Sermon Tone Analysis
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Introduction
Introduce myself
The Christmas season is one of my favorite times of the year.
A few weeks ago when we had that big snow storm and the kids had a snow day, we decided to decorate for Christmas—before Thanksgiving!
It seems so wrong to say it out loud, but our whole family loved it.
We got out the tree, put on the Christmas music, the kids were wearing their santa hats, and the whole world was covered in a blanket of snow.
It was amazing!
And then when I got groceries that night, I got some egg nog so I could stand and look at the tree and...sip my egg nog.
I love egg nog!
And I don’t mean to throw my wife under the bus, but she has a deep dark secret…she doesn’t like egg nog!
But Bexley does, so Bex and I get our egg nog every year and drink it together.
Who here is pro egg nog?
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One of the things I love about this season is that most people are filled with just a little bit more joy than usual.
We’ve got the Christmas tunes playing, and we’re baking cookies, and we’re excited to give our family the perfect presents.
The sad part is that all too often it’s just a season…by January, they are back to their old grinchy selves.
Once the presents are opened, and the tree is put away, and the Christmas music stops playing, our sense of joy...fades away.
And it makes me think...
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could experience joy every day?
I think our culture has lost the meaning of Christmas to some degree, and we often attempt to find joy in all the peripheral things during the holidays-gifts, family time, music, decorations, food, etc.
These are all wonderful parts of life that God has blessed us with, they’re not bad things...but they cannot bring us lasting year-round joy.
And this is one of the differences between happiness and joy.
Joy is long-term, but happiness is temporary.
Joy is consistent, but happiness is unpredictable.
Joy is an attitude that defies circumstances, happiness is a feeling based on circumstances.
So some years you feel joy at Christmas, but other years you don’t.
You can’t live your life expecting the trappings of Christmas to meet the longings of your soul and give you joy.
You might feel happy for a bit, but when life gets hard, or a friend lets you down, or you get sick…your happiness disappears.
I think the reason for that is that we have been leaning on counterfeit sources of joy.
Leaning on sources of joy that buckle under the pressure.
(children, money, golf, alcohol)
What happens when we lean on counterfeit sources of joy?
When we lean on imperfect people, they will let us down.
When we lean on financial security, the inevitable financial struggles of life will leave us without joy.
When we lean on...
So if joy is better than happiness, where can we find joy in life?
(pause)
I’m here to tell you that there is a source of true joy that can last all year long.
It can give you joy that will last for a lifetime!
Central Truth: Following Jesus is the true source of joy!
I was reading in the book of Luke recently, and I noticed that he has woven this them of joy into the narratives in his biography of Jesus.
4 Sources of Joy From the Book of Luke:
1.Being saved by Jesus
As simple as it sounds, experiencing God’s grace brings so much joy to the human soul.
I want to read you part of the Christmas story this morning from Luke chapter 2 where angels announce the birth of Jesus and the meaning of Christmas
Lk. 2:9-14—
I want to have somebody read you this passage this morning...somebody you probably know already...so take a look at this video.
VIDEO Clip from Charlie Brown 0:51-1:39
That’s what Christmas is all about - this good news of great joy for all people
All the world should be filled with joy at the news that there is a Savior for them!
Shepherds were looked down upon at that time in Israel.
They were usually a little rough around the edges
Second class citizens, like tax collectors
For all people - no one is excluded for being too poor, too weird, or too stupid.
If you’re a smelly shepherd ex-con on night shift, Jesus came to save you from the power of sin and death.
If you’re a high school dropout flipping burgers at Burger King and sleeping around, Jesus came to save you from the power of sin and death.
If you are addicted to drugs and you have destroyed your life, Jesus came to save you from the power of sin and death.
Because He died for you...
You can be forgiven instead of living in shame
You can experience healing instead of pain in your heart
You can master your own desires instead of being a slave to sin
You can know the joy of forgiveness instead of the destruction that sin produces
2. Knowing that you will spend eternity with Jesus.
During his ministry, Jesus himself encouraged his disciples to find joy in the fact that they would spend eternity with him.
He had sent 72 of them out on a mission trip of sorts, and when they came back, they were excited at the supernatural power of God that flowed through them
Jesus is going “It’s great that you have power over demons from me, but it’s even better that you are on the guest list of heaven!
You see, when you KNOW that you are spending eternity with Jesus, it gives you tremendous security.
The hardships of life cannot take your joy because they are not your ultimate reality.
When you know that your eternal destiny is certain, it enables you to find joy even in the most difficult circumstances, because they’re TEMPORARY.
So when that surprise bill comes in the mail, it doesn’t take away your joy.
When ...
3. Experiencing the Presence of Jesus
There’s an interesting narrative that only happens in Luke’s gospel.
While she is pregnant, Mary goes to visit her relative Elizabeth, who was also pregnant, and something surprising happened.
If we were to read the rest of Luke, we would find that Elizabeth’s son was John the baptist.
And even in his mother’s womb, he is filled with joy in the presence of Jesus.
His destiny will be to prepare the way for the ministry of Jesus, but even as an unborn baby, he is filled with joy that Jesus is here.
But it’s not just John the Baptist.
Long before Jesus, David wrote this about the presence of God:
And now that Jesus has died, and risen from the dead, we have the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of each one of us who believe in Him.
We can experience the presence of God anywhere and anytime.
We can experience the joy of being connected to the Holy Spirit.
Sometimes we aren’t aware of God’s presence, but when we remove distractions, worship, and pray to Him, we can experience the presence of God.
It’s even more tangible in corporate worship settings where we are all worshiping Him and seeking Him.
When we worship God as we were created to do, we develop more and more joy in our souls because we are fulfilling our purpose as humans and living in right relationship with God, the true source of joy.
So the presence of God brings joy.
What keeps us from experiencing the presence of God as Christians?
I would say there’s two things: 1. sin and 2. distraction.
As Christians, even though we have been forgiven and we are no longer slaves to sin, we still sometimes sin.
And what the entire Bible makes pretty clear is that sin damages your relationship with God.
Our family just read yesterday in John 14 where Jesus says
So when we don’t obey Him, it’s out of a lack of love, and we can express our love by repenting and obeying Him more completely.
Sin can bring temporary pleasure, and that’s why it’s appealing.
But in the long run it brings destruction, pain, and distance in your walk with God.
Distraction is the other thing that keeps us from experiencing the presence of God.
In Luke 10, Martha was distracted by all these tasks, instead of just spending time with Jesus.
We tell our students at RSM all the time to keep their first love first, meaning that they should keep their love for Jesus as the primary pursuit of their life.
So if you’re feeling a lack of joy this morning, maybe you need to leave sin and distraction behind and pursue Jesus with everything that you have.
Repent for that sin that has come between you and God.
Cut those distractions out of your life.
They’re not worth it!
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