(adapted from Bob Russell)
SERIES: “CHRISTMAS CAROL THEOLOGY”
TEXT: PSALM 98
TITLE: “JOY TO THE WORLD”
INTRODUCTION: A. Christmas can be quite stressful
--planning parties, buying just the right gifts, preparing elaborate meals
1. Instead of bringing joy, it can bring frustration
a. If you allow it
b. If you focus on the wrong things
2. A woman was in the mall doing her Christmas shopping. She was tired of
walking through every aisle of every store to find just the right present. She was
stressed out by the mounting debt on her credit card. She was tired of fighting the
crowds and standing in lines for the registers. Her hands were full and when the
elevator door opened, it was full. “Great!” she muttered and the occupants of the
elevator, feeling her pain, graciously tightened ranks to allow a small space for her
and her load.
As the doors closed she blurted out, “I think whoever came up with this
Christmas junk ought to be found, strung up and shot!” A few others shook their
head or grunted in agreement. Then, from somewhere in the back of the elevator
came a single voice that said, “Don’t worry. They already crucified him.”
3. Christmas is not about us
--It’s about how God so loved the world, He gave His one and only Son that
whoever believes in Him might have eternal life
4. Christmas is about joy in Christ
C. The edgy entertainer Madonna was once asked, "Are you a happy person?"
1. She replied, "I am a tormented person. I have a lot of demons I am wrestling
with. But I want to be happy. I have moments of happiness. I am working towards
knowing myself, and I am assuming that will bring me happiness."
2. So many people are searching for happiness but not really finding it.
--We have access to so much in the way of possessions, entertainment, education,
but still are not fulfilled.
D. The Bible does not really talk much about happiness, but it does say much about joy.
--Joy has a deeper meaning than happiness.
1. Happiness has to do with what happens to you and fluctuates according to
circumstances.
2. But genuine joy overrides circumstances.
--Joy is an inner sense of well-being that abides when circumstances are
unfavorable.
E. Almost 300 years ago Isaac Watts wrote the hymn titled, "Joy to the World."
1. Although it has only a veiled reference to the birth of Jesus ("The Lord is come; let
earth receive her king"), it is considered a Christmas carol.
2. But, actually, it was inspired by Psalm 98.
--Ps. 98:1-9 – “Sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things;
his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. The LORD has
made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations. He has
remembered his love and his faithfulness to the house of Israel; all the ends of
the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Shout for joy to the LORD , all the
earth, burst into jubilant song with music; make music to the LORD with the
harp, with the harp and the sound of singing, with trumpets and the blast of the
ram’s horn- shout for joy before the LORD , the King. Let the sea resound, and
everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. Let the rivers clap their hands,
Let the mountains sing together for joy; let them sing before the LORD , for he
comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the
peoples with equity.”
3. So lets take a look at the song "Joy to the World" by stanzas and review the
reminders about what still brings genuine joy to life today.
I. The first stanza teaches: THERE IS JOY WHEN THE KING IS RECEIVED
--"Joy to the world! The Lord is come! Let earth receive her king; let every heart prepare Him room, and
heaven and nature sing."
A. Not everyone was joyful when Jesus was born.
--King Herod was not happy.
1. He learned first about the birth of Jesus from the magi, a group of foreign astronomers who came to
his palace searching for a new world ruler.
2. Herod was troubled. He was paranoid, so much so that he had already murdered three of his own sons.
He was not going to tolerate a rival king even if he was an infant.
3. There are still many who reject Jesus as king because they see Him as a threat to their selfish desires,
individual freedom, insatiable greed, and intellectual pride.
B. In contrast to Herod, the wise men received Jesus as a king.
1. Who were these wise men?
--advisors both good and bad
a. Daniel and the three
b. Those who dabbled in sorcery and other things
2. Where did they come from ?
3. How many were there?
4. Were they at the manger when Christ was born?
5. What made them special?
--Gentiles who believed and worshipped
C. If you receive Christ as King of your life, He brings a spiritual joy that you cannot find any place else.
1. Just as your body craves food and exercise or it will become weak and frail.
2. So your inner spirit craves a relationship with God and if not nurtured will cause the soul to become
famished and restless.
--It’s been said that there is a God-shaped hole in each of our lives
3. There’s a Christmas card that says:
If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent an educator. If our greatest need had
been technology, God would have sent a scientist. If our greatest need had been money, God would
have sent an economist. If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent an entertainer.
But our greatest need was forgiveness, so he sent us a Savior."
II. The second stanza teaches: THERE IS JOY WHEN THE SAVIOR REIGNS
--"Joy to the earth! The Savior reigns! Let men their songs employ; while fields and floods, rocks, hills and
plains, repeat the sounding Joy."
A. There is a difference between receiving Christ and allowing Christ to rein.
1. Jesus encountered a number of people who wanted to receive Him but did not exactly want Him to
reign over them.
2. There are people today who want to receive all the good things Christ offers, but they really don’t
want to let him reign over their business ethics, New Year’s Entertainment, or the language they use
under pressure or their public image.
3. A fairly recent poll by the Barna Research Group in America found that only 37% of adults thought
the birth of Jesus is the most important aspect of Christmas. 44% of the respondents said family time
is the most important part of the Christmas celebration. 3% said presents or parties were the most
important part of Christmas. The same percentage said the best thing about Christmas was getting a
paid holiday.
B. People who receive Christ but do not let Him rule are usually not very joyful.
1. Their duplicity wears them out and causes them to lose self-respect.
2. Indecisiveness and hypocrisy sap the joy out of life.
--there comes a time when you realize your not fooling anybody
C. When Jesus reigns over all your life He brings joy.
--Someone: “Joy is the byproduct of obedience..”
III. The third stanza teaches: THERE IS JOY WHEN THE SINNER REPENTS
--"No more let sins and sorrow grow. Nor thorns infest the ground; He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found."
A. Sin promises happiness but ultimately delivers sorrow.
1. Satan told Adam and Eve that if they eat off the tree it will be good and it will make you wise.
--But in the end that luscious looking fruit brought a horrible curse and unending sorrow.
2. Sin still brings a bitter curse and painful sorrow today.
3. But there is a wonderful experience of joy when the sinner repents.
B. Wild west author Bret Harte wrote a story entitled “The Luck of Roaring Camp”.
1. The story goes that Roaring Camp was supposed to be the meanest, toughest mining town in all of
the West. It was reported that there were more murders and thefts than any other place around. It
was a terrible place inhabited entirely by men, except for one woman who made her living in the
only way she knew how. Her name was Cherokee Sal.
2. She became pregnant by who knows whom and died while giving birth to a baby. The men took the
baby and put her in a box with some old rags under her. Somehow that just didn’t seem right, so one
of the men rode eighty miles to buy a rosewood cradle. He brought it back, and they put the rags and
the baby in the beautiful new rosewood cradle. But the rags didn’t look very nice in the beautiful
new cradle, so they had another man ride to Sacramento where he bought some beautiful silk and
lace blankets. Now they put the baby in the cradle lined with silk and put the new blanket over her. It
looked fine until someone happened to notice that the floor was so filthy.
3. So these hardened, tough men got down on their hands and knees, and with their callused hands
scrubbed the floor until it was spotless. Of course, now the walls and the ceiling and the dirty
windows without curtains looked absolutely terrible. So they washed down the walls and the ceiling,
and they put curtains at the windows. Things were beginning to look a lot better. But of course, they
had to give up a lot of their fighting, because the baby slept a lot, and babies can’t sleep during a
brawl. So the whole temperature of Roaring Camp seemed to go down.
4. They would take the baby out and set her by the entrance to the mine in her rosewood cradle, with
one of the men staying next to her, so the others could see her when they came out of the mine. Then
somebody noticed what a dirty place the mine entrance was, so they planted flowers, and they made
a garden there. It really looked quite beautiful. The men would bring her shiny little stones that they
would find in the mine. But when they would put their hands down next to hers, their hands looked
so dirty. Pretty soon the general store was all sold out of soap and shaving gear. The baby was
changing everything.
5. Has the Bethlehem baby made a difference in your life?
IV. The last stanza teaches: THERE IS JOY WHEN THE TRUTH RULES WITH GRACE
--"He rules the world with truth and grace, and makes the nations prove The glories of His righteousness
and wonders of His love."
A. There is little joy if there is not a balance between grace and truth.
1. Sometimes, truth is not very gracious
2. The truth needs to be seasoned with grace
B. Jesus brings joy because He is a balance of truth and grace.
--He is the truth, the life, and the way
C. Someone: "Truth without love is dogmatism, love without truth is sentimentality, but truth with
love, now that’s Christianity."
CONCLUSION: A. We’re all used to seeing the traditional nativity scenes at Christmas time: Joseph, Mary,
the infant Jesus, shepherds, animals, and wise men.
1. But the apostle John paints a different nativity scene, one with which we are not
very familiar during the Christmas season.
2. This nativity scene is not in his gospel but in the book of Revelation
--Rev. 12:1-5 – “A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed
with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.
She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. Then another
sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns
and seven crowns on his heads. His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and
flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to
give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born. She gave
birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And
her child was snatched up to God and to his throne.”
B. A preacher’s family had started putting up a nativity scene in their front yard. All of
them were carrying out the little statues to put in the nativity scene. Finally everything
was in place - Mary & Joseph & the manger & the baby, & angels & shepherds & all the
barnyard animals.
Then little Scott came out carrying one of his favorite toys, the figure of the fierce
Tyrannosaurus Rex, king of the dinosaurs. It was one of those plastic figures that you
inflate, & in comparison to the other figures it was an enormous thing, towering over
them all, & certainly not something to have in a nativity scene.
The dad said, "I tried to tell him, ‘Scott, you have to take that back because it doesn’t
belong there. Dinosaurs existed thousands of years before the baby Jesus, & it just
doesn’t belong in a nativity scene.’" But little Scott insisted, so they finally put it there
behind all the other figures - a fierce dinosaur hovering over the manger & everything
else.
Then the dad said, "As we stood back & looked at it, we realized that maybe that
dinosaur says more than we realized. For over each of us there is this menacing character
that threatens to rob us of all our joy & peace & cheer."
"But Christmas reminds us that the baby in the manger is stronger than all the
dinosaurs in your life or mine. And God has given us the victory through the gift of His
Son."
B. True joy comes to those who receive Christ, repent of sin, and allow Him to reign in their
lives.
1. When Christ rules with grace and truth there is an inner joy that overrides difficult
circumstances.
2. That sense of contentment and peace, that grace and truth is contagious and attracts
others to follow Christ.
