The Promise of Love

We are in the third week of our series, The Promise. Jesus gives to each of us through His coming four promises that we are exploring. The first week I looked at hope. Hope in God does not disappoint us and when we place our hope in Jesus, we find a life that is full of peace and contentment. Last week, Kris talked about the promise of peace that we are offered through Jesus. No matter how much life throws at you, no matter how bad it gets, life in Jesus can bring an everlasting peace. Peace that will remain in us when the earth throw all kinds of chaos at us.

Today, we talk about the promise of joy. All of us experience joy…

the first time that you look upon the face of your child. You hold them in your arms and the innocence found in them, their complete trust in you and you are just staring at them and you are filled with this inexpressible joy.

The day you look up and see your soon to be wife coming down the aisle in her dress. You think to yourself what did I do to deserve her and in that moment joy washes over you.

Many of us remember our first car. Mine was a 69 mustang fastback. The paint had faded, the engine was locked up, but $500.00 later it was all mine. After a project with my dad to fix up the engine, a couple of weeks later and I remember putting the key in the ignition and starting it up and a gigantic smile on my face was the outward expression of the joy inside of me. Freedom!

Maybe for you, it was your first trophy. I’m talking about when you poured everything into whatever it is was that you did to deserve it, mine was flag football and your sacrifice and hard-work was rewarded with this trophy you are holding in your hands. I can see some of the smiles throughout the room and that memory is coming to the forefront.

These are all things that we find joy in and so does the world. one of the hardest things in preparing this lesson is a myth that I was taught when I was younger. That myth was that only Christians experience joy. I was taught that joy comes from God and my relationship with him and I believe that, so then how do people who do not have a relationship with God also experience joy. This to me was the mystery and the challenge.

I tried to look up videos on YouTube, I tried various google searches. No one seemed to address this concept.

My understanding had to change. See, I believe that we can all experience joy but true joy does not come from a person, a place or from things.

Each of these fail. People will disappoint us and I certainly know I disappoint people, there will still be rainy days when we think it is going to be the perfect beach day or when we have paid for that Disney day. some things are just not attainable no matter how much I try. True joy, we are told through scripture comes from a relationship with God. It is only through God that we experience a joy that is permanent.

see when I look at the face of a child it may bring me joy for a moment but when they begin screaming their head off and I can do nothing to console them I don’t feel much joy.

I can plan a day at the happiest place on earth. I’ve bought my tickets, cleared the front gates and I am filled with joy when two rides in I feel a drizzle that turns into a pour and I find myself under a pavilion for one hour that turns into two, then three and i head home because I realize I am soak and wet and there is no end in sight. My joy has faded.

It is also the case with a new car we have joy when we first get the car and we drive around and show it off to everyone and then the we go into the mall to pick up a gift and come out to find someone has dinged our door. Our joy fades.

But true joy has been brought by the one who loves you the most, who wants your best, who has saved you before you even knew that you needed saving and joy that is found in Him can endure when the heartaches and hardships come.

The concept that it took my hard head to learn is that the only one who can steal my true joy was me and I was robbing myself blind.

So, today we will learn from someone of the priestly class what trusting God for our joy means and finish with some words from Paul on what true joy’s promises me even in the tough days.

Introduction:

Before we are introduced to Jesus, We get introduced in Luke to his cousin John. Particularly today we are going to look at his father Zechariah.

Luke 1:5–7 NIV

In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.

So, Luke sets the stage. We are told that Zechariah is a priest. That his wife is Elizabeth and Luke makes the point of letting us know that both of them were righteous in the eyes of God, that they kept The Lord’s commands blamelessly.

The first observation I want to make about finding eternal joy is that it starts with a right relationship with God.

See, without a right relationship we tend to not put our trust in God. We do not find our hope in the eternal. As a result, when life is good, we are good. Happiness reigns, momentary joys bring us peace and we think life cannot get any better. However, when the bad times reappear and they will always reappear, our happiness fades, joy disappears. We begin to question how this happened and why life in God is not always good. In other words, are joy is fleeting.

When we have a right relationship with God, we have momentary sorrows. Our questions are different. It is not, “what is God doing to me?” but our first thoughts are “why is Satan attacking me?” We may not find the answer, but when we are walking with God he remains the savior in the event, not the cause of the event.

James speak of this in James 1:2-3 when he speaks of overcoming trials and temptations

James 1:2–3 NIV

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.

The Believer who is walking with God resists falling prey to the momentary trials and sees the bigger picture.Peter refers to it this way...

1 Peter 1:6–9 NIV

In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

When we are walking in the light, as John puts it in 1 John, we learn to see momentary trials as not a reason to bury our joy, but to express it all the more. Why? Because true joy comes not from this world, but from the work of Jesus Christ in this world. It is the promise of God’s presence with us and the future with Him in heaven that we find our real joy.

So, what might we think in this narrative might steal Zechariah’s joy?

They were childless.

Having children in Jesus day was important. Especially having a boy. It kept property in the family. It gave your family rights as a Jew. Your children took care of you in your old age before there were ever retirement homes or care facilities. Since the beginning we see with Abraham and Sara, Hannah and Elkanah stories that illustrate the importance of children, especially sons, to the family and the mothers.

Here Elizabeth cannot have children and they could have been sad about this. They could have allowed it to impact their relationship with God. There service to Him. They could have been angry, but know they served him with joy in their hearts.

Let’s continue our reading…picking up while Zechariah is in service at the temple.

Luke 1:11–25 NIV

Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.” The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.” Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak. When his time of service was completed, he returned home. After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”

So, the angel comes to inform Zechariah that God has heard his prayers and will give his wife and he a child. a Few observations about joy from the rest of this passage.

Sometimes, we will have to remain joyful in the waiting.

In 1 Thessalonians 1:6, Paul reminds us of how the Thessalonians welcomed the message of the gospel that they had been waiting for even amidst severe suffering with joy given by the Spirit.

1 Thessalonians 1:6 NIV

You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.

Remember that last part given by the Spirit, we will come back to that, right now let’s notice that they were not our of their suffering when they received the message. Things did not immediately get better. Problems did not simply vanish, but because they received the good news of Jesus, they lived in joy while they waited.

I am so encouraged by the attitude of Emily as she has been going through this fight with cancer. Her sister shared with us that she did not want the family or us to lose our joy, but to rejoice in the knowledge that God would see her through this. Many of us waited with baited breath on Thursday for the results of Emily’s test and when the message came through that her test were all negative, our joy outpoured into praise.

We all want God to act immediately, but sometimes we have to wait for his timing. He reminds us that He has already rescued us from our greatest trial and call us to remain joyful and faithful in the waiting. Zechariah waited, yet he rejoiced even when his voice was taken from him for a time.

At times, God will grant us earthly joy that comes in heavenly packages.

I like to think Zechariah would have continued to serve the Lord joyfully even if he had not given Him John. But here, the angel appears to tell him that God has heard his cry and was giving him a son, but not just any son. His son would bring joy to him and his wife. He will bring people back to the Lord and prepare the way for the Messiah.

An angel may not appear to you with a message from God, when we remain faithful to Him, we will joyful moments here on earth.

We may see children, when we thought there would not be any.

We may see true love, when we thought we were not meant for it.

We might find a new job, a new friend, a church home.

God is faithful to his children and will give us moments of joy, just like others on this earth, but our joys will not be from our own doing. We will know when we have received a heavenly package when there is no other explanation of how the gift came to us and our job is to except the gift with joy and continue to be joyful over our eternal destiny given to us through Jesus.

Let’s go a little further in the story.

In Luke 1:39 Mary comes to visit her cousin Elizabeth we read this about John.

Luke 1:39–44 NIV

At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.

The Final observation I want to make is that true joy comes from the prompting of the Holy Spirit in us.

John, even before birth, while in his mother’s womb was filled with the Holy Spirit. We are told that when Mary came into the presence of Elizabeth with Jesus in her womb, that John leaped for joy and Elizabeth was prompted to praise.

The Spirit is powerful, remember our verse form 1 Thessalonians from earlier

1 Thessalonians 1:6 NIV

You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.

Joy was given by The Spirit. In fact, Paul tells us that joy is a fruit of the Spirit living inside of us.

Galatians 5:22–23 NIV

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Romans 15:13 NIV

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

We are even told that Jesus was full of Joy through the Spirit in Him in Luke 10:21

Luke 10:21 NIV

At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.

So, it is clear today through our observation of the family of Zechariah, Elizabeth and John that Christians will experience the same earthly moments of joy that worldly individuals do. God does not cause earthly people to live miserable lives but gives us all moments of joy to remind us of His goodness. But for the Christian, their is a greater joy. One that finds its origin in a life given to us by Jesus. So, to wrap it all up and put a bow on it, we learned today through this story some important things about the promise of joy as given through Jesus.

So, what do I want you to know?

Eternal joy starts with a right relationship with God.

We will have to remain joyful in the waiting.

God will grant us earthly joy that comes in heavenly packages.

True joy comes from the prompting of the Holy Spirit in us.

What do I want you to do?

Two weeks from now is our Christmas Eve service. Many of you may have seen the Testimony cards that Daniel Reynolds has handed out around the church. I was very impressed with them and thought why don’t we broaden them some and give them a specific purpose of an invitation to our Christmas Eve service.

Our service will be December 24th, at 6:00 PM. We want to provide you an easy opportunity to help someone experience the joy of God that comes through Jesus. So, one side of the card has the invitation. The other side has a rectangle with a writable surface. You can share a testimony, a prayer, a bible verse, a word of encouragement or simply a personal invitation.

Went it be great to worship on Christmas eve, with candlelight and a few hundred of our friends. Just in case you have never been, it is a family friendly worship by candlelight. It is filled with singing, a message and communion. It lasts only an hour but might be the start of you helping someone to come to know Jesus. I challenge you to pick up a couple of cards and hand them out.