Joy - The Chosen

Joy

Before Christmas we started an Advent series that we didn’t have the opportunity to go all the way through, so we are continuing that series now. In this series we have been watching scenes from the TV show The Chosen. Specifically, we have been watching scenes from the Christmas episode, called “Holy Night.” Today we are going to watch another scene with the shepherds. In fact, this scene expands on the scenes we watched last week.

This video clip imagines what it was like for the shepherds after the angel’s cam and spoke to them. Before we watch the video, let’s look again at what the angels said...

Luke 2:10–14 NLT

10 but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. 11 The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! 12 And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.” 13 Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”

What was it like for the shepherds just after that? What were they like when the skies had grown dark again and the only sound was the whistling of the wind or a quick bleat from one of the sheep? Le’t pray, then we will watch the clip…

Pray

Watch “Joy of the shepherds”

Traditionally, advent occurs during the four Sundays leading up to Christmas. Advent is the celebration of the coming of Jesus. During advent, we not only celebrate the birth of Jesus, but it’s also a time to look ahead to when Jesus will come again to finish the renewing and restorative work He started at Christmas.

The wonderful thing about advent is that it is a celebration that we can and should do all year long. Even though we set aside specific time for this celebration before Christmas as a group, we are always looking forward to Jesus coming into our lives and transforming us into a new creation.

In the first week of this series we talked about how the coming of Jesus allows for a turning away from hopelessness and instead toward hope. Last week we talked about how the coming of Jesus allows for a turning away from shame and instead toward peace. Today we want to declare that the coming of Jesus allows for a turning away from sadness and instead toward JOY! Because of Jesus coming into our lives, we can now live a joyful life.

But what does that even mean? What is a joyful life?

To many people, a joyful life is nothing more than a life of happiness. We actually talked about that a few months ago in the “Almost True” series when we looked at the Happiness Gospel. It sounds good and seems right, but in the end doing whatever makes you happy doesn’t always lead you down the right path. It will often lead you down a dangerous and deadly path.

Joy is much more than being happy. Yes, living a joyful life does often entail happiness. A joyful life will sometimes look like what we just watched in the scene from “Holy Night”: a life with laughter, smiling, and even giddiness. The joyful life is often marked with warmth and cheer, but it is more than that, because ‘joy’ is more than cheer.

Joy: an often-cheerful contentedness

The Joyful Life: the often-cheerful life of contentedness

Let’s quickly unpack this definition of the joyful life. Let’s start by defining contentedness. Most people just see being content as being satisfied. “I just need to be okay with whatever happens.” I believe that is over simplified. Sometimes, when we oversimplify important themes they lose their weight in our lives. To a follower of Christ who finds hope and peace in our Savior, contentedness is…

Contentedness: a marked calm within a person that’s born out of hope and peace

It is that marked calm within us that is born out of the absence of hopelessness and shame. It’s all because of Christ. He turns our hopelessness into hope. He turns our shame into peace. It is because of the hope and peace that comes from Him that I have a defining calm in my heart. I’m not okay with what is going on, but my God gives me hope and peace, and it’s His hope and peace that gives me a calm contentedness.

Remember the first two weeks of this series. The hope we have in God, the confident expectation, is born out of knowledge that nothing is impossible with God. From the first coming of Jesus, which began a work of renewal and restoration for a broken and hurting world, to His second coming, when He will finish His work in full. We also have peace within that comes in knowing a deep grace and mercy has been shown by Jesus, even to those seemingly unworthy, long forgotten, or cast aside.

Hope has come in the One who came — a confident expectation of the Messiah who is renewing and restoring all things. Peace has come in the One who came — a grace and a mercy shown by the Messiah even to those seemingly unworthy. Joy has also come in the One who came — a contentedness, a marked calm, that can never be dimmed or toppled by anyone or anything.

Continuing through our definition of the joyful life…

The Joyful Life: the often-cheerful life of contentedness

The joyful life is often a cheerful one. In light of what Jesus has done, is doing, and will one day do in full, how could we not have moments of laughter and smiling. How could we not have moments of giddiness, or moments that mirror the shepherds reaction in the scene we watched? Because joy is more than happiness, a joyful life might look cheerful one day, and a little more calm and quiet the next. Sometimes we will be full of laughter, and other times there will be more of a set jaw that declares a steely resolve. Sometimes it might even look like righteous anger.

While we can certainly see the happiness in the shepherds in this scene. When watching closely we can also see something deeper. A new-found peace and hope. In the midst of their laughter, smiling, and giddiness, you can spot confidence and resolve.

Remember the scenes we watched last week. The shepherds faced an oppressive social and religious stigma. Yet despite the rejection, here they are throwing all caution to the wind to find the Messiah. The one who supposedly wasn’t coming to earth anytime soon because of people like them.

Next week we’ll watch a scene in which, just after the shepherds meet Joseph, Mary, and the child, they are running through town, and the townspeople are shocked by this suddenly confident and giddy crew. The shepherds are no longer approaching others with fear while staring down at their own sandals in shame. There is a confidence in them. A new self-worth. Resolve. Contentedness. They know hope and peace have come, so there is joy in all its many forms.

From one scene to the next, the only thing that changed in their lives was Jesus. He brought them hope, peace, and joy.

That’s the joyful life.

Knowing what it looks like forces us to acknowledge that it is a joyless world that we live in. Raise your hand if you believe that the world we live in enjoys deep contentedness. It doesn’t seem like many people across the world believe that everything is changing for the better. Despite moments of happiness, there’s no resolve born out of any confidence in ultimate goodness. If you are looking for evidence of joy in the world, definitely avoid the news. No joy there.

The news just wants to tell you how bad you are, how evil Trump is, and how much we are destroying the planet. Even movies are all about the joy deficit. Most are about the end of the world, zombies, or how some evil empire is out to destroy everything and we need a super hero to save us.

Songs casually sing of depression, anxiety, trauma, and even self-harm. Marketing targets us where we feel lacking. Politics are disparaging. We even play our part on social media.

While it’s important to see and recognize the world’s joylessness, these observations should lead us to introspection. We aren’t any more immune to joylessness than the unbelievers. Certainly we see it in the body of Christ when our churches get embroiled in controversy. It happens when we vow to stand against one another because of one reason or another.

Sometimes it is so easy to become like the religious leaders that the shepherds interacted with. When we watched that clip last week our first thought is, “How horrible! I can’t believe they treated them that way.” But have you ever been on the other side of that interaction? Have you ever stood up for something you thought was right only to learn later that you were not sharing the hope, peace, and joy of our savior?

I know I have. Some of them still haunt me today. Sometimes I wonder what would have been different if I had have been living a joyful life in this joyless world. The often-cheerful life of contentedness that comes from the hope and peace of Jesus.

If you are taking notes, this is our key thought for today…

We’ve been given a joyful life to live; let’s live it in a joyless world.

We have been given a joyful life. We have such contentedness and even cheer. We have been given a joyful life because HOPE has come to us in the One who came, that confident expectation in the Messiah who is renewing and restoring all things for us. We have been given a joyful life because PEACE has come to us in the One who came, a deep grace and mercy shown to us by Jesus.

So let’s live it.

Let’s show cheer. Let’s show contentedness. Let’s let our lives reflect the knowledge we have that Jesus is our ultimate good and has given us hope and peace that leads to joy.

A life of cheer and contentedness is the opposite of the joylessness we see in the world. A life of joy is the absence of beating people down to lift ourselves up. It’s the opposite of engaging in spreading hopelessness, depression, and anxiety. It is the opposite of disparaging others.

Living a joyful life encourages us to look inward at what we project outward. A joyful life will spread hope and peace rather than steal it. Instead of looking down on people, the joyful life lifts up those who are struggling, broken, or caught in the enemies snare. As Mike was saying the other day, the joyful life sees every day as a new day marked as the day of my salvation.

We’ve been given a joyful life to live. What would the world look like if we lived every day with the joy that salvation brings? What would this country look like? This state? This town? Your house? I know I had a day this week that would have looked completely different at home if someone had have been living the joyful life. I’m not going to name any names, but my wife Amy… she sure puts up with a lot.

Seriously though, are you living the joyful life that you have been given? Do people see the transformational HOPE in you that believes nothing is impossible with God? Do people see in you the radical and life changing PEACE that comes from the deep mercy and grace of God?

That mercy and grace reaches out to those who are seemingly unworthy, forgotten, and cast aside, so it begs the question of us… Does my life share the hope, peace, and joy to the unworthy, forgotten, and cast aside? That is the mission that God has built into the joyful life. It’s not for us to selfishly horde, hide, and hold onto.

It is built around God’s mercy and grace for any and everyone who doesn’t deserve it. We live in a joyless world that is crying out for God’s joy. A world that is desperate for a reason to have abiding cheer and deep contentment. Living the joyful life in their midst is one of our greatest witnessing tools. While all others are being laid low by hopelessness and shame, we are not. Those trapped in the hopelessness and shame will see the joy we have in Christ and wonder what it is that sustains our cheer and contentment.

Jesus said it best, and we will close with this scripture…

Matthew 5:13–16 NIV

13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. 14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Pray