Luke 2:8-20
Do you have your Christmas shopping completed yet? We’re almost there but a few more things. Remember how important it is that we not merely turn this Christmas gift thing into a chore but that we actually somehow incarnate Christ into the whole gift giving thing that we do. We do this by investing our thoughts and self into the gift so that the person receiving it are not just another item on the list to check off.
I found a story that I think is worth hearing.
Typical of last minute Christmas shoppers, a mother was running furiously from store to store. Suddenly she became aware that the pudgy little hand of her three year old son was no longer clutched in hers. In a panic she retraced her steps and found him standing with his little nose pressed flatly against a frosty window. He was gazing at a manger scene. Hearing his mother’s near hysterical call, he turned and shouted with innocent glee: "Look mommy! It’s Jesus - baby Jesus in the hay!" With obvious indifference to his joy and wonder, she impatiently jerked him away saying, "We don’t have time for that!" [Rev. Chris Jordan, Sermons Central]
Now let’s give the mom a break: she was stressed to the hilt. She didn’t have time to fool around and play “hide and seek.” There were gifts to be bought and wrapped. I’ll let this poor mom slide on this one.
But let’s not lose sight of the reality that too many of us experience at Christmas time: We can lose sight of the Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothing, lying in a manger; Son of Man and Son of God; the Wonderful Counselor, a Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. And before we know it, another Christmas has passed, we’re cleaning up the shredded wrapping paper and we missed out on a blessing.
Today we lit the pink candle of joy. Advent tradition adds this little twist so that our hearts might skip a beat as we anticipate the birth of the savior of the world.
And so I ask you today: Is your heart filled with joyful expectation or are you struggling with this joy thing?
I’m glad you’re here for this message because the Holy Spirit has prepared something just for you. I pray that these lips of clay might properly speak what you need to hear but I will fail without the Holy Spirit’s help. Let’s look at this “joyful all ye nations rise” and discover what the hullaboo is all about.
Isaiah 12:3- With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
Isaiah 35:8-10 8 And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it. 9 No lion will be there, nor will any ferocious beast get up on it; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there, 10 and the ransomed of the LORD will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
Jeremiah 15:16- When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, O Lord God Almighty.
1 Peter 1:8- 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 inexpressible and glorious joy.
Do you believe that God wants you to have JOY in your life this morning? I believe that for me and I believe that for you. Satan would love to rob you of your joy and he does so through various means.
Question: what kind of “joy-ful” person are you?
I have identified 5 categories of individuals and what they do with this product called joy.
1) The Joy Zappers.
H.B. London has said that “these are the people who walk into a room all the joy immediately gets sucked out of the air.” He especially warns those of us in full-time Christian service to beware of these kinds of people who have nothing else to do but make our lives miserable because no matter what you do for them, they are not going to be happy and their goal is to make sure you are as miserable as they are.
Now let me say something about joy zappers: I’ve been one of them. In fact, this last year I struggled with a variety of issues and became a joy zapper. I was guilty of negativity and I am sure there may be some who dreaded seeing me show up.
I confess that to simply say that most of us can be very guilty of zapping the joy out of our marriage, time with our kids, a church meeting or at work. We get tired, we get frustrated, we get negative.
2) The Joy Robbers.
These are the folks who simply are out to steal your joy. If something good is happening in your life they want you to feel guilty about it. If you’ve been blessed with a promotion they want to bring you down a few notches. If you succeed, they hope for you to fail. On and on the joy robbers work night and day hoping for your demise.
What’s terrible is that there are even Christians who secretly enjoy watching a big spiritual leader in the church or on television get his “come-uppance” when he fails morally. This is wrong and there should not be a single Christian in this church who hopes for someone to fail in any way- unless it’s the devil.
3) The Joy Takers.
These people are the ones who cannot generate any joy on their own so they depend on others to make them happy. In this world there are givers and takers and joy is no different. The takers never get enough of anything to make them happy. They take and take but rarely give.
Joy takers are a frustrating lot. They pretend to want to grow in the Lord but don’t want to develop the spiritual disciplines necessary to grow. They pretend to care about the things of God but don’t want to invest themselves or their resources to see the kingdom of God or other people grow.
4) The Joy Givers.
These are the people who sacrificially give to others. They look for ways to make people happy- even to a fault. They give up their time for the church ministry, they find ways to serve God and others and they don’t keep tabs on how much they have given. Their only goal is to give joy to other people.
This group can also suffer the most depression. You see, they give and give but are hard pressed to receive. They are easily abused and misused because they are by nature givers and not takers. And so the takers love to team up with the givers.
5) The Joy Reservoirs.
These are the ones who are filled with God’s joy. They know the joy of full salvation, they find joy in the word of God and they live with this inexpressible and glorious joy that fills them by the Holy Spirit.
As we look into the scripture text I want us to notice a few things that I hope will encourage you and help you to have a joyful experience.
1. The Angel’s Announcement.
(The Angel of the Lord appears.)
a. Angel of the Lord. The angel of the Lord was no shy young girl given the part in a Sunday School play. This was a magnificent angel that caused the shepherds to fear for their lives! This angel represented all that is holy of God and these shepherds recognized right away that they are not worthy of God’s presence. It kind of reminds me of Isaiah
b. Message of joy. This was for ALL people- not just the privileged classes and religious folks. Everyone was to receive this message. The Messiah, the king of the Jews was to be born in the city of David. This message of joy has no boundaries and is a gift to you and me.
This message is priceless to us. Without this message we would be lost in our sins and sinfulness. Without this message there would be no hope of deliverance from deadly evil.
c. God’s presence. The glory that shone around them was likely this “shekiniah” that the Old Testament speaks of from time to time. It is a “visible token of the presence of the eternal.” This same glory was present in the burning bush, as a guide for the Israelites in the wilderness, when Jesus went up to the Mount of Transfiguration and what shone down on the Pharisee Saul as he headed toward Damascus to persecute more Christians. [Pulpit Commentary]
2. The Shepherds Response.
Why were the shepherds the first ones chosen to receive this “good news of great joy”? Quite likely it was God’s way of saying that the first shall be last and the last shall be first. Mary’s Song in Luke one tells of how God will bring “down the rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.” (Luke 1:52) During those days shepherds were held in low esteem among people. According to scholars, the Talmud speaks of people such as shepherds who were not to be allowed in courts as witnesses.
They were poor, rejected and, in essence, homeless.
a. They lived in the fields. In a sense, they had no home except where there was a place to feed the sheep. Shepherds were considered the poorest of the poor even though a lot of what they did provided the means of worship for so many people through sacrifices. It seems so fitting that the birth of the Lamb of God would be witnessed by shepherds.
b. They feared for their lives. These guys were tough guys. They had to be brave in order to face the enemies of the sheep. There were wolves, there was the weather and there were thieves. These guys were not wooses; these guys were brave men and boys. And yet when they saw the spectacular and the supernatural they feared that they were dead men. The terror they experienced was a result of being in the very presence of those from another world.
c. They heard the “good news of great joy.” Wow! What a blessing for them to be hearers of the word of God from the angel of the Lord. The announcement by the angel must have electrified their minds and hearts! I couldn’t imagine what that would be like to hear a message such as this.
d. “They hurried off.” There response was not to go back into their tents and turn on the television or get back to whatever they were doing. Their response was to hurry off to find
e. “They found the baby.” There he was the babe lying in a manger just as the angel told them they would find. I wonder how many who are truly seeking for something real, seeking truth, seeking a new life- regardless of where they are born or what class they belong to- find the Christ-child. This baby was born for those who are seeking salvation from the sinfulness and restlessness of their own soul.
f. “They spread the word.” This was the result of what they found. When they found everything as the angel said, they then shared their experience. Luke records that Mary took all of this in and pondered them in her heart. Their testimony confirmed to her more than anything the uniqueness of this birth and the newborn baby.
g. “They glorified God.” These guys could not contain themselves. And so it makes me wonder about us: how can we contain ourselves when we are in the presence of God. How can we keep silent about our Christ experience? I have a hard time with this when the world needs to see Christians rejoicing. Have we lost our joy somehow?
So how do we get back our mojo when it comes to our Christian faith? Perhaps we could learn a lesson from these guys:
3. “Let’s go and see.”
The shepherd’s leave for us an example of what our response should be when we hear the good news of great joy and that is “let’s go and see.”
In our day and age of skepticism, too many hear the good news of great joy but never seek out the subject matter. They choose to not look for the Christ child wrapped in swaddling clothes.
But when some poor wanderer does heed the message and goes and sees for himself or herself they discover something that changes their lives forever.
a) New life through Jesus Christ.
They found the message of the angel of the Lord to be true. There was Mary and Joseph, but most importantly there was the baby lying in the manger. It says here, “when they had seen him.” This indicates that they saw with their own eyes the very subject matter of which the angel of the Lord had spoken to them.
And that is my prayer for those who do not know Jesus. I pray that you would see him with spiritual eyes and come to know the true joy that comes only through him.
b) They shared the good news of great joy with others.
When they saw Jesus they could not contain themselves. The message that was told to them they now told to those gathered around the manger. There seems to have been others who have arrived to the scene. (Is it possible that others were called by God in various ways to be there for this occasion? I think it’s possible. Maybe the drummer boy was there after all!)
c) They left glorifying and praising God.
We last see the shepherds heading back to the country hillsides to resume their work. We never hear from them again. We don’t know what happen to them. But what we see of them as they pass into the dawn of a new day for humanity are men who are profoundly changed. They cannot help themselves but to glorify and praise God all the way back to work.
This kind of message that is confirmed in our hearts by the witness of the Holy Spirit should cause our hearts to practically burst with praise and worship and glorifies God.
CONCLUSION: RESTORE THE JOY.
So how can you enjoy the joy of Christ being born- not only in a stable but in your heart- this day, throughout this Christmas holiday and into all of next year?
I like what King David recognized in Psalm 51:12. In spite of his sin and the broken heart he experienced because of his wrong-doing, he understood that to move on he needed something just as important as forgiveness: he needed the joy of salvation.
“Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me.”
God’s people should be differentiated from the world because of the joy in their lives.
1) True joy comes from God.
You can have real joy in your life today in spite of the snarling traffic in the aisles at Meijer or Walmart or while digging yourself out of a ditch coming home from a long day of work. You can have real joy in your life not because you discipline yourself to be happy but because God has increased your joy.
Get this: Jesus speaks of the joy of God himself and all of heaven when one sinner repents. Think about that for a moment. When you came to Christ for forgiveness of sins and salvation there was joy in heaven. Even now, when you confess your waywardness, your lack of faith and put further trust in God, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that all of heaven rejoices.
2) You respond to God’s saving grace with joy.
When God does saves you, sanctifies you, walks with you, sees you through difficulty, helps you in the hard times- you can’t help yourself but have joy even in the pain.
3) You live your life with joy.
Yes, there is a certain level of spiritual discipline that you have to put into place to enjoy the joy of the Lord. This is that “willing spirit” that King David speaks of. It means wrapping your mind around the concept that “I’m not going to let the devil, other people, circumstances or even me steal my joy in the Lord.” It’s realizing that you are somebody in Christ Jesus and because you are somebody in Christ Jesus you have the joy of the Lord as your strength.
4) You share this joy with others.
There is something about joyful people: they are fun to be around. They don’t walk around with a “woe is me” attitude but they ooze with the love of God and the joy of their walk with him. People like that seem to be graceful towards others, love even the meanest of people and always have something good to say about God, others and themselves.
These shepherds not only heard the good news of great joy but they went to the place where Jesus laid in a manger. They saw God with their own eyes. And when they shared with the others, God did something in their heart.
And the same should be true for us. Do you want to experience this kind of joy? Then come and see the Christ child lying in a manger. Do you want to have that inexpressible and glorious joy in your life that makes you happier and gives you something greater to live for? Then come and see the Christ child lying in a manger.
Closing Hymn #191- Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
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