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"The Joy Reflex" Luke 10:1-21 Ecclesiastes 2:1-11;

by Clancy Nixon

February 4, 2007

Church of the Holy Spirit

Ashburn, Virginia

www.HolySpiritAnglican.org

My father died in December. I wasn't expecting him to go so soon; I expected that

he would live for ten more years anyway. When someone close to you dies, and you miss

them, and you know that they could have had several more good years, it is natural even

for believers to wonder whether things really do always work out for the best. So I have

been personally challenged on what Renny Scott called the Garden Principle - that God

always gives us His best. (Much of this material is borrowed from Scott.) The Garden

Principle is based on the promise in Romans 8:28 and Romans 8:32 that all things work

together for the good of those who love God, to conform us to the image of Christ. Let's

say those 6 words together: "God always gives us his best." In this sermon series on the

Fruit of the Spirit, we're seeking to develop a faith reflex, so that when a crunch comes,

when a trial comes in your life, your first reflex is to remember who your God is, to

remember his character and his love for you, to remember that God has our good in mind

by allowing this seemingly negative circumstance to come into your life. The negative

circumstance is the garden that God uses to grow the fruit of the Holy Spirit in us. When

I asked you a few weeks ago now how many of your would like to develop that faith

reflex, you all said you would. If you and I were to develop that reflex, that would look

like the spiritual fruit of Joy in our lives. With my father's passing, I can honestly say that

God has given me grace to be wholeheartedly thankful over my father's life and even his

death. So I believe that the timing of his death was God's best. As I have looked honestly

at other areas of my life, I admit that my response to negative circumstances is not always

the faith reflex, it is not always the joy reflex. Maybe I am better at dealing with the big

things of life than the little things. I'm praying into that now.

God approaches the subject of joy from a position 180 % removed from the place

where most of us look for joy. God's perspective on the subject is so radically different

from our own. And I think it's the reason that there are so many sad people in the world

today. So many people smile half-hearted smiles with a sense of alienation behind the

smiles. One of the things Ginger and I used to love to do with our boys when they were

little was to sing the song "This is the Day that the Lord has Made" with them. The

second verse, we'd chase them around the room and sing, "These are the boys; these are

the boys that the Lord has made; that the Lord has made; we will rejoice; we will rejoice

and be glad with them..." and we'd catch them and give them a great big hug. What great

memories. But I have heard that same song of joy sung with absolutely no joy

whatsoever. [very slowly] "This is... the day...." We can mouth the words joy and

rejoice, and at the same time completely miss the experience that God wants to minister

in our lives.

God always gives us His best. For God works all things together for good. What

meaning do we give to "His best" or "for good?" What meanings do we give to the words

joy, happiness, and pleasure? Do we allow the world to define those words for us,

through what someone perceptively called "weapons of mass distraction?" (It is not so

hard to believe, is it, that Hollywood movies, video games, internet and magazine culture

are used as weapons by the deceiver of our souls to redefine reality for us?) Or do we

decide to agree with the meanings that God has already given those words in Holy

Scripture - do we use biblical language derived from a biblical worldview? Let's look at

how the world and the Bible define those words differently.

Popular media didn't invent these weapons. Deeply embedded into our collective

national psyche is the utilitarian principle that pleasure defines the good. Philosophers

like John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham said that the good is defined by whatever

brings the greatest happiness or pleasure for the greatest number of people. These

theories of the good helped shape Liberal political theory early in our nation's history.

Jefferson's phrase in the US Declaration of Independence, "Life, liberty and the pursuit

of happiness" was influenced by the same utilitarian school. Now happiness is defined

by Webster as 1. Pleasure without pain. 2. good luck or fortune. Pleasure is defined as

sensual or emotional gratification. Webster defines joy as a glad feeling or delight; great

pleasure; or happiness. So the world sees these three as basically synonyms: pleasure,

happiness and joy. The Christian tradition has long distinguished these three terms, as

C.S. Lewis says that happiness comes from what happens. Happiness is therefore

dependent on circumstances, and that pleasure is similarly a response to outer stimuli.

For the Christian, joy is not produced externally by circumstances, but internally by the

Holy Spirit, not by what is around us, but by who is within us, having renewed our minds

by the washing of His Word.

Look with me at Ecclesiastes, Chapter 2... Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes. That's

where you find it. In the middle of the book, turn right. In your blue Bibles, that's page

658 and 659. Ecclesiastes, chapter 2, verses 1-11. Ecclesiastes was written by King

Solomon, probably the richest and wisest man that's ever lived. If ever there was a man

in a position to pursue pleasure, to explore what joy is all about and to search for

happiness, Solomon was in that position. During an era of almost constant warfare, God

gave Solomon victory and then a long period of peace and prosperity in his Kingdom.

And Solomon set his heart to discover what the meaning of life is, what is good in life,

and how to enjoy life. And it's an extraordinary little testimony that he gives us. In

chapter one verse 14, he has already concluded that life is meaningless, a chasing after

the wind. In chapter one verse eight, he says, "All things are wearisome, more than one

can say." Who says the Bible isn't relevant? This sounds like the complaint of many

teenagers today about the lack of excitement in Loudoun County.

Chapter 2, Verse 1, Solomon says that the pursuit of pleasure turned out to be

meaningless. Verse 2 laughter, verse 3 wine, verse 4 building houses for himself, 5

gardens, 7 slaves, 8 money and even a harem of women. Verse 10, he says he denied

himself nothing that I can believe! - and at the end he said all is vanity, a striving after

the wind and there's nothing to be gained under the sun. Now that's where most people

look for joy and don't find it. We look for it in the pursuit of pleasure. Now you may say

being Christians, that's the world's problem and not ours because we know where to look

for joy. But the Bible says that the human heart is desperately wicked and deceitful above

all things; that includes our hearts as well. There's a subtle deception that creeps into our

life that makes us look in places other than Jesus Christ for joy. Somehow we've sought

happiness by trying to manage our circumstances, rather than seeking joy by allowing

God to manage our inner life and our attitude through submission to Him.

Let me ask you this. When you let your mind wander, where do you go in your

fantasy life... in your thought life? Where do you look for those measures of comfort in

moments of frustration, in moments of difficulty? Where is your hiding place from the

difficulties of the world? Take a few moments of silence to think about that. Write it

down on your bulletin, "My mind tends to wander to ...." [silence]

Are you one of those who imagine, "Well, if only this were happening; if I only

had this opportunity, if I only were in this vacation place, or if I had that relationship or if

I only possessed this particular thing, then I'd be happy. But you see, when it's happiness

you hunger for, and happiness is rooted in happenings that do not happen, you can

become miserable. Whenever you look for happiness through circumstances going your

way, then adverse circumstances can devastate you.

Have you ever been in a place in your particular experience where it's been like

someone's pulled the plug and the water just ran out of your life? I have. I've been a

very happy guy and all of a sudden somebody just said something, and they became

"Captain Bringdown," and all the pleasure just drained out of my being. I began to get in

touch with why that happens, and here it is: it happens whenever when we seek

fulfillment from something less than God. That is a root of idolatry, when we value

something more highly than God. We have an outward ideal of how we would like to

live; what circumstances would make us happy. The crunch comes in your life and mine

when God's inward ideal for your life, to grow spiritual fruit in you through negative

circumstances so you can look like Christ, runs counter to our outward ideal of

pleasurable circumstances. And then you have a clash of two kingdoms, a clash of two

desires, you've got God working in your life to produce an inward ideal and you are

working to produce an outward ideal.

I used to mistake some of what God was doing in my life for the work of the

devil. My outward ideal would become tarnished and I would think that must be the

devil doing that, because I figured that God must want me to look good so that I bring

glory to Him. But much of the time, it was not the devil attacking me, it was God

humbling me so that I would no longer trust in outward things, but instead to trust in him

completely. One way that the devil steals your joy is by empowering you to get what

your sinful nature desires! When you don't want what God wants for your life, the devil

will tempt you to take more of it, have more and more until your life is glutted with

things other than God. You can be so filled up with junk, with the search for happiness,

that there's no possibility of real joy bubbling up from your life.

Renny said that one of the most frightening things he ever heard a man of God

share with him was "Be careful what you want out of life, cause you'll likely get it." The

question of us is, where are your dreams taking you? Are they God's dreams? Or have

you settled for what one poet called the little joys, things like a warm cup of coffee or the

look in your wife's eyes? People lack joy in their lives not because they are Christians

but because they are not Christian enough. C.S. Lewis said we are like kids in the inner

city who are content to make mud pies in the sandlot when the offer of a holiday at the

beach is offered them. Joy, lasting joy is offered us!

After the seventy-two disciples of Jesus returned from their mission and had joy

over their new authority over demons, Jesus told them in Luke 10:20 not to rejoice in

that, but rather to rejoice that their names are written in heaven. Above all else, Jesus

said, we are to rejoice in our salvation. The Psalmist said at Psalm 43:34, "I will go to the

altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight." God is our only source of lasting joy. God

does not change as circumstances do. We can rejoice in our salvation because it is not

about what we do, it's not about our circumstances, it's about what God has already done,

taking my sin and nailing it to the cross along with his son Jesus. All we do is receive by

faith what Christ has done for us. Our joy is linked to the reservations that are made in

our name in heaven. Revelation 13:8 speaks of the Book of Life as the record in which

our names will be written. If you know you are saved, no one can ever take that joy away

from you.

I'd like to ask two groups of people in particular to respond today by coming

forward. First, if you have not yet surrendered 100% of your life over to Christ; if you do

not yet have complete assurance of your salvation; if you're not sure that your name is

written in the Lamb's Book of Life, then let today be the day of joy for you. Today is the

day of salvation. Maybe you are like Solomon, and you've tried everything else, you

have tried seeking pleasure, and that has not brought you joy, and you have come to the

end of yourself. You may fear being judged by your deeds, as in Ecc. 12:14, and well

many should fear that. For all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God. The

good news is that if you trust in Jesus, your salvation will not be judged on the basis of

your deeds, but on your faith alone. Believe in Jesus, trust in him fully, and you will be

saved. That is the reason Jesus came, to give us joy that would never end, a joy that is

not dependent on circumstances, by giving us himself forever. Jesus wants all of you. If

that describes you, please come forward and let me know, and I will pray for you during

the response songs.

The second group of people I'd like to come forward for prayer are those who

have already trusted in Christ, but joy is still far from your life. Perhaps you have been

looking too much to outward circumstances in your life; you may need God's help with

your reflexive response to negative circumstances. For some of you, your reflexive

response is not faith and joy, but rather anxiety, anger, or fear. Maybe your mind has

tended to wander to the things of this world, rather than to the things of God. I believe

that God wants to touch you and empower you to seek first His kingdom and his

righteousness. His promise is that for those who do, all these things will be added to you,

all the things that you need. God meets those who earnestly seek him. If that describes

you, please come forward during the songs and kneel at the altar rail, and our prayer

ministers will pray over you. You can also receive prayer during the communion songs.

Let's pray.