The Life of Joy

This blog post is Part 3 of a series entitled, "Joy Begins Here" by Pastor Jeffrey Dean Smith of Donelson First in Nashville, TN. 

Message Date: December 18, 2022

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In an article recently published in The Journal of Psychology, 101 men and women were tasked with working to perform intentional acts that have the potential to produce joy in their lives. Calling a friend to whom they haven’t spoken in a while, saying something complementary to a neighbor or a coworker, sending a greeting card to a loved one… really any act at all of which the end result would produce a “feel-good” or sense of joy in one’s life. These participants were then asked to keep a journal documenting these intentional acts of joy and the joy these acts brought to their lives.  

At the end of the study, several interesting facts emerged:

1. Those who expressed joy throughout the day and then recorded such expressions realized that the intentional focus of expressing joy encouraged a greater awareness of the personal sense of satisfaction and pleasure that can be found in even the simplest of actions.  

2. Those who participated in such expressions of joy had lower blood pressure, less stress, more confidence, and experienced a profound increase in a feeling of positivity than they had previously.  

Wow! The power of a simple act and the end result of joy in one’s life. 

There are few life events more intimate, special, emotional, and moving for a woman than that instant in which she realizes, “I am pregnant!”  

Though not in the order in which young Mary expected to hear such news, we do know such news brought great joy upon her.  

Luke 1:26-38  

Yes, at first, Mary questions Gabriel because she has never been intimate with a man.  

Luke 1:34  

Upon hearing what has happened, Mary’s next statement isn’t what might be the words of other expecting mothers, such as: “How will I provide for him?” “What will my parents think?” “Will I need to quit my job?” “Can we one day afford private school?” No! Mary made no such statements. After Gabriel speaks, Mary uses 5 words of extreme importance here. Did you catch them?  

Five words that define the sacrifice of Mary. Five words that detail the life of Jesus. Five words that describe the life you and I are to embrace.  

Luke 1:38: “I am the Lord’s servant.”                             

After this visit from Gabriel, Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth. And then she does something that some might think to be odd. Personally, I do not!  

As a matter of fact, I often do the same. And, how fitting, so does one of my favorite characters from, as I shared with you 2 weeks ago, my favorite non-traditional Christmas movie, Elf. In his personal moment of elation and joy, he sings!

I love breaking into song! Buddy the Elf is overjoyed to finally find his dad. So... he sings! And in Luke 1, Mary too is overjoyed. So... she sings!  

Luke 1:46-55  

Notice the word in the first line of her song: Luke 1:46  

Mary “rejoices.”  

The word rejoice here is the Greek word “chara!”  

Remember this? 

Joy: Chara (Greek) = a calm delight and a cheerfulness connected to one falling into trials.    

As I have studied the biblical events of the birth of the Christ-child, I have seen this:  

There is a remarkable correlation in Scripture of a life of servanthood as the catalyst to a life of joy.  

We see that Mary, upon hearing this life-changing and miraculously unexplainable news, simply says, “I am the Lord’s servant.” Isn’t this exactly the life journey of our Savior Himself? Think about it: If early on in your life, it would be revealed to you that you would have to journey to a place where you will be hated, hunted, and killed, I wonder if you could avoid such a journey, would you?  

Such knowledge was actually known to Jesus before His life on earth even began.  

Isaiah 50:6  

Isaiah 53:3-5,7  

This realization makes what He did all the more unfathomable. In and of itself...the idea that one would leave heaven, leave behind perfection, and leave the presence of His Father, God Almighty, and willingly choose to come to a place of hate, evil, wickedness and more...  

All of this Jesus did, as He spoke in John 6:38: For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 

You know...at every step along the way in this story of God’s redemptive plan for mankind, we read primarily of a call for servanthood. We see it in Luke 1 with the mother of Jesus. We read about it here in Isaiah in the prophecy spoken of Jesus 700 years before His birth.  

As I’ve continued to study, read, and pray through this series, Joy Begins Here, I have continually asked this question:  

How can Jesus, knowing what was to come for Him, knowing the fullness of the price for humanity's sins, live a life so rich, alive, and immersed in joy?  

Think of this:  

This man who lived the most painful life of anyone ever, too lived the most joyful!  

How can this be?  

It can be because: 

The most beautiful story ever is, too, the most selfless. And it is all for me.  

Let’s look again at Isaiah 53:3  

We’ve looked at this passage earlier in this series. And, this passage is one of which many people are familiar. This one passage alone should bring each of us as followers of Jesus Christ to a place of tremendous awe. To think that God’s Son, our Savior, would, could ever be treated in such a way!  

Listen again to these words used by Isaiah to prophesy what would happen to Jesus:

Isaiah 53:3 Isaiah says...  

Jesus will: Be despised. Be rejected. Suffer. Receive pain. Be scorned. Be considered in low esteem.   

This man who came to give us true joy... is the same man who truly is joy and became the suffering servant of all, for all.  

For it is Isaiah’s next words that reveal to us how this came to be:  

Isaiah 53:4-5  

Took up (Hebrew) = to bear; to agonize in place of

This one of whom Mary sang of rejoicing, is the same one of whom Isaiah spoke would bear the blow of my sins. You see, the story of the first Christmas is all the more amazing when I fully recognize:

Jesus was a servant willing to agonize in my place so that I may receive joy. When I fully understand His suffering, I can wholly rejoice in the magnificence of His birth.  

This same man Isaiah also states in Isaiah 50:6: I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting. 

It has become more and more apparent to me through this study, Church: Jesus was able to take up my pain and bear my suffering because He was fully devoted to serving the Father.  

Look at what Isaiah goes on to say about the suffering of our Lord who will be born in a manger 700 years later:

Isaiah 53:9-11  

See what Isaiah says? He states, “It is the Lord’s will to cause Jesus to suffer. But look at what he says will happen in verse 11: “After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied!” After Jesus suffers for you and me, He will see the “light of life!” What is the light of life? It is the power over sin and death only offered as a way to God the Father through salvation!  

And, do you notice what title Isaiah gives our Savior? Look at verse 11 again.  

Isaiah 53:11   “...righteous servant.”  

Because the “servant Jesus” is devoted to the will of the Father, He suffers. You see...  

Jesus’ life is proof that:

True joy isn’t achieved in one striving to avoid the pains of this world. True joy is achieved through serving the Father amidst the pains of this world.  

I am confident this is true:  

Jesus lived a life of joy because Jesus gave His life to serve.  

So, as we enter this week of Christmas celebration, how can we do the same? How can you and I find joy this week (and the next, and the next) through serving?  

I offer to you 4 ways:

1. I receive joy when I serve my family. 

Serve = one devoted to performing duties for another   

1 Timothy 5:8: Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.  

You see when your heart is to serve - - to take care of your family as Paul writes to Timothy, then your focus is never on what you want or need. Instead, it’s on the wants and needs of your family.  

Philippians 2:3-4: Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. 

What does my family need most from me?

There are so very many ways in which we need one another as family members. Dare I say, what Amy & the girls need most from me: A servant’s heart! For...  

When I serve my family well, I love my family well.  

In all my years of working with families and counseling people of all ages, I have heard many family-related heartbreak stories. I know there are many directions I could go with this thought as it relates to the family.  

One thought I will make has to do with what I would call the “joy competitor for families:” 

complacency = a feeling of smug   

Y'all get this?! Life is busy. We get comfortable... and over the course of time we stop showing affection, we stop encouraging, we stop seeing the good in one another, bringing out the best in one another, and this can all be really detrimental to the health of “family!”  

I don’t know about you...I do not always get it right but I love to bring joy to my family!  

Many years ago, we started the 12 Days of Christmas at our home!  

I love to do things for them that I know they enjoy: We almost always have a playlist playing in the home. We light candles. We watch football. We sit on the back porch. We go watch movies. (We saw Avatar Thursday night...oh my!)   

These things in and of themselves may seem little... no big deal. But...  

The “little things” do big things to make sure family never becomes smug.  

Let’s make this our goal:

One way I can serve my family well in 2023: Promise to never be smug about my family!  

I encourage you to answer this question this week: How can I better serve my family with the “little things?”    

2. I receive joy when I serve others.  

I’ve shared before that almost immediately after arriving as pastor here, the Lord really spoke to me about reshaping the way we as a church give towards missions. Donelson First has always been a mission-minded Church. However, I’ve had a clear vision from the Lord as to the importance of giving to impact people, businesses, and ministries locally right here in Donelson. When the Lord gave me the thought in 2020 for us to launch Dollars for Donelson, I had no idea the impact that this ministry would have upon others!  

There are countless ways you can serve others. But one way you do this is through giving.

 Additionally, I want to say this about serving ... there are many ways you can serve.....   One way of which we do not often speak is actually in the area of speaking ... an idea I would label: Speak serving.  

Yes, this is fairly “non-traditional” in the sense of serving others. But, this unique spin on serving others with your words in actuality is one of which Scripture speaks often:  

Leviticus 19:16a: Do not go about spreading slander among your people.  

Proverbs 16:28: A perverse person stirs up conflict, and a gossip separates close friends.   

Look, if you have something to say... say it! Just say it to someone rather than about someone!  

Now, I will say there is another principle for which we don’t have time today that warrants a deeper discussion, and that is:

I don’t always have to have an opinion on everything and everyone. And, if I do... this does not mean I have to voice it! Just because I think something doesn’t mean I have to say something! But, when there is a discussion that needs to happen.

I serve you best when I speak to you rather than speak about you.

There are few joy competitors more lethal than that of speaking about someone to someone else.

I do not serve you well when I speak about you to someone else. I do not serve others well when I speak about you to them.   Imagine if 200+ of us live in such a way where we never, ever speak of another in any way that is degrading, deceitful, or disrespectful. Imagine the joy that would flow!    

3. I receive joy when I serve the Church.   

 The key to the success of each of these ministries: You!   

I’ve been asked before: “Is it really necessary to have all of these events when most of the people who attend our events we never see again?”  

Let me ask: What do you think? 

We don’t “do events” so that the end result is new people come to Donelson First. We “do events” to point others to Jesus. Period.

Doesn’t it bring joy to your life when you do these events? For every one of you who has worked at one of our events: Do not these events give you great joy? Yes, of course, they do!  

I had someone tell me just this Friday, “It brought a smile to my face when I volunteered at Fall @ The Annex and I saw so many kids having fun and going home with a pumpkin!” This is joy Church! And, this joy is infectious and people see this joy in you and they want this joy. People hear about the impact these events have and the joy that follows. This is why we do what we do at Donelson First! We get to point others to Christ and the win for us: Through the process, we experience joy!    

4. I receive joy when I serve my Father.  

As Scripture has guided us throughout this series, we see that, again, Jesus was able to endure all He did, and do so with joy, because His ultimate pursuit was to serve His Father. Answer this: What is one thing I would like to know about the life of Jesus that is not recorded in the Scriptures? What was Jesus’ favorite color? Did He whistle while He worked? Did He like His catfish grilled or fried? 

Why is this? I mean, we know that God is an extremely personal God. So why did God choose to not give us more insight into the personal life of Jesus...especially His life as a young boy? We know mostly nothing about the early life of Jesus. Why is this? Why didn’t God choose to tell us more?  

I believe it is because:

Jesus came to be inglorious. And in doing so, His father became glorious. 

Jesus did not come to make Himself known. Jesus only came to make the Father known.  

Philippians 2:5-8: In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death - even death on a cross!

John 1:14: The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 14:9: Jesus answered: Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father...

Even the very first recorded words of a young Jesus in the Bible are proof that our Savior came solely to serve His father! Right after the recorded conclusion of the Christmas story in Luke 2, remember what happens? Look quickly:

Luke 2:41-49  

Jesus taught us, even as a young twelve-year-old boy, that He came to serve His father!  

Jesus would go on to live a life for 21 more years doing so to serve and to complete the Father’s will. And shortly before going to the cross, He would say this to His followers:

John 15:10-11: If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.  

This is it y’all! This is it! This is the conclusion for us in this series:

If I keep the Father’s commands, I remain in His love. In doing so, I will have the joy of Jesus, And my joy will be complete.  

This one man, Jesus, who was given the most difficult, most unfair, most undeserved, most misunderstood, most mistreated life of anyone ever...went through all that He did to serve the Father.  

This brought Him joy.  

And as you and I do the same, we too will experience the joy of Jesus.  

I again want us to end by allowing the truths of God’s Word to impact us. It truly was at the birth of Jesus that...   Joy begins here.     

John 15:10-11: If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.  

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.  

John 17:13: I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.  

Psalm 16:11: You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.  

Luke 15:5-7: And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way, there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.  

Romans 14:17: For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

John 16:20-22: Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come, but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your 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.