Joy To The World Romans 15:13
A short reading this morning.
Today we lit the Shepherd’s Candle. It helps us remember that Jesus is our shepherd. And like any good shepherd he will lead us to green pastures and always protect us from our enemies. We may not need protecting from wolves like the sheep in the story of Jesus birth but we need protection from the deceiver. We don’t need protection from someone who comes against our bodies we need protection from the one who comes against our soul.
Today we will look at the joy that was born into the world with Jesus. Joy is a word that appears 165 times in the Bible, 65 times in the New Testament. I hope I counted right.
Many people equate joy with happiness but happy is an emotion or an emotional response; I’m happy Jen is recovering, I’m happy when I see all of you on Sunday morning. The problem with happy is it is dependent on things or circumstances outside ourselves. The other day I had a flat tire, not happy. Last week I came across someone at work who was just rude and condescending, took the happiness right out of me.
Joy, the joy of the Bible is different. This joy comes from what is inside us. This joy stays despite our external circumstances. In Greek the word that comes to us as joy is “chara” (Khar-ah). Chara is a noun that means inner gladness or delight. It is a feeling of happiness that is based on spiritual realities and its independent from what happens. It is a cheerful heart that leads to cheerful behavior.
In “A Christmas Carol” young Ebenezer Scrooge tells his friend Jacob Marley “The world can be a hard and cruel place.” I think that’s a rather dim assessment but it is true our reality is that the world and life around us can be difficult or hard at times. Jobs can be lost, loved ones can die, illness and disease happen; with all this how can we gain the joy of scripture?
First we must understand that this joy comes because of Jesus. As we prepare for the birth of Jesus we should prepare for the joy that comes too. I believe this is why joy is discussed on the third week of Advent. I believe a big leap forward to the joy God speaks of is achieved by contemplating and understanding what came in the first two weeks of Advent.
The first week we looked at hope, not the hope that is a wish; I hope the Indianapolis Colts will get a decent quarterback, I hope I get a good raise this year. Both of these will give me a sense of happiness but they will not give me God’s joy. Looking at hope Biblically, as a belief we hold to. The belief that Jesus was born, died and resurrected. The belief that God promises me that these events open heaven up to me. The belief that whatever I deal with here my security is my place at heaven’s banquet table. This kind of hope gives me the strength and calmness to face life’s troubles. This kind of hope gives me the ability to brush aside Satan’s whisperings for I know I am loved and I am a child of God. And that puts joy in my heart, true joy outside of my circumstances because my standing with God can never be taken away. I may lose my job, loved ones; but whatever I lose I will never lose God.
Last week we looked at Christ’s peace. We looked to Romans 5:1, “Therefore since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God…”
Now as we’ve seen in the past, when we see the word “therefore” we have to look back and see what it’s there for. Romans 4 23-25, “The words ‘It was credited to him as righteousness’ were not written for (Abraham) alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness – for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.”
Because Jesus paid the price for our mistakes with his death, because Jesus was raised to eternal life, so will we. Because we believe in this we are at peace, we have peace with God. As the faithful God will not punish us for sin. He is a holy and perfect God and what he punished through whip and nail and cross he cannot ever punish again. Jesus took our punishment and as a just God he can never punish us for what he already punished Jesus for.
Understanding this peace with God that I now have makes me understand that whatever happens to me whether its job related, relationships, disease, it is not a punishment or curse from God. This gives my life joy. I can keep joy in my heart despite the hardships of life.
Ok, there you go; easy instructions for keeping God’s joy in your heart. Yeah, we know it’s not that easy. All of us have hardships. Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.” To keep joy in our heart when we have trouble we need to keep Jesus front and center. And again, not always easy.
In John’s Gospel we have the account of Lazarus death. He and his sisters Mary and Martha were friends of Jesus. They knew Jesus personally while he was on earth. John 11:27, “…she replied ‘I believe you are the Messiah, the Son of God…’” They believed, they had peace with God. John 11:24, “I know he will rise again…” They have hope in God and the future and yet when Lazarus died there is no joy of God in their hearts. I know like with us there is grief and sadness but for Mary and Martha these overshadow God’s promises and the knowledge that Lazarus is whole and with God in paradise.
John 11:30, “Lord, if you would have been here (he) would not have died.” Without God’s joy in our heart even in our grief and pain, instead of looking to God for comfort and peace we start to blame God for our circumstances. If we work at keeping God’s hope and peace with us we start to look at our lives differently and we respond to the heartbreaks of life differently.
Paul, a great man of Christ gives us examples of this. 2 Corinthians 12:7, “I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me.”
This thorn is generally looked at in two ways. One, it represents those that come to prevent Paul from sharing the good news of Christ. We can all be met with resistance when we try to discuss our Lord and his salvation. Second, many see this thorn as a real physical ailment. We all face physical, emotional and even spiritual hardships; disease, loss and pain are part of our existence.
Whichever way we want to look at this thorn in Paul’s side, Paul asked God three times to remove it but he was refused each time. God did promise to give Paul the grace to endure it.
You’ve heard me talk of Jared before. We prayed for God to heal him and still he died. It was the most painful thing Jen and I have experienced. But I found Isaiah 57:1, “The righteous man perishes and no one ponders it in his heart; devote men are taken away and no one understands…” Sometimes bad things happen and it can be hard and painful but the joy of God is that he will give us the grace to endure the pain.
In Acts 16 Paul and Silas were in Philippi and they were arrested and placed in prison. Acts 16:25, “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God…” Despite the circumstances they kept the joy of God in their hearts and that joy expressed itself in song and worship. It’s not always easy to do this but it can be done.
Having God’s joy doesn’t mean we will always be happy; we will face loss like Martha and Mary. Having God’s joy doesn’t mean everything will be smooth sailing, like with Paul things will happen.
Having God’s joy in our hearts means we will have his strength to get us through the pain and the grief. Having God’s joy in our hearts means we will be focused on the end game, eternity in heaven. Having God’s joy in our hearts will cause us to see our Lord Jesus as our hope and peace, as our benefactor and our savior, as our comforter and our future. Having God’s joy in our hearts will give our lives purpose, the purpose of living for God.
The joy of God is ever present in our lives we only need to see it and encourage it in our hearts. his joy of God will lead us to dedicate our lives to God and to be thankful to God for Jesus and our salvation in spite of what’s happening to us and around us. This kind of joy, the joy of God came to earth with Jesus in that Bethlehem manger.
Amen.