Joy appears in the opening pages of the New Testament…joy begins even before the birth of Jesus when God tells Zechariah…John the Baptist’s father…that:
Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son…and you will have joy and gladness [Luke 1:13].
When Jesus was born an angel appeared to the shepherds and declared, I bring you good news of great joy [Luke 2:10].
After His resurrection and before His ascension back into heaven the disciples:
worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy [Luke 24:52].
So, even before Jesus’ birth and throughout His ministry, joy was clearly evident.
This morning we’re continuing on in our Advent series…having already lit the candle of prophecy and the Bethlehem candle …this morning we lit the third of five candles as we work our way around the Advent wreath.
You may have noticed that this candle is a different color from the other three… there are three purple candles around the outside of the wreath and one pink candle…the third pink candle symbolizes joy.
Pink is the liturgical color for joy…the third Sunday of Advent is Gaudete (gau da ta) Sunday and celebrates the joy of Christ’s coming to earth.
This candle is also known as the shepherd’s candle…it reflects the joy that the shepherds enjoyed on that first Christmas day at Jesus’ arrival.
It is meant to remind us of the ‘already, but not yet’ …because Advent is about expectations when the Old Testament saints waited expectantly for the coming of the Messiah that occurred when God came to earth in the form of a human on that first Christmas day…that is the already part.
The ‘not yet’ part is the time we’re living in now…standing between the first and second advent…an equally important time when we are waiting expectantly on the second coming of the Lord…that’s the not yet part.
It’s appropriate at Christmas time that we sing “Joy to the World” …a song written by Isaac Watts in 1719.
What is interesting about this song is that it was not intended to be a Christmas carol…in its original form, it had nothing to do with Christmas…it wasn’t even written to be a song.
Watts often paraphrased the Psalms …and “Joy to the World” was inspired by his study of Psalm 98…what’s interesting about this Christmas song is the only stanza that is even related to Christmas in the whole song is in the first one that announces ”the Lord is come” …other than that there is no mention of
…Mary or Joseph …the angels …or the Shepherds…the manger …the Wise Men
yet, it is one of our most beloved Christmas carols because it really captures the essence of Christmas, which is joy.
But just like with the other two Advent themes…hope…and peace…there is a conflict with joy.
With respect to ‘hope’ …some use the word hope as a way of expressing wishful thinking…that’s worldly hope…having a desire for a certain thing to happen but having no control over whether or not it will actually happen.
Whereas Biblical hope is not just a desire for something to happen…it expects it to happen…Biblical hope is the confident expectation that something will happen.
With respect to peace…worldly peace is thought of as the absence of conflict but Biblical peace its more than just the absence of conflict…it’s taking action to restore a broken situation.
In Jesus’ coming to earth and His subsequent death, God took the action to restore the broken fellowship between Himself and man.
since we have been justified through faith, we have Peace with God… [Romans 5:1]
So, all three Advent themes…hope…peace…and joy are all closely related… this morning we’re talking about the ‘joy’ portion of the Advent season.
BUT…Just like with worldly hope and worldly peace…there’s a difference between Godly joy and worldly happiness.
Biblical joy is different than what most people think of as joy…it is not just a happy emotion that we either feel or don’t feel…it’s a state of being that finds its source in God.
One of the obvious differences between happiness and joy is that worldly happiness tends to be externally based on things that are superficial.
Here’s what researchers have found that affects worldly happiness:
…how much money you have
…what kind of job you have
…what kind of car you drive
…what kind of house you live in
…what kind of friends you have
BUT…with all those things that contribute to happiness…it’s obvious worldly happiness is temporary…it is an outward expression that is dependent on external factors.
When the source of worldly happiness is gone the search begins for a new source…a new thrill…a new desire…happiness is gone because happiness is dependent upon external things.
Happiness focuses on what is happening at the time…for many, happiness is nothing more than a temporary interruption to boredom.
It can be present for weeks and be gone in an instant…when:
…you don’t have money
…you don’t have a job
…you become homeless
…you lose your car
…your friends
…your loved ones forsake you
…when things get rough
It’s important to remember that the joy we have in Christ is not seasonal or situational.
For Christians…we can experience happiness even during difficult times…the Bible speaks about something that is often confused with worldly happiness …Biblical joy.
The kind of JOY the Bible talks about goes much deeper than mere happiness… Godly joy doesn’t depend on what’s happening.
Biblical joy is an inner sense of well-being despite the circumstances you’re experiencing.
Today we are living in a world where people are searching for joy in their lives …so the question is: How can I find joy?
Here’s the joy God’s peace produces…you can have joy even in difficult situations…everything doesn’t have to be right in your life for you to experience joy.
God’s peace gives you the ability to endure difficult situations…HOW? because it pushes through all the disturbing circumstances that life can throw at you.
The benefit of joy is that you can rise above the trials and tribulations of life and still find reasons to have joy in your life…whereas happiness can vanish during difficult times.
God is not working to make us happy…BUT…to fulfill His purpose…the joy God gives is an inner peace knowing you’re in God’s will even during difficult times…because you know He is aware of every situation in your life.
In fact Scripture says to consider it all joy when you encounter difficult situations because at times it just might be God who is putting you in those situations.
Something Christians have a difficult time in understanding is that…as a Christian you belong to God and He will use you to fulfill His purpose in the world…that is why…
God will put people…situations…and circumstances…in your life…that on the surface seem to be troublesome…BUT…so you can be of service to Him.
Talked last week about Mary and Joseph…a 12-year-old child who finds herself pregnant…who travels 90 miles on the back of a donkey to give birth in a barn… then after the baby’s born has to move away from her parents…her family and friends and live in Egypt.
We make a terrible error in our concept of Christianity when we believe that God makes life easy when we are in His will…that if we’re in God’s will everything will be just fine…that life will be without trials or difficulty.
Read a secular article that attempted to explain why difficult situations continue to happen to you that rob you of your joy.
The first explanation is you’ve just been unlucky.
We can take great comfort in the fact that God knows what He’s doing…that means there’s no such thing as luck…being in the right place at the right time… no such thing as wishing ‘on’ or ‘for’ something …if you’re a Christian… everything that happens to you, good or bad, must pass through God’s fingers first and…here’s the KEY:
Why does God at times put you in a situation that discourages you and hinders your joy? Because God uses everything that happens to us to accomplish his purpose.
With God nothing is wasted…have you ever found yourself in a season of life that feels like a waste…it seems that life has no purpose…that all you’re doing is just existing… from your vantage point life is utterly useless…just wasting your time?
God will take the things in our lives that seem to be waste and turn them into something useful…even beneficial.
There is value in every piece of our lives…the losses…the failures…the missed opportunities…the disappointments…they can all be turned into something helpful if we give them to God because nothing is wasted…He uses them all.
AGAIN…That was true for Mary and Joseph…nothing was wasted—the sequence of events that unfolded—the census…the long journey…no room at the inn…the “no crib for a bed” …she laid Him in a feeding trough…all of it was planned by God…it was all part of God’s plan.
The second explanation why difficult situations continue to happen to you that robs you of your joy is: you’re making the same mistakes again and again because at times we’re just not learning the lesson.
Rather than owning up to our mistakes and learning from them…we tend to invent new explanations as to why we repeat the same mistakes which are nothing more than excuses to justify our actions.
Let me say this…that is an easy explanation as to why we do at times make the same mistakes…we’re just not learning the lesson…but I also realize that can be an oversimplification because there are other factors that influence our decisions.
Mental health issues can have a strong influence in our ability to make good decisions…low self-esteem…anxiety…depressions…adult ADHD…and personality disorders can all influence us in repeating the same old problematic behavior again and again that can rob us from making good decisions.
https://www.aconsciousrethink.com/10822/bad-things-keep-happening/
The kind of JOY the Bible describes can’t be found in possessions or entertainment or even in looking deeply into your inner self…it doesn’t depend on good circumstances.
(Romans 15:13). May the God of hope fill you with all joy…we cannot will ourselves to experience joy…real joy…not just being happy…comes from God alone…knowing that you are in the center of His will.
(Galatians 5:22) Joy is a fruit of the Spirit…The more time we spend with God the more joy we experience…true joy only comes from God.
(John 16:22) No one can take God’s joy from us. Joy is not lost…it’s stolen.
HOW…disobedience is one of the most common ways the enemy steals our joy how’s he do that?…deceiving you into believing that disobedience isn’t a big deal.
In our permissive society people are afraid to take a stand…because of the idea that Biblical authority is synonymous with being judgmental and legalistic…we have an entire generation that believes obedience is a suggestion to adhere to rules and laws that will rob me of my freedom of choice.
This culture of rebellion has crept into the church…suddenly God’s laws are no longer the standard even for Christians…and the Bible is seen as an evolving document subject to culture norms and practices where sin is so minimized that we no longer see sin as a cause that destroys our fellowship with God.
If we want to live in the joy of the Lord…we must purpose in our hearts to live in obedience to God every day.
One of the things people love about Christmas is that it truly is a joyful season.
All season long we celebrate with music…lights…decorations…getting together with family and friends…sharing Christmas dinner… watching Hallmark Christmas movies…going to Christmas eve service…not to mention the exchanging of gifts…it is a joyful time of the year.
But…the world hijacks the true joy of Christmas because when you come right down to it the real joy at Christmas doesn’t come from the lights…the decorations…the music…or presents…but from the meaning of Christmas.
At the heart of Christmas is the astoundingly good news that Jesus was born as The Savior of this world…from the beginning to end the Christmas story is punctuated with outbursts of joy.
They all center around the birth of Christ…you can’t get away from it…you can’t get around it…you can’t spell Christmas without Christ…and you can’t enter into the true joy of the season without Jesus.
Joy is not produced by humans…we can all feel happiness, but true joy can only be experienced and produced when we are connected to God and His Holy Spirit…actually, it is one of the “fruits” or outward signs produced by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
LOVE, JOY, PEACE, PATIENCE, KINDNESS, GOODNESS, GENTLENESS, FAITHFULNESS, AND SELF-CONTROL. Ga.5:22-23
Christmas can now be about anything you want it to be…it can be about family …friends…presents…parties…shopping…Santa Clause…hot chocolate, anything you want it to be.
BUT…Let me urge you this year to take another look at Christmas…look at it again with fresh eyes….look past the commercialization…the presents…parties …shopping…and Santa Clause and listen to the message of hope… peace…and joy…then you will know what Christmas is all about.
For the Christian, Christmas is a joyous time of the year knowing that we are His children and that one day Heaven will be our home.
That is a gift and promise we can all look forward to…SO this year look at Christmas in a new way…and if you have never done so…this year invite Jesus into your heart…the joy and peace you receive will last all year long.
The first line in “Joy to the World” sums it up…there is one reason and only one that we can find JOY in this world…we have joy because The Lord has come!