Choose Joy
Notes
Transcript
Candle 3: JOY
Candle 3: JOY
Reading 1: Good morning, today is the 3rd Sunday in Advent. Historically, the primary sanctuary color of Advent is Purple. This is the color of penitence and fasting as well as the color of royalty to welcome the Advent of the King. The purple of Advent is also the color of suffering used during Lent and Holy Week. This points to an important connection between Jesus’ birth and death. The nativity, the Incarnation, cannot be separated from the crucifixion. The purpose of Jesus’ coming into the world, of the "Word made flesh" and dwelling among us, is to reveal God and His grace to the world through Jesus’ life and teaching, but also through his suffering, death, and resurrection. To reflect this emphasis, originally Advent was a time of penitence and fasting, much as the Season of Lent and so shared the color of Lent.
Reading 2: In the four weeks of Advent the third Sunday came to be a time of rejoicing that the fasting was almost over. The shift from the purple of the Season to pink or rose for the third Sunday reflects this lessening emphasis on penitence and turns our attention to the celebration and JOY of the season. As we look forward with HOPE in seeing the King of PEACE break forth upon the world’s scene in His Second Coming, we are thankful once again that His first coming paved the way for God’s JOY to fill our hearts because of what He did for us. We owed a debt we could not pay. So, He paid the debt that He did not owe, in order that we could receive the forgiveness we did not deserve. And that should cause us to rejoice.
And now, let’s watch this short video on joy as we light the candles this morning.
Video:
God, joy is manufactured in our lives.
Joy is written on the dish soap bottle under the sink.
Joy is in the bottle we keep at the back of the cupboard.
Joy isn’t real, God, is it?
Not real joy.
We gave up on real joy a long time ago.
We’ll settle for content.
We’ll settle for no pain, no unhappiness, no depression.
We might even manage happy now and then.
But Joy?
Not here, not really, not anymore.
Yet, when joy moves in.
Joy becomes.
Joy shines.
Like opening a window and smelling the breeze in a stale room.
Joy breathes.
Open our hearts to it, God
Let us shake off the layers of dust and doubt and depression.
Joy surrounds, enters, lifts.
Joy remembers
We were made for joy, God.
And not just us, but joy to the world.
Intro:
It is hard to live this life with joy when there is so much death, tragedy, and difficulty associated with it. And sometimes we just give up ever thinking we can have that joyful “feeling”.
Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,
Max Lucado, in his book In the Eye of the Storm, tells the story of Chippie the Parakeet. He writes:
"Chippie the Parakeet never saw it coming. One second he was peacefully perched in his cage. The next he was sucked in, washed up, blown over.
The problems began when Chippie’s owner decided to clean Chippie’s cage with a vacuum cleaner. She removed the attachment from the end of the hose and stuck it in the cage. The phone rang, and she turned to pick it up. She’d barely said ‘hello’ when ‘sssopp!’ Chippie got sucked in.
The bird owner gasped, put down the phone, turned off the vacuum, and opened the bag. There was Chippie—still alive, but stunned.
Since the bird was covered with dust and soot, she grabbed him and raced to the bathroom, turned on the faucet, and held Chippie under the running water. Then, realizing that Chippie was soaked and shivering, she did what any compassionate bird owner would do . . . she reached for the hair dryer and blasted the pet with hot air.
Poor Chippie never knew what hit him.
A few days after the trauma, the reporter who’d initially written about the event contacted Chippie’s owner to see how the bird was recovering. ’Well,’ she replied, ’Chippie doesn’t sing much anymore—he just sits and stares.’
What helps us through those hard times? Joy. We see Jesus, Himself, use joy to help Him get through the cross.
fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
What Is Joy?
What Is Joy?
The problem is that we often get joy and happiness confused. We think they’re the same thing, but they’re not.
Next to peace, happiness is the most common cited response to the question: “If you could have anything in this life what would it be?”
The problem with this is that life isn’t always happy.
Joy is not just feeling happy.
Joy might manifest itself as happiness, but joy is so much more.
Happiness is an emotional response to one’s present favorable circumstances. Happiness is reactive in nature.
The “feeling” of happiness is fleeting and actually leaves one disappointed and longing for a more sustained happiness. So we keep trying to do things to create that happy feeling.
Joy, however, is spiritual state of trusting in God.
Joy and trust go hand in hand. Joy ultimately is found first in trusting Jesus as our Savior. Jesus is our joy.
Joy after salvation is a proactive choice we make to trust God regardless of our circumstances.
Joy also comes through obedience. We trust God with our souls and so we trust that what God asks us to do is what’s best and right and glorifying to Him.
That’s why we have the hymn trust and obey. For there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, than to trust and obey.
When we obey Jesus we are bringing Him pleasure which in turn brings us joy.
The opposite of joy is not sadness. Sadness is the opposite of happiness. The opposite of joy, I believe, is fear.
Today we’re going to look at how fear robs us of joy, how Jesus brings about true joy in our lives, and how we should respond to that knowledge.
And we’ll be using some shepherds and angels to help us see the difference.
Please turn in your Bible to Luke 2:8-20
Fear Not Is a Common Theme of the Christmas Story. (vs. 8-10)
Fear Not Is a Common Theme of the Christmas Story. (vs. 8-10)
Zachariah is told not to fear
Mary was told not to fear
Joseph was told not to fear
The shepherds were told not to fear
The opposite of joy, and peace for that matter, is not sadness, but rather fear. It’s as if the Good News of Great Joy is the counter to their fear.
The shepherds had much to fear. This angelic appearing was definitely something out of their control. They could defend themselves against bears, wolves, and lions. Think of David and Goliath and that sling shot, but this angelic being?
First of all, the text doesn’t tell us who this angelic being was, but the phraseology “an angel of the Lord” makes it possible it may have been Gabriel, or even Michael, the archangel himself.
And if that wasn’t enough, it’s not just one angel, the heavenly host literally means the armies of heaven. These were not just messenger angels, or an angel choir. These were the warring angels of heaven gathered together to make a proclamation of war, which makes Michael being the angel of the Lord here making more sense.
We often use the terminology so and so has just declared war.
Although in one sense that is what God is doing here, He’s actually more accurately declaring victory.
Before the actual battle occurs, which would be Christ’s death on the cross, He’s declaring the victory.
Thirdly, by this time in Jewish history, shepherds had earned a bad reputation as untrustworthy and thieves.
Finally, Their occupation made them unclean. And they were the outcasts of society. So the angel’s appearing and the glory (shekinah) of the Lord shining around them would in effect bring about the response, “I am going to meet my maker.”
What are some of the things that we fear?
Pain especially emotional - hard to experience joy in the midst of the pain.
The unknown / uncertain times - hard to experience joy when we’re hit with the unexpected.
Losing a loved one and being alone. hard to experience joy when our loved one just died.
Worry is another form of fear.
Future judgment - hard to have joy if we’re afraid of God’s judgment on our lives. We are afraid to meet our maker.
Well, this begs the question, how does joy combat fear?
What Brings About Joy? (vs. 10-14)
What Brings About Joy? (vs. 10-14)
Being Able To Not Be Afraid.
It appears that every time an angelic being appears to mankind, our default response is fear.
The fact that we can even have the ability to not fear is a first step towards joy overcoming our fear.
We have to start becoming proactive and let joy begin to overcome.
Nehemiah 8:10 (NASB95)
...Do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
But the reason we don’t have to be afraid is because Jesus has paid the penalty for our sins.
We don’t have to be afraid to meet our Maker. And there is great joy in Jesus making it possible.
Knowing The Good News Is For Everyone.
This birth announcement of the royal king did not come in the halls of the palace, but in the fields of the shepherds to the lowly outcasts of society.
For you…for you…for you. It is good news for them.
God desires a personal relationship with us and the Good News is for all of us.
We have to let joy erupt over the Good News that God actually, really, does love us and wants to fix all that is wrong and all who are broken.
“For so the Lord has commanded us, ‘I have placed You as a light for the Gentiles, That You may bring salvation to the end of the earth.’ ” When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.
That great joy is found in Jesus Christ and that He came not just for the Jew, but also for the Gentile, for you and me.
Knowing That God Is And Always Will Be Faithful
Today in the city of David…Christ the Lord.
Prophecy has been fulfilled.
He made good on His promises and Jesus was born right on time.
We rejoice in the fact that God will be faithful. He will come through. Even if it “feels” late in the coming, He will come through.
Now God is never late, He is always on time, but to us we might say, “Better late than never.”
For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime; Weeping may last for the night, But a shout of joy comes in the morning.
Because God was faithful and brought Jesus, as promised, there is great joy.
There IS A Savior
Our sins really can be forgiven.
Let the thought of your sins being forgiven bring joy to your heart.
Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a willing spirit.
Without Jesus being born, there is no cross, no resurrection, and no hope for forgiveness of sins.
Jesus being born, our sin bearer, brings us great joy.
Knowing That God Is Turning His Face Towards Us.
Shalom was finally possible.
Peace is the smile of God reflected in the soul of the believer.
William Hendriksen
This was the outcome that we discussed last week and that the armies of heaven are declaring to the shepherds here.
Mankind can finally bring pleasure to God once again.
The last time this was possible for any extended period of time was the Garden of Eden.
Because of Jesus coming, God the Father is able to look upon us once again.
Because Jesus came and died on the cross and rose again, we can now be in a right relationship with the God of the universe.
Let the thought of God smiling on you because of Jesus bring you great joy!
You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.
Ultimately joy comes because Jesus came.
Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us.”
Joy Manifested In The Shepherds In Six Ways (vs. 15-20)
Joy Manifested In The Shepherds In Six Ways (vs. 15-20)
Joy is a spiritual state of trusting in God.
Joy begins with faith. The Shepherds received the message and put their faith in the word and promise of God, trusted it and ran off to get saved.
Likewise, we put our trust in God through Jesus Christ and get saved. That’s puts us in a state of dependence on God rather than ourselves.
It’s the knowledge that “everything’s going to be O.K.” God’s going to save me.
When we depend on ourselves, we become anxious, but when our dependence rests on God, we can trust that He is working all things out according to the counsel of His will.
The struggle is in the acceptance that God’s will and our will may not coincide. What God may be working for the good, may not be how we think things should work out.
But if we trust God, we are able to say, “It is well with my soul.” The state of trusting God and the well being of the soul in the midst of difficulty is what joy is all about.
Joy allows us to look beyond the circumstances to the bigger picture of what is to come.
It enabled the shepherd to look beyond their current status and situation in life and to make a beeline to Jerusalem.
Without the ability to look beyond our immediate circumstances, life looks really depressing and like a dead end street.
True joy allows us to remember and recognize that there is so much more than just this life.
True joy helps us remember that life is a marathon and not a sprint.
True joy helps us see that life is a journey and not a stop.
Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting. He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed, Shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.
Just like hope and peace, joy looks to the future. We are in the now, but not yet.
Joy reminds us that just like Jesus was raised from the dead, so shall we and what a glorious day that will be.
Joy is focusing on what Jesus has for us on the other side. It’s the same joy that enabled Him to endure the cross.
Joy is connected to obedience.
The Shepherds acted upon the message.
The Shepherds obeyed the message immediately.
“If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.
When we obey the words of Jesus, His joy resides in us and He desires our joy to be full. Which implies our joy tank is not always full.
Joy is found in seeking God.
The shepherds sought for what the message told them to look for.
You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.
Why? Because when we pursue Him we are pursuing love, joy, and peace.
Galatians 5:22 (KJV)
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace...
Joy is found in sharing the message with others
They spread the message to others.
How lovely on the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who announces peace And brings good news of happiness, Who announces salvation, And says to Zion, “Your God reigns!” Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices, They shout joyfully together; For they will see with their own eyes When the Lord restores Zion.
When we share the Good News of Great Joy, Jesus Christ, with others and they get saved, it brings an amazing spirit of joy.
The natural outpouring of joy in our lives is praise to God.
The Shepherds could not help but glorify and praise God for all they had heard and seen, just as had been told them.
O sing to the Lord a new song, For He has done wonderful things, His right hand and His holy arm have gained the victory for Him. The Lord has made known His salvation; He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations. He has remembered His lovingkindness and His faithfulness to the house of Israel; All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise. Sing unto the LORD with the harp; with the harp, and the voice of a psalm. With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the LORD, the King.
All throughout the Scriptures, joy is accompanied by praising God.
But we see people praising God even in the difficult times in life. And this is where we see the power of understanding the deeper impact of joy in our lives.
Paul and Silas in jail.
But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them;
What did Job say?
Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped. He said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
The Psalmist
Let those who are adversaries of my soul be ashamed and consumed; Let them be covered with reproach and dishonor, who seek to injure me. But as for me, I will hope continually, And will praise You yet more and more.
Review of Six Ways Shepherds Responded
What Is Joy?
What Is Joy?
In the end, joy is a choice.
Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,
The word consider means to lead your mind towards, in other words to make a conscious choice in a certain direction.
We choose to put our faith in and focus on Jesus. Otherwise we are putting our faith and focus on something else that can’t give us real joy.
We choose to trust Him to be faithful to His promises. Otherwise we are trusting ourselves to bring about what Jesus has promised.
We choose to pursue Him and make Him a priority. Otherwise we are making something else a priority, and that something else will always leave us dissatisfied.
Said another way, these things rob us of our joy.
This thought just came to me Friday night.
but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
Theses things choke the word. The word being the Gospel, the Good News.
These things make the Gospel unfruitful.
This is not about justification. This is about sanctification.
This us about what the Gospel produces in us and through us. And what is this Good News we are talking about today? Great Joy.
If I find my Joy tank empty, I need to ask if one of these three things punched a hole in my tank and caused all my joy to leak out.
Am I worrying too much about matters of this world?
Am I being deceived by wealth and how to obtain it?
Am I desiring other things, anything, above God?
Repent. And choose joy. choose Jesus. Trust Jesus, Focus on Jesus, pursue Jesus. And your joy tank will fill to overflowing.
Joy comes because we have a deep seated trust that Jesus is working all things out according to the counsel of His will.
It is laying our lives in His hands with full assurance that what He does with this life is way better than what I will make of it.
It is giving Him our fears about everything.
‘Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
Joy is action.
It is being obedient to Him whenever, wherever, and however. Primarily to love God and love others as Jesus loved us.
Praise and Thanksgiving.
Choose Joy!
Choose Joy!
Believe that God has won the victory and no matter what life may throw our way, knowing that He is King, that He loves us, He’s given us shalom, through Jesus Christ, and a hope for the future.
It’s trusting Jesus with everything, trusting Jesus through everything, and trusting Jesus for everything.
When one’s health begins to deteriorate - Thank you Jesus that this event does not impact my sins being forgiven, nor does it separate me from your love. Then sing of His wondrous love for you, or of His Amazing Grace to forgive sins.
When the combine breaks down - Thank you Lord that I won’t have to fix one of these in heaven. Then sing about when we all get to Heaven or When I’ll fly away.
When I don’t know how to pay for the next bill. Thank you God that you are our Provider and there is no earthly debt that you can’t cover. Please provide for us. Then sing about how God has provided Jesus as a gift to us, a baby in a manger, which provided payment for the ultimate debt.
Joy in the journey. God provided it. The angels declared it. The Shepherds acted upon it. And so are we.
Closing Song: House of the Lord