Advent-Wednesday 3

Today as we get started talking about the next gift of Christmas in our Advent series. So let’s sing together that wonderful Christmas hymn “Hakuna Matata.” What you ask? You don’t know that one? You know, “Hakuna matata, the Lord is come. Let earth receive her king.”

Okay, before you decide that I’ve already had too much of Aunt Edna’s fruit cake, I know it’s “Joy to the World” not “Hakuna Matata.” But that Swahili phrase made famous in the 1994 movie The Lion King sometimes seems to be the way we approach joy, especially this time of year. The phrase means “no worries.” And in the movie the song is sung by a meerkat name Timba and a warthog named Pumbaa, who are trying to convince the young lion, Simba, to forget about his troubles and just live for the moment. It’s their “problem-free philosophy,” and it’s an appealing one. But “no worries” is not what the angels proclaimed that first Christmas. Instead, they proclaimed good news of great joy for all people.

Joy to the world, the Lord is come!

The gift of joy offered to us in Jesus this Advent season is one of deep and abiding joy. It is a joy so powerful it can hold its own in a dark and hurting world—and in the midst of all our troubles and struggles. St. Peter calls this joy inexpressible and glorious: 1 Peter 1:8 “Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.”

If you have been able to join us the past two weeks, you know that we began a journey through the season of Advent by unwrapping the gifts of hope and love.

The first week in Advent we lit the candle of hope. We talked about hope past, present, and future as we looked at a few of the prophecies about Jesus’s coming, were challenged to hope in Christ amid the trials of life, as we look forward to when all things are fulfilled when He comes again. Then last week we lit the candle of love and talked about the gift of God’s love as we discover how wide and long and high and deep His love is for us.

Today we light the candle of joy. This third week in Advent we are reminded that this is also a season joy, because of the coming of the Savior of the world. Joy more than just a feeling; it is a joy that causes all of creation to celebrate. It’s deep and powerful, the kind of reJOYcing—see where that word comes from. The Psalmist said,

Psalm 96:11–13 (ESV)

Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it! Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord, for he comes, for he comes...

In Advent, we are preparing and expecting. Jesus is coming! Let us rejoice! This is the gift we unwrap today.

But the question that nags at many of us so often is: What if you just don’t feel joy this season? How can you receive this gift of joy even in the midst of suffering, loneliness, pain, grief, busyness, stress, or boredom? Let’s look together at how we can anticipate, recognize, and choose joy.

Have you ever been waiting for something for so long that you gave up hope it would ever arrive? Or even just forgotten that it’s on the way? Or maybe even not known it was coming?

You’ve probably heard stories of postal service mistakes and letters delivered years after they were sent. There are some great stories.

In 2015, a French woman in her 80s received a letter intended for her great grandfather. The tardy correspondence arrived at the home of Mrs. Thérèse Pailla 138 years after the sender — who lived only six miles away—originally mailed it—in 1877. . . .138 years earlier! It was about an order of yarn from Mrs. Pailla’s great-grandpa’s spinning mill.[1]

I can imagine the excitement and joy she experienced in reading this letter Joy can be that way, whether we know it’s coming or not, whether we’ve given up hope for its arrival or not.

The shepherds in the Christmas story are a good example. When the angels showed up and delivered a message on a hillside outside Bethlehem, the shepherds didn’t immediately feel joy—they were scared! Luke told us, Luke 2:10–11 “Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

The angel first addressed their fear, then helped them move beyond it to receive the message of joy that the Savior, the Messiah, the one Israel had anticipated and waited for so long, had been born. By the end of the night, those shepherds got it. Luke said they “returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told” (verse 20).

As we walk through Advent, we know what’s coming. We know that Christ has come. This we can celebrate and rejoice over. And we know there is more to come with His eventual return. This we still anticipate. But let’s experience Advent as a season when we anticipate the arrival of joy, even when we struggle with the realities of today.

Do you ever wonder why, out of all the people in the world, the wise men were the only ones who recognized and followed the star of Bethlehem? It was a star—it was there in the sky for the whole world to see. But most people, Jews and Gentiles alike, didn’t recognize its meaning. For these men who did, it caused great joy. Matthew 2:10–11 says,

Matthew 2:10–11 NKJV

When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

The Magi traveled a long way to find the one whose birth was announced by the star. They encountered hardships along the way. They had to deal with the deceptive tyrant King Herod. Yet, they recognized the arrival of joy in the world, and they were filled with joy as they responded to it, bringing their gifts in worship to Jesus.

It can be hard to recognize joy in our lives sometimes, especially because it doesn’t always look the way we expect it. We expect joy to be free of worry and hardship, but the Bible tells us that joy is found in the midst of, and even because of, hard things. James 1:2–3 says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.”

There most definitely is nothing “hakuna matata” about that brand of joy. But how much richer and deeper is the experience of joy when it glows bright, illuminating our path in the midst of darkness. When we recognize that joy comes from trials—because they produce perseverance that makes us into the people God wants us to be—then we can experience joy even in the midst of hard times.

Some say we can choose joy. But we can’t just close our eyes and focus really hard and somehow conjure up joy. In fact, that often leads us away from joy. Joy is a gift. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit. So we can’t just create it by trying harder—but we can live in the ways that God says bring joy.

While we can’t just concentrate hard and choose joy, we can give thanks. We can choose to abide. When we do these things, we open ourselves to the gift of joy. When we don’t feel joyful, and we’d rather gripe and complain, giving thanks opens us to joy. That’s why Paul instructed the Thessalonians, “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16–18).

In John 15:11 Jesus said, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” So what did He tell His disciples just before this?

John 15:8–10 ESV

By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 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.

Abiding in Christ is the key to Joy! It is about our relationship with Him, which He initiates. Hebrews 12:2 tells us that it was “for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” The joy set before Jesus was in knowing that His completed work on the cross would bring forgiveness, life, and salvation to you and me. In doing the will of His Father, he was demonstrating his love for us. His joy was in paving the way for our relationship with Him being restored once and for all. So, the pain and suffering of the cross He met head on with joy, because He knew you were worth it.

Jesus said all this so that His joy may be in us, and our joy may be complete. This joy is only possible because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ, and the forgiveness of sins that He earn for us on the cross. And now He give us His body and blood in the Sacrament to assure us of HOPE for tomorrow, the LOVE that he lavishes on us in His grace, and JOY inexpressible that He gives when He declares us forgiven of all our sins resulting in PEACE, which is next week’s theme.

In the mean time, may this season of Advent be a time of hope, abiding in His love as we anticipate the joy He brings this Christmas.

Prayer: God, thank You that in this season of Advent we can receive and unwrap the gift of joy. Help us to be hopeful, clinging to your love, as we look forward with joy to that day when our salvation is finally complete. Lead us into joy as You lead us into deeper relationship with You. Give us the courage and strength to rejoice no matter what circumstances we face. We ask all of this in you holy and blessed name. Amen.

[1] D. J. MacLennan, “15 Pieces of Mail Delivered Decades After They Were Sent,” Mental_Floss, May 16, 2016, http://mentalfloss.com/article/79770/15-pieces-mail-delivered-decades-after-they-were-sent.

Related Media

Related Sermons