Rejoice all Children of God

“It seems to me that the theme of the New Testament is one of joy. I’m somewhat disappointed that ministers do not preach on the theme very often. I feel that this is one of the best antidotes for depression.”  These are the words a member of our congregation, Dr. Howard Dewey. He said these words in a dialogue on depression a few months ago. The words hit me like a bolt of lightning. There and then I was determined to preach on the theme of joy at my earliest opportunity. 

I realized the interesting thing is that the word joy has almost disappeared from our vocabulary today. Not so with the New Testament. The Greek word “xapa” is equal to joy and appears 52 times in the testament. The verb “rejoice” is an equivalent to six different words in the New Testament and these words appear 67 times in the New Testament. Why do we not use the word “joy” or “rejoice” today? 

This question fascinates me. Perhaps we can find the answer in the meaning of the word. The American College dictionary says “joy” means an emotion of keen and lively pleasure rising from present or expected good. Exultant satisfaction. Great gladness. 

The Greek word for joy “xapa” is an exultant feeling of joy or gladness brought about by the Holy Spirit resident in one’s life. 

When you ruminate on the meaning of joy, you realize it is the opposite of anxiety. Probably, the reason we do not have joy in our lives is we have anxiety instead. Our anxiety destroys our joy. I’m sure that is why Jesus kept saying over and again, “Don’t be anxious, don’t be anxious.” Anxiety takes all the joy out of life. 

Think of the anxieties that bug us. Like our anxiety about health that makes us hypochondriacs with our many imagined illnesses. Like the anxiety about wealth that takes all the joy out of giving. It is disconcerting to read through the cards of those who did not to participate in the $50M fund. There were two stacks: those who cannot give and those who gave. There were those whose anxiety about wealth was so high they could not find joy of giving. 

Jesus said be not anxious about tomorrow, for your father knows that you have needs for these things and that you have anxiety about self-giving. Some people can give of themselves easily. They never seem to run out of energy.  

But now let’s flip the coin over. What is joy? The parable Jesus present of the hidden treasure is again about the kingdom of heaven as the treasure hidden in the field. The man found the treasure covered up. In joy, he goes and sells all he has to buy the field with the treasure (Matthew 13:44). 

This is a most exciting story. It contains for us the words that centers around the word “hidden treasures.” Think of the many stories centered around buried treasure. We are thrilled by the story of Long John Silver in the Treasure Island. The story Jesus tells is an exciting one about a plowman, who perhaps is a sharecropper of the field. He lives in Palestine where often the land beholds hidden treasures, because of invasions. When the land was invaded, a farmer or rich landowner would bury all they had in the ground for safekeeping, until they returned. Sometimes the person would die in exile and their treasures would remain buried. 

As the plowman was plowing, he would suddenly turn up a hidden treasure. He quietly covered up the treasure and ran and sold all he had and bought the field. Now the treasure was his. With great rejoicing, he dug up the treasure and it became his cherished possession. 

The next parable of Jesus is in a similar vein. “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like the merchant man, seeking goodly pearls, who when he found a pearl of a great price, he went and sold all he had and bought it” (Matthew 13 44:45). This story is about a rich man, a connoisseur of pearls, one day in the marketplace stumbles on a pearl of great value. He goes and sells all he has, and to his great joy, buys the pearl. 

In both cases they found the find of a lifetime and their lives were filled with joy. 

Now why did Jesus tell these parables? They are parables of the “Kingdom of Heaven.” He was saying to his disciples that, “I’m offering you the Kingdom of Heaven.” I am here to offer the life of faith that I am living. Follow me and find the way. You have stumbled onto the richest and most satisfying treasure that life can give. I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly. 

You see the gospel was the treasure. Christ was the supreme joy. Look at the effects of the gospel and early church. Peter was a fisherman, who was a man with a hard, drab job. He was always a man with more than his share anxieties. One day his brother Andrew came to him and said, “Come quick, I’ve found the long-looked for Messiah.” Peter followed his Lord through thick and thin, all the way to Calvary, through the resurrection and Pentecost, and through service ultimately to martyrdom. Listen to him exclaim, “Praise be to the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in his mercy gave us new birth into living hope by the resurrection of Jesus. The inheritance to which we are born is one that nothing can destroy or spoil or whither.” This is the cause for great joy. Even though you smart for a little while, if you need be under trials of many kinds, yet you love him and are trusting of him. You are transported with joy too great for words. 

Let’s take one more biblical example. Paul was so anxious and threatened by Christianity that he not only gave assent to Saint Stephen’s death, he got the commission from the high priest to go down Damascus and wipe out all the Christian church. Then, he met Christ. His life was changed. Now, he is writing from prison to the church at Philippi. What does he say from his own prison cell? “I wish you all joy in the Lord”. Have no anxiety, but in everything make your request known to God in prayer and petition with the thanksgiving. Then, the peace of God, which is beyond our outmost understanding, will keep guard over your hearts and thoughts in Christ Jesus.” From that same prison cell, he writes to the Thessalonians, “Be always joyful.” To the Corinthians he writes, “Things beyond our seeing, things beyond our hearing, things beyond our imagining, all prepared by God for those who love him.” 

What happened to these men? They were plowing the field, when suddenly they turned up a pearl of great price? A hidden treasure, which was the great savior our Lord. They went and sold all they had, threw anxiety to the wind and bought the great treasure. They gave all their lives to Christ.

There was a young man in France, who was a philosopher, musical master, and a medical doctor. He was a great mind walking through the ancient slave market in southern France. He owed a great debt to Christ and to Africa. His name was Albert Schweitzer. Hear his message as he speaks.

“He comes to us as an unknown, without a name, as of old by the lakeside. He came to those men who knew him not. He speaks to us the same word: Follow thou me! And, he sets us to the tasks he must fulfill in our time. He commands. And to those who obey him, whether they are wise or simple, he will reveal himself in the toils, the conflicts, the sufferings which they shall pass through in his followership, and as an ineffable mystery, they shall learn in their own experience who he is. You see the ultimate that anyone can say about the living God is this: I have encountered him: he has reached me: has stood at my door and knocked, and when I open the door he came in and communed with me.”

And when he really comes in, anxiety goes out and joy replaces it. Suddenly we are fused into Gods will and the Kingdom of God is within. We find our “raison d’etre”, our reason for being. With joy we draw water out of the wells of Salvation.

Living Light 

Lift me up oh Lord, into the living light 
Thy radiant presence filling all my soul 
Speak through the gloom, the anguish of the night 
Help me see thee and thy gleaming goal

Darkness descends upon my well-loved land 
Low burn the lights made dim by earth-wide wrong. 
Foundations shake. Men’s rocks are windblown sand. 
Thou only, Lord, art now and always strong. 

Now lifting of thy law, oh Lord, I ask, 
No swift release from consequences of sin. 
Grant me thy mercy Lord and then some task 
to share with thee to bring thy Kingdom in.

And while I serve thee as I may 
Help me to know what gift thou findest best 
Words, earthly goods, the labor of each day 
Myself I give and leave with thee the rest. 

Lift me, O Lord unto thy living light 
Make strong my soul with common steadfast joy. 
Then shall my faltering steps, my clouded sight 
In thee find power that nothing can destroy.