Joy Restored

Advent Week 3 – JOY

By Holly Steiner, pastor, Tree of Life Church

Luke 2:6-12

6 While they were there (Bethlehem), the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

 8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joyfor all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Joy Restored

By Holly Steiner

It is clear in scripture that Jesus was sent by the father to restore joy, the kind from heaven, to His people.

I think joy is one of the most misunderstood words. Is it a feeling or emotion? A state of being? Most people think it just means happy. Let’s try to accurately define what the joy Jesus talks about is. 

Merriam Webster dictionary defines joy as “the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires.” To me, this sounds like a worldly definition of joy. I think God has something much deeper in mind.

Theopedia, an encyclopedia of Biblical Christianity, describes the joy in the Bible more accurately as “a state of mind and an orientation of the heart. It is a settled state of contentment, confidence, and hope.”

Rick Warren adds his own definition, which I like: “Joy is the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life, the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is going to be alright, and the determined choice to praise God in every situation.”

Joy is a fruit of the spirit, as found in Galatians 5:22. We don’t manifest fruits of the spirt in our lives by trying hard enough. We can only access the fruit by being aligned with Christ and IN the Spirit. For me, this looks like surrender to Jesus, the opposite of striving.  If I am stressed out because my life is not in alignment with Christ and in the Spirit, I can try to have joy. I can watch funny videos or choose to smile at my family member, or refrain from saying something ugly that is in my heart. This may bring me temporary joy, but it is not a fruit of the Spirit. It is my own, which is not in and of itself bad, it’s just not lasting, nor deep.  

Isaiah 55:12 says “For you will go out with joy and be led forth with peace; the mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.”

If you read all of Isaiah 55, you find that this joy is the result of coming to the Lord, drinking His drink, eating his food, listening to Him, seeking Him, calling on Him, forsaking your own ways and your own thoughts, and turning to the Lord.

We learned from Brene Brown, in Greenhouse, that you cannot pick and choose which emotions you want to feel.  If you are numb to pain, you will not be able to fully feel joy. In my experience, the purest joy comes out of being completely present in all your emotions, and it usually comes out of having felt pain deeply and yet having still abided in Jesus through it all. 

I think about Mary, the mother of Jesus, and all that she went through. I think of the pain that she had to have endured in being pregnant out of wedlock, laboring on a donkey, giving birth in a manger, fleeing to Egypt to save her baby’s life, losing him in the temple. The list goes on until his torturous death, which she witnessed. 

Just pause and ponder.

She had to stay surrendered to God through it all. I wish there was more written from her words in the Bible. I’d like to get a glimpse of her joy that she experienced as a result of her surrendered life. One place we get a glimpse is when she is pregnant, and she goes to visit Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, her baby “leapt for joy and she was filled with the Holy Spirit” (Luke 1:41) Mary’s response to this is the following song, and my favorite version of this is in the Passion Translation:

My soul is ecstatic, overflowing with praises to God! 
My spirit bursts with joy over my life-giving God! 
For he set his tender gaze upon me, his lowly servant girl. And from here on, everyone will know that I have been favored and blessed.
The Mighty One has worked a mighty miracle for me; holy is his name!
Mercy kisses all who fear him, from one generation to the next. 
Mighty power flows from him to scatter all those who walk in pride.
Powerful princes he tears from their thrones and he lifts up the lowly to take their place.
Those who hunger for him will always be filled, but the smug and self-satisfied he will send away empty.
Because he can never forget to show mercy, he has helped his chosen servant, Israel, keeping his promises to Abraham and to his descendants forever.  --Luke 1:46-55 TPT

Let’s Pray:

Lord, may we experience your joy as we surrender our control to you, the Lord of our lives. Thank you for sending your Son, to live and die for us, to restore true, spiritual joy–that deep, abiding, blessed assurance. Amen