OPEN: I love to sing Christmas Carols, so this morning we’re going to start out the sermon with “Joy to the World”. If you would, stand and sing it with me.
1. Joy to the world the Lord has come, let earth receive her King
Let every heart prepare him room
And heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing
And heaven and heaven and nature sing
2. Joy to the earth the Savior reigns, let men their songs employ
While fields and floods rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy, repeat the sounding joy
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.
3. He rules the world with truth and grace and makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness, and wonders of His love
And wonders of His love; and wonders, wonders of His love."
Now that Christmas Carol reminds of story of scripture. Can you think of what story it reminds me of? Well we read the story at beginning of the story: “And the angel said to (the shepherds), ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you GOOD NEWS OF GREAT JOY that will be for all the people (“Joy To The World”). For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.’” Luke 2:10-12
(See appendix at the end of the sermon)
The angel said “I bring you Good News of Great JOY!!!”
The video we used at the opening of our service touched on this joy - and I remember how odd it sounded to me when I first heard it. In case you’ve forgotten, here are the words from the video: “Maybe things are going to be great, or maybe you’re in the struggle of your life, or somewhere in between. Jesus came to bring us JOY through all the ups and downs. JOY shows up when we least expect it.” (This video came with the package we purchased from Outreach.com as part of their 5-week Advent & Christmas Eve Campaign which used clips from “The Star” – a movie distributed by Sony Pictures).
That seemed to me like an odd introduction to this idea of Joy. I mean, the idea that Joy would come even in the struggles, and the ups & downs of life. But then I looked up some Bible verses about joy and I encountered these verses:
Psalm 30:5 “…Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.”
Psalm 126:5 “Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!”
And Jesus said: “…You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.” John 16:20
Now that just seems strange. It doesn't seem logical that Joy would still be in a life struggling with hardship. I wouldn’t think that Joy would be able to survive in sadness and difficulty. But apparently it can. And part of the reason that I might struggle with that idea is because I (and apparently many others) tend to confuse joy with happiness.
Did you realize there’s a difference between happiness and joy? Well, there is!!! And the difference is basically this: HAPPINESS is a human emotion which is based on what HAPPENS to me.
ILLUS: One psychiatrist noted that the idea of happiness comes to us from ancient European words that meant “luck” or “chance”. “Hap is the Old Norse and Old English root of happiness, and it just means luck or chance...” Europeans believed that “… happiness was NOT something you could control. It was in the hands of the gods, dictated by Fate or Fortune, controlled by the stars, but not something that you or I could really count upon or make for ourselves. Happiness, literally, was what happened to us, and that was ultimately out of our hands.”
(Darrin M. McMahon, Ph.D. — YES! Magazine www.yesmagazine.org/happiness/a-history-of-happiness)
This same author noted that many modern people tend to view happiness as “something ‘OUT THERE’ - something that can be pursued, caught, and consumed.” He says this can lead to what he calls “the UNhappiness of NOT being happy”.
Essentially they’re not happy because… they’re not happy!
You see, the problem with “happiness” is that - if happiness is the goal in my life - it’s deceptive. Happiness depends on what HAPPENS TO me. Thus – if happiness is my goal – then I’m only going to be content when I have more money, or I have a better job, or if I have a better home, or if I have a better spouse … and on and on and on.
By contrast, Biblical JOY is something entirely different. Biblical joy can show up in the midst of sorrow and loss and difficulty, because it’s not tied to what happens in my life. It’s tied to being around Jesus.
The angel said to the shepherds: “Behold I bring you good news of GREAT JOY”. There was something about what the angel was about to announce that would create joy. Something that would guarantee JOY.
Well, what’s the angel about to announce? “… unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” Luke 2:10-12
The angel was telling them that - their joy was going to be found in Jesus.
You see, the word “JOY” is a basically BIBLICAL word. In my ESV Bible, the words “happiness” and “Happy” show up in Scripture about 10 times. But by contrast the words “Joy”, “Rejoice” and “Rejoicing” show up in the Bible no less than 347 times.
ILLUS: One scholar noted that there’s “… no language (that) has as many words for joy and rejoicing as the Hebrew language does. In the Old Testament (there are) twenty-seven different words, that are used primarily for some aspect of joy or joyful participation in religious worship.” (Kaufmann Kohler in the Jewish Encyclopedia)
Joy is something that is found by being around God and that type of Joy is almost guaranteed.
ILLUS: In Britain they have something called the “national happiness index” (I kid you not). And a study that was done in England from April 2012- March 2015 suggested that Christians are among the happiest people in that nation, while those who don't identify with any particular religion generally scored the lowest in being satisfied with life.
(http://www.christianpost.com/news/christians-among-happiest-faith-groups-non-religious-least-uk-national-statistics-survey-156669/)
ILLUS: Another survey, which was reported in the Washington Post in August of 2015, involved a study where researchers interviewed 9000 Europeans. The study compared the contentment that people got from being involved in
1) volunteering or working with a charity;
2) taking educational courses;
3) participating in a political or community organization.
4) or participating in religious organizations;
And THEY FOUND that of those 4 activities, the only activity that seemed to guarantee sustained happiness was that of participating in a religious organization.
That coincides with what the Bible has told us all along: Joy comes with being with Jesus. For example, in Philippians 4 Paul commands us to “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice.” And then he goes to explain how to do that and informs us that if we do this “the peace of God that transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Then he spends more time telling us how to rejoice in the Lord and says that if we do that “the God of peace will be with you.
Then he wrote this: “I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned THE SECRET of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.” Philippians 4:10-12
Did you know there’s a secret to being content with life? There’s a secret that can help you have joy when you’re faced with hunger and need and other difficulties of life? Well what is that secret? Paul tells us in the next verse. He says THIS is the secret: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13
It’s through Christ that I have the ability to have joy & contentment.
That sounds a lot like WHAT the angels told the shepherds: “Behold I bring you good news of GREAT JOY” And what was that good news of great joy???? “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
There is something about being around Jesus that brings JOY to our lives. There is something about belonging to Christ that can give you contentment. There is something about being a Christian that can give you strength for our lives. But what is it about Jesus that can do all that for us? Is it the baby in a manger that can change our lives? Well, yes… and no. Jesus had to come as a baby to fulfill prophecy but he was only a baby for a few months. I know that if you visit the manger scenes every year, he seems to remain the same size every Christmas, but in real life Jesus grew up… and eventually became a man.
You see it isn’t about Jesus being a baby - it’s about Him being our Savior. It’s about Him being Christ the Lord. That was the angel’s message: that he would be “a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” But when did Jesus become our Savior and Lord? Well, that happened when He died on the cross.
ILLUS: I wrote a Christmas song some years back called “Looking For A Christmas Tree” and this was the last verse of that song: (you can hear on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNWJaJ7p9mA)
“The story of that baby Jesus still can make me smile, but the little baby soon became a man.
And the crowds that once had cheered him on became a howling mob 'Crucify Him' was their demand.
They nailed Him to a rugged cross, stained with dirt and mud.
The only decoration on that tree was His blood.
And there upon that Christ-filled tree we saw God’s gift of Love - the true gift from the Father up above.”
It’s Jesus on the cross that is the key to our joy. It’s Christ on the Cross that allows us to learn to be content. But that seems kind of morbid. How could the Christ’s dying on a tree bring me joy or contentment?
Well, there’s a few things here:
1st – Jesus’ death brought me joy because I don’t have to be afraid of dying anymore.
ILLUS: When I was only 5 years old my grandfather died. When the family went out to the cemetery I knew grandpa was in the casket, and I could see right down into the freshly dug grave and I was confused. I turned to my mom and asked “How’s grandpa ever going to get out of that grave?”
Even children understand that there’s something final about death and so a lot of people fear death. They’ll do just about anything to stave it off. But Jesus died to conquer that fear.
Hebrews 2:14-15 tells us that “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”
Jesus not only came to die for our sins, but ALSO to rise from the dead to show us it could be done. That’s part of the message of what we do to become Christians. Over here we have a baptistery. The Bible talks about the fact that when I’m baptized into Christ, I’m baptized into His death. I “die with Him” when I went under the water.
Now if I baptize somebody into Christ, how long do I hold them under? I guess it depends on how much I like them, doesn’t it? But eventually I have to let them back up. I think it’s written down somewhere.
But the beauty of baptism is that it not only promises that I die when I go under that water (my sinful self is done away with)… but that I also rise from that watery grave to “walk in newness of life.” I rise from the water like I was coming out of the grave. And that’s one of the cool things about baptism. It not only promises that my sins are washed away, but also it promises that when I die physically the grave won’t hold me. Just like I came out of that watery grave, I’ll rise up from my earthly one “Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. “Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God” (I Thessalonians 4:16) and I will rise from the dead. Nothing will be able to keep me in the ground!
2nd – Jesus’ death brought me joy because it showed me that God cared for me. He loved me enough to pay the debt for my sins. That’s the power of John 3:16. Repeat it with me: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. That whosoever should believe in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” God so loved… you. God so loved me. That means YOU and I matter to God. That means God cares about what happens in your life
There’s a really cool verse in Romans that says this: “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” Romans 8:32. Essentially that’s telling us: If He’d do that for us (give His Son)… how much more will He do?
Lastly, Jesus’s death gives me joy because it declares that salvation is for ALL people. Again John 3:16 For God so loved THE WORLD (not just some people - but all people). That runs counter to how most folks think. In fact, this kind of thinking surrounds much of what Christmas is about in the secular world. Do you remember the song "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town"? (Sing) "He's making a list and checking it twice, gonna find out who's naughty and nice." Do you know what that verse means? It means that only nice people deserve a Christmas gift. Only the righteous are worthy of attention and reward. But the good news of great JOY (in Christ’s death) is that Jesus died for people who’ve messed up their lives. Jesus died for people who’ve sinned. Jesus died for people who everyone else has given up on.
In other words – the baby in the Manger came for all people. He was born for lowly shepherds and the mighty kings… and He was born for you and me.
INVITATION
Appendix: Isaac Watt was apparently not influenced so much by the story in Luke as he was by Psalm 98 when he wrote the carol “Joy To The World”
