Tidings of comfort and joy

Hi. Again, let me welcome you to OnMission - we are so thankful that you are with us, following this blog and joining with us as we seek to truly know God.

My name is Howard Edwards; an OnMission pastor, and, at least initially I will be the main contributor to this blog. As we begin, let me again invite anyone who might like to help research or contribute directly to this blog to feel free to contact me by email.

As we turn to God’s Word, let us pray:

Almighty God, our Father in Heaven: Give us eyes that see, we want to know You. Give us ears that hear, we need to hear Your Word. Give us hearts that Love, transform us so we might Love as You Love. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Amen

Scripture:

Next week and the week after we will talk a bit about this letter written by God through a man named Paul as a thank you note to a congregation in the ancient city of Philippi. But for today, lets just dive into the text:

"I thank my God every time I remember you. I always pray with joy in my every prayer for all of you because of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now. For I am sure of this very thing, that the one who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. For it is right for me to think this about all of you, because I have you in my heart, since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel all of you became partners in God’s grace together with me. For God is my witness that I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. And I pray this, that your love may abound even more and more in knowledge and every kind of insight so that you can decide what is best, and thus be sincere and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God."

“Joy to the world, the Lord has come” with “tidings of comfort and joy” … or so those old Christmas carols tell us.

In the week before Christmas 2019, as Christmas carols filled the air, I bumped into an old friend at a mall. I greeted him in my usual way, “hey, how are ya?” Well after a rather long list of complaints and troubles, he summed up his reply to me by saying, “so really, things aren't that good - I’m just not enjoying life.”

I know this man - he’s healthy, educated, affluent, successful; he has a nice family, big house and pretty expensive cars, he loves technology and has every gadget I can imagine. He’s always traveling. He’s an avid golfer and runner and cyclist … but amongst all that, he’s missing something - by his own admission, there was no joy in his life. Among all his achievements and stuff, no joy could be found.

That was Advent 2019; I had just returned to Canada, at the height of the hustle and bustle of the Christmas shopping season, from the poverty and need of Tanzania in East Africa.

During that trip I met a pastor’s wife… her conversations were almost always punctuated by her infectious laughter. She lived in a small mud house. The rain leaked through the roof onto her mud floor. She sewed clothes on an old treadle sewing machine to help make ends meet. But each story she told of the suffering, turmoil and challenges in her life was followed by her laughter… there was a punchline to every story.  She spoke of poverty and hardships, but she never complained. Too often there were days without food. Too often she and her family suffered from malaria. Too often the drinking water was dirty. There were sad moments … her tears were very real… yet even through those tears, as strange as it sounds, she was joyful… how can this be?

I hope I have given you enough detail that you can envision these two experiences and the striking difference between them … I hope you can imagine the thoughts and emotions that challenged me in that mall just before Christmas.

We might rightly ask ourselves, how could there be such a lack of joy in the midst of a Canadian Christmas; and perhaps more importantly, we might be wondering, what was the source of that joy radiating from a poor woman in a mud hut in poverty?

So often the answers I have received to this question are nonsense. Some people will say, “those people” need less than us - but that’s irrational and simply not true. Others claim they are blessed not to be burdened with material and financial wealth - really? 

The only response I can offer is pretty simple; some would call it naive; others would call it silly. Why the lack of joy? It’s because of a lack of Jesus. Why the persistent joy? It’s because joy comes from knowing Jesus - and that joy endures in every moment, every circumstance, good or bad.

Many preachers have noted that joy is listed among the fruits of the Holy Spirit.

A simple internet search will produce literally hundreds of articles and videos instructing us how to acquire these fruits and live in these fruits. Most actually turn these fruits into something like commodities - things we work for, ask for, pay for like a tangerine or pear we might find in a Christmas stocking. Some make them into behaviours we must practice to be like Jesus, while others advocate disciplining ourselves and training ourselves in these characteristics as if we might somehow obtain God’s gifts by our own efforts, according to our own will-power. Sadly many of us are misguided by this type of self-help, do it yourself advice.

These types of teachings reveal a consumerist mindset or a works theology that says things like joy can be bought or earned, trained or disciplined - it sounds good - but it’s simply wrong. The fruits of the Holy Spirit grow only in the fertile soil of the knowledge and Love of  God. When we know God and Love God and follow in His Ways we will bear these fruits - these characteristics will simply reveal who we are - these characteristics define the nature of a Christ follower.

Jesus used “fruits” as an analogy for the characteristics by which His followers can be recognized but these fruits are not the goal; they are a result - byproducts produced when we know God. God’s will for each of us is that we would return and be reconciled to Him - to Love Him is the ultimate divine goal - and when we know and Love God, those fruits, those characteristics become real - they are not put on - we are not called to hypocrisy - they are the authentic characteristics of a person who knows Jesus  … and among those characteristics is that enduring joy I noticed in that mud hut.

Notice Jesus does not say, His followers are shaped by their context or their environment or that He is with them just to get them through the day or to fulfill their every wish. No, His followers are shaped by Him and they are focused on Him - and He has a far greater impact on how they live and engage this world than anything they might experience - the fruit, the nature and character of Christ in us is produced regardless of the world around us.

So here is our answer. Life in affluence can no more be the source of joy, than life in privation or poverty can strip the Christian of their joy. Joy is not dependent on context or environment, or the events or circumstances we inhabit. Joy shines and persists because the Christian is redeemed and restored to Jesus. What could possibly dampen the joy found in the Love of Christ? Because we know God and His Love we can endure all things and bear all things with joy - not without suffering, not without pain, not without trials and turmoil - but with underlying joy found in Jesus. A joy that knows God and cannot be stifled by the ebbs and flows of life.

Joy exists in privation and poverty because Christians, devoted to and desiring Jesus exist there - joy exists in prosperity when Christians exist there too. That is the joy I saw in the pastor’s wife and that is the joy we heard in this morning’s Bible reading. The letter Cathy read from was written by a man oppressed, imprisoned, abused and facing death - yet joy resonates from his letter. 

Jesus' followers live in this world, but are not of this world. His people will feel as all people feel, they will experience what all people experience but their identity, their nature, their character, their mindset, their joyfulness are not the product of emotions, experiences, contexts or environments … what we witness in them is their Love of Jesus - joy inevitably and persistently flows from the Love of God.

So here again, we encounter that impact we spoke of last week - the changed mindset of those who know God’s Love and who Love God. Being Christian is not about seeking personal or emotional or social or political or economic benefits or even spiritual gifts or blessings. The Christian seeks and Loves Jesus because He is who He is … He is not just some mechanism or Santa Claus who grants our every wish. Jesus Himself is our all-in-all - He alone is enough - He is perfectly sufficient - “For in Him [His followers] live and move and have [their] being.”

There is joy in the world wherever there are people who Love Jesus.

And that is what God opened my eyes to one day, in a mud hut, in poverty and privation through a joyful and joy filled woman.

Perhaps in this you too will find tidings of comfort and joy.

Amen.