Joy

This week, we continue with our Advent sermon series which we are using the Gospel of Luke to allow us to look at words that express characteristics that the followers of Jesus should strive to have. This week our word is “Joy.” We will be focusing on Luke 1:57-66.

57 When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. 58 Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy.

59 On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, 60 but his mother spoke up and said, “No! He is to be called John.”

61 They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has that name.”

62 Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. 63 He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, “His name is John.” 64 Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God. 65 All the neighbors were filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. 66 Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, “What then is this child going to be?” For the Lord’s hand was with him.

Please pray with me…

I have joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart, down in my heart to stay. These are the words of a song that I can remember singing as a child at church. Words that should be a reminder to each one of us that consider ourselves to be Christians that we should have joy down in our hearts.

I say this while also having the knowledge that living our lives can lead to us at times and maybe for you right now to lose the joy that you originally had in following Jesus as your Lord and Savior. The troubles of the world have invaded your heart and mind to the point that you are struggling to find joy in anything.

(Transition)

This I would expect might have been Elizabeth and Zechariah. They wanted a child. They had prayed to their God asking for them to receive a child. But despite their prayers and their willingness to follow the ways of their God, Elizabeth is unable to conceive.

Our text for today shows us what joy look likes. We obviously can’t see Elizabeth but I think we can feel the joy oozing from her concerning the birth of her child. But the joy comes not only from Elizabeth, we also have “her neighbors and relatives” having joy in their hearts when Zechariah’s prayer is answered.

What we can miss within the text is all of the reasons why there was joy for this birth. There is of course the obvious reason, a child has been born. Those with children can remember that moment when their child was born and the joy from seeing that child for the first time.

Elizabeth had spent a long time waiting for this “moment.” She would have felt that this “moment” was never going to happen for her. There was an expectation during that time that a wife would provide a child for her husband.

It was considereda failure by the wife if this did not occur. Elizabeth would have felt guilt and shame for not being able to have a child. In fact, one reason that men would divorce their wives was due to them not being able to provide a child for them.

That is why there was such great joy expressed by Elizabeth and those that were around them. She would no longer need to feel shame because a child has been born.

(Transition)

I think we all can agree that we are blessed that we now live in a time when we usually do not find guilt and shame associated for those that are unable to conceive. But I do want to mention this, there might not be guilt or shame but for many this is something that is grieved.

We have many who do feel that society looks down upon them. We need to make sure that each person that walks in here knows that they are equal in the eyes of God. They are loved just as they are.

(Transition)

The joy of Elizabeth, her neighbors and relatives, and I am sure also Zechariah was a gift from God. God provided for them what was unable to occur naturally. We have a God that is our provider. This should bring us joy.

We have spoken over the last two weeks regarding truth and faith. We have hopefully seen in our lives ways in which God has provided for us and for those around us. We have a God that desires to be our provider.

We have a God that wants us to have the faith to ask. We know that Zechariah asked based off of this text. We know that he most likely believed that it was not going to happen, but we see him as still being a follower of his God.

Our scripture from last week calls him and Elizabeth as righteous in the eyes of God. They still followed God despite not receiving all that they had asked for in their prayers. You may be struggling with the same situation.

You may currently have or have had a situation in your life where you prayed and you haven’t seen an answer, or at least not the answer you wanted. You may be hurting and wondering if God answers prayers or more specifically, why doesn’t he answer your prayers?

Zechariah and Elizabeth show us that not having your prayer answered is not a reason for us to stop believing. God is with us. God is there for you even though at times it may take faith for each of us to believe it. Let us find ways even during times like these to keep joy in our hearts.

(Transition)

We have a God that died for us, loves us, and never forgets about us. If for no other reason, this is why we should be making a joyful noise unto the Lord. We should be a joyful people.

We should have great joy because of what God has done for us. If for no other reason, we should be joyful because of Jesus. God’s decision to come down to earth to die on a cross so that our sins could be forgiven. This should always bring us joy.

Before Jesus there was no way to be right with God. The Jewish people tried through behavior modification and through animal sacrifice but there would still always be a barrier. There would still remain a separation between God and humanity. When the curtain that separated the Holy of Holies where God resided tore in two from top to bottom in the Temple when Jesus died; from that point on humankind was able to no longer be separated from God.

(Transition)

Original sin is the understanding that because of the sin committed by Adam and Eve we as humans are born into sin and cannot be separated from sin without help from God. Jesus, dying for our sin, offered us that opportunity. One way it has been explained is that Jesus brought us “original grace.” Jesus allows us for no reason except for the fact that we are beloved by God to be made free from the power of sin.

Christian author Kyle Idleman in his book “Grace is Greater” explains the grace offered by God this way, he says (Read bottom of page 30-31).

We should have joy because grace is greater. The grace of God allows us to be saved from the power that sin can have over us. God chose to live with us instead of being separated from us and for that reason we should by joyful.

(Transition)

We also should have joy in our hearts because of what God is doing for us now. When we are involved in a relationship with God, we should be able to feel his presence with us. We should be able to know that God is always with us. We should be joyful because God has given us a gift, the Holy Spirit.

God wants to be in contact with us if we are willing to be in contact with him. It is the reason why we should spend time with God every day in scripture, prayer, and listening. Just like the angel spoke to Zechariah in our sermon two weeks ago, the Holy Spirit speaks to us.

We then have a choice. We can choose to listen to the Spirit, or we can choose not to follow the Spirit. We need to have faith that God will never lead us down a path that will not be better for us in the long run.

Zechariah questioned God and ended up being unable to speak but we can see in verse 63 that as soon as he followed God’s will he was able to speak again. God might not cause us to not be able to speak but he may decide to show us how much tougher and unhappier we will be when we are not following his will.

(Transition)

It is when we begin to follow his will that we can realize why that is the better choice. First, our life will be less complicated. We will find that events occur in a way that are much easier for us to deal with and help us fulfill our calling that God has given us.

Second, our life will be more fulfilling. Even if what we chose to do instead of following God’s will allows for us to be better off financially we won’t be satisfied with our lives until we make the decision to do what God wants.

When we make that decision, we become more satisfied emotionally and spiritually. Following the will of God allows us to have a sense that we are at where we have always belonged. With that being said, when we are following God’s will and if things seem a little off again it may be because God has a new plan for you.

A new opportunity for you to serve others and to serve him. A former pastor told the story of growing a church and they had reached a goal that they had set in order to allow them to fulfill the calling that the church felt God wanted them to do.

He says that when they reached that point, he prayed for God to continue to help the church follow his will. He said that he was at first surprised by what he heard from God. He said God told him “I will be with them.”

He was left out of God’s promise for the church. He said it was at that point that he knew that he would be moving to become the pastor at another church. When we listen once we begin to be able to recognize more clearly when God has something new planned for us.

(Transition)

We also should have joy in our hearts because of what God will do for us. We have a God that will never leave us even though he will allow us to leave him if we desire. It brings backto me the story of the prodigal or wayward son who decided to take the inheritance that his father gave him before he died and move to the big city.

He had a great time until the money ran out and then he became hungry and made what would have been a very hard decision for a Jewish person. He started feeding pigs, an animal that the Jewish people considered unclean.

In the end he makes the choice to return to his father and when he does, he is greeted with open arms and a celebration that he has returned. God treats us the same way. He hopes we will choose to never walk away from him but if we do, he will take us back and all that we have to do is ask because we have a God that will always forgive us.

It does not matter how far away that you feel from God, he will never leave you. He wants you back and is just waiting for you to ask for forgiveness. We should have joy in our hearts that we have a God that forgives.

(Transition)

We also have been promised eternal life. Scripture tells us that we will get to reside with God forever. Our first scripture reading calls it our inheritance. Verses 6 through 9 tells us of the joy that we should have.

It says that

“In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 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. 8 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, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

(Transition)

The shepherds who we will be looking at on Christmas Eve went from fear to joy through faith. They went from trembling to worshipping. Let us look towards Jesus and with joy. Let us serve him and those that that are around us. Let us worship the one who will never leave us. Let us have joy, joy, joy down in our hearts.

Let us pray