This week, the third week of Advent, Pastor Jonny came and spoke to us about joy.
Christmas is a season of expectations. If you lack expectation from Jesus, press into Him and expect more from Him.
8One day Zechariah was serving God in the Temple, for his order was on duty that week. 9As was the custom of the priests, he was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and burn incense. 10While the incense was being burned, a great crowd stood outside, praying.
11While Zechariah was in the sanctuary, an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the incense altar. 12Zechariah was shaken and overwhelmed with fear when he saw him. 13But the angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Zechariah! God has heard your prayer. Your wife, Elizabeth, will give you a son, and you are to name him John. 14You will have great joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth,
(Luke 2:8-14)
Joy comes from a Saviour. Joy is not found in happiness, it’s found in hope. We can have a seemingly-perfect life, but it can lack joy. If we have nothing to look forward to, no sustaining hope, we will not have joy within us, burning like a candle through both good and bad times. Peace is not found in the absence of problems but the presence of God
When the angels surrounded the shepherds on the night of Christ’s birth, they told the men, “Do not be afraid”. They didn’t say that to comfort the shepherds, but to make sure they were in their right minds. Shock and fear are high emotions, and when we are high in emotion, we are low in intelligence.
The angels didn’t want the shepherds to miss the point. "Jesus is here, joy is here, a Saviour is born!"
Jesus came to put us in right community with God and each other. We are relational beings. COVID-19 lockdowns attempt to take the community interaction out of life, which depresses us, because God did not design humans to live in lockdown or isolation. Society is not very happy at the moment.
But joy is not happiness.
Seeking happiness makes us strive for happiness, which means anything that makes us happy is right and anything unhappy is wrong. This leads to a mindset where we seek comfort and material blessings and stop believing that God will ever give us trials. God does not want us to pursue happiness, He wants us to pursue Him.
Joy either refers to the Lord or it refers to salvation which is found in the Lord.
We have a hope of salvation and a hope of being loved, accepted and finding community in Christ. A hope of eternity in glory.
If you search for joy, you need to search for hope. If you search for hope you need to search for Jesus. Jesus then lived a holy life, not necessarily a happy life. We always train our children up to be healthy and happy, but perhaps we should strive to teach holiness instead. We are called to die to our old way of living and die to ourselves. Jesus wasn’t “living his best life”, but someone who was a “man of sorrows” living holy and purposeful.
If it isn’t happiness we are called to chase, then we are called to pursue hope in our Saviour!
Joy is an attitude we can choose because we can choose to follow Jesus and Jesus brings joy.
Paul suffered a lot and was even in prison when he said he was going to pursue joy. He wouldn’t have been very happy or healthy when in prison, but was certainly joyful. He writes in Philippians that he has the joy in the Lord.
Joy becomes the reasonable response even in the darkest of circumstances. Not bubbly happiness, but an inner joy that is sustaining and deep.
Let your joy be found in Jesus this Christmas.