Peace on Earth - Part 3: Joy! | Scott Hayden

Welcome to ECB's weekly sermon podcast. ECB is

an international church in Bangkok, Thailand,

with dozens of nationalities worshiping together.

We invite you to connect with us from wherever

you are through our website, ecb .asia, or our

mobile app. And now we pray that you are blessed

by this week's sermon. We're in our Advent series,

our third Sunday of Advent. In our first Sunday

of Advent, Pastor Pablo led us through a study

of hope, looking back at the prophecies that

God fulfilled in Jesus. And by seeing God's faithfulness,

our faith is built. We take that faith and we

turn it forward to the promises yet to come.

And Advent is about waiting for that. Last week,

Nelson talked to us about peace. a peace that

was a big contrast to the shallow peace enforced

by swords and spears for the benefit of those

who were rich enough or influential enough and

contrasted that with the peace of God that was

brought for all that would turn to him. And this

week we look at joy. So as we look again at the

Christmas story, Yes, the same story we looked

at last week, but a new angle on the shepherds

and the angels. I want to paraphrase the angels'

message and immediately make it applicational.

So read this out loud with me. Good news to them

is great joy for all. Wait for it. Now this scripture

doesn't say wait for it, but it does say wait

in other places. So I'm importing a little bit.

But to help us remember this, get your hands

ready, please. All right. Good news. Put it up

here. Because back then they had no Twitter.

You had to yell it. Good news to them. That's

the shepherds. Is great joy for all. Now hold

out your left hand. Scoop all the cookie dough

out of that bowl. Don't leave one crumb. Lay

it there in front for all. Try that from the

beginning. Good news to them is great joy for

all. Wait for it. All right. Now you're going

to help me with the outline of the sermon. It

sticks pretty close to this. Every time you hear

me say, we've got great joy, I want you to ask,

How great is it? Let's practice. You ready? We've

got great joy. Oh, the joy is coming. All right.

We've got good news. I didn't even have to tell

you. You've caught on already. Wait for it. Don't

say anything. All right. But there is a question

I want you to ask. What do we do while waiting?

Friends, we have. Great joy. No, no, no. Come

on. We're going to do this often. We've got great

joy. We can tell how great it is by the word

Luke gave us to describe the joy. The great in

Greek is the same name as a mall out in Bangna.

No, I'm not going to say that. Seven or eight

kilometers down the road from my school. There's

a mall with over 400 ,000 square meters of construction

space, over 12 ,000 parking spots, over 800 shops,

including Ikea, Central, Big C Extra, a cineplex

with 15 theaters, a bowling alley, and don't

forget the ice skating rink. And we call it...

That's the root of the word... that Luke used

to describe the joy. This is mega joy. Friends,

we've got great joy. It's mega joy. And that's

not all. When you read narratives, look for people

in a place with a problem. Let's look at the

narrative and identify the people in place in

the problem. In the same region, there were some

shepherds. staying out in the fields and keeping

watch over their flock by night. Now here's the

people, shepherds. Now I don't think shepherds

scare easily, right? Shepherds take care of naughty,

tame beasts that can be kind of stubborn and

they can bite and kick. Shepherds also guard

against nasty wild beasts. At that time, the

lions and bears and hyenas and wolves were still

there, and they like eating sheep. And wild boars

and venomous snakes, they don't like eating sheep,

but they're still dangerous if you step on one

or surprise one. The shepherd's job was to guard

against all of these. Those are the characters.

Shepherds were not known for being scared. They

were probably more known for being scarred. So

when a shepherd comes and tells you they were

scared witless by something that happened, I

think they have our attention. And the setting,

they were out in the fields. Pastor Nelson last

week reminded us that the setting in ancient

stories is as much a part of the story that gives

us a way to understand it. So when we see that

they're in the field, and the field is the border

between the wild Empty darkness and the safe

home life supporting place. And the field is

right on the border. So imagine the shepherds,

safe, walled city of Bethlehem behind them. Danger

and who knows what predator out there in the

dark in front of them and the sheep with them.

So what we have are tough guys. doing night shift

guard duty on the edge of disaster. Right? And

that's just the people in the place. How about

the problem? And an angel of the Lord suddenly

stood before them, and the glory of the Lord

shone around them, and they were terribly frightened.

Now notice the parallelism here. You've got the

angel of the Lord parallel to the glory of the

Lord. You have the verbs stood and shown parallel

to each other and then prepositional phrases

about the shepherds. The angel was before them.

The glory was around them. So we have people

in a place with a problem. Tough guys working

night shift guard duty on the edge of danger

and disorder. And suddenly, have you had this

situation where you think you're alone and you

turn around and someone's there? My wife and

I do this to each other too often, especially

for this 55 -year -old heart. When we're down

in the kitchen and our stairs are so solid, you

usually cannot hear someone coming down the stairs.

So I'll be doing something in the kitchen, I'll

turn around and she's there, right? Well, it's

worse for the shepherds because the angel that

was suddenly there wasn't even human. Right?

So we've got tough guys doing night shift guard

duty on the edge of disaster and there's an alien

in front of them. What have we got going on?

We have multiple causes for one mega effect.

See, there's a contrast here. This mega is also

right there in the word terribly. They were not

just... mega joy that we'll get to later they

were mega scared so if luke used the same word

then the fear was equal to the joy right that's

a suggestive interpretation but let's check the

text see if our interpretation fits the story

if we continue to read we see the angel said

to them read it with me You almost get bored

with that line, right? Because angels are always

saying that, so we overlook it. Do not be afraid.

But that tells us the fear, though natural and

appropriate, was temporary and not God's intention.

And though this appearance and news came to a

few shepherds, the news was for all people. So

checking our suggested interpretation of... The

fear equal to the joy? Putting it back in the

text? No, we've got to modify. This is a joy

much bigger than the fear. We have great joy.

There we go. It is bigger than fear, mega joy.

And that's not all. We can also tell how... Great

the joy is by looking at whom the joy is for.

The angel said to them, do not be afraid. For

behold, that means pay attention, people. Sorry,

that's my teacher voice. I bring you good news

of great joy, which will be for all people. You

got it. Show me the all. The all. Now, Pastor

Nelson reminded us last week that peace on earth,

it's big enough for all, and they're all invited,

but we have to respond if we're going to experience

it. And the same is true of the joy. There's

enough joy for everybody, and everybody is invited,

but we have to respond to the good news. Certainly,

we have to respond. talks about this in hints

throughout his book. Mary sang a song earlier

in Luke chapter 1 when she said, all generations

Luke 1 · chapter mention

will call me blessed. There's a hint that this

is a big awe. In Simeon, about 40 days after

Jesus' birth, Simeon gave a prophecy and said,

this child will be a light of revelation for

the Gentiles. That's more than a few Jewish shepherds.

That's more than just the Jewish nation. In fact,

Luke's version of the Great Commission, at the

end of the book, he says, Repentance and forgiveness

will be proclaimed to all the nations. Friends,

we've got great joy. Not acceptable. We've got

great joy. Amazing. Thank you. Give me some energy.

We've got in all nations, bigger than fear, mega

joy. And that's not all. We can also tell how

great the joy is by the wordplay. See, ancient

readers didn't doom scroll on their glowing rectangles

to pass the time. They played with words. They

sang songs. They told riddles. They told stories.

And in the songs and the riddles and the stories,

they were listening for words that might be used

two different ways. Or they were listening for

words that might skip from story to story to

story on purpose, and they would look for connections.

So the Hebrew original, most of the Christians

at the early part of the first century were Hebrew

and Jewish, listening perhaps to Luke's Greek

gospel would put this together because this is

how they thought and this is how they played.

Ancient readers would hear that Greek word joy,

kara, and realize the story is happening to shepherds

who had lambs, Hebrew kar. And they would put

it together. And they would say, oh, lambs. Yeah,

joy. There's a connection. Have you ever seen

lambs? Have you ever? Do the YouTube search,

skipping goats or happy lambs, and it's so much

better than this. But they would put it together.

And is that just circumstance? Or was Luke connecting

something? Because the last writing prophet,

400 years before Jesus, in his last chapter,

also seemed to be hitting this theme. Malachi.

Last writing prophet. Chapter 4, his last chapter.

He writes, Behold... Yes, thank you. Thank you.

I was about to say, pay attention, but you're

ahead of me. Good job. Behold, the day is coming.

Go ahead, read it with me. The day is coming,

burning like a furnace, and all the arrogant

and every evil doer will be chaff. And the day

that is coming will set them ablaze. This is

not joyful so far. Chaff is after you clean the

grain and you got the stuff you can't eat left

over. You just burn it. It's not useful, right?

Malachi goes on after talking about judgment

on the evildoers. By contrast, I'll read for

you. But for you who fear my name, the sun of

righteousness will rise with healing in its wings.

And you will go forth, here it is, and skip about

like calves from the stall. Friends, this joy

is a dance party. Okay? It's a dance party on

the ashes of all the bullies who tried to make

the world after their own image and took advantage

of everybody else to fill their own pockets.

It's a dance party because the end of the world

when Jesus says, that's enough. There's only

two ends for the bullies. Either they repent

and join the party. Or their ashes are the confetti

at the dance. Friends, we've got great joy. Dance

party, all nations, bigger than fear, mega joy.

Do you want it? Then you need to know the source.

Because we have... That is... Yeah, we've got

good news. How good is it? Try it again. We've

got good news. Thank you for asking. You can

tell how good it is by the word itself. Now,

not many of us can read Greek, and I use Greek

tools to find out these things. But there's the

word in Greek, euangelizomai. But let me change

each Greek letter to the English equivalent.

Does it look familiar yet? Let me modernize it

a little bit according to our pronunciation.

This is the E in ECB. We are a good news people.

Let's break it down. So it's two roots put together.

You means good. The angelizomai is news. And

I love this about the gospel because the good

news communicates both God's intention and information.

And as human beings, we need both. God's intention

toward us is to benefit us. It's good for us.

But there's information we need to know. And

this strikes against our human tendency to divide

things and then take sides. Some of us in the

Christian world, we really like the good part.

We love the warm fuzzies. We love inclusiveness.

We love great worship services. We love the worship

services that have us moving and jiving. The

news, yeah, it's okay. And some of us go so far

as we embrace the good and we question the news.

I grew up in a denomination, a group of churches

that was born out of a larger group that was

really running for the good side. and shoving

the news part away. And my group of churches

said, no, we can't do that. This was way before

I was born. I wasn't part of it as old as I am.

They said, we can't do that. So they separated

out and formed their new group. The problem with

the new group was, for some churches, is now

that the fight was over, we couldn't stop fighting.

We love the news so much, we weaponize it and

forget that it's for good. And we cling so strongly

to every little detail of theology that is no

longer good. But the good news doesn't allow

either extreme. And it never says drop one. It

says get them both up there. We need the good

and we need good theology. We need God's intentions

and we need to understand him. So God's announcement

of victory, that's what this word is. Challenges

both the feel -gooders and the do -gooders. It

challenges those that take the fun out of fundamentalism.

It challenges the I -just -love -a -good -time

people. And it reaches for the feelings and the

thoughts. The evangel appeals to heart and head.

Jesus said, love the Lord your God with all your

mind, all your soul, all your strength, because

he was intent on redeeming all your mind, all

your soul. All your strength. We've got good

news. It's holistic. It reaches for the whole

person. And whichever part appeals to you, run

with it, but know you're going to have to grow

on the other side too. That's not all. We can

also tell how good the news is by contrasting

the setting of the story. Pastor Nelson told

us last week about part of the setting. I'm going

to take us into another part. I talked again

already about the fields, the border of danger

and disorder. And it was nighttime darkness.

The angel announced the good news to tough men

working night shift guard duty on the border

of disorder and danger. And that good news arrives

during hardship. And danger. And Luke acknowledges

the hardship. And here's the point I want to

make. If you didn't hear last week's sermon,

go back and listen to it. It's brilliant. Good

news brings joy, not escapism. Hardship is real.

Good news does not pretend everything is okay.

There are some Sundays I come in. And I cannot

rouse myself to raise my voice with the worship

team. And I don't even want to look up. Good

news acknowledges suffering but insists it's

temporary. So God's good news empowers us to

endure hardship. And God accepts worship with

tears just as much as he accepts the happy clapping.

Worship with tears is called lament. And there's

a lot more lament psalms in the Bible than there

are tearful songs in our songbooks. We could

learn from that. We can endure just like Jesus.

Hebrews says Jesus, for the joy before him, this

is actually part of one of the songs we just

sang, for the joy before him endured the cross.

You know what that means? The cross did not feel

good. The Father did not ask Jesus to enjoy the

cross, and Jesus did not enjoy the cross. But

he saw the joy on the other side, and that got

him through. That's our model. Good news, people.

Oh, thank you. We are good news people when God

heals, and we are good news people when he lets

disease take a life. We are good news people

when God lifts someone out of poverty, and we

are good news people when God lets us lose. The

good news is also honest, not just about outside

circumstances, but our internal darkness, that

we need a Savior. Friends, we've got good news.

It's holistic, honest, and hopeful. Good news.

And that's not all. We can also tell how good

it is by analyzing the news. I took like a middle

school elective in journalism. And we were taught,

if you're going to report the news, you ask the

question words. Who, what, when, where, why,

how. So let's go back to the angel's summary

of the news and look for those questions. Let's

mark it. Let's see. Wavy line for when. Any words

about when? For today. All right. I don't see

any more when. Any where. Let's do a jagged line

for where. Okay, we got the where. Any what.

That includes action. Born is the action. There's

our what. Who. Don't skip the obvious. What's

the emphasis of the news here? Which question

word gets the most text? Who? And this is good

news that the good news is who before it's a

what. There are events we need to know. There's

information, but it starts with the person, and

this person needs to come front and center because

the good news is not first. Not first and foremost

an outline to memorize. It's not first and foremost

a quest to fulfill. And it's not first and foremost

a checklist to achieve. The good news is first

and foremost about a Savior to rescue, a Christ

to fulfill promises, and a Lord to command. Let's

rewind a little bit. The good news is not an

outline to memorize. And that disappoints us

smart people. Because we get our joy by comparing

ourselves to others that we think are not so

smart. But that's not good news. The good news

is not a quest to fulfill. And that disappoints

the brave people. Because they like to get their

joy from comparing themselves to people who are

less brave or less strong. But that's not good

news. The good news is not a checklist to achieve.

And that disappoints us administrative, orderly,

self -disciplined people who look down on the

rest of you that are not as orderly. What's the

matter with you? That's not good news. Because

the good news is not about what you do. It's

what about God has done for us and about who

he sent to do it. Can I hear an amen? All right.

It's about who he sent to act on our behalf.

That is the good news. So we can stop running

mental Olympic words in our heads and giving

ourselves medals for being smarter or healthier

or richer or more influential. Those medals are

going to become chains and balls that drag us

towards hell. It's time we turn to the good news

of what he has done, and that's Jesus. We got

good news. Thanks for asking. It's holistic,

honest and hopeful. Who before what? News. And

that's not all. We can tell how good news, how

good the good news is by how the ancient Romans

and Greeks used the word. Maybe this is Caesar

Augustus in marble. Euangelizomai, good news.

They used this word before Christians showed

up. Good news is what faithful Romans called

the emperor's birthday. Looking back, this man

is so great. Look what he's done. His birthday

must be euangelizomai, good news. Good news is

what the Romans called the emperor's victories.

So when he won a battle, euangelizomai, good

news. The Roman government promoted emperor worship.

Maybe it looks something like this. They had

choirs that sang the good news of the peace on

earth that the emperor brought. Is this sounding

familiar? By the way, I have not used this word

yet, but an older English word for good news

is gospel. which means gospel choirs were sung,

were done by the Roman Empire before Christians

came along and redeemed it and started seeing

the good news the way it should be sung. The

emperor was even greeted and referred to as Savior

and Lord. They would greet each other, Caesar

is Lord. So when suddenly there appeared with

the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising

God and saying, Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace among men with whom he is

pleased. With these words the angel army mocked

and challenged the Roman Empire. Instead of glory

to Caesar, glory to God. Instead of on the earth,

in the highest. Caesar, you can't touch this.

And Luke was a bold man for putting this in writing.

Loyalists to the emperor would probably growl

like mad dogs reading this kind of thing and

perhaps respond in violence. But boldness is

what the good news does to us because Jesus said,

do not fear those who can kill the body. And

later Christians would have to paraphrase that

for the persecution right in front of them. They

may have to paraphrase Jesus' words and say,

do not fear those that can set your body on fire

and hang it on a pole in a garden for entertainment.

Because that's what Emperor Nero did. And Christians

would have to paraphrase it to themselves, do

not fear having your body fed to beasts to entertain

a mob in an arena. Because that's what emperors

did. There's one thing, though, that bullies,

like Caesar Augustus and the other Caesars, there's

one thing that bullies like that are afraid of,

and that's people that are not afraid of them.

And that's what the good news does. It fills

the heart so when God's enemy says, shut up,

we don't back down. Friends, we've got good news.

It is holistic, honest, and hopeful, who before

what, empire -shaking news. And that's why some

governments hate Christians because they perceive

the threat. Not that we're going to militarily

take over, but that our good news makes us not

afraid. With me, it's news that changes everything,

starting with your hearts. Say it. Yeah, wait

for it. What do we do while waiting? The full

joy is not here yet. We get an appetizer of the

mega joy to come in the birth story of Jesus.

We get instructions for mega joy in Jesus' teaching.

We get a path opened into mega joy by Jesus'

crucifixion. We get mega joy guaranteed by Jesus'

resurrection. And we get the experience of complete

joy when Jesus comes back. But what do we do

while waiting? Like the shepherds who lived in

darkness on the border of danger, guarding against

threats, I recommend following their example.

When the angels had gone away from them into

heaven, what did the shepherds do? They began

talking to each other. And it doesn't say here

because no Bible writer probably puts everything

that's said into the text. That would make the

book too big. But I'm guessing when the angel

choir faded away, And they stopped shaking enough.

They looked at each other and said, did you see

what I did? Okay, it's not just me. Did you hear?

What did they say to you? Say, it's the same

thing. Okay, I'm not crazy, right? We need to

talk about the good news with those who have

heard it so that we can learn from each other's

experiences. Rejoicing in the good news is my

recommendation. The word rejoice is not in the

text, but other places in the Bible were commanded

to rejoice. That used to always irritate me because

I thought the Bible was commanding me to be happy

and I cannot control my emotions that much to

be happy on command. But after looking it over

a bit, I realized that's not what the Bible is

commanding. It's commanding you to rehearse.

Your joy. Rejoice is rehearsing your joy. What

are the reasons we have to be joyful? That may

influence your emotions. You may get a taste

of it. The toe may start tapping. But even if

it doesn't, you're obeying command to rejoice.

So we can rejoice in the good news simply when

we talk about it. And that's not all the shepherds

modeled for us. So they came in a hurry and found

their way to Mary and Joseph and the baby as

he lay in the manger. Friends, fact check it.

Don't believe it just because I said it. Don't

believe it just because Pastor Pablo, Pastor

Phil, Nelson, or anybody else said it. Check

it out. The angel said, here's a sign. Signs

are announcers of this is it right here. Signs

are the verifiers that this is not fake news.

This is not a rumor. It really is true. It's

evidence. pointing to the trustworthiness of

the news. So, like the shepherds, let your feet

feed your faith and ask, is this really true?

Luke wrote his book for that very purpose. Read

the first four verses of Luke sometimes and see

that he says, I investigated and wrote it out

so you would know the certainty. He researched.

He interviewed. And he doesn't then expect us

just to say, oh, okay, you said so. No. If we're

going to rejoice in the good news, it is good

and appropriate to talk about it and to fact

check it. It's news. That's not all the shepherds

modeled for us. When they had seen it, they made

known the statement which had been told them

about this child. And all who heard it wondered.

At the things which were told them by the shepherds.

But Mary treasured all these things. Pondering

them in her heart. Tell others. Tell others who

have not heard the news. Your experience of it.

Don't try to memorize my sermon and regurgitate

it for somebody else. What's your experience

of the good news? Do you remember the moment?

You first understood it or who told you? Or maybe

even a moment after you understood it when it

got bigger in your heart? Share that with other

people. How other people respond is their responsibility.

Your responsibility is to share your experience

of the good news. How do we rejoice in the good

news? We talk about it. We fact check it. We

tell others about it. And that's not all. One

more. The shepherds went back, glorifying and

praising God for all that they had seen and heard,

just as had been told them. Glorify and praise

God that you heard the truth, that you got the

news, that what you heard passed the test of

investigation, that what you shared with others

might change them too. And just like the angel

army, Praise God by saying glory, the shepherds

return glorifying and praising God. Nice symmetry

bookends there on the story. So how do we, what

do we do while waiting? We rejoice in the good

news. We talk about it. We fact check it. We

tell others about it. We praise and glorify God

for it. One more time. Good news. To them, joy.

For all, wait for it. And that's what we're doing

in this season of Advent. Reflecting on Jesus'

first coming to build up our hearts and wait

well for his second coming. I'm going to pray

and then we will light our third candle for the

Advent season. Father, thank you. We're waiting

for a Savior from heaven to bring us all the

benefits of our heavenly citizenship. Oh, give

us the strength to endure and enough joy now

to get us through to the dance party to come.

In Jesus' name, amen. If God is calling you to

support our ministries, you will find giving

options on our website. And remember to join

us next week. God bless you.