A Promise of Joy

December 12, 1993

Sometimes I wonder, since the Bible tells us that Jesus was born like a light shining into a darkened world, how much darker the world could have been then than it is right now! A hundred years ago optimistic Christians in this country were saying that with just a bit more education we would usher in the Millennium. And yet in this century more people have been killed in wars, and in religious persecution, and in so-called ethnic cleansing than in any other period in recorded history, and perhaps more than in all previous history combined. If ever we needed Messiah's Light, we need it just now!

Jesus has changed this world already. Many millions have found that He is as good as His word. It is impossible to imagine what this world would be today apart from the leavening influence of the Holy Spirit holding back the tides of evil and darkness through the Body of Christ on earth. But unless something like a new challenge to turn to the light is heard and heeded our civilization is headed for anarchy and chaos. I do not need to re-play the evening news; you did not come to church to be depressed. But what this world needs is the message of John the Baptist: Prepare the way for God to come!

I. (John 1:6-8) A MAN WITH A PROMISE

1. He was a strange, mysterious figure, this man they call 'the Baptist.' His looks were odd; he might be called a "mountain man" in our day. His social skills were unorthodox to say the least— he spent most of his time in solitude, or at least with just a few disciples in the desert.

   But this man was sent from God! He was a man! And he was sent! John the Baptist bridged the gap from Old Testament prophet to New Testament evangel. He had a rugged, uncompromising message. He called sin by name. He did not despise the poor; he even gave soldiers (fighting men) hope of salvation.

   John the Baptist was remarkable for his humility. He had disciples, which indicates that people believed in his integrity. But John did not claim more grace than he had. And when Jesus came along John pointed the way to the Light. His testimony was "He must increase! I must decrease!"

   John came for the purpose of proclaiming a PROMISE! "God has spoken," he declared. "One is coming after me who will baptize you with the very Spirit of God!"

2. The church today needs to recover this same message: PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD!

   We are bearers, like the herald angels, of a promise of great JOY! Like John, we may be voices crying in the wilderness. but if we will cry, the message will be heard! Only God knows what would need to take place for us to see one last Great Spiritual Awakening. We may not bring about Millennium. But we can tell the world they may trust God's Promise of GREAT JOY!

II. (Psalm 126) TEARS BEFORE HARVEST

1. A hole where JOY should be

   The world probably does not understand what JOY really is. There is a lot of laughter around, but not too many really happy people. There are many kinds of so-called "entertainment," but not very many people can say they are truly "fulfilled." And whatever JOY might be, there is an extraordinary amount of un-joy around. There are many refreshing exceptions, but a lot of what we are being taught is selfishness, hedonism, nihilism. The popular expression is "Take care of number one!"

   So we have people bruising people. People hurting, and being hurt. Thank God in the Christian community sometimes we remember the admonition, "Bear one anothers' burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ!" But sometimes even we forget!

2. That HOLE is "God-shaped

   The seemingly logical answer to the need for joy is to seek after it. But it is not ever quite that simple. For JOY is not an obvious end in and of itself. That is, if we set out simply to please ourselves we can never quite make the speed that kicks us out of our self-bound orbit. Joy comes as the mighty by-product of delightful relationships! Joy is difficult to define, and there is a mysterious aspect of this "fruit of the Spirit." But we might say that JOY IS AN INNER HARMONY OF POWERFUL SATISFACTION THAT COMES AS A WITNESS TO RIGHT RELATIONSHIPS, AND THE PRIMARY RELATIONSHIP OF ALL IS VERTICAL!

3. (Psalm 126) The Psalm today gives two interesting aspects of this joy.
   1. Surprisingly, the first is not our joy at all, but God's! See it there on the back of your worship folder:

      I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in My people, the sound of weeping and crying will be heard in it no more.

      It is thrilling to me to think that the very heart of God rejoices when we, His children, look to Him with love. It is a source of joy to any child to realize that he or she is bringing pleasure to a parent. [How long has it been since you sincerely took pleasure in your child, and expressed it?]

   2. But the other aspect of joy is the deliberate investment that is demanded if we are to be able to rejoice in God and in His assignment for us.

      Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy carrying sheaves with him.

      If there is no sowing, there will be no harvest of joy. Joy is always the result of having faith in a dream or a vision or a promise— and then investing in that promise:

      the JOY of a game well-played and won the JOY of V-J Day, when a great deal more was at stake the JOY of the last BAPTISM here in this sanctuary, as the candidates testified to DEATH TO SELFISH WAYS and to LIVING WITH AND FOR JESUS CHRIST!

4. (I Thessalonians 5) This is how Paul can urge us (in the epistle (see it there on the back of your worship folder:)

   Be joyful always! Pray continually! Give thanks in all circumstances! This is God's will for you in Christ Jesus!

   We may rejoice for the God who calls us to His holy fellowship is the God who makes us able. We become His new creation!

III. (Isaiah 65) CREATION NOW!

Isaiah 65:17-28 The promise of a new heaven and new earth; the call to rejoice in what God is creating; and His greatest creation is YOU!

The changed nature -"The wolf and the lamb shall graze together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox; and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not do evil or harm in all my holy mountain, says the Lord."

This is a return to the theme of Peace under the Rule of Messiah; the theme of what we sometimes call "The Millennium," as seen in Chapter 11. Prophecy literalists see only a time in the future when these beasts of such different and incompatible instincts get along and "a little child shall lead them."

Certainly this poetic prophecy speaks to us of God's ability to create that which He has promised. A new heavens, a new earth will be remarkable. But the kind of creation spoken of here is beyond belief, apart from the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

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When the shepherds finally came to announce the birth of Messiah, after the silence of centuries their first words were

Behold I bring you glad tidings of great joy which shall be to all people . . . Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men of good will.

There was immediacy in that announcement. At that very time Jesus Christ had come! Immanuel was not just a promise any more, for in the very flesh here was God, bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh, in the manger of the stable of the inn in Bethlehem.

There was also promise of that which was yet to be in that announcement. The angels sang of a joy which shall be to all people. The darkness had not yet been dispelled. The light was shining, small as it seemed. The promise was that the light would never be extinguished, and that in fact it would one day illumine the whole earth.