Joy

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0:00 Okay, we're looking at these Advent Week themes. We've done Hope, Peace. This is the third theme and it's on joy. And so we found this passage in Nehemiah, chapter 8 starting at verse 9. It says, And Nehemiah, who was the governor and Ezra, the priest, and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people, said to all the people, This day is holy to the Lord your God, do not mourn or weep. For all the people wept as they heard the words of the law.

0:32 And then he said to them, Go your way. Eat the fat and drink the sweet wine. Send portions to anyone who has nothing ready for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved. For the joy of the Lord is your strength. So the Levites calmed all the people saying, Be quiet. For this day is holy, do not be grieved. And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing because they had understood the words that were declared to them.

1:07 I'm here with Carol Forrest and Brian Carlson, maybe heard of him. I like the way they think about the Bible. And before we get you guys thinking, just context to remind you, like at this point in the story of Israel, they've come back from Babylonian captivity. They've rebuilt the walls. They rebuilt the temple. And then they hear the word of the Lord. And it's all this law about who they're supposed to be. And that's why they're weeping. And Ezra and Nehemiah remind

1:37 the people of Israel in that moment that their strength is not in their own capability to live up to the law, but in their Lord who welcomes them anyway. And so they have this joy in the Lord that is their strength. It comes from him, not from their own accomplishments. What does that make you guys think of for this Advent season? That would be hard.

2:07 Just like gotten through all this stuff. You're welding. You're like, we're going to party. And then it's like, hey, guess what? Here's all the... Here's the addendum. I actually just now was thinking how it's... I kind of... I wonder if it was hard for Nehemiah and Ezra and the Levites, because it says they all three said to all the people. Which makes me wonder did they all get together and we're like, this is rough.

2:38 What do we do? It's not... I liked it they did it together, but they figured out that the joy of the Lord together, they were in community and they... Because I think that it's... Yeah, it can kind of take that community to have joy in hard circumstances. And I think it's interesting that they... Maybe the loss of they had to do it together, but maybe they got together out of the need to understand it. And I think you probably need more... More minds to understand joy in the mix of hardship

3:12 and more hearts to carry out that joy. Totally. Yeah, I like the persistence, the importance of joy. Go and do this and give to everyone. It doesn't have it so that we can all be joyful together. Like... Yeah. It's crazy to think how important that is. Like that they set it aside as this is something we're going to be. We're going to be joyful because God is worth... He gives us this gift of joy.

3:42 When I was on internship, I had this friend who got diagnosed with fatal disease and I was sitting with him. He had this... He got diagnosed with a Luke Gehrig's disease. And he was at the stage where he couldn't lift his arms above his shoulders and so he needed help eating. And I was sitting there feeding him. And he was communicating to me that he... I asked him how I was doing. And he said remarkably, he wasn't despondent.

4:15 He wasn't despairing. But had moments of joy yet as family came to see him. And almost like he was asking, is it okay for me to be joyful even though this time is so sad? And now it's reminding him that for people of faith, joy comes down as this gift to us from God. It doesn't emerge from our accomplishments, capabilities, or circumstances. It can, but it's not as full as when it comes as this gift. And then it's strong.

4:46 It can stand up to Luke Gehrig's. It can stand up to the sufferings and the hardships and the failures. We can have joy in the midst of heart things. One, two, thinking about the history of the people of Israel. They've had a lot of community issues to work through. So like setting a new set of rules, the people are probably like, Oh, we're not going to do it. We can't do it. They're crying, grieving. And they say, No, no.

5:16 Today we celebrate. We can do it. We can do it. We have joy. You have the joy of the Lord. Share with each other. Be community. And we'll go from there. I like that. Yeah. It's a good advent theme. Yeah.