Joy
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How many people are actually excited for Christmas to come? For some it is something that people are looking forward to. The countdown starts December 26th and they keep that number going in their head until Christmas comes around the next year. For others, it is the last thing that they want to come. That all they think about is the gifts that they have to by, the parties they have to go to, the family they might have to see. The amount of people in the streets as they are just trying to live their lives and buy groceries.
Whatever you think about Christmas take a moment though and think back to the time when you were a kid and you really really wanted this one toy for Christmas. Maybe it was something that all the other kids had, or you just thought it was cool, so you really really wanted it. While you think about that, here are the most popular toys through some of the last couple decades
1950’s - Mr. Potato Head and Barbie
1960’s - G.I. Joe the Easy-Bake Oven, maybe Lite-Brite
1970’s - NERF Ball, or the Star Wars Action figure set
1980’s - Rubix Cube, Cabbage Patch kids, Transformers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
1990’s - Beanie Babies, Furby, Tickle Me Elmo
2000’s - The razor scooter, the Wii, Xbox 360
2010’s - According to CNN, Minecraft was one of the most sought after games and gifts
Whatever the gift was that you were looking for, it was something that as a kid, you were trying everything to make sure that your parents knew what it was. You were probably like the kid from A Christmas Story right? Sneaking adds for it to your parents, making sure it was on every single list, asking the Santa in the mall to make sure that you got that one gift.
I also love the way that he just blurts it out knowing what his parents are going to say, but he still keeps asking for it anyways. It was the one thing that He wanted more than anything.
Back to you, so now its Christmas eve, you’re trying to fall asleep, but you’re so nervous that you can’t sleep, all because you are just waiting to see if what you wanted was under the tree, or if your parents were going to get you socks again this year. Now its Christmas morning, you wake your parents up and rush downstairs, and bam, there it is, the gift that you had been wanting all year.
For me, I can remember wanting an Xbox 360, yes I was that kid. I had worked so hard to tell my mom how good it would be for the family, how much fun we would all have, knowing full well they wouldn’t touch it. I tried my hardest in school, I told her about my friends that had one, about that time I played it at a church event and how cool it was, whatever it took to ask over and over again, I did it.
Christmas morning comes and there it is, and brand new 360 sitting there with two games in the box, and we got guitar hero as well. I was so excited in that moment, all I wanted to do was hook it up to the tv and start playing. My brother and I played for hours that night. We stayed up well past everyone else playing the different games that we had just gotten.
Many people might look there and tell me that I experiences a lot of Joy in that moment. That part of the reason that memory is stuck in my head the way it is is because it is full of Joy and it’s such a good memory. It for sure is a good memory, and one that I am thankful that I have, but was it really Joy or happiness?
Joy vs. Happiness
Joy vs. Happiness
You see, this is where we have started to get confused right. That memory was something that I have that I am thankful for but when we really get down to it, it is such a happy memory because I got what I wanted. I got the Xbox that I wanted, I was able to play the games that I wanted, everything that I wanted happened. When I look at that, my circumstances were all great, so really what I experienced was happiness.
You see there is a dramatic difference between joy and happiness because one is based on our circumstances, and can change quickly, while the other is something far deeper
Joy is contentment outside of circumstances
Joy is contentment outside of circumstances
Joy is different than happiness because of where it is rooted and where it comes from. Joy is not based on the things around us like happiness is, but rather comes from Jesus.
I wanted to start and set the scene with our definition of Joy, because as we look into our passage today in Matthew, were are doing to see where the Pharisees missed it. Where they missed the Joy that was right before them, and instead were looking for something different, something temporary.
Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.
You might start here and think “ok, they gave the youth pastor a really tough one to pull Joy out of” and trust me, I was thinking the same thing here. But really, this passage is full of Jesus telling His people where they can and should find their Joy.
To start, we can think back to what Just happened. That Jesus just cast out demons and they accused Him of working with Beelzebub, but Jesus points out that He is in fact the one who was promised. That He is from God.
But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
Jesus is saying here that the Kingdom of God has come upon them. That these people should be rejoicing because of who He is, and be celebrating that the Messiah is with them. But the Pharisees saw it different.
You see, for them, they believed that the Messiah was going to come, and that He would rescue his people, but it was going to be the way that they thought it would be. They thought that he would come and overthrow the Roman oppression. That He would lift up a sword and take on the nations and bring Israel to their land as conquerors. They maybe thought that He was going to come from a high born family with influence and power, that He would take influence and power, and then give it to them.
Then when Jesus does come, they missed everything.
You see, the times that God saves and redeems His people, it is recorded in the Bible, and it talks about how it happened.
When they were in slavery and then were led out we see how that was recorded when the Psalmist is recounting God’s works in
So he brought his people out with joy,
his chosen ones with singing.
That God brought His people out with Joy. In Exodus, we read that the people, when set free, sang for Joy because the Lord had saved them. The Lord saved them, and provided Joy.
Even later, the nation of Israel would come under attack from foreign nations and need deliverance again. They were scattered all throughout the various nations. They were brought low and under more oppression. But then the Prophet Isaiah in
And the ransomed of the Lord shall return
and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain gladness and joy,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
We read this. That the Lord, the ransomed, those that He saves, His people will be saved, and everlasting JOY will be on their heads.
Then we finally get closer to the time of the Pharisees and the birth of Jesus, who is the Messiah promised, and many of us know the Christmas story super well by now that we can quote it. But sometimes because of that, we miss somethings that we need to see.
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. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
It is Verse 10 that we sometimes speed right over
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.
Great Joy. That the Messiah that was promised was here, and much like the same God that saved them from the Egyptians, the same God that saved them from being scattered across all the nations just came in form of a baby in a manger and He brought with Him Joy.
Joy comes from the Lord
Joy comes from the Lord
So when the Pharisees asked for a sign, when they asked for proof that Jesus was who He said He was, this should have been all the proof that they needed. They knew the stories, they were well versed in what God did for His people, and yet they missed it because they were looking for the right circumstances, the way that they wanted it, they were looking for happiness, instead of looking for the Lord, instead of seeing the Joy that He brings.
So then what was Jesus’ response?
But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Instead of giving them a sign right then and there, he calls them out for it. He says that they are a adulterous generation. Why did He call them that? Well because if you know the Pharisees, you would know that they knew the scripture well. All the promises and verses that I just read that discussed the coming of the Messiah, they would have known those well. They would have known what God did, and so really, they should have known that He was the Christ. But their hearts were in it all wrong.
You see, the way they wanted the Messiah to come was different than how He actually came. It’s like when your grandma buys a different gift than what you were wanting, or what you thought you were going to get right? Like the knock off legos. It is not what you wanted, so you get mad. Similar way here, but they were looking for every way to try and trap Jesus so that they could remove Him. So not only did they miss what God was doing, but they also had hearts that were against Him.
But I also love that the Lord also gave them a sign without them realizing it. You see He pointed to what He was going to do here on this earth. That He was going to die, spend three days in the grave, but then rise again, and He used Jonah to point this out.
If you know the story of Jonah, you know that when he was swallowed by the big fish, he stayed there for three days and three nights, but was then spit up. That would have been a terrible sight to see, but still, Jesus uses this to foreshadow what He is going to do here on this earth. Because once Jonah was spat up on the shore, he went and preached to the city of Nineveh, who was a wicked generation. Then Nineveh turned from their ways and turned to the Lord.
So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.
What we see here is dramatically different than what we see out of the Pharisees. They had Jesus walking among them. They had the prophesies about Jesus memorized, but when He was walking with them, they missed it. So I also think that Jesus called them an evil and adulterous generation because the Ninevites heard the word of the Lord and believed, turned from their ways, and believed. The Pharisees needed proof their way to believe. They didn’t like this Jesus that was given, so they were looking for a way to destroy Him. The Ninevites heard the word of the Lord and saw that what they were doing was evil and turned from it.
That is why Jesus goes on to say this in verse 41
The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.
The men of Nineveh believed the Lord based on His words. The Pharisees knew everything, but refused to believe because of their knowledge. They were going to miss the Messiah and the Joy that He brings by 18 inches. That is the distance between the brain and the heart.
Then Jesus adds this in verse 42
The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.
In case you don’t know the story He is referring to, here is in 1 Kings 10:1-10
Now when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to test him with hard questions. She came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue, with camels bearing spices and very much gold and precious stones. And when she came to Solomon, she told him all that was on her mind. And Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing hidden from the king that he could not explain to her. And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, the food of his table, the seating of his officials, and the attendance of his servants, their clothing, his cupbearers, and his burnt offerings that he offered at the house of the Lord, there was no more breath in her.
And she said to the king, “The report was true that I heard in my own land of your words and of your wisdom, but I did not believe the reports until I came and my own eyes had seen it. And behold, the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity surpass the report that I heard. Happy are your men! Happy are your servants, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom! Blessed be the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel! Because the Lord loved Israel forever, he has made you king, that you may execute justice and righteousness.” Then she gave the king 120 talents of gold, and a very great quantity of spices and precious stones. Never again came such an abundance of spices as these that the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.
What was different about the Queen of Sheba then? She asked questions. She went to test Solomon, so what made here different?
She went to actually find answers
While she was “testing” Solomon, this wasn’t a test like the Pharisees where there was only her answer to give. She was asking because she wanted to know. She was a great Queen, she would have had no need for more wealth, and really no more need for wisdom, yet she had to know what made Solomon so great. She had to know what was happening, and was actually looking for the answer
She went to actually find answers
She asked everything on her heart
This is also different than the Pharisees. It says in 1 Kings that she asked everything that was on her heart. All the hard questions that she might have had, she asked. Why? Because she actually wanted answers. The Pharisees ask questions with ill motive to trap and bring down. The Pharisees also don’t open their heart toward Jesus.
She went to actually find answers
She asked everything on her heart
She listened carefully and observed
She was actually interested in what Solomon had to say. She was listening carefully for a reason, because she wanted answers. She was observing what was around her, and because of her heart posture here, what happened? Well she gave a profession of faith. That is what verse 9 is
Blessed be the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel! Because the Lord loved Israel forever, he has made you king, that you may execute justice and righteousness.”
This is a profession of faith in the Lord, and why? Because she asked the hard heart questions with an open heart wanting to hear the answers. How many times have we asked God a question and because we already had in mind the answer we wanted, when He gave an answer and it wasn’t what we wanted, we got mad and walked around like the Lord doesn’t love me?
God can handle your questions, and in fact, He wants you to bring them to Him. He wants to answer them, and when you bring them and are searching with an open heart like the queen was answers from the Lord, He provides more than we could ever know.
This lady was a queen. She had every earthly thing you could imagine, yet she still went searching for answers. Why? Because there was clearly something missing in her heart. She was missing the Joy of the Lord.
Now the queen of Sheba found joy, but what about you? Where are you in terms of Joy today? You may be in one of a couple different places
You know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, but you feel joyless
Taking the definition that we used earlier
Joy is contentment outside of circumstances
Joy is contentment outside of circumstances
Are you letting the things of this world suck your joy away? Are you looking at your possessions, your job title, maybe even the expectations of Christmas to try and fill you with joy and they’re failing? Well, yeah, they are going to. They can only bring at most temporary happiness. It is time to stop looking to those things for fulfillment and look toward the Lord
I think of John the Baptist here
You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease.”
He said that His joy has been made complete now that Christ has come.
Or how about Paul in
Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.
Paul is in prison when he is writing this. I have never been to prison, I do not want to go to prison, but I can promise you one thing, without even going, I guarantee you that the US prison system is way better than the Roman prison system. Yet in this moment, Paul finds a way to say “rejoice” to say “find your joy in the Lord”…why?…Because his joy came from the Lord.
Both John and Paul had joy in the Lord because they knew that the Lord loved them. That He saved them from eternal death, because they knew that no matter what, salvation was never going to be taken away, and that Jesus had given that freely as a gift for them.
They found Joy in Christ, and really when we look at Joy we can look at it like
An attitude that God’s people adopt because of their hope in God’s love and promise
An attitude that God’s people adopt because of their hope in God’s love and promise
God’s love sent Jesus to die on a cross for the death that we deserved. The promise is that for those who believe in Him can have eternal life, oh and that He is coming back again to take us home.
When we as believers really grasp this thought, nothing can take our Joy away, because nothing can compare to what Christ has given us on the cross. We no longer want to look to anything else because nothing else compares.
The second camp you find yourself in is that you do not know Jesus as your Lord and savior, and so it would make sense that you feel like you have no joy because Joy comes from the Lord. Joy comes from Jesus
These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
Right before this, Jesus talks about abiding in, or making your home in Him, that this is the only way that brings life. This is also the only way that brings Joy. Your soul is searching for that Joy because God made you with His own hands, breathed His own breath in you, and in Psalms 42 it says that as a deer pants for water, so my soul pants for you O God. My soul thirst for God, the Living God.
You feel joyless because your soul is searching for the Lord. More than that, he is calling out to you, and even further than that, He did all the work for you. Jesus God in human form walked on this earth enduring the same temptations and struggles that you and I face to this day, knowing that He was going to willingly give up His life for you so that you could have a relationship with God. John 15:13 says “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” and Jesus willingly laid down His life for you. Regardless of what you have done, regardless of what you will do, because He wants an eternal relationship with you. He wants to bring you eternal joy.
He is willingly giving it, all you have to do is take the posture of the queen of Sheba, bring your questions, hard, heartfelt questions, and listen for His answer.