Zephaniah 3:14–20 • Isaiah 12:2–6 • Philippians 4:4–7 • Luke 3:7–18

Introduction

Today we light the third candle of Advent—the Shepherds’ Candle—the candle of Joy.

Its color is different for a reason. Joy is not merely another virtue in the Advent lineup; it is the evidence that the world is already being changed by God’s promise.

Joy appears before circumstances improve. Joy arrives while the night is still dark. It is the shepherd’s fire on a hillside, burning long before the sunrise.

The Revised Common Lectionary gives us a vivid tapestry this morning—texts that speak to people living under pressure, uncertainty, and discouragement. In each passage, joy does not arise from ease but from the assurance of God’s nearness.

I. “Sing Aloud… Rejoice with All Your Heart”

Zephaniah 3:14–20

Zephaniah speaks to a people who have been shaken, scattered, and exhausted by judgment and loss. Their world has been unstable. Their future has been uncertain.

Yet the prophet commands what their emotions do not feel ready to offer: Sing. Rejoice. Lift up your heart.

This is not denial; it is revelation.

Zephaniah tells them why they can rejoice:

“The Lord, your God, is in your midst… He will rejoice over you with gladness… He will renew you in His love.”

The joy of God’s people begins with the joy of God Himself.

Before the shepherds rejoiced, Heaven rejoiced over them. Before Bethlehem sang, God was already singing.

There are moments in all our lives when joy feels beyond reach—when responsibilities tower, when exhaustion settles in, when losses pull on the heart. Yet Scripture invites us to trust that God’s joy reaches us long before we can reach it ourselves.

II. “Surely God Is My Salvation”

Isaiah 12:2–6

Isaiah’s song is the testimony of someone who has come through deep waters and discovered that God did not abandon them.

“God is my strength and my song… With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.”

Joy is not a shallow emotion.

Joy is the water you draw when everything else has run dry.

Joy is the evidence that God has not merely saved you from something but saved you for something—to live, to hope, to become a witness of His faithfulness.

The shepherds understood this. Their lives were ordinary, hidden, uncelebrated. Yet when the angels declared “good news of great joy,” their hearts recognized it instantly. This was the water their souls had longed for.

III. “Rejoice in the Lord Always”

Philippians 4:4–7

Paul writes these words from a place of confinement. There is no comfort in his setting. Yet he instructs the church to live with a joy that cannot be cancelled by circumstance.

“Rejoice in the Lord always… The Lord is near.”

Joy is not a reaction. Joy is a posture.

Joy anchors us when anxiety rises. Joy guards the heart when pressures mount. Joy flows from the confidence that Christ is not far away—He is near, attentive, present.

And Paul says this nearness produces something profound:

“The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

The shepherds would soon stand in that peace, beholding a newborn King in a manger. What Paul proclaims in a prison is exactly what the angels announced in the fields: God has come near.

IV. John the Baptist and the Joy of Expectation

Luke 3:7–18

Luke’s Gospel offers a surprising text for a Sunday dedicated to joy. John the Baptist’s message is blunt, confrontational, and demanding. He calls people to repentance, integrity, and transformation.

And yet the passage ends with this assertion:

“So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.”

Good news and repentance are not competing ideas.

True joy is impossible without transformation. Joy is what emerges when God clears the debris, breaks the chains, and calls us into honest, renewed living.

John’s message prepared the people to receive the Christ-child with hearts ready, uncluttered, and awakened. The angels announced joy; John cleared the way for that joy to take root.

The shepherds illustrate what this looks like: when God interrupts your ordinary life with His glory, you move. You go. You see. You bear witness. And you return “glorifying and praising God” because joy has become personal.

V. The Shepherds’ Candle for Us Today

Advent joy is not naïve. It is not blind to hardship, pressure, or grief. It is not manufactured by effort.

It is the recognition that:

God is in our midst.

God rejoices over us.

God renews us in His love.

God draws near when the world is dark.

God speaks truth that sets us free.

God opens wells of salvation where we thought only dryness existed.

Joy is the shepherd’s discovery—that the long-promised Messiah has come not to the palace but to the quiet fields where ordinary people stand watch at night.

Joy is not found by escaping our responsibilities; it is found when Christ steps into them.

Joy is not the absence of strain; it is the presence of a Savior.

Joy is the announcement that Heaven came looking for us.

VI. Joy in the Midst of Family Life

Let me speak directly to what many of us face this Advent season.

For the parent working long hours: You clock in before dawn at the plant or the refinery. You drive the highways to Beaumont or Port Arthur. You come home tired, and the house still needs tending, the kids still need help with homework, and Christmas is coming whether you’re ready or not.

Joy is not waiting for you at the end of a less demanding season. Joy meets you in the truck on the way home. Joy sits with you at the kitchen table. The Lord is near—even there.

For the mom holding everything together: You’re managing schedules, stretching the budget, keeping peace between siblings, and wondering if you’re doing enough. December multiplies the pressure—school programs, family gatherings, gifts to buy when money is already tight.

Hear what Zephaniah says: God rejoices over you. Before you get it all figured out. Before the laundry is done. Before you feel like you’ve measured up. He is already singing over you.

For the grandparent raising grandchildren: You thought these years would look different. Instead, you’re back in the thick of it—school lunches, discipline, bedtimes—when your body is tired and your heart carries grief over what led to this.

Joy does not ignore your weariness. But joy reminds you: God sees your faithfulness. He has not forgotten you. The same God who sent angels to shepherds working the night shift sends His presence to you.

For the family walking through grief: This Christmas, there’s an empty chair. The holidays remind you of who’s missing—a spouse, a parent, a child. Joy feels like a word for other people.

But Advent joy is not cheerfulness. It is the deep-water confidence that God draws near to the brokenhearted. Isaiah’s wells of salvation are for those who have walked through the valley. You are not forgotten. You are held.

For the young family just getting started: Maybe you’re newly married, or you’ve got little ones underfoot, and you’re trying to build something on one income or two jobs. You look around at what others have and wonder when your turn comes.

The shepherds had nothing but their flocks and their fields. And God came to them first. Joy is not reserved for those who have arrived. Joy is given to those who are willing to receive.

For the one battling anxiety or depression: Some of us carry burdens that don’t show on the outside. The holidays can make it worse—expectations, gatherings, the gap between how things look and how things feel.

Paul wrote “Rejoice in the Lord always” from a prison cell. He was not pretending everything was fine. He was anchoring himself in a truth deeper than his circumstances. You can bring your real struggle to a real Savior. He does not require you to clean up first.

VII. A Word for This Community

We live in a place where people know how to work hard and look after their own. We’ve weathered storms—the kind that come off the Gulf and the kind that come through family crisis. We’ve rebuilt after floods. We’ve buried people we loved too soon. We’ve held together when times got lean.

And Advent says to us: Even here, Joy approaches.

Not because everything is resolved. Not because life has become easy. But because the Lord is near.

When the shepherds ran to Bethlehem that night, they were not running toward relief. They were running toward revelation—a God who chooses the humble places, who draws close to the weary, who brings joy to those who least expect it.

That same God stands near you today.

And because He is near, joy is possible.

VIII. A Call to Respond

What does it look like to receive this joy?

First, believe it is for you. Not for people with easier lives. Not for people more spiritual than you feel. For you—in your tiredness, your doubts, your ordinary days.

Second, make room for it. This week, take even five minutes away from the noise. Sit with the Lord. Let Him remind you that He is near. You cannot hurry joy, but you can clear space for it.

Third, share it. The shepherds did not keep what they found to themselves. They told everyone. Joy multiplies when it moves through families, through neighbors, through a church that refuses to let anyone walk alone.

This Advent, let the Shepherds’ Candle burn in your home—not as decoration, but as declaration: The Lord is near. And because He is near, we have joy.

Closing Prayer

Lord, we thank You for the joy that does not depend on circumstance but on Your presence.

Renew us in Your love.

Clear our hearts by Your truth.

Let the wells of salvation open again within us.

Meet the tired parent on the drive home.

Comfort the grieving at the empty chair.

Strengthen the grandparent giving more than they thought they had left.

Anchor the anxious heart in Your peace.

And may we, like the shepherds, become witnesses of the joy that has entered the world—

Jesus Christ, our Savior and our King.

Amen.