Joy for the Holidays

If you’re like me, you don’t like to decorate or even think about Christmas until Thanksgiving is officially over. Although, Katherine and I are debating on even putting a tree up this year with having a 16 month old who is literally into everything.

I know it’s only three days after Thanksgiving, but I honestly feel like we’ve been celebrating Christmas for a while now. I mean, Black Friday shopping is no longer on Friday anymore, it’s Thanksgiving night.

Maybe you are one of those very odd people that have all your Christmas gifts purchased and wrapped under the tree.

Maybe your one of those people that wait until Christmas Eve to do all your Christmas shopping.

One thing is for sure, Christmas time is finally here!

Christmas time comes with all sorts of wonderful and exciting things right?

Christmass decorations

Christmas lights

Gifts

Time with Family

Traditions

More Christmas parties, Christmas food, and more potlucks.

I want you to look at your neighbor and tell them your favorite part of Christmas. I know we are in Church, but it’s ok if you say something other than Jesus because I hope we are all thankful for that first and foremost.

This morning, I want to talk about Joy for the Holliday’s. This is important because as we transition to the Christmas season, my prayer is for us to focus our hearts and our minds on what we really need to focus on.

Next week, we are going to begin a Christmas series but this morning, I want us to take a look at how we can remain Joyful around the Holidays.

We are going to study a Psalms this morning, I want to ask you to go ahead and flip to Psalm 16. If you’ve never studied in Psalms, just turn to the middle of your Bible and you should find it pretty easily.

Some commentators write that Psalms is the heart of the OT. Psalms is a beautifully written book of poems. The title has the meaning “to make music” “to sing praise” In fact, many of the worship songs we sing, many of the hymns we sing come from this beautifully written poetic letter.

I try to read at least one psalm a day during my quiet time. Psalms lead us to praise and worship and Psalms is also one of my favorite books to pray through.

There are several classifications found in Psalms: Hymns, Laments, Thanksgiving songs, Psalms of confidence, Prophetic Psalms, Wisdom Psalms, and Remembrance Psalms, and Royal Psalms that proclaim that God is King.

We come to Psalms 16 and is unique in that it begins with a lament and then turns to a Psalm of confidence.

Turn to Psalms 16:1-11

You Will Not Abandon My Soul

16 A Miktam of David.

1 Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.

2 I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;

I have no good apart from you.”

3 As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones,

in whom is all my delight.

4 The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply;

their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out

or take their names on my lips.

5 The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup;

you hold my lot.

6 The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;

indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

7 I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;

in the night also my heart instructs me.

8 I have set the Lord always before me;

because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.

9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;

my flesh also dwells secure.

10 For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,

or let your holy one see corruption.

11 You make known to me the path of life;

in your presence there is fullness of joy;

at your right hand are pleasures forevermore

This morning, we are going to break this Psalm down into three parts and look at three truths that the Psalmist writes about . My prayer is that as we look through this Psalm, we will find confidence and source of Joy that will carry us not only through the Christmas season but for all of our life.

I encourage you to write these down in your notes this morning as we study this beautifully written Psalm.

1. Joy is rooted in the Lord (V. 1-3)

David is writing this Psalm under the inspiration of God and begins with “Preserve me O God”

David is calling out to God and asking him to guard him and watch over him. This is important because as we begin studying this Psalm, we see David begins asking God to give him security and safety.

He then makes the statement “for in you I take refuge.” That word “Refuge” has the meaning a place of rest, comfort, and safety.

I think these words are so applicable for us as we prepare our hearts for this Christmas season. True joy and refuge are found in God alone.

As tempting as it is to find rest, comfort, and safety in things other than God, our true Refuge is in God the Father and nothing else.

You see God is the author of our life. He is on His throne . God is infinite, eternal, unchangeable. This morning we have the privilege to have a personal relationship with Him through His son Jesus.

We can learn so much from this Psalm from the first three verses alone, because David is crying out to God and proclaiming the truth that no good comes apart from the God.

In order for us to find true Joy around this time of year we must remember how big God is and how small we are.

When we compare ourselves in light of who God is, we should be humbled and stand in awe that the God we read about in the Scriptures allows us to find refuge and security in Him through the story of Jesus.

There is not enough time to study all the attributes of who God is but let’s take a look at four of them:

God is Perfect: Deuteronomy 32:4

הַהַGod is Infinite, He was created by nothing and has always existed forever: Psalms

147:5, Colossians 1:17

God is Omnipresent: He is in all places at all times, Psalm 139:7-10

We must first recognize the importance of who God is and the importance of placing our trust in Him and finding our refuge in Him not just during the holidays but at all times.

He is a good God and He is a perfect God. Trusting in Him means we are trusting in the only one who is all powerful and all knowing.

You want to experience true joy this Christmas, may your joy be rooted in knowing God. Open this book and study Him. You will discover that the God who inspired this book is bigger, stronger, and more powerful than you ever could have imagined.

David begins this Psalm with words that should be constantly on our minds and our tongues “I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.”

1 John 1:5 ESV

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

Stay focused on the glorious truths of who God is this Christmas season.

I don’t know about you, but we can so easily get distracted by all the busyness, stress, and chaos of the Christmas season, but we must remain focused on God and remain amazed at who God is and what He is doing in our lives.’

Take time to know God through His word this Christmas season. There are plenty of great Christmas Bible reading plans out there. If you need a suggestion, find me after the worship gathering and I can give you some good ones to start with.

The first way to have true Joy this holiday season is to find joy in the Lord.

2. Joy can quickly turn to sorrow (V. 4-6)

In contrast to David recognizing that God is his refuge and all good things come from Him, notice in V. 4 what it says about those that run after things other than God.

“The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply”

This is a very straightforward, easy to understand truth this morning.

When we run to anything besides God for refuge and strength, we will only find sorrow and emptiness.

The thing that breaks my heart this Christmas is that so many people will try to find joy in things other than the Lord and they will end up having a miserable Christmas.

Throughout the Old Testament we read several instances where the Israelites (God’s Chosen Ones) decide to worship idols of surrounding nations.

Every single time God’s people turn from worshipping Him to worship something else, sorry and destruction follow.

God is a jealous God and desires to be worshipped above all things. Exodus 34:14

We see this idea that sorrows multiply from the first time sin entered the world through Adam and Eve.

They gave in to the lie that they would become wise if they ate from the tree of Knowledge and they found only sorry after they disobeyed God.

Genesis 3:14–19 ESV

The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.” And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

Adam and Eve believed the lie that Satan tempted them with and because they chased after the lie and gave into temptation, sorrow multiplied for them. The perfect relationship they had with God had been broken and they would now live a life with pain, sorry, and brokenness.

That’s why we must remain focused on the Lord, because we can pursue things other than Him this Christmas season and only experiencing disappointment and sorrow.

Think about these with me:

Stressing over buying the perfect gift for someone.

Stressing over making everyone happy.

Stressing over having the perfect decorations or the perfect party.

I can promise you that you will be disappointed if you are pursing contentment in anything besides Jesus at this time of year.

Maybe you remember some of your favorite times as a Kid at Christmas time. The toys, the food, family.

I specifically remember some of the great toys that I opened at Christmas but there was one time where I didn’t appreciate a gift I received.

My grandmother still reminds me of this story on a regular basis but I was probably in Kindegarden or 1st grade and my grandmother gave me an old record player and some records for Christmas. I guess it wasn’t the gift I thought I was getting and I ran out of the room crying because I was disapointd in the gift.

I think back to that and think “How could I be such a brat?” I think my mom followed me and corrected my behavior with a wooden spoon, but the moral of the story is that we will be disappointed this Christmas if our hope is in something other that Christ.

You may not get what you wanted gift wise, you may not have the perfect family get-together, The lights you spent hours hanging on the house may go out and you’re to lazy to get on a ladder and fix them, Christmas may already not be what you had expected, but that’s ok, because you get to worship a perfect savior who loves you and gave his life so that you can find joy in Him.

Jesus’ words on the sermon on the mount explain this in Matthew 6:21

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”

If your treasure is in something besides Christ this Holiday season, you will not have a joyful holiday. Your heart will be yearning for something that it was not meant to yearn after.

Don’t allow anything to steal your joy this Christmas because just as the Psalmist proclaimed in V. 4 “sorrows will multiply when we run after other gods.”

3. Joy in the Lord is eternal (V. 7-11)

David completes this psalm by proclaiming a truth that is essential for us to understand. In fact, Peter cites the last half of the Psalm in his sermon at Pentecost and applied it to one of the most foundational truths for our life.

I want us to turn to Acts and look at that but notice 7-8. David makes a statement that the Lord gives his counsel in the night-this has meaning that the confidence we have in God drives away worry or restlessness.

David could sleep at night knowing that God was his refuge and that he was at his right hand.

Turn to Acts 2:25-28

Why is it important for us to note that Peter quoted this Psalm. We can read on down and see:

Acts 2:29–35 ESV

“Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” ’

Peter draws the meaning from David’s words as a prophecy of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and what it means for believers.

David was proclaiming the truth that one day God would provide a Savior who would would be resurrected and would sit at the right hand of God.

V. 10 “For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol or let your holy one see corruption.”

What I love about the inspired Word of God is that we read so many glorious truths but these truths are all tied together to point to the Great Redemption story of God.

Every word on every page is in this book for a reason under the inspiration of God. He has given us His word so that we can know Him and have a relationship with Him through his son Jesus.

I read Genesis 3:14-19 earlier and the implications of the fall of man, but the good news for us this morning is that God had a plan all along. Jesus has always been God’s plan of redemption for His people. The fall of Adam and Eve didn’t take him by surprise. Nothing takes God by surprise.

Because of the truth of the Gospel, we can have assurance that when we repent of our sins and put our faith in Him, we can have eternal life.

The gift of Jesus Christ give us eternal security.

Compare the joy of knowing we have eternal security to the “traditions” we celebrate this time of year. The gift of Christ is a gift we enjoy for all eternity. Compare that to the gifts we receive. How many of you can remember gifts you received last year? What about the year before that? What about 5 years ago?

The joy we find in the Lord is something we don’t only enjoy while on earth, but we enjoy forever.

Do not buy into the lie this Christmas that anything besides Jesus will bring you happiness and joy.

I’m not saying to throw all of your Christmas decorations away or to skip buying gifts for others, but what I’m saying is that God’s word tells us that we can have an everlasting joy this Christmas season in our Savior.

Look at Psalm 16:11 with me.

Psalm 16:11 ESV

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

“In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

God came down to earth in the form of a man. His son lived a perfect, sinless life then went to a cruel cross. He suffered and died and then was buried in a tomb.

Death could not hold him and he defeated death and because of that truth we now have access to a Holy God.

The joy we have in Jesus is enteral because he paid the price for us and earned salvation for us through his death and resurrection.

I want us to reflect on the truth we read about in this Psalm as we prepare our hearts to worship the Lord this Christmas season.

Christmas will be here before you know it and if we are not careful, we will waste this time of year on things that really don’t matter.

As I said earlier, I love Christmas time. I love the traditions I’ve had all my life. I love exchanging gifts, I love family time. But most importantly, my prayer is that I will view this time of year as way to worship and celebrate God coming down to us and rescuing us from our sin.

What’s keeping you from having joy this Christmas season?

I would encourage you to find your ultimate joy and contentment in the glorious truth of Jesus Christ.

As we prepare our hearts to worship the Lord this Christmas we must remember that:

Joy is rooted in God.

Joy can quickly turn to sorrow.

Joy is eternal.

Will you bow with me in prayer.

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