Advent: Joy
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8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 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. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” 15 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.”
The angels tell them, I bring you good news that cause great joy.
The King James says, I bring glad tidings:
News that brings joy!
The source of our joy is the gospel. God has come into the world, as a child.
This gospel, this good news will cause great joy. And our joy reveals how well we understand this gospel.
The Greek word for "JOY" in the Bible is “chara” .
“Chara” is derived from the Greek words “charis”, which means "grace" or "gift," and “charos”, which means "rejoice" or "to express feelings of joy".
The good news is grace, that produces feelings of joy!
23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
God is with us! And this is reason to rejoice!
But why do we lack joy? Why does joy often feel so far away? Why do we know and belive in Christ, yet miss this happiness and contentment Christ gives.
I want to talk about joy today from three perspectives
What Joy Is Not
The Opposite of Joy
The Source of Joy
What Joy Is Not:
What Joy Is Not:
Part of our problem is that we think joy is the oppostive of sadness. We view joy on one of the spectrum, and sadness on the other.
And so our thought of joy mean simply to not be sad or in pain.
But Joy is not the opposite of sadness.
The bible teaches over and over that pain, trials, suffering, are not incompatible with joy. But actually can produce it.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
Christ was a child born into suffering. And his life was full of pain. But that did not, and could not steal his joy.
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.
It says, consider it pure joy! Meaning untainted, undiluted, perfect, when you face trails. So this means, pain and trials are not incompatible with joy, but refine it and make it more perfect!
Your lack of joy is not about sadness or pain at its root. Otherwise God could not command us to rejoice in pain and suffering.
11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
John 16:23-24
23 In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 24 Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.
That your joy may be full expresses a complete kind of joy—the utmost measure of joy.
The Greek word for “joy” (chara) in John 16:24 usually expresses an emotion of “sorrow-turned-into-joy.” The joy that follows great sorrow is a heightened feeling of gladness because of the extreme contrast of emotions. It is the joy of the caring shepherd who finds his one lost sheep (Luke 15:1–7), the joy of the woman who finds her lost coin (Luke 15:8–10), and the joy of the father whose lost son returns home (Luke 15:11–32).
Joy being full is a picture of God filling every place that the world an life has touched and pained. Its like this…no matter how deep the suffering you have filled…and you may say the depth of my suffering is deeper than others. Joy will still fill and overflow.
Your suffering will only make your joy sweeter!
Your current trials will only make God’s answer more beautiful!
God says I will fill completely every place that the enemy has taken or broken. And it will be all the better for it!
Your joy being full means that His joy will be so great that you won’t even remember the pain. Because where the pain was..you only see joy.
Its why you can look back on your life before Jesus, and say I was a mess, I almost died, I was depressed, I was in addiction, I was lost, I was all these things…but now when you look, there isn’t shame but joy! Because the past only points to the victory we have in Jesus!
No matter where you are, what you’ve done, the mistakes you made and are making…when Jesus enters..he fills it completely with joy.
I need you to understand something….the joy Jesus brings does not remove all hurt and pain, but wells up in the midst of it!
Have you ever thought about why when Jesus in his glorified body still has scars in his hand? Why does Jesus still now, have those marks from the nails? Jesus told Thomas to place your hands in my scars. I belive it is because the scars on his hands only will bring about greater joy, and remind us of how deep the chasm that sin had created, but that joy has filled!
Tim Keller says this: “Joy is a spiritual buoyancy that comes when we rejoice in God” Even in sadness there is a joy that is deeper that rises to the surface. That shines all the brighter in the darkness!
Christ gives us a joy, not that doesn’t go under sometimes, but never stays under. It is a well that comes up no matter what we face.
The reason you lack joy is not because of your pain and suffering. it is not because of your circumstances. Jesus has proved it. Job has proved it. The disciples have proved it. Circumstances do not steal your joy because I have seen Paul in prison with more joy than others in palaces.
So if Sadness isn’t the opposite of Joy, whats the oppostive of Joy.
The Opposite of Joy
The Opposite of Joy
The opposite of Joy is boredom. Its disinterest. This means your lack of joy is rooted in your disintrest with the gospel and Christ.
You lack joy not because of your circumstances, but because of what has your attention!
We are too interested and invested into things which can not truly satisfy!
The angels say, I bring you tidings of cheer, good news that will bring great joy!
The only thing that has the resources to provide us deep lasting joy, not just a superficial feeling..is the gospel.
If you lack joy, its because we are no longer captivated by the gospel.
We have lost our sense of wonder.
The shepherds saw the angels and fell! They were in awe of these angels and this news.
Are you bored with the gospel?
Why is it we are busier, with more comfort and entertaiment, but lack joy? Lack the resources to rejoice and endure in difficulty?
Its because we are looking at the wrong things! Your attention, your thoughts, are invested in things which are fleeting.
We know about the football and basketball games, we watch the movies, games, and we try and draw joy from wells which can not satisfy!
Leonard Ravenhill said this: Entertainment is the devil’s substitute for joy.”
We settle for social media, movies, sports and things.
For example, when one of my kids says, “I’m bored; there’s nothing to do,” they don’t literally mean there’s nothing to do. They mean, “I can’t think of anything to do that interests me.” Which is why they tend not to make this statement to me because they know I’m likely to provide them something to do — something they’re not particularly interested in doing.
This is why we can be very busy and very bored at the same time. Because boredom is not the opposite of busyness; it’s the opposite of interest. It’s not a “things to do” problem; it’s an interest problem. Which means it’s a joy problem.
We are spiritually complacent. Spiritually apathetic.
The mysteries of God do not captivate us. The sweetness of his prescense do not draw us.
We come to church, bored, ready to leave, ready to eat..thinking that joy is somewhere besides the presence of God.
He is Emmanuel, God with us!
Do find joy, you don’t need to change your circumstance, you need to find Jesus in your circumstance.
Jesus shows up to the shepherds, and it was still night, still thieves and wolves..they were still tired..the problems they had did not go away..but the joy of Christ, though it does not change anything, changes everything.
We are going to talk about this, but finding the joy of God is not passive, it is active! It requires effort.
The devil can’t steal your salvation, but he can steal your joy by stealing your attention. By drawing you away.
So what is the source of our joy?
The Source of Joy
The Source of Joy
The gospel! Christ! God himself!
God is a joyful God!
16 On that day they will say to Jerusalem, “Do not fear, Zion; do not let your hands hang limp. 17 The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”
God rejoices over his people! And this joy is not just a good feeling, it implies jubilation. Lifting of hands.
Nahum, Habakkuk and Zephaniah: An Introduction and Commentary iii. A Psalm of Joy (3:14–17)
Yahweh also reacts as an abandoned parent or a jilted lover to whom the beloved has returned. He responds in joy (cf. Isa. 62:5; 65:19; Luke 15:11–32). This involves both vocal jubilation (v. 14; cf. Isa. 54:1; 55:12) and stillness and quiet (cf. Job 11:3) in the presence of such love. The battle cry on the day of judgment (1:14) will be replaced by the poignant hush of the reuniting of two lovers
You see Joy is a communicable attribute of God. This means it is an attritube of God that he shares with us, that we are called to walk in as he does. Incommuncable attributes are those attributes of God that only belong to him, like omnipotence, omnicience, Transcendent..these are things that God alone is. But there are attributes that we share in.
But the way we share in these comes by being close to him. Joy is something you catch when you get close to Jesus. Its like this, if my wife is sick with anything, likelihood is, that if anyone is going to catch it, I am. If its a communicable disease, I will get it. Because I am the closest to her.
You will catch joy if you start spending more time with Jesus.
It is a principle of nature that what you reproduce in your life looks like what you have been intimate with. Ezra, when hes born will look like both Elayna and Me, as Husband and Wife..because we are in a intimate relationship.
If you have an intimate relationship with sin, you will not catch joy. You will catch brokenness, anger, lack of peace, anxiety.
So you see the source of Joy is God himself!
So, what is my challenge?
Abide in Christ. The God with Us
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. 9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
“My brethren, it is in proportion as you get near to God that you enter into the full enjoyment of life — that life which Jesus Christ gives you, and which Jesus Christ preserves in you.” -Spurgeon
Abide in God’s Word:
Not only do you need to abide with Christ, but with God’s people.
If Joy Is In Christ You Must Have Fellowship With The Church.
In my darkest time, friends are what I needed but I hadn’t sown there so wasn't much for me to really reap…” - Andy Mineo
11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.
There is joy in community!
6 But Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and love. He has told us that you always have pleasant memories of us and that you long to see us, just as we also long to see you. 7 Therefore, brothers and sisters, in all our distress and persecution we were encouraged about you because of your faith. 8 For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord. 9 How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you? 10 Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith.
To have people praying for you, supporting you, that can encourage you! That brings joy!
Your lack of joy may be rooted in your lack of abiding in Christ, or your lack of commitment to Christ.
Joy is also found in obedience!
You remember my command, Jesus says, obey it!
Your lack of joy may also be in found in your lack of obedience.
When you remain in sin, when your conscience is not clear..its like a hole in the bottom of a bucket. You can’t keep your joy full because your conscience testifies against you!
You can’t find joy in Christ while disobeying Christ.
Small compromise will steal your joy.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
The joy of your salvation is conencted to a willing and submitted Spirit!
Joy is something we should pursue. It is not something we secure on our own. its by Christ..but we should do all that we can to remain submitted, connected, and actively enjoying Christ.
Your joy through Christ is mainly connected to Spiritual, internal things!
From that well you will find joy in overflow! The problem is we draw water from the wrong wells.
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
This is the joy! This is the secret! Christ with us!
I bring you tidings of gladness! News that will bring great joy!
We must regain our sense of wonder!
We must understand that sadness does not steal our joy, it can refine it! It only creates more space for joy to fill!
We must abide and stay close to Christ.
We must flee from sin. Obey!
We must be active in keeping our joy full!
Keeping our eyes on Christ!
Hebrews 12 sums it up:
1 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, 2 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.
13 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.
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
14 When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. 15 And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.” 17 After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. 18 For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 20 In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.
