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Joy To The World: For Humble Servants
Associate Pastor Cole Parleir
FOCUS: God gives joy to His humble servants
Favor for humble servants
Miracles for humble servants
Everlasting joy for humble servants
Everybody wants joy, right?
Jesus came to bring great joy to the world, to all the people (Luke 2:10).
Then why do so few people seem to have genuine, deep seated, lasting joy?
Could this be because we have forgotten or never understood what joy is or where it comes from?
A definition of Christian Joy by Theologian John Piper:
"Christian joy is a good feeling in the soul, produced by the Holy Spirit, as he causes us to see the beauty of Christ in the word and in the world." - John Piper
Today on the second Sunday of Advent we are going to indulge the Christmas story truth that God gives this joy to His humble servants.
Main Scripture
“In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.
He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy— the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.”
And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry,
“Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”
- Luke 1:26-45 ESV
Favor for humble servants
Joy starts with an invitation from God to let Jesus Christ live in you and bring Christ into the world.
For us, we do not have the opportunity to be the mother or surrogate father of Jesus, but we do have the invitation of the gospel to let Christ live his life in us and to bring the good news of salvation to our generation.
God is already at work in the world fulfilling his promise to bring salvation to every people group on the planet. He will accomplish it with or without you or me….but because He knows there is no joy for you or I apart from humble service in His kingdom, he invites us to join in.
Joy comes from being in God's presence without fear
Psalm 16:11
"You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore."
Psalm 84:10-11
"For a day in your courts is better
than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
the Lord bestows favor and honor.
No good thing does he withhold
from those who walk uprightly."
Humility is the path to favor and into God's joyful presence.
Luke 14:7-11 (The Parable of the Wedding Feast)
Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, 8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, 9 and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. 10 But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
We must ask ourselves "Where I have assumed a position or a role in life that God has not called me into it? Where have I exalted myself?"
What are some ways we can choose to humble ourselves rather than God humbling us?
Obey Jesus, Pray, Give, Serve, Fast, Study
These are all 'spiritual disciplines' that like working out our muscles physically will make us weak but in the long run make us strong spiritually as we learn to lean on Christ.
I recommend the classic book "Celebration of Discipline" by Richard J Foster
"Nothing disciplines the inordinate desires of the flesh like service, and nothing transforms the desires of the flesh like serving in hiddenness. The flesh whines against service but screams against hidden service. It strains and pulls for honour and recognition. It will devise subtle, religiously acceptable means to call attention to the service rendered. If we stoutly refuse to give in to this lust of the flesh, we crucify it. Every time we crucify the flesh, we crucify our pride and arrogance."
-- Richard J. Foster
Miracles for humble servants
When we, like Mary and Elizabeth, humbly accept God's invitation to know Christ and make him known he will do miracles among us.
Humility is the essential ingredient to be used by God for the impossible.
We do not know if it was Mary's dream to be the mother of the one and only Son of God (probably not!). But the sanctified imagination and historical reality for young ladies at that time would lead us to believe that she did dream about being a wife and mother.
Elizabeth and Zechariah served God faithfully as Levites performing temple service into their old age NEVER having their desire for a child fulfilled…then God miraculously healed her barrenness with the conception of a prophet.
When we humbly surrender, wait for God's timing and serve him he will fulfill not only his plans for the redemption of the world using us, but will also grant the desires of our heart in the process.
Psalm 37:3-5
Trust in the Lord, and do good;
dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him, and he will act.
Nothing will be impossible with God.
What are you longing for? God doesn’t rebuke you for having desires. He does command you to surrender those desires to him and make them secondary to his plan to bring Christ to you and your generation. When we surrender our desire to him he can mold it to be better than we can imagine.
Mary became God's servant according to His word. She exchanged her dreams for God's dreams. This is the essence of being God's humble servant.
Everlasting joy for humble servants
Everlasting joy comes when we are united to Christ Jesus.
We were made to be one with God but our sin has separated us from His presence and eternal joy.
Jesus came to earth to live the righteous and sinless life we should have lived.
Jesus died a sinner's death for you and me on the cross as a perfect sacrifice paying for our sins.
Three days later God raised Jesus from the dead as proof the payment was accepted.
Today you are invited by faith to accept the gift of Jesus' life, death, burial, and resurrection as payment for your sins and receive everlasting joy being made right with God forever.
For those united to Christ Jesus and serving him, be assured that God is faithful to bring you home with great glory and joy:
Jude 24-25:
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
Second City Church - Joy to the World, Pastor Rollan Fisher 2020