Rejoice Over the Good News!

Sermon Transcript

“Joy to the world! The Lord is come…” may be the opening line to one of our most beloved Christmas Carols, but scholar and author Greg Forster correctly calls Joy to the World an “accidental classic.” You see, Joy to the World wasn’t originally written as a Christmas carol. In fact, Joy to the World wasn’t even written to be a song. In 1719, Isaac Watts, who is perhaps the greatest hymn writer of all time, published a book of 150 poems. One poem for each of the 150 Psalms in the Old Testament. And the lyrics to Joy to the World were originally Watts’ poem based on Psalm 98. Joy to the World wasn’t originally written as a Christmas carol, but it sure does work as one! I don’t want to be the one to break it to you, but Dancing on My Own wasn’t originally written to be the Phillies playoff anthem, but it worked perfectly. In the same way, Joy to the World wasn’t originally written to be a Christmas carol, but it works perfectly.

Why does Joy to the World work so perfectly as a Christmas carol? Well, because joy is the emotional current, joy is the biblical vibe of the incarnation: a theological term referring to the point in history 2,000 years ago when God the Son took to himself a human nature without subtracting any of his divine attributes, such that he is forever truly human and also truly God (Wayne Grudem; Ligonier). Joy is the biblical vibe of Christmas and that’s why Joy to the World works so perfectly as a Christmas Carol. “Joy to the world! the Lord is come.” “Joy to the world! the Saviour reigns…He comes to make His blessings flow far as the curse is found…” We can hear the current of joy at the heart of our passage this morning, when the angel announces the birth of the Savior to the shepherds. Luke 2:10-11 – 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. The angel’s words to the frightened shepherds reveals the big idea of our passage: Rejoice over the good news! Rejoice over the good news. Now, this big idea raises a big question: why? Why rejoice over the good news? For some of you, the Christmas season is a difficult one. Christmas has a way of bringing to the forefront all the setbacks we’ve suffered, all the relational strain we’ve experienced, or even the people that we’ve lost this last year. And we wonder, though we might never say it, “Rejoice? Really? I think I’m beyond Christmas platitudes at this point.” For others of us rejoicing is difficult, but it has little to do with Christmas and more to do with life in this fallen world, along with our own sins and mistakes. Why should we, in the midst of all we’re facing, dare to rejoice over the good news? Our passage provides two reasons. Rejoice over the good news! Why? 1. It really is good news. 2. It really is for all people.

IT REALLY IS GOOD NEWS

Luke opens our passage by describing shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night. These shepherds are in the same region where Jesus has just been born to Mary the virgin and her fiancé, Joseph. The region is called Judea, near the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because Joseph was from the family line of King David. Let’s pick up the scene with the shepherds out in the field. Luke 2:9 – 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.

Circle the word fear in your Bible. Fear really is the great antidote to and enemy of rejoicing. It’s very difficult to rejoice and be joyful when you’re preoccupied with anxiety or fear? Fear is the enemy of rejoicing. I want to ask you a question: What are you afraid of? What are you anxious about? What do you have nagging worries about these days? Keep it in mind. People typically respond to our fears with good advice. It all started when we were children. We were afraid of the dark or the monster underneath our bed and our parents gave us some kind of reassuring advice, but once they left the room our fear came roaring back. Most of us have moved on from monsters, but now we have adult fears. “Am I ever going to get married?” “Am I making the right decision about this job?” “Will we ever get pregnant?” “Will we make ends meet?” “Will our kids be ok?” Just like when we were kids, people still respond with good advice, but the advice never seems to calm our fears and help us rejoice. They say, “Sure, you’ll get pregnant, just try this and that and give it some time.” And now the situation is worse. You’re still afraid you won’t get pregnant and you’re afraid it’s your fault.

There is a reason why good advice will never give you the resources to rejoice in the midst of your fears and we see the reason in the scene with the shepherds. Luke 2:9 – 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. At first glance it may seem like the shepherds are simply afraid of the burst of light, but there is more going on than meets the eye. The radiant light was the glory of the Lord shone around them. Throughout the Old Testament, the manifestation of God’s glory and presence often brings his wrath and judgment on sinners. They’re not afraid of the light, they’re afraid because the majesty of God has appeared. Describing the scene, John Calvin wrote, “For the majesty of God could not but swallow up the whole world, if there were not some mildness to mitigate the terror which it brings.” The reason why good advice can’t drive out your fears and mine is because all of our fears are a whisper of the greatest of all fears: death, God’s judgment, and eternal condemnation for our sins. That’s why the shepherds are afraid. There is no good technique or good advice that can calm our great fear of God’s just eternal judgment for all of our disobeying and ignoring God in the world he created. Good techniques and good advice can’t calm our greatest fear, and they cannot work on our lesser fears. We need more than advice to be people of rejoicing in the midst of all that we’re facing. We need more than advice if Citylight Church is going to be an attractively different community because of our joy in trials. We need more than advice and techniques and good vibes.

Let’s see what the angel gives them and gives us. Luke 2:10 – 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. Christianity isn’t good advice about what you need to do to get right with God. Christianity is good news about what God has done so that you can rejoice forever. What has God done? Why is it really good news that can bring great joy in the face of all fears? Luke 2:10-11 – 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.

The good news of great joy is not a belief system, a good plan for a more sustainable life, or a therapeutic improvement. The good news is a person. His name is Jesus and the title that the angel gives him is Savior. That is the good news of great joy. Our greatest problem and our greatest fear are one and the same. We have all disobeyed and ignored God in the world he created. We have all failed to do and be what God requires in his word. We have all exchanged worshiping the creator for building our lives around some part of his creation. And since all of our sinning is against the infinitely good and holy God, we deserve eternal punishment. That’s our greatest problem. Our greatest need isn’t to be improved, it’s to be saved. Good news! Unto us has been born a Savior! The Savior committed no sin, so he is qualified to save us from ours. He was condemned for our sins when he died on the cross in our place so we are saved from eternal condemnation. And He rose again on the third day to save us for eternal life. And the baby born in the manger, the Savior is none other than the Christ, the long-promised Messiah from the line of King David, and the Lord God himself come to rescue us forever.

If you have this Savior, if you are embracing him with the empty hands of faith and resting in Him as your only Savior in life and in death, then you have the good news of great joy no matter what you’re facing! You can rejoice because the Savior really is good news! I love the way John Calvin describes how the angel’s announcement can cause us to rejoice in all of our trials: These words show us, first, that, until men have peace with God, and are reconciled to him through the grace of Christ, all the joy that they experience is deceitful, and of short duration…The commencement of solid joy is, to perceive the fatherly love of God toward us, which alone gives tranquility to our minds…By calling it great joy, he shows us, not only that we ought, above all things, to rejoice in the salvation brought us by Christ, but that this blessing is so great and boundless, as fully to compensate for all the pains, distresses, and anxieties of the present life. Let us learn to be so delighted with Christ alone, that the perception of his grace may overcome, and at length remove from us, all the distresses of the flesh. Do you remember what you’re afraid of? Of course you do. I can’t promise you that it will work out the way you hope. But I can promise that Jesus really is the Savior, who is Christ the Lord. I really can promise you that he is good news of great joy and that in Him all your sins are forgiven, all your condemnation is gone, and nothing in all creation will separate you from his love. Rejoice your way through your trials, rejoice over the good news because His name is Jesus the Savior and he really is good news of great joy to you. I want to get practical for a moment before we move to our second and final point. In the Bible, when people are described as rejoicing in trials, they’re typically singing God’s praises in response to his good news. So, if you’re wondering what it looks like to rejoice over the good news, the answer is, it looks like singing our way through our trials. As Charles Spurgeon once said, “Never comes a revival of religion without a revival of singing.” Now, all that good news of great joy does you no good unless you know that, secondly…

IT REALLY IS FOR ALL PEOPLE

I want you to notice a few key words in our passage. Luke 2:8-10 – And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 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. 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. I can still remember the way that Andrea and I announced that she was pregnant with Soren. We invited Andrea’s parents to travel with us to visit my parents in Idaho. The first night when we arrived, we nonchalantly told our parents that we brought them each some candy for dessert. A little strange, but everyone was tired so they cluelessly went with it. Each piece of candy was a clue. My dad got a Three Musketeers bar, but he didn’t get it. My mother-in-law got a Baby Ruth bar, which was the clincher. She just started screaming baby Ruth?!?! Now, the reason why we told my parents and Andrea’s parents that Andrea was pregnant first is because they’re some of the most important people in the world to us. And the most important people get the first birth announcement.

And that is why it’s so stunning that the people who receive the birth announcement of the Savior who is Christ the Lord first were shepherds. Shepherds were the quintessential average Joe’s of first century Palestine. Literally nothing special about them. But New Testament scholar Robert Stein says that there is more to it than that. He writes, “One should not romanticize the occupation of shepherds. In general shepherds were dishonest and unclean according to the standards of the law. They represent the outcasts and sinners for whom Jesus came. Such outcasts were the first recipients of the good news.” The birth of the Savior, who is Christ the Lord, was announced to shepherds first because it really is good news of great joy for all people who will admit they need saving and receive and rest in Jesus as their only Savior. It really is good news of great joy for older brother types and younger brother types, for those of us who have made a real mess of our lives and those of us who have everything going for us because we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God and we can all be saved by receiving and resting in the Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

Now, since the good news of great joy really is for all people, that means it really is for all the people that we love out there. In fact, one of the greatest ways to rejoice over the good news is by telling others about it and inviting them into it. And since it really is good news and it really is for all people, we can share it confidently with anyone no matter where they currently stand with Jesus. In fact, telling the good news of the Savior to others, along with singing, is one of the primary ways that we rejoice in it. Aside from the story of the birth of Christ, my favorite birth story is undoubtedly our daughter Sage’s story. The day that Sage was born, Andrea and I were driving down Kelly Drive to Pennsylvania hospital when Andrea started yelling at me, “drive faster, the baby is coming.” I picked up the pace, but I certainly did not believe that the baby was coming. This wasn’t my first rodeo. However, when Andrea and I stopped at the red light at Broad and Arch in Center City she was still yelling, “the baby is coming” and this was the first opportunity I had to confirm or disconfirm her report. Suffice it to say, the baby was coming. And by the time I got out of the car and ran around to Andrea’s side, Andrea gave birth to Sage right in the front seat of our car, right into my hands. I love that story and the way I rejoice in it is by telling you about it. And we rejoice in the good news of a Savior by telling others about him. Who can you invite in on the good news of great joy this Christmas? It really is good news and it really is for all people who trust in Him.

CONCLUSION

I love Joy to the World, but if you think about the lyrics, it seems to over promise and under deliver.

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,

I don’t know about you, but it sure does seem like sins and sorrows are growing in our world and my life. It sure does seem that thorns still infest the ground. You see, Joy to the World reminds us that Advent isn’t just about looking back, it’s also about looking forward with hopeful, joy-filled anticipation to Jesus’ second Advent. At the Lord Jesus’ first Advent, as the Chronicles of Narnia says, the thaw only began. But one day the Lord Jesus will come again to execute God’s perfect judgment on this world. But for those who have repented and trusted in Christ, they will be brought into his new heaven and new earth where sins and sorrow will be no more nor thorns infest the ground. And we will enjoy his blessing as far as the curse was once found. Rejoice over the good news! It really is good news and it really is for all people. Sing of it and speak of it.