The Choice of Joy
This blog post is Part 2 of a series entitled, "Joy Begins Here" by Pastor Jeffrey Dean Smith of Donelson First in Nashville, TN.
Message Date: December 11, 2022
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Imagine a father sending His child on a 33-year journey He knows will be the most difficult and horrific and painful 33 years any human will ever experience.
Imagine that Father also knows that this journey will eventually lead His child into the hands of people who will lie, betray, arrest, and beat him, and eventually, end His life.
Imagine an engaged couple, planning their wedding day, excited for their new lives together, only to soon realize just a few months into their engagement, an unexpected pregnancy would change everything – their plans, their home, and their reputations.
Imagine a young mother’s realization that this child would one day be despised, hunted, rejected, and wanted dead.
Imagine a father, knowing His Son is being hunted, moves his family to another nation and remains there for several years.
Imagine later in life, this child has siblings who proclaim that their brother is “out of His mind,” thus never having a genuine relationship with Him.
And, imagine a mother, 33 years after the birth of her newborn son, watching as He is stripped of His clothes, beaten almost to death, cursed at, hit, mocked, and then publicly killed in the most atrocious of deaths known to man.
These are not such thoughts we desire to have or upon which we expect to focus at this time of year. However, undoubtedly, the scriptural story of Christmas is one marred with pain.
This reality is what makes the revelation of what the birth of the Christ-child brought to humanity all the more amazing. Not only was Jesus the Christ-child, the Immanuel, the God with us, born of a virgin, both fully God and fully man, and our Redeemer and Lord, Jesus too, at His birth, provided for humanity a “joy” never before experienced.
This was our discovery last week. We came to understand a game-changer through the visit of the Magi, upon journeying to find the King of the Jews in Matthew 2, we read their response.
Matthew 2:9-10
The joy we read of in Matthew as the Magi first see the Christ-child is again, a joy never before experienced by humans. Remember this? The joy: chara.
Joy: Chara (Greek) = a calm delight and a cheerfulness connected to one falling into trials. Though there is much pain surrounding the birth of Jesus, we also see that:
Jesus is the ultimate source of my joy. At His birth, joy truly does begin here.
Through the birth of our Savior, we are forever the recipients of chara: “a calm delight and a cheerfulness connected to one falling into trials.” This isn’t just a cute “churchy” statement. No! Scripture proves to us that this is precisely our reality, again:
Jesus is the ultimate source of joy. (Church – let’s make this personal this morning for us!) Jesus is the ultimate source of my joy.
So, if the scriptures communicate these truths to us about joy, and if we believe the Scriptures to be true, then I believe the appropriate next question is this: How do I live a joyful life?
This is the million-dollar question, is it not!? Each of us desires to find this exact answer!
How do I find, embrace, and live out this reality? Well today, I am going to give you a few thoughts on this. But I want to preface my thoughts by saying...
I know this is not always easy! Dare I say...this is really, really hard! Because...
My natural inclination as a human is not to inherently look for, nor instinctively express, joy in all occasions.
It’s just not. However, you and I can learn to be joyful. Actually, you should write that this morning:
I can learn to be joyful. How? Let me give you some ways...
1. I learn to live joyfully by anticipating the life to come.
Life is full of anticipation, is it not?
A high schooler anticipates that moment to walk across the stage, do that little dance, move the tassel, and finally say, “I have graduated!” A bride-to-be anticipates that moment when, in all white, all eyes are on her for her big day as she walks the aisle and takes the hand of her love, and can finally say, “I do!” An about-to-be dad anticipates that moment when with sweaty palms, the doctor hands him his newborn, and he can finally say, “I’m a daddy!” Of all the anticipations of life, none should be greater than that moment when, as quickly as one takes their last breath, you stand before the Savior of the world and hear Him say, “Well done faithful servant. Enter into eternity!”
Do you anticipate eternity? You should. Paul put it this way when he wrote: For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Philippians 1:21
You know, there are many, many what I call “joy competitors” in this life.
A joy competitor = Personal sin. Regret. Guilt. Sadness. Addictions. The sins of others. Sorrow.
Each can have a profound effect on you whether it be sorrow and brokenness over one’s choices or the overarching fact that we live in a deeply dark and sinful world in which the sins of humanity weigh on us each.
Such competitors, if allowed, can actually rob you of your joy.
One beautifully, challenging way to manage the sinful realities of this world is in the anticipation I embrace for the joy that is incomplete in this life but will be fully complete in the life to come.
Simply stated: The anticipation for what is to come in the next life can be a source of tremendous joy for the Christ-follower, especially in light of our present sorrows.
Church – this is why I continually implore you to spend time in God’s Word. As I often say: The more I get God’s word into me, the more God’s word changes me.
When you receive that phone call that is a gut punch of terrible news. When the boss man says, "I’m sorry but we are going to have to let you go.” Or, when a doctor says those unimaginable two words, “It’s cancer!” ...
The furthest response from your mind in moments of tremendous tragedies may seem to be that of reading and relying upon Scripture.
The absolutely necessary response for such tremendous tragedies, and the conduit to overcoming such joy competitors, is to do exactly this - - lean into God’s Word as you anticipate the life to come.
1 John 2:15-17: Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life - comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.
1 John 2:24: As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he promised us - eternal life.
John 14:1-4: Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me so that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.
We are programmed as humans to look for the next best-seller or enroll in a class that offers “steps to success” in a given area, or to spend time unpacking our baggage with a licensed counselor.
These can be wonderful channels for help, and there may be a proper time for each. But they are not to be the primary source to which we turn in learning to manage and conquer the “joy competitors” of life.
The anticipation over the age to come can be one that moves us to a joyous place of celebration even amidst the tremendous weight of our fallen world.
Revelation 21:4: He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.
In the age to come, the joy competitors will be no more! Anticipate what is to come in the next life. And do so with a heart of gratitude and joy.
What do I anticipate heaven will be?
2. I learn to live joyfully by embracing the new me.
What’s better:
Receiving what I deserve or receiving what I need?
Forever condemned or forever redeemed?
An everlasting torture with the gnashing of teeth or an eternal reunion with those I love?
Death or life?
Hell or heaven?
2 Corinthians 5:17: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
If this isn’t cause for celebration Church, what is!? As a follower of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit lives in you. You are a new person. You are a new “you!”
One of the greatest dangers and too the saddest destinations at which many Christians arrive is that of personal complacency toward a new life in Christ.
Before you gave your life to Jesus Christ, you were dead – you were alive in the world but dead in your transgressions. And now, as a born-again follower of Christ, you are alive!
Such a revelation should never leave the Christ-follower at a place of complacency.
For two years now, because of your generosity through Dollars for Donelson, we have been able to provide Coca-Cola products to the ladies incarcerated at the Debra Johnson Rehabilitation Center formerly known as the Tennessee State Prison. To you and me, having a Coke is something we most likely take for granted. After all, it’s just another beverage, right? But to these ladies who almost never get to experience such a gift, drinking a Coca-Cola in a glass bottle while behind bars is like Christmas morning!
Through DFD & a partnership with Coca-Cola, we provided 1,008 bottled Coca-Colas for these ladies! So, thank you for supporting this ministry that allows us to be generous and gracious and giving to people right here in this community!
When asked, those incarcerated say this about what brings them the most joy:
5. Cigarettes.
4. TV time.
3. Time outside in the sun.
2. Visitors.
1. The anticipation of freedom.
You know, as a follower of Jesus Christ, how good it is to know that you no longer have to anticipate freedom. You have it now!
1 Peter 1:8-9: Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
I can live joyfully knowing: I get to avoid what I deserve and receive what I don’t deserve.
This is long, but I want you to see this: As one in possession of God’s Holy Spirit living within me, receive such joy. I have the joy of the most Holy God inside of me. It is mine for the taking. So take it! Receive it! Know that it is mine. Know that I didn’t do anything to earn nor deserve this joy. But because of the overwhelming love the Father has for me, He has made a way for me to know Him, to love Him, and to experience joy even in the midst of the tremendous challenges in this life. I will embrace this joy today!
3. I learn to live joyfully by trusting God with my pain.
I want to spend a significant amount of time on this point. Because I believe this to be true: Satan often uses “pain” as a joy competitor more than any other of his weapons.
Here are some of his lies:
• If God really loved me, why would he allow me to go through such difficulty?
• God hasn’t answered my prayers. He must not care...or cannot do anything about it.
• Why would a loving God allow such pain in my life?
Before Jesus went to the Cross, look at the prayer He prayed to ask God to end the pain He was enduring and was about to endure:
Matthew 26:36-39: Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
Did God end Jesus’ pain? No, He did not.
If God allowed even His Son to hurt, why should I expect to be exempt? I should not.
Repeat after me: Joy – is – a - choice. Joy is a choice.
My personal joy begins with my choice to say: “I will rejoice!” In Isaiah 53:3 we read: He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
Jesus was a man of many sorrows. He was broken over the sins of humanity. But He too was a man possessing a deeper sense of joy than any other human ever.
And, Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 6:9-10: ...known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
Paul also confessed in Romans 9:2: I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.
This is the same man who wrote the words we considered last week recorded in Philippians 4:4: Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
What? Wait! How can this be? How can the same man say with such conviction “I am sorrowful,” and actually, my sorrow is equivalent to “an unceasing anguish,” yet also say “never stop rejoicing?” Is Paul lying? Was he out of his mind? Of course not. On the contrary! Paul, and the words we just read recorded in Isaiah about the death of Jesus, reveal one of the great mysteries to the Christian faith...and dare I say, one, once mastered, is too the key to true freedom for the Christ-follower:
A life of joy is not a life void of pain. A life of joy is a calm delight and a cheerfulness in the midst of my pain.
Both sorrow and joy are simultaneously a part of my journey as a Christian.
The great deceiver, Satan, sure wants to use devastating moments such as this to rip us away from God.
The pattern we see in scripture is that God wants to do the exact opposite.
Are you hurting today in some way? Is there pain in your life? Do you feel as though the uncertainty of the moment for you is so thick and so dark and so scary that you cannot even move one step further in trusting God through this difficulty?
I am convinced that God can do this in your life if you will allow it. Look:
God will use the darkest moment(s) of my life to produce the most joyful if I am willing to trust Him with my pain.
If I am awaiting the absence of life’s burdens to experience true joy... I will live a long, sad, and sorrow-filled life of bitterness and regret.
Habakkuk 3:17-19: Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.
Church (repeat): Joy – is – a - choice! Choose joy!
4. I learn to live joyfully through expressing joy.
It is a critical step to trust God with my pain. It is a wholly immense step to move past trust and to seize a posture of expressing joy.
James 1:2-4: Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
James is speaking here of the joy: Chara (Greek) = a calm delight and a cheerfulness connected to one falling into trials.
Do you see the progression here of which James speaks: Joy = a calm delight and a cheerfulness connected to one falling into trials = perseverance = completeness. Therefore, the opposite can be said: When I live without joy, I live incomplete.
Do you notice the critical part of this progression? It’s actually the hardest part. But without it, one does not mature nor become complete.
James does not merely say: “Have joy, and then you will be mature and complete.” No! James says: “Have joy, which is a calm delight and a cheerfulness connected to one falling into trials...and do so as you persevere.” What James is telling us, and really the pattern that we see throughout the entirety of the story of the birth of Jesus Christ and its impact on Mary and Joseph, and as it continues throughout the life Jesus embraced while on earth:
In order to get to the complete, we must first journey through the pain. And we are only mature and complete if we do so with joy.
There is a vast difference between just existing through our trials and choosing to do so with joy!
You see... the “pain” has to finish its work! This is precisely what James goes on to say:
James 1:2-4: Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
I am confident that what James is saying is this: I cannot fully express joy having not fully persevered through pain. Complete joy involves deep pain.
Does this mean I am to welcome pain? I think so. I truly think so.
The absence of pain is the incompleteness of joy.
Remember the words of Jesus in John 15:11: I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
As we conclude, let me circle back to where we began this morning and the story of the Magi. After the Magi leave, almost immediately a life of challenge begins for Jesus and His family:
Matthew 2:13-16
Matthew 2:19-23
Who was Archelaus (ark-a-lay-us)? - - He was Herod’s son.
• Herod is the reason Joseph & Mary move to Egypt.
• Herod had 3 sons. Herod divided the kingdom into three regions so, after his death, each son could lead.
• Archelaus was known as the worst of the 3 - - more murderous than his father.
After the family settles in Nazareth, look at what we read next about the life of Jesus:
Matthew 4:1-2: As quickly as His ministry begins, Jesus is attacked by the devil and is hungry.
Jesus lived a life, as James spoke of in James 1 that we read earlier, riddled with trials and with testing. Think about it! Jesus’ life of pain:
1. Jesus was hungry
Matthew 4:2: After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.
2. Jesus was betrayed.
John 13:21: After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, “Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me.”
3. Jesus was sorrowful.
Matthew 26:38: Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
4. Jesus was rejected.
John 7:5: For even his own brothers did not believe in him.
5. Jesus was lonely.
Mark 15:34: And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
6. Jesus was killed.
Matthew 27:35: When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. Jesus’ life was marred with pain. And it is this life that we are to follow, to mirror, as we too endure the pains of this life to bring true honor to God.
This leads me to conclude with this question: Am I willing to surrender my pain to God in order to experience true joy?
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Jeffrey Dean Smith is a husband, father to Bailey & Brynnan, author, and the Senior Pastor at Donelson First in Nashville, TN. If you are in Music City, meet Jeffrey and enjoy iced tea on the front lawn each Sunday at 10:30a.