{"id":3844,"date":"2024-12-22T22:36:04","date_gmt":"2024-12-22T22:36:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gchristopherscruggs.com\/?p=3844"},"modified":"2024-12-22T22:36:04","modified_gmt":"2024-12-22T22:36:04","slug":"unconquerable-joy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gchristopherscruggs.com\/?p=3844","title":{"rendered":"Unconquerable Joy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>When I was a child, our family always attended the midnight Christmas Eve service at our church in Missouri. Our duty was to arrive around 10:30, light the luminarias, and help prepare the sanctuary for the service. The service was scheduled to end at midnight, with the final song being \u201cJoy to the World.\u201d As a pastor for 25 years, I led midnight communion services on Christmas Eve, once again, always timed so that shortly after midnight, we sang \u201cJoy to the World\u201d as a congregation. This week, our mediation is on Joy.<\/p>\n

Christian Joy<\/strong><\/p>\n

Several years ago, I began underlining \u201cjoy \u201c in my Bible in orange. How often the word appears in the Old and New Testaments is incredible. In secular life, joy can be defined as an emotion evoked by well-being, success, good fortune<\/em>, or the prospect of possessing what one desires. From a biblical perspective, the meaning is more profound. In the Bible, joy is always connected with God’s presence and favor.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Joy involves the presence of God. Jesus is \u201cGod with us,\u201d and the Spirit of Christ today is God with us. This is why in Galatians<\/u> we read, \u201c<\/strong>The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy<\/u>, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control\u201d<\/strong> (Gal. 5:22-23). Christian joy is not a human feeling; it is a divine gift.<\/p>\n

Joy in the Old Testament<\/strong><\/p>\n

The prophets often compare the current situation of Israel with the joy it will experience when God sends his salvation on the land. In Isaiah, especially, the theme of divine joy is explored. For example, when God sends his salvation,<\/p>\n

The desert\u00a0and the parched land will be glad;<\/strong> the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus,\u00a0<\/sup>it will burst into bloom, rejoice greatly<\/u>, and shout for joy<\/u>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2026<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>Strengthen the feeble hands,<\/strong> steady the knees\u00a0that give way; say\u00a0to those with fearful hearts, \u201cBe strong, do not fear; your God will come,<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>he will come with vengeance;<\/strong> with divine retribution,<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>he will come to save\u00a0you.\u201d Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf\u00a0unstopped.<\/strong>Then will the lame\u00a0leap like a deer, and the mute tongue\u00a0shout for joy<\/u>. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams\u00a0in the desert<\/strong> (Isaiah 34:1-6).<\/p>\n

The coming of the savior of God\u2019s people is a cause for joy\u2014a divine, not human, joy. This is a joy in which the oppressed, the sick, the emotionally wounded, the elderly, and all those denied justice and peace will find a joy frequently missing in our fallen and broken world.<\/p>\n

Joy in the New Testament<\/strong><\/p>\n

If in the Old Testament, joy is a gift of God showing his favor to his people, in the New Testament, another feature is added: it is a joy that withstands difficult circumstances. The author of Hebrews<\/u> puts it this way:<\/p>\n

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and\u00a0sin which clings so closely, and\u00a0let us run\u00a0with endurance the race that is\u00a0set before us,<\/strong> looking to Jesus, the founder, and perfecter of our faith,\u00a0who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising\u00a0the shame, and\u00a0is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. <\/strong>(Heb 12:1-2).<\/p>\n

The joy Christ gives is a joy that overcomes suffering and trouble\u2014even enduring a cross and defeating its suffering and shame.<\/p>\n

On the night before he was crucified, Jesus promised his disciples a wholeness that was utterly different from what the world could give (John 14:27). In James, the author puts it this way:<\/p>\n

Count it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you meet all kinds of trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. Let steadfastness have its full impact so that you may be perfect, lacking in nothing<\/strong> (James 1:2-4).<\/p>\n

In other words, the trials and testings of this life can and will be overcome in Christ\u2014and are a source of a more profound joy than mere physical, emotional, or mental well-being.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>This Christmas Eve, I will not be leading a worship service. I am now retired. Likely, I will not even attend a service at midnight because of circumstances beyond our control. Nevertheless, we will sing or remember the words of Isaac Watt\u2019s carol:<\/p>\n

Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let Earth receive her King! Let every heart prepare Him room, and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and heaven and nature sing.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Joy to the world, the Savior reigns. Let men their songs employ while fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains repeat the sounding joy repeat the sounding joy, repeat, repeat the sounding joy.<\/strong><\/p>\n

He rules the world with truth and grace, and makes the nations prove the glories of His righteousness, and wonders of His love, and wonders of His love, and wonders, wonders, of His love.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Amen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I was a child, our family always attended the midnight Christmas Eve service at our church in Missouri. Our duty was to arrive around 10:30, light the luminarias, and help prepare the sanctuary for the service. The service was scheduled to end at midnight, with the final song being \u201cJoy to the World.\u201d As … Continue reading Unconquerable Joy<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4CzBH-100","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gchristopherscruggs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gchristopherscruggs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gchristopherscruggs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gchristopherscruggs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gchristopherscruggs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3844"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/gchristopherscruggs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3844\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3849,"href":"https:\/\/gchristopherscruggs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3844\/revisions\/3849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gchristopherscruggs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gchristopherscruggs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gchristopherscruggs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}