The Reason We Now Sing with Joy Isaiah 52:7–10; Heb. 1:1-6; John 1:1-14

Grace, mercy, peace, and joy to you, from God, our Father, and our Lord, Jesus Christ, whom we praise at His birth.

Our Christmas message is based on our Old Testament reading: they lift up their voice; together they sing for joy.

We’re going to talk about why we sing with so much joy… to the World, the Lord Is Come… Now Sing We Now Rejoice, Rejoice… Rejoice, This Happy Morn… Let Us All with Gladsome Voice… Let Our Gladness Have No End… All My Heart Again Rejoices… 

And that’s just Christmas hymns in our hymnal, and just the first lines, there are many more words of rejoicing in the verses of our Christmas hymns, and Easter hymns, and many other hymns… and we sing them with enthusiasm and joy. Joyful, Joyful, We Adre Thee!

With all that’s happening in our world, wars, crimes, injustice, suffering, poverty, isn’t it bad form for us to be happy and rejoice?

Does rejoicing mean we’re oblivious to, or unconcerned about the sorrows and tragedies of our fallen world? Not at all.

Does it mean we feel no sadness in our lives? No, we grieve, too.

Does it mean we have no empathy for the many hurting people in our world?

Not if we’re like Jesus, not if His Spirit lives in us, then we are to have deep compassion for the down and out and hurting.

What it means is that the devil, sin, death, despair, the fallen world, evil deeds, corrupted hearts, darkened minds, hatred, jealousy, greed, and so many other evils, have not won the day… 

Christ has won the day for us... and eternity for us… and that’s why we sing with such great joy. The Savior of the world is born!

The salvation of our Lord came to us in a miraculous, yet humble way, the child of Bethlehem, laid in a manger on the hay. 

God’s own Son born to save us, to restore the everlasting life and joy that  humanity was originally created for, but had fallen away from.  

How the angels must have rejoiced, when God first created man and woman in His holy image, to live in love and joy forever.

How greatly angels rejoice when at each and every Baptism, the image of God is reborn in that child, that person… 

… and by the Holy Spirit, through God’s Word and Sacraments, the holy image of God grows in us, to make us more like the One who was born to save us, and lead us, and love and forgive us.

Each human birth is a joy, but also, in a sense, a tragedy. 

A joy, because of God’s miracle of life, but a tragedy because every child is born in and with sin… but again, a joy when that child is baptized.

There was a birth long ago, of a child without sin, the only one, ever, perfectly pure and holy in the image of God.

Had Jesus been born with sin He couldn’t have been our Savior, He wouldn’t have been the Son of God, conceived by the Holy Spirit.

But that couldn’t have been… that was never going to be, because it had been prophesied, ordained and promised by God that Jjesus would be the Messiah, the one and only holy Son of God, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of a virgin, born of Mary… 

The virgin shall give birth to a child, and shall call His name Immanuel, which means, God with us. 

In that one and only holy birth, the only one in the entire history of humanity, in that holy birth on that holy night, our salvation came to us… 

And that’s something to truly rejoice in… something for the whole world to rejoice in, and for all of Heaven to rejoice in…

… as our Epistle says, Let all God’s angels worship Him! 

How the angels rejoiced in Heaven when the promised child, the holy child of Bethlehem was born. 

And God sent their joy to earth, for the angels to proclaim the Good News of the great joy that the Savior was born, the Holy Promised One had finally come.

Luke tells us, And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 

And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 

And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 

That’s the reason we sing and rejoice with such exceeding joy! 

For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, rejoicing, and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!

Hundreds of years before, Zechariah had prophesied, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, your King comes to you; just, and having salvation.

Isaiah says in our Old Testament, How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.” 8 The voice of your watchmen—they lift up their voice; together they sing for joy… 9 Break forth together into singing. 

And so we sing with great joy, because in Christ, sin and death have not bested us… or worsted us… but our Savior’s holy life, His sacrificial death, and His mighty resurrection have saved us.

And so to Him we sing, In Thee Is Gladness, amidst all Sadness, Jesus, Sunshine of My Heart!

We’ve all come here today with our joys, but also with our sorrows and hurts. 

When our hurting is at its worst, it can be difficult feel any joy, but still it’s there, by virtue of the Holy Spirit living in us… here in the fellowship we gather with.

The joy of our family in Christ lifts our hearts to rejoice in the Good News of salvation published, proclaimed and heard, and Sacraments celebrated…

This Good News of great joy is our reason and power to rejoice and praise God regardless of the circumstances. 

No matter what may hurt or hinder us, the gifts of God, the grace and love and peace and salvation are greater… and are a legitimate, never-ending reason to rejoice with great joy… to sing and speak our praises at the top of our voices, from the bottom of our hearts.

Every note and every word we sing in praise to God, are worthy to be sung with more volume, more zeal, more conviction, more gratitude, more happiness, more confidence, more hope, more joy, than anything else we might say or sing…. or any other music we might hear in this world.

Sometimes concerts of pop music stars can get really loud… leave your ears ringing for a week… we have a better reason to get even louder. 

And as an added bonus, these Christmas hymns we sing, Joy to the World… O Come All Ye Faithful… O Little Town of Bethlehem… Silent Night… Away in a Manger… What Child Is This… Angels we Have Heard on High… Hark the Herald Angels Sing… are there any favorite Christmas hymns I missed?... they’re all so fun to sing… 

… but more than that, they’re a blessing, a joy to sing… and we’re so honored that our Savior hears our words and songs of praise, that they please Him, on tune or off tune, flat or sharp or monotone, doesn’t matter to the One who was born for us and died for us… He loves and rejoices in all the praises and songs of His redeemed… 

He loves to see us rejoice in the salvation He won for us, and so graciously gives to us by His Spirit. 

And so we rejoice and praise Him by our music, by our words, by our courageous witness, by our faithful service, and by our deeds of kindness… these all come from the Holy Spirit, and glorify our Savior.

May we rejoice in His love and salvation today, and tomorrow… every day on earth and in eternity… 

And as we rejoice, His peace, proclaimed by the angels at His birth, will guard our hearts and minds, in Christ Jesus, who is our joy forever. Amen.