Christ Church Sermon, Real Jesus: Joy, May 31 2026

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Today's scripture is Nehemiah

8 9-12.

Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the

priest and teacher of the law, and the

Levites who were con instructing the

people said to them all, "This day is

holy to the Lord your God, do not mourn

or weep." For all the people had been

weeping as they listened to the words of

the law.

Nehemiah said, "Go and enjoy choice food

and sweet drinks, and send some to those

who have nothing prepared. This day is

holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the

joy of the Lord is your strength." The

Levites calmed all the people,

saying, "Be still, for this is a holy

day. Do not grieve." Then all the people

went away to eat and drink to sound

portions of food and to celebrate with

great joy because they now understand

the words that have been made to know

known to them. Hear what the spirit is

saying to the church.

>> Thanks be to God.

>> It's Alex.

Well, this weekend we're kicking off a

new sermon series called Real Jesus. And

it's inspired by the emotional themes

that we see in the movies Inside Out and

Inside Out 2. How many of you have seen

one or both of those movies? Inside Out

or Inside Out 2. You see, this series is

going to explore the powerful truth that

faith does not ignore emotion. It

transforms emotion. Now, one reason why

these movies connected so deeply with

people is because it gave us language to

something that we all experience every

single day. The complicated world

happening inside of us known as our

emotions. The movies hit on several

different emotions from joy to sadness

to anger to fear to anxiety and

frustration to embarrassment to hope.

Well, these films remind us that

emotions are not random interruptions to

our life. They instead shape how we see

the world, how we relate to others, and

how we understand ourselves.

However, many of us spend a lot of time

trying to manage or hide or suppress or

even control our emotions. But scripture

paints a very different picture. The

Bible's not filled with emotionally numb

people. It is filled with people who are

carrying real emotions before a real

God.

Throughout scripture, we see people

experiencing those same kind of emotions

we see in the movies. From joy and anger

to hope to loneliness to to grief to

doubt. It's it's all there. So, the

issue is not whether or not we feel

emotions. The issue is what do we do

with them?

Do they drive us away from God? Or do

they become invitations for us to enter

into a deeper relationship with God? You

see, this real Jesus sermon series is

about discovering that Jesus does not

shame us for having emotions. He meets

us in them. He teaches us how to

surrender them, how to process them, how

to trust God through them, and how to

find healing and wisdom and

transformation in the middle of them.

Because emotions are not the enemies of

faith. They are often invitations into a

deeper relationship with God. So over

the next four weeks, we're going to talk

honestly about uh uh joy that survives

hardship,

sadness that draws us closer to God,

anger that has to be surrendered, and

anxiety and frustration that are buried

inside of us that really need to find a

little bit of peace because our emotions

are real, our struggles are real, and

Jesus meets us honestly in the middle of

all of it. So faith is not just

emotional denial. Faith is emotional

surrender to God. So let's jump in to

week one which is titled joy. Now this

isn't just any kind of joy. This is the

kind of joy that survives hardships. Our

scripture today from Nehemiah reminds us

that biblical joy is deeper than

happiness. Happiness rises and falls

with circumstances.

For example, after the last two Pirate

games, I am happy as a Pirate fan. I am

sure there will be times this year where

I will be less than happy as a Pirate

fan. But joy is rooted in the presence

and faithfulness of God even in the most

difficult circumstances.

Now the world the world tells us that

when things get better, then we can have

joy. But scripture teaches us something

completely different. Scripture teaches

us that joy is actually not the absence

of pain. Joy is the presence of God in

the middle of the pain. And that's

important for us to hear because we live

in a world that is emotionally

exhausted. People are tired. People are

overwhelmed. People are anxious. People

are burned out. I mean, people are still

trying to hold everything together to

the point that they're just exhausted

and wonder if if finding joy is even

possible anymore. But remember, joy is

not surface level happiness.

It's not fake smiles. It's not

pretending that everything is okay. Real

joy is the kind of joy that survives

grief. It survives stress. It survives

parenting struggles. It survives health

battles. It res it it survives

relational tensions and disappointment

and loneliness. It even survives

uncertainty

because if we're being honest, many of

us feel the pressure to act happy even

when we're hurting. And that pressure

can make us feel even more isolated. But

the good news of scripture is God never

asks us to fake joy. God invites us into

a deeper kind of joy. Now, I want to

give you a little background on this

story from Nehemiah uh that we heard

Alex share with us today. In Nehemiah 8,

the people of Israel are gathering after

years of devastation and exile.

Jerusalem had been destroyed. Their

lives had been disrupted. They carried

grief and shame and loss. Then Ezra

stands up before the people and he reads

the word of God publicly. And when they

hear the scripture, something totally

unexpected happens. They begin to weep.

Not because God is condemning them, but

because their hearts are being awakened.

The word of God is reminding them of who

God is and who they are. It's reminding

them how far they have wondered and how

fa faithful God has been as they have

wondered. And this is an emotional

moment. And I want you to notice

something really important in this

story. No one tells them to stop feeling

their emotions. No one says real

believers don't cry or have more faith

or just move on or everything happens

for a reason. Instead, the emotions are

actually acknowledged.

Now, we need to hear that cuz some of us

has have grown up believing that showing

emotions equals weakness. But throughout

scripture, we learn that emotions are

not the enemies of faith. They're often

the doorway where God meets us. Which

means this moment teaches us that

emotions like sorrow and joy can exist

together.

Unfortunately, many of us were taught

either directly or indirectly that joy

is the absence of pain.

We think if I was just spiritually

stronger, I wouldn't feel this sad. If I

really trusted God, I wouldn't struggle

emotionally. If if I had enough faith, I

would just feel positive. But scripture

paints a completely different picture.

Biblical joy is not pretending life

doesn't hurt. Biblical joy is re

rediscovering that God remains present

in the midst of that hurt. That means

that we can grieve and still have joy.

We can struggle and still have joy. We

can battle anxiety and still have joy.

We can walk through the loss of a loved

one and know that God is with us and

still experience joy. And we can carry

heartbreak and still experience hope

that comes from our relationship with

God leading to joy. Because joy is not

rooted in our circumstances. Joy is

rooted in the presence of God.

Too many people in this world have lost

their joy. And honestly, I think that's

why so many people are exhausted today.

We live in a culture that pressures us

to look okay. Smile. Keep moving. Stay

positive. Act strong. Build the perfect

life online. pretend like everything is

fine, but never deal with what's

actually going on underneath all of

that. You know, those feelings of being

overwhelmed or grieving silently

thinking it's never going to go away or

feeling emotionally burned out or

carrying the stress that nobody sees.

Instead, our culture encourages us to

just keep smiling publicly even though

we are struggling immensely on the

inside. And one of the greatest lies the

enemy gets us to believe is that if we

are hurting, we must be failing

spiritually.

That is a lie. Scripture teaches us that

tears are not the evidence of weak

faith. Tears are the evidence of our

hearts finally becoming honest before

God.

Even Jesus himself shows this. Y'all

know the story when Jesus shows up at

Lazarus tomb. It's the one verse

everybody in church can memorize. What

did Jesus do? Jesus wept. Right? That's

two lines, two words. You can memorize

that verse. Jesus wept. Here's the thing

about that story that I've missed until

now. Jesus wept for Lazarus knowing that

in minutes he was going to raise Lazarus

from the dead.

He wept even though he knew Lazarus was

going to come out of that tomb. What

does that tell us? That tells us that

grief and love can inhabit the same

space. And if Jesus can hold sorrow and

hope together in that moment, then so

can we. That's why joy is not emotional

denial. Real joy says, "This is hard,

but I know God is still here. This

hurts, but I know I'm not abandoned. I

don't understand everything, but I trust

that God is still holding me."

Our scripture gives us permission to

stop pretending. It gives us permission

to say, "I'm tired. I'm grieving.

I'm struggling. I'm anxious.

I'm not okay right now." Because God is

not waiting for us to become emotionally

polished before God meets us. God meets

us honestly no matter where we are. The

beautiful truth of scripture is we do

not have to fake happiness to experience

the joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord

is not built on pretending. It is built

on the unshakable reality that even in

our pain, God is still faithful. God is

still present and God is still holding

us together. Amen.

>> That's what real joy is. Now sometimes

unfortunately this passage sometimes

gets misunderstood. When people hear the

joy of the Lord is our strength. They

assume Nehemiah is saying smile more.

Stay positive. Hide your emotions.

You're not as strong as or you're

stronger than you think you are. And

sadly that gets echoed in churches

sometimes. And that's wrong too. People

come to church and they're afraid to

show that they're struggling because

it's embarrassing. They're afraid to

share sadness because they say it's it's

unspiritual.

They're afraid to share that they're

struggling with anxiety because they

think it makes them a failure. So, they

learn how to fake it because they think

that that's what faith wants us to do.

But that's not what Nehemiah is teaching

us at all. Biblical joy is not emotional

suppression. It's not pretending like

those emotions aren't there or that pain

doesn't exist. That is not biblical joy.

You know what that is? using a modern

psychology term that's called toxic

positivity.

And if I apply apply toxic positivity to

the Christian faith, it means that we

think good Christians don't struggle.

Faithful people don't get discouraged.

If you really trusted God, you wouldn't

feel overwhelmed.

Again, scriptures teaches us a different

story. Throughout the Bible, faithful

people wrestled with emotion. We read

David literally cry out to God in the

Psalms. Elijah collapsed emotionally

under exhaustion. Jeremiah is called the

weeping prophet. Sounds like a guy you

want to hang out with, doesn't it? Job.

Job mourned the devastating losses that

he felt felt in his life. Paul speaks

openly about despair. Even Jesus weeps

and grieavves and agonizes in the garden

of Gethsemane. So, the Bible never hides

human emotion. And Nehemiah 8 just

carries that on. The people in Nehemiah

are openly emotional. They're openly

grieving. They're openly convicted. And

they're openly overwhelmed.

Why? Well, because they heard God's word

and that exposed both their brokenness

and God's mercy all at the same time.

And even in that emotional moment, God

still invites them into joy because joy

is not based on circumstances.

Joy is rooted in the character of God.

That's the difference. The circumstances

for the people in Nehemiah were still

not good. The city had been destroyed.

The people were rebuilding after

devastation. The nation carried scars

from what had happened. The future was

still uncertain. There were still

problems to solve. There were still

struggles that lied ahead. There was

still pain that they couldn't ignore.

And yet God says, "The joy of the Lord

is your strength." Not because suddenly

life got easy, but because God had

remained faithful through it.

That changes how we understand joy. Joy

is not the denial of reality. Joy is the

confidence that Jesus is still present

within our reality.

Joy says the situation is hard but God

has not abandoned us. The future feels

uncertain but God is still faithful. We

are weary but God is still sustaining

us. That is why joy becomes strength.

Not because our emotions disappear. Not

because pain magically vanishes. Not

because believers avoid hardship. Joy

becomes strength because God remains

steady even when life is not. And

honestly, a lot of us need to hear that

reminder because life has a way of

draining us. You know, some people are

going to walk into church this weekend

carrying grief. Others are going to

carry stress about their finances.

Others are going to be exhausted

emotionally. Others are going to be

worried about their kids. Others are

quietly battling depression or

loneliness or disappointment or fear.

Some people might be coming carrying a

little bit of all of those. And when

life feels heavy, positivity alone is

not enough. Surface level optimism

collapses under real suffering.

But the joy of the Lord is deeper than

optimism. It's deeper than our mood.

It's deeper than personality. It's

deeper than our circumstances.

It's the assurance that God is still

good. God is still present and God is

still working. And God is holding us all

together. That's the kind of joy that

can survive difficult seasons because

the source of our joy is not temporary

success. It is the unsteady, unchanging

faithfulness of God. That's why

Christians throughout history could

still sing when they were in prison.

They could still worship while they were

suffering persecution. They could hold

on to hope in the midst of grief. They

could keep loving in the midst of

hardship, not because life was easy, but

because God remained faithful. And the

same is true for us today. The joy of

the Lord is our strength. Because when

everything else feels unstable,

God isn't.

When we look at this real Jesus, we see

someone who fully embraced emotion.

Jesus experienced joy. We read stories

how he celebrated meals with people. He

attended weddings. He blessed children.

He rejoiced with his disciples. Jesus

was not emotionally detached. Jesus was

emotionally engaged in everything. But

his joy was never shallow because we

also read that he knew grief, rejection,

stress, exhaustion, betrayal, and

suffering.

In fact, in the book of Hebrews, we read

that Jesus endured the cross for the joy

set before him. Which means joy did not

remove suffering. It gave him strength

through it. That is the kind of joy that

God offers us today. Not fake happiness,

but deeprooted confidence that God is

still working. God is still near. God is

still faithful.

And this hard season that we're in won't

have the final word in our life. So real

joy may look like choosing gratitude

when life feels uncertain.

Laughing again after months of grief.

Finding moments of peace in the midst of

difficult parenting seasons. Continuing

to trust God as we're healing

emotionally.

Showing up when our emotions leave us

exhausted. and holding on to hope as

we're waiting for answers. Real joy is

not perfection. Real joy is presence.

The presence of God meeting us right

where we are. So maybe today some of us

need to stop chasing happiness and start

receiving joy

because happiness depends on what has

happened to us. But joy is all about who

is living in us.

Real joy isn't pretending like

everything is fine. Real joy is knowing

that God is faithful no matter what life

throws at us. So maybe the question for

us this week is not am I happy all the

time. Maybe the question is am I

following God and am I allowing God to

meet me where I'm at in the season that

I'm in? Because joy grows whenever God's

presence is welcomed,

even in grief, even in uncertainty, even

in healing, even in the middle of those

hard seasons. Because the same God that

showed up in the book of Nehemiah is the

same God who wants to meet with us

today. The same Jesus that carried joy

through suffering is the same Jesus that

is still meeting us today. You see,

Jesus is not just inviting us to be

happy. He is inviting us to experience

real joy.

The question is, are we ready to accept

that invitation?

Let's pray. Lord, we are grateful that

our joy does not come from our

circumstances

cuz we would never get there.

We are grateful that when we are in a

relationship with you, we can experience

joy in the midst of those circumstances.

Whether they're good, bad, or

indifferent, doesn't matter. As long as

we are connected to you, we can

experience joy because our joy comes

from your presence in our life.

Help us to invite you in so we can truly

experience the joy that comes from that

relationship. We ask all of this in your

son's name. And everyone said, "Amen.