Dr. Bradford Reaves
Crossway Christian Fellowship
Hagerstown, MD?
www.mycrossway.org
Watch this message at: https://mycrossway.churchcenter.com/episodes/171848
It can be easy to get lost in all the gifts, decorations, and parties and miss the central focus of Christmas. Jesus was born to bring the gifts of hope, peace, joy, and love, and that is the real reason for this season. The first week we learned we are offered hope in the middle of our circumstances because of God’s faithfulness. Last week, we looked at the wonderful gift of peace that Jesus’s sacrifice makes available to us. We are made right with God, ourselves, and others because of Christ. This week, I want to introduce one more piece of the heart of Christmas: a joy that is ours no matter the circumstances or situations we are facing in life.
Which one of these scenarios would bring you the most joy? Are you ready? If this would make you joyful, stand up. If not, stay seated. [INCLUDE GRAPHICS]
1.) You go through the drive-thru of your favorite coffee shop, order your triple-shot, soy, peppermint mocha, with whip and discover the car in front of you paid for it.
2.)You wake up Christmas morning and find that it snowed four inches overnight. Now have to shovel it.
3.) Your child or grandchild makes you some Christmas cookies and a homemade card
4.) You water your Christmas tree enough so it doesn’t become dry and crispy and drop needles all over your floor. (This illustration needs to introduce the idea that our joy often is connected to our circumstances.)
Maybe some of you saw these situations as reasons for joy. This week’s sermon is so important because, for many of us, our joy is reflective of this illustration. Our joy in life is largely connected to the circumstances in our lives. When things are going well, we feel good. When things are going poorly, we feel bad. Our joy ebbs and flows. But for the believer, Jesus came so that our joy would not fluctuate with our circumstances, but could remain steady as we fix our eyes and hearts on Him.
There is a difference between happiness and joy. Happiness is based on circumstances. It is fleeting. Expensive gifts and good food and parties and celebrations and Christmas lights can bring happiness. But they are only temporary.
Joy comes from within. It transcends what happens to us. Good things that God blesses us with that cause our joy to swell in our hearts. Like the ocean. Have you ever been on the ocean when there are swells from a storm? Large sections of the water rise up and burst off the side of the boat. It is amazing and you are in awe of the sense of power.
Joy has the same capacity if not more so. It swells when God pours out His blessings on you. It overflows onto others. It spills out of your heart in showers of praise and gratitude. Yet, while happiness is often fleeting and disappears when circumstances change, joy remains constant even in the darkest times. Joy is there while happiness has run away.
This is the joy of Jesus. This is what Christ brings to us when he comes. It is the joy of forgiveness. It is the joy of grace. It is the joy of love. It is the joy of mercy.
Matthew and Luke record Jesus’ birth from similar perspectives. As John began his gospel letter, he gave a different perspective on the birth of Jesus. Rather than tell us his iteration with the shepherds, magi, and manger, he gave us a big-picture explanation of what took place in Bethlehem. What John wrote is a cause for joy no matter what we face in life.
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)
What John described is known as the incarnation. Coming from the Latin word carne, which means flesh, the incarnation was God putting skin on and becoming one of us. Verse 14 says the Word became flesh. He is called the Word (the Logos) because he perfectly embodies all of Scripture in human flesh. When Jesus was born in the manger, he was Immanuel, God coming to live among us.
This passage gives us two reasons for joy that does not have to change with the seasons or shift with our situations. It can be a constant in our lives and a grounding attitude in the face of all the world has to offer.
WE CAN HAVE JOY BECAUSE GOD CAME TO US
A common misconception people carry around with them is that to be reunited with God in the right relationship with him, we must earn His acceptance through good works. One of the greatest joy robbers in our lives is thinking we can never be good enough. We are broken and flawed people who hurt others, we make mistakes, and we live selfish lives. If we are relying on our abilities to earn a connection with God, we will always be disappointed.
In Discipleship Journal, Paul Thigpen wrote about an encounter with his daughter. “I remember coming home one afternoon to discover that the kitchen I had worked so hard to clean only a few hours before, was now a terrible wreck. My young daughter had obviously been busy ‘cooking’ and the ingredients were scattered, along with dirty bowls and utensils, across the counters and floor. I was not happy with the situation. Then, as I looked a little more closely at the mess I spied a tiny note on the table, clumsily written and smeared with chocolaty fingerprints. The message was short—‘I’m making something 4 you, dad’—and it was signed, ‘your angel.’ In the midst of that disarray (and mess), and despite my irritation, joy suddenly sprang up in my heart, sweet and pure. My attention had been redirected from the problem to the little girl I loved. As I encountered her in that brief note, I delighted in her. With her simple goodness in focus, I could take pleasure in seeing her hand at work in the situation that seemed otherwise disastrous.”
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The same is true for our joy in God. God is a work in our lives, even when we don’t see it. Many times life can look like a messy disaster from our perspective. It can be hard for us to find a reason for joy in our circumstances; however, if we look closely, we might see God coming near to us like he did that first Christmas night to let us know he is making something of our lives when we are tempted to feel hopeless.
"Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith brings about perseverance." (James 1:2–3 LSB)
Joy is at the heart of Christmas because knowing that we could never make it to him, God came to us. The Greek word means inner gladness, a deep pleasure that comes from an inner assurance and confidence that God does all things for His good purposes. Joy is not gushed; joy is not jolliness. Joy is just perfect acquiescence in God's will because the soul delights itself in God Himself. Christianity is the only religion in the world where the deity does what is necessary to unite humanity. Paul emphatically makes this statement in the book of Romans as he insists we can be saved through Jesus.
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
Simply stated, the Christian faith reminds us that our fundamental problem is not moral, but rather spiritual. It is not just that we are immoral, but that a moral life alone cannot bridge what separates us from God. Herein lies the cardinal difference between religion and what Jesus offers to man. Jesus does not offer to make bad people good, but to make dead people alive. Thus, Christianity answers the questions every man desires to answer: Who is God? Why am I here? What is my purpose? What will happen when I die?
"O taste and see that Yahweh is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!" (Psalm 34:8 LSB)
"In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand, there are pleasures forever. (Psalm 16:11 LSB)
When Moses came to Pharoah, he demanded Pharoah to release the enslaved Hebrews, not on a moral demand, but a spiritual demand. Exodus 8:1 “Let My people go, that they may serve Me.” After they were finally released, they were led through the desert to enter the promised land. Had they never been led through the desert, they would not have come into Caanan. In that journey, there were trials, refining, and deliverance from the enslavement of Egypt; not just physical enslavement, but also spiritual enslavement.
So it is with the believer. We all want to get to Canaan, but without going through the wilderness. The truth is, that we need time in the wilderness to prepare us for Canaan. That’s why James tells us to be joyful in the trials and Paul tells us that our salvation was worked out before we even had an opportunity to do anything to earn it.
For Paul, there is not naughty list and a good list that we have to work hard to escape or earn. The gift of God’s grace is offered to us generously without price because we could never afford it on our own. While we were sinners, Christ died for us. This is why the characters in the Christmas story are so overjoyed—from the shepherds in the field to Simeon at the temple—because the long-awaited arrival of the Messiah meant God had finally come to rescue us.
The second reason joy can be a constant reality for us in our lives is because of how much God loves us and is committed to our transformation through His power.
GOD LOVES US JUST AS WE ARE AND TOO MUCH TO LEAVE US THAT WAY
Looking further in John chapter one we find the author telling his readers that it is through Jesus that we see the glory and fullness of God. His arrival among us should fill us with joy because not only did God come close to us, but He came because he loves us.
Do you realize that you are loved by God? Not just tolerated or put up with but loved with agape love. Deeply loved. In fact, John says this love that God has for us is like that of a father for his children. Jesus came from the Father full of grace and truth.?
This is key to understanding our second reason for abiding joy. When Jesus came to us, he came full of grace. This grace that John writes about is the Greek word charis, which means favor, kindness, or a gift of blessing. Like a wrapped gift shared from one to another can bring joy to our hearts, so this gift of Jesus is grace from God. We haven’t earned it. We don’t deserve it. But God offers it to us, and when we recognize it, it fills us with joy. God loves us just the way we are!
Jesus also came full of truth. The word John uses here is the word Aletheia, which means divine reality revealed to man or straightforwardness. Jesus holds grace in one hand that allows us to be accepted into his family, and on the other hand, he holds truth that shows us the areas of our lives that must be transformed to live the fullest life possible.
The book of I John expounds upon this idea as well. 1 John 4:9 “9 By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.” The reason Jesus came to us and manifested his love among us is that he desires for us to find incredible joy in him. In order for this to happen, it requires a gift of truth and grace. It is the most loving thing to do for another—to embrace with full acceptance and humble truth-telling.
JOY IS A RESULT OF GRACE
Grace is a word that shows up in the church a lot, but that is because it is the way in which we are able to live with joy. As a father, I feel like I can identify with these passages and how grace and truth lead to joy.
Story: Bud, I love you. This can never happen again, but I am thankful you have the opportunity to learn this lesson now and not later when the stakes are higher.” He looked at me through tear-soaked eyes and said, “I really thought you would be angry about this.” I looked at him and said, “I am showing you grace. Out of my love for you, I forgive you. And out of my love for you, I am telling you that you can change as you go forward.” He looked out the window and a smile came across his face as he wiped his tears. “Thanks, dad. I won’t do it again,”
Our heavenly Father sent Jesus to a manger in Bethlehem because He wanted to dwell among us to demonstrate his amazing grace and life-changing truth. We can experience joy in our lives no matter the circumstances because we can be confident in knowing that God is with us, and God is for us.
Conclusion
Charles Spurgeon said, “There is a marvelous medicinal power in joy. Most medicines are distasteful; but this, which is the best of all medicines, is sweet to the taste, and comforting to the heart. This blessed joy is very contagious. One dolorous spirit brings a kind of plague into the house; one person who is wretched seems to stop all the birds from singing wherever he goes . . . [But] the grace of joy is contagious. Holy joy will oil the wheels of your life’s machinery. Holy joy will strengthen you for your daily labor. Holy joy will beautify you and give you an influence over the lives of others.”
“Joy is like the hidden note in the glass. Joy is tuning in to what God is doing around you, seeing the world through his eyes, picking up on his delight in us as his children. Anyone can find happiness for a while… Happiness depends on what is happening to you. Joy is different; joy goes deeper. Joy is when your whole being sings because you have caught a glimpse of God at work. Joy can creep up on you and surprise you in unexpected places.”
This Christmas may you come to find at the heart of this holiday a deep and abiding joy because of the love of God and the sacrifice of Jesus. It holds the power to change us and to change the world.
