Grumpy Or Joyful

Have you ever met any grumpy people? Don’t say any names out loud!

I would imagine that every one of us have seen them from time to time.

A grumpy person sees everything in a negative light.

They only see the bad in life.

They only see the imperfections of others.

They are overly critical of everything.

They are always sarcastic.

They are discontent.

They are easily irritated.

They like to share information with others that expose weakness.

They are fussy, finicky, and hard to please.

They are crabby, cranky, and cross.

Being grumpy means an absence of joy.

I am sure that we have all seen people like this.

Have you ever seen grumpy people in church?

How could we have grumpy people in the church? After all, isn’t the church all about the Good News?

It is not about the bad news or the critical news. The Good News is that God sent Jesus to die for our sins and because of that act we have the promise of eternal life in heaven.

That is some really good news and yet all across the world in the church we find grumpy Christians.

Now please, don’t get me wrong. I am not accusing anyone of being a grumpy Christian. I am not your judge.

What I do want to do today is have you to determine whether or not you are a grumpy Christian because only you can determine that for sure.

We can only see the out side product of you but there are really only 2 who know the real you and that is you and God.

Does this make you feel a little uncomfortable today?

Let me assure you that you do not have to share your findings with anyone except God.

Why is this so important that we need to do this?

At the end of the service we are going to be participating in communion. The Apostle Paul gave us some guidelines for when we have communion, one of those guidelines was for us to examine ourselves before we participate in the sharing of communion.

PRAYER

Father, open my eyes to see Your Word.

Open my ears to hear.

Open my mind to understand.

And open my heart so I may receive Your Word today.

AMEN

What does a grumpy Christian look like? Show video, Trading faces.

I don’t think any of us want to be like those people in that video. At least I hope not!

I wonder how many times that really happens? I can remember my dad honking the horn on Sunday mornings waiting for mom and us kids!

Is joy something that we as Christians should turn on and off?

Probably not.

The word joy is used almost 250 times in the Bible.

Joy is a state of happiness when we are in communion with God, which leads to gladness, and delight.

It is a central characteristic of our faith and a proclamation of the saving power of God.

Paul encourages us in 1 Thessalonians 5:16 “Be joyful always;”

In Romans Paul tells us that we have peace and joy though our commitment to Christ.

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; Romans 5:1-3

It is clear that as Christians we are supposed to have joy in our lives. So how do we get joy into our lives?

Before we get to that, let’s first determine whether or not we are grumpy people.

On the back of your handout are 10 questions that need a yes or no answer. If you have not filled them out yet, please take a few minutes and do so right now. Please be honest when answering the questions and remember that you don’t have to share the answers with anyone. WAIT A FEW MINUTES

If you answered all ten with a yes, you are an extremely grumpy person. The less you answered yes means the more joy you have in your life. If you answered no to all the questions then you are an extremely joyful person.

Please don’t be alarmed if you found out that you are a grumpy person.

None of us are perfect! And the cool thing is God uses imperfect people like you and me to do His perfect will.

There are three facts about everyone who is listening to this sermon:

Fact one – You are what you are. You are an individual. You are you.

Fact two – You are becoming what you are going to become. You are becoming better or worse, stronger or weaker, growing in your faith or not, you are becoming.