Advent - Joy
Notes
Transcript
Advent - Joy
Advent - Joy
8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” 15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
The text we heard read this morning is familiar to many of us as we have read about the Birth of Christ many times in our lives.
There is, however, one part I want us to focus in on this year. The concept of Joy. The angels declares that, “ they bring good news of great JOY for all people”.
What is this good news? What will be great Joy for all people? A Savior is being born, he is Christ the Lord.
He is more than a baby being born but this baby IS Christ, or the Messiah that has been promised. He is the holy and anointed one - Christ. And this Christ child IS the LORD!
The child is divine, he is God incarnate, or in the flesh. This is Good news, the Savior has come. How could news that a Savior coming not be good news? But they said this news would also be a ‘Great Joy for all people’.
Can this be right? All people? What about those who would reject Christ as the savior?
Many have looked at the language here and taught us, rightly, that when the Greek says all people it is referring to the entire nation of Israel, or all of God’s people. and while that is technically right, I would submit to you that it is more than that.
All people included those outside of Israel, people known as gentiles. And we see that the good news of great joy will include them as well. Here is the first place we see it after this scene with the Angels talking to the Shepherds.
25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. 27 And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, 28 he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, 29 “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; 30 for my eyes have seen your salvation 31 that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”
God has allowed to be recorded in scripture that this man was waiting for the ‘consolation of Israel’ … The idea of a savior coming at that time was mainly good news for God’s people who had long been waiting on God to fulfill his promises of bring a savior to his people.
And yet this is great Joy for all people, because of what Simeon said here, Jesus is a ‘light of revelation to the gentiles’.
This language is telling us that those outside of God’s people at that time, were thought of as blind and lost, and here this child will be a light of revelation for them. The good news of Great joy for us, is to know we are blind and lost until we hear of Jesus! How do we know?
The concept of joy biblically is different than what we may think.
Joy is a state of being
Joy is a state of being
Joy is closely related to gladness and happiness but is more of a state of being than an emotion.Joy is a result of choice. It is part of the fruit of the Spirit as outlined in Galatians 5 . Having Joy is meant to be part of the normal experience of being a Christian.
Now I did not say, that being a Christian means you are always going to be happy or cheerful. I feel as though when we talk about this holiday season that we hear things like, “This is a season of Joy” and it is equated to having a holly jolly Christmas. It reduces Joy to a mere emotion that is a result of fortunate circumstances.
If that were true, then Jesus coming to be a light of revelation to us, as a Savior, would mean that we have to to see our need for him, because we are helpless before a Holy God to stand on any of our works. Rather, we are hopeless sinners who would rightfully be judged for our sins, and Jesus coming has revealed the depth of our sinfulness and hopelessness, because he was perfect and lived righteously in every way.
What I am saying is, that needing a Savior to come implies that you are in grave danger. You are in danger and darkness, but good news a baby has been born… Do you see how this isn’t what would square with the common ideas about Joy?
Maybe not. Give me a minute to help develop this idea of what biblical joy is. Once we have a handle on this then we will circle back to this scene we opened with.
In the past few weeks we have been pulling out the Hebrew and Greek words for hope and Peace. I could do the same here, but I think explaining the meaning will be more beneficial than teaching you how to say them… Plus I cant pronounce them.
In the OT, Joy is closely related to the idea of victory over one’s enemies. Here is an example...
6 As they were coming home, when David returned from striking down the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with songs of joy, and with musical instruments.
Songs of Joy are sung because of David killing the Philistine… Goliath. This a state of being ‘Gladdened’ because of the victory won for them.
Now, if the story of David killing Goliath really isn’t about how you can defeat your enemies in the name of the Lord… You are not David, and Goliath does not represent your biggest scariest fears. No, in fact we would say that best way to read this story is to see that David was a type of Christ, that him defeating Goliath on behalf of the people of Israel is a beautiful picture of how Jesus defeated sin for his people.
If that is true, then why stop the story there? But look at how they celebrated David when he came back to his people? With songs of JOY! How do we celebrate Jesus the one who truly defeated death, hell and the grave… He won a victory over our sin… And so perhaps we also should celebrate more with songs of joy.
But Joy being connected to victory isn’t only seen in a few places. What about when God delievered his people from Egypt, They immediately come out to worship God with Joy, and they are in the middle of the dessert. They are not in a place where most would be joyful but they are in a state of being because of the victory their God won for them. and so we see it told to us how they came out of Egypt..
43 So he brought his people out with joy, his chosen ones with singing.
And so knowing what it looked like for them to come out and wander in the wilderness it is is easy to understand that Joy was not about their current circumstances but their future position, as they were headed for the promised land.
And while joy in the OT it was connected to the idea of victory and is was also associated with religious acts like feasts that included sacrifices.
6 And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the Lord.
Joy here is heard with shouts and singing, while sacrificing. And again notice how its related to an idea of victory. Being lifted up when in the midst of your enemies… It is a state being in the midst of all your circumstances, especially when surrounded by enemies.
Joy also occurs a lot in the Psalms and songs of praise found all over the OT. Here are a few...
1 May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble! May the name of the God of Jacob protect you! 2 May he send you help from the sanctuary and give you support from Zion! 3 May he remember all your offerings and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices! Selah 4 May he grant you your heart’s desire and fulfill all your plans! 5 May we shout for joy over your salvation, and in the name of our God set up our banners! May the Lord fulfill all your petitions! 6 Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed; he will answer him from his holy heaven with the saving might of his right hand. 7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
Seems like a shouts of Joy are a choice that his people make. Seems like where we place our trust in this life will either make it easy for us to have Joy or not.
Joy is commanded in our worship of God
Joy is commanded in our worship of God
But it is commanded in our worship all over Psalms. There are so many places we could see this but I will show you just a few. the point is that we see God’s word command us in how we worship God.
1 Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright.
If you are the righteousness of God in Christ, then shout for Joy! Why??? Because Praise befits the upright.
That means this is normal for those that are upright or belong to him.
1 Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy! 2 For the Lord, the Most High, is to be feared, a great king over all the earth.
Well have you ever heard of quiet joy? Seems like Joy is something that can be seen and heard. And we are not told to have this emotional response because of just hype… We are to shouts with loud songs of Joy, because of who our God is!
But the Bible continues to develop the idea that Joy is something God’s people have, and when the Prophets talk about it, it is something that God will remove from his people when they go into exile and something that he will restore to them when he brings them out.
25 “As for you, son of man, surely on the day when I take from them their stronghold, their joy and glory, the delight of their eyes and their soul’s desire, and also their sons and daughters,
God was warning through the prophet, that he was taking these things away from his people and sending them into exile. But his punitive actions towards his people were never meant to be a lasting judgement. He also promised to restore them.
10 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
Everlasting Joy! When God restores it, it is for an everlasting joy to be on your head. Sorrow and sighing shall flee away. I love the contrast that is giving here. It’s like he is saying the season where sorrow and sighing are all you know will be replaced with gladness and joy!
13 Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy; I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.
Joy is the antidote for mourning. When God’s people were hopeless and he returned them, he restored their joy.
So again Joy is tied to an idea of victory. In that case victory over their enemies that carried them off into exile.
But Joy is always this expression that God’s people choose and are commanded to show.
In the NT, Joy is still used for Victory, but the battle lines seem to be different. Here is what I mean. Look how it is used here when Jesus sent out his disciples to preach the Kingdom has come near and heal the sick in Luke 10. When they return we see this concept of Joy and victory...
17 The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!”
So who are the enemies here? They return with JOY because the enemies, the demons are subject to them in Jesus’ name!
The victory wasn’t in them, it was in his name and the enemy wasn’t people. Go back and read the account of Jesus sending them, there would be people who would reject them and the message, but they weren’t the enemy that they would be given victory over.
They Had JOY because demons were no match for Jesus!
But in the NT, Joy being related to victory ,begins to focus more on salvation. Joy becomes not just something that we will experience or something that we will choose as a state of being… It is shown as a response in heaven because of salvation.
7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
When people respond to the gospel and get saved, it causes JOY in heaven. It causes more than just rejoicing, but a state of being, that is a confident state of gladness even though all of earth looks darkened by sin and its people are bound and blinded from their sinful nature… Yet, in heaven there is Joy because of those that God gracious saves.
Think back to where we started today, the Christmas story of the birth of Christ. The Angels proclaim they are sharing, “good news of Great Joy for all peoples”.
These Angels were not only telling them that people will have joy because of the good news of a savior coming to earth in the flesh that is Christ the Lord, but they themselves will experience this Joy in knowing that salvation is coming.
But the idea of Joy will grow for the early church in ways it didn’t for the OT saints. They carried a message that was Good News, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The message that God in Jesus Christ defeated death hell and the grave, and those who believe on him for the forgiveness of their sins will inherit eternal life.
And when you believe a message like that, it is suddenly a lot more reasonable to have Joy in the worst of sufferings. And so the early church is marked with REJOICING in the face of suffering.
Rejoicing is the act of praising God verbally or singing as an expression of JOY!
Rejoicing is how our joy becomes visible
Rejoicing is how our joy becomes visible
You can see and hear the expression of Joy when God’s people sing and shout for Joy!
And so in the book of Acts, we see the apostles are thrown in jail and beaten for preaching Christ… Yet when they are released they Rejoice, because they are counted worthy to suffer with Christ.
For those of you who have been around the church for a while, what book in the NT do you think of When you hear of Rejoicing?
Philippians?
4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.
This is a very commonly known verse, because it is simply telling us to never stop showing our expression of Joy.
But do you realize where this whole letter to the church at Philippi comes from? Paul is writing a letter to a church that didn’t exist just a few years before hand. The reason for that church to come into existence?
The suffering of God’s people for preaching the gospel.
We will get there this winter as we go back to the book of Acts in chapter 16… but here is a quick overview.
Paul and Silas are preaching the gospel, and a girl who was a slave and also a fortune teller because of a spirit of divination, begins to follow them around and tell everyone that they are servants of God that have come to tell of the way of salvation. This gets annoying to them and Paul casts the demons out of her. The people are shocked, but her owners were mad because they lost their income that they make off of her, so they have them thrown in prison...
What does this have to do with Joy? Hold that thought.
Paul and Silas are preaching the gospel and people are getting saved, and now this happens and they are thrown in jail but not before being beaten… Look at it.
23 And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. 24 Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.
So these guys are in the darkest cell, beaten and bloody for doing what was good and right in preaching the Gospel.
How would you react? How do we as God’s people react when we hardly suffer, let alone truly suffer? Do we complain? Do we take to social media and get everyone else all riled up? How did the early church react? How would these men react… and what does it have to do with JOY???
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them,
They were rejoicing… Their Joy was evident to other people who were hopeless… Heard by the other prisoners, and not doubt those who were guarding them. Joy was obvious. WHY?
Because
Joy is not about present suffering, rather it is about future hope
Joy is not about present suffering, rather it is about future hope
These men knew that even if they were to die here, that God would be glorified and their future is secure in Christ. And so, no amount of suffering could extinguish their Joy.
But this story goes on, to where sends an earthquake and everyone’s bands are loosed in jail and the jailer comes in to see what happened, expecting them all to have escaped. He is ready to fall on his sword because he knows he is gonna be fired and probably tortured for allowing them all to go. But Paul and Silas yell out to him that they are all present and accounted for.
This man gets saved and brings them to his home where his family get saved… and this is the beginning of the church in Philippi where a few years later Paul would right those words we saw already...
4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.
When Paul writes this to them he is again in prison, but he is encouraging them, the church that didn’t exist until suffering come upon them and they showed their Joy to all.
It is because of this, that I believe the book of Philippians is one of the best places for Christians to see what happens when our Joy is made known to the world around us.
Because of this, I will be asking Community groups to read through the book of Philippians together with the thought in mind… The rejoicing of Paul and Silas in prison birthed a Church, and this letter gives us Hope for even our current sufferings, and so we should rejoice.
But one part I want us to see as we draw to a close here...
1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Do you see the full circle of the Christmas story? Can you hear of the good news of great Joy for all people when you read this?
Our life is not able to experience true Joy without Jesus Christ humbling himself to do come in human form and do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.
When we believe that, we can have this mind of unity among ourselves, which will make Pauls’ Joy complete.
This is what life should look like for believers, people who look not to their own interests but also to those around them. People who do this in the face of suffering and let their Joy been seen, because what we celebrate this time of year is the acknowledgment that Christ coming into the world is the beginning of true joy for all peoples!
He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords and he is coming again. If you believe that, then especially in the face of current suffering we rejoice because of our future security in him eternally!
This is our JOY!