ADVENT: Getting Ready for Jesus


12/04/2011 - Joy



Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King.
Let every heart prepare Him room.
And heaven and nature sing.

Joy to the world, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ.
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground.
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace.
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness
And wonders of love.

Those are the lyrics of one of the most popular Christmas songs ever written. We sung it this morning, "Joy to the World."

But "Joy to the World" wasn't written as a Christmas song at all. It's not about the humble birth of little baby Jesus crying in a manger. It was written about a triumphant Jesus coming back as King to finally conquer the curse and to rule the world. And all creation is filled with joy at the thought of the coming of the Lord. Let earth receive her King and heaven and nature sing!

If there was ever an Advent song it's "Joy to the World." But it's not about the first advent of Jesus it's about the second advent of Jesus, his second coming.

Isaac Watts wrote the song back in the early 1700's based on the words of King David found in Psalm 98. Listen to Psalm 98 and see if you can hear what all the shouting and rejoicing is about. If you want to follow along it's found on page 410 in the Bibles we give out.

Psalm 98, 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. 2The LORD has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations. 3He 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. 4Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music; 5make music to the LORD with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing, 6with trumpets and the blast of the ram's horn—shout for joy before the LORD, the King. 7Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. 8Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy; 9let them sing before the LORD ... why? ... for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity.

Do you hear what the Psalmist is saying? He's saying shout for joy to the Lord because he's coming to judge the earth! Celebrate! Judgment is a good thing! It's something to hope for. It's something to look forward to. It's something to sing about.

Tune up the instruments, strike up the band, get out the noisemakers, invite the sea and the rivers and the mountains to give high fives and chest bumps. Invite everything that God has made to join in the celebration because the Lord is coming to judge the earth and to rescue this world from evil, that's what the word "salvation" means.

That's a different spin on judgment, isn't it? In a world dominated by injustice and intimidation, arrogance and violence, racism and prejudice, immorality and sexual abuse, the thought that there's coming a day when the wicked will finally be put in their place and the poor and the oppressed and the abused will be given their day in court is good news ... news worth shouting about! A good God must be a God of judgment.

The story that we find ourselves in called "life" has a happy ending for those who are aligned with God and his son Jesus, the King who is coming back to make all things right. So joy to the world, the Lord is come!

This morning we continue our series looking at the four themes of Advent. Last week we talked about hope. And this morning, in the wake of our JOY celebration last night, we want to talk about joy. And in keeping with Advent tradition we're going to light two candles this morning. The first is the candle of hope and the second is the candle of joy.

Our God is a God of joy. Joy throbs throughout the Scriptures as a profound, compelling quality of life that transcends the trials and tribulations of this world. That's why God's people have always been a singing people. We were created to sing and to shout and to give joyful praise to our Creator because in the end God wins!

"Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee, God of glory, Lord of love. Mortals join the mighty chorus which the morning stars began. Father love is reigning over us, brother love binds man to man. Ever singing, march we onward, victors in the midst of strife. Joyful music leads us sunward in the triumph song of life."

Joy comes from God. And joy is different than happiness. Happiness is external. Happiness is based on our circumstances. Happiness comes from what is "happening" to me. There's nothing wrong with being happy. I love when I'm happy. But happiness can be illusive. Happiness has a short shelf life. It doesn't stick because my circumstances change ... quickly.

Joy, on the other hand, comes despite what's happening to me. Joy is internal. It has deeper roots. It has staying power because the things that give me joy don't change. Like the God who loves me and the Savior who died for me and the Spirit who fills me and the hope of eternal life that I have both now and forever. That's what gives me joy and nobody and nothing that happens to me can take that away.

The words "happy" and "happiness" occur 26 times in the Bible. But the words "joy" and "rejoice" occur 334 times, over 12 times more. In fact, the Hebrew language in which the Old Testament was written has more words for "joy" and "rejoicing" than any other language in the world. Our God is a God of joy.

We certainly see that joy in the Christmas story. It begins when the angel of the Lord appears to Zechariah and announces the birth of John the Baptizer to Mary's cousin, Elizabeth, in Luke 1:13-14, Do not be afraid, Zechariah, your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. 14He will be a JOY and delight to you, and many will REJOICE because of his birth.

Anyone who's ever had a baby knows the joy that a baby can bring. And John would be a special baby. A little later that baby leaped for joy in Elizabeth's womb when he met Jesus in Mary's womb in Luke 1:44, Elizabeth says, "As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for JOY."

To which Mary responded with her famous song called Mary's Magnificat in Luke 1:46-47, And Mary said, "My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit REJOICES in God my Savior."

Joy is all throughout the Christmas story. When John the Baptist was born about six months before Jesus joy spread throughout the entire neighborhood.

Listen to Luke 1:57-58, When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. 58Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her JOY.

Of course, the most famous reference to joy at that first Christmas is found in the angel's announcement to the shepherds in Luke 2:10-11, But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great JOY that will be for all the people. 11Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you. He is Messiah, the Lord."

There was joy at John the Baptist's birth. And there was joy at our Savior's birth. But there was also joy at our Savior's death. The writer to the Hebrews tells us that Jesus had joy going to the cross.

In Hebrews 12:2 we read, Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. Who for the JOY set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

I don't think Jesus was happy about going to the cross and experiencing the horrific pain and suffering it cost him. He wasn't a masochist. But he did have joy going to the cross because he knew that his death would bring life to you and to me and all who believe in him. He knew that his death would crush the head of the serpent and finally and forever defeat evil. Right there is the difference between joy and happiness.

Our God is a God of joy and he wants us to be people of joy. The evangelist Billy Sunday once said, "The trouble with many people is that they've got just enough religion to make them miserable. If there's no joy in your religion, you've got a leak in your religion."

Do you have a leak in your religion? How's your joy factor this morning? Do you have joy in your heart? I'm not talking about happiness. All of us can find plenty of reasons to be unhappy and discontent with life. Life is hard. Life lets us down. Jesus didn't come to gives us happiness he came to give us joy ... a joy that's a lot deeper and wider and higher and lasts a lot longer than our circumstances.

That's what he says in John 15:10-11, If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commands and remain in his love. 11I have told you this so that my JOY may be in you and your JOY may be complete.

Jesus wants to give us his joy. Can you imagine that! The most joyful person who ever lived was Jesus. And he wants to share that joy with us and we can have it when we keep his commands and live the way he teaches us to live.

Joy is one of fruits of the Spirit that we studied a few years ago. Galatians 5:22-23 says, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, JOY, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control.

The magnetic pull of the Holy Spirit in your life and mine is always towards joy. That's the pull of the Spirit. And if we don't have joy in our lives as followers of Jesus we're blocking the Spirit in some way. Jesus wants his followers to be filled with joy.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., was a member of the Supreme Court for thirty years. He was one of the greatest voices for justice this country has ever seen. But at one point he thought about going into the ministry instead of into law and explained his choice of a career by saying, "I might have entered the ministry if certain clergymen I knew hadn't looked and acted so much like undertakers." He didn't see joy in the lives of those who represented Christ to him. How sad is that?

James, the brother of Jesus, takes joy to another level when he says in James 1:2-4, Consider it pure JOY, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

We can even have joy in midst of struggle because we know that our struggles make us better people, more complete, and mature, and compassionate towards others. The Arabs like to say, "All sunshine makes us desert." And that's true. If everything always went our way we would worship ourselves.

Last night we celebrated JOY because that's what we want to bring to this neighborhood. We want to bring joy to the people around us. We want to be known as a joyful people who love and serve Jesus. The world doesn't need any more believers "baptized in lemon juice" as one of my professors at seminary liked to say.

But what if we don't have that joy in our hearts right now? What if we're not feeling that magnetic pull of the Spirit? Well, let me close by getting real practical and giving you three joy busters and the solutions that go with them.

The first joy buster I can think of is unconfessed sin. There is nothing that steals my joy faster than when I know that I'm living in a way that disobeys God. The sin and the guilt that piles up can cut joy right out of our lives faster than anything I know.

Jesus said, If you keep my commands then my joy will be in you and your joy will be complete. If we don't keep his commands, we're not going to have that fullness of joy that he offers us.

David put it this way after his adulterous affair with Bathsheba just about killed him. In Psalm 51:7-8 he writes, Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean. Wash me, I will be whiter than snow. 8Let me hear JOY and gladness. Let the bones you have crushed REJOICE.

The New Testament equivalent of that is 1 John 1:9, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Unconfessed sin brings shame and guilt, but confession brings forgiveness and joy to our hearts. Any unconfessed sin in your life right now? Bring it to Jesus and find the joy of his cleansing.

Second, unresolved conflict robs our joy which is why we need to keep short accounts with each other. Colossians 3:13 says, Bear with each other and forgive one another. If any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

Last year, we did a whole series called The Healing Power of Love where we addressed the power of confession and the freedom of forgiveness and the reward of reconciliation. If you need to revisit those teachings go to the website and read them again or listen to them online or more importantly do them so that you can keep your joy factor high. Unresolved conflict locks us in a prison of anger and bitterness. Forgiveness sets us free

Unconfessed sin. Unresolved conflict. And third, unmet expectations can steal our joy. It's so easy to be discontent in our consumeristic culture, isn't it? And the holiday season isn't going to help us with that at all. In fact, it often makes it worse. When we look around at other people's stuff or other people's marriages or other people's kids or health or houses or cars or jobs or other people's walk with God we can beat ourselves up pretty bad, can't we? And we can get angry with God too.

But instead of focusing on what we don't have, we need to focus on what we do have. That's why we all need to be involved in mission is some way, serving others who are far less fortunate than us because it really is more blessed to give than to receive. You can't put a price tag on the joy that wells up in your heart.

The apostle Paul talked about learning the secret of contentment. It's something we all have to learn and re-learn again and again.

In Philippians 4:11-13 he writes, I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

We want to be a community of joy. But a community of joy can only happen as individuals discover joy through life in Jesus. If you haven't found that joy please talk to someone who has and let them help you with it.

This week I read a story about man from Louisville, Kentucky, who was in St. Louis on business over the weekend. And on Sunday morning he got up to worship with a church as was his custom but he didn't know where to go so he asked a police officer on the street for directions to the nearest church. The cop gave him directions and then as he was about to walk away the man turned around and said, "Why did you recommend this particular church?" To which the officer smiled and said, "I'm not a church goer myself, but if I ever did go to church I'd go to that one because the people who come out of that church are the most joyful church people in St. Louis. I thought that would be the kind of church you'd like to attend."

That's the kind of church we want to be. A community of joy as well as a community of grace during Advent certainly, but all throughout the year as well.

Questions of the Week

  • What does joy look like in the life of a person of faith? How is it important to our walk with Christ? At what times in your life have you experienced joy?
  • Have you ever thought about the difference between happiness and joy? How can we remain joyful even when circumstances are difficult?
  • Bruce mentioned three "joy busters" in his teaching. What are some joy builders? What in our lives helps us to develop a practice of joy?
  • What do you think of when you hear the phrase "a community of joy"? How well do you think we do in this area? How can we encourage each other to practice joy?