Christmas joy is not based on circumstances but on the arrival of Jesus—the Savior who brings lasting joy to a weary world.
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Our teaching series this Advent season is called The Arrival. Because with the arrival of Jesus into our world comes Peace, Hope, Joy, and Love. We all want these things in our lives. Everyone wants peace. Everyone needs hope. Everyone wants to experience joy, and we all want to love and be loved. The problem is that when we look for those things without the lens of a relationship with Jesus, we often find only unmet expectations and disappointment.
But when Jesus comes into our lives, we find a new way of experiencing peace, hope, joy, and love because Jesus is the embodiment of these things.
Finding real peace and real hope is impossible outside of the presence of Jesus.
The same is true for our joy. With the arrival of Jesus came real joy.
JOY
Let’s read about it in Luke 2.
Luke 2:8-20 (CSB)—In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “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.” Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to people he favors! When the angels had left them and returned to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go straight to Bethlehem and see what has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” They hurried off and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby who was lying in the manger. After seeing them, they reported the message they were told about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary was treasuring up all these things in her heart and meditating on them. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had seen and heard, which were just as they had been told.
The angel said his message was a proclamation of great joy. What is joy, exactly? Here is the Greek word used in this verse. It is used 60 times in the New Testament.
Χαρά (chara) · joy
It is the same word that is used in Luke 15, where Jesus tells a story to illustrate what God’s kingdom is like. He said God’s kingdom is like a shepherd who has one hundred sheep, but he finds that one of them is missing. So, he leaves the ninety-nine sheep to go find the one that was lost. Jesus says this is the result:
Lk 15:5-7 (CSB)— When he has found it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders, and coming home, he calls his friends and neighbors together, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my lost sheep!’ I tell you, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who don’t need repentance.
There’ll be more joy, more celebration, more high fives and songs, in heaven over one sinner who repents …
I have this picture hanging in my office to remind me of Jesus’ commitment to pursuing me, the joy heaven experienced when I was found, and the joy I experience because I have been found by Him.
(Show picture)
I know that some of us are struggling to find our joy lately. This may be the first or second Christmas season you are facing after the loss of someone close to you. Someone that you miss.
Some of you have just had a tough year, and you’re feeling emotionally and physically weary. Maybe you’ve faced some financial challenges this year, and the anxiety of that has stolen your joy.
Or maybe it’s your marriage or a relationship with your kids or your parents, and those problems have sucked the wind from your sails, and the thought of finding joy feels completely out of reach.
If that’s you this morning, I want to encourage you and remind you about the joy we have in Christ. We can see some of those things right here in Luke 2, in the proclamation of Jesus’ arrival.
The angel said, “I bring you good news of great joy.”
The first thing about joy I want you to see here is:
1. Joy begins with good news, not good circumstances.
Good news does not change. The good news that the angel declared is eternal. The good news was the same that night as it is today. It was good then, and it is good now. It was for all people then, and it is for all people now.
The good news transcends time and circumstances. It doesn’t matter what the state of your life is or the state of the state and politics, or what is happening at school, at your job, or at home. The good news remains good.
Circumstances, on the other hand, do change. Your circumstances can go from easy to hard or from bad to good in the blink of an eye, like the weather in Eastern Oregon. There are so many things in our lives that we have absolutely no control over.
In Matt 8, we find Jesus teaching large crowds, healing them, and driving out demons, and as the crowds began to press in around Him, He told the disciples to go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. So they climb into a boat, and that night a storm suddenly comes up, and the disciples think they are going to die. Here they are in this tiny boat that is being beaten up by the waves, and they think they are going to sink and drown.
Maybe you are feeling that way right now. Like your boat is about to be swamped and you’re going to drown. Life is pressing in around you, and the only thing on your mind is survival. Joy is the furthest thing from your mind.
You may know how the situation on the Sea of Galilee was resolved. Jesus stands up and says to the disciples:
Matt 8:26 (CSB)—He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.
This situation reminds me of what Charles Swindol said:
I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it. And so it is with you. We are in charge of our attitudes.
—Charles R. Swindoll
The disciples panicked, even though Jesus was right there in the boat with them. Jesus asks them, “Why are you afraid?” Why are you freaking out? Joy was the furthest thing from their mind in that moment.
In the middle of life’s storms, it can be easy to overlook joy. But joy is more than an emotion; it is a choice that I make.
Look at how Paul puts it in some of his letters:
2 Cor 7:4 (CSB)—I am very frank with you; I have great pride in you. I am filled with encouragement; I am overflowing with joy in all our afflictions.
Col 1:24 (CSB)—Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I am completing in my flesh what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for his body, that is, the church.
And James says this:
James 1:2-3 (CSB)—Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
Even in the middle of trials we can have joy because we can see God’s presence in those circumstances and what He is doing in our lives through them.
There is a difference between happiness or pleasure and joy.
C.S. Lewis, in his book, Surprised by Joy, said it this way:
“I doubt whether anyone who has tasted it would ever, if both were in his power, exchange it for all the pleasures in the world. But then Joy is never in our power and pleasure often is.”
― C.S. Lewis
Joy doesn’t have anything to do with me, but everything to do with who Jesus is and what He has done for us.
I am happy when I am standing in a river with my fly rod. I find pleasure in spending time with my family. I am happy when I am able to be here with all of you. But what happens when I’m not in a situation that makes me happy?
Despite the wind and the waves, I choose joy. Despite my circumstances, I choose joy.
Why? Because the good news, unlike our circumstances, doesn’t change.
The good news is that Jesus has found me and saved me, and that will never change.
The person who is the good news, Jesus, will never change. He will never change His mind about me, and He will never leave me. He was, is, and always will be present.
Matthew quotes the prophet Isaiah when he writes about the birth of Jesus:
Matt 1:22-23 (CSB)—Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: See, the virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will name him Immanuel, which is translated “God is with us.”
Of all the prophecies about the coming messiah, of all things in Jesus’ life to focus on as Matthew retells the birth of Jesus, he homes in on the presence of God. Jesus is God with us.
At one point, God’s presence was found in the temple in Jerusalem, and it was His presence that made the temple holy. But now He lives in us!
At one time, God was distant, but no longer. Many of you can testify to this. Many of you lived life apart from God’s presence. You tried life on your own. You tried it your way, but then you found joy in the presence of Jesus, and it changed everything.
Jesus found you right where you were. Maybe you were broken, or weary, or full of uncertainty, but He found you and met you right where you were.
That’s the thing about joy:
2. Joy meets us right where we are.
Many of the Christmas songs we sing esteem the shepherds who first heard the announcement of the arrival of Jesus.
Luke 2:8 (CSB)—In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock.
During the time period all this happened, shepherds weren’t esteemed at all. Socially, they were looked down on. I’ve raised sheep, and I can tell you they don’t smell very good. Imagine living in the wilderness and hanging out with sheep all day. People could probably smell you before they saw you.
They were poor, uneducated, uncultured, and uncouth. If you were with your family walking through town, you would cross the street to avoid them. They were the rough characters in the small town on the fringe of society, so much so that their testimony was not even admissible in court.
Because their work was considered ceremonially unclean, they were not allowed into the temple courts or to participate in temple worship. Religious leaders often considered them on the same level as prostitutes, so when it came to the religion of the day, they were always on the outside looking in.
Here, then, in Luke 2, God is inviting a group of guys who have been on the outside, looking in, their entire lives. He puts them at the top of the invite list for the most significant birthday of all time.
In their stinky, poor, outcast, uneducated situation, God chose them to hear the good news of great joy first.
So it’s the same for us. God offers us joy, despite our condition or our situation. He meets us right where we are, and He says, “Look beyond your condition and see the one who is the good news.” He wants to give you joy, right where you are today.
God didn’t announce joy in a palace but in a field. Joy is not reserved for the privileged or put-together. God’s joy meets us right where we are.
You don’t have to fix your life before experiencing joy in Christ.
The Joy of knowing Jesus comes to us even in our fear, weariness, brokenness, and uncertainty.
After the shepherds heard the good news of great joy, what did they do?
Luke 2:15-18 (CSB)—When the angels had left them and returned to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go straight to Bethlehem and see what has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” They hurried off and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby who was lying in the manger. After seeing them, they reported the message they were told about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.
The last thing about joy I want you to see in this passage is:
3. Joy grows when it moves beyond us.
The shepherds hurried to see Jesus. They wanted to experience what the angels had told them. Imagine what they must have felt when they found Mary and Joseph and met Jesus, the promised messiah.
Their joy was so great they couldn’t keep it to themselves. They spread the word about what they had seen and heard.
It says that all who heard it were amazed.
Joy multiplies when it is shared.
God didn’t have the shepherds clean themselves up and get it all together before they went and shared the good news of great joy. They went as they were and told everyone what they had seen and heard, what they had experienced.
The mission that Jesus gives us is the same. To go into all the world and tell them what we have seen and heard. Tell them about the joy that we have because we know the Savior of the World. Tell them how we were found by the one who came to seek and to save the lost. Tell them how once we were lost, but now we’ve been found.
Who needs to hear the good news through you this season?
Joy expresses itself through our worship of Him and through our witness, by telling others the story of our joy. Joy expresses itself through generosity and through our gratitude for what our Heavenly Father has done for us.
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As Jesus is preparing for His crucifixion, He gives the disciples a series of instructions and tells them about His love for them and how they are to love one another.
Jn 15:11 (CSB)—I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.
“That My joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”
That is Jesus’ heart for us, that we might know complete joy. Joy, at Christmas or any other time, is not something we manufacture—it’s something we receive.
Jesus didn’t just come to give joy; He is our joy.
If your joy has been drained by life, disappointment, or loss, Christmas reminds us:
Joy has a name—and His name is Jesus.
Chris Hankel 
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