Advent - Joy | Pastor Kami Palmer | Faith Church

All right, today is joy, and you'll notice on

our joy banner, our focus is on the magi, the

joy of the magi. And I've just been enjoying

their part of this story in the Bible, because

their story is a story of worship. Their story

is a story of joy. And so we read it at the beginning

as Carter was lighting our Advent candle. But

they were a group of people that were traveling,

weren't they? They were travelers. And that's

who we are. We are pilgrimage people. And so

when I'm walking in the woods, I like to walk

where there's trees and woods. And I usually,

in those moments, I don't like to listen to things.

I don't like to listen to podcasts or even music.

I like it quiet and silent. I think it resets

my brain and my spirit. But I've discovered every

once in a while. The Walking Song. Who were the

pre -Hobbit people? Who were they called? I know

you all don't know. You're not a nerdy bunch,

and Rachel's not here. She's my only other, like,

real Lord of the Rings nerd. And so the people

before they became Hobbits that settled, they

were a wandering people. Harfoots. Thank you.

Thank you, Charlene. And they were like a nomadic

people. And so whenever they were, oh, there

she is, Rachel. We're just talking about the

rings of power. Whenever they were traveling,

they would have walking songs that they would

sing. And so one day I was walking through the

woods, and I just had it in me, I need to listen

to this wandering song. And so I began to play

it. It was actually the Sunday that I took off

and said, I'm leaving you all and I'm going for

a hike in the woods. And I began to listen to

this song as I was hiking through the woods and

just felt the presence of the Lord. And it just

simply says, I trade all I've known for the unknown

ahead. Call to me, call to me, lands far away.

If I had a voice, I would sing it for you. Of

drink I have little, in food I have less. My

strength tells me no, but the path demands yes.

My legs are so short and the way is so long.

I've no rest nor comfort, nor comfort but song.

Sing to me, sing to me lands far away. Oh, rise

up and guide me this wandering day. My friend,

we have a land far away calling to us here today.

We are a pilgrimage people. This is not our final

home. There is a land that calls to us today.

There is a path that we are on that demands our

yes. And as I was listening to that, it was just

resonating. My eternal home, it was like I could

just hear it. Even as I'm saying it, I can feel

it. Hearing it call to me. Come on, Cammie. We're

waiting for you. We're waiting for you. Stay

on this path. And when I hear the call, I can't

help but, yes, I got to go. I got to go. Right?

We are traveling. ever toward our home and so

my question is what or who is guiding you on

your journey today we're celebrating the advent

week of joy and in that we are following this

company of travelers the magi who are on this

journey of joyful worship it was a journey marked

by joyful worship. And so before we talk about

their journey, I want you to envision for a moment

a tale of two kingdoms. I want you to take for

a moment and just imagine. I think God gives

us imaginations, and sometimes we just need to

stop and use our imagination. And so I want you

just to imagine for a moment the kingdom of darkness.

Some of you, that might be a very real, you don't

need to imagine anything. What you came out of

was just very real. But this kingdom of darkness

that's characterized by sin, by evil, by lies,

by misery and chaos, a waste of purpose, death,

hatred. Spiritual bondage. It's a real kingdom.

Right? We've seen it portrayed in all kinds of

movies, good and evil. And even now, in your

imagination, you might be imagining a scene that

you've seen that really replicates what that

kingdom of darkness looks like. It's a real kingdom,

though. It's not a fictional place. The kingdom

of darkness is real. And it operates in deception

and fear and rebellion. The tale of two kingdoms,

the kingdom of darkness and in opposition, the

kingdom of light. And it's such a contrast between

the two kingdoms, isn't it? The kingdom of light,

which is characterized by goodness and peace,

eternal life, divine purpose, righteousness,

joy. It's in such opposition to the kingdom of

darkness. It operates in truth and freedom and

love. Which kingdom would you choose in a tale

of two kingdoms? Right? I love, and Darren made

me years ago a porch swing, and he had engraved

on the top of it this verse out of Romans 14.

For the kingdom of God is righteousness, peace,

and joy in the Holy Spirit. This kingdom that

we are a part of should be a kingdom of joy.

And we're not talking today about an emotion.

So often we come into this thinking it has something

to do with our emotions, and it doesn't. However,

I want to read to you this. It was a study based

in Britain. And here's what they found, that

people older than 52, raise your hands. I'm not

there yet. I'm just turning 51, so I get to keep

my hand down. I think it shouldn't yours be up.

You're awfully. Okay, let me see them again.

You're over 52. Okay, here's your statistic.

Just barely. Doesn't matter. You're over. You're

over. People older, until I turn 52, and then

it'll be a different story. People older than

52 tend to be grumpier than younger people. Linda's

the exception. People, man, oh, the 52 -year

-olds are all rising up. I'm definitely not going

to the seniors group this week. Hey, I didn't

say this. The study said it. Okay, 52 tend to

be grumpier than younger people. The poll results

found that those over 50, so I'm in this group,

laughed far less and complained far more than

people under 50. You laugh less, you complain

more. I can tell you're all loving this study.

The study found, now listen, it's going to get

interesting. The average number of laughs per

day, now I've helped you with this today, so

here you go. The laughs per day declines as a

person ages. Infants, we've got an infant in

the room today. Infants generally laughed up

to 300 times per day. An infant will laugh up

to 300 times per day. While teenagers laugh an

average of six times a day. Hey, it just gets

worse from here. Don't be judging them because

it's getting worse for us. By the time a person

reaches the age of 60, the laughs per day had

declined to only 2 .5. Are we talking about being

a greeter at the Walmart door, Jill? Listen,

here's the takeaway. An infant laughs up to 300

times per day. I believe that we were created

with the capacity for great joy. And we have

let life and circumstances drain that capacity,

narrow that capacity down. And I believe as kingdom

people, And I know, and I believe this is why

some of you are like, no way, no way, because

we're kingdom people. And as kingdom people,

what does it say about our youth in Isaiah? It

gets renewed. I believe that we can begin to

laugh again as kingdom people, right? As our

youth is renewed, our capacity is restored to

laugh and to be containers of joy of the Lord.

And so today, I just want to say, let's increase

our capacity for joy. Let's increase and not

be a part of this world statistics and say, we

want to be a people that look a little different,

that are marked by joy. And so today's text,

we read a bit of it before, but I want us to

focus in on Matthew chapter 1, verses 10 and

Matthew 1:10

11. They had been traveling, the magi, they had

been traveling looking for this child. And finally,

after their travels, it says they saw the star

and they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.

Not just joy, not just great joy, exceedingly

great joy. Why? They've been following the star

all along. They had seen the star all along.

But there came the moment when the star stopped

and marked the presence. And as it marked the

presence, the response that arose up within the

Magi was that of exceedingly great joy. And when

they had come into the house, they saw the young

child with Mary, his mother, and fell down and

worshipped him. These great, distinguished, educated

astronomers. They fell down at this child's feet

and worshipped. And then they opened their treasures

and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense,

and myrrh. Back in the 80s, there was a very

popular definition of joy, which some of you

probably remember. And it has stuck with me.

It used to be, I think, in the women's bathroom

of Faith Church when I was growing up in Washington.

And it was simply this. Here is a very simplified

definition of joy. Jesus, others, and you. Right?

In that order. J -O -Y. Jesus, others, and you.

Would you like to come and sing it for us, Jesse?

You can sing that to jingle bells, I hear. This

might be a good bingo night rendition for us

tonight. You're going to get it stuck forever

in your head. Jesus, others, you. And that might

seem like that's so 20 years ago. I guess I'm

older than that. 40 years ago. 40 years ago.

But there is truth in it. In this alignment,

there is joy. And so I want us for a moment to

walk through this. And it begins with Jesus,

his presence. The joy of his presence. And this

kind of joy is not anything that is self -generated.

I am not the originator of joy in my life. I

am not the source of joy in my life. There is

only one giver of joy, and it is Jesus. The magi,

exceedingly great joy, came to them as they observed

the star marking the place of his presence. There

is something about a life that has been marked

by his presence. It is a life that is marked

by joy. I want to walk through a few examples

of this because we hear and we even sang it today.

The joy of the Lord is my strength and that sounds

so good. But man, how do you walk in that? What

does that mean when everything around me just

is kind of stinky? Let me just give you a little

bit of inspiration. For what that can look like.

You've heard me talk about him before. But I

can't talk about joy in our daily life without

talking about Brother Lawrence. A 1700 monk who

didn't just pray in a chapel. He prayed while

peeling potatoes. He was the chef of the monastery.

And day in and day out. And it wasn't like today.

He didn't have KitchenAid, beautiful mixer that

I have, two of them, praise the Lord. He didn't

have a microwave. He didn't have a gas stove

to flick on. He had to go chop the wood to bring

it in and start the fires, right? And so it was

this kind of life, the day in and day out monotony.

He didn't worship just during services. He worshiped

while he scrubbed pans. And here's the key. Here's

what he said, Brother Lawrence. There was no

difference to him between the time he spent doing

business in life, between the time in the soapy

water, that was his business, and the peeling

of potatoes. There was no difference from that

to when he was on his knees in prayer. It was

all the same to him. He lived life marked by

the presence of God. God was in both places.

Susanna Wesley, she was one of my heroes as I

was raising my children, mother of John and Charles

Wesley, two of the most influential leaders in

church history, wrote many hymns. She had 19

children. This being in the chaos of 18th century

life. No tablets for her so that she could have

quiet time. No dishwashers, no air conditioning,

no Walmart grocery pickups. Here's what she did.

She would sit down in her kitchen. she would

throw her apron over her head and pray. That

apron became a holy place. It was her tent of

meeting. Everyone, every child in the house knew

when Mama's got her apron over her head, you

don't bother her. She's talking to Jesus, and

she did that every day, often up to two hours.

Not in a cathedral, not on a retreat, not on

a mom's night out, but in the middle of the clatter,

the crying, and the chores of 19 kids. She made

space. She had been marked by the presence of

God. In the early church, in the early centuries

of the church, before Christianity was legalized,

following Jesus was dangerous. It is around the

world today. Eyewitnesses recorded stories of

Christians led into Roman arenas to be executed.

And instead of cursing their fate, they sang

hymns. Not dirges, not laments. They sang songs

of joy. One of the most well -documented examples

was that of Perpetua and Felicitas, two young

women imprisoned in North Africa in 2003. Or

203, sorry. On the day of their execution, they

marched into the arena in dignity and sang. And

here's what shook the Roman world. The people

didn't just see martyrs die, they saw them die

singing, and many came to faith because of that.

They were singing songs of joy. The underground

church in China, one young woman had been imprisoned

for her faith and said, he was with me in the

cell, I was never alone. And I'm so happy to

be with him again in worship. Jonathan Edwards,

known to be a preacher of great conviction, of

gravity. You may have heard of his sermon, famous

sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.

It was reported that as the one local farmer

wrote, as they were walking home under the stars

following the service, they did not speak. For

the joy was too heavy for words. Jerusha, his

daughter, sitting in silence after a service,

her heart so full of joy, she feared it would

burst. For you sports fans, Reggie White, NFL.

He once said, I believe the joy that comes from

being with God is better than any victory I've

had on the field. He was known for encouraging

teammates, smiling during games, and carrying

himself with peace and confidence that didn't

come from stats or contracts, but knowing he

was walking with God. Richard Warmbrand. a Romanian

pastor in the communist takeover in the 20th

century. For preaching the gospel, was arrested

and spent 14 years in prison, much of it in solitary

confinement. Tortured, starved, and forbidden

to speak the name of Jesus. And he wrote about

his time in prison. He began to move into a place

of such joy that he said, I have danced for joy

in the cell. where I was kept for three years.

No music, no light, no Bible. He just danced

for joy in the presence of the Lord in that cell.

This man went on to found, you may have heard

of it, the voice of the martyrs, telling the

stories of believers worldwide. Listen, Psalm

1611 says it. It is in your presence that there

is fullness of joy. It is not for the ideal times.

These are just a few examples. You could go on

all day. It has nothing to do with your circumstances.

It has everything to do with his presence. And

I find it interesting that in neuroscience, we

have this thing called mirror neurons. And so

in your brain, there are parts that are fired

not just when you do something, but when you

see someone else do it. So it's why you see somebody

stub their toe and you wince, right? You watch

a sappy Hallmark movie and you start crying.

Not because of anything that's happening to you.

You didn't meet the man in flannel and give up

everything to go live on his farm. But you're

crying. Gotta love a guy in flannel. That's why

you wore that today, isn't it? Your brain mirrors

what it sees. So in a sense, we're wired, literally

wired for connection. And so when you are literally

feeling other people's experience in your own

bodies, when you are around a calm person, you'll

become calm. When you're around someone joyful,

you will begin to be joyful. So let's think about

that now on a spiritual level. What happens when

you spend time in the presence of the creator

of the universe? What happens when you spend

time with our perfect, loving, joyful father?

You are literally wired to begin to... reflect,

and mirror him. You are wired to emotionally

respond to the people we're with, and so spending

time in the presence of God should awaken joy

in us. He is joy, and we can't spend time with

him and not begin to experience joy. your brain

begins to be fired up and responds. It's not

a forced happiness. It's not an artificial cheer,

but it's a real soul -deep joy that mirrors the

heart of the Father. You were created for that.

And so joy doesn't come from your circumstance.

It doesn't come from you. It comes as you spend

time in the presence of our Lord. And so it matters

not what's going on. He is with you. He's with

you in the dark places and the broken places.

He is available to you at all times. And so as

you engage with the Father, joy. awakened. And

so we begin, always, always, the starting point

is joy comes from Jesus. Now, some of us like

to just have the joy of others. Some of us think

we can have just the joy with Jesus and we don't

have to bother with the others. But the truth

is, is that there is joy in community. You were

created. The term magi is not a singular term.

It is a plural term. This was a group of men

traveling together. They were a company of men

on a mission together. We were meant to do it

together. A diary was found in the home of an

elderly lady. who had passed away. The same line

was found for every day for the last years of

her life. Each day she had written down, no one

visited, no one called, no one cared. We were

designed to have others in our life. We were

designed to be in community. In fact, in the

words of Hebrews chapter 10, Verse 24, he says,

Hebrews 10:24

and let us consider how we may spur one another

on toward love and good deeds, not giving up

meeting together as some are in the habit of

doing, but encouraging one another. And all the

more as you see the day approaching, the closer

we get in our journey toward eternity, the more

we need one another. And so how we interact as

a community is important. We just read what Hebrews

said. Let me put it in a way that will get this

in your mind and you'll leave here with this

stuck in your brain. It's been in mine all morning.

In the words of Willie Nelson, you were always

on my mind. Maybe I didn't love you. Would you

like to come sing it, Darren? Maybe I didn't

love you quite as often as I could have. And

maybe I didn't treat you quite as good as I should

have. If I made you feel second best, I'm sorry

I was blind. You were always on my mind. And

maybe I didn't hold you all those lonely, lonely

times. I guess I never told you I'm so happy

you're mine. Little things I should have said

and done. I just never took the time. But you

were always on my mind. See, I wanted you to

get this stuck to remind you, as it goes through

your head this week, the little things matter

with one another. A quick text to somebody. Hey,

I missed you today. What does this let us know?

We are seen. We are seen. We are known by our

community. I love that Paul wrote to the church

of Thessalonica, for what is our hope and our

joy, the crown in which we glory, and the presence

of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you?

He's saying this to the church. You. Our joy.

Indeed, you are our glory and joy. You often

hear us talking about community here and the

need for the community of Christ. I think, though,

that one doesn't really believe that until one

really engages with that. And you suddenly realize,

wow. I need these people, and these people need

me. We need one another. It's part of the joy

we were created for. The Trinity, the Father,

the Son, and the Holy Spirit had wonderful communion

with one another, relationship with one another.

But they wanted others brought into that. We

were brought into that. And so God himself was

set up himself for community. We are the image

of our father, and so also we need community.

A story comes to us of long ago of a king who

organized a great race within his kingdom. All

the young men of the kingdom participated, and

a bag of gold was to be given to the winner.

The finish line was within the courtyard of the

king's palace. The race was run. The runners

were surprised to find in the middle of the road

leading to the king's palace a great pile of

rocks and stones. But they managed to scramble

over it or to run around it and come to the courtyard.

Finally, all the runners had crossed the finish

line except one. But still the king did not call

the race off, and after a while one lone runner

came through the gate. He lifted a bleeding hand

and said, O king, I am sorry that I am so late,

but you see I found a pile of rocks and stones,

and it took me a while, and I wounded myself

in removing them. Then he lifted the other hand,

and in it was a bag. He said, but great king,

I found beneath the pile of rocks this bag of

gold. The king said, my son, you have won the

race. For the one runs best, who makes the way

safer for those who follow. We weren't meant

to make a wild dash toward our eternal home by

ourselves. As we read in Hebrews, we were called

to say, come on, let's go and do this together.

I'm going to kind of wade back here and catch

this person that's kind of having trouble, and

I'm going to help them along. There's joy in

the others. And what you begin to find when you

engage in the others, in the community, is the

treasure. The treasure that God has for us and

the one another. And so there's joy in the community.

So there's joy in Jesus, joy in community and

others. And finally, there's joy in you. And

Darren said it, didn't he, earlier. Sometimes

we have a hard time believing that God would

desire us. That God would care about my worship.

But the Magi, what did they do? Then they began

to open up their treasures and lay them at the

feet of Jesus. Listen, they traveled together.

They got to the presence together. But there

came a moment when they each had to bring their

own gift and lay it at the feet of Jesus. The

truth is, as much as we need others, nobody else

can stand in for you. Nobody else will stand

in the judgment seat, before the judgment seat.

It's just us and him, individually, right? And

so it matters. You matter to him. And we live

in this time. They traveled together, the Magi,

but in the end, they brought their own worship.

And we live in this. We say this term often because

I think it's an interesting one. An upside down

kingdom. It doesn't make sense to this world.

Because in this world we're all about self -care,

right? Putting self first to take care of self.

When John 15, what does it do? It calls us. It

says no greater love has anyone than this that

they lay down their life for their friends. And

so. In the end, here's the power of joy, is that

this circles back around to his presence. Because

it begins and ends with his presence in your

life. Self -care begins with your relationship

with Christ. So here's what I want us to do.

We are in this Advent season. I love Advent because

it makes a lot of space for us. It kind of forces

space into what can be a very crazy, chaotic

time. But my prayer for you in this Advent season

is that it would be a time for you to re -engage

with his presence. That it would be a time that

remembering that like the Magi, we're on a worship

journey. We're looking for something else, something

to come, the lands that are calling to us. Come

on, the path is demanding our yes. We're on this

worship journey that can only be a worship journey

if his presence. has marked our life. And so

as the team comes back up, I want to just conclude

by this reminder that we are a pilgrim people.

And Psalm 84, more and more and more, has become

a life verse for me. Blessed is the man whose

strength is in you, whose heart is set on pilgrimage.

Can I just ask the question, what is your heart

set on today? Is it set on this life? Or is your

heart set on the pilgrimage from where we're

going, our eternal home? It's up to us. We get

the power to set things in our life. Whose heart

is set on pilgrimage? And we refer to Nehemiah

8 .10 that said that the joy of the Lord is your

strength. And so when I take that and I go back

to Psalm 84, the man whose strength is in you,

I'm convinced that it is joy, the joy of the

Lord, that is what gives you what you need for

your pilgrimage. That without it, you will lose

heart. And when you lose heart, you will step

off the path. You will disengage from the journey

toward the Lord. And so today what we want to

do is we want to re -engage with his presence

in joy. Maybe, I know we laughed about it earlier,

maybe you found yourself grumbling a little more.

laughing a little less. Today, I want to encourage

you to make the choice to be a person marked

by the presence and the joy of the presence,

that you are going to be a kingdom person, marked

by presence, marked by joy. And you're not going

to let this world determine your joy level. You're

going to, in the presence, You're going to let

him determine your joy level. Amen? And so it's

nothing that is belittling your pain, nothing

that is belittling the struggle for where you're

at. That is real, and joy is not saying that

that is not real. Joy is saying it's in those

places that joy of the Lord becomes a very real

reality. Right? Nothing else makes sense that

I have this joy. I know it doesn't come from

the circumstance, because all I know is pain

and sorrow. But there's this abiding thing in

me, and it just gives me the strength to keep

going, to keep walking, and to not stop. It's

the joy of his presence. And sometimes we just

need to stop, stop bemoaning the pain, right?

We need to stop grumbling about the circumstance.

We just need to lean in and let the joy of the

Father. We need to start to mirror. Let those

neurons in your brain get fired up by His joy,

renewing your strength. Amen? And so here's what

we're going to do today. I've asked the team,

I just want us, that the altar response is going

to be as we just stand and we begin to celebrate

in joy. And as we do that, this is, remember,

nothing to do with your emotions. This is rejoicing

in the presence of God. This is rejoicing that

we're doing it with one another in community,

right? This is the joy of knowing that the God

of the universe sees you and takes joy in you.

And we want to reflect back joy to him. And so

this morning we're going to stand and we're going

to conclude our service time with a song of rejoicing,

a song of praise. And in a way, you're going

to have to disengage yourself a bit from your

circumstance. In a way, I need you to kind of

let loose your footwear. You got to kind of get

some lightness to your feet so that you can rise

up to where God is. and his great presence full

of joy. Amen? And so as the team leads us, this

is your declaration that I'm going to be a person

of joy. I'm going to be a kingdom -minded person.

I'm going to be a person marked by the presence

of the almighty God. Amen? So let's just worship

in joy for a few more moments.