Joy
In case you were unaware, we are well into the Christmas season. There are only a couple more weeks before Christmas, and youâre beginning to see it everywhere you go. People are in the Christmas spirit. Everyone seems to have a smile on their face, and all over the place people are sharing Christmas stories.
I read one this week, and who knows how true any of them are, but I found it quite moving. It was around Christmas time and a young girl became sick. The story didnât give a timeframe of when this took place, but it must have been quite a while ago, because, as the story goes, she was carried to the hospital. While in the hospital, since it was near Christmas, she heard the story of how Jesus came to earth as a baby in order to save us.
One day, while still in the hospital, she whispered to the nurse, âIâm having real good times here, ever such good times. I suppose Iâll have to go away from here as soon as I get well, but Iâll take the good times along with me, some of them anyhow. Did you know about Jesus being born?â âYes,â replied the nurse, âI know. Now donât talk anymore. You need your rest.â
The girl replied, âYou did? I thought you looked as if you didnât, so I was going to tell you.â
The nurse was curious about the girlâs words, and forgetting that she has just told her to stop talking asked her, âWhy? How did I look?â
The little girl responded, âOh, just like most of the other folks, kind of glum. I shouldnât think that youâd ever look glum if you knew about Jesus being born.â
We lit the candle of joy in our advent wreath this week, and I want to take some time to look at this idea of joy. In our advent reading (Luke 2:7-15) we read about the angels coming to the shepherds in the fields and proclaiming the birth of Jesus, the messiah. They spoke how the birth of Jesus would be âgood news that will cause great joy for all the peopleâ (Luke 2:10).
Each Sunday this advent season Iâve tried to focus on each of the candles in advent. Each candle represents something, a theme for the week, so Iâve tried to narrow in on that theme and explore what it means. The first week we looked at what it means to hope. Last week as we lit the candle of peace and preparation and looked at what it means for us to prepare for the coming of Christ. This week we lit the candle of joy.
Last week in church we sang the song âJoy to the World.â After Iâd already set the wheels in motion to sing that song last week and I began working on the message for this week, I began to think to myself, maybe it wasnât the best idea to use âJoy to the Worldâ to speak about preparing when âjoyâ was coming up the following week. However, even if weâd sung that song in church this week, it doesnât tell us what joy is. Just as the angel said to the shepherds, it tells us that Jesus is our reason for joy, but it doesnât go too deeply into what joy is.
Iâve always heard it said growing up that joy and happiness are two different things. Iâve heard sermon after sermon that tells us that even in difficult times when weâre not happy, we can still rejoice and be joyful. However, being the healthy skeptic that I am, I had to find this for myself, and when you want to understand a word, the first place you turn to is the dictionary. Unfortunately this wasnât all that helpful because the dictionary defined joy as âa feeling of great pleasure and happiness.â That kind of blows the whole idea out of the water of joy and happiness being different. If joy is the feeling of happiness, how can the two be different?
As I dug deeper into this, I came to the realization that many times in the english language we have two words that mean the same thing. However, when we stop to look at the words, while theyâre very similar, they do have slightly different meanings. If I told you of a church that I visited and told you that their sanctuary was big, youâd get a picture in your mind of the size of that church. However, if I told you that the sanctuary was huge, while the word is similar, that mental picture would change. Now, if I told you that the sanctuary was gigantic, that would be a completely different picture altogether. So, just because the words have similar meaning doesnât mean theyâre the same thing. The fact that we have two different words here indicates that there is enough of a distinction that it warranted a different word.
The same is true in the biblical languages of Greek and Hebrew, and in both of those languages the words translated as joy and happy are two different words, and while the bible doesnât come with itâs own dictionary, although some people have tried to make some, we can typically discover the meaning of words by looking at how theyâre used and the context in which theyâre used.
Kay Warren, the wife of famed pastor Rick Warren, published a book a few years ago titled, âChoose Joy: Because Happiness Isnât Enough,â and in that book she looks at the difference between these two words. She has taken time to go through scripture and look at all the different ways that the word joy is used. In so doing, she came up with this definition of joy, âJoy 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.â
After reading this definition, I couldnât help but notice how drastically different it was from that given by the dictionary. Notice that Kay Warrenâs definition said absolutely nothing about happiness. As she goes on to explain, and as I read from numerous other authors, happiness is dependent upon our circumstances. When things go well, weâre happy. When we get that promotion, when we get married, when our child is born, these are days that we say we are happy. If you think back, any day that you would label happy, maybe even the happiest day of your life, are not days when everything went wrong. They are days that things were going well. They were days when situations and events fell perfectly in place and you were able to declare that you were happy.
However, while happiness is dependant upon external circumstances, youâll notice from Ms. Warrenâs definition, joy has a completely different source. While happiness is external, joy is internal. It is the assurance of God, the quiet confidence that he is in control. That right there is the main difference between joy and happiness. This is how the scriptures can command us to rejoice in the Lord always. Itâs not telling us, âhave a feeling of happiness at all times.â Thatâs impossible. Instead itâs saying to have this assurance that God is in control. Instead itâs this confidence that everything is going to be alright. When the angels told the shepherds that Jesus would cause great joy for all the people, they were telling them that Jesus would bring with him that assurance, that confidence that God was still in control. This is the biblical definition of joy.
Given that definition, youâd think that this would all be settled. We have our definitions of both joy and happiness, but there was still a nagging question in the back of my mind. If this is the definition of joy, why is it that the dictionaries are so far off? Why is it that they essentially define joy and happiness in the same way? As I pondered this I began to think of the biblical definition of joy. I began to think about this assurance that I have that God is in control of everything, this confidence that he will work things out. No matter what happens; through the darkest times we can imagine, God is still in control. When you lose your job, your child is sick, or your spouse decides that they donât want to be there anymore. When youâre going through times when you have no reason in the world to be happy, you still have that reassurance that God is still in control, and if youâre like me, when that thought comes to mind, you canât help it, itâs the natural thing that happens, a smile comes across your face. In spite of the terrible things that are going on around you, joy brings a smile to your face.
You see, I think this is why the dictionaries have it wrong. When you eliminate God from the definition, you eliminate that reassurance that we have, and when you look at it from the outside without knowing the source, that smile that comes to your face is easily mistaken as joy rather than the result of joy. The happiness that joy brings is not joy, but if you havenât experienced true joy, all you have to go on is the result that you see in the lives of other people. When you see other people with a smile on their face despite the trials that theyâre facing, all you can see is happiness.
âI bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord (Luke 2:10).â Because he came, we have the joy, the reassurance and confidence that God is in control. Even our own failings were not too much for God. In spite of all the pain and heartache in the world, in spite of all the sin and depravity, God is still in control.
This advent season, we have been given the best possible reason in the world to rejoice. We have been given the gift of eternal life! Though hard times may come our way, though we face trials of many kinds, let us remember that our joy is not dependent upon our circumstances. Happiness may be a result of our experiences, but our joy comes from the reassurance that God is in control.
As we draw nearer to Christmas, I want to encourage you to dwell on that reassurance. Let it fill your life and overflow. Donât give up your joy because of things going on around you. When the Christmas party doesnât go as planned, when the kids are bouncing off the walls because grandma and grandpa gave them too much sugar, remember that God is still in control, and let that joy bring a smile to your face.