2019 Advent - Joy
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Today, as we celebrate the Christmas season, we will be focusing on Joy.
Christmas is supposed to be a time of joy, isn’t it? Even our culture at large--that does not know the real meaning of Christmas--knows that this time of year is to be a time of joy.
Why? Why is Christmas a time of joy?
We heard the Christmas account read to us by Todd, and we celebrated through song. We heard the real reason for joy in the Christmas account. Did you hear it? It is found in Luke 2:10-11
But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.
Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.
The angel was bringing news that will cause great joy for all people.
What is this great news? It was that the Savior was born! This was supposed to bring great joy to all people.
Isn’t it wonderful that our Lord provided a savior, and joy?
In fact, in these verses, God emphasizes that He is bringing JOY to all people, through the coming of the Savior.
This shows us that God cares not only about us being saved from sin, but He wants us to know Joy!! God cares about our state of mind. He wants us to know joy.
One of the great themes of scripture is that God causes His people to know joy. He causes them to rejoice.
If God wants us to know Joy, and that is what He sent the angels to communicate, then we need to take time to understand joy, and how we can have it. That is what we are going to look at this morning.
What is joy?
What is joy?
What is joy? Is joy being happy? What is the difference between happiness and joy?
First a definition of happiness:
Happiness: a state of being pleased with one’s circumstances
Happiness: a state of being pleased with one’s circumstances
Happiness is a feeling of pleasure that is directly tied to circumstances.
I am truly happy when eating chocolate chip cookies, or Dutch chocolate ice cream.
Happiness can be having your family all together.
Happiness can be having a quiet moment.
Happiness can be time spent in creation, at the beach, or in the mountains, or beside a stream.
Happiness is always tied to circumstances.
Now, what is Joy?
I found this definition of joy.
Joy: an attitude of pleasure and well-being
Joy: an attitude of pleasure and well-being
Happiness is a feeling we have which is directly tied to our circumstances.
Joy is an attitude. Attitudes are not tied to circumstances. Attitudes are choices we make in our minds about how we approach life.
I think it is important to see that Joy is an attitude because attitudes are choices.
Joy is an attitude of pleasure and well-being which is gained by choice.
I think it is important that God wanted to bring joy, and not happiness. Why is that?
Why did God say the news would bring joy, and not happiness?
Why did God say the news would bring joy, and not happiness?
Because this world is full of sorrow. The circumstances of this world are often hard and difficult. True, unending happiness will be found in the new heavens and the new earth once all sin, sickness, death and sorrow will be removed. Once all of the negative circumstances are removed, we will know true unending happiness. But, here in this world, that is not the case. There are often circumstances which will cause us to not be happy.
Think back to the setting of Christ’s coming to Earth.
At the time the angel said this, the people of Israel were feeling the burden of oppression. They just had to uproot their families and lives to travel to the cities of their family lines in order to be taxed. Travel was not fun, nor was it easy in those days. They didn’t just hop in the car. They had to primarily walk. And when they walked, they had to carry everything with them.
Imagine if you went on your family vacation, but instead of loading up the car, you had to carry all of your luggage, and walk to your destination. Oh, you have to not only carry your luggage, but your food. And you have to carry water to drink.
How many of you have been to New York City? The distance Mary and Joseph would have travelled would be nearly the equivalent of travelling from here to New York City. Walking.
Now imagine you had to do all of that, not because you were going on vacation, but you had to do it to register to pay for taxes! Oh, and you lose all of the income you should have had for the time it takes you to go there and come back.
Does the thought of loading up your family and going on a trip like that warm your heart?
Now, think of the men who were first told about the Savior coming by the angels. They were shepherds. These were the lower class citizens of the day. They were not the popular crowd. They were not the rich. They were not the middle class. They were the poor. They were looked down-upon by others. They did not have the best clothes. They smelled like sheep. Their job had them out in all kinds of weather. They were responsible for the care of the sheep. They had to fight off wild animals, and keep alert for thieves. Any loss of sheep they had to bear. They did not have easy lives. Their circumstances would have made happiness hard to come by.
They certainly had their share of hardships and sorrows.
What about us today?
Sorrows that rob us of happiness
Sorrows that rob us of happiness
Do we have circumstances that make happiness difficult? Do we face circumstances that bring sorrow? Yes!
Sorrows:
Poverty
Sickness
Losses in business
Cars breakdown
Money seems to fly away
hopes dashed
friends who leave
Strife in the home
uncertainty in the future
enemies who hurt
loss of loved ones
Seasonal Darkness
inwardly struggle with depression, sin, anger, guilt, shame
All of these sorrows can rob us of happiness. God did not remove Mary and Joseph from their circumstances, but He gave them joy.
God did not change the shepherds’ circumstances, but He gave them joy.
God does not always change our circumstances, but He does give joy.
Happiness is a feeling tied to circumstances.
God came to give a new attitude in the circumstances, an attitude of joy!
God changes sorrows into joy.
Sorrow turned to joy
Sorrow turned to joy
All through the scriptures we find that God is the One who turns His people’s mourning into dancing. He turns sorrow into joy.
Look at Psalm 30 with me.
A psalm. A song. For the dedication of the temple. Of David.
I will exalt you, Lord, for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me.
Lord my God, I called to you for help, and you healed me.
You, Lord, brought me up from the realm of the dead; you spared me from going down to the pit.
Sing the praises of the Lord, you his faithful people; praise his holy name.
For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.
When I felt secure, I said, “I will never be shaken.”
Lord, when you favored me, you made my royal mountain stand firm; but when you hid your face, I was dismayed.
To you, Lord, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy:
“What is gained if I am silenced, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it proclaim your faithfulness?
Hear, Lord, and be merciful to me; Lord, be my help.”
You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent. Lord my God, I will praise you forever.
Many examples can be found in the Psalms.
Isaiah and the prophets have many examples as well.
Isaiah was writing to the Israelites who were at that time rejected by God because of their sin, and living under the oppression of other nations, God promised that He was going to make an everlasting covenant with them. He was going to restore them.
and those the Lord has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
God is the only One who can turn sorrow into joy. He is the One who can work in our hearts and minds to know joy even when our circumstances are so hard.
David learned how to find joy when sorrow was overwhelming, and we can too.
How can we have joy?
How can we have joy?
The angel brought news that would bring great joy...
Joy comes from the good news. Joy comes from the truth of what God has done and is doing!
God provided a savior! That is to bring us joy, no matter our circumstances.
How?
Call upon the Lord
Call upon the Lord
What did David do in Psalm 30:8? “To you, LORD, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy.”
When sorrows like sea billows roll, we need to call upon the Lord. We need to cry out once again for His mercy. We need to seek Him, and His presence.
He is the savior. He is the one we need to call upon.
We know we can call out to Him and find mercy, because of Christmas.
Why because of Christmas?
Because it was at Christmas that Jesus became a man.
Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—
For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.
Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.
Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Call upon Him, and you will find mercy. You will find a Faithful High Priest who experienced life. He went through the trials of life just so He could be a sympathetic High Priest for you. He knows, He cares, and He is ready to give you mercy.
That is the reason for Christmas. God becoming man to sympathize with us in our weakness, and to provide a way for us to be saved, and find joy!
Think on what the savior has done for us
Think on what the savior has done for us
Not only has God done all He can to sympathize with us in our weakness, He has provided so much more for us!
Election - Ephesians 1:4 “He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight.”
Redemption - Ephesians 1:7 “In Him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on us.”
Forgiveness
Justification - Romans 5:1 “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Adoption - Ephesians 1:5 “In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.”
Inheritance - 1 Peter 1:3-4 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.”
Eternal life - John 5:24 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.”
God has given us so much! No matter our circumstances here, they are brief compared to the eternal glory that He has guaranteed us!
We need to think on these things! We need to get our eyes off of our circumstances, and onto our savior and all He has for us.
Then, as we think on these things, we need to share it with others!
Show His love to others
Show His love to others
Even those without Christ know that when we give to others, when we show kindness it others, it brings us joy.
One of the best ways out of sorrow and depression is to fight against the urge to do nothing, and to get out and serve others.
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
We need to think on the right things, and we need act. We need to do what is right. We need to serve others for His glory. Just serving others will leave us flat if we only do it for their gratitude. Often, we can all be ungrateful.
However, if we show God’s love to others, for His glory, because it is right, He will fill us with His joy as we serve Him.
There truly is joy in serving Jesus!
Know His Presence
Know His Presence
Next, we need to know that He is with us. As we meditate on Him and all He has done, we need to know that He is present with us. He will never leave us, nor forsake us. He is with us, no matter what we are going through.
David learned that the Lord’s presence was real, and the source of joy.
You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Joy in His presence
Surely you have granted him unending blessings and made him glad with the joy of your presence.
Take time to reflect on Him, and to know His presence in your life.
Believe Him
Believe Him
He has promised to be with us. He has promised to love and forgive. He has promised to give us grace and strength when we need it.
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Will we trust Him? Will we remember to look at Him when we are weak?
If we look to Him, we will find grace and strength to get through what we are facing!
Joy gives endurance:
Jesus endured through Joy
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,
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.
Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Jesus knew what was going to come from His trials. He knew that though the circumstances were beyond hard, that God was at work to bring salvation and restoration to mankind. So for the joy of what God was going to bring about through the trial He faced, Jesus endured.
When we believe that God is at work, we can find joy that gives us endurance!
Rejoice in the Lord
Rejoice in the Lord
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
Joy of the Lord gives strength
Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”