2021.12.12 - Where Is Joy?
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Where Is Joy?
Where Is Joy?
Philippians 4:4-7 • Luke 3:7-13
16 Rejoice always,
17 pray without ceasing,
18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.
The first source I found for today’s theme of Joy began with this:
“Week three is the time to throw the parties! This is the joy Sunday, the celebration of the gift that comes and the gift we are to and with one another.” https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/come-home-for-christmas/third-sunday-of-advent-year-c-lectionary-planning-notes
This beginning demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of today’s topic. You see, the author has fallen prey to a common misunderstanding. He has confused joy for happiness.
I could just simple say that New Testament Greek has different words for joy and happiness, but I sense that’s not sufficient. So, let’s begin with a simple contrast.
The difference is all about the impact circumstances play in the feeling.
Let me ask a non-rhetorical question:
Is it possible to live without unhappiness?
Of course not! Disappointments happen, and they have an impact on our presence of mind. We’re unhappy when someone we love loses a job. We’re sad when a marriage falls apart. Happiness eludes us when we lose loved ones.
Not so with joy! Our society would suggest that joy is just a ramped-up version of happiness … Happiness on steroids. That may be worldly joy, but it is not biblical joy.
Whereas happiness is based on circumstances … a new baby … a promotion … an engagement … a new house … a contest win ...
Biblical joy can be constant because biblical joy is based on a constant!
Hebrews 13:8 (NASB 2020)
8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, and forever.
Malachi 3:6 (NASB 2020)
6 “For I, Yahweh, do not change; therefore you, the sons of Jacob, have not come to an end.
Numbers 23:19a (NASB 2020)
19 “God is not a man, that He would lie, Nor a son of man, that He would change His mind;
17 Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.
Where Is Joy?
Where Is Joy?
Joy is not based on circumstances.
It’s based on the unchanging, unwavering, “unlosable” love of God.
You see, the idea of happiness is based on external stuff. We assume happiness comes with a lot of money, or lots of toys, or a big family around us, because happiness is found in surroundings and circumstances.
Joy, though, is an inner strength that carries us even when our circumstances and surroundings are miserable. Joy is based on knowing your identity is in Him, not in your surroundings.
Most people today let themselves be defined by their circumstances and what they do with those circumstances.
If we really want to be people of God … People of God are defined by their steadiness. In the worst of circumstances, faithful Christians are still rock solid because their solidness isn’t found in life … it’s found in the God who never changes.
So … indeed … WHERE IS JOY? or more to the point … Where is Joy FOUND?
Joy is found inside believers who cling to the promises of God rather than the promises of the world.
When worldly circumstances go wrong, we want to ask Why?
We’ve believed trite lies about the nature of life like:
“Everything happens for a reason.”
This trite saying suggests that God controlled the tragedy and even MADE it happen. So we naturally ask him Why? Why did this happen to me?
But the logical answer to that question is “Why not?” Why did you think you were immune to life’s muck? As the Scripture says, “rain falls on the good and the evil.” “Everything happens for a reason” is a lie, and it misrepresents the promise of God.
God never promised to make our lives easy, or happy, or even mildly pleasant. Let me suggest a believer’s question shouldn’t be Why? or Why me?
The believer’s question should be How?
God’s promise isn’t to manipulate circumstances or to protect us from life’s horrible experiences. His promise is to walk beside us, and to work it for our good! Here’s the promise from the Scripture we can trust when life slaps us in the face:
28 We know that God works all things together for good for the ones who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose.
So “Why?” is the wrong question to ask!
In the midst of tragedies and disappointments, we should be asking God “How?”
How, God, will you work this to my good?
How will this horrible experience benefit the people who love you?
How will life look a year … 5 years … 10 years from now?
And remember that God is not obligated to show you the whole picture ... and he rarely does. He usually shows just the next step.
So, a good partner to “How?” is “What’s next?”
You see, we’re tempted to ask why something happened to us. When we don’t get an immediate answer, our happiness disappears and runs further away the longer we wait for an answer we’ll never get.
When we shift our thinking to how God’s working our sorrow, hurt, and anxiety into good for us and for all believers, the sadness is less overwhelming. Since happiness is external and it’s temporary, we will certainly lose our happiness from time-to-time.
Where Is Joy?
Where Is Joy?
We celebrate the birth of Christ because he offers to plant God’s unending joy within us. Even when we lose happiness, we can find our strength, our identity … our JOY in the God who loves us and lives within us.
Where is the joy?
It’s found in Him … so it’s inside us. Has been all along. Perhaps we've been looking for it in the wrong places.