Pastor’s Ponderings
“Joy”
Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.”
Is there anything better than joy? Scripture is full of great statements like the one delivered to the shepherds by the angels, but ironically the word does not occur in the first eight books of the Bible and only two times in the first twelve books of the Bible.
Some of the great “joy” verses include; Nehemiah 8:10, “the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Psalm 16:11, “in thy presence is fulness of joy.” Psalm 30:5, “weeping may endure for the night, but joy cometh in the morning.” Psalm 51:12, “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation.” Psalm 126:5, “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.” Isaiah 35:10, “And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and singing shall flee away.”
I could easily list 30 more familiar verses. In addition to the angels’ proclamation of joy, we find the wise men “rejoiced with exceeding great joy” (Matthew 2:10) when they saw the star that led them the Jesus.
But several times Scripture mixes joy with difficulty. We have already seen this in Psalm 30:5 and 126:5. “How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality” (2 Corinthians). “and ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost” (1 Thessalonians 1:6). Probably the greatest example of the mixture of joy and affliction occurred on the cross, for Jesus “endured the cross, despising the shame” because of “the joy that was set before him” (Hebrews 12:2).
Why am I talking about joy mixed with sorrow? Because that is a great description of 2020. But we must focus not on lockdowns but the Lord; not on sorrow but the Savior; not on bitterness but a baby; not on elections but on elation as we remember that first Christmas night in which “the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14).
As my wife explains in her article, this will be the most unusual Thanksgiving and Christmas season we have ever experienced. Who know, I might have Christmas dinner at Denny’s this year!
But I will always have the joy of the Lord! Our joy should not depend on circumstances but on certainty. I am certain Jesus Christ is Lord! I am certain He died for my sins and rose from the grave! I am certain I’ve got a home in heaven awaiting me! Praise God for His joy on this earth, and the joy we will experience forever!
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Our 78th church anniversary is scheduled for December 6. Though we will not have any elaborate celebrations (we’ve cancelled so many this year) we will still celebrate those who courageously met on December 7, 1942, to establish the Calvary Baptist Church of Cleburne, TX. That evening I will give a concert that I originally planned for my anniversary (but I got sick).
The next Sunday will be Memorial Sunday as we remember loved ones who passed on to heaven this year. It has been especially difficult as we have seen sparsely attended funerals that would have been packed out other years. You still have time to get a name to my wife by Wednesday, Dec 9, along with the year of birth and year of death.
This will sound like a rerun, but our Christmas at Calvary celebration on December 20 will be very low key. We will still observe the Lord’s Supper that Sunday evening. The following two weeks we will only have a 10:30 Sunday morning service with no Sunday school or evening services. Also we will have no Wednesday services on Dec 23 or 30.
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A little humor to close out my column!
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I have asked from the beginning for you to pray for me and my family in five areas. Thank you for doing so, and please continue to plead with God that I would have:
1) Courage
2) Wisdom
3) Strength
4) Victory
5) Vision