Joy

0:00 You may be seated. Well, friends, thank you for that little adjustment in the gospel, because I'll be preaching on joy today, and then on this passage of Luke chapter 1, verses 46 through 55. To start, we're thinking about joy, and my kind of main point is Mary's song teaches us that joy is rooted in God and not our circumstances. Joy is rooted in God and not our circumstances. Let me start with talking about this in a different way of looking at the difference between happiness and joy.

0:43 Has anyone ever had car trouble? Yeah, yeah, a battery that just doesn't work, and you get to your car and it doesn't turn on, or that moment where everything should be fine, you get in your car, and then it just doesn't turn on for some strange reason, and it's always a very pressing matter you need to get to. Yeah, you've had those things. It's totally terrible. It's not fun. Well, happiness is when you go to your car, you start the engine, and the engine works. But joy is when you realize you can get to your destination even when the engine fails.

1:22 Joy is knowing you can get there even though that engine may not work. So we'll think about that. But allow me to start with defining joy. Defining joy. A joy is gladness. We saw that reflected in some of the passages from Isaiah. And gladness is based on because God is with you. God is with you. And we can easily illustrate this from Luke's account a few verses just before Mary's song. And this is, you can listen when Gabriel tells about Jesus' birth to Mary in Luke chapter 1, verses 26 through 28.

2:00 It says, In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to a town in Galilee called Nazareth to a virgin pledged in marriage to a man named Joseph who was from the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. The angel appeared to her and said, Greetings, you who are highly favored. The Lord is with you. Verse 28 again says, Greetings, you who are highly favored. The Lord is with you. Christmas is a time to remember that Jesus has come into the world and he's born.

2:36 It's going to make a huge impact. And that God is glad to be with humanity. He wants to be. Mary's song is a reminder to herself and to us that we need to reflect and we need to recall how God is with us. And that will bring us gladness. And that is joy. Are you with me? Yeah. Now, if we look at her song and we look at this and recognize what creates joy, I think in verses 46 through 48, we see she's expressing this. She says, My soul glorifies the Lord.

3:12 My spirit rejoices in my Savior. He's been mindful of the humble state of his servant, she says. And all generations will call her blessed. I noticed that personal description on how God has been mindful of her. Mary's song is an attempt to describe what it's like when you've been visited by God. And I describe that as joyful. And I describe that as joyful. Now, that's Mary. And what about you? For you and your life as a Christian, how has God visited with you? When you didn't deserve or think you were worthy of God's presence, how did God come to you anyways?

4:03 What was that experience like? How was it more than just being happy? The point of the question is to think about how God does come to you, wants to be with you, even when you lack something. As Mary notes, God was mindful of the humble state that she was in. I take that as sort of a way of Mary recognizing that, who am I? A woman, a young girl in this situation. Who am I that God would take notice? But obviously God did take notice. And that's where we see that God is joy, gladness to be with his people.

4:50 And God wants to be with her. He wants to be with you. That's why he came. And if you will, joy is the residue of God's presence when he comes and he's with his people. And we think about that with you and your relationship with God. Recall those moments. Does it bring you joy when God visited you? Does it bring you a deep sense of gladness that God is with you? Well, as you ponder on those questions, let me move into my second point here, which may help maybe answer some of those.

5:25 I think sometimes joy can be hard to recognize if we start in the wrong place. Joy can be hard to recognize if we start in the wrong place. I believe, as I'm sort of describing, joy does come through relationships. And we need to recall that joy is best had when you remember your relationship with God first. And that's why Mary's song and the Bible is teaching about this. God came to be with Mary in a special way. She's reflecting on that through this song. And it gives her joy, as I'm suggesting.

5:59 And I bring this up for a big reason, because joy does not come from things. Sure, these things can bring us temporary happiness. Joy does not come from your friends. They might make you laugh. Joy does not come from your spouse. You'll appreciate their presence. But joy does not come from them. It comes from God. I bring this up, because especially around Christmas, we really easily can forget this. I want to talk about a movie, the movie The Grinch, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, with Jim Carrey.

6:36 I think most people are familiar with this one, the live-action one. And that movie, it opens with Whoville. And there's just a frenzy happening. People are shopping like crazy. And we meet Cindy Luhu and her dad, who's the postman. And she's in the store with her dad. He's rushing and buying gifts. And Cindy Luhu says to her dad, as she sees this, she goes, Isn't this just a bit much? And her dad just responds, This is what Christmas is all about. And we see a theme comes up.

7:08 All about gifts. All about gifts. And then later on, in the movie, we see that through Cindy Luhu petitioning or advocating for The Grinch, he becomes the cheermeister. And after a big humiliation, The Grinch is the cheermeister. All of a sudden, the mayor comes in, and he sneaks in something. He wants to do a wedding proposal. And he's proposing to this one gal. And in it, he said, If you commit to being married to me, you'll have a lifetime of happiness in this new car. And then, The Grinch just has enough.

7:44 He has enough. And he says this, Of course they are. And talking about the gifts. That's what it's all about, isn't it? That's what it's always been about. Gifts, gifts, gifts, gifts, gifts, gifts. You want to know what happens to your gifts? They all come to me. In your garbage. You see what I'm saying? In your garbage. I can hang myself with all the bad Christmas neckties I found at the dump. The avarice. The avarice never ends. I want golf clubs. I want diamonds. I want a pony.

8:16 So I can ride it twice, get bored, and sell it to make glue. Look, I don't want to make waves. And he keeps going. Friends, I tend to agree with The Grinch. If the gifts were so important, why would we throw them away? And what we can see here through this movie example is how easy it can be to substitute happiness, temporary experience, even with gifts. And we think that's joy. We think that's the point. Are you with me? So this is why it's important to ask, so where is joy found?

8:59 Not just in Christmas time, but in all times. A way to think about it is this. Does joy exist without me? I'd say it does because joy is rooted in God. And God thankfully shares it with us. And God shares it with us by relating with us, as Mary's song shows. And so this means joy can come through our experience with God and with others and with things. Just don't reverse the order. Are you with me? Well, now we transition to my third point. And I'll start off with a question you don't have to answer.

9:46 Can you have joy and be sad? Can you have joy and be sad? For some, the holidays are blue, a blue Christmas. You might be saying, well, why? Or what does that mean? Well, a blue Christmas might be because someone has just lost their loved one. They're no longer there. They're gone. They maybe died during the holidays. And it's a yearly reminder that this season is not filled with joy or Yule, but it's filled with pain. I just actually attended to the hospital last week with a family who lost their loved one.

10:28 And it's very significant for them. And so this Christmas is going to be quite sad. Christmas in our culture is supposed to be a happy time. It's filled with parties and gift giving and exchanging of all these things. And things are sparkly. They're supposed to be light. And even sometimes Christians, too, they'll even say, well, Jesus came. He was born. So you should be happy that he came. And yet it's hard. The challenge for a sad person is to ask, how am I supposed to be happy or giddy during Christmas when my loved one is dead?

11:11 And I think it's important to consider that you can still have joy, but you may not be happy this Christmas. Now, we need to be mindful that we don't become so sad or so unhappy that we turn into the Grinch. We don't want to do that. Are you with me? Yeah. And you'll note, I said you can have joy and not be happy. And that's key because we're talking about happiness is not the same thing as joy. And I think verse 48 in Mary's song is a good reminder.

11:46 He has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. She's humble. She's low. And she brings that to mind. And she shares that to God in the song. So, friends, whatever your loss might be in this time, I think it's important you recognize it's okay to feel low. It's okay to say, I'm in a humble state. I'm not smiling. I'm not cheery. I'd encourage you when you feel like that, when you're sad, talk to God about it. Talk with him. Share with him what's making you sad.

12:20 Why you're not feeling happy. I'll use myself as an example. I actually left it in the car. I did bring it, but I have a brother who took his life more than 20 years ago. His name is Kevin. And last Christmas, I did something to help me process that grief and that pain. And I'd also say frustration over the fact that he's not with us. He was in the military. He's in the army. And I have one of his dog tags. My brother has the other one.

12:49 I have an older brother as well. And I've had it for over 20 years. And it was just sitting in a drawer tucked away. And so last year, what I did was I made it into a simple ornament. And I hung it on our Christmas tree last year. And I took that source of pain and I took that source of pain that was not happy. I took that and I said to God, I'm putting this out here on this tree. I need you to see this, God.

13:16 I need you to be mindful of this, God. And I know somehow God is with me in it. Friends, what I'm attempting to do is share that joy is there, even if my brother is not. I'm not happy, but I know as I share this with you, I'm experiencing God's joy. I'm seeing that God is with me in the pain. He's with us in the confusion, the anger. Joy is still present, even of hanging that ornament that reminds me of my brother. Are you with me?

13:54 Yes. Well, let me come kind of to a close here with one more portion from The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. Near the end of the movie, Cindy Lou, who sings a song entitled, Where Are You Christmas? You might be familiar with this. Faith Hill sings it as well. It goes like this. Where are you, Christmas? Why can't I find you? May I? Why have you gone away? My world is changing. I'm rearranging. Does that mean Christmas changes too? Where are you, Christmas? Do you remember? The girl I used to know.

14:31 You and I were so carefree. Now nothing's easy. Did Christmas change or just me? It's a good song by a younger lady reflecting and seeking something more about Christmas. The song from this movie illustrates that she's sort of sad. She, like I'm sure you and I, were wondering, if I change, does Christmas change? If I'm sad, is there something deeper? Does Christmas change? Is that possible? And this song is beautiful because it points us to ask, well, yeah, if I change, what's constant during Christmas? And as I said, my point for today was how Mary's song reminds us that joy is rooted in God, not our circumstances, which applies to Christmas as well.

15:31 Christmas is a time to be reminded that being happy is good. Gifts are good. But joy is deeper. And that needs to be accessible still. And it is. The Christmas from the gospel of Jesus is that God is glad to be with us, even if we're not happy, if we're not perfect. God has come in spite of us to remind us again, a few things from Mary's song. The mighty one has done great things for you and for me. His mercy is extended to those who revere him.

16:09 He has performed mighty deeds with his arms. She says he's brought down rulers from their thrones. He's filled the hungry with good things. He's helped his servants. God comes and to be with his people, to share his joy with us. Mary's song is an answer to Cindy Lou, who's song, where are you Christmas? It's there in God, a God who came in the past and is constant today, a God who does great things for you in spite of you changing, a God who shares his joy with you even when you're not happy, and a God who fulfills promises that have come true and that provides joy.

16:55 Whether you're happy, you're sad, or you're in between, remember that Christmas is rooted in God. God is with you. And friends, Merry Christmas, and may God's joy be experienced by you all today. Amen.