Good God It's Christmas 4 | Joy To The World

Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. And then the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2)

Christmas is the advent of joy — the answer for a world that all men seek and only Christ can give.

All Men Seek for Joy

At Christmas we often sing "Joy to the World, the Lord Has Come." Jesus' coming into the world is the coming in of joy, the offering of joy to all humanity, and those who follow Him should show that evidence in their lives.

The 17th-century Christian philosopher Blaise Pascal wrote, "All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end... The motive of every action of every man is towards this." Our own nation was founded in part on the pursuit of happiness. Some may argue whether all men truly seek it, but one thing is certain: I have yet to meet a person who does not want to be happy.

I believe God fashioned us this way and hardwired that pursuit into us. When you consider who God is as revealed in Scripture, the pursuit of ultimate happiness finally leads to Him. People take side paths toward things that seem to bring happiness, but in the end those things do not satisfy. That is why a 20th-century philosopher would write, "I can't get no satisfaction." Every one of those wells runs dry. Jesus said rightly, "If you drink of this water you will thirst again." But there is a source of joy that is abundant, full, and enduring, found in God. As David wrote in Psalm 16:11, "In Your presence is fullness of joy, and at Your right hand pleasures forevermore."

In the Beginning There Was Joy

We go often back to Genesis. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" — most people who try to read the Bible at least read that first verse. Genesis 1 continues with the six days of creation, and at the end of each day God beholds His work and says it is good. The summary comes in verse 31: "Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good."

All of God's creation, all that we can see and even what we cannot, was declared good at the very beginning. God made man in His image to walk in relationship with Him. From the opening chapters we can deduce that man and God had a oneness relationship — God even walked with Adam in the cool of the day in the garden He had given as a gift to humanity. There was unimpeded connection, and because His presence is fullness of joy, there was joy.

One of the ways God designed man to experience and express that joy was marriage. God formed woman from man, brought her to him, and joined the two as one flesh. Marriage is the institution of God, not the creation of society. Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, said in Proverbs 5:18 to "rejoice with the wife of your youth," and again in Ecclesiastes 9:9, "Live joyfully with the wife whom you love." So in Genesis 1 and 2 we see them joined together, created in relationship with God, experiencing and expressing joy. In the beginning there was joy.

The Fall and the Loss of Joy

The first two chapters end on high notes. The third does not. Genesis 3 describes the extreme low of humanity — the fall — and there is the loss of joy. The Bible's overarching story moves from creation to fall to redemption to restoration. Redemption is the longest segment, the plan God purposed before the foundation of the world.

The fall is filled with sorrowful words. In Genesis 3 we read of fear in verse 10, deceit in verse 13, a curse in verses 14 and 17, enmity in verse 15, pain and sorrow in verses 15–16, toil in verse 17, thorns in verse 18, sweat and death in verse 19, sacrifice in verse 21, evil in verse 22, and exile in verses 23–24. The apostle Paul hits this note in Romans 5: "Through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin," and it spread to all humanity.

The human experience after the fall is characterized by misery. You don't have to look far to confirm this. We can tune it out by turning off the radio or the TV, but when an earthquake, a tsunami, a hurricane, or a terrible war comes, there is no way to separate ourselves from the world's misery. Now imagine what it is like for God, who is all-knowing and all-seeing — all of that rises before Him constantly. In the movie Bruce Almighty, Jim Carrey is bombarded by countless voices and asks what they are; he's told they are prayers, constantly coming before God: the misery, suffering, and pain resulting from the curse of Genesis 3.

But it is not as God intended or purposed. In His foreknowledge He certainly knew it would be as it is, but it is not as He designed it. So even before He said "Let there be light," God had planned redemption.

The Prophets Foresaw the Advent of Joy

God is the gift-giving God, and like many gift-givers He loves to leave hints about the gifts He's giving. You may have a gift under the tree and drop hints along the way before they open it. God does that in the Old Testament through the prophets, revealing by vision a better future — a future not marked by misery but defined once again by joy. He spoke to men like David, Samuel, Elijah, Isaiah, Micah, and Daniel by special revelation.

In Isaiah 9 God announces One who will bring restoration and redemption. Verses 6 and 7 are famous: "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given... and He will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." This Child will come as a virgin's son and bring a new rule characterized by light coming into darkness. And in verse 3 it is joy coming: "You have multiplied the nation and increased its joy; they rejoice before You according to the joy of harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil."

The joy of the harvest may mean little to us today, but it's like the joy of a Christmas bonus — unexpected, yet earned. The joy of dividing the spoil is like the winning team in the locker room after the Super Bowl. But there is a problem: those joys are temporary. Isaiah speaks of them so we can grasp it, but he cannot fully articulate it, because the joy God brings is enduring and expansive — forever.

Years later, in Isaiah 61, the prophet prophesies again — and this is the passage Jesus Himself read in the synagogue in Nazareth, sitting down and saying, "Today this is fulfilled in your hearing." "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor... to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." The word anointed is mashiach — Messiah, in Greek Christos, Christ. He would come preaching good news, healing the sick, setting captives free, and giving the oil of joy to those mourning under the misery of the fall.

Where the Bringer of Joy Would Come

The prophets foresaw the advent of joy — and they revealed where He would come from and what He would come for. Genesis 3:15 tells us He would destroy death and Satan. Genesis 12 says He would come from the family of Abraham; Genesis 17 through Isaac; Genesis 25 through Jacob; Genesis 49 through Jacob's son Judah. Second Samuel reveals He would be of the royal line of David. Isaiah said He would be born of a virgin — God in human flesh. Micah 5 tells us He would be born in Bethlehem.

So throughout the Old Testament God foresaw a greater future, marked not by misery but by joy, and specified exactly how that joy would come: of the family of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Judah, through the line of David, born of a virgin in Bethlehem. We celebrate His advent every year at this time — and whether or not He was born on December 25, we celebrate that joy came to the world, that He came to set captives free, heal the brokenhearted, and remove the stain of sin and death eternally.

Good Tidings of Great Joy

In Luke 2 the angel of the Lord stood before shepherds keeping watch by night. It is an awesome thing that God revealed the coming of joy not to King Herod or the political powers but to regular tradesmen experiencing the sorrow of death. The angel said, "Do not be afraid, for behold I bring you good tidings" — gospel — "of great joy which will be to all people."

This is not the minimal joy of a Christmas gift that lasts a moment, nor the joy of the Super Bowl team that has to do it again next week. It is good news of great joy for all people, at all times, in every place — not just for the elite, the wealthy, the poor, the whole, or the sick, but for all. "There is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."

When Jesus stepped onto the scene of humanity, He came as the embodiment of joy — it is His very nature. He is also the path through which we access joy; He opens the door so we can lay hold of what was lost in the fall. On the very night He would be betrayed, He told His disciples in John 15:11, "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full." A couple of chapters later, in His high priestly prayer, He prayed in John 17:13, "These things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves."

The Christian Experience Should Be Characterized by Joy

The Christian experience should be characterized by joy. Jesus declared in John 14:6 that He is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father but by Him — which means He is the path to joy, because in the presence of God is fullness of joy. The one brought near to God in Jesus is the recipient and experiencer of increasing, abounding joy.

This should be evident in us. Paul in Galatians 5:22 lists the fruit of the Spirit — love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, kindness — things you can't buy at the supermarket or get from school. The Spirit of God dwells in every follower of Jesus (1 Corinthians 3 and 6), and one of the evidences of His presence is joy. Our lives should be marked by it; people should see it as part of who we are.

The Church Is to Experience, Express, and Extend Joy

Because Christians are recipients of this joy in Christ, we are to experience it, express it, and extend it to others. If the expression of your Christian life is a melancholy, joyless countenance — everything pitiful and falling apart — you're doing it wrong. Why would anybody want what we have if we walk around as if everything is terrible? If all men seek for joy and we have found it in Christ, it should be evident, and people should want to know how to get it.

It's striking how often the interviews of the powerful, celebrated, and wealthy reveal that they have everything and yet nothing. My pastor friend Joey Buran was a pro surfer who won the Pipeline Masters in the early 1980s. Years ago, helping him move, we pulled the trophy out from under a spare-room bed, covered in dust. He told me winning it was the lowest day of his life — they handed it to him, took the pictures, a storm drenched everything in rain, and he found himself alone on the beach asking, "Is that it? Is that all it was?" Everything he had aimed for cast him into the worst depression of his life, which ultimately led to his salvation. What he had sought didn't bring joy.

To experience joy means to come into practical contact with something that leaves an impression. Has your contact with Jesus left such an impression of His joy that you express it? To express is to convey it in words, gestures, and conduct. I'll admit this isn't easy — we all face tasks and difficult situations that don't default to an overflow of joy. I'm not saying we manufacture some Joel Osteen plastic smile, walking around as if everything is great when it isn't. There are situations that don't warrant that.

When I prepared to move to Germany, I learned that in our culture we ask "How are you?" without really wanting an answer — and that's the instant mark of an American, because Germans never ask that of one another. We just say "everything's great" even when it isn't. But there are situations that warrant a different reaction. For the Christian, however, our joy does not find its foundation in this world or in our circumstances — not in the job, the relationship, the house, the car, or the money — but in what God has promised us in the restoration of the resurrection.

We will go through things in this life that warrant a different expression in the moment, but the underlying current is joy, because the trajectory of our lives is to be with the Lord, in whose presence is fullness of joy. Charles Spurgeon said it well: "When you speak of heaven, let your face light up and be irradiated with a heavenly gleam; and when you speak of hell, your everyday face will do." Our orientation is toward an eternity secured in Christ — not dependent on our works or righteousness, but on Him.

Extend It to a Joyless World

To extend means to hold out toward someone, to offer, to make available — to cause the joy of the Lord to cover a larger area. Jesus commanded us to go into all the world and preach glad tidings. One of the things we have in Christ is enduring joy, and we are to give it out to a world living under misery. Even though we find ourselves in the same cesspool of misery, we know we are not here eternally; we are headed in a different direction.

You can't give out what you don't possess, so we must learn what it means to experience the joy of God in Christ and let it affect the way we live. The sad reality is that the trappings of Christmas often drag us down to a bad attitude — too much traffic, long lines, the thing you wanted is sold out — and we lose our patience and our joy, in no way representing the One who is the reason for the season.

So may God transform us and make us more like Him, that we would experience this joy not just at Christmas but every day, and express and extend it to others. If the Bible is true and Jesus is who He said He is, then we have the answer for a world in misery — the joy found in Christ. The advent of Jesus is the advent of joy. That which all men seek has come to the world and is available, and if you are a Christian today, you have it. The greatest thing we can offer anyone this holiday season is the joy we have in Christ.

Closing Prayer

Jesus, the Scriptures reveal that because of what You did on the cross two thousand years ago, we who have put our trust in You are heirs of You — that we inherit You and Your glory, and all that indwells Your nature: love, joy, peace, kindness, patience, and gentleness, all described in Galatians 5 and elsewhere. These things are ours in You. I pray that we would take possession of them, that we would experience them, and that it would be seen and expressed in our lives, and that through it we would extend it to others. I thank You for this time of year when, at the very least, people desire to experience joy, and I pray that it would be clear in us that we do have it. Make it a part of our lives this week. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.