16 December 2018
I. Introduction
-- turn in
Bibles to Acts 16:25-34
Acts 16:25-34 (NIV)
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing
hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.
26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the
foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open,
and everybody's chains came loose.
27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors
open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the
prisoners had escaped.
28 But Paul shouted, "Don't harm yourself! We are
all here!"
29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell
trembling before Paul and Silas.
30 He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what
must I do to be saved?"
31 They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you
will be saved--you and your household."
32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all
the others in his house.
33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and
washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized.
34 The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal
before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God--he
and his whole family.
-- As a
third-century man was anticipating death at the hands of the Romans, he penned
these last words to a friend -- "It's a bad world, an incredibly bad world
-- But I have discovered in the midst of it a quiet and holy people who have
learned a great secret -- They have found a joy which is a thousand times
better than any pleasure of our sinful life -- They are despised and
persecuted, but they care not -- They are masters of their souls -- They have
overcome the world -- These people are the Christians -- and I am one of
them."
[Modified
from: Today In The Word, June, 1988, p. 18.]
-- joy --
joy is one of those elusive elements of life that all of us want -- men and
women have pursued joy in every avenue imaginable -- Some have successfully
found it while others have spent their entire life looking for it -- Perhaps it
would be easier to describe where joy cannot be found:
-- Joy is Not Found in Unbelief --
Voltaire was an infidel of the most pronounced type -- at the end of his life
he wrote: "I wish I had never been born."
-- Joy is
Not Found in Pleasure -- if anyone ever lived a life of pleasure, it was Lord
Byron -- but yet he wrote: "The worm, the canker, and grief are mine
alone."
-- Joy is Not Found in Money -- Jay Gould, the
American millionaire, had plenty of that -- When dying, he said: "I
suppose I am the most miserable man on earth."
-- Joy is
Not Found in Position and Fame -- Lord Beaconsfield enjoyed more than his share
of both -- He wrote: "Youth is a mistake -- manhood a struggle -- old age
a regret."
-- Joy is
Not Found in Military Glory -- Alexander the Great conquered the known world in
his day -- but when he had done so, he wept in his tent in misery as he said,
"There are no more worlds to conquer."
-- Where,
then, is real joy to be found? -- the answer is simple -- just as that
third-century martyr penned to his friend, true joy is found in Christ and
Christ alone.
[Modified
from: The Bible Friend, Turning Point, May, 1993. http://www.eSermons.com]
-- this morning,
we are continuing in our Advent sermon series as we prepare our hearts and
souls to celebrate the coming of Jesus at Christmas -- the first week of Advent
was about Christ as our hope -- last week, we talked about Christ being our way
-- and, this morning, we are going to talk about finding joy through Christ
II. Difference Between Joy and Happiness
-- this
concept of joy is something that we seem to struggle with in the church -- even
though it's mentioned in the Bible almost 250 times, we don't really seem to
understand it -- we tend to get joy confused with happiness -- and, so when we
read in the Bible that we are to be joyful, we interpret that as meaning that
we are to be happy -- but joy and happiness are not the same thing
-- I think
part of our confusion goes back to our school days when we learned about the
Declaration of Independence -- probably the most famous line in that document
says "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,
that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness"
-- and I
think that line -- "the pursuit of happiness" -- more than any other
-- has gotten us confused about the biblical concept of joy -- you know, the
Declaration of Independence is a remarkable document, but it's not a spiritual
text, and it's flat wrong in regards to the pursuit of happiness as being
something that God wanted in our lives
-- no where
in the Bible are we told to pursue happiness -- no where in the Bible are we
promised happiness -- in fact, the word "happy" is not mentioned much
in the Bible at all -- depending on your translation, "happy" only
occurs in the Bible about 26 times
-- what the
Bible does tell us to do is to pursue joy -- and what the Bible promises us if
we follow God is joy in our lives
-- so,
before we go any farther in our study on joy, let's first clarify what the
difference is between joy and happiness and get a good definition of joy to
build on
-- let's
start with happiness -- what is happiness?
--
happiness is the good feeling you get when you are living in favorable
circumstances -- in other words, happiness is based on the things around you --
if everything around you is favorable -- if everything is going your way, then
you're happy
-- I heard
about this man who was driving and wasn't paying much attention to what he was
doing -- he didn't realize the light in front of him had turned red, and he ran
right into the back of the car in front of him -- the door to the car in front
of him opened up, and the driver, a little person, jumped out and ran back to his
window -- the little person said, "I'm not happy" -- and the man replied,
"Well, then, which one are you?" -- at that point, the fight broke
out, and no one was happy
-- that's
the problem with happiness -- you can only be happy if your circumstances are
good
-- another
way to think about it is like this -- happiness is that feeling you get when
everything is going just like you want it -- as Steve Nelson points out, if we
get what we want, the way we want it, when we want it and at the right price,
we are happy
-- so,
happiness is external -- it depends on our circumstances -- it depends on
whether we are getting what we want
-- let me
give you another example -- I read a story about this man in Budapest who went
to his pastor and complained, "Life is unbearable -- there are nine of us
living in one room -- what can I do?" -- the pastor replied, "Take
your goat into the room with you." -- the man was incredulous, but the
pastor insisted -- "Do as I say -- take your goat into the room with you
and come back in one week"
-- a week
later, the man comes back looking more distraught than ever -- "We can't
stand it, " he tells the pastor. "The goat is filthy." -- the
pastor tells him, "Go home and let the goat out and then come back in one
week"
-- one week
later, the man returns and he is just radiant -- he exclaims, "Life is
beautiful -- we enjoy every minute of it now that there's no goat -- only the
nine of us living in one room"
-- this man
was pursuing happiness -- his happiness depended on what was going on around
him at that moment -- originally, he was not happy because there were nine
people living in one room -- then he really got unhappy when the goat was added
-- his
external circumstances determined how he felt -- just removing the goat from
the room made him happy, even though his original circumstances hadn't changed
--
happiness is all about the external -- it's all about your wants and your
wishes -- and if everything is going good, then you're happy -- but if
everything is not going good, then you're unhappy -- that's why you really
can't pursue happiness, because your happiness is dependent on things that you
can't control
-- joy, on
the other hand, is different -- it doesn't depend on what's going on around us
-- it doesn't depend on our circumstances -- joy comes from within -- it is the
peace, contentment, and satisfaction that come from God when we are in a right
relationship with Him -- or, as Ed Young says, joy is the "positive
confidence I feel from knowing and trusting God regardless of the
circumstances"
-- just to
summarize: happiness is external, joy is
internal -- happiness is based on circumstances -- on the things that happen to
you -- joy is based on Christ -- happiness is based on chance, joy is based on
a choice
III. Scripture Lesson (Acts 16:25-34)
-- you can
plainly see the difference between joy and happiness here in this passage in Acts
-- just to remind you of the context, Paul is on his second missionary journey
-- this time he is traveling with Silas, and he has passed through Syria and
Lystra and has made his way to Philippi in the region of Macedonia
-- it was
here that Paul and Silas ran into trouble -- they got harassed by a slave girl
who was possessed by an evil spirit, and when they cast the evil spirit out of
her, they also cast away her ability to tell the future -- since her master had
been making a lot of money from this ability, he got mad and had Paul and Silas
turned over to the officials and thrown into prison
-- Paul and
Silas were stripped and beaten -- they were flogged severely and then put in
the inner cell in the prison with their feet locked down in stocks so they
couldn't even stand up or move
-- you want
to talk about bad situations, this was it -- Paul and Silas' external
circumstances were not good -- in fact, they couldn't hardly get much worse --
the inside of that prison would have been completely dark -- no windows -- no
ventilation -- no toilet -- probably no food and just stale water -- surrounded
by criminals and other prisoners -- just a horrible place to be
-- do you
think Paul and Silas were happy? -- No -- I don't think so -- who could be
happy in that place? -- so, how did they respond to their circumstances? -- how
would you have responded?
-- look
back at verse 25
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing
hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.
-- they
sang -- can you believe that? -- locked up in a Roman prison -- chained
together with their feet bound in stocks -- sitting in total darkness and in
pain from the flogging and the beating that they had just endured -- and
they're singing hymns and praising God
--
regardless of what that old hymn tells us, they didn't sing because they were
happy -- they sang because they were joyful -- they trusted God -- they had
confidence in Him regardless of their circumstances -- in spite of what was
going on around them, they were able to sing because they had made a choice to
believe in God in all situations and all circumstances and they knew that He
was with them, even in the depths of that prison
-- you have
to be a spiritually mature Christian to do what Paul and Silas did -- you have
to reach that point in your life where you realize that what happens here and
now pales in comparison to your eternal life with God
-- joy
leads to contentment -- that is why Paul later wrote in a letter to the people
in Philippi where he was imprisoned, "I have learned to be content
whatever the circumstances. -- I know what it is to be in need, and I know what
it is to have plenty -- I have learned the secret of being content in any and
every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in
want -- I can do everything through him who gives me strength."
-- you can
think of joy as a gauge that determines where you are in your relationship with
God -- it measures your degree of holiness -- your degree of spiritual maturity
-- let me
give you an example -- in your car, there is a relationship between the engine
and the cooling system -- in order for you to go anywhere, the water must be
flowing through the engine to keep it from overheating -- that is the normal
perfect relationship
-- now, in
most cars, there is a temperature gauge on the dash -- this gauge tells you how
the status of the relationship between your engine and the cooling system -- so
long as the relationship is strong and everything is working together, the
temperature gauge stays in the "normal" position
-- but if
the relationship goes wrong -- say you run out of water in your radiator or the
thermostat gets stuck and won't let the water circulate -- then that gauge will
start to move to let you know that something is wrong -- if you don't do
anything about it, your engine may overheat and lock down on you
-- when
that gauge says that you have a problem, you have a choice to make -- you can
either listen to that gauge and stop and fix the problem or you can ignore it
-- well,
joy works the same way in our lives -- when we're in a right relationship with
God, our external circumstances don't matter -- when we are in a right
relationship with God, gratitude and joy well up from within us, causing us to
sing with praise to God for what He has done and giving us the ability to walk
through storms and trials with peace and contentment, knowing that in the end,
everything is going to work out because we have been saved by the mighty right
hand of God
-- joy is
what enabled Paul and Silas to sing and praise God in a Philippian prison
-- look
back at verse 26
26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the
foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and
everybody's chains came loose.
-- joyful
Christians are different -- they think differently -- they act differently --
they react differently
-- joyful
Christians don't let negative thoughts fill their minds -- they don't let the
cares and troubles of this world take away their joy -- they're able to walk
over the troubles and trials and unhappy circumstances just like Jesus walked
on the water -- they stay above it all
-- everyone
in that prison was locked up and chained because of their circumstances -- but,
when Paul and Silas rose above their circumstances -- when they looked at their
situation with eyes of faith rather than eyes of flesh -- the prison walls were
shaken -- the doors sprung open -- and the chains fell away
-- that's
what joy does to you -- it frees you from bondage to your circumstances -- it
frees you to walk with God -- joyful Christians have positive attitudes because
they put their trust in God and not in their situation -- joyful Christians can
even find contentment in a prison cell in Philippi because their sense of
well-being comes from within
-- verse 27
27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors
open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the
prisoners had escaped.
28 But Paul shouted, "Don't harm yourself! We are
all here!"
29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell
trembling before Paul and Silas.
30 He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what
must I do to be saved?"
31 They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you
will be saved--you and your household."
32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all
the others in his house.
33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and
washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized.
34 The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal
before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God--he
and his whole family.
-- joyful
Christians affect those around them -- they honor God with their actions --
they don't let the world affect how they live, but they let Christ live through
them
-- people
can tell when you are filled with joy -- they'll see that in you -- and they'll
be drawn to that sense of peace and confidence and contentment that comes with
the joy of trusting in God
-- when the
walls shook and the doors opened and the chains fell free, the jailer lost hope
-- his circumstances had changed -- he became extremely unhappy and started to
kill himself because he knew his life would be forfeit if the prisoners in his
care escaped
-- but Paul
called out to him and told him that everything was okay -- that no one had left
-- and when the jailer came to them and saw joy and confidence shining out of
their eyes despite their circumstances, he was shaken to his core
-- he fell
trembling before Paul and Silas and asked them what he must do to be saved --
what he had to do to get that same presence of joy that they had in their lives
-- in
verses 33-34, Luke tells us that the jailer believed in God -- that he and his
whole family were baptized -- and that he was filled with the same joy that
Paul and Silas had -- he no longer cared about his circumstances here on earth
-- his affections were now on a higher plane
-- joyful
Christians affect those around them
IV. Closing
-- everyone
here is probably familiar with Mother Teresa -- she was an amazing woman who
spent her whole life in Calcutta, India, ministering to those society had
discarded as useless and worthless -- as part of this ministry, she created a
home for those who were dying and who had no one else to care for them -- this
home was filled with "so much sickness, so much pain, so much suffering,
and so much misery. Death was there as well."
"You
could tell just by looking at the people that almost all of them would be dead
soon -- By the time they reached the home most of them were too sick to recover
-- Mother Teresa didn't create the home to be a hospital -- She created it so
the people who were dying on the streets could have a place to die with
dignity, with peace, and with a feeling of being loved."
-- Joseph
Mazzella wrote about seeing that home that Mother Teresa created -- he said,
"It was this love that so deeply touched me -- The Sisters in the home
radiated it to those they cared for -- In spite of the misery, suffering, and
death this home was a place of joy
--
"The joy and love flowed from God through the hearts and souls of the
Sisters and blessed all those who were there -- the sick and dying knew that
they were loved -- they felt God's love and the love of the Sisters and they
died in peace -- often with the most joyous expressions on their faces."
-- "It
was such a beautiful thing to see and it showed me for the first time that life
really is about the love and joy that we choose and share -- without [love and
joy] life has no meaning, but with [them] life becomes a glorious gift from
God..."
[Source: Story by Joseph J. Mazzella
joecool@wirefire.com on The Sermon Illustrator]
-- joy --
that positive confidence that we feel in knowing and trusting God regardless of
the circumstances of life
-- joy --
that attribute of God that we experience as the Holy Spirit works in us and
through us
-- it only
comes as we walk though trials and troubles and experience God's deliverance --
it only comes as we grow spiritually mature and learn to trust in God in all
situations -- looking to Him for our contentment rather than our own wants and
wishes or the circumstances where we find ourselves
-- joy is a
fruit of the Spirit that comes from abiding in God -- in trusting in God -- in
seeing God at work in all things -- joy is essential for spiritual maturity --
and it is a part of becoming holy in all that we do
-- joy is
what we first found when the news of the angels told us about the baby born in
a manger -- about the Savior who was born in Bethlehem on Christmas Day -- because
of Jesus, we can find joy in every moment
-- this
morning, as we close in prayer, I want to invite you to pray with me for the
ability to see past our circumstances and our trials and troubles to the truth
that lies within
-- let's
pray that we will stop pursuing happiness through the things of this world
-- let's
pray that we will stop letting other things and other people determine our
behavior and our thoughts and our attitudes
-- and,
let's pray that we will start pursuing joy by letting God's presence in our
lives shape us and mold us from the inside out so that we will live holy and
righteous lives through Him
-- let us
pray
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