Rejoice In The Lord
Sermon
Something's Coming ... Something Great
Sermons For Advent, Christmas And Epiphany
After a service of ordination to the Christian ministry, a sad-faced woman came up to the newly-ordained pastor and said, "It's a grand thing you are doing as a young man - giving up the joys of life to serve the Lord." That woman's attitude reflects a commonly held belief that to be serious about our faith means that we expect all joy to be taken out of living. For many, Christianity appears to be a depressing faith, with unwelcome disciplines, that cramps our lifestyle and crushes our spirits.
In a recent Doonesbury cartoon, an officer is standing by the bedside of a Navy sailor who is in sick bay aboard a cruiser. The officer says, "We've got you scheduled for surgery at four bells tomorrow! Your surgeon will be Commander Torres." As he leaves the officer says, "Well, take care, sport. I'll see you tonight during rounds." The sailor is puzzled and says to the officer, "What exactly do you do here?" The officer replies, "I'm ship's morale officer." And wide-eyed, the sailor says, "You mean, a ... a chaplain?" And the officer replies, "No. No. I really do cheer people up!"
How sad that this word joy which Isaiah uses so many times in our text for today is so often thought to be the very opposite of faith! What a commentary that is on we Christians who seem to be saints with sour faces - people who talk about rejoicing before the Lord but who give little evidence of that joy in our living. When you turn to the pages of the Bible, you find that word joy or its variants being used more than 350 times in the scriptures. Isaiah speaks here of a new beginning in the history of Israel. The prophet forsees a time of light and peace after the terrible suffering Isaiah has endured in the long and oppressive reign of Tiglath-Pileser.
And when you turn to the New Testament, you find the story of Jesus beginning with the angelic announcement, "Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people." Jesus of Nazareth in his manhood was a joyful person. He took delight in the world about him. He found pleasure in all kinds of people, saints and scoundrels, children and foreigners, scholars and shepherds. Even on the night of his death, Jesus promised those who followed him the gift of joy, and encouraged them all to be of good cheer. When we look at those early Christians described in the Acts of the Apostles, it is their contagious joy which attracts so many to Christ. Clearly, our faith summons people not to a gloomy funeral, but to an exciting festival of life both now and in eternity.
What, then, is the joy that Isaiah says will come upon the people? Often we identify joy as being the same as happiness, and use those two words interchangeably. But happiness is something that occurs on an almost purely human level. In many cases, we can control our own happiness. Charles Schulz, the creator of "Peanuts," says that "Happiness is a warm puppy." My father used to say that "Happiness is simply having three square meals on the table every day." When I was a boy growing up, owning a Jackie Robinson baseball card meant you were the happiest kid in the class. To a teenage girl, happiness is being pursued by three guys at once. To a golfer, happiness is sinking a 25-foot putt. These things all bring pleasure to our lives and as long as we have them, they provide a contentment in our living.
But joy is something much deeper and much more lasting. Unlike happiness, we are not responsible for it. It comes into our lives as the gift of God. Joy is not like the superficial transient gaiety of a New Year's Eve party with its gray unpleasant consequences the morning after. Rather, joy breaks into our lives often in the most unexpected ways. It can be in a moment when love is expressed, when we are suddenly caught up in the unbelievable beauty of our world, or when that which is lost is found. There is the joy that comes in being forgiven when we have been wrong, the joy of being together when we have been separated, and the joy that one feels lingering in the heart, even when tears run down our cheeks.
You see, the joy of which Isaiah speaks is a gift of God. It is like a light shining in the darkness. It is not something we accomplish or achieve, or fashion, or even earn. We find joy as we find a treasure by surprise, or we are found by it as the wind finds the sail of our boat. As Teilhard de Chardin has said, "Joy is the most infallible sign of the presence of God." This remarkable joy has given the people of God in every age a zest and radiance in their living that goes far beyond just being "happy." I will never forget a sermon preached by the great church historian, Roland Bainton, shortly after his wife died. His text was Habakkuk 3:17:
"Though the fig tree does not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines ...
Yet, I will rejoice in the Lord.
I will joy in the God of my salvation."
For Dr. Bainton, and a host of God's people in every age, not even death can take away God's incredible gift of joy. That is clearly the same joy that the prophet Isaiah found in God at a time when there was little apparent joy among his people. Isaiah, in words that we have come to cherish, gives us three significant things about God in which we can rejoice.
1. Rejoice That God Lives
For one thing, we can rejoice that God lives. People in Isaiah's time felt that they had been living in total darkness. Suffering and oppression had dominated their lives. But Isaiah says to them and to us who live in an age of pessimism, "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined." That was Isaiah's poetic way of affirming that God is very much alive and at work in the world. It is so easy for us to forget that in the kind of world that lives each day in the shadow of nuclear, chemical or biological warfare. If our human greed and selfishness don't destroy us, the population explosion and our pollution of the earth surely will. We know what it is to walk in darkness, and that is why we need to hear Isaiah's reminder that God lives.
On the night of May 5, 1863, a public meeting was held in Washington, and Frederick Douglass, the former slave, the great abolitionist orator was speaking. Then, somebody came in the back and whispered to those seated at the rear of the room, the shattering news that the Union Army had been defeated at Chancellorsville - 22,000 men either killed or wounded. Douglass stopped talking, for the audience rustled restlessly as the word spread up the aisles. Finally, someone handed Douglass a note with the message about the defeat. He read it, bowed his head in despair, and didn't know how he could go on. A murmuring panic began to descend over the auditorium until an old black woman in the balcony stood up, and called down to the stage, saying, "Frederick Douglass, God is not dead!"
No one can understand the real meaning of joy so long as we think of the universe as simply an accident, and our lives as sound and fury signifying nothing. But a person in Christ can rejoice even in the fiercest storm that our God lives, and that God will send the light we need in our darkness.
2. Rejoice That God Cares
But Isaiah holds out to his distraught people not only the knowledge that God lives, but the even more important truth that God cares. The prophet speaks of a time when "God will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations." Israel felt like a forgotten people. If God still existed, then God must be asleep, or at best, busy with other things. Like us, those ancient people knew the answer to the old catechism question, "What is the chief end of man?" "The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever." But the way they were living, it seemed as if their chief end was to irritate God and annoy him forever!
Isaiah, however, believed in a God who cares, and who never stops caring even when we turn our backs on God. In ancient Rome, sensitive and cultured people for years had protested in vain the butcheries that took place in the arena. The bloody contests continued until one day, a Christian monk by the name of Telemachius leapt into the ring, and pushing himself between two gladiators, cried out, "In the name of Jesus Christ, stop!" A sword flashed, and the defenseless man fell to the ground. But it must have been the gesture the world was waiting for, because from that day onward, there were no more slaughters for the sake of sport in the city of Rome.
Perhaps this incident is something like what happened in Jesus Christ. The God we believe in is not One who sits passively on some cosmic grandstand, a detached spectator who looks on the suffering of human beings unmoved and uncaring. In Jesus Christ, God came into the arena of our struggles and agonies. It is because God has always been involved in the midst of life that we are called to get involved; it is because God cares so much, even to the point of death on a cross, that we must caringly minister to all for whom Christ died.
3. Rejoice That God's Plan Is Invincible
Finally, we can rejoice according to Isaiah in the assurance that God's plan is invincible. "The rod of the oppressor will be broken as on the day of Midian." A little more than 100 years ago, two faithful native friends entered David Livingstone's tiny hut near the shore of Lake Tanganyika in Africa, and found that great missionary on his knees by his cot in the same position in death as he was frequently in life. They buried his heart in Africa, but carried his body 900 miles to the coast, so that eventually it could be laid to rest in Westminster Abbey. Evidently, Livingstone must have known the end was near. Only the day before, he had written these words in his journal:
"I am a missionary, heart and soul. God had just one Son, and he, too, was a missionary. I have tried to be an imitation of him, though, I fear, a poor one. Looking back, I see few results for my labors, but God called me here, and I place no value on anything I have done except in relation to his kingdom which he is building and in which Jam thankful to have been an apprentice. One day, Africa will belong to God's kingdom."
It now appears that before the end of the 20th century, Africa will lead the world in its commitment to Jesus Christ. In a very real sense, every Christian is called to be a Livingstone. It does not matter what happens to us as long as the eternal work of God goes on. Our own failures and successes become minor, as long as the plan of God is undefeated. We rejoice that through life, there runs a purpose which decrees that every Calvary has its Easter, and every winter its resurgent spring. We rejoice that this corruptible will be put on incorruption, and that this mortal will put on immortality.
Isaiah was right: "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light." Rejoice that God lives, that God cares, and that God's plan is invincible. Rejoice in the Lord!
In a recent Doonesbury cartoon, an officer is standing by the bedside of a Navy sailor who is in sick bay aboard a cruiser. The officer says, "We've got you scheduled for surgery at four bells tomorrow! Your surgeon will be Commander Torres." As he leaves the officer says, "Well, take care, sport. I'll see you tonight during rounds." The sailor is puzzled and says to the officer, "What exactly do you do here?" The officer replies, "I'm ship's morale officer." And wide-eyed, the sailor says, "You mean, a ... a chaplain?" And the officer replies, "No. No. I really do cheer people up!"
How sad that this word joy which Isaiah uses so many times in our text for today is so often thought to be the very opposite of faith! What a commentary that is on we Christians who seem to be saints with sour faces - people who talk about rejoicing before the Lord but who give little evidence of that joy in our living. When you turn to the pages of the Bible, you find that word joy or its variants being used more than 350 times in the scriptures. Isaiah speaks here of a new beginning in the history of Israel. The prophet forsees a time of light and peace after the terrible suffering Isaiah has endured in the long and oppressive reign of Tiglath-Pileser.
And when you turn to the New Testament, you find the story of Jesus beginning with the angelic announcement, "Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people." Jesus of Nazareth in his manhood was a joyful person. He took delight in the world about him. He found pleasure in all kinds of people, saints and scoundrels, children and foreigners, scholars and shepherds. Even on the night of his death, Jesus promised those who followed him the gift of joy, and encouraged them all to be of good cheer. When we look at those early Christians described in the Acts of the Apostles, it is their contagious joy which attracts so many to Christ. Clearly, our faith summons people not to a gloomy funeral, but to an exciting festival of life both now and in eternity.
What, then, is the joy that Isaiah says will come upon the people? Often we identify joy as being the same as happiness, and use those two words interchangeably. But happiness is something that occurs on an almost purely human level. In many cases, we can control our own happiness. Charles Schulz, the creator of "Peanuts," says that "Happiness is a warm puppy." My father used to say that "Happiness is simply having three square meals on the table every day." When I was a boy growing up, owning a Jackie Robinson baseball card meant you were the happiest kid in the class. To a teenage girl, happiness is being pursued by three guys at once. To a golfer, happiness is sinking a 25-foot putt. These things all bring pleasure to our lives and as long as we have them, they provide a contentment in our living.
But joy is something much deeper and much more lasting. Unlike happiness, we are not responsible for it. It comes into our lives as the gift of God. Joy is not like the superficial transient gaiety of a New Year's Eve party with its gray unpleasant consequences the morning after. Rather, joy breaks into our lives often in the most unexpected ways. It can be in a moment when love is expressed, when we are suddenly caught up in the unbelievable beauty of our world, or when that which is lost is found. There is the joy that comes in being forgiven when we have been wrong, the joy of being together when we have been separated, and the joy that one feels lingering in the heart, even when tears run down our cheeks.
You see, the joy of which Isaiah speaks is a gift of God. It is like a light shining in the darkness. It is not something we accomplish or achieve, or fashion, or even earn. We find joy as we find a treasure by surprise, or we are found by it as the wind finds the sail of our boat. As Teilhard de Chardin has said, "Joy is the most infallible sign of the presence of God." This remarkable joy has given the people of God in every age a zest and radiance in their living that goes far beyond just being "happy." I will never forget a sermon preached by the great church historian, Roland Bainton, shortly after his wife died. His text was Habakkuk 3:17:
"Though the fig tree does not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines ...
Yet, I will rejoice in the Lord.
I will joy in the God of my salvation."
For Dr. Bainton, and a host of God's people in every age, not even death can take away God's incredible gift of joy. That is clearly the same joy that the prophet Isaiah found in God at a time when there was little apparent joy among his people. Isaiah, in words that we have come to cherish, gives us three significant things about God in which we can rejoice.
1. Rejoice That God Lives
For one thing, we can rejoice that God lives. People in Isaiah's time felt that they had been living in total darkness. Suffering and oppression had dominated their lives. But Isaiah says to them and to us who live in an age of pessimism, "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined." That was Isaiah's poetic way of affirming that God is very much alive and at work in the world. It is so easy for us to forget that in the kind of world that lives each day in the shadow of nuclear, chemical or biological warfare. If our human greed and selfishness don't destroy us, the population explosion and our pollution of the earth surely will. We know what it is to walk in darkness, and that is why we need to hear Isaiah's reminder that God lives.
On the night of May 5, 1863, a public meeting was held in Washington, and Frederick Douglass, the former slave, the great abolitionist orator was speaking. Then, somebody came in the back and whispered to those seated at the rear of the room, the shattering news that the Union Army had been defeated at Chancellorsville - 22,000 men either killed or wounded. Douglass stopped talking, for the audience rustled restlessly as the word spread up the aisles. Finally, someone handed Douglass a note with the message about the defeat. He read it, bowed his head in despair, and didn't know how he could go on. A murmuring panic began to descend over the auditorium until an old black woman in the balcony stood up, and called down to the stage, saying, "Frederick Douglass, God is not dead!"
No one can understand the real meaning of joy so long as we think of the universe as simply an accident, and our lives as sound and fury signifying nothing. But a person in Christ can rejoice even in the fiercest storm that our God lives, and that God will send the light we need in our darkness.
2. Rejoice That God Cares
But Isaiah holds out to his distraught people not only the knowledge that God lives, but the even more important truth that God cares. The prophet speaks of a time when "God will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations." Israel felt like a forgotten people. If God still existed, then God must be asleep, or at best, busy with other things. Like us, those ancient people knew the answer to the old catechism question, "What is the chief end of man?" "The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever." But the way they were living, it seemed as if their chief end was to irritate God and annoy him forever!
Isaiah, however, believed in a God who cares, and who never stops caring even when we turn our backs on God. In ancient Rome, sensitive and cultured people for years had protested in vain the butcheries that took place in the arena. The bloody contests continued until one day, a Christian monk by the name of Telemachius leapt into the ring, and pushing himself between two gladiators, cried out, "In the name of Jesus Christ, stop!" A sword flashed, and the defenseless man fell to the ground. But it must have been the gesture the world was waiting for, because from that day onward, there were no more slaughters for the sake of sport in the city of Rome.
Perhaps this incident is something like what happened in Jesus Christ. The God we believe in is not One who sits passively on some cosmic grandstand, a detached spectator who looks on the suffering of human beings unmoved and uncaring. In Jesus Christ, God came into the arena of our struggles and agonies. It is because God has always been involved in the midst of life that we are called to get involved; it is because God cares so much, even to the point of death on a cross, that we must caringly minister to all for whom Christ died.
3. Rejoice That God's Plan Is Invincible
Finally, we can rejoice according to Isaiah in the assurance that God's plan is invincible. "The rod of the oppressor will be broken as on the day of Midian." A little more than 100 years ago, two faithful native friends entered David Livingstone's tiny hut near the shore of Lake Tanganyika in Africa, and found that great missionary on his knees by his cot in the same position in death as he was frequently in life. They buried his heart in Africa, but carried his body 900 miles to the coast, so that eventually it could be laid to rest in Westminster Abbey. Evidently, Livingstone must have known the end was near. Only the day before, he had written these words in his journal:
"I am a missionary, heart and soul. God had just one Son, and he, too, was a missionary. I have tried to be an imitation of him, though, I fear, a poor one. Looking back, I see few results for my labors, but God called me here, and I place no value on anything I have done except in relation to his kingdom which he is building and in which Jam thankful to have been an apprentice. One day, Africa will belong to God's kingdom."
It now appears that before the end of the 20th century, Africa will lead the world in its commitment to Jesus Christ. In a very real sense, every Christian is called to be a Livingstone. It does not matter what happens to us as long as the eternal work of God goes on. Our own failures and successes become minor, as long as the plan of God is undefeated. We rejoice that through life, there runs a purpose which decrees that every Calvary has its Easter, and every winter its resurgent spring. We rejoice that this corruptible will be put on incorruption, and that this mortal will put on immortality.
Isaiah was right: "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light." Rejoice that God lives, that God cares, and that God's plan is invincible. Rejoice in the Lord!
