Exchanging Discouragement for Joy

So, today, we are talking about joy and seeing all those awesome kids singing, in costumes and proclaiming the good news of Jesus to us fills me with joy. It’s fantastic to see and they did such a great job.

We all need to see, hear and experience things that bring us joy, don’t we? But what do we do when something robs us of our joy? We need to find ways to reclaim our joy but that can be really hard, especially if the thing that has robbed us of our joy is discouragement.

Discouragement is a loss of confidence or enthusiasm - it’s the feeling you get when the problem you are facing seems bigger than you can handle. When the sales dip for the third month in a row, despite your best efforts, a salesman may feel discouraged. When a Christian tries to overcome a persistent sin, and fails, they may feel discouraged. When a young mom experiences judgment from others, instead of support, they may feel discouraged. When a single person goes on another date that is a bust, they may feel discouragement. Or even when that single person experiences pressure to date from their faith community or family, they can feel discouraged. A pastor who doesn’t see people grow, or the sees the church shrink as people go to the cool, big church down the street, may feel discouraged. Discouragement is common to all of us in some ways and it often robs us of our joy.

Which is exactly what our great enemy, Satan wants for us. He often brings discouragement to us because he knows that when God’s people are without joy, then it affects their worship, their work and their witness. But just because we experience discouragement, we don’t have to live in it - we don’t have to let it define us. In God wants to empower us to overcome discouragement and fill us with joy.

When the angels appeared to the shepherds the night of Jesus’ birth, they said to them...

Luke 2:10 (NLT)

10 .... “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people.

Israel was under Roman occupation, with a mad ruler in Herod over it. Life was hard for the poor and the people longed for the days of prosperity like they had under King David and King Solomon. Add to that the reality that when God spoke to Israel, usually through a prophet, it was a warning to repent or the announcement of a punishment for sins. So when the shepherds heard the angels, which was terrifying to say the least, they could have also been thinking, “Now what? How much worse could it get?”.

But the angel says that they are bringing good news that will bring JOY to people. God desires that we live in joy, not in discouragement.

Romans 15:13 NLT

13 I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

So, today, as we continue our series called “The Gift Exchange,” we are going to look at three things that you and I can do to exchange our discouragement for joy.

To help me with this teaching, I need my friend Greg to come up on stage with me.

Greg is the problem that makes you feel discouraged.

When we are too close, all we can see is the problem. But if we take a mental or emotional step back, then we can exchange our discouragement for God’s joy. The first thing we need to do in order to reclaim our joy is

Look back and see what God has done

Psalm 77:10–15 NLT

10 And I said, “This is my fate; the Most High has turned his hand against me.” 11 But then I recall all you have done, O Lord; I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago. 12 They are constantly in my thoughts. I cannot stop thinking about your mighty works. 13 O God, your ways are holy. Is there any god as mighty as you? 14 You are the God of great wonders! You demonstrate your awesome power among the nations. 15 By your strong arm, you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. Interlude

It’s easy to get consumed with the problem right in front of you. It fills your vision, consumes your thoughts and weighs down your heart. But when you spend some time looking back and seeing all the ways that God has led you so far, you begin to see that the God who was faithful back then is the same God you follow today and he will continue his pattern of faithfulness to you.

To reclaim your joy, remember what it was like when you first committed to Jesus, when you got baptized, when you heard God speak to you in the Word, and how he faithfully cared for you through all the stuff you went through that led you to this place. Look back and see what God has done.

The second thing we need to do in order to exchange our discouragement for joy is to...

Look around and see what God is doing

While this feels all consuming (standing close to Greg), when you take a step back from the problem to gain perspective, you gain the ability to look around. This Greg may be a huge problem you need to process and deal with, but God is often at work in the peripherals. The Apostle Paul, who was imprisoned for his faith, wrote:

Philippians 1:12–14 NLT

12 And I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News. 13 For everyone here, including the whole palace guard, knows that I am in chains because of Christ. 14 And because of my imprisonment, most of the believers here have gained confidence and boldly speak God’s message without fear.

While the problem of imprisonment was still right there, on the sidelines, God was doing great things. And it’s true for us as well. God is often working on the peripheral, even as we face the issues in front of us. What can help us find our joy in the middle of the big problems is seeing the other ways God is working in our lives. So look around, and see what God is doing.

The third thing we need to do is to...

Look ahead and see what God will do

Again, when you are too close to the Greg, to the problem, it’s all you can see. But when take that step back from the problem, you can gain the ability to look ahead of the problem - to look past the problem - and can see the ultimate resolution.

We just spent 9 week looking through the book of Revelation. It’s a book meant to encourage and empower people who are being persecuted for their faith. They had a big Greg in front of them. So, in chapter 21, John gives them a vision of the future to empower their present.

Revelation 21:3–4 NLT

3 I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”

We have a glorious future ahead of us, no matter what the Gregs are in your life right now. Don’t let the problem in front of you overtake the reality that our future is written, it is secure and it is awesome because Jesus loves you so much that he secured an inheritance of eternal, joyful life for you when he entered into humanity to be the good news that brings great joy to all people.

Thank Greg

Conclusion:

If you’ve been struggling to find joy lately, I want to invite you, this Christmas season, to name and give God your discouragement, which is a tool of the enemy to keep us spiritually weak and receive from God his great joy by remembering to look back on what God has done, look around at what God is doing around you, and look ahead to our glorious future.

Pray.