Joy- A Who Not A What
I have a public service announcement to make, and it’s geared especially for the guys: Christmas is NEXT TUESDAY. Consider yourself informed.
I hear a lot of concern being expressed, especially this time of year, about how commercialized Christmas has become, and rightly so. Retailers are decorating and advertising earlier and earlier each year in order to maximize sales. Catalogs and fliers begin to fill our mailboxes with all kinds of “special” offers. TV ads bombard us with all the newest and latest “hot” products that are a ‘must-have’ for Christmas. However, instead of focusing on all of these detractors, I would like to ask you a question, “WHY do you think these things have crept into the social framework of this time of year?” RESPONSES.
Commercialism and greed are probably at the core of why we see so many companies pushing so hard at trying to get you to spend your money on their products or at their stores. In fact, for some companies, their survivability hinges upon Christmas sales. Catalog company, Henry and David, for example, does over 60% of their annual business from October through December. Their entire existence depends on sales during this time of year, but can we lay the blame for the commercialization of Christmas entirely at the feet of businesses and retailers?
Before you start throwing rocks at me, there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with giving gifts for Christmas. Again, we have to look toward the core of the problem. Just like it not being the retailers fault for commercializing Christmas, it’s not the giving of gifts that is the problem. The problem lies in the attitude behind all of these things.
If the problem isn’t the giving of gifts and the retailers are simply filling a need, it prompts us to ask the question, “What is the need that’s getting met by all this Christmas season madness?” For that matter, you could even take the Christmas season out of the equation, and ask, “What need are these companies meeting?” What are people looking for that drives them, but they take to even greater extremes during the Christmas season?
Maybe some of you who’ve lived here a lot longer than me have seen something different, but I have NEVER seen the Casino’s lot empty. Why is that? I’ve never seen Mugsy’s or the Last Chance Saloon’s parking areas empty. Why is that? What needs are these places meeting that causes them to always have customers?
On the surface, these two topics may seem unrelated, but I think they’re COMPLETELY related. I believe that the Casino, the Saloon and the commercialization of Christmas are all being fed by people’s need for JOY.
People receive joy from the Casino when they receive the occasional ‘win’, and it keeps them coming back again and again. People receive joy from the Saloon because they offer a way to numb the pains of life; a way of escape from reality. People receive joy from buying gifts, and receiving gifts, so they go ‘all out’ during the one time a year when the giving of gifts is a central theme.
People are looking for joy. The problem is that many people are looking for WHAT can bring them joy. Winning a jack-pot, a shot of Jack Daniels or a 50” plasma screen HDTV are just some of the “WHAT’S” people pursue in an effort to find joy, but how long does the joy last?
The jack-pot brings you joy until the money runs out. The Jack Daniels can bring you joy for an hour or so, but how long does the headache last? The 50” plasma screen HDTV, with surround sound, will bring me joy…I mean it would bring someone ELSE joy, but for how long; until the bill arrives? So, if people are looking for joy, a lasting joy, and none of these things can provide it, how can people find joy? READ Lk 2:8-20.
This is a section of text that is well-known to most of you. These are the verses I read each Christmas Eve to our kids before they go to bed. The nativity scenes we see are based on these verses. Christmas programs around the world are based on these verses. These verses are KEY to the whole Christmas story, but there are some elements that are often overlooked.
First of all, in verse 8, we find the shepherds watching over their sheep in the middle of the night. If you’ve ever done shift work, the shepherds were working the graveyard shift. It was pitch black outside and they were probably tired. The LAST thing they were expecting was for an angel of the Lord to appear right in front of them, and saying the most RIDICULOUS thing they could possibly say, “Do not be afraid.” YEAH, RIGHT!
What I want to draw your attention to is the symbolism in the text that has direct application to your life. These shepherds were out doing what they did EVERY day. There was absolutely nothing out of the ordinary about their day, until the angel showed up. These shepherds were working in the middle of the night. They probably had a small fire going to keep them warm, but, other than that, there was no light other than that coming from the stars and moon, again, until the angel showed up. The significance of this is for YOUR life is that, in the midst of your everyday life, in the midst of the darkness that often closes in around you, God unexpectedly steps in and bathes your life in light and gives you a message of great joy.
Why are people not finding joy? Why are people all stressed out? It’s because they’re viewing joy as a ‘what’; something they can directly obtain by their own efforts. Instead, joy is a BY-PRODUCT. From our text, joy is a by-product of the message; the Good News proclaimed by the angel. Do you see the significance of what this means?
Last week, we learned how God redeems time. He acts PERFECTLY and PURPOSEFULLY in every situation. This same truth carries over here. In the midst of whatever situation you find yourself in, not only can you have assurance that God is acting on your behalf to accomplish His purposes, you can experience JOY. You can not only experience joy when the doctor says, “The shadow on the X-ray was just a shadow”, but also when he says, “I’m sorry, there’s nothing more we can do.” Joy is INDEPENDENT of your circumstances, because it is a by-product of God’s gift to you: JESUS.
Joy is a WHO, not a ‘WHAT’. Joy is the result of the message proclaimed by the angel to those shepherds. Joy is the result of a relationship with that baby born in a manger.
Look at the shepherds’ circumstances: poor, menial jobs, working the graveyard shift, working outside in the cold. But, verse 20 says they were overjoyed. Had their circumstances changed at all from before the angel showed up? NOPE!
Is there anything in your life that is robbing you of joy? It doesn’t have to. Remember, joy is a by-product of the message, and the message proclaims Christ. READ Lk 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, LASTING joy, is for ALL people. Look beyond the retailers that try and peddle joy. Look beyond the presents under the Christmas tree that bring only temporary joy. Look to the ONE gift that provides joy INDEPENDENT of your circumstances. Christ is the real joy-giver. Joy is a WHO, not a WHAT.