What to Do While We Wait: Rejoice

Introduction

Two years ago, a friend of mine shared a newspaper article on Facebook that caught my eye: Church pays off $43 million in medical debt. A church in Columbia, Missouri raised over $430,000 and used those funds to pay off medical bills/debt of families in the region. The church didn’t do this for recognition. They didn’t do this in order to make a name for themselves or to make the people on the receiving end of these funds feel bad about being in the situation they were in. They came together with a common goal and sought to help those who were in need and use what God had blessed them with to in turn, bless others. Have you ever been blessed by someone who gave you something or did something for you that you could never repay? That is a blessing that changes your trajectory and circumstances! If you’ve ever received such a gift, you likely were full of happiness and joy for a time. You thanked the person who helped you in your time of need. Yet, as humans, we often go from one problem to the next. We have a tragedy and we recover only to experience yet another tragedy. This is due to the fallen, sinful world that we are living in - it was never supposed to be this way.

We look around at the Christmas season and we see many people who do nice things for others. We go to the store and people donate to the Salvation Army. We look online and we see people helping one another out. We come to church and there are fundraisers and gift exchanges for those who are in need. This is a time of the year where people are more apt to give and support others. But, what comes after Christmas? What comes after this season of giving? Another season. See, friends, circumstances change. Needs change. People change. Feelings change. Happiness comes and goes. What stays the same? The Gospel message of Jesus Christ saving sinners. What you and I need to be reminded of during this season more than ever is that our greatest need hasn’t changed over the past year. We have many needs and I don’t want to minimize those at all - but our greatest need is our condition before our holy God. Our greatest problem is our sin. Suffering, pain, disease, finances, relationships, all of those problems find their root in sin and the Bible shares with us that we’ve all sinned and are separated from God as a result!

So, what’s the solution? The solution to sin remains the same year in and year out. The solution isn’t more stuff. It’s not more money. It’s not more time. It’s not the latest and greatest thing. It’s not therapeutic messages. It’s not rock and roll. It’s not even time with family around the holidays. The solution to our sin is Jesus Christ. The solution to our sin is a savior and during the Christmas season we celebrate His coming to earth and saving us.

Because Jesus Christ came, as we talked about last week, we can have hope. Why can we have hope? Because He is always with us and He is faithful to His promises. This week we’re going to look at another theme of advent and that theme is Joy. People around Christmas time are happy, often. Why? Because of our circumstances. But what happens when circumstances change? What happens whenever prosperity is replaced by pain? What happens whenever happiness is replaced with heartache? What happens whenever blessing is replaced by busyness. Whenever things don’t go your way and you feel a deep pain - perhaps a physical one or one due to immense loss - can you still have joy? As one Christian author put it, “My joy cannot eradicate my pain, but neither can my pain wipeout or rob me of joy. Joy, genuine joy, can thrive in the midst of pain.”

If you’re here this morning and you’re struggling, know that joy isn’t the same as happiness. During the Christmas season, be reminded that, as a Christian, you can have genuine joy at all times because joy comes from knowing that God is present with you, that God loves you, and that God has a purpose for you in every season of your life - even in the darkest of valleys you find yourself in. This Christmas season, rejoice because God is with you and He sent His Son to solve our greatest problem!

Isaiah 52:13–53:12 CSB

13 See, my servant will be successful; he will be raised and lifted up and greatly exalted. 14 Just as many were appalled at you— his appearance was so disfigured that he did not look like a man, and his form did not resemble a human being— 15 so he will sprinkle many nations. Kings will shut their mouths because of him, for they will see what had not been told them, and they will understand what they had not heard. 1 Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 He grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground. He didn’t have an impressive form or majesty that we should look at him, no appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering who knew what sickness was. He was like someone people turned away from; he was despised, and we didn’t value him. 4 Yet he himself bore our sicknesses, and he carried our pains; but we in turn regarded him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds. 6 We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished him for the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. Like a lamb led to the slaughter and like a sheep silent before her shearers, he did not open his mouth. 8 He was taken away because of oppression and judgment, and who considered his fate? For he was cut off from the land of the living; he was struck because of my people’s rebellion. 9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, but he was with a rich man at his death, because he had done no violence and had not spoken deceitfully. 10 Yet the Lord was pleased to crush him severely. When you make him a guilt offering, he will see his seed, he will prolong his days, and by his hand, the Lord’s pleasure will be accomplished. 11 After his anguish, he will see light and be satisfied. By his knowledge, my righteous servant will justify many, and he will carry their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will give him the many as a portion, and he will receive the mighty as spoil, because he willingly submitted to death, and was counted among the rebels; yet he bore the sin of many and interceded for the rebels.

Rejoice Because Jesus Came to Serve (52:10-53:3)

Maybe you’re here this morning and you’re confused as to what this text of Scripture has to do with Christmas. This passage of Scripture is commonly referred to as the Suffering Servant text as Isaiah describes what the coming Messiah would do - He would serve His people and suffer in their place. What does this have to do with Christmas? It has everything to do with Christmas! Why did Jesus come to earth? We see the answer in the Gospel’s

Luke 19:10 CSB

10 For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.”

Matthew 20:28 CSB

28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Jesus Christ came to do 4 things in these verses: Seek, Save, Serve, and Give His Life.

Now, consider who Jesus is. Jesus is the 2nd person of the Trinity. He has all power. We read that He is co-eternal with the Father and that the Father created the universe through Jesus Christ. Seeing that Jesus Christ came to seek and save the lost blows our mind because of who He is! Seeing that Jesus would give up His life as a ransom blows our mind! Seeing that Jesus Christ came to serve others equally blows our mind. Whenever you think of someone serving someone else, what do you first think of? If you’re like me, you think of someone at a restaurant taking your order and serving you your food and drinks. You think of a waiter or waitress. Is this the kind of server that Jesus is? Is He our cosmic butler waiting for us to tell Him what we’d like to eat for dinner? Is He our genie in a bottle that we can order around whenever we want something big or small? No! We read in the Bible that He is the One who serves humanity as our Savior. Jesus doesn’t come to just help you out, Jesus came to save you from your sin. Jesus does what you and I could never do.

We read in the suffering servant passage of Isaiah 53 that Jesus Christ is this servant who is successful and is greatly exalted. Whenever you are a servant, you humble yourself to the point of putting the needs of someone else above your own. This doesn’t mean that you are inferior to the other person or anything of that nature, you simply put their needs above yours. Think of Jesus Christ in this regard. Before anything else was here, Christ was. Before we existed, Christ existed in heaven. Yet, what do we celebrate at Christmas time? The coming of the King. The incarnation. The humiliation of Jesus Christ as He left the throne room of heaven and came to earth as the God-man. He humbled Himself. He created all things in the first place and, yet, He subjected Himself to creation. Jesus Christ experienced bumps and bruises. He had sleepless nights. He got sick. He even died! We read in Isaiah 53:3 that He was a man of suffering who knew what sickness was. Why would God come to the earth and subject Himself to things like this? Why leave heaven and come to earth and live for 30+ years and experience death? Because He came to serve. Because this was the only way. Because Jesus’ success wasn’t to be found in eradicating the Romans from Judea, or helping you and I to be happy and healthy and wealthy - rather, the only way the servant could be successful was by humbling Himself and serving people who in time would reject Him. The only way for Jesus to be successful was for Him to Seek, Save, Serve, and Give His Life.

Think of how Jesus served others in His ministry. We read in the Gospels that Jesus fed thousands, healed the sick, and even washed the feet of His disciples. Jesus served in many different capacities. Though, the way in which He would serve His people the greatest was by giving His own life. See, many people in our world are confused about Jesus Christ just as many people in Jesus’ day were confused about Him. We look at Jesus at Christmas time and we see a baby in a manger. What’s so impressive with a baby? We look at Jesus’ life and we see that He was a relatively poor individual with a modest following, what’s so impressive about that? What’s so impressive about serving others? What’s impressive about dying on the cross?

In short, nothing. In human eyes these aren’t impressive things. This is why Jesus was “despised” or grossly underestimated by the people of His day and by people in our world today. Who needs to believe in a baby some 2000 years ago? Why does a baby change the way people live in 2021?

In His weakness - Jesus demonstrates His strength. In His serving, Jesus demonstrates His authority. In His abandonment, He demonstrates His power. This baby boy born 2000 years ago grows up to shut the mouths of kings, stop leaders in their tracks, force the religious authorities to rethink everything, and show the strong how to care for the weak. Why does Jesus’ coming to earth and being this sacrificial servant impact you? Because He came to save sinners like you and I! Because He serves sinners as only He can do. He not only changes us - He saves us. He not only helps us - He transforms us from the inside out.

What should our response be to what Jesus has done? We should rejoice. We should celebrate the fact that our Savior came to serve sinners and to win for us the victory! Consider, friend, are you rejoicing today? While you might not always be happy - you can always choose to be joyful because of what Jesus did for you!

Rejoice Because Jesus Came to Suffer (4-9)

As Jesus came to earth and humbled Himself to the point of serving sinners, we know that the story continues. Yes, the Christmas story includes the manger but the Christmas story also includes what Jesus would do. We read in the middle of Isaiah 53 that the Suffering Servant - Jesus Christ - would suffer greatly. How many of you have ever been falsely blamed for something? In Junior High school I had 2 friends in my math class who sat on the opposite side of the room. Our teacher had to step out of the room for some reason and one of my friends had the brilliant idea to make a paper airplane and throw it over 5-6 people to me several rows over! I grabbed the airplane and threw it back but instead of going to my friend Dylan, it flew to my other friend Nathan who was an innocent bystander in this whole situation. Right as Nathan grabbed the airplane, the teacher came back into the room and proceeded to get Nathan in trouble. I confessed that Nathan hadn’t done anything wrong, but my math teacher didn’t care - Nathan had been blamed for what Dylan and I had done. He suffered the consequence even though he was innocent. Has this ever happened to you? It’s not a fun feeling at all. In our mind, people who actually do something wrong deserve to be punished while those of us who are innocent deserve to be rewarded. In our world, this makes sense. Innocent people don’t deserve to be punished for things they didn’t do.

We read in Isaiah 53 that this servant would come and suffer. That he would bear our sickness and carry our pain and be pierced for our transgression. What is going on in this passage? We see that the servant would suffer for the sins of others - not His own. Does this seem fair to you? This servant didn’t do anything wrong, but here He is suffering to the point of death. Where is the justice in this? Paul puts it like this in Romans 3 as he says Romans 3:25-26

Romans 3:25–26 CSB

25 God presented him as the mercy seat by his blood, through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his restraint God passed over the sins previously committed. 26 God presented him to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be just and justify the one who has faith in Jesus.

Andrew Davis put it like this, “There has never been a greater display of God’s justice in all history.” Why did Jesus have to do this? Why the cross? The cross seems so violent, painful, and unjust for a king. It was so gruesome that Romans were exempt from death by crucifixion! Why did Jesus die this way? Jesus suffered in this life so that we would not suffer for eternity! He did nothing wrong, yet He took our place. We deserved death. We deserved suffering and eternal separation as Romans 3:23 shares with us. Yet that’s not what we get. The great reversal in the Bible is found in 2 Corinthians 5:21

2 Corinthians 5:21 (CSB)

21 He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

We were dead in sin - but God made us alive

We were lost - but God found us

We were facing the cross - but God sent Jesus

We suffer temporally - Jesus made it so that we don’t have to suffer eternally

Now, this doesn’t mean that you won’t ever suffer or go through hard times as a Christian - you will! Some pastors take Isaiah 53:5 and say that it means that Jesus Christ died on the cross so that you could have healing, happiness, and more because “by His stripes you are healed.” Does Jesus still heal people today? You’d better believe He does! Our God is still in the business of healing broken people! He does it every single day. But consider Christ’s death on the cross. Does Jesus’ death promise you a worry free life or does His death on the cross promise you forgiveness of sins? His suffering and taking our place on the cross guarantees our eternal life! We are not guaranteed to be healed of our sickness, but we are healed of our sinfulness. We can rejoice today because on the cross, Jesus Christ bore the punishment of our sin - He drank the cup of God’s wrath against our sin in full! Why the cross? Galatians 3:13 says this, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. Because it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree." Christ redeemed us – He bought us out of slavery by paying a price. Whenever you get a gift card – like some of you will for Christmas – you eventually use it to go about purchasing something you want. Nowadays there are ways that you can redeem the gift card online without even having to go in to a physical store. When you redeem a gift card, what are you doing? You are purchasing something with something that has been paid for. We read that through Christ's suffering, we have been redeemed. We have been purchased by Christ with a price. The price was His own life. He suffered and died in our place and became a curse for us. Though He never sinned, He died a sinners death. All of this is for "us" as Galatians 3:13 bears out. You and I can have hope and salvation because Jesus became a curse. Even though you and I have gone astray and turned to our own way, God punished Jesus in our place. The innocent baby born in Bethlehem would grow up and be oppressed and afflicted. He would eventually suffer and die in our place. This was His mission! Jesus’ primary mission wasn’t to heal, do miracles, or blow minds, His primary mission was to die and rise.

Rejoice Because Jesus Came to Save (10-12)

As a result of Jesus’ mission, we can rejoice because there is salvation found exclusively in Him. How can sins be forgiven and salvation be given, though? We read in verse 10 that Jesus was a guilt offering and through His sacrifice, many are justified. The plan from eternity past was for Jesus Christ to come to the earth, to live a perfect life, to die a criminal’s death on the cross, and to raise from the grave and win for His people the victory over sin and death once and for all! Why the cross? Because it was the only way.

How could a baby save humans who weren’t even alive during His ministry? What is the true significance of Jesus’ birth? Why does a baby matter? 2 reasons why Jesus’ coming matters so much

Because of who He is

Jesus Christ is 100% man, but He is also 100% God. Why does His coming to earth matter to us? Because on the one hand, He can sympathize with us because He knows what it’s like to be human. On the other hand, only God can forgive sins. He had to be both fully God and fully man. As Augustine once said, “Without ceasing to be what He was, He became what He was not.” Jesus Christ left the throne room of heaven and came to the court room of man. He came from the wonders of heaven to the wickedness of earth. From the throne to the tree. From worship to wrath. From glory to gore. Though He created all things, there was no room for Him. Soldiers crucified Him on the tree that He himself had created.

The birth of Jesus matters so much because He is God in the flesh. He came. He lived. He died.

Because of what He will do

Jesus’ coming matters so much because of ultimately what He will do. If Jesus just came to the earth and lived a normal life and ascended to heaven without the crucifixion / resurrection then He’d be a great teacher and wise man, but He wouldn’t be the Savior! Jesus’ coming is so significant because of what He will eventually do on Golgotha. His coming is the turning point in the history books because this child will grow up and bring about salvation for every nation on earth as we see in Revelation 7:9

Revelation 7:9 CSB

9 After this I looked, and there was a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language, which no one could number, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands.

This was God’s plan. This is King Jesus - not just the baby in swaddling clothes and the innocent spotless lamb… This is the roaring lion who conquers His enemies. This is the suffering servant who came. This is the Messiah who bore our sins upon Himself. This is the Savior who laid down His life in our place. Do you know this Jesus? Do you see that He didn’t come because you and I are so inherently good and deserving of saving… He came because of our sin. Jesus Christ saves us from our sin. He came because you and I couldn’t ever do good enough on our own. He came because we were completely without hope outside of Him.

Conclusion

This Christmas season, maybe you’re here and you aren’t full of joy. The year has been difficult. You’re confused. You’re hurt. You’re grieving. You’re upset. You came to church and you think of the usual Christmas songs like “Oh Come All Ye Faithful” and you quickly think of all the reasons that you have to not be full of joy. You think of all the failures in recent days. You think of all the battles that didn’t go your way. If that’s you today, I want you to know that He came for you.

Come all ye faithless, joyless, and defeated! The great news of Christmas isn’t that we have to have it all figured out and then come to Jesus. The great news of Christmas is that whenever we were sinners, Christ came to us! The great news of Christmas is that whenever darkness seemed to have the victory in hand - God sent forth His Son. Light has invaded and defeated the darkness. Jesus entered the world and defeated Satan on his turf. The hope of Christmas is that Jesus came and that Jesus saves! Because of this, here are 4 reasons as to why you should have joy today:

1. Jesus came for sinners (Romans 5:8)

2. Jesus defeated our greatest foe (1 Corinthians 15:56-57)

3. Jesus won the victory (Revelation 3:21)

4. Jesus is with you (Matthew 28:20)

Whatever situation you find yourself in today, friend, rejoice in what the Bible tells us. All the evidence points to the fact that Jesus Christ truly came. As CS Lewis put it, “The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God.” Rejoice in what Jesus did and choose joy today because Jesus doesn’t change. His message is forever the same. His yoke is light. His salvation is secure. His anchor doesn’t waver. Come to Jesus!