? Or is it the feeling that you experience as you watch those you love open the things that you gave them? Is joy waffles and hot chocolate? Is it sleeping in and spending a long morning in your pj’s? Is it super-full contentment that you have as you push away from the Christmas table? Is joy a candle-light service? Is it the warmth and comfort of family and friends gathered together from far away places?

I saw a commercial recently. Mom pulls up to the house in a brand new Lincoln Navigator. She walks into the house to find her husband and children attempting to decorate with drones, and, rather than deal with it, she goes back out to the car, cranks up the music, and as she leans back her sleek leather seat, the sales pitch reads “comfort and joy.”

Is that what joy is? What is Joy? Can you define it? According to Miriam-Webster, joy is “the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires.” And I don’t mean to be cynical, but is that all that there is to it? Joy is a trumped-up version of happiness that lasts for a season, but ultimately, is just as fleeting? If that is what joy really is, then I really don’t see what all of the fuss is about.

All of these things that I’ve mentioned this morning, all of these ways that we seek joy from during this season are fleeting. None of them last. There isn’t anything wrong with them! I love gathering with family and friends. It is good for us to give and receive gifts as we express love to one another. It is fun to eat special foods, and to have a feast of celebration. There isn’t anything wrong with that, we see many of them in Scripture. I love yard decorations, and anybody that has driven by my house knows it. The Christmas Eve service is one of my favorite services of the entire year. I don’t think anyone in here would complain about receiving a new car for Christmas, and I’m sure at one moment or another, all of us will long for that moment of solitude and comfort amidst the chaos that is the Christmas season.

But in the end, all of these things will end. And those of us that are enduring pain, who suffer under the anguish of ongoing grief, they seem artificial and superfluous in general. The gifts, even those as big as a car, will lose their luster. That sweater that aunt Judy made you is going into a drawer. The food will be gone, and our family and friends are going back home and into the rhythm of every day life. The inflatables and the decorations are going to be shoved back in the shed, and I wonder, will our joy be boxed up with them? Will we bottle up this idea of joy until next year at this time, when again we wrap boxes in flashy paper?

Maybe I’m just a dreamer, but I have to believe that there is more to joy than that. I can’t accept that joy would be so fleeting, that it would go out with the end of the Christmas season as another empty promise of commercialism. Joy, I think, is supposed to be something real. It should be something almost tangible. When I open the pages of Scripture, I find a different picture of joy. I see God’s people commanded and exhorted over and over again to be a people of joy. God’s people are to count it as joy when the suffer. James 1:2-4

James 1:2–4 NASB95

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

We are supposed to have joy in times of abundance and rich blessing, sure. But over and again, we are told in passages like this one to have joy when we face pain, loss, suffering, grief, heartache, want, and persecution. One example that stands out in my mind comes from Acts chapter 5.

The disciples were preaching the Gospel in and around Jerusalem, and the Sadducees got jealous of the crowds, and so they had the disciples arrested and thrown into jail. But an angel appeared in the middle of the night, and led them out, telling them to go preach the Gospel. And when they were arrested again and questioned, the end result is that they are beaten and released. And in Acts 5:41, the Scripture says

Acts 5:41 NASB95

So they went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name.

That, friends, is a different kind of joy. This is the joy that we need.This isn’t a fleeting, momentary feeling; this joy is something much greater. And all of the different ways and places that we hear about joy this season are reflections of the truth. They are reflections that leave us wanting, but that point us back to true joy, the joy of the Lord. This is the joy that we are searching for. It is a joy that is not just an emotion, but that drives your emotion. It is not how you feel, but an outlook and perspective on life. And this morning, we find it in Christmas.

Open your Bibles with me, if you will, to Luke chapter 2. This morning, we are going to pick up right in the middle of the Christmas story. Luke tells us that Joseph and Mary traveled to Bethlehem because that was where their family had to register for the census. And while they were there, Mary gave birth to our Lord, Jesus, and they lay Him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. And so, as we pick up in the text, we’re going to start in Luke 2, verse 8 reading together, and as we do so, I invite those who are able to stand with me in honor of the reading of God’s Word:

Luke 2:8–17 NASB95

In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. “This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.” When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, “Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.” So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the manger. When they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child.

Would you pray with me? Lord, Jesus, we are here this morning in pursuit of your joy. This Christmas, we long to be filled with it. We want to understand it in ways that we never have before. Would You reveal your joy to us us now, as we have never seen it? Would You open our eyes as we study Your Word together so that we can see it and understand it. Lord, would You help us to wonder at these things, that our lives may be changed by them. In Jesus Name we pray, Amen.

Thank you, you may be seated. And as you find your seat, I want to talk to you for a moment about shepherds. Shepherds, in the time of Christ, were largely nomadic. They were the most akin to the homeless people of their day. They may have had tents set up somewhere in the area, but those were for the chief shepherd, the man who owned the sheep. But verse 8 says that

Luke 2:8–10 NASB95

In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people;

This text tells us that these shepherds were staying out in the field, with the sheep. They were keeping the night watch over the flock. These were probably hired men or the sons of the shepherd. They were the lowest of the low.

When I’ve been working out in the yard, and I come into the house. I’m stinky and dirty, and Bethany wants me to take a shower before I do anything else. After all, who wants to be around a dirty, stinky man? But that’s exactly what these guys were. They didn’t work in the fields, they lived there. Shepherds were the lowest of the low. They weren’t in the same boat as Lepers and the sick, but they were pretty close. Their circumstances couldn’t have gotten much worse than they were on that evening, when they found the joy of the Lord. If you’ve got your listening guide with you this morning, why don’t you go ahead and get that out, or open the link there on the Facebook thread. God wants to help us but the first thing that I want you to write down this morning comes from these lowly shepherds and it’s this, that

God’s joy will fill those who are ready for it

There is no circumstance where the joy of the Lord cannot reach you. There is no hole so deep that His joy cannot guide you through it. What can we learn from angels appearing to lowly shepherds? God did not send His angel delegation to fill the palace of kings. He did not send them to the priests in the temple, to the inner rooms of the high priest’s household, or the lofty courts of the wealthy. No, those places were filled with distracted men, men whose own self interest would have traded the joy of that moment for something else entirely. To these men, God’s joy was not a blessing, but a threat. After all, there joy was in their wealth, and their positions, in their knowledge and understanding. Their joy was in who they knew and who knew them. They were preoccupied with schemes of men, not the pursuits of the Lord. Their religion was of outward piety, not love for God.

No, God didn’t send notice to these men, they should have already known. It was written in the prophets, after all! God sent His angels, the royal delegation, to the lowly and outcast, that He might honor them with His joy. These men were not distracted. They knew their station. They were cold and their eyes were fixed on the shadows. They were accustomed to darkness, when the light of heaven blinded them. There was nothing competing for the joy of heaven as the angels appeared.

I wonder, what competes with God’s joy in your heart? Are you ready to receive it? Will you see it when it comes, or is the light so bright from the distractions around you that the glow of heaven is no longer alluring? You cannot see the splendor of the heavens from beneath the city’s lights. His joy is here for those that will receive it. Are you ready to receive Him?

The angel told these shepherds Good News. The Gospel was proclaimed by angels to lowly shepherds in the dead of night. As the light streamed around them, they heard a message that was for all people. Anyone can receive it. Anyone can receive the joy of Jesus. If God’s joy can come to shepherds, there is no one that it can’t fill, there is nowhere that it can’t reach. If God’s joy can warm the hearts of nomad vagabonds shivering in desert fields, there is no circumstance that is beyond its reach. God’s joy is here for those who would receive it. It was true in that moment, and it is true today.

A few years ago, I saw an article about a company that was making a custom car kit to make a Mazda Miata look like a 1967 Ford Mustang, and my thought was why? Why settle for a reflection, when you can have the real thing. This Christmas, you don’t have to settle for the reflection of joy. You can have the real thing. The joy of the Lord is here. It is a joy that we so desperately need, and it is available to everyone, but you have to be ready to receive it.

Isn’t it striking that the angel goes to the shepherds? They weren’t looking for the arrival of Christ, and yet it found them! They were not even aware that the joy of the Lord would be theirs that night, but it found them anyway.We serve a God that will meet you where you’re at. He isn’t waiting for you to come to Him, He is right where you are. He is ready to meet you with His love. He longs to fill you with His joy, a joy that will never leave you, that will always be with you- if you will receive it. If you will receive it. You have to receive it. I love that verses 15-17 tell us

Luke 2:15–17 NASB95

When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, “Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.” So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the manger. When they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child.

God’s joy found them, and they were ready to receive it. They left their flocks in the fields, and they went to find this baby born in a manger. What would you leave today to receive the joy of the Lord? This Christmas, what reflection are you clinging to that gets in the way of the real deal, this joy for all nations. Priests and kings did not find His joy that night, but shepherds did, because His joy is here in Jesus for all who are ready to receive it. Look at verses 10-12 with me:

Luke 2:10–12 NASB95

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. “This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

The joy of the Lord is here for those who will receive it, because, as the second thing I would have you to note this morning,

God is the source of the joy that will fill us

This gift of Jesus is born for all people. We focus on the lowly state of the manger, the Son of God in a feeding trough, born in a barn, wrapped in cloth. And yet, where else could everyone reach Him? God put His Son in the lowest of places so that even the lowest could be filled with His joy.

The joy for all people, the joy that will fill us is God Himself. He is the gift of Christmas, given for all, so that all who would receive Him may do so. Isaiah 9 promised us it would be like this.

Isaiah 9:6 NASB95

For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

Jesus is the joy of our Father, given to us as a gift, that He might be our Immanuel, our God with us. Jesus was born in a feeding trough, not just to become the lowest and most humble, but so that we could come and eat from the source. In the humility of the manger, we find access for all. We can be filled with the joy of the Lord, for it for that very purpose that He was given to us.

John 6:35 NASB95

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.

What is the source of your joy this Christmas? Have you let go of the fading, and elusive reflections found in the trappings of this world so that you can cling to the unending source of joy? What greater joy has ever been given than that God is with us? What other joy has been so freely given to anyone that would receive it? Who has been born to us? the Savior. The One that can free us from the tyranny of sin and death. Born to raise the Sons of Earth! Born to give them second birth! Joyful all, Ye nations rise, and join the triumph of the skies.

The One that will rule in our hearts forever is here with us. It is only in Christ that such joy can come. It is only in Him that you can be so filled. Where else can you find joy in your aching, emptiness? What other joy is unfading, but the One that flows from an eternal source!

Let Jesus be the source of your joy. Let it start today, and you will have your fill! He has come for those that are ready to be filled. He will meet you where you are at, and He will be your source of joy forever. There is nowhere He can’t reach you, and there is nothing you will face in this life or eternity that can rob you of His joy. What else are you clinging to? What else could make such a promise.

We could dwell all of Christmas on the joy that will fill you in Jesus, our source. But as we draw closer to the edge of our time together this morning, there is one more thing I wanted to show you. Look at verses 12-14

Luke 2:12–14 NASB95

“This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”

Glory to God in the highest! A great multitude of the heavenly host had a party that night on the plains of Bethlehem, singing glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased. Peace on earth among the servants of God, and glory to God? Why Because Jesus, the joy of Christmas had come. He has come to meet you where you are at. He has come to fill those who would receive Him. He has come to be our source of Joy, now and throughout eternity!

You might say in Jesus, we find the great statement of our joy. He is the author of our joy, it is His creation. It is His idea. He is the subject of our joy. He is the one that brings it about. He is the one who does the doing. Jesus does for us what we are incapable of doing for ourselves. He is the one that brings us the joy of salvation.

Jesus is the verb of our joy. He is the action itself. Why is the Joy of the Lord ours at Christmas? Is it not because Jesus came? Jesus was born. Jesus dwells among us. Jesus is the one that fills us, And He is the filling with which we are filled. Jesus is the author, the subject, and the verb of our joy, but He doesn’t stop there,

Jesus is the object of our joy

In grammar, the object is the one that receives the action, and Jesus is the One that receives the action of our Joy. What is it that the angels sang as the heavenly host filled the skies on that night? Glory to God! Glory to God with great joy, all nations! Glory to God in the Highest!

What is it that drove the shepherds to leave everything and run to Bethlehem? Would they have reason to go, but for that child in the manger? As they bowed down in worship before Him, as they told everyone around them of the proclamation of angels, was it not to the glory of the baby born King of the Universe? As wise men appeared before Him, bowing with gifts of gold, myrrh and frankincense, was it not to His honor? Was His honor in worship not the reason they traveled all of that way?

Is His worship not why we are gathered here this morning? His church gathers in this place, not so that we can honor ourselves with the things that we like, not so that we can sing songs we enjoy, not so that we can we can simply check off a box on the way to another reflection we cling to, we come to this place so that our King may be worshipped. We come because Jesus is our joy. He is the fullness of God, wrapped in human flesh, that we can know His joy forever.

Though I may not love a song this season, it is my joy that He is praised! Though I may not get a thing that I wanted, His name shall be glorified with exceeding joy. Though I may not see the relatives I long for, though this season may pass as quickly as it came, my joy will grow, it will flame higher and higher because Jesus is its author, and its subject, its verb and its object. Jesus is the joy that I seek.

This morning, He can be yours as well. Where is your joy this Christmas? Can you say that, truly, it is Him? It isn’t too late for you this morning. Today there is time to join with the chorus, join the song of the angels, join in the joy of salvation. We’re going to sing a song together. The people of God are going to sing a song of worship to our great Joy to close our time together this morning. And if He isn’t your joy just yet, we can change that today. I’m going to pray for you, and then we’re going to sing. And if you long for the joy of our Savior this morning, won’t you come see me today. I’ll be right over here. I’d love to talk with you. Won’t you come find that the Babe in a manger Has come so that You can know Joy today.

Let’s pray together: Lord, Jesus, we long for your joy this Christmas. I am tired of the reflections, I need the real thing. And this morning, I am ready to lay down the distractions I have been clinging to and to receive you right here in this place. Would You come now, and become joy for me? Would You free me from my sins, and be my King forever? Would You fill me as my source forever, that the joy of Christmas would stay with me regardless of the season of life that I am walking in? Meet me now, even as You met those lowly shepherds, that I may taste of Your goodness and rejoice. In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.