Advent 2021: The Shepherd's Candle: Great Joy...

Introduction

Recap and Setting the stage

Two weeks ago, Pastor Jonathan talked about the Hope candle through the story of Zechariah

He mentioned the fact that a Christian’s hope is steady not because of who we are, but because of who Jesus is.

Hope in Christ is a lasting and enduring hope.

Last week, Pastor Kevin talked about the Faith candle using the story of Simeon.

He talked about the fact that faith is the realization (or fulfillment) of hope - according to Hebrews 11:1

and quoting Manly Beasley, he said that “faith is holding something in our hearts before we hold it in our hands.”

Today, we dive into the third week of our advent with the Shepherd’s Candle - also called the Joy candle.

It is important to see how these themes connect.

If faith is a realization of hope, then joy is the expression of faith

To help us understand this in everyday terms, I want to relate it to when I met Cammy.

I first saw her at Breakaway on September 5th, 2006, sitting two chairs over from me.

After Breakaway, a handful of us went to grab coffee and I hung around until the wee hours of the morning just talking with her and the others with us.

Over the next few days, I could not stop thinking about her and how much I liked her.

The thought that I couldn’t get away from was , I “hope” that she likes me too

The following Saturday, I got to hang out with her again - with the same group of friends for a birthday party.

My hope drove me to figure out if she actually did like me.

So, I decided that I would ask her out on a date.

She responded with “I’m sorry, who are you?” and my hopes were shattered into a million pieces

ha, just kidding!

She said yes - which helped to confirm my hopes that at the very least she didn’t hate me.

This gave me a “faith” that she actually liked me

Now, it would be bad form to jump straight to exuberance at that point, because the date could have ended up being awful, so I tried to contain myself (with little success).

We went out on Saturday, September 23rd, and it was amazing - and she agreed to another date.

This confirmed my faith, and I was “overjoyed” that she actually liked me

Does that help?

I hoped that she liked me

I had faith (or believed) that she liked me

I had joy because she liked me

Joy is the is the expression of the faith in what we hope is true.

Open in prayer

Pray for yourselves

Pray for me!

Christian Joy versus Worldly joy

If you are a human, you are capable of feeling joy - and Christmas is a great example of this.

I have always loved Christmas — like I really love Christmas.

I have Almost a Buddy the Elf love of Christmas

Consequently, December 26th is the saddest day of the year for me, because it’s done and I have to wait 364 days to do it again…

I loved the:

time off school

Time with family

presents

Christmas lights

Christmas carols

Christmas movies (like Die Hard)

and the food - especially desserts!

The joy is all around you, and it’s awesome!

Joy is a common grace

Joy is one of the common graces of God that all humans get the privilege of experiencing - regardless if they follow the Lord or not.

What is joy?

It is the feeling that we get when something good happens or when we get something that we have wanted.

Think back to moments in your life that have brought you joy...

Being a kid at Christmas and getting that gift you had been hoping for

When you got your first car

graduating from High school or college

getting your first big person job

buying your first home

Kevin mentioned it last week - but, the Aggies beating Alabama

and the list goes on and on.

The problem with all of these things is that the joy that they produce is temporary.

The toy you got for Christmas wore out

The car that you were so proud of purchasing got old and you eventually traded it in

Graduation simply meant that real life was coming quick

Your job had parts you grew to hate

Maintaining and repairing the house got costly!

Beating Alabama didn’t guarantee us wins against Ole Miss and LSU…

The joy doesn’t last and it always leaves us wanting more.

That is how common grace works...

It is to whet our appetite so that we have a desire for the real thing.

God created opportunities for us to experience joys in this world so that He could surpass those joys with a joy that is unceasing and unending - the experience of Christian joy!

Unpacking the idea of Great Joy

In the passage that Olivia just read, and that we are about to dig into, the angel declared that he was bringing good news of GREAT JOY.

The question is, what is that great joy?

The angel said that they would have great joy because of the birth of Jesus.

He was described as the Savior who was “Christ, the Lord” or stated another way: “The anointed one, Yahweh” which is the covenant name of the Lord that He gave Moses in Exodus.

There are a couple of reasons for this to merit GREAT JOY - only one of which the shepherds would have connected with.

First, this was the fulfillment of Isaiah 7, where the Lord told Israel that a virgin would conceive and bear a son, and call His name Immanuel (which means God with us).

The Angel is telling the Shepherds that they will have great joy because God is now WITH them, in the flesh.

This is unlike anything that the Lord has ever done before - so it signaled a new thing that the Lord was doing, and displayed a pursuit of His people - cause for great joy!

Second, was what Jesus was going to accomplish

We look at this in the rearview… the shepherds would have no way of knowing or even comprehending this.

When the angel referred to Jesus as the Savior and the anointed one, he was foreshadowing Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection.

I realize that it is odd that we would have great joy amidst a brutal death, But the death would accomplish something that could be secured no other way

he secured our salvation, our rescue from sin, our adoption as daughters and sons of God.

What Jesus would accomplish at the cross could not be undone.

This is cause for great joy - that if we repent and believe, then we never have to worry about being under the wrath and condemnation of God.

This is what sets Great joy apart from the joy that this world peddles

Christmas presents us with a choice

to celebrate a temporary joy, wrapped in pretty paper with a bow on top

OR we celebrate great joy that emanates from a sinless savior dying in our place, buried and raised on the third day to bring us eternal life.

It is THIS joy that speaks to the deepest and darkest corners of our hearts to calm our deepest fears

It is THIS joy that comes from the greatest message ever spoken

and it is THIS joy that carries us through the storms we face.

Worldly joy cannot do that…

This is what I want to focus in on today…

Point 1: Great Joy... Speaks to our great fears (vv. 8-9)

Luke 2:8–9 (ESV)

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.

When people encounter the divine, they are filled with fear.

The angel tells the Shepherds the same thing that Gabriel told Mary in Luke 1: 30 - Do not be afraid!

This fear is our natural default because it was one of the first things that entered the world after the fall.

Remember in Genesis 3, when the Lord came walking through the garden looking for Adam and Eve, what were they doing?

They were hiding.

When the Lord called out to them, Adam responded with “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”

Fear drove Adam to hide from the Lord, who happened to be the only one who could do anything about his fear.

The shepherds were filled with fear, because of this divine appearance, but it speaks to the reality that there was a deeper fear in them - and in us…

The Shepherds had many reasons to fear…

They were the despised of society.

They were not ceremonially clean.

They were unable to adhere to the ceremonial law because of their constant duties of caring for these sheep

They were not allowed to give testimony in court, because they were viewed as untrustworthy.

Can you imagine the fear that they might walk around with every single day.

Knowing that everyone looked at you as less of a human

You have no dignity

You have no value

You have no worth

You are not loved

How might this have impacted them each day?

How might this have influenced how they live their lives

Perhaps even Altering their daily path so to avoid contact with others because of how they might be treated.

Closing off and never being really known by others

Fear can control us

Every one of us has that fear that will tend to drive us

This fear impacts how you live, what you do, how you make decisions, etc.

You will structure your life to avoid that thing that you are afraid of.

You will not live as you were created to live.

Like Adam and Eve, we will hide

We will pull back from Biblical community and refuse to let anyone see what’s inside.

We will pull away from the Lord, because we know that we have failed Him

We are terrified that we will be exposed for who we “really are,” forgetting who the Lord says we are…

We will try to numb that fear with something in this world - and perhaps it works for a moment, but like we already talked about, it doesn’t last.

That’s not the truth with Great Joy… Great Joy Speaks to our great fears!

What does Great Joy have to say to our great fears?

Great Joy speaks the same thing to us that He said in Isaiah 41:10 - “fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

Great joy proclaims Romans 8:1 over us saying “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Great joy declares the words of Jesus over us in John 15:9 - As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you! Abide (or live) in my love!

Great joy tells us the words of 1 John 4:18 - that there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.

Great joy reminds us of the gospel…

That Jesus Christ died and that Jesus Christ raised - and when we repent and believe, we are sealed with this great joy!

THIS is the Great joy of Christmas!

Point 2: Great Joy... Comes from a great message (v. 10)

Luke 2:10 (ESV)

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.

The Good News is the Gospel!

When the angel appeared to the shepherds, he said “I bring you good news of great joy”

If we were to translate this literally it would read “I evangelize to you great joy”

The Greek word for good news is “evan-geh-lizo”

The Angel brought them joy through the preaching of the good news - through evangelism.

Why is the gospel good news?

Paul says in Romans 8:3-4 - “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us”

This is bad news, “You can’t,” followed quickly by good news, “Jesus can”

2 Corinthians 5:21 says- For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

This is good news - “Jesus in your place, and you in His place”

Do you understand?!

The gospel did what we could not do.

The Gospel freed us from “Doing” by declaring it “done”

The gospel made a way where there was no way!

Think about this for a moment from the Shepherd’s perspective.

Your entire life, you have been ostracized and cast aside.

You have not been able to adhere to the law - not even a little bit

You might even have given up, because no matter how hard you tried, someone was telling you that it wasn’t enough.

And now, all of the weight of that burden is completely lifted.

It is no longer about what you can or cannot do - because God is doing it in you and for you.

This is cause for GREAT JOY!

This is the SOURCE of great joy!

Give great joy this Christmas season

I have to confess, I have probably spent more time thinking about the presents that I am buying for my kids and family for Christmas than I have about how I am going to bring the gospel to them - or anyone else for that matter.

I am not saying presents are bad - in fact I love giving and opening presents

I am saying that we cannot miss the fact that the Lord wants to use us to bring great joy to people’s lives through the sharing of a great gospel.

If you want to bring joy to others, then you MUST bring them the Gospel - evangelize them!

The cool thing is that the great joy isn’t solely enjoyed by the one who repents and believes.

The Lord brings you great joy through getting to lead someone into salvation.

Also, we don’t get this yet, but in Luke 15:10 we are told - “there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

All of heaven erupts when someone comes to faith!

The Angel said that this Great joy is for all the people

A very quick note here, on what the text says…

The Greek word used here for “all the people” is the word “lah-os”

This word, when used in the New testament, generally refers to the People of Israel.

So, here, the Angel was most likely saying that Jesus would be a savior to all of Israel.

If this was referring to all people of earth, we would likely see the word “ethne” or “ethnos” - which means nations or peoples.

This doesn’t mean that Jesus’ birth wasn’t meant for great joy for those who were not of Jewish lineage, but would be consistent with what Paul said in Romans 1:16 - For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Coming to the Jews first doesn’t make it any less good news for us gentiles!

So, the angel’s announcement wasn’t to the exclusion of anyone who wasn’t Jewish.

Taking the scriptures holistically, we know that every “ethne”, or every nation, is welcomed to hear this good news.

That is spelled out explicitly in Matthew 28

This great joy, was being ushered in thru the gospel for ALL the peoples regardless of lineage or class

even shepherds, who were lowest of the low because the gospel is the great equalizer.

And this great joy is for us… it is for YOU!

Great joy comes from a great message!

Point 3: Great Joy… Endures our great storms (vv. 12 & 20)

Let’s look at verses 12 and 20 (I know, I cheated and went outside my passage…).

Luke 2:12 (ESV)

12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”

Luke 2:20 (ESV)

20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

These shepherds got the greatest news of their lives - and their hearts were likely radically transformed.

HOWEVER, their current situation may not have changed at all.

After seeing the Baby Jesus, they went back to their fields and back to their sheep.

They would still be looked down on by others

They would still not be able to participate in the religious duties at the temple

They would still be viewed as untrustworthy

Which BTW, isn’t it interesting that the first people that the Lord chose to reveal the Incarnation of His Son to were people that others didn’t trust?

They would still wrestle with the urge to hide from others as to escape the shame that they might feel.

The storms of their lives would still come crashing into their shores, but they had been given a joy that couldn’t be shaken by those things.

The storms of life cannot take away the finished work of Jesus on the cross, and we do not need to yield to despair when those storms arrive.

I’ll tell you where I have seen this to be beautifully illustrated… On the mission field, particularly in 3rd world places.

If you have ever been overseas on mission trips in places like these, you might have seen this.

The people are poorer than poor, living in a shack or mud hut

Their clothes are tattered and torn

They have eaten beans and rice exclusively for the past 27 meals

Yet, we notice something about them… something that maybe haunts us a little bit..

You might have come home saying something like this:

“Even though they had almost nothing, they were so filled with _______… joy!”

Many of these people are living on less than a dollar a day, yet their joy is full.

I think this scares us, because we know how deeply our joy is tied to stuff rather than the Lord.

Why are they so filled with joy?

Because their circumstances don’t dictate their joy and their joy isn’t tied to things.

Listen to this… I am going to say it again.

Their circumstances don’t dictate their joy and their joy isn’t tied to things, and neither should ours.

Application - what do we do with this?

In a few moments, we are going to respond by singing the song O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.

The refrain says:

“Rejoice, Rejoice, Emmanuel, shall come to the O Israel.”

Israel was waiting on this promised Messiah… they were waiting for the consolation of Israel.

The rejoicing came because The Lord was going to come to them - this was future.

They were looking forward to the incarnation, whereas we look back.

Yet, in a sense, we are looking forward to something as well.

We look forward to the consolation of our souls

We look forward to being rescued from the presence of sin.

But we have reason to rejoice, because our great joy is secure when nothing else in our life is.

As we walk through the shadow lands, filled with doubt and fear we must set our hearts and minds on the Great joy we have in Christ-Jesus.

We must Cultivate an eternal perspective in your hearts.

Great joy endures our great storms!

Close

Listen, you can make Christmas about all of the fluff, and you can buy the package deal that the world is selling.

You can make it all about presents, and lights, and parties, and food, and Santa, and time off work

But your Christmas celebration will not be built on Great Joy… it will be built on the temporary stuff that wears out quickly.

It will have no impact on the fears that you carry deep inside

It will have no impact on the eternal security of those around you

It will not alleviate the storms that are most certainly brewing in your life.

The questions that you need to be asking yourself are:

Do I have a hope in Jesus Christ?

If I have hope in him, do I have faith that He can accomplish what I cannot?

If I have that faith, then am I overflowing with great joy?

No, life is not necessarily going to be comfortable and it will not all be a cake walk

But we have a life, face to face with Jesus awaiting us that will never end - where we will never lack anything we need, we will never suffer illness, we will not be racked by our sin…

For the Christ-follower in this room, hear me, this world is as close to hell as we will ever be.

There is coming a day where we will die, we will be glorified with the Lord in heaven.

All of this world, and the struggles and pains that we have endured will be ancient history!

This is what we need to be celebrating this season!

While we sing, I want you to think about that thing that you are waiting to be made right by the Lord…

That painful thing that hurts to touch.

That thing that never seems to leave you alone.

And I want you to think about the fact that the Lord is drawing you closer and closer to consolation!

He is preparing a place for you where these things will no longer weigh you down and He will make all things right.

So as we sing, REJOICE over that!

Prayer