Joy

Text: Romans 16:25-27

Focus: Joy

Function: To help us praise the Lord.

Form: Story Telling

Intro:

I had an acquaintance once in the Ministry who did nothing but prison ministry. He was in the employ of Chuck Colson ministries.

And he was in preaching class with me. Now, in preaching class, we all learned the basics, and then we had to experiment on each other.

And, let us call him: “Brother John,” well brother John did his practice sermon as if he were in a prison. And what he decided to do was to re-frame the story of the Good Samaritan.

Instead of a Priest, a Levite and the Good Samaritan, he used a preacher, a worship leader and a gang member. The robbers were members of a gang that represented one race, the victim represented a second race and the hero represented a gang member from another race who, because he knew Jesus, helped out his mortal enemy.

It was a memorable sermon. Very Good. I can almost repeat it. He used all the language, of the time, that one might hear on the mean streets or in the prison. I remember the line, the robbers pulled out their heaters, that used to be slang for gun and drilled the Krypt (the rival gang member) full of holes.

I suppose that he did a great job connecting with his imaginary audience. And that is important, when we were at the last Kairos Weekend, I remember one of the guys at our table saying this, after one of our team members, who had been locked up previously for some sort of violent crime say: “I figured that you were all just a bunch of Sunday School boys coming here to set us straight. But I appreciate that you brought in people who could relate to prison life.”

Anyway, my friend got an “A” on his trial sermon, but there was one thing that really bothered me and the professor.

Every time “Brother John” wanted to stop, catch his breath, collect his thoughts, or segue into another aspect of the sermon, he interjected one of two phrases. They were “glory to God” or “Praise the Lord.”

Now, one might think that there is nothing wrong with that, but the funny thing was in the placement.

For example, he said: “and the guys jumped him and filled him full of holes, glory to God.” And then something like, “and the guy laid bleeding to death on the ground, praise the Lord.” “The preacher had nothing to do with the victim, so he crossed to the other side of the road, glory to God...”

He kept saying “praise the Lord” and “Glory to God” whenever something terrible happened.

Inappropriate.

Yesterday we were locked out of a car, it was freezing cold and we were trying to get a piece of metal on the lock button by wedging the door open a little with a crowbar and running a coat-hanger in it.

I remember muttering under my breath, To God, “Lord, we could use a little help here.”

All of a sudden my son looks inside the car and notices that the passenger door was unlocked. We had tried it earlier, and maybe, once when that metal hit the power lock something did happen.

But my son was quick to say, appropriately: “Praise the Lord.”

Praise the Lord!

In this letter to the Romans, Brother Paul has just laid out what salvation means, he has laid out the mystery of Jesus death and resurrection, he has addressed the question as to whether or not the Jewish people are still God's own people, he has explained how we, the gentiles fit into this mystery. He speaks of sin, atonement, forgiveness, reconciliation with God, living by faith, the power of the Holy Spirit to help us pray, both with our minds and with the Spiritual gift of tongues, if one is so blessed.

A lot is in the book of Romans.

I can image that at the end of the book, Paul is just sitting back and saying to Himself: So what?

And it isn't a mocking “so what?”

No, he realizes that what God has done is an incredible miracle.

He repeats how the Old Testament prophets could not really understand the mystery of knowing God and the way God has redeemed us and brought us back into His own family.

And he gives the appropriate response. Praise the Lord.

PRAISE THE LORD!!!!

It wasn't like my friend who may have been using the name of the Lord in a vain way. No!

He has something to rejoice in.

Jesus' coming is a cause for great joy!

Although these mysteries are clear in Brother Paul's mind. Although scholars pour over his writings and still try to delve into the incredible nature of what he teaches. Although our salvation is spelled out in a beautiful way in the book he has just written. Although he understands the mysteries well enough to write it out clearly for us.

He is still amazed at the wonder of what it meant for all of humanity that Jesus Christ was born!

And his response is simple and wonderful: Praise the Lord!

Listen, brothers and sisters, as Christians, Joy is an important part of our lives.

Sometimes circumstances can get in the way. So, I was reflecting on it this week.

My brother is really sick. He is fighting stage 4 cancer and on top of that, he fell and broke his leg in 3 places and his ankle in 1. He laid on the ice for 45 minutes and had extensive surgery on Thursday to remove necrotic tissue.

I wondered, what does he have to rejoice in? He is going to spend Christmas in a nursing home and he is only 60.

On top of that, he lost his job in 2008, his extended benefits have run out, the business venture he tried didn't pan out and now all he has to go on is his disability.

People could sit back and say there is another person who may be able to say, along with the Great sufferer, Job; “Oh woe is me!”

Yet joy is a common place in the heart and life of a believer.

One could ask, just what does a person who is suffering have to be thankful for? Just what do they have to rejoice in?

Well, brother Paul who wrote these words was no stranger to hardship either.

On 3 occasions they attempted to kill him by stoning him, and somehow he survived.

He spent a day and a night swimming in the ocean until he was rescued.

He was persecuted, placed in chains, arrested, and beaten for his faith on many occasions.

And still, he stops to write these words.

He says: “Praise the Lord!”

He says: “What God has done for us by sending Jesus Christ to this earth is worth everything!”

He remembers to keep his focus, even when he is suffering.

I remember preaching in Haiti during the food embargo in the early 90's. While I was there, the mission compound was broken in to and the guard was murdered by black marketeers who stole the food that we were freely distributing to the poor. They stole it so that they could take advantage of the poor and sell them what we intended to give them for free.

And during that time, we went to a village that was particularly hard hit.

The people, like so many of the world's poor had to walk 3 miles each way to obtain water that was suitable for drinking.

They were desperate. Their children were starving to death.

And at the same time, all of a sudden, after 30+ years of preaching Jesus, over half the village turned away from Voodoo to trust in Jesus.

Although they were desperate, and we were doing all we could to relieve their desperation, as well as preach the good news to them. Although they seemed to be people who had nothing to be thankful for.

We started out the worship service with a song, song in Creole.

And the joy of the Lord fell on to that place.

The translator gave me the words, it went something like this: “When I die, I am going to live again!”

And there was genuine joy in that little church building.

I suppose some may say that it was merely some sort of psychological frenzy brought on by hope, a sense of mutual suffering and a religious experience.

But look again at the text, it says: “God is able to strengthen you according to the Good news (the word is gospel) about Jesus.”

Joy is one of those fruits of the Holy Spirit given to all believers that takes them through even the most desperate of times.

And I think about the transformation that was taking place in that community in Haiti.

While I was preaching, the Voodoo witch doctors had set up stations around the Church and they were attempting some sort of curse against us.

But the inside of that building was just like it was in the book of Acts, Chapter 2 when the Holy Spirit broke out in the midst of the Church and the people were filled with joy and power.

Voodoo has the power to keep people in bondage due to fear. Some of it is real, some of it is imaginary.

But the fear grips the heart.

And Paul tells us that there is something completely different in Jesus. There is freedom. It is good news!

It is not the bad news of fear and bondage that had been keeping those people depressed for generations.

But, as the text says, It is the good news that changes the lives of people, brings them into obedience to Jesus.

We watched that village change.

People started hoping again. People started trying again. And in the effort, some success was made. People in the midst of desperate situations experienced real joy, something to be happy about.

Good news was breaking out among them. Through the connections of the mission board, a Mennonite Missionary team agreed to bring their well drilling rig to the village to give them drinking water. Through the good news of Jesus, they were given living water that bore them up during their suffering.

This was life or death to them.

So. I go back to my brother. One could say “well, at least his children are not starving to death, he should be happy he has health care and 3 square meals a day.”

But that isn't the joy that God is talking about here.

It is the joy the Haitians experienced when they sang that song: “When I die, I will live again.”

Jesus came to set us free. Jesus came to bring us Good News. Jesus came to bring us back into the family of God.

For them, it was freedom from the fear of their voodoo witch doctors.

It was also freedom from the hard toil of walking 3 miles one way to get water.

And more than anything, it was the freedom, the good news, that we can be brought back into the family of God.

And that, is why my own brother has to be thankful for.

His name is written down in the book of Life. He has been restored to the family of God by faith in Jesus.