Tag: Joy

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Jesus Ascended (Luke 24:13-53)

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Is there any hope for a renewed and revitalized world? When we see so many who have turned from God, is there any hope? When we see nations devastated by war, is there any hope? When we see children taken advantage of and families broken apart, is there any hope? When we see the world racked by drugs and all the dirty business of getting it here, is there any hope?

The answer of this passage is a big “yes.” There is hope because Jesus is risen. He has overcome death, sin, and hell and come out on the other side. So, there is hope. The question is, how does it come about? How does God bring hope to this world? The answer is what we have in our text.

Knowing the Fact of the Resurrection
Before we continue in Luke 24:13, let’s review what we have seen so far. The women encountered the empty tomb and did not know what to think. They were not expecting Jesus to rise. They had to have an angelic explanation before they understood what was happening. They then went to the other disciples and told them what had happened. They did not believe the angelic message. They thought that what they were saying was nonsense. The disciples were not looking for Jesus to rise from the dead either. They thought that their hopes were dashed. This helps us understand the conversation on the road to Emmaus.

On the road to Emmaus, there were two of Jesus’ disciples walking. Of course, they were talking about all that had happened, all the things that we have read and considered in Luke 22 and 23. As they were doing this, Jesus appeared alongside of them. God kept them from recognizing Jesus immediately so that they might better discern the fact and the meaning of the resurrection. Here God closed their eyes so that later He might open their eyes to a fuller light.

Jesus joined them and asked them what they were talking about. They gave a general answer, all the things that had happened in Jerusalem. He then asked, “What things?” Continue reading “Jesus Ascended (Luke 24:13-53)”

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Finding Joy in the Midst of Life’s Anxieties (Habakkuk)

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A few years ago, my daughters bought a couple of guinea pigs. One thing I noticed about these guinea pigs is that they were filled with anxiety. They would run into their homes at the slightest outside movement. If you tried to pet them, they would freak out. It was understandable, though. They are little creatures in a big world. There are a lot of animals that would like to eat them. So, their anxious system helps protect them.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized, we are a lot like guinea pigs. We are ready to run at the slightest sign of danger, whether real or not. We have a lot of anxiety. There’s good reason to have anxiety. We are small in a big world. There are a lot of dangers. There are many things we can’t control that affect our well-being. However, it’s worse for us. Our imagination is much greater than that of guinea pigs. We can see and imagine all sorts of threats that they would never think about.

Here’s the problem. Our anxieties can help us avoid threats, but they can also become debilitating. In the face of overwhelming circumstances, we can lose all hope. Joy can disappear. We can settle into bitterness and become enslaved to worry. So, how do we work through the struggle and find a joy that arises from hope? That is the message that the prophet Habakkuk has for us. In this prophecy, we have a glimpse of how Habakkuk struggled with anxiety over the events in his nation. In the end, he came to a place of joy. How did he find it? That’s what we will consider in this passage. We will consider this in three steps, the problems Habakkuk sees, the vision Habakkuk sees, and the joy Habakkuk finds.

The Problems Habakkuk Sees
Habakkuk was a prophet in the southern kingdom of the Jews, Judah. He was concerned about what he saw there.

How long, Lord, must I call for help,
but you do not listen?
Or cry out to you, “Violence!”
but you do not save?
Why do you make me look at injustice?
Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?
Destruction and violence are before me;
there is strife, and conflict abounds.
Therefore the law is paralyzed,
and justice never prevails.
The wicked hem in the righteous,
so that justice is perverted (1:2–4).

Do you ever cry out like that? Do you ever look at what is happening in your nation and cry out for justice? That’s what Habakkuk was doing. Continue reading “Finding Joy in the Midst of Life’s Anxieties (Habakkuk)”

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A Cause of Great Joy for All the People (Luke 2:8–20)

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The Shepherds Encounter
About a month ago, my wife and I visited Georgia’s park at Stone Mountain. Besides climbing the mountain, we visited some of the tourist attractions. One of them was a 4D 12 minute presentation of the film The Polar Express. It was quite an experience.

One thing really struck me about the movie. We have the Hero Boy living his normal life. All of a sudden, something from beyond comes into the normalness of life. The magic of the world beyond has broken through. There, in the middle of the street, is a huge train, heading to the North Pole. Audiences give this movie a rare A+ and consider it a classic in part because it captures that magic of Christmas so well.

That movie captures something of what happened on Christmas night 2,000 years ago. The Polar Express is an imaginative, made up story. This story, the story of the angels and the shepherds and the Christ child, is real. It’s all true.

On a night like so many others, the shepherds were watching over their flocks. All of a sudden, an angel appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord filled the place. The angel said to them: “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.”

God created human beings to be a joyful people. Joy is our natural state. This joy was rooted in the fact that human beings would submit to their place under God, rejoice in His love for them, receive His gifts, and take their place among the human community.

However, we all know that this is not the way we find humans. Alienated from God, we find them anxious and wandering. Alienated from God, we find them frustrated and taking on the weight of the world. Alienated from God, we find them trying to find joy by escaping into a smaller world through addictions to drugs, work, sex, or people. Alienated from God, we find them alienated from one another. Alienated from God, we find them under His judgment and ultimately sentenced to death. So, joy escapes them. Joy escapes us.

But the angel announces great joy, mega-joy, to play off the word in the original language. Why? Because, “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.” The Savior has come. It is the eternal Son of God come to earth. He is bringing us back to great joy. He restores us to God by taking on human flesh, suffering on the cross, and rising from the dead having defeated death. He is the Messiah, the one God promised who would destroy all the works of the devil and bring everything back to what He intended. He is the Lord, the great King, who is bringing in a new reign of joy and peace in the lives of people. Well, then, did the angels sing to God: “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests” (Luke 2:14).

The Shepherds Tell
After the angels left them, the shepherds immediately went to see the Savior. “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about” (Luke 2:15). They said.

The angel told the shepherds that they would find the baby. “This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger” (Luke 2:12).

And, sure enough, it was just as the angel said. They found the baby. The sight of this baby Savior filled them with such great joy that they went and told everyone.

That’s what happens when we are filled with great joy. We want to share those good things. We are made for community, and we want to share our lives with others. That’s what the shepherd did. If we take in the great joy of Christmas deeply, that’s what will come out. When we find a great joy that transcends all our circumstances, we cannot but tell about it. This spreads the emotions of great joy. They are contagious!

I experienced this Sunday. Several folks from our church went Christmas caroling. We sang for those who have been watching our services from home. One of these families encouraged us to sing to their neighbors. One man came out as we sang. His ailing wife remained inside. As we sang, you could see he was deeply moved. Tears came to his eyes. His emotion brought tears to my eyes. I was moved by the wonder of the fact that we can spread the joy of Christmas by reaching out to those who are isolated and need a touch. This is something that I want to remember throughout the year and let the tears in the eyes of that man lead me to others who need the touch of Christmas joy throughout the year.

The Shepherds Remember
And that’s the key. To become people of great joy, it’s not enough simply to encounter the angel and the Christ child. We’ve got to actively remember what we experienced.

In the movie, The Polar Express, the Hero Boy recovers a bell from Santa’s sleigh. Santa gives it to him as the first gift of Christmas. However, he loses it because it goes through his pocket that the train had ripped at the beginning of the movie. He awakes on Christmas day to find the bell in his house. This is another confirmation of his supernatural experience. The key thing, though, is that he continues to listen to that bell throughout his life. That one experience and its reminder shapes his life and thinking for years to come to make him one who truly believes.

And that’s precisely what had to happen for the shepherds. They experienced a supernatural encounter that could change their lives forever. But they had to remember it. They had to keep it alive in their hearts and minds for it to become the story that changed their lives.

We get a hint of that from what it says about Mary. “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered thhem in her heart” (Luke 2:19). Through her memories, she experienced them again and again.

And that’s what we can do. As Ebenezer Scrooge said at the conclusion of A Christmas Carol, “I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.” Like the shepherds, we can encounter the great joy of Christmas, but we can also let it shape our lives by treasuring it up in our hearts like Mary. Then, each day throughout the whole year, we can tell everyone about it and go about glorifying and praising God for all the things we have seen and heard. Merry Christmas. Amen!

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He Fills the Hungry with Good Things (A Sermon on Luke 1:39–56)

[Listen to an audio version here]

“Joy to the world!” I can’t hear those words without hearing Clark Griswold singing them as he flips the switch that will turn his house into a joyful luminous display for the entire neighborhood. Only it doesn’t. The lights don’t come on! And that’s what this year has been like. We flip the switch, but the joy doesn’t come!

2020 has shown us that we need to build our joy on a better foundation. Many things on which we relied for joy have been altered or removed. The result is greater anxiety and frustration or even depression or worse. How can we find a foundation for joy that can weather the storms of a year like 2020?

God has an answer for that: Christmas. Christmas is all about joy. It is about a source of joy that transcends all our circumstances.

A month ago, My Dad sent me the Advent resources of the Wesleyan Church. The first item was a banner, and it had the words from that Christmas classic, “O Holy Night”: “The Weary World Rejoices.” I thought, “Wow! They really captured the sentiment of Christmas this year!”

In the next three sermons, I want you to see how Christmas provides a foundation for joy that the world cannot take away. I want to tell you why a weary world can rejoice. I also want you to see how we can make that joy a greater part of our lives all year long. In Mary’s encounter with Elizabeth, we discover the joy that Christmas brings.

Mary’s Doubts
There is a similarity between Mary and Zechariah in Luke 1. They both encounter an angel. They both did not expect a child. They both respond to the angel’s birth announcement with a question.

In the account of Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, his question is an expression of doubt. The result is that he is unable to speak until the child is born.

The angel told Mary that she would conceive and give birth to a son. I also think Mary has some doubts and apprehensions. She responded with words similar to those of Zechariah: “‘How will this be,’” Mary asked the angel, ‘since I am a virgin?'” (Luke 1:34). Her first response was a question, not rejoicing.

After she thought about it, she might have had a great deal of anxiety about the situation. After all, being pregnant without being married in that society was no minor problem. Her society would have rejected her and shamed her. Mary’s situation would have been very difficult, if not dangerous. And, what would her fiancé think?

These fears came to fruition based on what we read in Matthew 1. Joseph, upon learning of Mary’s pregnancy, resolved to end their engagement. It took a visit from another angel to convince Joseph that what Mary said about her pregnancy was true.

So, it is not surprising that her response to the angel is rather muted. “‘I am the Lord’s servant,’ Mary answered. ‘May your word to me be fulfilled'” (Luke 1:38).

We should not underestimate the fears and apprehensions that Mary would have faced. The announcement of the angel did not lead Mary to a firm confidence that God would fill her with good things. The announcement did not lead her to rejoice. Instead, it may very well have caused greater anxiety.

And where are you, this morning? Are you filled with anxiety? Have you lost your confidence that God will fill you with good things? If so, you are not alone. Every saint who has experienced the triumph of assurance has had to first do battle with the anxiety of uncertainty. Life is hard, and it is a struggle. We face many challenges to living a good and joyful life of service to the world. It will only come after many experiences of God’s grace and the ensuing struggle to make it part of our hearts and lives. Anyone who tells you otherwise is misled and misleading.

Elizabeth’s Assurance
But God did not leave his maidservant in this position. After she heard this announcement, she went to Judea to the home of Elizabeth, a relative of hers.

She greeted Elizabeth, and the baby, John the Baptist, leaped in her womb for joy. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she said:

Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her! (Luke 1:42–45).

God gave Mary this miraculous confirmation of His word. The angel had spoken, but the face and words of Elizabeth and the baby John the Baptist leaping confirmed it in a powerful way. It confirmed the truth that God was going to fill Mary with good things and through her the whole world!

And that’s what Christmas is all about. It is about the transcendent God breaking into the world in a way that will cause joy for all people. The joy of Christmas reminds us that there is an assurance of good things beyond the touch of the world. It is a joy that goes beyond all that is in us and all that is in the world that would cause us to doubt it.

That’s the sort of assurance that Elizabeth gave Mary. I want you to notice something that I never noticed until I started preparing this sermon. Mary’s response to the angel is one of faith but it is not really one of joy. It is only after she encounters Elizabeth that she is filled with joy.

And this demonstrates the role that we can play in each other’s lives. We can know of the miraculous work of God, but we often doubt that God will fill us with good things. When we speak to each other of the good news of God’s grace and goodness, then we can help each other to rejoice in God our Savior. We need to share our experiences of God’s love and joy with each other. That is also a big part of the Christmas story, sharing God’s love with one another!

Mary’s Song
What is it that keeps us from joy? It is the stories that we tell ourselves. The stories that we tell ourselves shape our emotions.

Here are some of our storylines. No one cares about me. Evil always triumphs. I don’t get to and won’t get to enjoy good things. I don’t have support. Have you told yourself any of these stories this year? I know have. Many times. And these are the stories that rob us of joy.

What Mary did was tell herself a different story. That’s what her song is all about. Instead of “no one cares about me,” she says, “he has been mindful of me” (Luke 1:48). Instead of “evil always triumphs,” she says, “he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts” (Luke 1:51). Instead of “I don’t and won’t experience good,” she says, “He has filled the hungry with good things” (Luke 1:53). Instead of “I don’t have support,” she says, “He has helped his servant Israel” (Luke 1:54). It is the clear sight of these promises that lead her to say, “My soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior” (Luke 1:46).

Those storylines have the power to change the way we view all of life. If we can get different stories into our heads, we will start to feel joy. I want to tell you, though, that this does not come easy. The old stories readily dominate our heads and hearts, especially when our anxiety goes up. We have to battle for joy.

That’s why Mary puts it into a song. It helps her to remember. In order for something to become a part of our hearts and lives, it has to be repeated over and over again. It has to go deeply into our hearts and minds through constant communion with it. It has to be applied to new situations. It’s not enough to learn and hear it once. You’ve got to make it part of you through meditation. That’s why the Bible says to meditate and not simply to read. Memorizing and songs can help us change the way we think about the world. They can get the messages into our hearts that will give us the joy that the world cannot take away.

Conclusion
This has been a hard year. I wish I could say that the church in this country has been at the forefront of being an agent of hope, of service, and of joy. But I do not think it has been. That’s not to say that there has been no light, but it’s not the light that we could have shone on this world.

Too often we have simply joined in the way of the world. We have been more ready to accuse than to listen. We have been paralyzed rather than reaching out. We have given in to despair rather than digging deep into the joy of the Gospel.

Christmas is an opportunity to reset. We can only really serve well when we have joy in our hearts. We are made for joy, and we are made to serve. We should ask, what is keeping us from our joy? What has kept us from joy this year? Why has it? What could we have as a better foundation? Another way to get at this is, when have I not been able to serve? What has kept me from that? That’s where we can dig deep.

Christmas is an opportunity to reset our joy, if we will take it. We can replace the song of 2020 with the song of Mary. We can see that whatever happens to us in the world, the truth is that God fills the hungry with good things. That’s the opportunity of Christmas. It will be a hard fought victory, but with God’s grace, thoughtful reflection, helpful friends, and God’s word, we can learn to sing from the heart, “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior” (Luke 1:47).

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Moving Forward to Joyful Service

A Prayer for Joy
O God of Infinite Joy, Our Shield and Portion, fill us with all joy and peace as we trust in you so that we may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit and be empowered to serve your church and the world, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Scripture
Reader: Sing to him, sing praise to him;
People: Tell of all his wonderful acts.
Reader: Glory in his holy name;
People: Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice
Reader: Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;
People: Let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!”
Response: Let the sea resound, and all that is in it;
People: Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them!
Reader: The righteous will rejoice in the Lord and take refuge in him;
People: All the upright in heart will glory in him!
Reader: Light shines on the righteous
People: And joy on the upright in heart.
Reader: Rejoice in the Lord, you who are righteous,
People: And praise his holy name.
Reader: Let Israel rejoice in their Maker;
People: Let the people of Zion be glad in their King.
Reader: Let them praise his name with dancing
People: And make music to him with timbrel and harp.
Reader: Rejoice in the Lord always.
People: I will say it again: Rejoice!
Reader: Though you have not seen him,
People: You love him;
Reader: And even though you do not see him now,
People: you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.
Reader: Jesus said to His Father, “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world,
People: So that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.
Reader: For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking,
People: But of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,
Reader: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him
People: So that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Confessional References

Heidelberg Catechism

Q & A 1 – Q. What is your only comfort in life and in death? A. That I am not my own, but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.

He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven; in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.

Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.

Q & A 2, Q. What must you know to live and die in the joy of this comfort?
A. Three things: first, how great my sin and misery are; second, how I am set free from all my sins and misery; third, how I am to thank God for such deliverance.

Q&A 90, Q. What is the rising-to-life of the new self? A. Wholehearted joy in God through Christ and a love and delight to live according to the will of God by doing every kind of good work.

Westminster Standards
WLC 1 What is the chief and highest end of man?
A. Man’s Chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy him forever.

WCF 18.3 And therefore it is the duty of everyone to give all diligence to make his calling and election sure; that thereby his heart may be enlarged in peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, in love and thankfulness to God, and in strength and cheerfulness in the duties of obedience, the proper fruits of this assurance: so far is it from inclining men to looseness.

WSC 36 What are the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification? A. The benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification, are, assurance of God’s love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, increase of grace, and perseverance therein to the end.

Outline of Discussion

1. Introduction – joy in the midst of hard and difficult experiences. Introduction to the idea of moving forward.

2. Scripture Reading

3. What are we saved for?

4. How I learned to look for joy

5. The Scriptures on joy

6. The Confessions on joy

7. Developing joy

  • Do we make it a goal?
  • Do we see it as a process?
  • Are we re-thinking all of life from God’s perspective?
  • Do we look at suffering as an unmitigated evil or also as an opportunity for growth?
  • Do we get other people involved?

8. Lacie Shingleton on joy

9. Common objections/questions to the pursuit and priority of joy

  • My life is and has been rough, how can I have joy?
  • How can I add developing joy to my already very busy schedule?
  • I don’t have a bubbly personality.

Note: this lesson will be interactive. You can feel free to ask questions at any time. Read a thorough discussion of this subject here.

Overview of the Moving Forward Series

1. The Goal — What We Were Created for
2. What Keeps Us from It — The complexity of sin
3. What God Does to Restore Us — God’s Work of Redemption and Restoration
4. Accepting God’s Redemption and Applying it to Our Lives
5. Means of Growth in Grace
6. Maximizing Our Service
7. Hope: Prospects for Moving Forward

See a more extensive outline here.

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Power to Live a Life of Joyful Service (1 Thess. 1:4–10)

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“Old Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow, Bright blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow. None has ever caught him yet, for Tom, he is the Master: His songs are stronger songs, and his feet are faster.” Tom Bombadil is a mystery in the book The Lord of the Rings. Peter Jackson left him out of his film entirely.

But Tom Bombadil is a character that has always fascinated me. On the surface, he seems so simple, but he is complex. He is merry, full of joy. He delights in his wife and hills and home and food. He seems like he would be easily overcome, but the Ring cannot tempt him. In the midst of his joy, he is happy to serve.

He is a sort of picture of an unfallen human being, a human being not tainted by sin. I think such a person would be very different than we imagine. That person would be open to the world yet clearly defined. He would be a slave to none but a servant to all. He would be content and joyful yet always willing to serve. He would be transparent and simple yet complex and deep. I think Tolkien gave us a glimpse of this in his character of Tom Bombadil.

Sometimes, we think that joy and service do not go together. The Bible and this passage teach us something very different. Those who want to save their lives will lose them, and those who are willing to give them up will find them. Joy and service go together.

Some of us serve because we fear saying no. Some of us try to preserve ourselves but end up being self-centered. How do we get to a place of joyful service? That’s what the Thessalonians had found. They found joyful service to God and to their fellow human beings that made the world stand up and notice. How did it happen? In this sermon, I want to talk about the source, the means, and the effect of joyful service.

The Source of Joyful Service
How did the Thessalonians become joyful servants of the God of Israel and the Lord Jesus Christ? How did these servants of Aphrodite, Zeus, and Apollo who intertwined the worship of these gods into the fabric of their lives become servants of the God of Israel? The answer is clear in our text. It was by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The first thing we notice is that the Apostle Paul gave thanks to God for their response to the Gospel. This means that their response was due to the grace of God. The reason why they accepted the message about Jesus was due to God Himself.

Paul says, “For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction” (1 Thess. 1:4–5). In other words, it was God’s choice and the power of the Holy Spirit that enabled them to respond. Paul and Silas could preach the Gospel, but it was God who gave the response.

This is what we see elsewhere in the Bible. It is God who makes our hearts of stone into hearts of flesh to respond to His Word (Ez. 36:26–27). The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are spiritually discerned (1 Cor. 2:14). No one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:3).

This means that even though the Thessalonians had faith, hope, and love, the one who got the ultimate credit for it was God Himself. Even their good use of God’s gifts was a gift from God.

Human beings have turned away from the joyful service of God that they were created for. Instead, they exalted themselves in their pride. This is what we all do unless God intervenes. This is why we all need God’s grace.

Why do we struggle so much in this life? In part, because we start on a wrong principle: making ourselves the center of the universe. It’s only God that turns this around, and so it is only the Holy Spirit that begets joy. “You welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit” (1 Thess. 1:6).

This was evidence of God’s special love and the choice that He made of the Thessalonians. Their response was not due to their merit or their works but to God’s electing, eternal, gracious love. This is something that all who believe can say: “I believe because of the unmerited love and choice of God Himself.” That’s a rock on which we can rest our hearts and lives.

The Means to Joyful Service
Even though it was God’s Spirit that empowered them for joyful service, this did not mean that God did not use things and people to bring the Thessalonians to that condition. He used a message to bring them back to Himself, and He used the messengers who brought that message.

First, there was the message. They received what he will later call the “Word of God” because it came, as it were, from God’s mouth. In the next chapter, he will say, “when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God” (1 Thess. 2:13).

Here he calls it the gospel. The gospel in the ancient world was “news.” A messenger would proclaim a “gospel” when a king won a victory or a new king was crowned. Here, the “gospel” is that Jesus is crowned King and has won the victory over Satan, sin, and death.

Why did God use the Word or the Gospel to transform the Thessalonian Christians? It makes complete sense. What keeps us from joy? It’s the messages we believe such as, “You are unworthy”; “you can’t do anything right”; “things won’t ever work out”; and “I won’t ever get to enjoy good things” that keep us from joyful service. What leads us back to joyful service is God’s good message: “you are accepted”; “you are valued”; “you can do good things”; and “you will be blessed.” These messages believed and imbibed can lead us back to joyful service.

So, the message has to be the right message, but the right message won’t be received rightly unless the Holy Spirit works in our hearts. We need the Word and the Spirit. That’s why Paul thanks God that it did not come to them only with words but also with the Spirit and power!

Because it is the Word that transforms, people sometimes think, we just need to get the word out there, and that’s all that matters. This idea fails to notice that God not only uses the message, he uses messengers to transform people.

How the messenger lives and how the messenger conveys the message is very important. “You know how we lived among you for your sake” (1 Thess. 1:6). The Thessalonians’ conversion to joyful service was the work of people that they could imitate. They conformed themselves to the commandments of the message but also to the comportment of the messengers. “You became imitators of us” (1 Thess. 1:6). Paul says.

How we live and what we say matters in the work of transforming people. God uses the Word, and He uses His people who live out that Word to bring people to believe the Word. So, we need to ask, what am I teaching with my actions? What do I say about God by how I live? Do I communicate joyful service? Or, am I communicating angry grievances? The former brings about the righteousness of God; the latter does not.

The Effect of Joyful Service
When the Holy Spirit worked, it had effects. The Thessalonians changed. They who were followers of idols and the gods Aphrodite, Zeus, and Apollo gave them up to joyfully serve God and wait for Jesus to return from heaven. This meant more than a private decision. The worship of the gods was intertwined with their political, economic, and family life. It was a radical change.

This radical message was rooted in joy. They welcomed the message, but this was not a mere intellectual acceptance. It moved their hearts. “You welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit” (1 Thess. 1:7). They welcomed this message with joy. It caused their hearts to rise up as they heard the good news about Jesus Christ.

Christianity has a negative message. It says that all are sinners and that God’s wrath is coming against all sin, the pride of the theologian as well as the perfidy of the thief. Christianity also has a Gospel, a positive message tat answers the negative one. We are delivered from the wrath to come by faith in Jesus Christ. Recently, I read again the Heidelberg Catechism Q/A 60. It asks: “How are you righteous before God?” It answers:

Only by true faith in Jesus Christ. Even though my conscience accuses me of having grievously sinned against all God’s commandments, of never having kept any of them, and of still being inclined toward all evil, nevertheless, without any merit of my own, out of sheer grace, God grants and credits to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ, as if I had never sinned nor been a sinner, and as if I had been as perfectly obedient as Christ was obedient for me. All I need to do is accept this gift with a believing heart.

This is the beautiful message that can fill our hearts with joy in every situation.

Notice also this important point: they welcomed the message with joy in suffering. To enable us to live joyfully, we must have a foundation for joy that can last through suffering. The Gospel enables us to reinterpret our experiences of suffering in a way that preserves our joy. Even unbelievers can reinterpret suffering in this way to a limited degree, but we can do it in an ultimate way because Christ has experienced our sufferings and triumphed over them. Christ’s resurrection powerfully demonstrates that suffering is temporary but God’s love and power are forever for all His loved ones. The suffering is a refiner’s fire that brings out the pure gold of our faith more clearly.

So, they had joy. What did they do with it? They served. This joyful service means, first of all, that they served God Himself. In one sense, we all serve something. However, the true service that we are made for is service of the living God. We are not made to serve Aphrodite or romantic love, Athena or intellectual endeavors, Apollo or our talents, Zeus or our power, Bacchus or our pleasures. We are only properly aligned as human beings when we serve the living God.

Second, joyful service means serving God’s interests in the world. Joyful service means serving God in the everyday events of life. It means always and everywhere seeking to advance His kingdom and His interests in the world.

Third, joyful service means serving God’s people, His created people and His redeemed people. The Thessalonians served the people around them, and so their faith become known throughout the world. Our faith commitment is known by the love we have. It is always, “work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love” (1 Thess. 1:3).

God is recreating people to be the joyful servants He intended them to be.

Conclusion
All over the world, there are people like the Thessalonians, people who have left their previous way of life to serve God and wait for Jesus Christ. There are people like Michael. He was a Chinese student studying in Spearfish, SD, and I met him through a program connecting foreign students with local families. He had not grown up as a Christian but went to a church in South Korea. Through the work of his Pastor there, he came to welcome the message of Jesus Christ with the joy given through the Holy Spirit.

There are people like Charles Strohmer. He tried the American Dream and the New Age movement before the Holy Spirit took hold of him and brought him to Christ. You can read more about his transformation in the exciting book he wrote Odd Man Out.

There are people like me and many of you reading or hearing this. We do not know the time when we came to welcome the message with joy and enter into the joyful service of God, but for us and for Michael and Charles and all those like them, we sing with the church throughout the ages:

Long my imprisoned spirit lay
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quick’ning ray,
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free;
I rose, went forth and followed Thee.

Amazing love! how can it be
That Thou, my God, should die for me!

________

Photo by Fernando Hernandez on Unsplash