Joy

Intro

Fill in the blank.

Tis the season to be ______________ _____ to the World

Christmas is a season of joy!!

It is a story of Joy.

But there is a tension of 2 extreme sides during this season.

No greater time to make cherished memories.

No more significant time that past memories and loss pull and weigh on us.

No other season has more celebration.

No other season brings as much stress.

No bigger season of giving.

no other time that brings out as much greed.

Do you feel the tension.

And sometimes we can know that we are “supposed” to have joy. So we just try to be more joyful, when just trying doesn’t work we feel even less joyful than before and the cycle repeats!

And then you have the people that they are so joyful. It’s like even bad things are good to them. They are so joyful it makes you less joyful!

Yet we know, this IS a story of Joy.

Not just joy for this season, but a joy that changes and shapes our lives.

We want to be a church that has a culture and atmosphere of joy!

Don’t you want to be a person of joy?

What do we do with that tension?

Luke 2:8–14 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

Heavenly concert of angels appears to deliver this message.

Not just joy, but great joy, exceeding joy, abundance of joy!!

The same tension we feel in us with joy is also in this story.

A) the message is go find a baby, its the long awaited king, the LORD coming to save, but you’ll find him in an animal feeding trough.

An unlikely , odd and even opposing.

B) this incredible message was sent to Shepherds.

In this culture, shepherds would have been the most unlikely group to make the most important announcement to.

Shepherds were outcast. They had a dirty, smelly job. These were rough people.

Their job made them unclean to the religious and so they were even allowed to worship in the temple.

They were held in so little regard, that even if they were eyewitnesses to a crime, their testimony wasn’t accepted in court.

Least likely group to have brought a message of joy and especially entrusting them to deliver this message and this joy to others!

But that’s the whole point!! The joy of the Lord is a gift for even the most unlikely, the most unjoyous, the most outcast and the most downcast.

especially if you are thinking right now that joy definitely doesn’t define you, JOY IS FOR YOU.

Joy is the fuel of your soul.

Nehemiah 8:10 …for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

if these unlikely, outcast shepherds found joy in this story, so can we.

Luke 2:10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.

JOY IS THE FRUIT OF A ROOT.

My oldest daughter and I have had a debate where clearly I’m right. She says apple is the superior juice. I say it’s orange.

But regardless whose right, clearly me, the fruit is just a product of something deeper. A seed that became roots, became a tree and produced something from it. The natural byproduct of that rooted tree is the fruit thats on the limbs.

That how Joy is. It’s a product of something else. Something deeper.

Galatians even tells us, joy is a fruit of the spirit of God.

We don’t get more joy by just trying to pretend to be more joyous, just smile more, just pretend harder, watch more comedy……

The angel said this great joy is caused by the good news that has come. it’s the root of this good news of Jesus is here to save that creates the joy.

The greek word used in the new testament for Joy is Charan.

It means gladness or delight.

But the root word, Chara, means an awareness of God’s grace.

This is amazing, so, real joy, is rooted in awareness of the grace of God all around us.

If we don’t have the fruit we need to check the root.

Are you living with an ever present awareness of God’s goodness and greatness all around you?

So to be more joyful isn’t from just finding more joy… its from become more aware of God’s goodness and presence!

rejoice in the lord

rejoice is a choice

So stop trying to be more joyful!!! Be more intentional in looking for God.

Luke 2:15–19 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.

JOY IS A FOCUS BEFORE ITS A FEELING

There is no indication that the shepherds felt joy when the angels left, but they fixed their focus on going after Jesus.

Nothing will destroy our joy faster than the wrong focus.

When we begin to look out and and around and looking at where they are, what they have, what their lives look like... Seeing everything we don’t have, seeing all of the places I can’t go.

We’ve never had greater opportunity to kill our joy than today with everyones else's lives in our pocket.

I look out, to find something outside of me, to try to fix is broken in me. So too often we focus out there around us to fill something in us.

We easily confuse joy and happiness. I like happy.

It’s good to be happy.

But happiness and joy are like 2 rivers that flow from very different places.

Happiness flows from the outside in. Like runoff from a snow capped mountain, but eventually it dries up. Happiness conditional on what’s happening around me. If things are good, I’m happy. But when things are hard, painful, tough happiness is gone.

Joy flows from the inside out. Like a never ending spring. Joy is an outflow of what Jesus is doing in me. Joy can coexist with sadness, and hurt and pain and uncertainty. It’s not just a feeling, is a way of living because Jesus is still good, the good news is still for me, his grace is still all over my life.

The Shepherds said Let’s Go!

Often in order say “Let’s go” toward Jesus we’ll have to Let Go of other things that have had our focus.

They walked from the sheep and that pasture to focus on Jesus.

What is it that has had your focus and has robbed your joy?

has the health and state of your life been conditional to the things happening around you instead of the God that is in you?

James 1:2 (NLT)

Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.

This isn’t possible with happiness, but joy defies any condition.

They left and told everyone what they saw!!

Because what Jesus changes in me flows out of me!

That feeling of joy was now evident in them to all.

It’s more than just a feeling, it’s my focus.

when we realize that joy is a focus, a way of looking and seeing, it frees me to be ok if i’m not feeling it.

Do we need to fix our focus?

Luke 2:20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

JOY CHANGES EVERYTHING WITHOUT ANYTHING CHANGING

They went back to the same field, the same profession, with the same sheep, yet everything was different. Joy was on their lips.

because when I fix my focus I can see more than I ever did before. Yeah things still aren’t perfect. Yes that pain is still there. I still don’t understand everything.

God’s grace is all around me!

I couldn’t see it before.

Hebrews 12:1–2 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Jesus was fully God and fully human. He had every nerve ending that we do. We was not joyous about the torture and shame of what would await him on the cross. But with joy he endured it because he knew what was on the other side of that cross, salvation for humanity.

If pain is pointless its so hopeless. But when I know there is purpose it changes everything.

The pain of an injured back is very different from the pain of back surgery. Because the pain of surgery has purpose. yeah it hurts but I’m getting stronger and better.

When our lives are rooted in Jesus there is always purpose greater than what you’re going through.

so that job is still the same, but it’s different there is a greater purpose, so i walk in joy.

That pain of what happened is still real, but I know God will use it for his glory, it’s not pointless.

We have to stop being surprise every time something doesn’t go our way, and choose to see God in it and that he always had purpose for it. So I walk in joy.

CONCLUSION

We all feel the tension of the season. But even in that tension, joy is for you.

Because its a fruit from Him.

It’s ok if you do feel all of the feelings and its ok if you don’t. He is my joy. the good news of Jesus. his ever present grace. So we change our focus and it will change what we see.

Response.

Salvation.

Joy.