Advent 2020: Joy

The Source of All Joy

Today Advent brings us to joy. A much misunderstood emotion, and one that for many of us seems too far away to grasp. But one that, nonetheless, is standing there by us should we just reach out and grasp it.

Not to bury the lede here, but joy isn’t really as much an emotion as a state of mind. One can be joyful, or find joy, no matter what they may be facing. Joy is found in the faces of those living in poverty, and those living in utter comfort. Joy is found in the hearts of the hurting as in those who live free from all pain.

Joy, it turns out, isn’t really dependent on anything we can do, or have, or even want in this life.

And while the capacity for us to feel joy may change, the source of our joy does not. And for us today, I want us to use this expectant waiting - this Advent of our Lord - as an opportunity to dissect our lives in such a way as to find the source of our Joy and then hold that up against the source of all our joy.

We will begin that by looking at a familiar text for the Christmas season, one that is found in Isaiah chapter 61, and later mirrored then by Jesus Himself as He proclaims the truth we must all find today - that He is the source of the joy we seek.

Isaiah 61:1–3 ESV

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.

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pray

Marypregnant

I ask this question almost every Christmas, and do so because it bears asking. What do you think Mary felt? When she was told that she was pregnant? Not what she said, we know what she said. “I am the Lord’s servant.” We got that. But what did she feel?

Even though we have no way of knowing for sure, it helps if we try. So imagine, if you would, being 14 or 15 years old. Knowing that you are to be married to this other man. And you are told you are pregnant. Even in the modern context it is pretty bad, right? But even worse than that, imagine now that and Angel tells you that the child is God’s child!

Who would believe that?

Surely your family wouldn’t. And your soon to be husband likely wouldn’t either. Being religious, though, you tell the Angel, “I am the Lord’s servant,” because of course, you are. That really isn’t saying much, when you think about it. After all, you can’t really tell them “no,” can you?

So what is being said, here, is far less important when you remove what is being felt. So let’s think about it from that perspective. How do you think she felt?

How would you feel?

Would you be filled with joy? Would you see all the potential for this child? Would you focus on the difficulty you were going to face? Would you worry about how to support the child, or raise the child? Or would you be so filled with joy that you were chosen for such a daunting task?

[picofsinglemom]

I think, if we are honest with ourselves, most of us would find little joy there. At least at first. Our minds would turn to what other people might think. Or to what we would feel when the eyes of others are on us. Perhaps we would want to run away and hide. Fear and worry would likely rule our hearts, and joy would seem too far away to find.

Like thousands of young people likely feel every day, joy would disappear into the vast ocean of worry that this life can bring when we aren’t looking at the right source.

The ocean of worry that asks us to wonder why God allows virus’, unemployment, loneliness, even captivity or exile or a 400 plus year diaspora to play out in our time. Worry that asks why we don’t get what we want, or even why the world wants us to be so miserable in the creation - the paradise - that God offers to each and every one of us.

Joy, it turns out, is hard to find when all we see is dark and dim.

Isaiah 61:1 ESV

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

But that doesn’t mean that joy isn’t there. It simply means that we are failing to see it! We are looking at things that ought not to be looked at!

Isaiah paints that picture for the Jewish believers in exile as he does for us! He prophesies of one who will possess that joy - that Spirit! One who brings the good news! Who proclaims liberty! And who opens the doors in the hearts of all those enslaved and imprisoned by this life and by the things and ideas that we allow to rule our hearts and minds!

Those very words, spoken by Jesus in the temple hundreds of years after they were written, that verified that Christ - this child bore in the body and heart of a young girl living in fear and worry of the very reality in which she lived and would bring forth that life to live; those words change everything for us. Much like with Mary, if we change what we think Jesus is feeling we can better understand these words from Isaiah. Jesus would have no doubt wanted to indirectly let everyone know that He was the one about whom Isaiah was speaking. At the same time, His heart would have been one that wanted them to know joy and peace about God’s presence in their lives! So with those intentions, and that tone He says these words.

Luke 4:18–19 ESV

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

[read]

“I am the one you are looking for!” Jesus is telling us. He is the one sent into this world and into your life so that you would forget all those things that so often tie us up in knots. Those feelings and thoughts and patters, that we rely on in the hopes to find the joy that only God can offer us!

I can hear this parental and loving voice here saying, “forget all that other stuff you want or are doing, and just come to me.”

I am all you need. I will give you rest. I will help you to find the joy in whatever situation you might be experiencing. The Spirit of the Lord and all it offers is upon me, Jesus reminds us. Find joy here, with me.

whatbringsyoujoy

Which brings me to the dissection I spoke about in the intro. And all we need to do today to rightly allow God’s truth and word to speak to us is to ask ourselves a simple, non-combative question.

What brings you joy?

Much like the show on Netflix seeks to do, I am seeking to have us purposefully look at all those things in life that we have, that we do, and that we think. To look at them and find their purpose in our lives.

What is the purpose of those moments when we are gossiping about a coworker or church or our own families and friends? What does all that drama bring into our life? What about our expectations of others? What does that bring into our life?

Consider how we view the world around us, how we view our friends, this church, our jobs, our family. Consider OUR expectations for those things, and ask ourselves, what they are bringing to our lives.

And then, more importantly, ask ourselves what we expect them to bring.

Church, if we expect all those other things to be the source of our joy, we will undoubtedly be disappointed. Those things can of course be positives in our lives, and no doubt would bring some goodness and positivity into our existence. But that can never be the SOURCE of our joy! They are, instead, a result of our Joy!

Think about it this way. What happens when your job, or money, is the source of your joy? Well your joy then flows where the money flows. Lots of money, lots of joy - perhaps. No money, not much joy.

In more practical terms, when your job or identity is tied up in something other than Jesus and then let’s say you have a bad day in that thing - maybe your job. You come home and your family is waiting for you. What do you do?

Well I pray that you feel better seeing them. I can tell you from a Pastor’s perspective, that when I focus too much of my identity on the fulfillment or satisfaction of everyone else around me my mental state can ebb and flow with them. And on bad days, it is so uplifting to have my kids run and just be happy to see me. In all honesty and transparency, it has at times seemingly saved me.

But there are other times when I allow those other things to then inform how I speak to them. And when we have a bad day, and our joy is found in all these other things, we stand a very real chance of bringing that lack of joy into the lives of others.

picofpresents

So finding the source of our joy is unbelievably important! And this time of year, we must remember that Mary got no presents! She got no stuff! She got picked to travel a lonely and difficult road to bring into this world the life that would save us all!

And if her source of Joy was stuff, she would have approached this whole thing differently. So to it is for us. We must look at our lives, and adjust the source of our joy to the one who loves us beyond everything!

Church if we could just look full into His face, it wouldn’t matter if someone does something we don’t like! IT WOULDN’T MATTER IF WE DIDN’T GET WHAT WE WANTED! IT WOULDN’T MATTER WHAT WE WERE FACING AND EVEN IF WE HAD TO FACE IT ALONE! IF WE WOULD JUST STOP LOOKING AT THE WORLD AROUND US TO BRING US JOY - IF WE WOULD JUST STOP LOOKING FOR SATISFACTION TO BE BROUGHT INTO OUR LIVES BY OTHERS, OR BY MONEY, OR BY SOCIAL SITUATIONS OR STUFF; IF WE WOULD JUST LET CHRIST ALONE BE THE SOURCE OF OUR JOY WE WOULD NOT ONLY FIND UNENDING JOY AND ACCEPTANCE - BUT WE WOULD FIND OURSELVES CONTENT AND AT PEACE IN ALL SITUATIONS!

We would find that our ability to feel joy would grow as our efforts to please God grow in us.

[picofchild]

I want to close out today with that idea, because until we truly grasp it I don’t think we will every be drawing fully from the source of all joy for us.

There is a moment, perhaps we are too old to remember it, but think back - there is a time in all of our lives when our futures are shaped by those around us that we value. Usually this happens very early in life. A child looks at their parents face and in hopes of pleasing them they smile. An instinctive response that makes an eternal connection.

When those we value smile back it reinforces our desire to smile more. That continues as we grow, but now maybe it is acting silly, or giving hugs, or drawing pictures, or dancing, or playing ball, or riding bikes, or reading books; you get the picture. So we do those things, and they offer joy to those we value, and they then return that joy to us by telling us how awesome we are.

Hear this clearly, church. We all tend to do things that please those who matter to us. And if your invisible friends on social media matter to you; if whatever social agenda of the day matters to you; if your job or having a lot of money matters to you, then you are going to chase after those things blindly. And ultimately, when they are your source of joy, they will fail you.

But kids don’t do that. And Jesus reminds us to be like children. Kids will draw, or dance, or play an instrument, or make you lunch, or play ball with you not for what they can get out of it, but for how it OBVIOUSLY pleases you! You - CHURCH DON’T MISS THIS - YOU ARE THE SOURCE OF THEIR JOY!

And the truth that every parent, or teacher, or mentor knows is that they - they are the source of your joy too!

So too it is with God.

Church, you are the source of God’s joy, and He must be the source of yours! He is the one we must bring our drawings, our dancing, our jokes, our songs, our games to! When He is the sole source of our joy, we will find that our desire to please Him will become provision for our very lives!

No matter what we are facing, He will give us garland instead of ashes! Gladness instead of mourning! A mantle of praise instead of a faint Spirit! We will be oaks of righteousness - the very planting of the Lord - no matter what we might be facing or feeling! CHURCH AS LONG AS HE IS SMILING AT US AND WE ARE LOOKING AT HIM - SO TOO WILL WE SMILE! WE WILL FIND JOY AND SAFETY THERE IN THE PRESENCE OF OUR LOVING GOD AND FATHER!

And we can only do that when He is our Joy! When He is our cup and our portion! When we truly live by and believe those sentiments that we sing and say - just give me Jesus! You can have this whole world! You can have all those things that you want to think are important because I have found the source of Joy!

I don’t need those things. I have the Creator smiling at me.

[communion]

Church that can be you. That can be me. But to get there we must make Christ the source of our Joy - not all these other social and world contrivances. We must adjust our expectations of this life, of our friends, of others, of everything! We must take the drama and the urgency out of all we do and replace it with the very Spirit of God. And then, we must find joy there. At the source of all joy. At the feet of the God who gives us life - even life eternal.

And as we move toward this time of communion, I want to do so by sharing a prayer that I pray is helpful to us as we move to find the true source of joy. It is a prayer from a monk offered to remind us that we are not alone in our wandering - in our getting lost in the stuff that brings us no true joy. One that hearkens and guides us to this idea that Christ alone - and pleasing Him - is the source of our joy.

Hear the words he offers to God, and offer them from your hearts today as well.

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.

And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road,

though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.

I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Church, we don’t know where our lives are going, apart from back to God. So let us decide today to make that God the source of our joy. The desire to please Him the guiding light in our lives.

[pray then communion]