Joy - Luke 2:8-21

Welcome Message

Good morning everyone! Very happy to be here this morning with you. I was so disappointed that I wasn’t able to come and see y'all last month. As you may know we were exposed to COVID and some of our kids actually got a little sick. No big deal, everyone is ok now, but I’m definitely glad we didn’t bring that into your church!

But I am so glad that I get the chance to come and speak to you during Advent season. Apart from Easter this is the most important holiday in the Christian Calendar so it is really an honor to be able to share some of God’s word with you today.

This is week 3 of Advent and the focus for this week is Joy, so that is what I will be talking about with you today.

For me personally, I love Christmas the most out of any holiday. some of my best memories as a child are thanksgiving and Christmas. I have such nostalgia about watching old Disney cartoons and staring at the tree. And the anticipation of the gifts and great food, and especially family coming over to mom’s house and playing games and laughing the day away. In my family now, we have started to make a tradition out of watching old Christmas movies like Its a Wonderful Life, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Elf and A Christmas Story.

Corrie hates A Christmas Story because our second daughter Gwynie was born on December 24th so Corrie was forced to watch A Christmas Story over and over while she was in the hospital with Gwynie, so of course now it is a tradition to make her watch it every year from now until kingdom come!

This time of year brings so much Joy and that is good especially in light of how horrible 2020 has been. But, the question is, where does this Joy come from? Where should it come from?

So let me pray and we will get into our text for today.

Prayer

1. Grateful

2. Wisdom

3. Prepare my heart and their hearts to receive the TREASURE of your word!

Scripture Luke 2:8-21

The Shepherds and the Angels

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.

21 And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

Exposition

Luke 2 is the classic Christmas passage, I’ll never forget the scene from Charlie Brown Christmas where Linus explains to Charlie Brown what Christmas is all about by reciting this passage. But over the last week or so as I’ve been thinkging about this sermon, and particularly after last week’s message at the Crossing about hope, i’ve been wondering about the “good news of great joy that will be for all the people”.

What exactly is the “great joy” that we should be feeling? What should be the source of that Joy?

As I said in the beginning, when I think of what fills me with joy around Christmas time, it is family, food, and fun - and not that those things are bad, but is that really where my joy should be coming from?

Even thinking back to Linus’ recitation of the Christmas story, ok I get it that Jesus is the reason for the season - but WHY exactly should that fill me with joy?

This may sound like a silly question right?

Well I think all you have to do is look around and you will agree that by and large, it seems that the church has lost sight of why exactly we should be filled with Joy.

So today, I’d like to explore why Jesus’ birth was a source of joy to first century jews and then why it should be a source of joy to us today.

So I’d like to just quickly help set the stage to help us understand and relate a bit to the shepherds described in our passage today.

During this time, Israel was under the rule of the Roman Empire under Caesar Augustus.

Caesar Augustus was Formerly one of three co-rulers, until he gained sole control of the empire and reigned from 27 bc to ad 14. He was responsible for ushering in Rome’s Golden Age—an era known as Pax Romana or Pax Augusta (meaning “Roman Peace” or “Augustus’ Peace”), which lasted for roughly 250 years.

As you may recall, this is not the first time the Jewish people had been under the rule of a foreign nation.

After the ever so short golden age of Kings David and Solomon, Israel was plunged into civil war as a result of their repeated unfaithfulness and idolatry. This lasted for approximately 400 years until Jerusalem was destroyed and Jews were enslaved in Babylon.

There they lived for around 70 years before they were finally able to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple, but it was only a shadow of Solomon’s temple. The glory that was once the mighty kingdom of God’s people was irrevocably shattered. And the people knew it - the elders who had been present when Solomon’s temple still stood were crushed to see the new temple. You can read about this in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah - its truly heartbreaking to think about the judgment that the jews had brought on themselves through their sin.

After the consecration of the second temple in 516 BC the Jews struggled to live out their lives back in their homeland for around 200 years until Alexander the Great Conquered the area in 332 BC. the Jews were once again under the rule of a pagan empire.

The Jews led by the Maccabeans rebelled against their new rulers in around 160 BC and won some freedom but it was short lived. The Jews quickly divided into factions and began fighting amongst themselves.

Finally in 63 BC the Roman Military Commander Pompey laid seige to and destroyed Jerusalem and badly damaged the temple. The Jews were now under the rule of the Roman Empire.

So this is the history you would know if you were a Jewish Shepherd in the first century. you would look back and would know all the Old Testament prophecies about how God was going to establish a never ending kingdom and rule all the world from Jerusalem and yet for century after century, the Jews never experienced any victory only defeat after defeat, and misery upon misery.

What do you suppose these shepherds were thinking to themselves as they sat in the fields watching sheep. It’s pretty evident from reading the gospels that there was a lot of anger and animosity among the jews toward their situation. They had to be thinking “How Long O Lord?” and lamenting in misery.

So this is where we start our scripture.

In verse 9 we see the Shepherd’s response to the angel who appeared before them. They were filled with great fear. Most commentators agree that it is an important point to note here that the angel appeared to lowly shepherds, not to the religious leaders. We know from the gospel story that the religious leaders ultimately reject Jesus so they certainly would not have received a message from an angel about His coming. No, God chose to reveal the coming of the Messiah to those whose hearts were ready.

12 “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good? Deut 10:12-13

So the Shepherds feared God and responded with reverence to the angel, so the angel told them not to be afraid, but that he had good news of great joy that will be to all the people.

Surely the Shepherds would have recognized God’s promise to Abraham at this point.

12 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Gen 12:1-3

And if that was not enough to pique their curiosity, the next part most certainly would have blown them away.

In verse 11 the angel tells that the Messiah has been born in the city of David (Bethlehem) just as foretold by the prophet Micah, and he will be the Lord.

I can’t even begin to imagine how excited the Shepherds must be at this point, could it be? After all these centuries that the Messiah has finally come to destroy the enemies of Israel and establish God’s worldwide kingdom forever?

then in verse 12 the angel said something that must have confused the shepherds severely.

“You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”

Wait. so the Messiah, God’s anointed one who the angels just called “The Lord” will be lying in a cow’s feeding troth wrapped in tattered strips of cloth? The juxtaposition of these things must have had the shepherds reeling at this point.

Then in crescendo, a massive group of angels light up the sky in song praising God.

“Glory to God in the Highest” This third hymn in Luke’s birth narratives echoes the angelic song in Isa 6:3 where the angelic beings are continually praising God shouting Holy Holy Holy is the Lord of hosts!

“And on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

Remember the history of the Jewish people? A terrible history filled with blood and misery. defeat after defeat, enslavement over and over again. If there is one thing a first century jew would long for it would have been peace and even more to have been told that God is “well pleased” with them. This hymn from the angels must have been incredibly moving for these shepherds.

God’s plan of redemption is so incredible that even the angels themselves long to know about it. 1 Peter 1:10-12 The angels don’t get to be saved - they are already in the presence of God, so therefore they are missing out on some aspects of God’s character that only we can know - his mercy and grace.

So what was the shepherd’s response to this incredible announcement?

They immediately abandoned their flocks - which is a HUGE risk by the way. I mean, I’m not a shepherd but I imagine leaving your flock all alone in the wilderness is probably something that you just don’t do.

So they immediately abandoned their flocks and RAN to go see this thing that angel had told them. And when they get there they can’t help but tell everyone what the angels had said.

After in verse 20 we see the shepherds returning to their flocks glorifying and praising God!

I can imagine these men running through the streets jumping and shouting for joy at what was happening before their eyes.

But, we know that many of the jews misunderstood exactly what the first coming of the Messiah would actually be.

The Jews loved texts that described the coming kingdom of God, even Micah himself (who prophesied that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem) prophesied about the coming king who would rule from Jerusalem (Micah 4) but the jews seemed to forget about Isaiah 53 that foretold that the Messiah must first suffer for the sins of the people.

Now we don’t know for sure what these shepherds in Luke 2 thought about the Messiah, but we know that in general the Jews did not really understand what it was they were supposed to be joyful about. They had latched onto small pieces of God’s redemptive plan and missed the larger picture.

So what about us? We now know the whole story. We see the full picture. What then should be the source of our Joy?

Application

So this is my application for us today. You know I like to use sentences to help you remember, so here are three ways we as Christians can experience Joy.

Remember past joy, revel in present joy, and reckon on future joy.

Repeat

1. Remember Past Joy

11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Eph 2:11-12

This past week Joseph preached at The Crossing about Hope and he shared an article from the Gospel Coalition about Nostalgia. I’d like to share a piece from that. In describing the nostalgic feeling we get this time of year, the article goes on to say:

It’s not just the porcelain baby Jesus we get out of that box in the attic, it’s a dream—a dream about what the holidays can be, what we always wish they were. Listening to Christmas music, watching those gauzy Christmas movies, conjuring up images of holiday-lit lamps down picturesque village streets, happy families gathered around festal tables in Norman Rockwellian fashion, crackling fires and country stockings, and all the rest.

We want to feel it. A sense of home, a sense of something familiar that we can’t seem to grasp in our everyday lives. The holidays hold the promise of bygone, yesteryear, of quaint and extraordinary at the same time. And then the presents are unwrapped, the paper is strewn about the floor, the turkey is a carcass on a greasy platter by the overflowing kitchen sink, and we think, Is that it?

Now as I said in the beginning of my message I love this time of year, for all the reasons listed above, but I always have an ache in the back of my mind that it will be over soon and then things will be back to normal - if we can call anything in this world normal anymore.

So, nostalgia is good, but in its proper place - if we allow nostalgia to grow too powerful it can turn into a sort of grief over the past that blinds us to the real good things we have in the present.

Eccl 7:10 10  Say not, “Why were the former days better than these?” For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.

That is why Paul is reminding the Ephesians to remember our salvation. We need to preach the gospel to ourselves daily.

Dr. Paul David Tripp says: “No one is more influential in your life than you are. Because no one talks to you more than you do.”

In our sin, we constantly find our responses to life in our fallen world to be disconnected from the theology that we confess. Anger, fear, panic, discouragement stalk our hearts and whisper a false gospel that will lure our lives away from what we say we believe.

The battleground, says Tripp, is meditation. What is it that is capturing your idle thoughts? What fear or frustration is filling your spare moments?

Will you just listen to yourself, or will you start talking? No, preaching. Not letting your concerns shape you, but forming your concerns by the gospel.

Preaching the gospel to ourselves is a spiritual discipline that is both proactive and reactive. It’s reactive as we encounter temptation and frustration and seek to restock in the moment, or as we reflect back on our sin and circumstances and try to evaluate them with a gospel lens.

But it’s also proactive — it goes on the offense — when we feed our souls in some regular rhythm before the events and tasks and disappointments of daily life begin streaming our way. Tripp counsels that we make it a daily practice to 1) gaze on the beauty of Christ, 2) remember who we are as a child of God, 3) rest in his power and provision, and then 4) act in reliance upon him.

As I’ve shared with you before, I struggle, as I imagine most men do, with self-doubt and questions about my worth as a man.

This began as a crippling anxiety that damaged my relationships with the men in my life as I was asking far too much of them, more than they could possibly give. I was asking them to be my source of confidence. I needed them to confirm my “manliness’ for me. I was struggling because although I had a knowledge of the truth, I was struggling with taking that knowledge and converting it into real belief. For example, I knew that I was created in the image of God - because it says so in Genesis right? So of course its true. But if you take a step back and actually MEDITATE on that truth. Whoa, wait a minute, you mean me? With all my failings, moral and physical am actually an image bearer of God? When you truly internalize that truth, it changes you and how you respond to life. Over time, and after seeking God in prayer and fasting, I came to really believe the truth that I AM good enough in my true father’s eyes, not because of anything I have done, but because of who I am. I am His child and he is pleased with me. of course, it grieves him when I sin daily, but I still have right standing with Him, I am still his child and it will never change.

Becoming a father myself has really helped me to understand this truth more fully. No matter what my children do, I will NEVER love them less and I could NEVER love them more.

Do i still struggle sometimes? You bet, so I preach the gospel to myself daily.

Remember past joy, revel in present joy

2. Revel in Present Joy

4  Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4

John Piper in his famous book “Desiring God” expounds on this scripture:

“My aim is to own up to the amazing, and largely neglected, fact that some dimension of joy is a moral duty in all true worship and all virtuous acts. I do not say that loving God is good because it brings joy. I say that God commands that we find joy in loving God: “Delight yourself in the Lord” (Psalm 37:4). I do not say that loving people is good because it brings joy. I say that God commands that we find joy in loving people: “[Let] the one who does acts of mercy [do so] with cheerfulness” (Romans 12:8).

I do not come to the Bible with a hedonistic theory of moral justification. On the contrary, I find in the Bible a divine command to be a pleasure-seeker—that is, to forsake the two-bit, low-yield, short-term, never-satisfying, person-destroying, God-belittling pleasures of the world and to sell everything “with joy” (Matthew 13:44) in order to have the kingdom of heaven and thus “enter into the joy of your master” (Matthew 25:21, 23).” Desiring God, Piper, pp 24

This doesn’t mean that we should not ALSO take joy in the good things in this world so long as we are doing so in a way that is glorifying to God.

18 Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. 19 Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God. Eccl 5:18-19

and

31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 1 Cor 10:31

So as we gather with family over the coming weeks, as we prepare for the “big day” take time to slow down and be intentional about living in the moments we have been given. Some very practical things that you can do is:

1. get up early, make time for bible reading and prayer - meditate on the scriptures use them as a lens to examine your own heart and give glory to God for what He is doing in your life. My family started this several years ago and it has taken real effort to keep it going, but it has been incredibly valuable for me and I hope for my kids as well.

2. If you have children do a daily advent project. My mother in law Sylvia gave us an advent calendar that she made by hand when her kids were small - it is just a simple felt tree that we hang on the wall with a bunch of felt icons that you hang on it for each day. there is a reading, some discussion questions, and a prayer. It is awesome. The kids have grown to love it so much and it is now a family tradition that we do every year.

3. Make it a point to have dinner as a family and talk about your days, honor each other for the good things you see in their lives.

Whatever you do, just slow down and do something intentional to be present in the day to day moments and think on Jesus as you do it. this is how you can abide in Jesus and have joy throughout the day. Don’t allow the busyness of this holiday season to distract you from the real present Joy we have now.

Remember past joy, revel in present joy, and reckon on future joy.

3. Reckon on Future Joy

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. Rom 8:18

I know I’ve said this before but 2020 is certainly the worst year I can ever remember. Now I know thats not saying too much since I’m just a youngster. some of you in this room have certainly experienced some crazy times.

In fact, I came across something on social media the other day that I thought was really sobering and definitely gave me some perspective.

Here is what it said:

Imagine you were born in 1900. When you're 14 World War I begins and ends at 18 years old with 22 million dead.

Shortly after, a global pandemic Flu kills 50 million people. You come out alive You are 20 years old.

Then, at 29, you survive the global economic crisis that started with the collapse of the New York Stock Exchange, causing Inflation, Unemployment, and Hunger.

At 33, the nazis come to power. You turn 39 when World War II starts and ends at 45

During the Holocaust (Holocaust), 6 million Jews die. There will be over 60 million deaths in total.

When you're 52, the Korean War begins. where young American boys are exposed to some of the most brutal fighting conditions imaginable - many die or are permanently disfigured from frostbite.

In the late 50s and early 60s racial tensions between black and white Americans reach a fever pitch as the effects of Jim Crow laws - institutionalized economic, educational, and social disadvantages for African Americans living in the South - literally affecting millions of lives - nearly drives the US to a second civil war.

At age 64, the Vietnam War begins and ends at age 75. During this war as many as 4 million people are killed, but the psychological toll on US Service Members is unlike anything seen before.

The post goes on to offer some thoughts on perspective, but suffice to say it’s pretty hard for me as someone born in the early 80s to understand and relate to some of the incredibly horrible things that have happened in just the last 100 years in America.

So perhaps this quick survey of our own history for the last 100 years can help us relate a little better to those Jewish Shepherds we read about in the beginning of our passage this morning.

We, like them can look at this world and lament and say “this isn’t how it’s supposed to be!”

BUT

We know something that those shepherds didn’t fully understand.

We know that the King of Kings has come - he came first as a lowly baby - why did he do that? He was in the form of God, but he didn’t count equality with God a thing to be grasped.

No, instead He chose to take on the form of a servant - to take on our form, our flesh. Why?

So that he could be obedient for us even to the point of death on a cross - to satisfy the wrath of God that WE deserve.

And now, having paid the penalty for our sins, has been raised up, highly exalted and one day, he WILL COME AGAIN, and on THAT day, EVERY KNEE will bow and EVERY TONGUE confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, whether they like it or not, they WILL bow. Phil 2:6-11

And on that day we will reign with Him as co-heirs FOREVER, not as spirits floating around the clouds playing harps, but in NEW bodies, loving, and eating, and praising God and experiencing God’s love in all its fullness without any barriers between us.

We see now as though through a glass darkly, but on that day we will see Him FACE to FACE! Can you imagine that? Face to face with almighty God in perfect communion and relationship with Him - just as He always planned it to be.

So now we, like Paul who suffered terrible affliction in life, being beaten multiple times, stoned multiple times, imprisoned, hated can say that the “sufferings of this present age are not even worth comparing” to what’s coming.

The New Heaven and the New Earth

21 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Rev 21:1-4

I’ll leave you with some words from Charles Spurgeon:

300 Quotations and Prayers for Christmas If Jesus’ Birth Made the Angels Glad, We Should Be More Glad

If the birth of Jesus was so gladsome to our cousins the angels, what should it be to us? If it made our neighbors sing who had comparatively so small a share in it, how should it make us leap for joy? Oh, if it brought heaven down to earth, should not our songs go up to heaven? If heaven’s gate of pearl was set open at its widest, and a stream of shining ones came running downward to the lower skies, to anticipate the time when they shall all descend in solemn pomp at the glorious advent of the great King; if it emptied heaven for a while to make earth so glad, ought not our thoughts and praises and all our loves to go pouring up to the eternal gate, leaving earth a while that we may crowd heaven with the songs of mortal men?

Let’s Pray:

Prayer

Father - its so amazing that we can call you Father. Thank you Lord Jesus that you were willing to humble yourself and come to this troubled earth as a little baby, born among poverty, then only to suffer a criminal’s death on our behalf just so we could be your brothers and sisters.

Help us father as we walk through this season to Remember the joy of the past, the humble birth of your son, his perfect life, and terrible death on our cross for our sins,

Help us to revel in present joy, acknowledging and celebrating the good things you have blessed us with, while guarding our hearts against taking joy from the temporary material things of this life.

Help us to Reckon on Future joy so that we can endure with patience all the afflictions of this life, knowing with confidence that we will one day be united with You in glory!

I pray for this church that you would bless them, may they have a very, merry, Christmas!