In Jesus Holy Name December 11, 2022
Advent III Philippians 4:4 Redeemer
“The Heart of Christmas is Hope, Peace & Joy”
Christmas can be a crazy time. People want “hope” for a better year ahead. People want peace in their home and in the world at Christmas. I seems elusive. How can we find “joy” in the midst of the Christmas rush with the flu, the colds and COVID still clinging to our winter days? Will we find “joy” in the office Christmas parties? Will we find joy at Christmas musicals? I suggest we find true joy were we left off last week.
John wrote: “The “?????”, the Intelligent Designer of the Universe pitched His tent in our midst and we beheld His glory.” (John 1:14) Christmas is the radical celebration that reminds us that the DNA of the Creator is found in the arms of a teenage girl in the city of Bethlehem.
Last week Pastor Jim asked: Why would the Creator of the Universe do such a thing? Hebrews 2:14 (read) His special birth and arrival, to the earth He created, in whose human body the full deity of God resided, is a reminder that in life we who have been called to believe, by the Holy Spirit, have hope. We have “joy”. Joy is based on peace in our being, because Jesus destroyed the grip of fear the Devil wants hold over people’s life and eternal destiny..
This is why Jesus came, to redeem us from fear of what the future brings our way. When we know the Holy Spirit is guiding our days…the result is joy. A common misconception for many people who are seeking peace and friendship with God is to work super hard to be perfect. One of the greatest joy robbers in our lives is knowing we can never be good enough. We have broken ethics. We have broken commandments. We have hurt others, we make mistakes, and we live selfish lives. The “joy” we were hoping for on our own is sapped when we know this truth. Holiness on our own is out of our reach. Yet we want to have joy.
Happiness is different than joy. Human beings are preoccupied with happiness. Often our happiness in life is connected to circumstances in our lives. When things are going well, we feel good. When things are going poorly, we feel bad. Our happiness ebbs and flows. The “joy” of Christmas is knowing that Jesus came to transfer to each one of us His holiness as a gift. “Joy” means that our emotions would not have to fluctuate with our environment.
Lou Holtz once said:
If you want to be happy for a day. ….go golfing.
If you want to be happy for a week…take a cruise.
If you want to be happy for a month…win the lottery.
If you want to be happy for eternity…connect your heart to faith in Jesus Christ.
What is the distinction between joy and happiness? Galatians 5:22-23 says: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law.”
Rick Warren gave us this definition of joy: “Joy is the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life, the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is going to be alright and the determined choice to praise God in every situation.”
Joy or happiness? Which is it? Let me tell you a story and you can tell me the answer. I’m sure there is excitement in your home as the children and grandchildren help find just the right Christmas tree. There is excitement as the lights are strung. On the face of your children is it “joy” or “happiness”?
Just this week we were talking with our granddaughter Reagan. She was excited. You could hear it in her voice. All she could talk about was how she and her dad were stringing Christmas lights on the house. “It’s just beautiful.” She said. I could tell that her words carried more than “happiness” in seeing beautiful lights. There was joy in her voice because she was sharing a “life” moment with her Dad.
I used the word “joy” that I heard in her voice rather than “happiness” because there was assurance, yes, they were getting ready for Christmas together, but something more was happening with her Dad. It was a time of activity, yes, but more. It was a time of love shared in the activity which resulted in “joy”. So it is with us and our Father in Heaven. Joy is the assurance that we are loved by God and He cares for us as we move through our daily routines.
Christmas is a busy time for every house. There are going to be interruptions. For example: “Just as things are settling down, and you are having a moment of quiet with your hot chocolate, the phone rings and it is Uncle Charlie…He says: “we are just traveling through, could we park our Winnebago in your drive way. We promise we won’t stay more than 10 days. Interruptions. Just when you are about to retire, help is needed with college tuition. Interruptions. They come with Christmas. They come with life. (story from Max Lucado, “Because of Bethlehem)
And just when you sell the crib, surprise. Another child. Interruptions. Just when you had things in order, another lay off, cancer diagnosis, heart attack. Interruptions can suck the happiness out of your life if the only happiness you experience is dependent on your daily emotions. Interruptions can bring anxiety. If you are hoping for December 26th rather than December 25th let me tell you a story.
The story is true. It is about a young girl far from home. Not able to sleep in her own bed. Roads are crowded as they always are at Christmas time. There is a winter chill, which chills to the bone. Money is tight. She is estranged from her family. Under normal circumstances they would have been thrilled with her pregnancy.
With her conservative family and bazar explanation it was a wonder Joseph still took her. What an interruption for Joseph. This is not how he had planned their marriage. On the road. Seeking a place to stay. I’m sure neither dreamed of a cattle manger box as the crib for their first child. What kept Joseph going?
The message of the angel was still burning in his mind and heart. “Joseph, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you are to give him the name Jesus.. …He will called Immanuel which means “God with us.” Matthew 1:20-23
God with us. God with us. An interruption the world needed. The DNA, the “?????”, The Intelligent Designer, with us. In that moment when life is interrupted with the birth of a child, did they really understand?
I don’t know but I do know they knew this child was special gift.
Maybe, just maybe, Joseph remembered the words of Psalm 98.
“Sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done marvelous things. The Lord has made His salvation known and revealed his righteous to the nations. He has remembered His love and faithfulness to the house of Israel
…let the nations sing before the Lord, for He comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity.
The words of this Psalm are the foundation of one of our most favorite Christmas hymns: “Joy to the World”. Isaac Watts wrote the words of Joy to the World in 1719 as a poem when he reflected on the words of Psalm 98. The connection of music to the words of the Christmas song we love was made in 1848 more than 100 years after his poetic reflections.
The psalmist is looking forward to the Lord's coming. Watts, writing as a Christian, proclaims the fact that the Lord has already come and has already begun to rule over the earth. The joyful celebration of his coming is what ties this song to Christmas.
The joy offered by God is different than the one promised at the car dealership or shopping mall. The joy offered by God is different than the temporary happiness of your football team winning the big game. That is temporary happiness. God is not interested in putting a temporary smile on your face. He wants to deposit a resilient joy in your heart that carries you and me through the journey of life.
Peter referred to this joy in the opening words of his epistle.
“Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (I Peter 1:8-9 ).
When John writes that the “?????” became flesh and dwelt among us…the event is known as the incarnation. The incarnation was the DNA of God putting skin on and becoming one of us. Verse 14 says the Word became flesh. Unfortunately our use of the English “word” with a “W” misses the radical nature of the birth of Jesus.
John was right to use the word “?????”, the Intelligent Designer, because he perfectly embodies all of scripture in human flesh. When Jesus was born in the manger, He was God coming to live among us—as one of us—with skin and bone, flesh and blood.
This passage gives us two reasons for a joy that does not have to change with the seasons or shift with our situations. It can be a constant in our lives and a grounding attitude in the face of all the world has to offer. Joy is at the heart of Christmas because knowing that we could never make our own holiness, God came to us. It is the only religion in the world where the deity does what is necessary to unite with humanity to restore harmony, with the result of “hope”, “peace” and “joy”.
I for one am thankful for the interruption.
