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.
Fact three – You are in control of where you are going. You cannot change where you’ve been but you can control where you are going.
As a matter of fact, you are going to be changing in the next 20 minutes or so. I know this because I am going to ask you to take a look at your life and see if there is anything that needs to change.
Remember, you are in control of where you are going.
Joy is something that can be experienced by anyone. Your gender or your age has nothing to do with the fact that you can be joyful or grumpy.
Joy is the emotion that is evoked when we experience things that bring pleasure or delight to us.
What should bring joy to a person who has made a commitment to God through Jesus Christ?
1. There is joy in salvation and being a child of God.
David begged God to restore to him the joy of Your salvation in Psalm 51:12.
The Apostle Paul spoke of the joy we have in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. Romans 5:11.
He also said in Philippians 4:4 “rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice.”
Joy should be as normal for a believer as air is to breathe because through Jesus Christ we have been given the greatest opportunity that any living person could ever have, the chance for eternal life.
Because of what Jesus did for us we should have joy. We should not have joy because we are succeeding in business or because we are popular or any other reason because our joy should not be dependent upon our circumstances.
Why are people grumpy? People are grumpy because they are not looking at the real reason for their joy. One pastor said it this way, “A believer’s spiritual maturity can be measured by what it takes to steal their joy.”
2. There is joy in true Christian fellowship.
Christian fellowship brought joy to the Apostle Paul. He states this fact in Philippians 2:1-2, “Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.”
Christians today have a misunderstanding when it comes to fellowship. Today when we mention fellowship everyone starts thinking about food.
Christian fellowship occurs when two or more Christians are in one another's company.
The dictionary defines fellowship as "friendly association with others; companionship." Christian fellowship, then, involves friendly association with other Christians. It means you choose Christians to be your companions.
Why would we want to choose Christians to hang with? We choose Christians because it is natural for us to be around people who think like we think.
Paul said, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? And what fellowship can light have with darkness?”
2 Corinthians 6:14 NIV
When you have a friendship that is based on things that you have in common the light that Paul talks about can only get brighter.
Christian fellowship is essential for our growth. Rick Warren says, "The entire Bible is the story of God building a family who will love Him, honor Him, and reign with Him forever."
As a child, you needed your family to help you grow. You needed a mother to nurture you, a dad to show you how to ride your bike without falling down.
As a believer, you need mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters in Christ, to teach you how to love as God loves.
And here is some thing that can help us all and that is that we are all sailors in the same boat, figuring out life together. So we can help spur one another on to bigger and better things.
3. There is joy in Christian ministry.
The Apostle Paul is arguably the best minister of Christ to walk the earth.
He was determined to do the best he can as he spread the Gospel message to everyone he came in contact with, because fulfilling this purpose brought joy to Paul.
And see, now I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me. But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.
Acts 20:22-24
Later on in that same chapter Paul admonishes the church to take heed of his words.
We are to take seriously the calling that God has placed on each of our lives and to fulfill it with all joy.
When we share the good news with others by word and by our lives it should bring joy to us because we are fulfilling the very things Christ wants us to accomplish, we are bringing others closer to God, making disciples, and serving each other.
4. There is also joy in suffering.
I stated earlier, “A believer’s spiritual maturity can be measured by what it takes to steal their joy.” This applies here as well.
Who ever said that we will not ever experience suffering has not read the Word of God.
Jesus taught us in Matthew 5:45 that it rains on the just and the unjust. The fact is, that because of sin bad things are going to happen in this world, what should set the children of God apart from the rest of the world is how we react when suffering comes.
The Apostle Peter clearly explained how we can find joy in suffering when he wrote the following in 1 Peter.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 1 Peter 1:3-9
You may never know by the look on some Christians faces but God wants us to be happy!
God wants all of us to enjoy His physical and spiritual blessings that He freely offers us.
He wants us to live positive, happy, and praise filled lives even though we may have to go through things that bum us out.
Because when we can go through a trial and not allow that thing to steal our joy we will be able to stand before God one day and hear Him say, “Well done!”
The choice is ours. We can be grumpy people or we can be people who are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.
If we remember where our joy comes from, we will never run out of it.
Joy comes from God.
Choose joy.
Jesus said in John 15:11, “I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”
May our joy be complete today. Joy video.
CLOSE with communion.
As we prepare for communion, would you take this time to examine yourselves today?
