Long Awaited Joy

This morning we're gonna be talking about joy.

Um, Christmas is kind of known as like the season of joy, right?

Uh, but for a lot of us, there seems to be a disconnect.

Um, if we're honest with ourselves, uh during this season, there's real times where we feel like uh this sense of elation, right?

We sense uh sense of happiness, but there's a lot of us where this joy feels uh forced and foreign, or it feels like something fabricated or just out of our grasp.

But if we're really honest with ourselves, as Christians, we are supposed to be a people of joy.

We should have a greater joy than anyone else in all the earth.

Joy is ours to be had.

1 Peter chapter 1, verse 8 says that as Christians, we're actually called to be a people of joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.

1 Peter 1:8

How do we understand that to be, right?

How do we understand that to be a reality for us as believers in Christ?

Well, first we have to kind of define joy.

I think that's really important for us as a church body to continue to try and work in functioning definitions.

So here's my here's my simplistic definition of joy.

Joy is the fulfillment of what has been longed for.

Joy is the fulfillment of what has been longed for.

And many of you have experienced this in different tastes or different moments of your life.

I don't want to say happiness.

Happiness is something that kind of comes unexpected.

It's something that you're surprised by or delighted by.

But joy has this fulfillment of longing.

Maybe you long to have a relationship, and and on that wedding day, there's just so much joy.

Maybe that's why weddings are routinely, not always or universally, filled with this sense of joy.

Or maybe you longed for a child, and and that's why the delivery room is a room of joy because you finally hold what your heart longed for.

Maybe you longed for a a job or a possession or something.

You've longed for something and you've held it, you've beheld it in some ways in your life, and it created joy for you.

But if we're really honest with ourselves, there's a reality where that joy seems momentary or fleeting, even.

You see, oftentimes we put our heart to long for things that are more so distractions or lesser pleasures.

And that's why our hearts are not content or continual in understanding and experiencing joy.

We've convinced our hearts that we will truly find joy if we just obtain these things.

But how has that worked out for you?

Many of you have longed for things.

Even this year, maybe you've longed for something, and maybe this year you obtained it.

Did it promise did it fulfill everything that it promised it would?

Did it bring the joy that you thought it would?

Did it satisfy in the way you convinced yourself that it would?

You see, to truly have joy, I think we have to do two things.

The first thing that we have to do is we have to be honest about what our heart truly longs for.

We have to be honest about what our heart truly longs for.

You see, there's a reality where you and I, because of the image we bear, because we were made in the image of God and we were made to have fellowship and communion with Him, our hearts actually long for that.

That's the purpose of our existence, the reason that we were created, to reflect our Maker and to be in fellowship with Him.

But sin occurred, brokenness entered in, and with it there was a separation.

And what our hearts, as image bearers of God, out of those whose relationship with Him has been severed because of our sin and rebellion, our hearts long for that.

But the enemy and this world and our flesh is going to try and convince us and distract us.

No, no, no, no, no.

That's not what your heart really wants.

What your heart really wants is these lesser pleasures, these distracted false joys.

And so we chase after them and we chase after them and we chase after them, and when we obtain them, they are so unsatisfying.

You see, we have to be honest about what our hearts truly long for, what they truly long for.

Every single person in this room, every single person who has ever breathed the breath of life longs for union with their Maker.

But the second thing we have to do is we have to discover the only thing that can truly acquire that for us.

What is the only thing that can actually truly acquire for us union with our Maker?

It's not religion, it's not the amount of prayers that you pray, it's not the good choices that you make, it's not the good behavior that you exemplify, it's Christ in Christ alone.

You see, only Jesus can actually provide for us what our hearts truly long for, and that's why joy is rooted in Christ.

John Piper, he's a very well-known author, and he runs a ministry called Desiring God.

He defines Christian joy in this way.

He says, Christian joy is a good feeling in the soul produced by the Holy Spirit as he causes us to see the beauty of Christ in the Word and in the world.

Christian joy is a good feeling in the soul produced by the Holy Spirit as he causes us to see the beauty of Christ in the Word and in the world.

You see, often our hearts lead us to place our hope and to long for the wrong things.

We may obtain them, but when we do, they produce a fleeting joy because fundamentally we longed for fleeting things.

So let me say that again.

I want to present to you that the fundamental reason our joy is fleeting from us is because we're trying to discover it in fleeting things.

Things that are not eternal, things that are finite, things that will not last, things that can be taken from us in the moment or blinking of an eye, where everything we counted as worth producing joy in our life, we could lose it at any given moment.

And we wonder why our joy is fleeting, because we are trying to discover it in fleeting things.

But eternal joy comes from the fulfillment of eternal things.

And I believe his prayer and his blessing over Mary and Joseph is evidence that Simeon obtained joy.

Because what his hope was in and what his heart longed for had come.

What was it?

It was the consolation of Israel, the Bible says.

Literally, what that means is the eternal comfort of the church.

Simeon's uncomforted soul had become comforted.

Joy had overwhelmed him because he had beheld Christ.

And I believe for us, we have to submit to and we have to wrestle with understanding that is where our joy is going to come from.

That is where our uncomforted souls will find comfort and peace.

And that is where the joy that we so desire to have in our hearts will be found.

If we look at the text and we just look at the whole passage of 25 through 35, I believe the summary statement of this text is this joy is eternally found in beholding Jesus.

Joy is eternally found in beholding Jesus.

Let's set the scene for a minute.

Jesus is about a week old, and the uh the mother and father Mary and Joseph are coming to bring him to the temple for dedication, but also for a sacrifice, for a cleansing ritual that a woman who had just given birth must undergo.

And we know that Jesus and Joseph are very poor family.

We we even see that in this passage.

If you look just a few verses ahead, what they what it tells us is that they brought two turtle doves or pigeons to be sacrificed for this cleansing ritual.

However, actually what the Bible required was a sheep or a goat for this specific sacrifice, but made provision for the poor among Israel to be able to bring a lesser sacrifice of these turtle doves or pigeons.

So they come to the temple to make the sacrifice to dedicate Jesus.

And it says that in the temple comes this man named Simeon.

Simeon, he's only mentioned here within the scriptures.

We really don't know anything about him.

We don't know his age, we don't know his pedigree or his status with inside uh Israel uh culture, but we do know this.

The Bible says that he is a righteous and devout man.

A righteous and devout man.

And the other thing we know is that the Spirit of God gave Simeon a promise.

We don't know how he got this promise, whether it was prophesied to him from someone else or in prayer, it was spoken to him.

But what we can be confident of is that the scriptures reveal that the Spirit gave Simeon a promise.

And here was the promise that he gave Simeon.

It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

So Simeon was a man who was waiting for the consolation of Israel.

His uncomforted soul was longing and waiting to be comforted when?

When he would see, when his eyes would be set on the salvation of God in the Messiah.

When Simeon actually first saw Jesus, the comfort of Israel, it said that he had been taken into the temple and the spirit was upon him.

He came in the spirit into the temple.

And you can imagine the joy that Simeon had to experience when he saw the infant child.

This man who was promised that his eyes would behold him, that he would be able to depart in death peacefully once he saw this salvation.

One thing that we have to realize is that the Spirit of God is always a gift and a gift giver.

The Spirit of God is always a gift and a gift giver.

Joy is not something worked up through our own efforts, but given to us by the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit has to enable us to be able to recognize Christ when our eyes are set upon him.

It is only by the power of the Spirit that we're able to behold the fullness of salvation in Jesus.

Uh, in our own flesh, we're unable to do that.

And this is a big reason of why Christians should be the people full of eternal, unspeakable, radical joy.

Because we have been given the Spirit and enabled by the Spirit to fix our eyes and behold Christ, the salvation of God.

The gift of the Spirit in our lives enables us to truly behold the gift of life found in Jesus.

And here's something else that we have to realize.

Joy is, as we as we study the scriptures and we start to unpack certain things, here's some themes that we're discovering.

We're discovering how much of the intention of the will, of the purpose of self, is actually rooted in the way that we're supposed to live as Christians.

We've talked a lot about how our love is not something rooted in emotion, but it's an intention of the will purposely placed upon another for their highest good, right?

That's the love that we're called to.

Not one that's ruled and enslaved by emotions, but a love that is the intention of the will that's been made righteous by the power of the gospel for another's highest good.

Well, joy is also not dictated or enslaved by emotion.

But joy is something of the determination of the will.

It's not produced from our circumstances, it's not determined by our haves or our have nots.

It is produced only by the Spirit, and the Spirit reveals to us all that our soul truly longs for in Christ.

So ultimately, joy is a determination of the will to keep our eyes fixed on beholding Jesus.

That's joy.

Joy is not based on what you're going through right now, what you've gained, or what you lost.

Joy is determined on our will's intention to fix our eyes on Christ.

And when joy is produced in us, praise is proclaimed from us.

When joy is produced in us, praise is proclaimed from us.

Simeon begins to proclaim praise after beholding Jesus.

He says this in verse 29 Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word.

For my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people, Israel.

Listen closely to the very first thing Simeon says as he looks at Jesus: Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace.

Man, at the very beholding of Christ, death no longer had any power over Simeon.

Fear no longer had any place in Simeon's life.

He says, I've seen life, and death means nothing to me any longer.

I can depart in peace because I understand and know the life that awaits me.

Glory that awaits me.

An uncomforted soul was eternally comforted in that moment, and Simeon said, Now I can die because I've seen life.

A salvation that he says was prepared in the presence of all.

Literally, provided by the very hand of God himself, the uh a light for revelation that would shine in the darkness of mankind.

A glory to your people, Israel, the church.

And then verse 33 it says, and his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him.

There's this reality where like who Jesus is and what he's going to accomplish in his life, death, burial, and resurrection is still like not being developed in the heart and mind of Mary and Joseph.

Like, imagine the great faith that these people walked in.

They believed God in his promises.

They'd endured scrutiny and trials to be able to give birth to this infant.

They were very obedient, but yet still, who Jesus was, what he was going to do, was still really being developed in them.

So much so that when they heard what was coming out of Simeon's mouth, it said they marveled at it.

And then Simeon turns to Mary and Joseph.

It's almost like he's, you know, looking at the baby.

He's uh uh uh just really in wonder and awe of Christ.

And he kind of looks up and it says that he blesses them.

And this is what he blesses with them.

Said to his Mary, his mother, Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed.

The word that Simeon uses for rising is the same word we see throughout the New Testament for resurrection.

That Christ would actually be for the fall or demise of many, but he would also be for the resurrection of many also.

He goes on to say that he would be a sign for the opposed, and he would talk about a sword that will pierce through your own soul also.

I love that in even in his infancy the cross was being preached.

Simeon was uh foretelling of Mary's soul that would be pierced as she gazed upon her own son who was pierced in his hands and feet and spear through his sigh for the salvation that we would inherit.

And he says, so that the thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.

Jesus is both the revelation of God's salvation and the revealer of men's hearts.

He would come as a light into the darkness, he would speak truth where lies reigned.

Christ would come and he would reveal our hearts.

And by his grace, by his mercy, many of our hearts would be restored, resurrected to life with him.

And so the main idea of this text I want us to see is this: that joy breaks in by salvation through Jesus.

Joy breaks in by salvation through Jesus.

This reality of Christ conquering us, Christ having victory over us, bringing us salvation that we so desperately need in our hearts truly long for.

All throughout uh the scriptures, joy is very tightly in a relationship with the conquering of God's enemies and the restoration of his people.

Uh, we actually see in the Old Testament how joy is related to victory over one's enemies.

In 1 Samuel 18, 6, when David returned from killing the Philistine, he was met with joy and dancing.

Joy is prophesied as belonging to God's people when they are restored to their proper place.

It says in Isaiah 35, 10, and the ransom to the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing, everlasting joy shall be upon their heads, they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

And in the New Testament, joy is still rooted in victory, but focused on the victory that is ours through his salvation.

Jesus said in Luke 15, 7, Just so I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance.

Joy comes when God's enemies are conquered by the grace of his Son Jesus.

Us who were at war with God, who were in rebellion against him, who were at enmity with him because of our sin.

We are conquered by his grace.

We are conquered by his kindness, we are conquered by his steadfast love.

And that creates joy that fills heaven.

Can you imagine how awesome heaven is going to be?

Like full of relentless, radical joy.

Why?

Because we get to behold the one who conquered us.

The Lamb who was slain before the foundations of the earth is seated on the throne.

He is the light of the city of God Himself where there is no need for lampstand because his radiant glory shines so brightly, and we get to just stand there and behold him with the holes still in his hands and feet, our eyes fixed upon his salvation.

Man, what joy must fill heaven.

Do you think we should like practice that now?

Maybe a little bit?

Like be people of radical, unspeakable, relentless joy.

Because the Spirit has already started to open your eyes to be able to see Him as He is.

Galatians 4, 4 through 5 says, But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

And it's in this salvation that we are able to find and know and have joy.

First Peter 1.

8 through 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 an inexpressible and glorious joy.

For you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

All throughout the New Testament, they are working and working and working to show us and put on display for us why we should be a people of great joy.

And every single time they're going to bring us back to what?

Not what we have, not what we don't have, not what our circumstances are, not the trials we're facing, not anything circumstantially whatsoever.

They're going to constantly point us back to.

Every single apostle is going to point us back to the gospel of Jesus the Son.

And they're going to say that right there, fix your eyes on that.

That's why you're supposed to be a people of immense joy.

The Christmas hymn, Joy Has Donned, pins these words.

Joy has dawned upon the world, promised from creation.

God's salvation now unfurled.

Hope for every nation.

The fountain of joy is the salvation of the Son.

Many of us lack joy in our lives.

And as a result of that, we have a very uncomforted soul.

You might be a person with us this morning, and you feel like your soul is more of one of turmoil, of frustration, of hardship and ache.

You may feel very uncomforted in spite of the promise that Christ Himself is the comfort of your heart.

Our joy is fleeting, probably because we try to discover it in fleeting things.

As we've already said, our souls are often filled with sorrow because of this.

And I think there's two primary reasons.

One of the reasons I think it is is we mistake happiness for joy.

We mistake happiness for joy.

I want to say something real quick.

I believe God wants you to be happy.

I don't think God is mad when you feel happy, right?

Sometimes when we're in our kind of like reformed tradition, we're very anti-being happy, and it just shows all over the place.

Such sad people.

Which is ridiculous, right?

Because if we really have the best theology, shouldn't we have the people of the most joy?

That would make sense, but somehow it plays itself out differently.

God's not mad when you're happy.

He wants you to be happy, but your joy is not dependent upon that feeling of happiness.

Because God is also not mad when you feel deep lament and sorrow.

But that's not supposed to take away the joy that He's given you through Jesus.

You see, happiness is simplistic.

It's very singular and one-sided.

It comes in a moment and it comes unexpectedly often.

Happiness is kind of like a toy being unwrapped by a child at Christmas time.

Have you ever had this experience where like you were really excited about the gift that you were going to get your child, and then they open it and they look at you like, is this all?

You're just like, no, there's a foot coming too.

Um right?

Have you ever just imagined what happiness would come and like not only is that person not happy, but you're not happy also in this moment?

Or maybe you are really happy.

Maybe it's like everything they ever wanted, and they're super happy for a moment, but then all of a sudden you see them playing with the box instead of the toy itself.

Or right?

This is kind of singular, simplistic reality where we we really mistake happiness, this momentary expression of emotion for joy.

But a lot of us, if we're honest with ourselves, we're a lot like those kids when it comes to God.

What was the last thing you really wanted?

What was the last thing you really longed for?

And now that you have it, how are things you how are things going?

Once you obtained that very thing that you longed for for so long, how are things going?

Did that satisfy?

Did that linger and last the way that you expected it to?

You see, joy is very complex.

It's dimensional.

And it can exist in the accompanying of other emotions.

Joy can be found in happiness, joy can be found in sorrow, joy can be found in ecstasy and pain.

It can be found in any place because it's not determined by our circumstance.

Joy is a determination of the will to eternally behold Christ.

Some of us, though, we confuse God's stuff for his blessing.

We confuse God's stuff for his blessing.

God's stuff and God's blessing are two very different things.

And here's how I want you to understand this there are people in this world who hate God, who do not love him, who do not serve him, who believe his word is not truth but a lie, who are not in fellowship with his people, who do not worship him or adore him or serve him in any function or facet, and they have plenty of his stuff.

They have the relationships that you want and don't have, they have the families that you want and don't have, they have the bank accounts that you want and don't have, they have the professions, the social status, all of these things.

They have his stuff.

They don't have his blessing.

His blessing is himself.

The fullness of the work of the gospel is not to give us more of his stuff, it is to give us him.

To have union with our maker, to have fellowship with our creator, to have a relationship as children with a father.

I know I've said this before, but I come from a home where I had all of my dad's stuff.

My dad was very successful and prosperous.

My Christmas or birthday or whatever was never found wanting.

I had stuff pouring out of my ears, but I never had him.

And I think as a child I didn't understand very clearly, but as an adult, I know for certain that I would have traded all of his stuff to have him.

And why are we like that with God?

Why do we keep saying, God, just keep giving me your stuff?

And he's sitting here and saying, But I want to give you me.

Every part of me, and we wonder why we're so unsatisfied.

We fight for the stuff that we don't need when he's continually desiring to give us all of himself.

God's stuff is not the same as God's blessing.

Often our joy is lost because we confuse the stuff of God for the blessing of God.

But our hope, sacred mission, is in this.

Jesus was pierced with sorrow that we might be filled with joy.

Jesus was pierced with sorrow that we might be filled with joy.

All of the sorrow that has accumulated in your soul because you've longed for the wrong things was put on him, pierced him through, so that we might be a people who would actually and truly know eternal joy.

This is the beauty of the gospel.

That he becomes our sorrow that we might have his joy, not giving us his stuff, but giving us himself, that we might have communion and fellowship with the Father because He was the Son who was pierced through for our sin.

And now all of the joy that becomes ours through Him, when our soul truly acquires what it always longed for.

So we need to be a church of radical and relentless joy.

Why?

Because we behold Christ.

Our eyes are fixed upon him.

That we are a church community who beholds Christ, the one who was in creation, the power that formed and shaped the heaven and the earth.

That we behold Christ as the very ark which kept God's people safe amidst the storms and turmoil of God's wrath and judgment.

That we would behold Christ as the fourth man in the furnace who was there for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that we would behold Christ as David who slew Goliath by cutting off his head and destroying the enemies of God.

That we would behold Christ as the eternal Solomon, full of wisdom and glory and power, that we would behold Christ as the infant who came and was born and took on our flesh and became like us, that we would behold Christ in his perfect obedience to the will and law of God the Father, that we would behold Christ as he climbs the mount of Golgotha to be pierced through for our sin, that we would behold him as we lay him in a tomb, and that we would behold him as a resurrected king who conquers his foes.

Church, that we would behold Christ one day when he returns for his glorious church.

You want to be a people of joy?

Behold Christ.

Because that's what your heart truly longs for.

And he's the only one that can satisfy.

There's nothing this Christmas that you have or don't have that you will obtain or will be stripped from you that's ever going to produce joy that you really long for.

There's nothing in 2023 at the birth of a new year that's going to supply it for you either.

By the power of the Spirit and the grace and mercy of God, he has given it to you in the face of his son.

And like Simeon, by the Spirit, our eyes are open to fix them upon Jesus.

And so my prayer and heart for us as a church is that we would be a people of great joy.

Like I really want this to be a defining factor for Sacred Mission Church.

I if people talk about how great our theology is, cool.

It is phenomenal.

I will say that.

If people talk about how good our music is, great.

It's awesome too.

If people talk about how good our preaching is, or good our small groups are, or good our whatever is, wonderful.

What I want people, when they say, Hey, do you know Sacred Mission Church?

Yeah, how do those people have so much joy in their life?

Like a joy that that confounds the mind of the people around us.

That that makes them jealous to have what we obtain, and we are able to use this as this gospel opportunity.

You want to know why I have joy?

My life's a crapshoot, right?

This thing back here, it's a mess.

Let me tell you what's going on.

I lost this, I don't have this, this is in ruins, this is a garbage fire.

But guess what?

I've got my eyes fixed on Jesus, and this joy isn't fabricated, produced, or some type of show I try to put on.

It's real because no matter what is going on in my life, I'm able to fix my eyes on Him.

That we would be a people who practice heaven.

Right?

When we pray, Lord, let your will be done on earth as in heaven.

Surprise is that you would be a people of joy, not poo-poo faces, right?

That you would be a people who are ecstatic about what God has done for you.

And it'd be real and genuine, not walking around with just these sad faces and demeanors.

Man, I know.

I don't want to downplay any loss you've experienced.

I want to downplay any trials you're going through.

I don't want to downplay anything.

It's all real.

It all hurts, it's all impactful, it needs care and counsel and community and all these things around it.

But let me tell you something.

It's fleeting.

And it was going to be taken from you anyway.

But Jesus never was.

And we can still have joy because we place it in eternal things.

I've got kind of like a kid's lesson for how we can have joy in our life.

J-O-Y, number one, Jesus first.

Jesus first.

That's actually one of our core values of Sacred Mission Church.

Jesus first and foremost, that the gospel actually transforms every single part of our life, that Jesus becomes first in our lives, that our eyes are fixed on him and not on anything else.

And that our love for him, our adoration and worship of him would continue to just grow and grow and grow because we are putting him first.

We're putting him first in the way that we lead our families.

We're putting him first in the way that we serve in the church.

We're putting him first in the way that we engage culture.

We're putting him first in every single aspect of our lives.

There should not be one part of our life that is not completely wrecked and transformed because of the gospel of Jesus.

Second, oh, others second.

It's crazy, but the more that we love God, the more we're supposed to love other people.

Those two things should go hand in hand.

And the more that our love and affection for Him grows, the more the beauty and richness of the gospel grows in our life, the more that should cause us to actually love others.

And to putting others second is the way that the scriptures demand we live our lives, that we love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and that we love our neighbor as ourselves.

This is a reality of the Christian life that has been surrendered to the truth of the gospel.

That we don't seek to serve ourselves first, we serve others first.

We don't try to fend for ourselves because we're not rooted in fear of scarcity or not having or not being taken care of.

We are rooted in the eternal comfort of the arms of our Father, knowing that He knows our need before we even realize we have one.

I don't have to fight for myself anymore.

I get to freely serve you because I already rest in Him.

That's freedom.

That's freedom.

Why?

Yourself last.

Guys, if we're honest with ourselves, we are so prone to putting ourselves first because we're scared.

Because we don't trust God, because we've got so many issues that we're still working with.

We put ourselves first.

We've got to change that.

The gospel demands that we change that.

When we put ourselves last, it's crazy how much more joy you'll be able to have in your life.

As you lose sight of self and your eyes are able to be more constantly fixed on Him, joy is going to increase.

See, we've been we've been duped.

You've been lied to, and you bit the bait and believe that the more you actually contend for yourself, the more happy you will be.

That is the mantra of culture.

But how's that working out for them?

They don't look very happy.

They definitely don't look like they have joy.

It's a lie of the enemy.

The gospel flips it and says actually, the more you forget about yourself, the more joy is going to increase.

The more peace is going to increase, the more comfort is going to increase.

So, sacred mission, let's be a people of great joy.

Amen?

Amen.

Let's pray.