The Joy of Advent: Joy to the World, The Lord has Come! - Luke 2:9-11

 

The Joy of Advent: Joy to the World, the Lord has Come!

Luke 2:9-12

Introduction: One of the songs we sing at Christmas exclaims, “Joy to the World, the Lord has come!” Yet when we see the pressures, the frantic shopping, and the focus on parties, gifts and giving, is “joy” really what you think about at Christmas?  I read a story of a mother wearily dragging her young child through a department store, finishing some last-minute shopping, and the child paused at a nativity display. Mom said, “Let’s go, we’re late!” The child asked, “Mom, can’t I look at Jesus for a minute?” The tired mother pulled her along, “We don’t have time to look at Jesus!” Joy to the world? Is this what Christmas has become for us? Only if we let it be so.

        Christmas celebrates a critical moment in human history: God entered our story, taking on himself a human nature. He came into this fallen world, knowing that His path would lead to Calvary. The theology is clear: we should be joyful, if we have trusted in that sacrifice, because it means that by His grace, through faith, we have been reconciled to God. Heaven is ours, not because we are good enough, but because He who is good died for us and rose again! We have reason to rejoice! 

       Can you see joy on the faces around you? I’ve written (and spoken) before of my experience in a restaurant a few years back. I noticed a bald, sad looking old guy across the room, and I wondered to myself, “Look at the poor old guy, I wonder what his story is?” And then I raised my hand to my chin, and realized it was my reflection in the mirror on the wall of the restaurant that I was looking at! I was the old sad-faced bald guy!  Some of us have trouble showing the joy in our hearts in our countenance. Our joy should be apparent. C.H. Spurgeon said:

“When you speak of Heaven let your face light up, let it be irradiated with a heavenly gleam, let your eyes shine with reflected glory. But when you speak of Hell—well, then your ordinary face will do.”

Christmas is cause for joy because it is not just a story—it is history. God concerned himself with our desperate need and personally stepped into our story to do for us what we could not do for ourselves. Billy Graham said,

“Christmas is not a myth, not a tradition, not a dream. It is a glorious reality. It is a time of joy. Bethlehem’s manger crib became the link that bound a lost world to a loving God. From that manger came a man who… brought us into a new relationship with our creator. Christmas means that God is interested in the affairs of people; that God loves us so much that He was willing to give His Son.” 

That is reason for joy! Real joy, the joy of the Lord, springs from a heart that has been reconciled with God.  We’ve considered in this series the “Hope of Advent” and were reminded that the first coming of Jesus revealed God’s grace and motivates us to live faithfully in the sure hope of His return. We’ve looked at the “Peace of Advent” and were reminded that the Son entered this broken world, taking upon himself a human nature to give his life so that we could experience the true peace, the Shalom, for which we were created.  Today we remember that Christmas is reason for joy! Not just the presents and the get-togethers, and the dinners and decorations. Those are nice, they are a blessing, but the heart of Christmas is the good news that “Unto you a Savior is born this day in the city of David a Savior—Christ the Lord…”

      From our Scripture from last week we saw that the messianic hope anticipated a time of rejoicing would be associated with the coming of Messiah. Read Isaiah 9:2,3…

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.  ³ You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest…”

The magi in Matthew’s gospel certainly felt joy when the star they saw in the east led them to Him.  We read in Matthew 2:9-10,  

“And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was.  ¹⁰ When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.”

The God who is, led them to the Promised One, the Messiah of the Jews and Savior of the World. They had reason to rejoice! And so do we!

     In the Gospel of Luke, when the pregnant Mary came for the first time into the presence of her cousin Elizabeth who was also expecting, the yet unborn John the Baptist responded with joy. In Luke 1:44 Elizabeth says “For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.”  As we focus on the Joy of Advent, let’s again look at a familiar passage, focusing on the angel’s announcement to the shepherds in Luke 2:9-12,

“And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.  ¹⁰ And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  ¹¹ For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  ¹² And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger."

 The Big Idea: Rejoice in the good news that God sent his Son as promised, revealing His glory and providing salvation for all who believe! We’ll consider four reasons for joy:

   1) It is a revelation of the glory of God: The God who IS has spoken (9)!

   2) It is GOOD NEWS for all who will believe (10)

   3) It fulfills prophecy, showing that God keeps His promises (11).

   4) It shows the depth of His love for us, His willingness to humble Himself for us (12).

I. Advent is cause for joy because it is a revelation of the glory of God (v.9).  “And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.” 

       Notice that the message came to them, to a group of shepherds watching over their flocks on a Bethlehem hillside. What an awesome moment that must have been! Common shepherds, out in the fields, watching over their sheep. They were doing their job, they weren’t in a church or a synagogue, they weren’t praying (at least as far as we know). There is no evidence they were seeking God at all. God was the initiator, and He met them where they were, and He revealed Himself to them.

       That’s a side lesson to take from this story: If our eyes are open to the truth, we’ll see that He meets us in the course of life. Times of retreat are helpful when we can withdraw from the busyness of life and seek God. It’s good, yes, essential, that we gather together for worship and to celebrate Jesus. But it is also true that there is no secular / sacred dichotomy for a Christ-follower. God is interested in every aspect of our lives. Even our work is worship if we do it for Him. Whatever we do, we are urged to do it for the glory of God (cf. I Cor 10:31). So, He meets us where we are, living as broken people in a broken world. Yes, He came to heal our brokenness, to undo the Fall. And so, The Word was God… [and] the Word became flesh and dwelt among us...

       God sent an angel to announce the glorious message that the Jewish people had been anticipating for centuries. It was an awesome revelation of the glory of God. Incredibly, it was a revelation through a heavenly messenger, an angel of the Lord.  Several humans had the opportunity to see and hear an angel in the gospel accounts. After centuries of apparent silence, at this point in history, as the fullness of time approached, an angel had spoken to Zachariah, to Mary, and to Joseph, announcing that the time was at hand. Now God sends an angelic messenger to a group of shepherds to announce the good news that the Promised-One was born.

      “The Glory of the Lord shone around them…” As though heaven itself cracked the door open for a moment, the light of heaven, God’s glory, flooded all around them. The brilliance of the glory of God is something the Jews understood from Old Testament times.  Moses got a glimpse of it as God hid him in the cleft of a rock and passed by in his radiant glory. The Jews in the wilderness had a hint of it as they saw the Pillar of Fire in the wilderness leading them on the way and awesome presence of God shaking Mount Sinai and shining in the Tabernacle. It spoke to His transcendence and His holiness. That same glory shone down on these shepherds on a hillside outside Bethlehem. Christmas is a revelation of God’s glory. We read in John 1:14,

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

       Notice the response of the shepherds to this revelation from heaven (9): “they were filled with great fear”!  This was probably not just the godly reverence of knowing they were in the presence of holiness, a visitor from heaven. They were probably confused and terrified by what was happening! But their confusion would soon be transformed into joy. The God who is had spoken, His glory shone around those shepherds. That’s the Big Idea: Let’s rejoice in the good news that God sent his Son as promised, revealing His glory and providing salvation for all who believe!

II. Advent is cause for joy since the good news is for all people (v. 10). “And the angel said to them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people.’” 

         They were terrified, and what did the angel say? “Fear not…” That is often the word of the Lord to his people when he is revealing himself. We respond with fear because we recognize our weakness in the light of his power, we see our sinfulness exposed in the light of his holiness (Isa 6:5). But the admonition “fear not” in itself is good news. It reminds us as Billy Graham said, that God is interested in us, that He loves us so much that He did not send His Son to bear a sword, but to bear a cross.

         Then the angel goes on to say, “…I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people.” That offer of salvation in Christ is extended to all people: a universal call to turn from your sin and rebellion and turn to Jesus for life. Jesus came to provide the one and only way for sinners to be reconciled to God.  That might sound like an exclusive message, after all we read in John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but by me…” and Acts 4:12, “There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved…”   

       An exclusive message, yes. But in another sense, it is an amazingly inclusive message in the context of God’s unfolding story. The barriers were gone: rich or poor, male or female, Jew or Gentile, the Lamb came to take away the sins of the world and to offer life to all who turn to Him in faith without social, racial, or ethnic distinction. Every human, from the board room to the brothel, from the mansion to the gutter, is a sinner in need of grace. That grace became incarnate when God became a man. That is amazing grace! *We can rejoice in the good news that God sent his Son as promised, revealing His glory and providing salvation for all who believe!

III. Advent is cause for joy since it shows that God keeps His Word, we celebrate the birth of the promised Rescuer (v.11). “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

        The promise of a Savior carries through the Bible. As we saw last week, Isaiah said, “Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given…”  Now the angel says unto you is born a Savior.  The word of the prophet was not only for the leaders and the powerful and the influential, it was not even for only these shepherds. And it came through angels, but it wasn’t for angels. It was for all people, all who would believe. It is God’s word for you and me. He came for us, to save us.

        “…in the city of David…” just as the prophet had said.  So He is born according to promise, in fulfillment of Scripture. In perfect detail, God arranged history to compel Joseph and Mary to travel to Bethlehem. Last week our Advent reading included Micah 5:2, “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days…” Joseph and Mary had been in Nazareth, but that wouldn’t do, the prophecy required Him to be born in Bethlehem. God could have spoken to them directly, or sent an angel with the message. But instead of a direct revelation, He providentially guided circumstances to get them where they needed to be for His plan to unfold on schedule.

       By the way, do you ever struggle discerning the will of God? How can we know God’s will? 1) Search the word, His will never conflicts with what Has been written. 2) Seek godly counsel, He has designed us to be part of a community of faith. God will use those to help give direction. But don’t ignore 3) the circumstances through which you are passing. He is Lord of history, He is sovereign even over the details.

       The angel gives some information about this coming one, He is “…a Savior, Christ, the Lord.”  He is Savior, Messiah (Christ), and Lord. Only the unfolding of His life, his teaching, and his death and resurrection would reveal the full meaning that God intended for each of those titles. This would prove to be the greatest “Good News” that humans had ever received. *Let’s rejoice in the good news that God sent his Son as promised, revealing His glory and providing salvation for all who believe!

IV. Advent is cause for joy since it shows the depth of His love, His willingness to humble himself for us (v.12). “And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger."

         His humble birth was a sign. First, He came as a human baby. Think about how humbling that was!  Couldn’t He at least have created a second Adam as an adult human out of the dust of the earth? He could have, of course, but He didn’t.  Mary was with child of the Holy Spirit. He was born of a woman. And as a tiny helpless baby He depended on her care and feeding and on the protection of Joseph. This was the creator of the Universe, and yet He humbled himself, coming as a human infant, taking the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men!

        And remember the circumstances that surrounded His human birth: Not to the castle of a king, not in wealth or even with the recognition of the religious leadership, but with this sign: in humility, humbly wrapped in rags and laying in the feeding bin of an animal. Paul said to the Philippians that “He emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant…” Isaiah had prophesied of the coming of a servant-king, a suffering servant, and it began in his incarnation.

       Notice that it was a sign given to these shepherds, men who were looked down upon for their failure to “keep kosher,” since they couldn’t regularly get into the city for worship, but who also did the essential work of caring for the animals that were destined for sacrifice in the temple. They were watching over these sacrificial lambs who were destined for temple sacrifice [not that they could take away sin]. They were shadows and types, pointing forward to a perfect sacrifice that could finally take away sin. The time has come: get down to Bethlehem and see the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” That is Good News. They believed, and they rejoiced!

What is God saying to me in this passage? Rejoice in the good news that God sent his Son as promised, revealing His glory and providing salvation for all who believe!

What would God have me to do in response to this passage?  You may be out in a restaurant during this Christmas season, and you may see a sad-faced old man across the room… but it needn’t be you (and if it is me, know that I do have joy in my heart!). No matter what is happening in the world around us, no matter what is happening in our own lives, we can have joy. Know that even the suffering of this present age is not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us! Think: God who spoke the universe into existence knows us and loves us. We are His and He is ours! So,

     1. Enjoy the blessings that God gives us now, receive them with a grateful heart, but know that the best moments in life, those times when you laugh with joy, are only a glimmer of the future God has for us. The best is yet to come!

     2. And in the hard moments, know that He is with us, He loves us. He proved that by sending the Son into the brokenness of this world to give His life so that we could have true life, eternal life. And even in those hard times, He is working for our good.   

      3. As Advent has reminded us, Our hope is sure, we have peace with God, and the peace of God, so rejoice in the Lord always! Again I will say it, rejoice!      AMEN.