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July 26, 2009AM

Luke 1:41-55

Worship Basics – Joy

 

Did you know that as a Christian it is your God-given right to be joyful?

 “But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.”  (John 1:12)

  And as a child of God it is your right to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

   “And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’”  (John 20:22)

    The Holy Spirit is the source of joy.

     The fruit of the Spirit includes joy.

      It is your right through Christ to be joyful.

       Have you been exercising that right?

        Paul says in Romans 15:13, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”

One of the basic outcomes of authentic worship is joy.

 It is not a joy that is experienced because your favourite songs were sung.

  It isn’t a joy that is dependent on seeing friends or good weather.

   Genuine worship ushers us into the moving of the Holy Spirit.

    True worship is that of the Spirit and truth.

     When the Holy Spirit moves He makes our lives fruitful.

      One of the fruit of the Holy Spirit is JOY.

       Galatians 5:22-23 lists the fruit of the Spirit.

“Love, joy, (there it is) peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control”

        That list is all about how we serve.

         It isn’t about services in the church, it is about serving in the world.

          So through the Holy Spirit we serve our world with joy.

           Joy isn’t given to us as a feel-good experience.

            Joy is given to be shared with others.

            It flows out of the Holy Spirit’s indwelling presence.

If you are not experiencing joy today it is a symptom of something else.

 It is evidence that you lack the infilling of the Holy Spirit.

  If you are as sour as a lemon when serving others you need the Holy Spirit.

   Only through the Holy Spirit do we make a joyful noise unto the Lord.

    A lesson from history verifies this truth.

     Between the Old and New Testaments there is a 400 year period in history.

      The last prophet God raised up was most likely the prophet Joel.

       Joel did not have much to say about joy.

        Joy had virtually disappeared out of Israel.

         Joy in the Old Testament found its climax in the Psalms.

          But after the time of David it eventually dried to a trickle.

           Israel’s heart grew far from God and living in His will.

            Joy is all but decimated by the time Joel speaks God’s final OT message.

             Joel’s prophecy begins with “Get in touch with reality and weep”.

             His mention of joy is to say it was withered away.

              If joy was a garden, it had been ravaged by locusts.

Joy disappeared from history for 400 years.

 During that time there was no recorded moving of the Holy Spirit.

  There was no anointing of the Holy Spirit.

   There was no anointed King, Priest or Prophet.

    The voice of God grew still.

     And as a result something else moved in to replace joy.

      Do you want to know what that substitute was and still is?

       Do you want to know what flourishes in a religion of joyless living?

        When there is no moving of the Holy Spirit in life, something else grows.

         For 400 years it had plenty of time to take root.

          During those 400 years Israel remained very religious.

           New groups surfaced to sustain religion.

           But they were embroiled in worship wars.

            These groups were constantly at each other’s throats.

             One faction was the Pharisees.

              They were the good old boys.

               They were the fundamentalists, the old guard.

                They protected the law to keep the people in line.

                 They lived people’s lives for them.

                  The other group that rose to prominence was the Sadducees.

                   The Sadducees were the liberals and spiritual elite.

                    They were the emerging thinkers of the day.

                     They tried to reinterpret the law.

                      They tried to explain everything naturally.

                       If it couldn’t be explained then they rejected it.

                        They rejected the existence of angels.

                        They rejected the notion of resurrection.

                         The Pharisees and Sadducees hated and despised each other.

                        And that hatred continued until Jesus’ ministry.

                         With Jesus they found someone else to hate.

Can’t you just feel the joy?

 In the absence of joy Israel was a nation split over religion.

  They couldn’t agree on how to worship God and study His word.

   Both groups were wrong.

    It doesn’t take 400 years for this to happen.

     It can happen in a matter of weeks and months today.

      It is like a garden left unattended for even a few days.

       Every day I make the rounds of my yard and flower beds.

        And every day I pull out handfuls of weeds.

         Every day it’s the same.

          Weeds immediately move in and choke out the fruit.

           They don’t wait to be invited.

           They just barge in and take over the empty places..

            The fruit becomes decimated.

             Joyless religion becomes a flowerbed of weeds.

              Legalism and liberalism take over.

               And people are hurt and generations are lost.

                It is still happening today.

                 It is still happening right here within these walls.

                  Legalists and liberalists are opposed to Jesus.

What Israel needed was a personal experience of God’s holiness.

 Israel needed a refreshing of God’s holy presence that a law could never give.

  Over and over God has communicated that to us.

   He said to Israel, “You need to be a people of clean hands and pure hearts.

    “You need to be a people who are washed.

     “You need to be a people in whom My Spirit dwells.

      “You need to be a people who are anointed with the Holy Spirit.

       “You need to be a holy people.”

        Instead Israel became a people who argued over every point of the law.

         They had ceased to be a blessing to the world.

          They became a burden on the world.

           The joy of worship had been replaced with endless rituals.

           Life under the control of the religious leaders was intolerable.

            Their religion had become loathsome.

             The cry from man’s heart is for God.

              But the only answer they were given was more law.

               They were bound with more trappings of pomp and ceremony.

                Their focus was totally external.

                 They settled for business as usual.

                  How that must have broken God’s heart.

But then something happened.

 Mary said something that was totally amazing.

  Mary said something that hadn’t been uttered in 400 years.

   Mary had an experience that hadn’t been experienced in centuries.

    “My soul rejoices in God my Savior.”

     How could Mary express such joy?

      She started looking at something besides the external.

       There was nothing going on around her to generate joy.

        She was bound by Roman domination.

         She was living in a critical community.

          How could she experience and express joy?

           She looked within – not around – not above – within.

            And what she saw was Jesus.

            Jesus was at work in her life from His miraculous conception.

             That’s great for Mary, she was pregnant with Jesus.

              Carrying God in flesh was her source of joy.

               But what about us?

You can have the same view of Jesus.

 You can also look within and see Jesus.

  He can dwell within you as fully as He dwelt within Mary those 9 months.

   In fact His dwelling can be more complete within you than He was in Mary.

    He can dwell within you as the crucified and risen Lord – as your Saviour.

     His desire is to dwell within you to transform you.

      Jesus will make you holy, pure, highly favoured by the Sovereign God.

       When you look within, who is seen?

        Do you just see more of yourself and the sin that enslaves?

         There can be no joy with that vision.

          Or, do you see Jesus?

Worship should result in joy because you should be looking at Jesus right now.

 Let’s review the Basics of Worship.

  SCRIPTURE in worship points us to the Living Word – Jesus.

   PRAYER in worship brings us to dependence on Jesus in whose name we pray.

    The joyful noise or PRAISE in worship results from a vision of Jesus.

     Moments of SERVICE in worship draw us into what Jesus is doing.

      The SERMON in worship calls us to respond to Jesus.

       Every aspect of this service has Jesus at its centre.

        Who is at the centre of your life?

         What do you see when you look within?

          Do you see a Pharisee?

           Do you see a Sadducee?

           Are you opposed to Jesus or do you see Jesus?

Mary found the real source of Joy in Jesus.

Her joy resulted in praise to God who “has scattered the proud and haughty ones.

He has brought down princes from their thrones and exalted the humble.

He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away with empty hands.

He has helped his servant Israel and remembered to be merciful.”

Isaiah spoke some very similar words 800 years earlier.

 By the time of the Prophet Isaiah, joy was already in jeopardy.

 People’s hearts were moving away from God.

  They were beginning to look other places for joyful experiences.

   People were already rejecting Him.

“But because the rest of you have forsaken the Lord and have forgotten his Temple, … Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says:

My servants will eat, but you will starve.

My servants will drink, but you will be thirsty.

My servants will rejoice, but you will be sad and ashamed.

    Isaiah’s message was an invitation to return to God.

     God was and is looking for the person that is humble.  (Isa. 66:2)

      God was and is looking for the contrite spirit.  (Isa. 66:2)

       He was and is looking for a people who refuse to just go through the motions.

        He wants a people who have the Spirit of the Lord God upon them (Isa. 61:1)

         He wants a people who serve their world with joy.

          He is looking for people He can anoint to bring good news of His love.

           A people who would find and bind the brokenhearted.

           A people who would open doors and comfort mourners (Isa. 61:1)

            He wanted a people who were His lights in the darkness (Isa. 60:1)

What do you see when you look within?

 If worship is going to be a source of joy for you today you need to see Jesus.

  Jesus, the Holy and Anointed One.

   Jesus who replaces the shallowness of life with the depths of love.

    If that is not who you see, you can.

     Confess the sin that He is revealing.

      Trust in His forgiving love.

       Invite Him to dwell within your life and make you His child.

        Then you will know the joy that flows from a Christ filled life.

 

Closing Song – Holy and Anointed One