The Advent of Joy

As Christmas draws nearer, the level of excitement in children increases. As a former teacher, I can attest to this fact and having a full moon at the same time doesn’t help matters either. As adults, we can get excited about the holidays, too. We look forward to the decorations, the festive holiday events, time off from work, and the ready availability of cookies. As believers in Christ, we are also reminded of the true meaning of the holiday – the birth of Jesus, our Savior and the reason we observe Advent.

What is Advent?

Advent is the four-week period leading up to Christmas. As we have learned in the previous posts, Advent is a time of preparation, a time for reflection, a time of expectation, and a time for remembering. It is meant to be a time of meditation and prayer. Advent is also a time of penance, a time for change, and should be a time of longing for the second coming of Christ.

The focus of the first week of Advent is hope, which is the eager expectation that what God has promised will come to pass. During the second week of Advent, we focus on peace and the fact that the coming of Christ removed the barrier of sin that had separated us from intimate fellowship with God. And during this third week of Advent, we are looking at the topic of joy.

Our Focus is Joy

We see this word splashed around on Christmas ornaments that we hang on our trees. It is a sentiment that we include in the cards that we send, and we toss the term around during the holidays even though we don’t necessarily understand what it means.

In the original Greek, joy is defined as a “calm delight.” Joy has been described as a quiet knowing deep within our souls; a confidence that all is well. Joy is also considered an abiding contentment that we feel deep within the most remote recesses of our heart regardless of the circumstances we find ourselves in.

Sadly, it’s very easy for us to go through our daily routines and not feel a lot of joy in what we’re doing, though. For example, there have been times in my life that, while I was generally satisfied with how things were, I was not especially happy or enthusiastic about what I was doing. This point is here is that joy and happiness are not the same thing. Happiness depends on what is happening. They are related words based upon luck, chance, or good fortune.

What is Joy?

Joy, however, is a deep-seated state of contentedness. It means being deeply satisfied with our life, and it is unrelated to our current circumstances. Joy is a choice that we make in the moment. It’s not something that we feel in the moment. Joy is more than a feeling. You see, I may not be feeling joyful right now; I am simply full of joy. Joy, then, is a state of being.

This joy that we possess is more than mere happiness. It is a deep and durable gladness that is rooted in Father’s love and promises to us. This is one of the things that we need to remind ourselves of during Advent. Joy is the basis of our expectations. It is the reason for our longing, and It is the source for our yearning for the second coming of Christ.

The Shepherd’s Candle

During the third week of Advent, the pink candle is lit. It is called the Shepherd’s Candle. As mentioned before, Advent is a time to remember, and during this week of Advent we call to mind the lonely shepherds in the fields outside of Bethlehem so very long ago. The Word says in Luke 2:8, that “there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field keeping watch over their flocks by night.” Just shepherds abiding, living, or staying in the fields with their sheep.

It was nighttime. It was the beginning of lambing season, and everyone was getting back into the routine of being out in the field all night. And for now, the sheep were settled down for the night. All was calm. All was quiet. From all appearances, it should have been another quiet night, but suddenly there was a flash of light. In fact, there was a LOT of light! An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the shepherds were terrified! The Scripture says in Luke 2:9-10, “And the glory of the Lord shown round about them and they were terrified. The angel said to them, ‘Do not to be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.’” 

But this was not just ordinary good news. This was glorious news! “Today, in the town of David, a savior has been born to you. He is the Messiah, the Lord! And this will be a sign to you; you will find the baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:11-12)

The Joy of Shepherds

Let’s talk about the joy that those shepherds felt that night. What do we know about shepherds? Then and now? Shepherds are just common, ordinary people. They are not high on the social ladder. They are not upwardly mobile. They are not influencers on social media. They do not command a lot of attention. They are just regular, ordinary people like you and me. They are blue-collar workers like so many of us – not rich or well-connected. They are accustomed to being overlooked, underpaid, and underappreciated. So, what joy did those shepherds have?

We need to remember that it had been over 400 years since there had been any direct interaction between heaven and earth. There had been no prophets, no prophecy, no miracles, or evidence of God working in the Jewish people’s lives. Four hundred years is at least six to eight generations, six to eight lifetimes without any intervention from God. Think about that, and then think about this to add a little context: What was happening in America 400 years ago?

We know that in 1620 the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth in what is now modern-day Massachusetts. After a harrowing first year, which saw more than half of the original settlers dying from starvation and disease, the surviving Pilgrims and the local Wampanoag tribe sat down for a feast of thanksgiving in October 1621 to give thanks to God for sustaining them. It’s a beautiful story that has been woven into the fabric and history of our nation. It’s a story that we retell and pass down through the generations, and it’s an event that occurred over 400 years ago.

Can you imagine what our life would be like if that was the last time God intervened in the affairs of our nation? Well, that is where our shepherds were on that quiet evening outside of Bethlehem. Can you get a feel for the joy, for the excitement, for the absolute confidence they had as they left their sheep and went into Bethlehem that night? They had seen an angel. They had heard an unbelievable message. They had listened to the heavenly song sung by legions of other angels. God had returned to earth and had chosen to tell them first!

After arriving in Bethlehem, they found the child in a manger, just as the angel had said. Then they went and told anyone who was willing to listen to them the wonderful things that had just happened. This is the joy of the shepherds. This is what we remember during this Advent season.

The Joy of Angels

And what about the joy of those angels? What joy did they experience that night? Why was this such a momentous occasion? We must remember again that it had been 400 years since there had been any communication between heaven and earth. The last prophecies in the Old Testament, delivered by Malachi, had happened generations before.

While angels are mentioned 273 times, the Bible doesn’t tell us a whole lot about the angels or about their ministry. We do know that upon occasion they were sent to deliver a message or to intervene in a person’s life.

We see an example of this in Genesis 19 where we see two angels delivering Lot and his family from Sodom before its destruction. We find an angel speaking to Gideon in Judges 6 as he is threshing wheat while hiding from the Midianites whom he was called to defeat. Over in Daniel 6, we find an angel shutting the mouths of hungry lions to protect Daniel from them. And in I Kings 19, we see an angel wake Elijah so he can eat something before his journey to Horeb.

But it had been more than 400 years since the last assignment, announcement, or intervention by an angel. But on that night outside of Bethlehem, that period of inactivity, that time of no angelic assignments was coming to an end. That night, a new chapter in the relationship between God and man was beginning.

As we know, Gabriel had recently delivered messages to two people on earth. One message was to an old priest in the Temple in Jerusalem, and the other was to a teenaged girl in Nazareth. But that night in the fields outside Bethlehem, all of heaven was emptied to deliver the greatest message ever given: “We bring you glad tidings of great joy! The Savior has been born!” This is the joy of the angels and should be the joy of our hearts.

What about our Joy?

Here at Christmas, however, we often get overwhelmed by the responsibilities and expectations of our lives and from getting ready for the holidays. Instead of joy and anticipation, there is anxiety and doubt. As we have gotten older, it feels like we have lost the wonder, the excitement, and the joy of Advent. It is as if we have been inoculated against the joy of Christmas. Instead of experiencing the wonder, we find ourselves joylessly going through the motions of decorating the house, shopping for the gifts that everyone has asked for, and then dutifully wrapping them so everyone is surprised and happy on Christmas morning.

How many times have you heard yourself say, “It just doesn’t feel like Christmas anymore”? Yes, we understand that it is Jesus’ birthday and all that, but that was over 2,000 years ago. Christmas has become old hat, too familiar, or no longer relevant to us. Why is that? The answer is really quite simple. We have lost the joy of Christmas.

What Joy is that?

Jesus speaks of a joy that he desires for us in John 15:11, “These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” The joy that Jesus is speaking of is the joy that he himself possesses and experiences. That is the joy he wants for us. Jesus’ desire is that our joy may be full, complete, and filled to its capacity. This statement comes at the end of Jesus’ vine and the branches parable. Jesus said that if we abide in him, and his word abides in us, we can ask for anything, and it will be done. Jesus also said that it is Father’s desire and plan that we bear much fruit. Paul gives us a listing of that fruit in Galatians 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

The fruit that Father desires for us to produce – the Fruit of the Spirit, as it is known – is for those around us to consume and to be nourished by. Paul writes in Romans 14:17, “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.” In other words, the Kingdom of God is not a matter of doing the things necessary simply to live. Rather, living in the Kingdom is a matter of exhibiting the character and nature of our God, and joy is the nature of God.

What do we Need for Christmas?

As kids, we looked forward to sitting on Santa’s lap and answering the question, “What do you want for Christmas?” Perhaps we need to ask that question of ourselves. “What do I want for Christmas this year?” Or perhaps the better question would be, “What do I need most for Christmas this year?” Your answer may well be, “I need an advent of joy. I need a change of heart, a renewed vision, and rejuvenated joy. I need joy this Christmas more than anything else.” 

Here is a quote from Michelle Homme that I have found to be true. “In the tiniest of ways, joy makes life perfect.” It’s true. Joy makes life complete and worth living again. Here’s another truth for us to consider: You can’t fake joy. You can fake being happy. You can wear a fake smile, exhibit fake enthusiasm, and you can even fake interest. But you can’t fake genuine joy.

Remember, joy is the nature and character of Christ. It is a deep down contentment and a quiet knowing that life is good, and all is well. The simple fact is that you either have joy, or you don’t. I realize that it is impossible to be happy all the time because happiness is based on what is happening around you, and I also understand that bad things do happen. But you can be joyful regardless because joy comes from God. It comes from being in his presence.

We read in Psalm 16:11 these words of David, “You make known to me the path of life. You will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” The Word says that God has made known the path of life to us and that he will show us the path that we are to take. It says that he will fill us with the joy of his presence, but we must enter his presence to be filled with that joy (and that on a regular basis.) This joy that he fills us with is just as powerful and just as important today as it was then for those shepherds and for the angels that night outside of Bethlehem. It is also just as needed.

May the joy of Christ Himself fill your heart and your home this holiday season!

“Joy is found in the little things. Make time to add them to your life.”                Michelle Homme

Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®

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