The Joy of the Lord

Garden imagery in Isaiah 61 this sermon

The prophet speaks of the coming anointed one - the coming Messiah מָשַׁח [mashach /maw·shakh/]. The year of the Lord’s favour, and the coming of the new creation - a new garden, a new Eden when all of creation will be restored.

v. 3 A planting of the Lord

Anticipates the coming of the Messiah - the coming of Jesus, and that coming will bring restoration, renewal, abundance, and great, great rejoicing.

v. 11 soil makes the sprout come up, garden makes seeds grow

The Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up

Te Maungarongo

reminded me of my time at Te Maungarongo marae in Ōhope, just over the hill from Whakatāne.

The marae atea is surrounded by all kinds of beautiful native plants and trees - kauri, nikau, rimu, puriri, ponga, mamaku, pohutukawa. The trees are full of birds, and the air is full of their song.

The first few days I was there, I was on my own most of the time, and it was just, lovely, peaceful, beautiful, joyful.

This incredible garden has been nurtured for generations - for the best part of 90 years - to create a place of tranquility that invites visitors into God’s peace.

It was so, so lovely.

My heart rejoiced.

I was filled with joy, with peace, with hope and with love.

I will share more with you about the things I learned, the people I met, and the experiences I had over the summer series.

But you can’t stay on the mountaintop forever.

Elijah didn’t stay in the cave

Moses didn’t stay on the mountain

Jesus didn’t stay in the lonely places

Peter couldn’t build a shelter on the mount of transfiguration

We come down from the mountaintop, and back into the urgency and noise of our lives.

Circumstances Change

Coming home, good to be home

Coming down with a thump.

Back to reality.

Was my joy, based only on my circumstances?

If that’s the case, am I at the mercy of every change in the weather?

It’s an easy trap to fall into.

All of us do it from time to time.

Something good happens, and we feel great. Something bad happens, and we feel like the bottom has fallen out of our lives.

How can we hold on to joy, when the joyous moments are past, when we come down from the mountaintop, and we’re confronted with burdens of everyday life?

It’s easy to get excited for Christmas, but how do we hold on to joy when we take down the lights?

If we are oging to be truly joyful, then we need something deeper, something broader, something more true than our fickle circumstances as a foundation for our joy.

We need Jesus.

We see this throughout scripture.

Biblically, Joy is not a response to circumstances, joy is an act of will.

A conscious choice to trust in God’s love for us.

When the people of Israel were lost in the wilderness, they rejoiced that God was calling them towards the promised land.

When the people of God were living in exile, under foreign oppression, Isaiah preached a message of joy that we share in today.

When Jesus faced the prospect of the cross, he encouraged his followers to rejoice in their suffering.

The apostle Paul speaks of the joy of faith, and the joy of hte Lord in his letter to the Phillipians,

and as he calls the people of Corinth to see the world through differnet eyes he speaks of suffering, yet rejoicing

2 Corinthians 6:10 NIV

sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

Our circumstances come and go, but our hope in God’s love and faithfulness is never ceasing.

Choose joy.

Choose joy!

When times get tough, don’t let your circumstances rule you, keep your eyes fixed on Jesus and the joy that he alone can bring.

On the other hand, When times are good, don’t get complacent

2 types of prophet:

Those who encouraged God’s people in their suffering

Those who critices God’s people in their foolishness and pride

Isaiah writing to a people in exile. He calls them into hope for the future, and plants in them the seeds of joy. This is like cool water in the heat of the day. We drink eagerly. When we’re suffering, it’s easy to see our need for God.

But when things start to go our way, it is all too easy to let that go to our heads.

Who needs a cool drink of water when you’ve got a fridge full of Christamas goodies?

“God is for us, who can be against us?” so quickly turns to “God is for me, I can do whatever I want.”

Then, when things don’t go our way “God has turned against me”.

We cannot do this on our own.

While we taste God’s joy in our lives, His joy has not yet completed its work in us.

We need our saviour, now more than ever.

Advent is a time of celebration, but it is also a time of waiting. We celebrate what the Lord has done, and we are still waiting for what the Lord has promised to be fulfilled.

Jesus claimed these words as his own, a prophet, and more than a prophet in his home town:

Isaiah 61:1–3 “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.”

A declaration of jubilee, of restoration, of a setting to rights.

Good news to the poor

binding up the brokenhearted

freedom for captives

The year of the Lord’s favour, turning back the clock on injustice

Isaih invites us to join in, wearing a crown of beauty, anointed with the oil of joy, wearing a garment of praise.

Jesus is the anointed one, and he anoints us, his people, his brothers and sisters, with the oil of joy, priestly garments of beauty and joy to share the good news in all of the world.

This is the Messiah we have awaited.

This is the one who calls us still.

This is the one we celebrate this Christmas

This is the one we yearn for as we choose joy, as we seek life in all its fullness.

Christmas is coming.

Jesus is near.

Truly, these are glad tidings of great joy.