A Message of Joy

Introduction:

When the variety show was a popular form of television entertainment, standard practice was that nobody wanted to follow children or puppies. Today I am breaking that rule and trusting you can allow the smiles from the kids to stay on your face while I talk about joy.

Our topic today is rooted in the shepherd’s experience on that first Christmas. Max Lucado has described these events as an ordinary night with ordinary sheep and ordinary shepherds who had an extraordinary experience. Chuck Swindoll doesn’t even try to describe the events, he simply says it is indescribable. Luke 2:10 tells us that this is great joy for all people. However it is a real stretch to describe the demeanor of many of our brothers and sisters as one of joy.

Even after Constantine had made Christianity the religion of the Roman Empire, there came to the throne another Emperor called Julian, who wished to put the clock back and to bring back the old gods. His complaint, as Ibsen puts it, was:

"Have you looked at these Christians closely? Hollow-eyed, pale- cheeked, flat-breasted all; they brood their lives away, unspurred by ambition: the sun shines for them, but they do not see it: the earth offers them its fullness, but they desire it not; all their desire is to renounce and to suffer that they may come to die."

As Julian saw it, Christianity took the vividness out of life.

Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, "I might have entered the ministry if certain clergymen I knew had not looked and acted so much like undertakers."

Robert Louis Stevenson once entered in his diary, as if he was recording an extraordinary phenomenon, "I have been to Church today, and am not depressed."

What Prompts Joy

Joy does NOT come from an absence of troubles. (2 Cor 7:4)

2 Corinthians 7:4 (ESV) — …In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy.

· Often the message of the Angels is misinterpreted to mean that since Jesus had come, the world would no longer have problems.

Soul-Winning causes Joy

Luke 15:7 (ESV) — 7Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

3 John 4 (ESV:) — 4I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

C.H. Spurgeon in his book Lectures to my Students has some wise advice. "An individual who has no geniality about him had better be an undertaker, and bury the dead, for he will never succeed in influencing the living." "I commend cheerfulness to all who would win souls; not levity and frothiness, but a genial, happy spirit. There are more flies caught with honey than with vinegar, and there will be more souls led to heaven by a man who wears heaven in his face than by one who bears death in his looks."

Unity causes Joy (Philippians 2:2)

Philippians 2:2 (ESV) —complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

Obedience Causes Joy (John 15:10-11)

John 15:10–11 (ESV) — 10If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

The legend is told of a desert wanderer who found a crystal spring of unsurpassed freshness. The water was so pure he decided to bring some to his king. Barely satisfying his own thirst, he filled a leather bottle with the clear liquid and carried it many days beneath the desert sun before he reached the palace. When he finally laid his offering at the feet of his sovereign, the water had become stale and rank due to the old container in which it had been stored. But the king would not let his faithful subject even imagine that it was unfit for use. He tasted it with expressions of gratitude and delight, and sent away the loyal heart filled with gladness. After he had gone, others sampled it and expressed their surprise that the king had even pretended to enjoy it. "Ah!" said he, "it was not the water he tasted, but the love that prompted the offering."

Many times our service is marked by multiplied imperfections, but the Master looks at our motives and says "It is good."

Hebrews 13:17 (ESV) — 17Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

Spiritual victories & faithfulness cause Joy (Luke 10:17)

from the pen of Helmut Thielicke:

"A church is in a bad way when it banishes laughter from the sanctuary and leaves it to the cabaret, the nightclub and the toastmasters. "

Luke 10:17 (ESV) — The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!”

Matthew 25:21 (ESV) — His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’

A man came to the pastor one time and said, "I don't know what's wrong with my life, but that first Christian joy I knew has passed by. I still live a moral life. I go to church. But how can I recover the lost radiance of my faith?" His pastor said, "this is what you should do: go to the store and buy a big basketful of groceries and go to an address of a poor family I will give you. Then when you have given your gift, you sit down with them to find out what they need. Let them know that you are interested in them and that you are their friend. Then lead them in the Lord's Prayer before you leave, and the radiance will come back."

Transition: Contrary to what some of us have be led to believe, the world is not all about you. Your joy is not the end goal. Dr. John Piper, founder of the ministry Desiring God, has preached a concept that he calls Christian Hedonism. Christian hedonism is summarized in the phrase God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.

What Joy Produces

Joy prompts action (MT 13:44)

Matthew 13:44 (ESV) — “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

God’s Joy prompts delayed, but lasting effects (Jn 16:22)

John 16:22 (ESV) — So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.

The late General Douglas MacArthur wrote something very profound about aging on his 75th birthday:

In the central place of every heart there is a recording chamber; so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, and courage, so long are you young. When the wires are all down and your heart is covered with the snows of pessimism and the ice of cynicism, then, and then only are you grown old.

Transition: I know that drought and hospitalization are two words that describe many of us in 2018 and it is difficult to reconcile these words with “joy”.

Conclusion:

It is said that as Benjamin Franklin concluded a stirring speech on the guarantees of the Constitution, a heckler shouted, "Aw, them words don't mean nothin' at all. Where's all the happiness you say it guarantees us?" Franklin smiled and replied, "My friend, the Constitution only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness; you have to catch it yourself."

The Angels pronounced to the shepherds that they had good news which would produce great joy which is for all people.

Jesus made joy possible, but He won't force you to receive it. You can choose today if you want joy by winning souls, living in unity, living in obedience & walking in spiritual victory.

Closing Song #144......... How Great Our Joy! (vv.1 &2)