2022: He Grew Up

 

January 2, 2022     NOTES NOT EDITED
The Child Grew
Luke 2:40-50

SIS – If we claim we are followers of Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ grew in His faith, we should be growing in ours.

If you live long enough, you will get older.  I remember once that a elderly gentleman received a call from one of his elderly lady friends. She said, “I just got this great new puzzle and would love for you to come over and help me put it together.”  She continued saying, “The picture on the box says the puzzle is a rooster.”  The elderly gentleman replied, “OK. I’ll be right over.  That sounds like fun.”  The gentleman arrived at his lady friend’s house and knocked on the door.  She answered and greeted him with a smile.  She led or gentleman friend to the kitchen table and said, “I poured all the pieces out on the table.”  The elderly gentleman scanned all the pieces spread out on the table.  Looking at the box the puzzle pieces came in, he said, “Margaret, no matter how hard we try, we are never going to get these pieces to look like the rooster on the box.” He gently took the hand of his elderly lady friend and continued by saying, “Let’s just relax and have a cup of tea together.  Then, we an put all these Corn Flakes back in the box.”

Every New Year we celebrate marks one more year of life.  If we continue to celebrate these New Years, will we grow “older and wiser,” or just get “older?”  That’s the real issue at stake today.

Most people never get past Christmas.  They meet Jesus in the manger, but He never grows up in their story.  He remains the vulnerable, innocent, non-threatening babe that that gives us warm fuzzy feelings.  We can manage the babe in the manger, and He doesn’t challenge the worldliness in our lives.

The Manger Scene, however, is the beginning of the story, not the end.  And, the child grew (v40).  Let’s read about the growth of Jesus, from birth to age 12, and beyond.

Luke 2:39–40 (CSB) ³⁹ When they had completed everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. ⁴⁰ The boy grew up and became strong, filled with wisdom, and God’s grace was on him.

Then, remain standing as we encounter the only mention of Jesus as a young boy.  He is 12 years old.  As was the family’s custom of devotion, they travelled each year to Jerusalem to observe the mandatory celebration of Passover.  During the journey back home with the large travelling party, it was discovered that Jesus was missing.  This was uncharacteristic of Jesus and cause for some alarm.  We pick up the story at this point:

Luke 2:44–52 (CSB)  ⁴⁴ Assuming he was in the traveling party, they went a day’s journey. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. ⁴⁵ When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. ⁴⁶ After three days, they found him in the temple sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. ⁴⁷ And all those who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers. ⁴⁸ When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” ⁴⁹ “Why were you searching for me?” he asked them. “Didn’t you know that it was necessary for me to be in my Father’s house?” ⁵⁰ But they did not understand what he said to them. ⁵¹ Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them. His mother kept all these things in her heart. ⁵² And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and with people.

For me, the most significant words in the Nativity Story are the summary word in verse 40 ^{(NIV84) 40} And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.

Let those words sink in for a minute.  Our grammar teachers drilled into many of us that we should never start a sentence with, “and.”  Greek knows no such grammatical rule.  In fact, the little word, “and” (de in Greek), begins many, many sentences in the New Testament.  It sometimes has more significance that at other times.  Often the little word, and, introduces an event one would normally take for granted but the writer wants to show it has literary significance. The event or circumstance introduced by “de” is something someone would normally expect to follow what had been said.  In this sense you could translate Luke 2:40 as:  “And, of course, Jesus grew up.”

The natural course of life is to “grow up” and mature.  This is true both physically and spiritually.  If we apply these words to our own Christian lives after being born-again we would say, “And, of course we are growing in the Lord.”  But . . . are we REALLY GROWING IN THE LORD?  That is the question of the hour.

So often, however, in the case of far too many Christians, this is not the case.  Most Christians do NOT grow up.  They remain babies in Christ that never get past the “milk of the Word” or the “elementary principles of Christian living.”  Paul states the matter like this:

1 Corinthians 3:1–3 ^{(NIV84)  1} Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. ² I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. ³ You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?

Paul further clarifies what scholars now call the “juvenilization of Christianity” in Hebrews 6:1:

So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding.

Please know that I don’t want to be harsh with this message.  This can easily offend us if our goal in life is to “pack up baby Jesus and store Him away for another year.”  That’s exactly what too many of us have done for too long.  Most of us have fallen far, far short of where we should be at this stage in our Christian life.

This is a New Year.  It is a clean slate, so to speak.  Today is Day 1—actually 2, but that’s close enough.  We can start today “growing up in our faith” and become responsible, effective, Christian adults. 
Jesus grew up in His faith in four significant ways, and is Our Model for how we can—and MUST—grow up in faith in this New Year.

1.  He grew in the POWER of His faith (v40a,b,c)

⁴⁰ The boy grew up and became strong

Jesus was a powerful man Œ physically. I remember the vivid images of Mel Gibson’s blockbuster movie, “The Passion of the Christ.”  Particularly vivid—and bloody—is the scene where Jesus is led to the Roman courtyard to be flogged—or beaten.  The technical term is scourging.  It was often done to prisoners that were condemned to die.  Usually, the scourging was so brutal that the prisoner died before the Romans had a chance to crucify them.  Jesus did not die from the scourging that was so brutal scholars believe it exposed His internal organs.  Yet, Jesus still took the heavy crossbeam of His cross and carried it a great distance to the cross, before collapsing under its weight, when a man named, Simon the Cyrene, was commanded to carry it the rest of the way.  But, Jesus still got to His feet and walked to Golgotha.  Jesus was a powerful man physically.  He walked everywhere He went.  He spent long hours ministering to peoples’ needs.  He was a powerful man, physically.

Jesus was a powerful man  intellectually. Notice our verse again.

⁴⁰ The boy grew up and became strong, filled with wisdom

Jesus never attended college.  He never wrote a book.  He only lived to on this earth 33 years—30 of them in total obscurity—yet even people with no religious persuasion at all know His teachings.  The Sermon on the Mount is one of the highest forms of prose in any language of any time.  The Lord’s parable of the Prodigal Son is known by people in every corner of the world.  If one reads the words of Jesus, one is struck by His wisdom in the same way that the Jewish police force were struck by His speaking.  On one occasion, the teaching of Jesus had created such a public commotion that the Temple Police were dispatched to bring Jesus before the Jewish tribunal of Scribes and Pharisees.  Here’s what happened,

⁴⁵ Then the temple police came to the chief priests  and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why haven’t you brought Him?” ⁴⁶ The police answered, “No man ever spoke like this!” (Jn. 7:45-46)

The words of the Lord demonstrate a strong mind bolstered by a strong character.  Jesus grew up into an intellectually powerful man.

Jesus was a powerful man Ž spiritually.  We read on in our verse:

⁴⁰ The boy grew up and became strong, filled with wisdom,
and God’s grace was on Him.

That’s the real source of the Lord’s strength.  He was physically powerful and intellectually powerful, but most importantly, He was spiritually powerful.  His power was fueled by God’s grace and the partnership Jesus had with the Holy Spirit. As a man just like us, Jesus enjoyed the favor of God which was the source of His strength.

Jesus grew up into became a powerful Man of faith by growing strong physically, intellectually, and spiritually.

2.  He grew in the PRACTICE of His faith (39, 41)

³⁹ When they had completed everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth
…………………….
⁴¹ Every year His parents traveled to Jerusalem for the Passover Festival

I’m sure you have heard the old adage, “Practice makes perfect.”  Well, like so many such aphorisms, there is as much falsehood or truth in the statement.  Practice does indeed make perfect if what you are practicing is perfect and you are perfectly practicing it.  Otherwise, it is more accurate to state the matter in this manner, “Practice makes permanent.”  Practice transforms a behavior into a natural process.  This is why athletes are able to perform as if it takes not effort at all.  The effort comes from endless hours of difficult practice that makes the skills they practice second nature—or even first nature for that matter.  They become what they do.
This applies also to spiritual growth.  Jesus grew up in the faith by practicing the disciplines of the faith.  He became a prayer warrior by praying.  He became a Scriptural scholar by studying.  He became a master evangelist by preaching. Jesus practiced the principles of His Jewish faith.  One such principle was to faithfully go to Jerusalem [worship] to observe three feasts each year as commanded in Scripture—the Feast of Tabernacles, the Feast of Passover, and the Feast of Pentecost.  Jesus never missed one of these feasts.  He was a devout son of a devout stepfather and devout mother.  Faith is not simply an idea.  Faith is a practice. The more you practice the disciplines of faith like praying, Bible study, fellowship, and evangelism, the more these disciplines become a part of your nature.

According to one sports article, a typical pro athlete trains about 5-6 hours a day 6 days a week.  They are already professional athletes.  Professional basketball players already have the skills needed to play basketball.  Professional football players already have the skills to play football.  This is true of every professional athlete in every sport.  So, why do they practice so many hours each day?  They practice so that playing is a part of their nature.  Kobe Bryant didn’t have to think about how to shoot a basketball, it is a part of who he is.  Tiger Woods doesn’t have to figure out how to hit a golf ball a gazillian yards, it’s who he is.  Practice makes something a part of our nature.

This is even more true in spiritual matters than any other endeavor.  Playing basketball or football or fooseball are human endeavors.  Praying, studying the Bible, worshipping in church, and sharing the gospel are eternal matters.  We become more and more mature as we practice the disciplines of the faith. 

3.  He grew in the PROCLAMATION of His faith (46-50)

⁴⁶ After three days, they found Him in the temple complex sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. ⁴⁷ And all those who heard Him were astounded at His understanding and His answers. ⁴⁸ When His parents saw Him, they were astonished, and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for You.”  ⁴⁹ “Why were you searching for Me?” He asked them. “Didn’t you know that I had to be in My Father’s house?”  ⁵⁰ But they did not understand what He said to them.

You will notice how Jesus was growing spiritually.  He loved learning about the things of God.  “He was listening and asking questions.”  His pursuit of knowledge paid off.  Notice that in this passage Jesus goes from a passive position to actively sharing His faith.  We are watching him mature and grew up before our eyes. Verse 47 says:

⁴⁷ And all those who heard Him were astounded at His understanding and His answers.

I have known people who have had massive amounts of Bible knowledge—many having much more knowledge of the Bible and theology than I have.  I know a man who practically has the entire Bible memorized.  This is a great and wonderful thing; however, it serves no eternal purpose whatsoever if one never shares one’s knowledge of the Lord with others—and I mean particularly, others who are not saved. 

The very people Jesus was speaking to were Jewish leaders and scholars—experts in the Scripture—but, they had no idea it was the Son of God speaking to them. 

One application I draw from this passage is that the “gospel is given to us so that we can pass it on to others.”  Jesus spent three years teaching, preaching, and ministering to the masses.  The proclamation of the gospel was a huge part of His earthly ministry.  He spent three years proclaiming the message of redemption.  His death, burial and resurrection was the culmination of three years of His preaching—and over three thousand years of God’s prophets proclaiming His coming as the Messiah.  Proclamation of the gospel is a very significant part of what it means to “grow up in our faith.”  I DON’T THINK I NEED TO REMIND US—WE NEED TO SHARE THE GOSPEL MORE!

Look at verse 50, “they did not understand what He said to them.” When we regularly share our faith, more people will fail to understand, or even misunderstand us, than will understand.  Jesus didn’t stop sharing though many opposed Him and rejected His message.  We should never stop sharing either. 

We see evidence of Jesus’ spiritual growth in the power He had physically, intellectually, and spiritually.  We see the spiritual growth of the Lord in how He practiced the disciplines of the faith.  We see Jesus growing in the proclamation of the gospel about Who He is and what He came to do.  Power, Practice, and Proclamation are all indicators of spiritual growth modeled in the life of Our Lord.  But, the most significant indicator of the Lord’s growth in His faith in the Father’s plan comes when we see

4.  The PRICE He Paid for His Faith (41)

⁴¹ Every year His parents traveled to Jerusalem for the Passover Festival

Christmas is quaint, but it is Easter makes saints.  Nobody was saved when Jesus was born in a manger in Bethlehem.  The price that was paid for our salvation happened on a cross at Calvary.

Jesus perfectly fulfilled the will of His Father because Jesus was willing to pay whatever the price was for obedience.  And . . . it was a steep price to pay.  So heavy was the price Jesus would have to pay to be faithful to His Father, that Jesus actually sweat blood over it.  We read: Being in anguish, He prayed more fervently, and His sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground (Lk. 22:44)

Why did Jesus grow up so wonderfully to fulfill so perfectly His purpose in life?  He was a man, exactly like us in every way and with every temptation, but He “grew up” in a way that we simply do not—and are not—growing up.  Why?  Because He was willing to pay whatever price it would cost to be fully obedient to God.

Here’s the most important question you needs to answer as the New Year begins:  “Are you willing to pay whatever it costs to be obedient to God in 2022?”  This is a “yes or no” question. It will determine whether your discipleship is Christmas quaint or Easter saint!

Jesus held back nothing in His obedience.  He counted nothing in the world worthy to hold onto if it meant being disobedient—and that included even His life.  When Jesus died, He was naked and every last drop of blood was drained from His earthly body.  Jesus was completely consumed by His obedience to the point that all He had left was the favor or the Father, Who had declared at the baptism of His Son:  “this is my son in whom I am well pleased!” (Mt. 3:17)

We could be more like Jesus.  We SHOULD be more like Jesus! We could be more powerful in our faith if, we were willing to pay the PRICE that Jesus paid.  Jesus paid it all!  The Lord knew what His faith was going to cost Him.  He knows what our faith is going to cost us as His disciples.  He never painted a rosy picture of what it would mean to follow Him as His people in this world.  Jesus offered all would-be disciples full disclosure:

“If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself,  take up his cross daily,  and follow Me (Lk. 9:23).

The cross was a heavy price for Our Lord—it won’t be cheap for us!

Those four words stick in my mind as the page turns on a new calendar: “and, the child grew.”  The normal process following birth is, “growth.”  Otherwise, there is something terribly wrong.

Brooke Greenberg is the size of an infant, with the mental capacity of a toddler.   She died October 24, 2013, at the age of twenty still the size of a baby.  She still had her baby teeth.  She had the body of an 11 years old and mind of 2 years old. She was never diagnosed with any known genetic syndrome or chromosomal abnormality that would help explain why.  Doctors have no explanation for why Brooke does not get older.  Constant reminders of Brooke’s failure to grow up are family pictures taken throughout the years in which everybody gets older, but Brooke.  The family loved her and her Mom once said, “We love her just the way she is.”  That is admirable and what I would expect a loving mother to say, but the fact remains, Brooke’s story is unique because, “children are expected to grow up.”

God expects His children to grow up, mature, and move beyond a juvenile expression of faith.  I wish I could tell you what you need to do, step by step, to mature in the faith.  It would take more than a sermon.  It would take a book . . . in fact, my best advice is that we start “applying what we read in God’s Book!”

I would love a “HAPPY” New Year.  More than a “happy” New Year, however, I long for a NEW year.  I don’t want to continue to practice the elementary principles of faith.  I don’t want to be controlled by the sinful nature.  I want to “grow up” in my faith, just like my Lord.

(Luke 2:40).  Isn’t it time we got serious about “growing up in our faith?”

THE HARD KNOCKS OF LIFE

EARNEST HEMINGWAY  Even though throughout his life he had many adventurous escapades, Earnest Hemingway was a very sick man, and was beat-up physically. As well as his many car and plane crashes, he survived skin cancer, anthrax, malaria, dysentery, hepatitis, anemia, high blood pressure, a ruptured kidney, a ruptured spleen, a ruptured liver, pneumonia, a crushed vertebra, and a fractured skull.  Maybe you feel like you are beginning the New Year beat up and battered by life.  You are not alone.  Many others are fighting this battle also.  Most of all, you are not alone, because the Jesus is walking alongside you--the Holy Spirit of God will guide you (John 16:5-11)

Advent 2021: Joy

 

Advent 2021—Joy!    NOTES NOT EDITED
The Lost and Found of Christmas
Psalm 51.

SIS: If you have never had True Joy, you can get it; and if you had it and lost it, you can get it back.

One of the worst experiences in the course of human existence is the experience of “loss.”  This experience can be a benign as “losing your car keys” or as devastating as losing a spouse to death or divorce.  Any loss leaves a “hole,” and sometimes it is a gaping “hole.” 

David experienced this same kind of crushing loss.  He had lost “the joy of his salvation” and desperately wanted to find it again. This is the very joy that is promised to all by God in the Christmas story.  Remember the angel’s announcement to the shepherds that first Christmas.  Let’s read that announcement together (Luke 2:9 ^KJV):

⁸ And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹ And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. ¹⁰ And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

Joy is a gift promised to all those upon God bestows His saving grace through forgiveness of our sins.  David had that “joy,” but had lost it.  David desperately wanted that joy back.  Listen as I read David’s plea to God for the restoration of his joy.  Psalm 51:12^KJV:

Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; And uphold me with thy free spirit.

One of the saddest AND happiest places in life is a “Lost and Found.”  It is sad place for all the lost stuff, but what joy when something is found.  A few years ago, a woman was travelling on the subway early in the morning. She had a neatly wrapped brown paper package she held in her lap. When the subway came to a stop, she got up, arranged the package securely on the seat and departed the subway. A gentleman sitting beside her noticed she had left the package. He quickly jumped up and approached the woman saying, "Excuse me, Ma'am, you left your package." The lady smiled and replied, "Thank you, Sir. Just leave it. It is breakfast for my husband. He works in the Lost and Found Department."

I can only imagine what people working in Lost and Found Departments actually find. This Sunday, Lord willing, I'm going to guide people through the Scriptures to see that if they don't have joy they can find it in Christ, and if they feel they had it and lost it, joy can be restored.

Christmas is about “restoring something lost.”  One important gift that can be restored is “joy.” Three important questions guide us down a path to gaining, or restoring joy in our lives.  What is joy?  How do you lose it?  How can you get it back?

1.  What is Joy?  v8 “Let me hear joy and gladness!”

I’ve found over the years great confusion exists in regard to the meaning of “joy.”  Before exploring what joy is, let us rule out what joy is NOT.

First, it is not “happiness.” This might strike you as odd, or even irrational, but a person can be “full of joy” and not be happy. Happiness is an emotional response to favorable circumstances.

Second, joy is not a “false piety” that outwardly puts forth a blissful countenance when your insides are awash in ugliness. Joy is not something we work up, but something God works in.  I’ve known a lot of Christians who feel a “duty” to act joyful even when the circumstances of their lives better suits being sad.  This kind of self-delusion has no place in a person’s life.  This kind of joy will be like the seed that Jesus spoke of in a parable in the N.T. 

Jesus spoke of the seed of God’s Word falling on shallow ground.  The seed quickly takes root but the roots are not able to go deep enough to sustain solid growth and the young plant springing from the seed quickly withers in the harsh light of daily living.  False piety is like seed sown in shallow ground and cannot sustain a genuine, lasting sense of joy.

Joy has nothing to do with “circumstance,” whether good or bad.  Joy can exist equally in a state of sadness as it can in states of bliss.  I know that seems counter-intuitive or perhaps completely insane, but that’s what the Bible teaches.

Jesus explains the irony of having a sense of “joy and victory,” even in the midst of great tribulation.  Jesus said in John 17:13

¹³ Now I am coming to You, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have My joy completed in them.

Speaking “what things?”  Jesus has been preaching from John 15:18 through chapter 16 and now into chapter 17 about how the disciples would be hated and persecuted.  Look at the John 17:14, the verse below what we just read:

¹⁴ I have given them Your word.  The world hated  them because they are not of the world, as I am not of the world. 

The greatest tragedy of modern preaching has been teaching people that Christianity is a the pathway to “health, wealth, and happiness.”  I hate to burst your faulty theological bubble, but that is not what the Bible teaches.  In fact, it is more likely that if you live a truly godly life in an ungodly world you will not always be “happy, healthy, and wealthy.”  If happiness is your goal, Christianity should not be your game.

Let me show you another word from the Lord that describes the irony of having a sense of victory or well-being (which describes joy), in spite of your circumstances.  John 16:33 says,

³³ I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.” 

Though Jesus does not use the Word joy in this passage, the idea of courage even in the face of great trial and difficulty is precisely what joy is all about. Return with me to our Psalm, chapter 51.  David cried

Let me hear joy and gladness (v 8)

The O.T. word used here refers to “mirth, or an exulted feeling of goodness.”  Indeed, joy is associated with our “emotions.”  When we experience joy, we have a sense of “mirth,” or well-being. 

Joy, however, is not just a feeling.  Joy is also and instrument through which we climb out the pit of difficult circumstance to get to a point of a “real feeling of well-being” – not a false piety that must force a smile – but a genuine sense of “mirth” or well-being.

In the deepest sense of the word, joy is not an emotional response – but a spiritual resource.  LET ME REPEAT THIS BECAUSE IT IS VERY IMPORTANT.  In the deepest sense of the word, joy is not an emotional response – but a spiritual condition—a state of being.  

Particularly, joy is a state of being in the “favor of God.”  The beloved Christmas story makes this clear as we saw with peace last week.

LUKE 2    ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid,  for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people:  ¹¹ Today a Savior,  who is Messiah  the Lord,  was born for you in the city of David.

Now, glance down a couple verses to verse 14:

¹⁴ Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to people He favors!

Most scholars accept the reading of the oldest manuscripts (as here in the CSB, v14) which translates the word for “He favors” as a “genitive,” rather than a “nominative” (eudokias, vs. eudokia) This is important because the “genitive” form describes a “state of being.”  Joy and peace (and a thousand blessings beside) result from “being in the state of salvation.”  Joy is something only Christians can experience – a genuine sense of good will and feeling of fulfillment that allows one to transcend (Jesus said, “conquer”) even the most difficult of circumstances.   So, this brings me to another question:

2.  How does one “lose” or “lack” joy? (v 12)

Return with me to our passage in Psalm 51.  In V12 David cries,

¹² Restore the joy of Your salvation to me, and give me a willing spirit. 

If David is asking God to “restore” his joy, then it is clear that David had lost something that he once had.  How did that happen?  Look at the ancient title to this Psalm.  Remember, these are very, very old inscriptions and scholars agree they are most likely reliable, and even some suggest they may in fact be part of the inspired text. 

The occasion of this Psalm is David’s affair with Bathsheba and the resulting calamity of his first son’s death because of the affair with Bathsheba and murder of her husband. 

How does one “lose” one’s joy, if they have it or keep from ever getting it in the first place?  The answer given in this Psalm is a simple one-letter word --- SIN!  Read verses 1-5 with me:

¹ Be gracious to me, God, according to Your faithful love; according to Your abundant compassion, blot out my rebellion.² Wash away my guilt and cleanse me from my sin. ³ For I am conscious of my rebellion, and my sin is always before me. ⁴ Against You—You alone—I have sinned and done this evil in Your sight. So You are right when You pass sentence; You are blameless when You judge. ⁵ Indeed, I was guilty _⌊when I_⌋ was born;  I was sinful when my mother conceived me.

Aren’t I a scrooge?  Here it is the week before Christmas and I’m preaching about “sin.”  Why can’t I just be like most other preachers and preach about the “joy of salvation?”  Well, I am preaching about the “joy of salvation.”  But, if you never had it, or had it and lost it, then wouldn’t it be nice to know how you lost it?

Sin will always make you miserable.  Maybe not at first, but sooner or later, probably more sooner than later.

Do your remember the younger brother in the story of the Prodigal (Wayward) Son?  The young boy was tired of living at home and being confined by the duties of a Jewish son. He wanted to “see the world” and “sow some wild oats.”  So, he demanded his father give him his inheritance early. Why the father agreed is another matter, but he gave him his inheritance.  The Bible says, the son set off on a journey to a far off land.  At first the Prodigal Son had a great time.  The KJV calls it “riotous living.”  He was having a grand time in his merry-making.  He was living “high on the hog” as we say.  Yet, soon he was not so “high on the hog” but living with the hogs.  The Bible says, (Luke 15:14-16)

¹⁴ After he had spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he had nothing.  ¹⁵ Then he went to work for one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs.  ¹⁶ He longed to eat his fill from the carob pods  the pigs were eating, but no one would give him any. 

That’s the way sin works – you go from living “high on the hog” to living “with the hogs.” A beloved evangelist once said, “Sin will always take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to spend.” Sin will ALWAYS disappoint you and steal your joy!

So, I’m no Scrooge!  I’m not going to leave you without a remedy for your sin.  I’m not going to leave you in despair.  NO!  I HAVE GOOD NEWS OF GREAT JOY.  CHRISTMAS IS ABOUT THE BIRTH OF THE SAVIOR! We see this again and again in the Christmas story.

This brings me to the most important question of the day—or of eternity really. 

3.  How do I get “joy,” or if you are a Christian, get it back? (vv 7-14)

Again, I can answer that question with simply one word.  It is a little bit longer than the word sin, but even more powerful.  The word is FORGIVENESS.

Do you want real joy in your life?  The kind of joy the angels sang about.  There’s just one place to find it – in the forgiveness of God. Read along with me verse 7 (and the verses following):

⁷ Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

All his life David had watched the priest sprinkle blood upon people who had been cured of leprosy or had touched a dead body—two of the most grievous, destructive situations in Jewish life.  The branch of the hyssop plant was the instrument of forgiveness and restoration.  It was God’s foreshadowing illustration of the Messiah’s final and complete blood sacrifice for sin provided by Jesus on the cross.

To have your joy restored requires a “U-Turn.”  In Biblical terms that means, “repentance.”  Joy comes when we acknowledge our sin and resolutely with great intensity, turn from it. 

That’s why I say, “One does not discover joy on anything found UNDER a tree, but joy is found in surrendering to the One ON the tree.  Christmas is all about a Savior, the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

Forgiveness restores what sin destroyed.

The story is told of a little boy visiting his grandparent in the country. 

The little boy had brought along his new slingshot to practice shooting in the woods.  On the way out into the woods for a practice session, the little boy spied Grandma’s pet duck.  Overcome by impulse the little boy put a stone in the slingshot and let it fly.  The stone hit its mark and the duck fell dead on the spot.  The boy realized what he had done and panicked.  Quickly he hid the duck in the woodpile.  As he was covering up the evidence of his deed, he noticed his older sister watching. Sally had seen it all, but she said nothing – at the time.  After lunch the children were setting with the grandparents eating lunch. When lunch was over, Grandma said, “Sally, let’s do the dishes.” Sally, glanced at her brother and said, “Johnny told me he wanted to do the dishes tonight” as she mouthed the words to her brother: “Remember the duck.” So, Johnny did the dishes. Later, Grandpa asked if the kids would like to go fishing. They both responded with enthusiastic acceptance to the idea. But Grandmas said, “I need Sally to help me make supper.” Sally smiled and said, “That’s all taken care of, Grandma.  Johnny wants to help get supper ready tonight” as she mouthed the words to her brother: “remember the duck.” So, Sally went fishing and Johnny stayed to help get supper ready.  This process went on for several days. Sally did what she wanted and Johnny did the chores for both of them.  Finally Johnny was so miserable he went to his Grandma and confessed, everything.  Grandma said, “I know what you did.  I saw the whole thing from the kitchen window. I forgave you when you did it. I wondered how long you would let Sally make a slave of you before you confessed.”

Sin makes us its slave and steals our joy, until we allow God’s forgiveness to break it’s hold over our lives.  The only remedy for sin’s misery is God’s forgiveness.  

When this truth really takes hold of your life, you will experience “joy.”  Not a weeklong joy.  Not a monthlong joy.  But an eternity-long joy.  A joy that lasts.  A joy that maintains.  A joy that sustains.

Do you remember Charlie Brown’s words a few moments ago?  He was not “feeling the joy” of Christmas.  He was forlorn and depressed—as many are throughout the year and especially during Christmas time.  Charlie Brown was the brain-child of a very talented artist named, Charles Shultz.  Charles Shultz had every reason to be happy—not just at Christmas, but all year long.  At one point in the 80’s he was one of the top-ten highest paid entertainers in America.  He was bringing in a personal income of over a million dollars per week.  He built his own ice-hockey facility at his home just north of S.F.

Shultz was fabulously wealthy.  He is the most famous cartoonist to ever dip a pen in ink.  By worldly standards he should have been as joyful as he was wealthy.  Yet, we all know it doesn’t work like that--though most of us think we could make it work if we just had more money. How easily we are deceived or deceive ourselves.

Shultz was not wonderfully joyful, even though he was fabulously wealthy.  His official biographer pointed out the jagged truth that Shultz was a “tortured soul troubled by frequent bouts with depression.”  It seems Charles Shultz shared more with Charlie Brown than just the same first name.

Friends, as we celebrate Christmas we can be full of joy.  That was the promise to the shepherds, and is a promise to each of us:

For, behold, I [bring you good tidings] of great joy (Lk 2:10). 

Perhaps you have never really experienced this “great joy” that comes to those who live in the “favor of God through Jesus Christ.”  If you have never had this joy because you are still bound by the grip of your sin – you can get joy today.

Perhaps you are a believer but you long ago allowed sinful attitudes and sinful actions to annihilate the joy you once had.  If you are a Christian but have lost your joy—you can get it back today.

Joy cannot be found in any package under a tree, but joy is found in surrender to the One ON a tree.