Joy (Celebration)

INTRODUCTION:

ILL. This past Sunday and part of the first of the week brought us something we haven’t seen much of in past years....snow! What is it about snow that compels you to bend over and pick up a handful of snow and pound someone with it!? My children were out playing in the snow and I went out to “see” the art they had made. So as I walked out i just couldn't help but pelt them with a snowball!

Playing in the snow has always been a fun exciting time hasn't’ it? Although with the new way of doing things because of the Coronavirus and such moments of joy are trying to be shut down as well. Like distance learning means no longer a snow day, but a virtual day/distance learning!!! But what about the adults? Have we stopped enjoying snow because of work? Like typical jobs don’t get snow days either. So has this caused many to loose the joy and fun of playing in the snow. Have we or have you become too grown up to enjoy life? Is life all about business and less about play? When was the last time:

That you built a snowman

That you built a fort to have a snowball fight

That you laughed and giggled as you ran away from someone about to pelt you with a snowball.

Maybe you are not physically able to do these things, but still we can even enjoy them from watching others enjoy it!

This is a bigger deal for adults than it is for children, obviously.

ILL. Adults in here who grew up in church and going to church camp. Do you remember the song, “Clap your hands all ye nations”?

“Clap your hands all you people

Shout unto God with a voice of triumph

Clap your hands all you people

Shout unto God with a voice of praise

Hosanna hosanna

Shout unto God with a voice of triumph

Praise Him praise Him

Shout unto God with a voice of praise”

That’s from

Psalm 47 “Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy. 2How awesome is the Lord Most High, the great King over all the earth! 3He subdued nations under us, peoples under our feet. 4He chose our inheritance for us, the pride of Jacob, whom he loved. 5God has ascended amid shouts of joy, the Lord amid the sounding of trumpets. 6Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises. 7For God is the King of all the earth; sing to him a psalm of praise. 8God reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne. 9The nobles of the nations assemble as the people of the God of Abraham, for the kings of the earth belong to God; he is greatly exalted.

Have you noticed how ready in the Psalms were ready to celebrate and Praise the Name of God!?

Psalm 150 “Praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens.

2 Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness.

3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre,

4 praise him with timbrel and dancing, praise him with the strings and pipe,

5 praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals.

6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.”

Psalm 149, 148, 147, 146, 145, 144 all say “Praise the Lord

Hopefully you recognize that praising the LORD is in a Spirit of Joy!

There are some who try to do so outside of joy - (grumpy sounding voice) “well, praise the Lord”

But no one buys it. No one believes this is a genuine expression of joy.

We are in a Christmas series recognizing the gifts that are given to us through the birth of Jesus.

We talk about the presence of God - Immanuel - God with us and the gift that was.

Last week we talked about the gift of the Peace of God that was meant to bless us.

This morning we are looking at yet another gift - this one being Joy/Celebration

BIBLE:

Text: Luke 2:10 “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.”

That word “great” means great or loud! It is the word that we transliterate as “Mega”

If we say such and such a church is a mega church we don’t mean just a little big! Right?

So this Good news that the angel brought was Good news of MEGA JOY!

The Magi, Matthew 2:10 NASB “When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.

Exceedingly!

Joy is contagious…

High fives at a ballgame - you high five anyone.

A touchdown brings unity to fans.

A homeruns brings people up off their feet.

A three point from “downtown” brings cheers and screams.

A long putt made at the Masters brings roars from the peanut gallery

But a good word of good news in the church gets a solemn “amen.”

We don’t understand great joy let alone joy!

Why because it’s not new, it’s no longer good, it’s just the way things are and have always been with Jesus.

We are no longer stirred by Jesus to bring us to our feet!

Maybe i’m off, but Jesus doesn’t seem to stir the church in America anymore.

For far too many people in the church, it seems Jesus just isn’t enough to move us!

So we need to hear God all over again - God had to command us to celebrate!

Doesn’t this sound like a parent to a child who is acting like a spoiled child who had an expectation that didn’t get met, but were still given great gifts yet were ungrateful?

The response of the “good news” that the shepherds heard caused them to “well up with springs of living water type of joy!”

Have you ever noticed how God commands celebrations?

It’s like making my children play - Go play!!!

Exodus 12:47 “The whole community of Israel must celebrate it.” Passover guidelines

Exodus 23:14-15 ““Three times a year you are to celebrate a festival to me. 15 “Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in that month you came out of Egypt. “No one is to appear before me empty-handed. 16 “Celebrate the Feast of Harvest with the firstfruits of the crops you sow in your field. “Celebrate the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field. 17 “Three times a year all the men are to appear before the Sovereign Lord.

Exodus 34:18 “Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in that month you came out of Egypt.

Leviticus 23:39-41 “ ‘So beginning with the fifteenth day of the seventh month, after you have gathered the crops of the land, celebrate the festival to the Lord for seven days; the first day is a day of rest, and the eighth day also is a day of rest. 40 On the first day you are to take choice fruit from the trees, and palm fronds, leafy branches and poplars, and rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. 41 Celebrate this as a festival to the Lord for seven days each year. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come; celebrate it in the seventh month. 42 Live in booths for seven days: All native-born Israelites are to live in booths

Numbers 9:1-3 “The Lord spoke to Moses in the Desert of Sinai in the first month of the second year after they came out of Egypt. He said, 2 “Have the Israelites celebrate the Passover at the appointed time. 3 Celebrate it at the appointed time, at twilight on the fourteenth day of this month, in accordance with all its rules and regulations.”

Deuteronomy 16:10-12 “Then celebrate the Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God by giving a freewill offering in proportion to the blessings the Lord your God has given you. 11 And rejoice before the Lord your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, the Levites in your towns, and the aliens, the fatherless and the widows living among you. 12 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and follow carefully these decrees.

2 Samuel 6:21-22 “21 David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord’s people Israel—I will celebrate before the Lord. 22 I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor.”

2 Kings 23:21 “The king gave this order to all the people: “Celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.”

After the people were reminded about celebrations as Ezra read from the book of the law, Nehemiah records...

Nehemiah 8:12 “Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them.

Psalm 2:11 “Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling.”

Psalm 145:7 “1I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever. 2Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever. 3Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom. 4One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts. 5They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful works. 6They will tell of the power of your awesome works, and I will proclaim your great deeds. 7They will celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness.

Why did God need to command celebrations?

Because we easily forget

Because we are easily distracted

Because we are tempted to believe stuff matters more than HE matters

Why else would God choose shepherds to be HIS first mouthpiece of good news!?

But remember...

JESUS MODELED THIS!!!

Matthew 26:18 “He replied, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.’ ”

JESUS TOLD STORIES ABOUT CELELBRATION (AND WHY?)

Luke 15:24, 29, 32 “Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

29 “But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends

32 “But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ ”

We celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, promotions, sports victories (at best) equal to our celebration to God’s blessings, provisions, salvation, forgiveness. We barely celebrate an hour once a week for Jesus’ sacrifice but want to celebrate everything else late into the night and it can disrupt MOST IMPORTANT thing we should celebrate - JESUS!!!

We sacrifice many things to celebrate ourselves while hardly ever sacrificing unimportant perishing things for celebration to and of the eternal God, gifts and redemption.

And the sad truth is that just suggesting this might even bring some believers to think this is silly even bringing it up! That we are splitting hairs or expecting too much.

It’s like the Bible which has been taken off of the best seller’s list because it is unfair to other authors!

We have allowed God to become ordinary.

We have permitted the good news to be average news and elevated other things to great news!

We have trampled the Word of God, the Son of God and the Father God as if HE is not worthy of that much fuss!

And we roll our eyes at the suggestion of things like…

What did you spend more time talking about this week?

Sports teams outcomes or Jesus’ salvation offer?

The weather or the danger of Hell compared to gift of life?

The Covid craziness or the crazy love of the Father in heaven.

The smut of social media or the forgiveness of your own ugly smut!

Why is this bothersome to confront?

Jesus’ coming gave us many gifts:

Presence

Peace

And Joy!

We understand and agree with the first week’s sermon on Presence matters.

We long for the peace of God we looked at last week

But we are okay to dismiss this gift of JOY.

What is wrong with us?

CHALLENGE:

I think God means for us to enjoy the gifts of Christmas…

The Word “Enjoy means to experience the joy”

How well are you experiencing that joy!?

Experience - practical contact with and observation of facts or events

Synonyms: involvement in, participation in, contact with, exposure to, observation of, awareness of, familiarity with, conversance with, understanding of, impression of, insight into”

Maybe this Christmas you NEED to be the expression of the gift of JOY like it really means something worthwhile to you.

GROW:

Celebrating when you don’t feel like it…

This is more difficult, but one suggestion - take your eyes off of yourself, your situation, your predicament and focus on the gift given to you that is right in front of you - Christmas which lead us to Good Friday that ended on Resurrection Sunday