Inexpressible Joy

Inexpressible Joy Series: Away in a Manger #4 Dec. 22, 2019 Rev. L. Kent Blanton Introduction • The birth of a baby boy born in a cattle stall outside Bethlehem a little over 2000 years ago was accompanied by an eruption . . . an eruption of joy! “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be the sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped tightly in cloth and lying in a manger.” Luke 2:10-12 CSB • Before sonograms were on the scene, God decided to get in on the gender reveal party in a supernatural way . . . angels proclaimed their joyous strains of “glory to God in the highest” on the night when Christ was born. • But the shepherds weren’t the first ones to hear the news, “it’s a boy!” The Pre-Birth Birth Announcement • Nine months earlier, an angel spoke to Joseph in a dream . . . “But as he [Joseph] considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:20-21 ESV • From that moment forward, Joseph knew he was having a son and that this was a special assignment from God. Only God would give a God-fearing Jew like Joseph the responsibility of being a dad to a divinely-conceived child. • Mary was special, chosen, and highly favored by God for the unique task of carrying the Son of God in her womb, but Joseph was not chosen by God by chance. God wouldn’t have selected a dead-beat dad to raise God in the flesh. • Joseph was paired with Mary because God knew he had the mettle to be who Jesus needed him to be both before and after His arrival. • Joseph’s heart surely skipped a beat when the angel declared that his son should be named Jesus because he would save his people from their sins. His mind surely raced even faster as he played over and over in his mind the angel’s words that the child within Mary was divinely conceived. • Once Joseph had his supernatural, angelic encounter through his dream, his mind likely pondered many things about the future, including thoughts men grapple with today like . . . • Will he look like me? • Will he sound like me when he talks and laughs? • Will he like to fish and enjoy the outdoors like me? • Will he be a lefty or a righty? • I wonder if he’ll like cars? What kind of car will be his favourite? Will he want to work on the car together with me? • I can hardly wait to meet him and hold him and…oh my goodness…am I ready for all this? • Perhaps these same thoughts continued from the gender-reveal dream through the nine months of pregnancy including the 90-mile trek from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Joyous Moments at the Manger • There was a lot to think about during those days leading to Jesus’ birth. And there were lots of elements to take in and think about when those awe-struck shepherds showed up at the stable. sharing of their angelic encounter and the announcement of the joyous good news of a Saviour. • There was joy and wonder at what the shepherds saw once they walked into the actual live nativity scene. Certainly, joy must have filled the young mother holding God in her arms when the shepherds arrived and told of all that they had experienced and been told by the angel. • Luke tells us that Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart (see Luke 2:19 ESV). As Mary marinated in the moment near the manger, the juices of joy surely surrounded her soul. Everything she had been told had come true. Now it was being confirmed by a second source footnoted again by angelic messengers to these smelly shepherds. • A lot was unfolding in the little town of Bethlehem that night. But for everything that is plainly seen from the text, perhaps there’s something else we need to give attention to that is more subtle, yet present, even as Mary is “treasuring and pondering” all these things in her heart.  A Question about Joseph • What was Joseph treasuring and pondering in his heart?”  • Wise Person: “Where the Bible is silent, don’t put words in its mouth. But it’s certainly ok to wonder what it might be trying to tell us simply by staying curious.” • It’s not unreasonable to believe that Joseph, a new dad blessed by God with the awesome responsibility of welcoming and raising a firstborn son conceived by the Holy Spirit, had some incredible thoughts that also were saturated with joy.    • While Luke overtly shares how Mary was “treasuring and pondering” all that the shepherds shared on that first Christmas night, perhaps a subtle clue from verse 21 ties back to what Joseph was thinking about. • Joseph may also have allowed his mind to shift forward to what would take place in just eight days. Notice what Luke records just after the shepherds go on their way in verse 20, telling their story to all who would listen.  And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. Luke 2:21 ESV • Almost all Jewish men in Joseph’s day knew the significance and great joy that comes with seeing one’s son, especially one’s firstborn son, officially included in the covenant relationship with God. The Rite and Mark of Circumcision • The joy of Joseph would have been overwhelming as he “treasured and pondered” the ancient Jewish tradition known as ​b’rit milah, or circumcision, in which eight days later he would have the honor and privilege of leading his new little family. • This ancient and sacred custom of circumcision traces back thousands of years to the father of the Jewish nation. Abraham had entered into a covenant with God. God promised to make Abraham the father of many nations and, through him, to bless the world. • In Gen 17 we learn that the mark of circumcision would be the identifying way that Abraham and his Jewish offspring throughout the generations would be set-apart for God. • The significance of circumcision happening on the eighth day of new life is symbolic of the life cycle of creation. God worked six days creating the cosmos and humankind. On the seventh day, God rested. The eighth day started a new cycle of a new week of new life set apart for the enjoyment and glory of God. • Every Jewish son since Abraham came to understand the significance of what happened eight days after their birth. While they obviously were too young to remember the moment, their fathers and families certainly never forgot the moment their son welcomed into the covenant God had ordained with all of Israel throughout the generations.     • Joseph bore the mark of the covenant, just as his father did; and his father before him, on down the lineage of history that traced back to Abraham himself. While a brief cry of pain filled the air from the lips and lungs of the baby boy, joy filled the heart and soul of the father. Gladness abounded as he participated in seeing his son enter into the promise of being one of God’s people through circumcision. Two Cuts & Two Cries • The first time that Jesus would bleed and cry out in pain, He would be looking into the eyes of His earthly father as he was welcomed into the covenant of God’s people. • The final time Jesus would bleed and cry out would be thirty-three years later. Upon a Roman cross, Jesus would shed his blood. We would cry out for the last time while looking up toward the eyes of His Heavenly Father as He made a way for all people to enter into a covenant with God throughout eternity. • During the ceremony, it is likely that Joseph was the one holding his baby and looking into the face of the son that the angel had told him to name “Jesus” meaning “God saves.” Matthew’s birth narrative records that Joseph did just that. Now, it was Joseph’s joy to call his son’s name “Jesus” during the circumcision ceremony. Application • Just as Joseph experienced joy over God’s gift of Jesus the first Christmas, so God desires that you experience joy this Christmas, for the rest of your earthly journey, and for all eternity. • Do I need Jesus to experience joy? Can’t non-believers experience happiness? Misconceptions about Joy and Happiness • It’s become common in modern times for Christians to treat the words happiness and joy as two different realities. • Joy is touted to be an unemotional transcendent experience unconnected with earthly circumstances; happiness is explained to be a bubbly superficial circumstantial feeling that comes and goes. • But the Bible doesn’t support these designations. The Bible uses both words interchangeably and indiscriminately. For the Jews it was a time of happiness and joy, gladness and honor. Esther 8:16 NIV) I will turn their mourning into joy . . . and bring happiness out of grief. Jer. 31:13 HCSB • We could cite numerous other examples where the Bible uses joy and happiness interchangeably. For those who are interested, I have provided more information • Because the Bible doesn’t distinguish between joy and happiness, neither will we. Do I need Jesus to experience joy? • The correct answer is “no” . . . And the correct answer is “yes.” • You don’t need Jesus to experience joy. Non-believers can experience happiness. • In Paul’s message to unbelievers in Lystra in Acts 14:17 (CSB) the apostle says, “he [God] did not leave himself without a witness, since he did what is good by giving you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons and filling you with food and your hearts with joy.” • Some translations use the word gladness. Others use the word happiness. • Because of God’s goodness extended to all of humanity, all people can experience joy. Here, Paul is making the point that God is the source of all joy and happiness and that all people can experience it because of God’s common grace to everyone on planet earth. • An atheist can experience the joy that arises from beholding a stunning sunrise or the happiness derived from engaging in a job that makes a positive difference in our world. • An agnostic can experience the majesty and grandeur of snow-covered mountains, the joy afforded by emotional and physical intimacy with a spouse, or the exhilaration of reading a good spy novel. • A skeptic can experience the happiness of a Christmas gathering with loved ones or the joy of laughter upon hearing a good joke. Why? Because the atheist, the agnostic, and the skeptic, just like the believer, are made in the image of God with the capacity to experience joy and happiness. • Author David Murray discusses six different kinds of happiness: • nature happiness • social happiness • vocational happiness • physical happiness • intellectual happiness • humour happiness. • These six types of happiness or joy can all be experienced both by the Christian and the non-Christian. But David goes on to describe a seventh type of happiness. He calls this spiritual happiness. • David asserts that spiritual happiness at times contains more pleasure and delight than the other six kinds of happiness put together. • When does spiritual happiness, spiritual joy, become a reality? We experience spiritual happiness when our sins are forgiven, when we are made right with God, when we are reconciled to him. • For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Rom 3:23 • For the wages of sin is death . . . Rom 6:23 (Death means separation from God, both now and for eternity. • Do I really need Jesus to experience joy? Yes. Sin has cut us off from the experience of spiritual happiness, from the most profound kind of joy humans can know, from the happiness that God created you and me to experience when he created us. • No matter how powerful the experiences of nature, social, vocational, physical, intellectual and humour happiness, none of these types of joy can ever fully satisfy our deepest cravings within. • In essence, these kinds of happiness are all secondary to spiritual happiness. God created us to continually experience spiritual happiness. But sin has cut off the flow of spiritual happiness from God to us. How to Experience Spiritual Happiness • How can you experience spiritual happiness? • Admit that you’re a sinner, that your sin has cut us off from spiritual happiness, from life with God. • Turn from your sin and turn toward God. The Bible calls this repentance. • Believe that Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty of death for your sins, and that he rose from the dead three days later to prove he can give you eternal life. • Choose to personally receive God’s gift of forgiveness and life that he offers to you in his Son. • What happens if you choose to take this step of faith and receive the gift of forgiveness and life God offers you? The Bible says that God will come and reside within you in the person of his Holy Spirit and an inexpressible happiness will take over in your life. • This doesn’t mean that you will never face another problem. Both Christ-followers and agnostics lives in a broken world. We both suffer the effects the trauma and pain common to those who live on planet Earth. • But for those who have received Jesus by faith, you can now know an unspeakable joy in being in relationship with God that enables you. This happiness can enable you to walk through the deepest, darkest ugliness and sorrow this world can dish up for you. 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 an inexpressible and glorious joy . . . 1 Peter 1:8 CSB How happy he is whose wrong-doing is forgiven, and whose sin is covered! How happy is the man whose sin the Lord does not hold against him . . . Ps 32:1-2 NLV • If you choose to believe in Jesus and give him control of your life, you can experience the most profound and lasting kind of happiness, spiritual happiness. • It’s the same joy that Jesus experienced and experiences. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be made full. John 15:11 NLV “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. John 17:13 NLV • The joy and happiness you will experience if you place your faith and trust in Jesus Christ is his joy. Jesus’ joy. The joy he experiences he gives to you and to me, if we choose to receive and follow him. Questions for You • Have you experienced the good news of great joy that was delivered by the angel to the shepherds? • Like Joseph, are you filled with joy because of the gift of God’s son? • Have you discovered spiritual happiness, the most complete, comprehensive, and unending happiness known to humankind? • Have you experienced the inexpressible joy that Peter declared to be the experience of those who choose to place their faith and trust in Christ Jesus? If not, you can . . . today. • Challenge: Don’t’ fail to receive, open, and cherish the gift of joy that God offers you this Christmas. It’s an in expressible joy that will satisfy your craving for happiness and last for all eternity.