Advent Joy

Amen. Amen. Amen. Test, test, testing. . . . Joy to the world, the Lord. Amen. Amen. Amen.

...world, so if the kids want to make their way to the back. And Derek, it's a video, so if you just want to start it. Oh, yeah, I forgot. We're going to read Scripture first. Let's stand and let's read from Isaiah. We're going to read from Isaiah chapter 12. Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust and will not be afraid. For the Lord God is my strength and my song. He has become my salvation. With joy, you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say in that day, give thanks to the Lord. Call upon his name. Make known his deeds among the peoples. Proclaim that his name is exalted. This is the word of the Lord.

Joy to the world, the Lord is come. Let earth receive a King. Let every heart prepare Him room. And heaven and nature sing. And heaven and nature sing. And heaven and nature sing. Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns. Let men their songs employ. While floods, rocks, hills and plains repeat the sounding joy. Repeat the sounding joy. Repeat the sounding joy. Repeat, repeat, repeat. The sounding joy. No more let sin and sorrow glow. No thorns infest the ground. He comes to make His blessings flow. Far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found. Far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found. He rules the world with truth and grace, and makes the nations bring the glories of His righteousness. And wonders of His love, and wonders of His love, and wonders, wonders of His love.

Let's pray. Let's pray. Go tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born. The shepherds feared and trembled when low above the earth rang out the angel chorus that hailed the Savior's birth. Go tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born. Go tell it on the mountain over the hills and everywhere. Go tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born. Go tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born. Go tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born. Go tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born. Go tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you.

As we prepare to come to the table together, I want to direct our hearts to the grace that we see in Jesus. So we're going to sing "Amazing Grace, My Chains Are Gone." Let's pray.

Grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear, the hour I first believed. My chains are gone, I've been set free. My God, my Savior, has ransomed me. And like a flood, His mercy reigns. Unending love, amazing grace. The Lord has promised good to me. His word my hope secures. He will my shield and portion be, as long as life endures. The earth shall soon dissolve like snow. The sun forbear to shine. But God who called me here below will be forever mine. My chains are gone. I've been set free. My God, my Savior, has ransomed me. And like a flood, His mercy reigns. Unending love. Amazing grace. Unending love. Unending love. Amazing grace. Unending love. Amazing grace. Last week we were in Isaiah chapter 9. That picture that is so wonderful to us of light coming into the darkness.

And that prophecy of Jesus that He will be the wonderful Counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace. And Isaiah chapter 9 written as a message and a picture of hope after the brokenness that we see in the first eight chapters of Isaiah. Of God's people turning away, trusting in themselves, trusting in foreign gods, trusting in their political plans and their armies and their warriors. And what they find in all that trust is brokenness. And in the northern part of Israel that was the first to suffer the darkness of the judgment of God, the promise is that they are the first to see the great light. Jesus in Nazareth will say this in the synagogue on a Sabbath. He will take the scroll of Isaiah and he will flip through the scroll until he finds this passage.

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives, the recovery of sight to the blind and to set at liberty those who are oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him, and he began to say, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." That wonderful message of grace that into the darkness, not just of Israel's brokenness and sin, but of our brokenness and sin, our spiritual poverty, our spiritual slavery and bondage, our spiritual blindness, the burden of our sin and shame that crushed us down.

Jesus comes in this remarkable and wonderful grace to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. Let's pray. Father in heaven, as we come to this table, may you nourish us. May you restore our souls. As we walk through those dry places in life, may you bring water and refreshment. As we walk through the tears of life, may you bring comfort. Help us as we consider the joy that is found in your son, that you would remind us of your grace and of the cross and of his death and of his resurrection. Be with us as we partake of this bread and this cup. May you help us to see this wonderful grace. We ask that you bless it in Jesus' name. Amen. If you would partake of the bread with me that reminds us and directs us to the body of Christ.

If you would partake with me of the cup that directs us to this new covenant in his blood. And we eat and drink both with joy and remembrance and peace with God. And we seek to proclaim this into a world that desperately needs to hear it. We're going to begin this morning in Luke, the second chapter. And then we are going to go to the 126th Psalm, where we will spend most of our time this morning. And hopefully in this 126th Psalm, we will see the arrival and the advent of the joy of Jesus in a way that stirs our hearts and encourages us with the goodness of God. So Luke 2:9-10, there is this moment outside of Bethlehem, where shepherds are in the fields, 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.

And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people." This is the word of the Lord. Father in heaven, as we consider the good news of great joy this morning, the gospel of joy, may you encourage our hearts, may you give us strength as we remember your goodness, and as we see that future promises, and how we see the call to faithfulness as we live in joy. So help us this morning. Teach us, strengthen us, encourage us, just be with us. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. There is something about being in proximity to something that is wonderful that over time causes us to take it for granted. And I was thinking about this over the last couple of weeks as we've been getting Christmas cards and as our kids on occasion will write letters to their friends and get letters back.

And when I was in junior high, in the beginnings of high school, I would write letters to my cousins who were missionaries in Eastern Europe. And it was a long process because you had to have a special envelope, you had to pay extra postage, and you would write a letter, and it usually would take a couple weeks at least to get there and a couple weeks to get back. And it seems like over the course of the year you would only exchange just a few letters, not because you didn't want to write more, but because it took so long to get there and so long to get back. And all of a sudden, right, email became readily available, and I remember our first computer and sitting down and writing an email, and like an hour later, there's a reply.

And it's like, "This is amazing." So talking back and forth to my cousins, and now, when I think about email, it's not with amazement. It's like, "Do I really have to open this? Do I really have to read this? And can I just mark it all as spam?" This wonderful technological breakthrough in communication has become, not just commonplace, but in many of our lives, just kind of annoying. And we can see it too, not just in things like technological advancements, but if we think about or remember back when we're children or see our children, and you say, "Hey, go find something to play with." And they go, "All my toys are boring." And then you go over to your friend's house, two doors down with the same exact toys that you have, and those toys are much more exciting.

Or their sticks in the yard are much greater than yours because, right, you're not used to them. You're not in proximity to them. One of the things that happens when we hear this announcement, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people." And as it continues, "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord." We've heard this. We've been around it, especially if we've been in church. And what tends to happen is we hear this good news of great joy, and maybe we acknowledge it on an intellectual level. But somewhere in our soul, we miss this transformational and powerful message. It's so easy because of our proximity to hearing this message on a regular basis. That this wonderful and amazing thing, for many of us, it doesn't stir our hearts like it should.

So what I want to do is I want to go to the 126th Psalm this morning. And it's a song of joy, and it's kind of a remarkable psalm of joy, because although it talks a lot about joy, there's not really that much joy. The first half is all about joy, and the second half is all about the deserts and the tears. Let's take a look at this psalm, and then let's talk about how joy transforms us. I'm just going to read the entirety of the 126th Psalm. A song of ascents. When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue was shouts of joy. And they said among the nations, "The Lord has done great things for them." The Lord has done great things for us.

We are glad. Notice the past tense. Now he's going to talk about now. Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like streams in the Negev. Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy. He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his leaves with him. It starts with this picture of what God has done in the past, but very quickly moves into the dryness of the deserts and the sorrow of tears that seem to blur everything out around us. I want to begin by talking about the Song of Ascents. And the Song of Ascents are a collection, and if you're following along on your fill in the blanks, the answer is 15. They are a collection of 15 psalms that are traditionally sung during those three big feasts

where Israel is called to go to Jerusalem. And Jerusalem, just like my parents walked to school, like it's uphill both ways. And so as they get to Jerusalem, you have to climb the hill into the city. They would sing these songs, these 15 songs together. And for us, we say, "Oh, isn't that great?" They sing these songs together. But I think we're missing the emotion and community that is found here. And I actually went back and found the video on YouTube in 2010. It's kind of embarrassing to say this, but I went to a video game convention in Boston. Like 80,000 people. And we were standing in line with several thousand people to go into the concert at night, which was also really dorky because it was like the video game orchestra. And as we're getting ready to go in,

and somebody at one end of the hall starts singing the song from an end credits of a video game. And the song is called "Still Alive." So if you want to look it up on YouTube, try to spot Brandon, 2010, Still Alive, Boston. And all of a sudden, everybody around you starts singing the song, because we all know it. And we're all just standing there, several thousand people, right? Men and women, young people, old people, people from all over who have traveled to be there. And in that moment, there's this sense of community that's like, hey, I'm a part of something. I have no idea who any of these people are, but I know the same song. And here you are coming to something far more important. You're coming to Jerusalem, right? The place where God's presence dwells. And maybe you've never been there.

Maybe it's your first time, and you're traveling from Greece or from Rome. And you walk up toward Jerusalem, and you begin to hear singing, and you get closer, and you go, I know this song. And all of a sudden, men and women, young and old, are all singing the same song, and you're reminded that you're part of the same family. That's what the Songs of Ascent are for, to remind us that we're part of the same family, that you're not alone. There's a group who surrounds you. And this particular Psalm of Ascent can be divided into sort of three very easy sections. It starts with a proclamation, it moves to a prayer, and it ends with a promise. So we want to begin with this proclamation of joy. A public announcement of God's blessing. If you have ever watched The Office, the manager of the branch of the paper company that the TV show The Office takes place in, is going through some financial difficulties.

And so somebody comes in and says, "You know what, have you ever thought about bankruptcy, declaring bankruptcy?" And he goes, "What happens when I do that?" It's like, "All your debts are taken away." So he walks out into the middle of the bullpen in the office, stands on a chair, and goes, "I declare bankruptcy." And somebody goes, "You can't just say bankruptcy." He said, "I didn't say it. I declared it." Right? That's what's happening here. This is not just a proclamation of joy where somebody's like, "Hey, there's something joyful." Right? This is a shout, a declaration, very clearly saying that there is a reason for joy. Listen to what the psalmist says, "When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, our tongue the shouts of joy, and they said among the nations, the Lord has done great things for them.

The Lord has done great things for us, and we are glad." And we're not sure the exact restoration of fortune that this refers to in verse one. It's likely that maybe it's the return of the captives from Babylon. They get to go home from being captives. But we're not sure, but we do know that there is a great joy. And I want you to see that at the center of this text, and the larger context of Psalm 126, is even though it talks a lot about joy, the center of this psalm is God. In verse 1, he's the one who restores. In verse 4, he's the one who will refresh and restore again in the desert. He is the one who, in the midst of our tears, guarantees a harvest. That's verses 5 and 6.

I want you to see that God is the author of joy. And joy is the response and the result of God's work. And for the shepherds that we read about earlier, we might say, "What's their joy? That a baby has been born?" Right? That's generally accepted as good news, but it's really only joyful for those who are in very close proximity. Unless that baby is going to come. And to crush the serpent, and to bring light into the darkness, and take the burdens that are crushing us, and to restore our relationship with God. That's good news of great joy. It's not just that a baby has been born, but it is that a Savior has been born. And what we see in this text is that joy transforms. First of all, it transforms the perspective in both our suffering and our current situation.

Notice what it says, "We were like those who dream." And people have in commentaries questioned, "What does that mean?" Are they talking about the fact that their suffering as they look back on it has grown dim? That those hard times and those broken times and those times full of hurt, that when God restores their fortunes, they look back and they go, "It was so small in comparison to the joy we have that it was like a dream." Or is it the fact that as they come into this restoration, they go, "Am I dreaming?" This is so wonderful. It's so wonderful what God has done. And the question that has been asked about this, is it talking about that our sufferings feel far away or that the blessings are so great? And the answer is simply yes, that God's work in our life transforms both our view of our struggle and our suffering,

but it also brings amazement into this moment. And it's evident in the actions of the people. Our mouth was filled with laughter, our tongues with shouts, with joy, and it's unmistakable to those who surround them, the nations. And then what happens? The people sing. The Lord has done great things for us, and we are glad, right? The right response to the true and wonderful work of God is this picture of rejoicing. And there are times, maybe in this season or others, where we just don't feel very joyful, or maybe in this season we don't feel very Christmassy. Maybe we're overwhelmed. Maybe we're struggling. Maybe not now, but we have been, or maybe not now, but we will be. And the question, and the help from this text, is that it gives us a way to address our joy in those times when we don't feel very joyful.

By reminding ourselves what God has done. I recently rediscovered, I've always liked it, I've always enjoyed words and putting words together in some cases, greatly to the embarrassment of my mom in the grocery store as a toddler, saying words and making up words very loudly as we're going through the grocery store. So I recently rediscovered that I really like to play boggle, right? You just got a bunch of letters, and you shake them up in the case, and then you make words. And it always starts with like the little small words, especially when you're learning, like is, has, you know, am, was, and then before long, you begin to see connections between all of these letters. And so you may be looking, and there's an S-T-O-R-E, and you're like, oh, store. But there's an S, so now it's stores. But there's an R and an E, and so you put it all together, and it's restores.

And you keep seeing these connections, and your words get more frequent, and they get bigger. When you and I begin to look intentionally at what God has done, that's what happens in our life. We begin to see the small things at first, those little words. But as we look more closely at what God has done, and we begin to see how it fits together, our brain and our minds and our hearts become acclimated. And one of the ways in which we fight for joy is by intentionally seeking to remember. A couple practical things that help us in this, one of them is just keep track of our prayers. Whether it's a little notebook where we write down what and who we're praying for. And every month or every few months, we flip back through, and we go, "Man, we prayed for that."

And look what God did. And we prayed for that, and He answered. Maybe not in the way we were expecting, but He answered. Another one that has been helpful to me, and it seems kind of silly, but with the advent of smartphones, which in a lot of ways seem like they have affected lives in not very good ways. But one of the things that's happened is all of us carry a camera all the time. And we're always taking pictures. And it's interesting because now what happens is you begin to see your pictures from a year ago, or five years ago, or ten years ago. And it's interesting because in August, Rachel and I were married. Luke was born. In August, a bunch of years later, Evelyn was born in September. Penelope was born in October.

And so this time of year, especially for me, if I look back a few years, it's this picture of God's blessing. Just flipping through those ordinary family photos. It's like, "Oh, look what God did. Look at how far He's brought us. Look what He's done." And so one of the things that happens, especially when we don't feel very joyful, is our feelings oftentimes aren't very honest, is we need to be intentional about going and looking back through our lives and past to see what God has done. And so from this remembrance and proclamation of joy, we come to a prayer of hope. And I love this prayer of hope. Listen to what it says. "Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like streams in the Negev." And when we see God's work in the past, which we have just looked at, it gives us hope for the future.

The situation of God's people here is not what it was in those first three verses. They've rejoiced in the past, but that's not where they are now. They are walking through the desert. Right? This is real life. And all of us have experienced that moment where it goes from joy to struggle. A simple one for us is we'll drive two or three hours to see some friends. We'll have like the most amazing time, but then it's time to drive home. And while you've had an amazing time, you're now two to three hours from home, and everybody's tired, and everybody's hungry, and nobody wants to sit in a car. Right? And you go from that time of rejoicing to this time of just grinding out the miles to try to get home. And what's happened to God's people is they have experienced this wonderful redemption and have praised God, but now they're going through the desert.

That's what the Negev is. It's a place with no water. And it might be you at this moment, having come from joy and now are in need of refreshment, and you're walking through the desert. And so look at what they do. They pray in hope. Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like streams in the Negev. Our intentional cultivation of joy, by remembering how God works in the first three verses, will give us hope as we walk through the difficult places of life. Right? The picture here is that He's done it before. He can do it again. And our intentional cultivation of joy is going to give us strength. And notice the psalmist doesn't look at this and go, "Okay, because I have the past joy, I can be strong." He looks at this and he says, "Because of this past joy, I'm reminded that God is strong, and that my hope is in Him."

And so the remembrance of joy leads directly to the prayer of hope, not because we're good, but because God is good. And this brings us to the promise of transformation in verses 5 and 6. "Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy. He who goes out weeping, bearing seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him." Has any of you ever sung this song? I remember, and I don't know if this is like a thing that happened all the time, but I have a very clear remembrance of ending our church in Arizona as like a little younger than Luke by singing, right, bringing in the sheaves, right? We shall come rejoicing, bringing in, like we always, I don't know why we didn't start with bringing in the sheaves, but we left by bringing in the sheaves, right?

That comes directly from this song. It's a wonderful promise. It's not a maybe. It's not a if we're lucky. It's not a if it all goes according to plan. This is for those who have focused on the joy brought by God, who have prayed in hope, and it results in this transformation. Tears to weeping. Tears to joy and weeping to shouts of joy. Notice this promise of transformation. Second, there's a call to faithful obedience. Even when we can't see a way forward because of our fears. Notice what it says. It's talking about planting, sow in tears, bearing the seed for sowing, coming out, weeping. Why would you plant in sorrow? Why would putting in your garden or your crops be a time where there was weeping? I've never gone out and planted our tomatoes and cried.

We planted our apple tree earlier this year. There was no sorrow. And so what would bring people to this place where they are going out to plant and tears are streaming down their faces. They carry the seed out of their house. They're weeping. They're unconsolable. A lot of people have put forth a lot of ideas, but I think the psalm gives a clue. Remember verse 4? Restore our fortunes, bring back the refreshment of waters into a dry land. In this time, for most people, survival was dependent upon the harvest. Not grocery stores. A bad harvest means a lean winter, and your seeds for the next year are taken from this harvest. And I think what we have in these words is somebody who has walked through maybe a dry year, and they need a good harvest, and it doesn't come.

And now they are faced in planting season with a choice. Do I have a few more meals with this seed? Or do I plant it in the ground, and do I trust God? Right? That's a big choice. And they're going out with tears because they're saying, "I'm trusting in God." Right? We can maybe eat this and eke out a little longer in survival, or I can bury it in the ground. But what happens in the uncertainty of the future? And what happens if the rains don't come? And what happens if we starve to death? This is not going out and planting. It's joy. It's going out and planting with the depths of sorrow, saying, "I'm putting everything out there. I don't have anything left." It's a picture of obedience in those hard times. And notice that in this sorrow, it's remarkable how the psalmist crafts this.

Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy. He who goes out weeping, bearing seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy. In the darkness of the desert and in the sorrow, the smallest burdens seem the heaviest. Those seeds, because they represent putting all your hope and trust in God. It seems like a heavy thing to carry in the sorrow. But then, when God has come and He has restored, as He has done in the past and as He has promised in the future, and as this foundation of joy leads to this prayer of hope, which now leads to this picture of obedient sacrifice, here comes the heavy burden that seems light because it is filled with joy. You're carrying the sheaves far heavier than the seeds, but you're doing it joyfully.

I want you to see that God's action in the past lays for us a foundation of joy that allows us to pray and hope and live obediently, even in our tears, knowing that even in our tears, He saves and transforms. This psalm is the story of Christmas. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people." In the darkness of that night, in the smallness of Bethlehem known for its sheaves, because it's the house of bread, comes the bread of life. And God delivers in that darkness of that night and transforms to joy. You will do so in your desert places and in your places of sorrow.

Advent doesn't just look back to the joy that is present in the birth of Jesus, but it looks forward to that promise of His return. Where if you've read through the Jesus Storybook Bible, there's a phrase that I love in there so much where all of the sad things come untrue. And there is this picture that we are living in between. We have seen the wonderful salvation and provision of the Lord, but we're still sometimes walking in need of refreshment and with tears in our eyes, but there is hope in rejoicing. I want you to look back intentionally to what God has done, and I want you to pray for hope and restoration and refreshment, and to live in obedience, trusting in what He will do. Let's pray. Father, help us. Help us remember joy. Turn our deserts into gardens with streams of water. Turn our tears into rejoicing. Help us to remember well, to pray in hope and to live faithfully.

Empowered by the joy that comes from Your goodness and Your work in our life. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We're going to stand and sing a song that is very much a picture of this, very much a picture of this from the book of Job, as Job loses so much and says, "Blessed be the name of the Lord." So let's stand and sing. "Blessed be your name in the land that is plentiful, where your streams of abundance flow. Blessed be your name, in the land that is plentiful, where your streams of abundance flow. Blessed be your name." Blessed be your name. Blessed be your name. When I'm found in the desert place. Though I walk through the wilderness. Blessed be your name. Every blessing you pour out, I'll turn back to praise. When the darkness closes in, Lord, still I will say, Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be your name. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be your glorious name.

Blessed be your name. When the sun's shining down on me. When the world's old as it should be. Blessed be your name. Blessed be the name. On the road marked with suffering. Though there is pain in the offering. Blessed be your name. Every blessing you pour out I'll turn back to grace. When the darkness closes in Lord. Still I will say. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be your name. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be your glorious name. Blessed be your name. Blessed be your glorious name. Blessed be your glorious name. Amen. Amen. Amen.