Mega Joy!

Luke 2:8-20

If you don’t have a Bible with you, slip up your hand. I want to have a Bible in your hand, and I want you to open it to Luke, chapter 2. We were there last week. We’re going to be back there this week, and if I don’t get done, we’re going back there in another week.

Luke, chapter 2: I want to pick up where we left off last week. We were with the shepherds. Verse 8: “That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby…” Remember these shepherds are people who are marginally employed. They are really on the edge of culture. They’re “…guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. ‘Don’t be afraid!’ he said. ‘I bring you good news that will bring great joy…”

Now that’s where we’re going to go this morning. We’re going to talk about this “great joy,” literally, mega joy that is described there. I’m telling you some amazing news, the euaggelion, the empire that God’s kingdom is breaking in, and it’s going to be great joy, mega joy to everyone. Then he gives some names there. “The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize Him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.’ Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.'” Literally, to those God has graced.

Now you’ll remember last week we talked about the manger, and it doesn’t have the baby Jesus in it. We’re going to do that Christmas Eve night. You have Joseph, you have Mary, you have the sheep and the shepherds, and the angel. You remember this about the angel? What do we remember about angels? Where’s my backpack? Here it is. I think I even have a graphic on that. Pop that graphic up there. They are cosmic, extraterrestrial, celestial warriors. They are not sweet, little, fluffy, cute, floating, naked babies. That’s not what they are.

Angels are not sweet, melodious, delightful manifestations. They are cosmic, extraterrestrial terminator types. You need to get that. If you see an angel, you are going to fall on your face. You are going to be terrified. Every time in the Bible when an angel shows up…You know what I like about these? These are McDonald’s ones. They have that little thing you can do like…Every time they show up, the thing they say first is, “Don’t be afraid.” You know why? Because people are terrified. They pass out. Daniel said, “I was there, and the people who were with me ran, and I fainted, and they put a hand on my shoulder and said, ‘Don’t be afraid.'”

Now this is what is going on here. Oh, the angel fell. Don’t worry. He is really a tough angel. Where’d he go? I don’t know. Somebody…Well you’re a lonely angel now.

Okay, think about this for a minute with me. What should Christmas sound like? What should Christmas sound like? Now if you go to a movie, the way you know how the producer wants you to feel is you listen…and this is the point number one…you listen to the soundtrack. Right? When a producer or a writer or director is making a drama, one of the most important pieces of that drama is the musical score. Even if you don’t hear one word of dialogue, if you listen to the score, you can tell how you’re supposed to be feeling.

Think about some of your absolute, all-time movies that just…You know when that rhythm hit, it was designed to elicit emotion out of you. Can you think of one? Jaws. That’s the one I thought of too! That says something about us. How many of you thought of Jaws first? Yes! That’s me too! That says we’re old for one thing. But they’re out there having a great time on the boat. No dialogue about sharks, but you hear that shark dialogue coming up, and you know there’s going to be blood in the water. Right?

Can you think of another one? Rocky. Of course. Yeah, Rocky. Was it Eye of the Tiger or whatever it was? I mean, when that music starts, you know no matter how bloody to a pulp he is, he’s about to find that other Rocky inside of him. You know when that music starts, no matter if it’s only 10 seconds left in the fight, he’s going to win.

Can you think of another one? The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. By the way, the new Narnia comes out this week. How many of you have seen it? Oh, you need to go see it. I saw the previews of it, a rough cut version of it, and I didn’t get to hear all the musical score. I’m so excited. I’m going to see this this week. The rough cut version I saw was just like you would see it to a point, and then a blank place that says, “And Lucy falls off the boat.” So I don’t think I got the whole emotional impact of it, but what I saw was absolutely insane.

Now then here’s the news…Christmas has a soundtrack. If you have your Bible open there, you’ll notice there’s a song actually in chapter 1, verse 41 through verse 56, and that is usually referred to as the Magnificat. This is Mary’s song. This is the song she sings in response. You could call it a hymn. You could call it a poem. But throughout history of the church, this has been something that has been used as a hymn.

Now you might want to jot down 1 Samuel 2, verses 1 through 2, because when you read that song, or you listen to that song, it echoes out of Hannah’s response when she finds out she is going to bear the child Samuel. It just cries out. If you look at verse 42, of the context of this is Elizabeth, and “Elizabeth gave…” and look at that word, “…a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, ‘God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed. Why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me?'” Look at this. “‘When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy.'” This is exactly the word Mary is going to use in a minute. It’s this word joy, and it just is overwhelming gratitude. It is celebration. “‘You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said.’

Mary responded, ‘Oh, how my soul praises the Lord.'” This is a word that is used throughout the Scriptures. It’s magnifies. It’s just absolutely a word of praise. “‘How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!'” Now that song has its roots actually in the armies of heaven. When Hannah prays, she uses a name of God, Sabaoth, Yahweh Sabaoth, Jehovah Sabaoth. It is the most frequently used compound name of God in Scripture. It’s back here in the back corner, Sabaoth. It just literally means the Lord, Yahweh, Jehovah of the armies of heaven.

When Hannah prays, “The Lord of heaven’s armies, the Captain of the Lord of Hosts has heard my prayer.” When Mary prays, this is the echo, this is the root of that prayer. In verse 67, you find Zechariah’s benedictus, the prayer, the song that is here. “Then his father, Zechariah, was filled with the Holy Spirit and gave this prophecy…” look at verse 68, “‘Praise the Lord…'” The soundtrack of Christmas is praising God that He has kept His promise.

“‘Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, because He has visited and redeemed His people. He has sent us a mighty Savior from the royal line of His servant David…'” look at that, “…just as He promised through His holy prophets long ago. Now we will be saved from our enemies and from all who hate us.'”

Then go back over here to Simeon’s prayer in chapter 2. Simeon’s whole demeanor here, the soundtrack of Simeon’s response. “He took the child in his arms…” look at that, “…and praised God…” You see this prayer, this joy, this rejoicing is the soundtrack of Christmas. “‘Sovereign Lord, now let Your servant die in peace…'” It’s that whole idea.

Again, verse 10, you see the armies of heaven, these celestial warriors. Here’s what they said: “Don’t be afraid!…I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people.” Literally, mega joy, joy that is really bigger than we can possibly even explain. That word mega that is used there means loud, large, long, and lofty. “I bring you joy that is really sizable. It is absolutely huge.”

So question two is…What does joy really, really look like? What does joy really, really look like? Over in Psalm 46, it says, “Be still, and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world.” Then you find this Yahweh Sabaoth. Yahweh Sabaoth “…is here among us; the God of Israel is our fortress.”

I think joy first looks like stillness. It requires some level of contemplation. Here’s my experience: We live in a day when most people live right on the edge of exhaustion. When I talk to people about reading their Bibles, you know what I hear often? “Boy, I don’t know what to do. Every time I sit down to read my Bible, I just like get so tired. I can read a chapter, but I just like fall asleep.” Or I hear people say, “When I stop and take time to pray, I just like start praying, and I’m okay for a few minutes, and I just fall asleep.”

I find this even in church. That’s one of the reasons we have coffee out there. People come to church, and for a lot of people, it’s the first time they’ve actually sat down all week long, and if you don’t work really hard at finding Transformers or manger sets or saying something entertaining, here’s what you get…They just don’t have the emotional, physical energy to even focus.

I’m not going to go back and do that Sabbath thing again although we’re not done talking about that. I think sometimes we live so close to exhaustion that we don’t have time. He says, “Here’s what I want you to do. I want you to be still. Be still and know I am Jehovah, Yahweh Sabaoth. I want you to know who I am. Be still.”

This is what happens in Exodus, chapter 14, after God delivered the children of Israel out of slavery, and now their back is against the sea wall, they have no way to go, and the entire Egyptian army is coming down upon them. God said to Moses, “Here’s what I want you to do. I want you to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.” He turns to the people, and he says, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will accomplish for you today…The LORD will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”

You know what happened? God did exactly that. Joy begins first not with some kind of pumped up, pretentious, pretend, external action and motivation. It begins first with serious, marinated, contemplation, meditation where we look deeply about who God is and what He does. Now then sometimes I hear people say, “That’s the way I express joy. That’s the way I express worship. I worship best in quiet contemplation. That’s my method of worship.”

But if you read further in that Exodus account, after they cross over the Red Sea, the very first occurrence you have of congregational group collective worship in music you find right there. When they come across that Red Sea, Miriam, the sister of Aaron, takes the tambourine in her hand, and they go out with tambourines and dancing, and Miriam starts shouting out, “Sing to the LORD, for He has triumphed gloriously!”

Now if you’re looking at your notes, when the Lion of the tribe of Judah roars, the right reaction is to rejoice. When God breaks in, Jehovah Sabaoth is the most frequently used compound name for God. Let me give you some references here.

Isaiah 8, verse 11: “The Lord has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else does. He said, ‘Don’t call everything a conspiracy, like they do, and don’t live in dread of what frightens them. Make the Lord of Heaven’s Armies holy in your life. He is the One you should fear. He is the One who should make you tremble.'” Did you hear that? He says, “Don’t live like everyone else does. Don’t think like everyone else does.”

Don’t live in fear of the economy. Don’t live in fear of the recession. Don’t live in fear of the depression. Don’t live in fear of the Democrats. Don’t live in fear of the Republicans. Don’t live in the fear that this whole thing is some government conspiracy about which we have no power. Do not live as they live. He says, “The Lord has told me and given me this strong warning. What am I supposed to do? I am to make Jehovah Sabaoth holy in my life, and He is the One I should fear.”

Joshua, chapter 5, and verse 13: “When Joshua was near the town of Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with sword in hand. Joshua went up to him and demanded, ‘Are you friend or foe?’ ‘Neither one,’ he replied. ‘I am the commander of the Lord’s army.’ At this, Joshua fell with his face to the ground in reverence.”

Isaiah, chapter 6, and verse 1: “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another…” Now listen, you know this. What does he call out? What does he call out? What does he call out? “Holy, holy, holy…”

You know what that means. It means different, unique…unique of triple magnitude. “‘The whole earth is full of His glory!’ And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.” You know what his reaction is? When Isaiah sees this, his reaction is, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips…” and this is what he said, “…for my eyes have seen the King…” listen, “…the LORD of hosts!” “I’ve seen this Captain of the Lord’s army.”

Okay, here’s the question…What is this joy look like? Acts, chapter 16, verse 25: Paul and Silas are put in jail. Middle of the night, they’re not sitting down there yelling, “Give me a lawyer! Give me a lawyer! I want my rights!” What are they doing down there? They’re praising God. You know what happens? An earthquake breaks out.

Acts, chapter 5, verses 40 and 42: Peter and the apostles are beat. They are flogged, and they said, “You go away and don’t ever speak in the name of Jesus.” They go away, and as soon as they get back with their assembly, they praise God that they are counted worthy of suffering. Their voices ring with this joy.

1 Chronicles, chapter 13, verses 1 through 8: There’s an interesting story that happens there. When David is declared king, he starts fighting off all the battles around him. He starts unifying the nation of Israel. He starts building his palace there in Jerusalem. All of a sudden, this deep conviction comes into his heart. His conviction is, I’ve taken care of the nation, I’ve taken care of myself, I’ve taken care of the army. But he says, “The ark of the Lord is out there still back up there at Shiloh.”

So he gathers the entire nation, and they go up there, and they get the ark, and they make this cart. They start bringing the cart back to Jerusalem. You know what their reaction to that is? They are jumping. They are skipping. They are rejoicing. They are so absolutely excited, and they didn’t even quite do it right because one of the guys reaches out and touches the ark and what happens to him? Boom! He drops dead, and David says, “Hey, let’s just leave it here for a while. We’ll figure this out.” They move it into a house, and it just stays there for awhile, and then God blesses everybody in that house.

He goes, “Okay, we’re going to think this thing through. We’re going to go back up there. We’re going to go get it again.” Then they go back up there, and they read all the instructions, and they have this massive parade and coming back in. Literally…David is up there…they’re jumping and shouting. They’re just so excited!

David’s wife whom he got from Saul, (which I think about that a lot sometimes. You know, Job’s wife. God took all his kids away from him, his job, but He left that woman with him!) His wife is just kind of like Saul. She looks down there and sees David. He’s not dignified. He’s just jumping around. He’s so excited. It says she looked at him with just utter contempt that he would have that kind of reaction to the ark coming back.

Now what does that have to do with Christmas? You know what? Let me tell you. When you read John, chapter1, here’s what it says: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…And the Word…” listen, “…was made flesh, and dwelt among us…” It’s not the ark. It’s Jesus! He came Himself. The soundtrack of Christmas is joy. If we don’t understand that, it’s because we really haven’t thought about it enough.

Look over to Psalm, chapter 150. It’s the last Psalm of all the Psalms. I’ve been reading the Psalms a lot lately. This is like the capstone of the Psalms. There are only six verses. “Praise the Lord!” Now you know what that word is. Some of you have older translations, and it just completely transliterates it. It’s the word hallelujah.

Turn to somebody and say, “Hallelujah!” Now you know what hallelujah means? When you use that word Yahweh Sabaoth…you know how I remember this? This is what I have to put in my brain. This’ll help you remember how to say this forever because I’ve practiced this forever and I say it like 15 different ways. The fact that God called me to preach is a joke. Okay?

Sabaoth. Here’s how you remember how to pronounce this forever. Think about a Saab, like those cars. Okay? Saab. Like a Saab. Okay. You have a Saab, and the Saab, the car, is going Ah. Saab Ah. Then it’s making an oath, like you wish you’d never bought it. Okay? Sabaoth! Okay?

Here is what is going on. This Yahweh, hallelujah…that’s the word for Yahweh, and that halle is literally translated being mad! It’s like somebody who went crazy. It’s like being so excited that you’re just praise. It’s like, Wow! Yahweh is God!

Have you ever been around people who were just not quite right? Okay? Okay, I should have said this earlier. Congratulations to all you Brookwood fans. Yeah. We could do that again. Congratulations all you Brookwood fans. Let’s do this. Congratulations to all you Grayson fans. You guys went real far. Yeah. It’s a little harder to be excited about consolation prize, but you know that’s a great season. We’re not going to talk about Parkview or Shiloh this year. My kids went to Parkview. They drank that orange Kool-Aid.

You know, I’m sure you’ve been to a football game where some people get really fanatical about it. Any of you like a little bit fanatical about your game? Okay. Yeah. My wife actually is a bigger football fan than I am. It’s true. It’s true. She grew up in Wisconsin. Okay, any Packer Backers here? Oh, Packer Backers. If you can just go Whoo! Whoo! you’re not a Packer Backer. You’re not a Cheesehead. They’re nuts, they’re crazy. They go out in cold weather back in the day.

Now the reason she is much more of a football fan than I is I grew up with the Falcons, and the Falcons will break your heart. I’m telling you right now. They will break your heart and stomp that sucker flat. We cut Brett Favre. We cut him! Told him to go. He wasn’t any good. He’s the only person in the world who’s ever lived that has beat every other team in the NFL. Oh, he’s not good enough to play for us. Can’t get Vick to leave the dogs alone. Boom! He’s gone. He’s going to win with the Eagles. Why is this important at all?

You ever been down to the Georgia Tech games and there’s a little section down there where they like paint their bodies yellow? Any of your kids do that? Yeah. Are you worried about them? Not particularly. You’re afraid they’re going to get a cold you would say, but it’s okay, they’ll quit when they realize it’s probably not going to get them a girlfriend.

I was at one of the Brookwood games the other day and I saw one of our disciple, one of our Lug Head heads walking around without a shirt on painted blue. They had letters, but they were out of order, so who knew what they were trying to say.

Why is that important at all? Look at that. “Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary…” Now this is Psalm 150, and if you want an outline of that, it’s…What, Where, Why, How, and Who. What? “Praise the Lord!” Where? “…in his sanctuary; praise Him in His mighty heaven!” If you’re in God’s creation, you’re breathing God’s air, you’re eating God’s food, you’re walking on God’s earth, what you’re supposed to do is praise Him, and this is where you’re supposed to do it.

Thirteen times this word halle is used here. Why we should praise Him is there in verse 2. “Praise Him for His mighty works; praise His unequaled greatness!” There are two things there. One is because what He’s done, but not just for what He’s done, but who He is.

Now who He is explained to us in Jesus! This is how we know what kind of God He is. How are we supposed to do it? Look at this. “Praise Him with a blast of the ram’s horn; praise Him with the lyre and harp! Praise Him with the tambourine…” I actually have one in my backpack here. I’m not good with the tambourine. I’m not a good dancer either.

Did any of you grow up in churches where they were just kind of a little more emotional? I grew up in a Baptist church. My grandfather on my father’s side were all Presbyterian, and I’d go to church with them, my granddad and my grandmom and my Presbyterian side, and they were like you didn’t move. You said the Lord’s Prayer and the Creeds, and they heard the sermon which was no usually longer than 20 minutes. I liked that part.

Then you’d go home, and you would eat lunch, and you would watch football. But this same granddad who absolutely never moved in church, when football was on, he would jump up. He would talk to the TV. This was in the black and white days! He would yell at the refs. He would look over at us grandkids, and he would say, “Did you see that?” “Yes, I did. I did.”

Now none of us actually grew up hating TV or hating football because granddad was a little bit over the top about it! Actually it made us like it. I still when I watch TV and watch Jody I think about it because they talk to them. Like, they can’t hear you! Why do you do that?

Now the church I grew up in. We were this little Baptist church, kind of rural. It grew to be a very large church, but I remember this old guy, and he scared me a little bit because when he would get excited, his leg would just start twitching like that, and I knew in a few minutes he was going to go, “Whoo! Whoo! Whoo! Whooooo!” Then he would run out the door and go down through the woods, and he would come up after church. Do you know what cockleburs are? Those little burrs in the woods. He would come back and he’d just have cockleburs all over his pants. But you know what? I actually think God liked it. I actually think God was just, “He likes Me.”

Now I know we kind of when it comes to church get a little worried. “I’m afraid. My kind went off to college, and he visited this like Wesleyan group, and they were on the floor rolling around, jumping up and down, and I don’t even know what else they were doing, but they were up all night. He’s really excited about the Lord. I’m a little worried about him.” Don’t be. Just let it rest!

Listen, I’m going to tell you something. “I’m a little worried about my son. He went to a group and went to a college group, and they’re like into Reformed Theology, and now everything is like Luther-this, Luther-that, Luther-this.” Listen. Listen. If somebody is a little excited, over-excited about God, I have never had somebody come up to me and say, “My kid went down to Tech. He painted his body yellow, and now he’s not even the right word order. I don’t even know if he’s going to graduate.” They go, “Okay.” “Did they win?” “Nope.” “Okay. You going to get season tickets?” “Maybe.”

But it does worry me. It’s interesting the word that is used there. When you look at that, it says, “Praise Him with the tambourine and dancing; praise Him with strings and flutes!” Look at this. “Praise Him with…” and the word literally with the small cymbals. I have small cymbals. These are small cymbals. Praise Him with the small cymbals. What does the other one say? “Praise Him with loud clanging cymbals.” Man, I’m deaf!

What does it say next? “Let everything that breathes…” If you breathe, this is who. This is what. God is why. You can sit here and you can go, “Well you know what? That’s just not my style.” You can sit here, and you can go, “You know what? I don’t really like raising my hands in church. I’m more of the cerebral type.” Listen, when the Lord of heaven’s armies, the Lion of the tribe of Judah roars, when the ark of the covenant comes into a baby in a barn, and He is the Savior, He is the Lord, and He is going to die and pay for the sins of the entire creation, and He invites you into a covenant relationship with Him, and He wants to impart all of God’s righteousness into you, the right reaction is clang!

The right reaction is not, “Hmm, that’s certainly interesting.” If you think God doesn’t look down at you and say, “What is it going to take to get to your heart,” you’re wrong. Joshua saw Yahweh Sabaoth, and he fell on his face. Isaiah saw Yahweh Sabaoth, and he fell on his face. Mary encountered the angels of Yahweh Sabaoth, and she rejoiced. When the angels who are assigned to Yahweh Sabaoth announced the ark arrival, the holy Shekinah glory of God, here’s what they said, “Mega Joy! Loud, long, and large!”