The Fruits of the Spirit: Joy

We move today to the second fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23: Joy.

I will begin by letting you know that this is a fruit of the Spirit that I, myself struggle with.  I mean, I truly do want to be joyful.  I want joy to ooze out of all my pores.  I’ve encountered people who are full of joy, and they are a wonder to behold.  Perhaps you have met such a person before in your lifetime.  I am reminded of the story I heard about a man who was admitted to the hospital with a very serious illness.  After several days, one of the nurses wrote on his report, “This man suffers from too much joy given the circumstances around his illness.”  The world is bewildered by such joy.  Oftentimes, so am I.

Jesus once told the story of a woman who lost a single coin in her home.  The coin was a drachma, or the equivalent of one day’s wage.  She was probably rather poor since she had to light a lamp to try and find the coin–this means the house she lived in had no windows.  She swept the floor trying desperately to hear the clink the coin would make when hit.  In every nook and cranny she swept and looked until her efforts were rewarded.  She found the coin!  Now, here is where things get interesting.  Here is where things take a head-scratching turn.  The woman is so excited; she is filled to the nth degree by happiness.  She is so filled with this happiness, she calls all her neighbors to come and celebrate with her.  The nuances suggest that she literally throws a party for her neighbors to celebrate her finding this coin, and I guarantee you, the refreshments for that party cost her more than the coin she found.  Such was her joy.

Now, you see, I’ve got an awful lot of German blood running through my veins.  We Germans are not necessarily known for being demonstrative people.  Neither are we necessarily known for being lavish in our expenditures.  If I would have been the one who found that coin, yes, I would have been glad.  Yes, I might have been a bit excited, but probably I would have been more relieved.  I would have stuck that coin in my pocket and gone about my daily affairs.  I might have told my wife about it, but there would have been no dancing; no celebrating; no feasting or what have you.  I certainly would not have spent the coin to have a party in celebration. The response would have been quite different.  Why?

Oh, I have been thinking about that all week!  I have been mulling it over and over and over in my brain trying to wrap my head around this problem of joy.  And here are a few thoughts that have seemed to have settled.

First, I came to understand the difference between happiness and joy.  Happiness is a sort of fleeting thing.  It is dependent upon our surrounding circumstances.  It can come and go in a matter of moments.  Watch how it happens.

A pastor had just begun serving his congregation and had only been there a few weeks.  After worship one Sunday, an elderly woman approached him and said, “I’m deaf, and I can’t hear a word you say, but I still come to get my plate full.”  Hoping to console her, the pastor said, “Well, maybe you haven’t missed much.”  She replied, “Yes, that’s what they all tell me.”

As you laugh and smirk, please know that right now, you are experiencing happiness.

Now, did you know that in the next minute 14 people will die of preventable hunger?  And suddenly, your happiness is gone.

See how fleeting happiness can be?  See how it can be there one second, and then the next, it vanishes?  Joy is something different.  Joy is something that happens even when our external circumstances change.

A nine year old girl was diagnosed with leukemia, and she was given six months to live.  As the doctor told her parents the diagnosis outside the hospital room, she overheard his words.  However, she didn’t fully understand her condition.  To everyone’s surprise, her faith in Christ gave her an attitude of victory.  She talked freely and with hopeful anticipation about her death.  As she grew weaker, her joy became more radiant.  One day, before going into the final coma, she said to her family, “I am going to be the first to see Jesus!  What would you like me to tell him for you?’

That’s joy!  That’s something spectacular.  That’s something that comes from way down deep within a person–a person who has had their lives touched by the hand of God; a person who has experienced the transformation that the grace of God can bring.

Peter talks about this transformation in his book 1 Peter.  In fact, his opening words describe this transformation that leads to joy.  “3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

Those of you who were here last week know that I started off my sermon series on the fruits of the Spirit by talking about how Scripture compares us to fruit trees–fruit trees that have a rotten core.  That rotten core taints everything about us including the fruit that we produce.  Peter begins with telling us that we have experienced a new birth.  We are made new.  We know where this new birth happens.  It happens on the cross when Jesus takes our sin upon himself.  When Jesus who was spotless and blameless before God becomes sin–He literally takes your sin out of you and takes it into himself so that he can pay the penalty for your sins.  And then in a wondrous exchange, Jesus gives you His righteousness; he gives you his blamelessness; He gives you his spotlessness.  You who were once tainted and sinful are now clothed with Jesus able to stand before God without condemnation.  Your status is changed from someone who deserves God’s judgement to beloved child of God.

And since we are now children of God, we becomes heirs to the promises of God.  This means whatever happens to Jesus happens to us, and Peter is quick to point out what that entails as he looks at the resurrection and says, “This is the hope that we all share.  It is a living hope that envelops us right here and right now and helps us to understand that God has prepared for us “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.”  Since Jesus has been raised from the dead, we too will be raised from the dead.  Since Jesus’ unjust suffering and pain has been transformed into glory, so our suffering and pain will be transformed into glory.  We hold onto and grasp this by faith–we trust that what Jesus said was true.  We trust that what Jesus did on the cross was true.  We do not put our faith in ourselves or in any action that we can possibly do.  Instead, we trust in God and His action.

Peter then follows up with the results of this trust.  Peter then follows up and says, “If you trust in Jesus and His work; if you have faith in God and not yourselves, then ‘6In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, 7so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy 9for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.’” There’s not much I can add to these statements by Peter.  He’s pretty straight forward.  Even if you are in the midst of suffering, you stand on the promises of God.  This suffering is only temporary.  There is more to come.  Even if you are in the midst of trials, you stand on the promises of God.  There is more to come.  Even if you are hurting, you stand on the promises of God.  There is more to come.  There is hope.  A radiant hope.  A lasting hope.  A hope that does not disappoint.

And filled with that hope: filled with the knowledge of what Christ has done; what  Christ is doing; and what Christ will do–we begin to have something happen deep within us.  We begin to experience something that does not allow us to sink into the depths of depression.  Joy prevents us from ever going too low because we know that God is working.  Ah, but on the other hand, joy multiplies our happiness.  It makes us laugh louder.  It makes us sing with reckless abandon.  It makes us celebrate with more merriment.  It is why the woman in the parable was willing to spend more than what the coin she found was worth.  Her joy at finding the coin was worth more than the coin itself, and it demanded to be shared!  That joy made her happiness unbearable–she couldn’t keep it to herself.  She had to share it!

A little boy listened carefully one Sunday as his teacher explained why Christians give presents to each other on Christmas day.  She said, “The gift is an expression of our joy over the birth of Jesus and our friendship for each other.”  When Christmas came, the boy brought the teacher a special seashell.  The teacher asked, “Where did you ever find such a beautiful shell?”  The boy said there was only one spot in a certain bay several miles away where such beautiful shells could be found.  His teacher said, “Why, it’s gorgeous! But you shouldn’t have gone all that way to get a gift for me.”  The little boy smiled and said, “The long walk was part of the gift.”

Oh, and church, does our joy come forth in such a fashion?  Is it overflowing so much that we cannot stand to keep silent?  When we think of all that Jesus has done for us in the cross, and when we think of all that Jesus will do for us as we see the proof of the resurrection, are we filled with a indescribable and glorious joy?  When we see others hurting; when we ourselves are hurting, do we sense hope?  Do we trust that God will turn things around?  Are we willing to live in joyful expectation of these things happening?  And when we hear things that bring us happiness, does that happiness overflow?  Does it erupt?  Does it come bursting forth in song; in praise; in merriment; in fellowship and laughter?  Oh dear church, I struggle with joy probably because I don’t stay focused on Jesus enough.  I don’t keep what Jesus has done and will do for me in my thoughts enough.  Perhaps it is one of the reasons I keep bringing them up Sunday after Sunday after Sunday as I preach.  Not only is it to proclaim them to you, it is also a reminder to me.  For to focus on Jesus and His mighty acts; to focus on Jesus and His glorious promises; changes a heart, and from that changed heart, joy overflows.  May we all produce such joy.  Amen.

Radiating Jesus: Romans 8:1-4

This past week I did a wedding on Wednesday, and it was a very unique  wedding, at least for me. This couple had been trying to get married for a couple years. However each time they tried to get married something would happen. Twice, the groom was arrested.  I kid you not.  And the last time he was arrested, they had already gotten the marriage license. They still wanted to get married, so the bride’s brother was going to stand in for the groom.  I did some checking on that and found that such a practice was illegal unless one of the parties was in the military.  We had to reschedule once again.  The bride in this ceremony had her own set of issues.  We had helped this woman several times through our community care fund by giving her food and paying for her electric bill a couple of times.  But the last time she asked us for assistance, we called the light company and found out that she hadn’t paid her own light bill in over a year.  Someone else had always paid it for her.  We didn’t help her that time, and we haven’t since.   But, she does have a relationship with me, and she wanted me to do her wedding.

And so, Wednesday afternoon, out in Raccoon Bend, I stood at the porch of a dilapidated shack with two people.  One with a long criminal record.  One who had been playing the system for years, and with flea bitten dogs and puppies running around my feet, I presided at their wedding.  It was indeed a unique wedding, but I noticed something at that moment which is generally universal at all weddings.  I looked at the bride and groom as they stood gazing into each other’s eyes.  I looked at them as they made their vows and as they kissed afterward.  And they radiated love for one another.  No matter their past.  No matter the uncertainty of the future, the love that these two people had for one another was undeniable.  You could see it.

Perhaps you have seen such glimpses of this at times.  Perhaps you have seen someone who radiates love and life.  Perhaps you have glimpsed someone who is filled with an otherworldly spirit of hope, and it radiates into all that they say and do.  I have known several people like this, and I marvel at them. It’s one thing to get a glimpse of such a thing at a wedding or some other sort of function, but it is another thing to see someone who lives their life in such a fashion.  I want to spend time with people like that because when I do, I too feel full of hope.  I too feel full of joy.  I too feel full of peace.  And here is the question I want to pose to you this morning: shouldn’t our churches be full of such people?  Shouldn’t we radiate this kind of love, joy, and peace to others?  When folks walk into our buildings and meet us, shouldn’t they come away thinking, “Man, those folks are full of something otherworldly.  They are just different--in a good sort of way.”?

Folks who are like this; churches that are like this are because the Gospel has sunk in.  The Gospel has weaseled its way deep into their hearts and changed them from deep within.  The joy, love, and peace these individuals and churches have are not fleeting moments; they are lasting manifestations because folks have come to know the great love that God has poured out to them when they least deserved it.

Today, we begin Romans Chapter 8.  As I have begun my study of this chapter, one continuing commentary has been front and center.  Over and over I have heard, “Romans 8 is one of the greatest chapters in the entire Bible.”  If verses one through four are any indication, then indeed, the next few weeks will be a thrill ride.

The chapter begins with these words, “There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”  Stop a moment and think about those words.  Know that in the Greek, St. Paul uses some of the strongest possible language in this sentence.  Paul says, if you have been baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ; if you have Him as your representative; if you are joined to Him, then you do not stand condemned.  Nothing you have ever done; nothing you are currently doing; nothing you will ever do will bring condemnation down upon you.  Nothing.  As long as Jesus is your representative; as long as you are in Him, you are right with God.  Those times when you took that extra drink?  No condemnation.  Those times when you lusted after someone who is not your spouse?  No condemnation.  Those people who took their own lives by suicide?  No condemnation.  Those times when you gossiped and lied about others?  No condemnation.  Those times when you thought you were doing everything right only to find that all that you had done was wrong?  No condemnation.  Those times when you held another person in contempt because they didn’t believe the way you believed?  No condemnation.  You are in Jesus Christ.  You are right with God.

Because, as Paul now says, “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.”  Paul means here that because of all those things you once did, and will do, mind you, you deserve condemnation.  You deserve God’s wrath and anger.  If you break a law, you deserve punishment.  If you sin, you deserve to die.  That’s just the cold, hard facts.  But, when you are in Christ Jesus, there is another law that prevails.  There is another court of justice.  There is the law of the Spirit of life.  That doesn’t seem to make much sense until we go onto the next verse.

“Because God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh…”  Now, let’s try and wrap our heads around this for a moment.  What Paul is saying here is that the law could not turn us into good people.  The law could not make us behave.  The law could not change our hearts and make us say, “I’m going to do the right thing because the law told me to do so.”  No.  We saw earlier that whenever the law is given to us, there is something that rebels within us--the power of sin.  That power causes us to do the exact opposite of what we know to be right.  This is how the law was weakened by sinful flesh.  There is nothing wrong with the law, there is something wrong deep within us.  And here is the part that gets fascinating.  At least it’s fascinating to me.  God did what the law could not do by sending Jesus in the likeness of sinful flesh--mind you, Paul does not say that Jesus’ flesh was sinful or that Jesus was sinful.  Jesus came to earth in the flesh.  This is noteworthy because Paul says that Jesus condemned sin in the flesh.  What does that mean?  

It means that Jesus went to war with the power of sin, and he was not corrupted by it.  Whereas we become corrupted by the power of sin, Jesus was not.  Whereas we lose the battle and do what we know we shouldn’t do, Jesus won the battle and did what He was supposed to do.  In so doing, Jesus cornered the power of sin in His flesh; He took sin into His very being, and He condemned it.  He gave it a death blow.  He overcame it.  And he became a sin offering in the process.  I know you didn’t read that in the text that is in your bulletin, but the phrase “and to deal with sin” should probably be translated “became a sin offering.”  This means Jesus offered up himself to atone for our sins--to ensure that justice is served, and, here is where things get really, really cool…

Verse 4, “so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”  Now, if you just read this superficially, you might get the idea that all of a sudden, we will be able to fulfill God’s law perfectly.  We will be able to be perfect people who do everything correctly.  This is a wrong reading.  That’s not what Paul is getting at at all.  No.  In the Greek, the verb be fulfilled is a passive verb.  It is not an active verb.  This means, the fulfillment is not done by us.  The fulfilling of the law is not done by us.  We are powerless to fulfill the law.  There is only one who has fulfilled it.  There is only one who has accomplished it, and that is Jesus.  So, how can Paul then say that it might be fulfilled in us?  How in the world can it be fulfilled in us?  Here’s the cool part.  When we walk by the Spirit; when we have Jesus as our representative; when we are joined to Jesus: there is an interchange that takes place.  One of my commentaries put it this way, “Christ becomes what we are so that we might become what Christ is.”

Listen to that statement again because it sums up what happens when we are in Christ Jesus.  “Christ becomes what we are so that we might become what Christ is.”  Jesus takes on the likeness of sinful flesh, has the power of sin enter into him and try to corrupt Him--in this fashion, He becomes just like us.  But, He defeats sin.  He stays uncorrupted, and then offers Himself up for us as a sin offering.  In so doing, He covers all of our sins.  He makes us right before God, and then He places Himself on and in us through the power of the Spirit.  Jesus puts Himself on you and in you through the power of the Spirit.  

You may say at this point, “Well, that’s all well and good, but how come I don’t feel like Jesus?  How come I don’t have peace and joy and radiate love?  How come I can’t make those things happen in my life when I want them so badly?  I want to be peaceful.  I want to be joyful.  I want to radiate love.  How come I don’t?”

I think the answer is: you are trying to accomplish it yourself.  You are focusing on your actions and what you think you have to do to become joyful; peaceful; and radiate love.  What Paul is trying to convey to us here, I think is this: the answer to living a holy life full of love, peace, and joy is not to try harder.  It’s not to focus on my actions and what I do.  It’s to trust Jesus more; to turn my heart and my head toward Him and what He has done by His death and resurrection; to realize that He fulfilled the law for me; to realize He defeated sin for me; to realize that He won eternal life for me when I least deserved it.  And the more you turn to Him; the more you think about what He did on the cross for you; the more you reflect upon being joined to Him in His death and resurrection; the more and more you will become like Him.  And oftentimes you won’t even realize it because He is the one transforming you from the inside out!  

I have also come to believe what can be said about individuals can also be said about churches.  For years, I was told that a more business model of churches was what was needed to help our congregations grow.  Get a good, solid mission statement.  Implement long range planning.  Make a plan of how to welcome guests and visitors.  Implement a plan for programming so that it will grow along with your congregation.  I’ve seen a lot of congregations implement these things.  I’ve seen a lot of congregations who have the perfect plan for welcoming visitors and guests.  I’ve seen congregations with wonderful long range plans and fantastic mission statements.  And I’ve seen a few of these congregations grow.  Many more remain stagnant and even decline.  Why?  Where is the focus? What are these congregations emphasizing?  They are emphasizing and focusing on what they are supposed to do.  They are trusting in themselves to grow their churches--and for a time it might work.  It did at my previous congregation right up until the time disagreements broke out.  Right up until the time folks began arguing about what programs were right and what programs were wrong.  That is what inevitably happens whenever you focus on what you are supposed to do.  Folks can and do disagree about such things, and oftentimes with just cause.

However, there really is no argument about what God has done for us.  There really is no argument about what Jesus has accomplished for us on the cross.  There really is no argument about how He poured Himself out for us while we were still sinners.  When a church focuses on Jesus and what Jesus has done; when He becomes the full sum and substance of why a church worships, fellowships, teaches, programs, and the like; when Jesus dominates everything and the Gospel permeates the thoughts and minds of a church’s members, the doing comes naturally--because Jesus is transforming us into His image and likeness.  How do we become people who radiate love, peace and joy for more than just a few moments?  How do we become a church that radiates love, peace and joy for more than just a few Sundays?  The answer isn’t do more--it’s remembering that in Christ there is no condemnation because He has become like us and defeated sin and death so that we can become like Him.  Amen.

Good News Drives Away Fear

You know that feeling, don’t you?  That feeling that you get when a DPS Trooper, Sheriff’s Deputy, or Police car starts following you.  You are sitting in the driver’s seat, and your body tenses up.  You look at all the gauges.  You check your speed.  You wonder about your tags.  You wonder about your lights.  Your heart races, and you wonder if lights will suddenly flash and sirens will wail.  If the trooper follows you for any length of time, your symptoms become worse.  The fear starts rising.  Are you in trouble or not?

Take that little bit of fear that you have felt during those times and multiply it by a thousand, and you might get close to what the shepherds were experiencing on that hillside outside of Bethlehem nearly 2000 years ago.  Luke recounts the tale, and we heard it just a few minutes ago, “8 In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.”  English sometimes is a poor conveyor of meaning, and this is one case in point.  The ancient Greek literally reads, “and they feared great fear.”  Whenever Greek uses two of the same words in conjunction like that, it is adding tremendous emphasis.  Terrified might not quite cut what the shepherds were experiencing at that moment.  Perhaps a better word might be–panic.  The shepherds panicked!!

Have you ever wondered why?  Why would the shepherds panic when they saw an angel of the Lord?  I mean we don’t seem to have too much of a problem with angels.  We talk about them showing up from time to time.  We put them on the tops of our Christmas trees.  We dress up kids as angels during our Christmas programs.  We consider them blessings; signs of hope; signs of peace and joy.  We seemingly have no fear of angels.  But these shepherds did.  They panicked when they saw one.  They were absolutely terrified.  Shaking.  Trembling.  Cowering with deep fear.  Have you ever wondered why?

Consider the idea that these shepherds believed that the Day of the Lord was now upon them.  Consider the idea that they believed that the Lord was now coming to judge the world and set up His kingdom.  Now, if you have been raised as a Christian, you might wonder why this is such a bad thing.  Aren’t we hoping for that day?  Aren’t we longing for the day when the Lord will come to make everything right?  Why would this be such a bad thing for those shepherds?  Well, to be blunt, you are looking at this day post-Jesus.  The ancient Jews had a very different understanding of the day of the Lord.  It wasn’t going to be all that bright and shiny.

Consider these important biblical texts regarding the day of the Lord.  These would have been the scriptures read to those shepherds who were on that hillside watching this angel appear to them.

Consider Isaiah 13 verses 6-9, “6 Wail, for the day of the Lord is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty! 7 Therefore all hands will be feeble, and every human heart will fail, 8 and they will be dismayed.  Pangs and agony will seize them; they will be in anguish like a woman in labor.  They will look aghast at one another; their faces will be aflame.  9 See, the day of the Lord comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the earth a desolation, and to destroy its sinners from it.”  Does that sound like a day to look forward to?

Consider Amos chapter 5 verses 18-20, “18 Alas for you who desire the day of the Lord!  Why do you want the day of the Lord?  It is darkness, not light; 19 as if someone fled from a lion, and was met by a bear; or went into the house and rested a hand against the wall, and was bitten by a snake.  20 Is not the day of the Lord darkness, not light, and gloom with no brightness in it?”

One last passage.  Consider Zephaniah chapter 1 verses 14-17, “14 The great day of the Lord is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter, the warrior cries aloud there.  15 That day will be a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness, 16 a day of trumpet blast and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlements.  17 I will bring such distress upon people that they shall walk like the blind; because they have sinned against the Lord, their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung.”

Now, after hearing those passages, and if you had been taught this from the beginning of your religious life, and if you suddenly seen a heavenly angel towering above revealing the power of God, how do you think you would feel?  Don’t you think you might be a little concerned that all that once was told you was coming true?  Don’t you think you would be terrified, panicked, overwhelmed and ready to crawl into a hole?  The shepherds were.  They were terrified.  They panicked.

But their panic was transformed with some unexpected words that flowed from the lips of the angel, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: 11to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.”  What the angel spoke was good news.  If there is nothing else that you remember from this sermon tonight, please remember these next words: Good news drives away fear.

Good news drives away fear.

The shepherds were expecting the promised day of the Lord–a day that was foretold to be horrible as God’s wrath was poured down and God exacted vengeance upon sin.  The shepherds expected to be blasted with holy fire, but instead were met with the news that God was acting in quite a different way.  Instead of unleashing wrath, God was unleashing salvation.  For the Jews believed that the Messiah would usher in God’s kingdom of peace, joy, and prosperity.  The Messiah would be the one who was to set things to rights.  The Messiah would be the one who would turn the world upside down and bring freedom from all that oppresses!  Oh, this news was not to be feared in the least.  This news was not to cause panic.  This news was full of hope.  This news was full of promise.  This news was full of joy.

Certifying that this was indeed the case, a whole host of angels filled the skies and broke into song.  They proclaimed, “Glory to God in the highest and peace among those whom He favors!!”  This was not a wrathful day at all.  It was a day to be celebrated.

It is no wonder that the shepherds’ fears were transformed into hope and joy.  It is no wonder they arose and spoke amongst each other and said, “Let us go now to Bethlehem to see this thing that the angels have made known to us.”  Good news drove away their fear, and they responded with reckless abandon to seek out total strangers and witness God’s action in the world.  Truly good news has that effect on people.

Think about how transformative good news is.  Think about the cancer patient who is declared cancer free.  What is the reaction?  Think about the person who has suffered the loss of a job who is told, “We’d like to offer you a better job.”  Think about the couple who has struggled with infertility who discovers they are pregnant.  Think about the family who is struggling to make ends meet who receives an unexpected financial windfall.  Think about the military family who received word that their deployed loved one will be home for Christmas.  Good news transforms folks and brings true joy.

But in most cases, such joy is short lived.  Either by the fact that something else comes along that changes circumstances or the fact that what is good news to one person is the exact opposite for another person.  For instance, in some of the above examples–the family who was struggling to make ends meet receives and unexpected financial windfall, but in two months, the windfall has run out, and they are back to square one.  The military family whose loved one came home for Christmas finds out their loved one will be deployed for Easter.  Circumstances change.

This past election cycle saw roughly half of the country pleased and excited about the outcome–it was good news.  However, for the other half of the country, fear, angst, and anger was the response–it was not good news.  A factory that decides to uproot and move to another location is certainly bad news for the current employees of that factory, but it is good news to the jobless who will benefit from the factory’s move.  Hearing that Tom Savage is going to be the Texans’ quarterback is good news for all Texan fans, but it is certainly not good news for Brock Osweiller.  Do you see how that works?  Do you see how oftentimes good news is short lived or how good news is not necessarily good news for everyone?  Can you see how because of this fear easily gains a foothold and even sometimes becomes the driving force in our lives?

And so we must ask: Is there good news that indeed is good news for everyone; that is long lasting; that brings joy and peace and assurance no matter if circumstances change?  Is there such news that can bring transformation to our entire lives?  Is there such news that will drive away fear and give us a sure and certain hope?

What if I told you, there was?  What if I told you that the news of this night–the birth of the Messiah who is Christ the Lord–leads us straight toward that Good News of Great Joy that never ends?  No, it’s not simply a baby in a manger that encapsulates that good news, but it is the fact that that baby will grow and lead us all to a cross and an empty tomb.

For it is on the cross that the God of this universe dies for each and every one of us.  It is on the cross that the God of the universe makes sure that we are right with Him.  It is on the cross where all of the things that separate us from God–our sin, our selfishness, our desire to call our own shots, our failure to love one another, our failure to be compassionate, our failure to live the lives that deep down we know we are supposed to live–all of these things are forgiven and paid for by God Himself.  Jesus, the God in flesh, takes all of these things and much more upon Himself so that you are free of any guilt of your failures.  Nothing in the past can haunt you.  You can walk free.  This is good news.

And it is in the empty tomb that we find assurance that all that is bad will be transformed.  All that is evil will become good.  All pain will be taken away.  All hate will turn to love.  All darkness will turn to light.  All despair will turn to hope.  All death will spring to life.  Whatever it is that you are facing, even should it bring death to your body, will be transformed by the God who holds the future in His hands.  The resurrection is proof of God’s transformative power over the future.  And if you trust that your future is in God’s hands–if you trust the promises of God, what do you have to fear?  The answer is nothing.  Absolutely nothing.

The cross.  The resurrection.  God’s reconciling action.  God’s promise of hope.  This is good news for all.  This is news which has no down side.  This is news of a life-changing scale.  Countless Christians from the time of the resurrection have had their lives changed because they trusted in these promises.  From the shepherds on that hillside to the martyrs who died singing in flames to ordinary people like you and me.  This good news has taken away fear and brought hope to billions.  This good news that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who trust in Him should not perish but have eternal life; for God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world, but to save it.

May we trust in this promise.  May we trust in this good news.  May we have our fears removed so that we may experience peace, hope, love and joy. Merry Christmas!!  Amen.
 

Why Don't We Sing?

I absolutely love how scholar and world renown theologian N.T. Wright begins his commentary on the Magnificat–or the Song of Mary that we have presented to us this morning.  Please hear Wright’s words in this extended quote:

What would make you celebrate wildly, without inhibition?
Perhaps it would be the news that someone close to you who’d been very sick was getting better and would soon be home.
Perhaps it would be the news that your country had escaped from tyranny and oppression, and could look forward to a new time of freedom and prosperity.
Perhaps it would be seeing that the floods which had threatened your home were going down again.
Perhaps it would be the message that all your money worries, or business worries, had been sorted out and you could relax.
Perhaps it would be the telephone call to say that you had been appointed to the job you’d always longed for.
Whatever it might be, you’d do things you normally wouldn’t.
You might dance around and round with a friend.
You might shout and throw your hat in the air (I once did that without thinking, before I stopped to reflect what a cliche it was.)
You might telephone everybody you could think of and invite them to a party.
You might sing a song.  You might even make one up as you went along–probably out of snatches of poems and songs you already knew, or perhaps by adding your own new words to a great old hymn.
And if you lived in any kind of culture where rhythm and beat mattered, it would be the sort of song you could clap your hands to, or stamp on the ground.
Now, read Mary’s song like that. (Luke for Everyone pp. 13-14)

Read Mary’s song like that.

I wonder if we can.

I wonder if we can experience that kind of joy anymore.

It seems like daily we are bombarded with news that threatens our well being.  There used to be a famous tag regarding news stories that said, “If it bleeds, it leads.”  Well, they’ve actually come up with all sorts of other stories meant to scare the bejeezus out of you these days.  We just came through a presidential election–that once again was called the most important in our lifetime–that once again had both sides convinced that if the other person was elected, we were sending our nation right down the toilet and into the sewer.  Forgive me if I don’t give such talk credence anymore.  I’ve heard such rhetoric in the last four or five presidential elections.  I’m tired of it, and I don’t believe it.  Armageddon hasn’t happened in the least.  I’m pretty sure it won’t happen now.  But you’d never believe it given the rhetoric.  And you’d better not try and convince a die hard about your skepticism.  They will work diligently to convince you that you should be scared to death.

And the thing about it is, such scare tactics work!  They tap into something deep down in our psyches–deep down in the recesses of our subconsciousness.  Some behaviorists have concluded that evolution has essentially programed us to focus on the negative.  I mean, when our ancestors were surviving out on the Savannah’s of Africa, they had to be acutely aware of their surroundings.  Every sound had to be categorized and noted.  Was that rustle in the grass simply the wind, or was it a predator stalking you?  Was that bubbling in the river just some air escaping, or was it an alligator about to spring?  Were the clouds in the sky a harbinger of severe weather?  When you are in survival mode, as we were for the longest time, your brain develops so that you are always looking for threats.  Are you safe?  Are you secure?  Is your well being in danger?  These are the questions that dominated our species for thousands of years.  And it was rare that we got the opportunity to relax and enjoy time without threat.

What did this do to us?  Well, it instilled deep within us an instinctual focus on that which threatens us.  It instilled deep within us a heightened sense of attention and focus on the negative.  Negative things grasp and hold our attention better than the positive things, and interestingly enough, even when the positive things happen to us, we tend to get suspicious and wonder when the shoe is going to drop.  Our joy is usually very short lived, and there is always someone ready to be a “Debbie Downer” and rain on your parade.  There is always someone ready to point to those who are grieving and say to you, “How can you celebrate when these people are hurting.”  True joy is hard to find.

Except in children.  Oh, our children exhibit such uninhibited joy.  Our children are more than willing to laugh and celebrate and clown around.  Our children are willing to sing and dance without worrying about what other people think.  Our children are willing to shout with joy and gladness, and what do we adults tend to do when our kids do this?  What is our usual response?  Yep.  We tell them to grow up.  Get serious.  Act like an adult.  We have had our joy tempered, and so we almost feel obligated to do the same.

Can you imagine if Elizabeth and Mary had tried to restrain their joy?  Can you imagine what they would have done and how differently the scene before us this morning would have played out?  It most likely would not have been included in the Bible, that’s for certain.  For Mary’s song bursts forth from her lips because she is filled with unrestrained joy.  Let’s take a look at what is happening.

Luke tells us that Mary goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth.  Elizabeth, like Mary is pregnant, and when Mary arrives, she greets her cousin.  Luke emphasizes this a couple of times for a reason.  First off, we need to understand that in that culture, it was appropriate and expected for a younger woman to respect her elders.  It was also appropriate and expected to honor an older woman who was pregnant given that pregnancy was considered a blessing from God.  Mary is following proper protocol for the Jewish society in which she lived.  Elizabeth, because of her status as an older, pregnant woman, deserves to be honored by Mary’s greeting.  Mary knows this and follows the custom, but Elizabeth does not follow suit.  In fact, Elizabeth’s reaction is totally unexpected and totally against the cultural norms.  Why?

Listen again to what Luke records, “41When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42and exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? 44For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leapt for joy. 45And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.’”

When Mary greeted Elizabeth, something marvelous happened within her.  The child that she was carrying lept in her womb!! The child in Elizabeth’s womb recognized that God was up to something mighty because of the child in Mary’s womb.  Elizabeth felt this and then felt the power of the Holy Spirit fall upon her, and she proclaimed a greeting to Mary!!!  This was unheard of!!  Older women certainly did not talk to teenagers this way!!!  Older women certainly didn’t offer this kind of respect to young women who, by all external appearances were sinning because they were pregnant outside of wedlock.  Anyone in that culture would have been shocked by Elizabeth’s actions!!  This shouldn’t be happening!!  But proper protocol’s were not in control of this situation.  The joy instilled by the Holy Spirit was.

“Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb.  And why has this happened to me that the mother of my Lord comes to me?”  Listen carefully to Elizabeth’s words here.  She announces that the child that Mary is carrying is her Lord.  The child in Mary’s womb is her ruler.  Even before he is born, Elizabeth is testifying to his greatness!

“For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb lept for joy.  And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”  There it is again.  Joy.  Unadulterated joy.  From an infant in the womb to the infant’s mother.  And all focused back on the promise given by the Lord.  The Lord’s promise is coming true.  The Lord is acting in the world.  Focusing on the Lord and His work brings joy.  Remember that.  It will be a recurring theme.

Mary hears Elizabeth’s words.  And Mary spontaneously breaks into song.  She sings.  Filled with joy, she lifts her voice to the skies and proclaims the majesty of the Lord.  I would dearly love to go through this marvelous song verse by verse, statement by statement, but that would require far more time than is available.  It is a marvelous piece pointing to all the things that God has done.  And I want to emphasize that point.  Mary is singing about all the things that God has done.  If you read through this song in English and in Greek you will see that the vast majority of the verbs are all in the past tense.  They are not focused on the present.  They are not focused on the future.  They are recounting the things God has done to fulfill His promises to the world and then to the people of Israel.  What God is doing now in Mary has caused her to look back and see all that God has done; how faithful God was; and how what God is doing now is right in line with what God has always done.  God is faithful.  God’s promises are secure.  Focusing on what God has done; focusing on God’s work brings joy!  Pure and unadulterated joy!

I want to ask you whether or not you see such joy in your life?  I want to ask you whether or not you see such joy in the world around?  I want to ask you whether or not you see such joy even within our churches these days?

When you walk around the grocery store; when you go to a game; when you drive down the street, how many people do you see smiling, laughing, singing for no apparent reason–and I’m not talking about singing with the radio–even though I seem to observe fewer people even doing that!  I’m talking about singing when there’s no music being played.  Singing for the pure joy of singing?  How often do you see such things?

I have personally noticed a decline in the singing of many churches.  Even when I was at Christian City Fellowship attending Thanksgiving worship, I only heard strong singing from the congregation during one particular song.  The band and worship singers were very, very strong. The two lead singers were professionally trained, but as far as a great many voices being raised in song?  No.  Not really.  Why is this?  Why don’t people sing out anymore?

I have a hypothesis that singing is often tied to joy.  When your heart is full of joy, it can’t stay deep down within.  It has to spring forth.  It has to come out.  You want to let it out because if you don’t you will feel like you will burst.

But we have little joy.  We are haunted by the past.  Overwhelmed by the present, and fearful of the future.  We think about all the things that have effected us.  We think about all the things that we have to do.  We think about all the things that could possibly happen to us and effect us negatively.  Our joy vanishes because we fail to remember what God has done.  We fail to remember who God is.  We fail to remember His promises in our lives.

Thinking about who God is and what He has done leads to joy.  Period.  Have we forgotten?  Have we forgotten that God is the one who brings the dead to life and calls into existence things that were not?  Have we forgotten the love of the God who was willing to pour Himself out for the world?  Have we forgotten that God has reached down into the depths of our world to become like us; to take our sin upon Himself; to die for us to pay the penalty of our sins; to rise again to new life showing us what our future holds?

Have we forgotten that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life, for God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved by Him?  Have you forgotten that God so loved you that He came to die for you so that you may find yourself deeply loved by Him?

Remember.  Yes, remember.  Let your thoughts turn to God and what He has done.  Let your heart turn to God and be filled with His Holy Spirit.  Let your focus change from that which consumes you and worries you and frightens you, and see the cross in your mind’s eye.  See the empty tomb and the future you have with the God who loves you.  See yourself resting in God’s arms and knowing His mighty power.  Feel His presence.  Feel His Spirit.  Feel your heart filling with pure, unadulterated joy.  And don’t be afraid to sing.  Sing to the world and tell of all that God has done.  Amen.

Complete Joy

    I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy
    down in my heart; down in my heart
    I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy
    down in my heart to stay.
    And I’m so happy; so very happy,
    I’ve got the love of Jesus in my heart.
    And I’m so happy; so very happy.
    I’ve got the love of Jesus in my heart.

    Isn’t it so easy to sing and lie at the same time?  I mean, I remember singing that song when I was a kid, and we’ve sang it here in Sunday School.  If memory serves me right, we also sang it at one of our Wednesday evening worship services during Lent.  It’s a catchy tune with some other cool verses, but I wanted to focus on this verse in particular because I want to do a couple of things this morning in my sermon: 1) I want to make the case that everyone longs to have some sort of fullness of joy in their lives.  2) I want to attempt to show that nearly everything we try to find joy in will leave us unsatisfied.  3) I want to try and show how Jesus is the only one who can make our joy complete or fulfilled.

    First, I believe every human heart longs for joy.  In our day and age, we often call it happiness, however.  Whatever word you use, I will define joy in this manner: a state of well being and contentment.  Gerhard Kittel said this about joy in his Greek theological dictionary of the New Testament: Joy is not just inward.  It has a cause and finds expression.  It thus aims at sharing, especially as festal joy.  It is a disposition of the whole man.  This is the point when the heart is called its organ.  So, again, joy is a state of being that is caused by external circumstances.  This means the state of joy is brought about by how you and I engage something outside of ourselves.

    And here is the kicker: how many people do you know who have such joy?  How many people do you know who have such contentment?  How many people do you know who walk around–not with giant smiley faces all the time, but a sense that they are well–they are complete, and that nothing can get under their skin?  How many people do you know who exhibit such a thing?  My guess is, you, like me, know very, very few.  Heck, I can’t even look in the mirror and say that the guy looking back at me has this kind of joy in his life.  This is why I said, I could do a pretty good job of singing and lying at the same time.  Such joy tends to escape me–a lot, but I know that I am not alone.  It tends to escape a lot of people these days.  For every exaltation you hear, you hear ten times that many complaints.  For every good deed shown by the news media, you get a hundred deeds meant to frighten and scare us.  Seriousness dominates our society and our conversation.  People get in trouble for playing practical jokes.  It seems like many are walking around with a perpetual chip on their shoulder ready to take offense at the latest thing you say or do.  Would such things be happening if people were full of joy?

    And even in the church–yes, even in our congregations, do you see many of us walking around with a sense of contentment and well being?  Do you see many of us who have a deep sense of peace about us–who are absolutely joyful with their place in this world and with their particular status?  Oh, and here is the rub: do you see many Christians who try to strictly adhere to following the moral commandments exuding a sense of joy?  Do you see many Christians who are working diligently for peace and justice exuding a sense of joy?  Really, no.  In fact, usually even amongst us who follow Jesus and work to follow His commandments, we have little to no joy.  We may have fleeting moments, but we do not have that continued state of well being and fulfillment.  Why?

    This is one of those issues that make non-churched people scratch their heads in bewilderment.  We sing of joy in the church but then act like everyone else in society.  Since there is no visible difference between those who attend church and those who don’t, some wonder, “Why the point?”  What’s the point of attending church?  What’s the point of believing in Jesus?  I can do good things–bear fruit without giving up my time or my particular belief system.  Why should I change?

    Here is why, I think.  If you try to get your joy from anyone or anything less than Jesus, eventually you will be disappointed, and oftentimes you will become angry and your heart will harden.  How so?

    Well, let me go back to the previous two examples I used regarding church folks who try to diligently follow the moral commandments and work diligently for justice.  Essentially, both of these folks are doing the same thing.  Both are trying to follow the Law, and both types of people generally feel like everyone should follow the Law in the same manner they do.  Let that sink in a moment.  Both groups are striving to follow the Law, and both groups feel like everyone should follow the Law just like they do.  What is the problem and why doesn’t this bring joy? 

    The first reason it doesn’t bring joy is that these folks will eventually find out the impossibility of following the law completely.  These folks will find that the more they try to accomplish and fulfill the Law’s demands, the more they will find they fall short.  This brings, at first, a subtle sense of dissatisfaction and then a full blown realization of failure.  This does not bring joy.  The second reason joy is not found is when such folks realize they cannot get everyone to follow the Law as they think it should be followed.  Such folks will become contemptuous and even angry at others who will not live the way they think they should live.  While their own ego may be stroked with a sense of self-righteousness, they look down their noses at others who do things differently–when you are holding another person in such contempt, and when you believe the world’s problems would be solved if everyone just lived like you–and they don’t–you do not have joy.  Simply following the rules and the commands of religion will not bring joy.  Now, this goes for unchurched people as well.  You have the same problem we Christians do, but it gets disguised.  You too believe if everyone believed like you did and followed the rules the way you do, then the world would be fantastic.  You become just as contemptuous, but it’s awfully easy to see that in others than to see it in ourselves.  And it is the reason you don’t have the fullness of joy either.  Following the rules does not bring joy.

    Neither will loving a person or an object.  You may wish to argue with me here and say, “Well, I have been in love with my spouse for x number of years.  I am completely in love with him or her.  I am happy when I am with him/her, and when I think of him/her, I find a spark of joy within. This sounds all well and good, but you are not with your spouse or loved one all the time.  Second, there are times when you are not thinking about him/her and so joy leaves. Third, no relationship is perfect.  You have conflict, and my guess is, during your times of conflict, you are not too joyful.  Fourth, your loved one will die, and speaking from experience, I know more than a few widows or widowers who became very angry at their spouse for dying.  There was no joy.

    Same goes for trying to get joy from an object–like sports or money or possessions.  There is nothing like the thrill of victory, but sooner or later you will lose.  There is always the next game and the next time.  I never ends.  Joy is not complete.  There is always another dollar to earn. There is always another gadget to buy.  There is always another rung to climb on the corporate ladder.  Achievements will cause brief moments of joy, but they will not last. 

    Now, how is Jesus the exception?  Let’s hear His words again to us this morning: 9As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.  10If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.  12 ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16You did not choose me but I chose you.

    At first glance this saying of Jesus looks very much like, “Follow my commandments, and you will have joy.”  It seems like we are right back to following the rules and regulations–i.e. the Law.  But that is not the case.  The starting point of this chapter is Jesus saying, “I am the vine and you are the branches.”  Toward the end of this teaching, Jesus says, “You did not choose me, but I chose you.” 

    I get this image of Jesus, as a vine grabbing a branch and grafting it on Himself.  “You didn’t choose me, I chose you.  Now stay there.”  Why?  Why stay there?  Because you will find deep nourishment from Jesus.  You will find deep satisfaction from Jesus.  You will get a tremendous sense of well being from Jesus–that is not based upon your performance.  You see, all the world’s religions and everything we try to find our joy in say, “If you want the rewards, you have to work at it.  If you want to be joyful, you have to make it happen.  Your joy is dependent upon your performance.” 

    Christianity says, “No, your joy is found in what Jesus has done for you already.  Your joy is found at the foot of the cross.  Your joy is found with the God who took on human flesh and lived the life you should live; who died the death you deserved; who grafted you into the vine even before you asked.”  Now, you may freely leave that vine.  You may walk away from Jesus.  That is your prerogative, but why?  Why head out and try to find joy and satisfaction in all of those things that make you work for it and eventually leave you dissatisfied?  Why turn away from the one who says, “You are imperfect.  You cannot follow my commands.  You are broken, but I accept you.  I love you.  And I show my love for you in this: I lay down my life for you.”

    For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world may be saved through Him.

    You see, Jesus can’t disappoint you.  He has already given you everything.  He has promised to never leave you.  He has suffered for you.  He promises to take the evil that befalls us and transform it into good.  There is every reason to stand fast and abide in Him–for as we do such a thing, we find true joy.  We find contentment.  We find a state of good will welling up within us.  Mind you, it’s tough to stay there.  All those other things keep clamoring for our attention.  All those other things lure us with the promises of joy, but there is a place where we can come to be reminded of Jesus.  There is a place where we can come to hear about His great love.  There is a place where we can come to hear what Jesus has done and be strengthened to reject the temptations of the world: we come to worship.  For at worship our hearts get tuned to Jesus.  Our hearts abide in Jesus.  Our hearts get transformed by Jesus.  And then we go out into the world full of peace and joy.  We engage the world and follow Jesus’ commands.  We work for justice.  We strive to be moral and upright.  We bear fruits worthy of repentance because we can’t help it.  We are rooted in the source.  We are rooted in Jesus–the source of all joy.

    Let us pray: Lord Jesus, you are the source of true joy.  You are where we truly find fulfillment and completeness.  When the world tempts us to find our joy in things that are not lasting, may we hear your Word.  May we be reminded of what you have done.  May we know that our joy comes not from our performance but yours.  May we see you at the cross dying for us and showing us tremendous love while we were still sinners.  And may this change our hearts that we may bear fruit.  Amen.

Indescribable Joy

    I am going to start out my sermon this morning with a bit of a confession.  It might be a bit shocking, but it’s true.  For the longest time, I’m not sure I knew what it meant to love Jesus.  That might be a little weird coming from a pastor, but as I examine the history of my heart, I know what I said to be true.  I’m not sure I ever understood what it meant to love Jesus.

    Don’t get me wrong.  I mean.  I knew Jesus was important.  I believed every word of that wonderful children’s song that we all probably know and love, “Jesus loves me this I know.  For the Bible tells me so.  Little ones to Him belong.  They are weak, but He is strong.  Yes, Jesus loves me.  Yes, Jesus loves me.  Yes, Jesus loves me.  The Bible tells me so.”  Yes.  I believed that song to my very core.  But loving Jesus?  That was another matter.  That was something I wasn’t quite sure about. 

    I’m sharing this with you this morning just in case I’m not the only one who struggles with the idea of loving Jesus.  I mean, for most of us, we get the notion of love from our relationships with others.  We love our spouses.  We know what that kind of love is.  We love our children.  We understand that kind of love tremendously.  We love our parents and relatives.  We get that.  We also love our friends, but not quite in the same way we love our family.  But loving Jesus...what is that all about?  What does that entail?  I’m not sure I ever understood this idea until recently.  I will say this, if you have understood it, then perhaps you should have been up here preaching to everyone instead of me. 

    We are continuing our walk through 1 Peter chapter one, and this morning we are going to focus on verses 6-9, “ 6In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, 7so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, 9for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

    Focus your attention for a moment on verse 8. We are going to begin right here and then move into the rest of these verses.  How does this verse resonate deep within your heart?  When you hear Peter say, “Although you haven’t seen Jesus, you love Him; and even though you don’t see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy,” does your heart skip a beat?  Do you find yourself pondering the deep mystery incased in these words?  Do you find yourself stopping and thinking, “Geez, I cannot even begin to grasp what it would be like if Jesus were not a part of my life.”? 

    If these words do not have this kind of effect on you, I understand.  They didn’t have that kind of effect on me for the longest time partially because I heard them as prescriptive instead of descriptive.  I heard them as, “This is how you are supposed to feel.  Now, make it happen.  Love Jesus.  Rejoice.  Have indescribable and glorious joy.”  And I couldn’t make myself do that.  I couldn’t force myself to love Jesus.  I couldn’t force myself to be joyful.  I couldn’t force myself to rejoice.  Maybe we can do such things externally and superficially, but not down in the deep recesses of our hearts.

    Now, again, I may be completely and totally wrong in how I am handling this.  Perhaps this isn’t a struggle for you.  Perhaps you have loved Jesus deeply and have never heard such things in this manner.  Perhaps you rejoice and have within you a deep and indescribable joy.  This is a very good thing, and I rejoice for you in this.  However, my experience in the church tells me that more people struggle with this than not.  My experience tells me that there are very few people who have this kind of deep down sense of joy and rejoicing.  Most folks I run across still are filled with worry, and bitterness, and anger, and concern.  Most folks still get caught up in pointing out the faults of others and thinking, “I would never do something like that.”  Most of the time we spend in our respective congregations is spent dealing with these kinds of issues–trying to tell people what they should and shouldn’t do–instead of trying to figure out how we can introduce people to Jesus and help them grow in their faith. 

    And I think, again, I could be wrong, but I think the problem lies in our human condition.  What do I mean by that?

    Just this: I think one of the reasons I had trouble loving Jesus is that I thought I was a pretty good person.  I thought I was doing a pretty good job of living a good and moral and upright life.  I mean, I am a pastor who is serving God.  I am married and have been faithful to my spouse.  I work hard to be a good father and provide for my wife and kids.  I try to be kind to others and help out whenever I can.  My wife and I give 10% of our income to the church every month.  I try to be a good neighbor.  Hey, even though I get angry at the bicyclists on the road, I never even give them half a peace sign!  Oh sure, I knew I made mistakes.  I knew I was sinful, but I basically thought I was pretty good.  I basically thought I was doing an okay job of living out a Christian life.  I never really was convinced of my brokenness.  I knew I committed sins, but I didn’t really think I was all that sinful.

    This actually led me to be pretty self-righteous.  It led me to become angry when people wouldn’t do what I thought was the right thing.  It led me to hold people in contempt, not outwardly, but deep in the recesses of my heart.  It led me to think that if folks would just be like me and listen to what I said, then everything would work out right.  If everyone just listened to me when I said, “Jesus tells us to do this...” and then did it, well, then everything would work out in the long run.  Our church would grow.  I’d feel really, really good about myself.  The higher ups in the church would notice what we were doing, and they’d ask me how we accomplished it.  I would be all to ready to tell them and brag about what I had done–oh, and of course, what you had done.  This mentality actually led me to use Jesus as a kind of stepping stone to accomplish what I wanted to accomplish.  I was using Jesus to accomplish my goals and my ends, and to this extent, I don’t think you can ever love someone you are actually using. 

    When it was revealed to me that this is what I was doing–it was a long process in which this happened, it cut me to the core.  Here I was thinking that I was doing all this great stuff when in actuality I was a self-centered brat.  I was consumed with myself, and when you are consumed with yourself, you don’t do a very good job of loving others.  And when you are consumed with yourself, you don’t really find a lot of joy and cause for rejoicing.  Because we live in this world and are constantly running into others who do not see eye to eye with us, we are constantly trying to get our way and get people to think like we think and do like we do–when we are self-centered, it wears us thin.  It makes us very fatigued, and it drains all the joy out of us.  This is where I found myself.  Weary.  Worn.  Angry.  When things didn’t go my way and I felt like I was suffering, I took it out on others, and I cried out to Jesus, “Why are you doing this to me?  Aren’t I following you?  Aren’t I preaching and teaching in your Church?  Aren’t I doing enough to satisfy you?  What did I do to deserve this?” 

    And then I met Jesus at the foot of the cross.  I met Jesus hanging there with blood running down His head.  I met Him with nails piercing His feet and hands.  I met Him as the skies darkened and He cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  In not so many words, “What did I do to deserve this?”

    And I knew Jesus didn’t do anything to deserve that cross.  Jesus lived the perfect life.  He lived the kind of life that I should live but was too self-centered to even consider.  He was kind and compassionate and brought healing to many.  He showed us the nature of God and brought people to God who were once far away.  He loved those who were considered unlovable.  So why?  Why did He hang there on that cross?

    And Jesus looked at me and said, “I’m hanging here for you.  I’m hanging here because you are self-centered.  I am hanging here because you are self-righteous.  I’m hanging here because you aren’t loving others like you should.  I’m hanging here because you are using others to achieve your goals.  I’m hanging here because even if you tried to make everything right, you are doing it again for your own selfish reasons and not purely for doing what is right.  I am hanging here because God demands your life for putting yourself at the center of the universe instead of Him.  I didn’t want to see you perish.  I didn’t want to see you come under His wrath and judgement, so I took your punishment for you.  I took your place.  And I am doing this because I love you.”

    For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world but that the world may be saved through Him.

    This Jesus; this God made flesh was on that cross dying for my sake, and the knowledge of my sinfulness coupled with the knowledge of what Jesus did cut me deep to the heart.  This is what Jesus did for me.  This is what Jesus did for you. 

    “6In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, 7so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, 9for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

    When we realize that the salvation of our souls has come purely by grace; purely by Jesus’ actions for us when we were still sinners, we cannot help but be overcome by  overwhelming mystery and indescribable joy.  We cannot help but realize that there is nothing on this earth that can move or shake us.  We cannot help but realize that any amount of suffering or trials or tribulations are painful, yes, but we know–WE KNOW–they are only a hiccup in the road for we have a God who suffers too.  We have a God who died.  And we have a God who was raised from the dead.  The God who loved us enough to die for us; loves us enough to bring us to new life.  He loves us enough to bring good out of evil.  He loves us enough to turn our suffering and our mourning into dancing.  How can you not love a God like that?  How can you not love Jesus?  Oh how I love Jesus because He first loved me!  Amen.

Submit and Follow

    How many of you here this morning have ever heard the alarm go off on a given day and said, “I really don’t want to go to work today.  I just want to sleep.”?  How many of you have sat at work on Monday morning and thought, “I can’t wait for the weekend.”?  How many of you have gone on vacation only to return more tired than when you departed?  How many of you have ever felt the tinges of burnout?  How many of you who are retired find yourself busier than when you were working?

    If anyone here this morning didn’t answer yes to any of those questions, I want to offer my congratulations because the reality is, most of us fall into those categories at some point and time.  Most of us have felt the tinges of burnout, stress, worry, fatigue, and the like.  Most of us are worn to a frazzle and seem to have little energy for doing all the things we are supposed to be doing.  I ask you this morning, “why?”  Why do we find it so hard to find the energy and drive to do what needs to be done?  And if we are finding the energy, why does it seem like we have little or no happiness in doing such things?  Why is the mood of our nation and state and county, and perhaps even our church–especially on the denominational level so somber?

    You may have started to put two and two together at this point.  You may have started thinking about the line of questioning I am offering up and our Gospel lesson this morning where Jesus, after a long night of healing folks in Capernaum, gets up before the first rays of light and heads out to a deserted place to pray.  You may be thinking that I am going to put these things together and argue that you need to spend more time in prayer–that you need to take the time to recharge your batteries by connecting to your heavenly Father so that you can find the strength and energy to do everything that you need to do.

    I’ve done it before.  There are plenty of pastors who do and who continue to do such things.  But I’ve realized something. #1. I’ve realized that maybe two or three of you would take such a thing to heart, but you’d basically think to yourself, “Geez, now I have to try and find time to pray.  I have to try and carve out another space in my busy schedule to connect with God.”  For a time, you might be able to do it, but the odds are, within a couple of weeks, that prayer time will be cut shorter and shorter and shorter until it disappears.  The rest of you will either sit happy and content with your prayer lives or won’t even attempt it.  That’s the first thing I’ve realized.  The second thing I’ve realized is that admonishing you to do such a thing just reinforces the main problem.  Telling you, “pray to recharge your batteries so that you can accomplish all you need to do,” does not address the state of your heart.  It doesn’t delve down deep into the recesses of your soul to address the real issue.  And what is the real issue?

    Let me start in a rather intriguing place that doesn’t seem to have much relevance to our discussion so far.  I am going to start with the Sealy News’ story from a week or so ago about the Greater Church of Lucifer filing to do business in Austin County.  You may be scratching your head right now wondering how this fits.  Gimme a minute or so. 

    In the article, the founders of the “church” wanted to let everyone know they weren’t Satanists and that their intentions were purely benign.  They even said, and I quote, “There is a problem in following through blind faith. This is about self -empowerment and seeing oneself in a positive way.  The goal is to usher in a new age for the progression of mankind without the slavery of dogmatic thought.  We are all gods and goddesses of our own life. We are the captains of our own ship and have the right to control our actions.”

    Now, I know that these folks aren’t claiming to be Satanists or anything, but I will have you know this morning that there were some very similar words once uttered, and they came out of a snake.  But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ –Genesis 3:4.  You see, the serpent says, in not so many words, “Eat of the fruit so that you can be your own god.  You will know good and evil on your own.  You will have no need of the true God.  You can do it all yourself.  Be self-empowered.  Be self-reliant.  Control your own actions.”

    We know the man and woman ate of the fruit, and it has been downhill ever since.  Be reliant upon yourself.  Control your own actions.  Do all the things you want to do.  Why are you so tired?  Why do you burn out?  Why do you continually fill your lives with busy-ness refusing to say no to your work; to your family; to advertisers; to friends and others who put demands upon you? 

    Let me jump in with my own experience here, for it is no secret that not too long ago I faced the reality of burnout.  I will not say I wish I never went through it, for it taught me much, and led me to understand the Gospel.  However, I know now that it could have been prevented.  And no, I don’t mean by carving out time to pray.  I don’t mean by making sure I took my day off and used my vacation days.  I did all those things.  Really, I did.  So, why did I burn out?

    I remember sitting down with the council during that time.  I was asking for a sabbatical, and I can remember plain as day one of the things I said during that meeting.  I said, “I feel like I have been carrying this congregation for the past year.”  Along with the arrogance displayed in that statement, do you see who I thought was responsible for the life and ministry of this congregation?  Do you see who I thought was supposed to make everything work?  Do you see who I believed was the one who made or broke this church?  It was all up to me.  It was all about me.  It was all on my shoulders.  And if prayer was all about recharging my batteries so that I could keep carrying this congregation and making it work and what have you, prayer was just a means to me doing what I thought I needed to do.  Prayer was about me trying to get God to do what I wanted Him to do.  Prayer was about me trying to impose my will upon God.  And if I stand up here this morning and tell you, take time to pray so that your batteries will be recharged and you can continue the frantic pace you have set, then I am simply being part of the problem.  So, this morning, I am not going to tell you to be like Jesus and rise early before you head to work to go get your batteries recharged.  That won’t change a blasted thing and you will still be tired.  You will still burn out.  You will still have no joy in your life, and you will still be somber and angry and upset.

    So, what will I do in this sermon this morning?  Well, actually, I’m going to press further through this biblical text and show you something very interesting.  Jesus goes off to pray, and His disciples have a freak out.  Literally, they wake up the next morning to find Jesus gone, so they go hunting for him.  Yes, that’s the word that is used.  They have to track Jesus down.  We get a sense of their motivations when they finally find Jesus, and they tell him, “Everyone is seeking you.”

    Now, most of us might take this to be a good thing.  Most of us would think, “Man, if only everyone would seek Jesus.  If only everyone would search for Him to find Him, everything in this world would work out.”  We hear these words of the disciples in a similar fashion to Jeremiah 29:11-13, “11For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. 12Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. 13When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart.”  Who wouldn’t want this?

    Well, Mark is actually telling us something very different here.  Let me read to you what I found in one of my commentaries, “When the disciples find Jesus, they announce, “Everyone is looking for you.”  The language is deceptive.  The Greek word behind “looking for” (zetein) occurs 10 times in Mark, and in each instance it carries negative connotations.  Its first two occurrences refer to interference of Jesus and obstruction of his ministry (1:32, 3:32); its next two refer to disbelief and faithlessness (8:11,8:12); and the remaining occurrences refer to attempts to kill Jesus.  “Seeking” connotes an attempt to determine and control rather than to submit and follow.  In this respect, seeking for Jesus is not a virtue in the Gospel of Mark.  Nor are clamoring crowds a sign of success or aid to ministry.  Here, as elsewhere in Mark, enthusiasm is not to be confused with faith.” (Edwards: Pillar New Testament Commentary on Mark)

    Seeking connotes an attempt to determine and control rather than to submit and follow.  Isn’t that how we tend to want Jesus?  Isn’t that how we tend to want God to operate?  Give me strength to do what I want to do.  Give me the joys of life and minimize my sorrw.  Give me insight to make the right decisions so that life will be wonderful and grand.  Prayer oftentimes becomes just this as we go to God and say, “MY will be done.”

    But Jesus looks at his disciples and says, “Let us go to the surrounding towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.”  Jesus won’t be bound by claims on Him.  Jesus won’t allow everyone, including us, to determine and control.  That is not what He is here to do.  He is here to proclaim the Gospel–God’s kingdom is arriving in Him.  And He is inviting us to be a part of that Kingdom not by determining and controlling Him, but by following and submitting to Him.

    At this point, some of you might be getting a little twitchy.  Some of you might be thinking, “Does this mean I have to give up control of my life?  Does this mean I might have to change my ways?  Does this mean I might have to think and be different?”  The answer is, well, yes.  It’s nothing less than an entire change of your entire being.  It’s nothing less than an entire change of your attitude.  It’s nothing less than an entire change of your person and being as you relinquish control.  And you may ask me, “Now, why in the world should I do that?”

    Here is why.  There are three times Jesus prays in the book of Mark.  There is this one when the people are trying to determine and control Him.  There is the time right after he fed the multitude with five loaves of bread and two fish.  And then the final time in the Garden of Gethsemane.  It is no coincidence that Jesus faced His final temptation in a garden–just as man faced his first temptation in a garden.  It is no coincidence that Jesus prayed, “Father if it is possible, please take this cup from me, but not what I want but what you want.”  For it was the same struggle that man and woman faced when tempted to go their own way–to do what they wanted and not what God wanted.  But whereas man and woman failed in the first garden, Jesus succeeded in His garden.  Jesus accomplished what we could not accomplish by being totally and completely obedient to His Father–and our Father.

    And by accomplishing what we could not accomplish, Jesus became spotless, blameless, pure and holy.  He was sinless as He gave up control when we seized it.  If you read through Genesis chapter 3, you see the punishment man and woman received for seizing control.  You see that every good relationship established by God became broken, and the end result was death.  The end result of us seizing control of our own lives and our own fates is death.  It is grief.  It is burnout and weariness and anger and joyless living.  And Jesus took all of that upon His sinless self.  He took our grief and burnout and weariness and anger and joyless living to the cross where He faced the punishment we deserved.  He faced the wrath of God due to us for our desire to be in control of our lives.  He took our place because He loved us.

    For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.

    And to the extent you believe this good news; to the extent you trust in the saving action of Jesus; to the extent you understand what He has done for you, then you will understand the joys of submitting and following.  You will understand the joys of allowing Him to be Lord of your life instead of trying to satisfy your own desires.  Work will not become a burden.  Worship will be a joy.  Prayer will be sought after as you continuously seek to submit yourself to the One who died on your behalf to bring you abundant life both now and forever.  Amen.