Third Sunday of Advent: Joy as a Sign of God's Presence with Us

 Third Sunday of Advent: Joy

Isa 61.1-4, 8-11

Psa 126

1 Thess 5.16-24

John 1.6-8, 19-28

Prayer of Invocation

Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and forever. Amen.

Prayer of Illumination

Father, enable us to embrace the true life in the midst of this false life. Restore unto us the joy of our salvation, for your glory and for the life of the world. 

PROCLAMATION

Advent calls for joy. (“Joy to the world, the Lord is come. Let earth receive her king!”) But it is also a time to reflect upon joy--true, abiding, God-generated, God-oriented joy. 

What is true joy? Where does it come from? What is the object of our joy?

Paul, in his first letter to the Thessalonians, urges his fellow followers of Jesus Christ to “rejoice always” (5.16). And he urges this in the context of Advent, while we patiently “wait for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (5.23), in between His first and His second Advent. 

This is not the only time Paul mentions joy in his correspondence to churches that he has planted. Joy is called for more frequently in Paul’s letters than any other body of literature in the New Testament. 

But why? How are we supposed to “rejoice always”--especially in the world we live in today, in the world as it presently is? How can we “rejoice always” when the whole world is in the middle of a pandemic, when the world is plagued  by disease, famine, war, slavery, racism, relational disintegration, anxiety, despair, and oppression? Is the call to “rejoice always” a call to be tone-deaf to the suffering that is going on in our world? Is the call to “rejoice always”  a call to pretend like things are ok? Are we supposed to ignore our own pain and sorrow, as well as  that of others? Is this a call to push all the pain and hurt down? How can we rejoice when others are suffering from sickness, famished, oppressed, devastated with relational discord or isolation, harassed with anxiety, weighed down by depression, and numbed by sorrow? 

Paul calls us to “rejoice always” first and foremost because this is God’s will for us--to be filled with joy (5.18). For this Jesus came, that our joy might be complete;  that we might come to enjoy the love that He enjoys from the Father (John 17.26). But we are also called to “rejoice always” because the fundamental object of our joy, and the primary cause of our joy is here with us: Immanuel. God, in Christ and by the Spirit, is  in our midst! And by the Spirit, we can enjoy the firstfruits of His coming. 

This is the reason that Paul often adds the phrase “in the Lord” when urging us to rejoice (e.g. Phil 3.1; 4.4; 1 Thess 3.9). Even when someone or something is cause for our joy (connecting with an old friend, enjoying your family, seeing a beautiful sunset), it is a joy that is “in the Lord”, that is,  from and because of the Lord’s generosity and provision. 

But how can we “rejoice always”? To rejoice “in the Lord”  always, is a call  to pay attention to the fact that God is with us and is working in our midst. “Aslan is on the move.”  To “rejoice always” is to pay attention to this reality, that God, by His Spirit,  is in our midst establishing peace and giving us what we need to be with Him and to join with Him in His work of making all things right. This is what Advent is about. We remember Immanuel, God is with us! 

This is why Paul couples his command to “rejoice always” with the charge to “pray without ceasing” (5.17), and to “give thanks in all circumstances”. Joy, you see,  is the result of actively attending to God’s presence and work in our lives, actively paying attention to the gifts that God gives us for our delight (gratitude). But we must work at this because the patterns of this world, the powers and principalities of this world, and our own sin seek to direct our attention elsewhere. They distract us from seeing what is here before us. So, prayer is breaking through the clutter by paying attention to God’s presence in our lives; giving thanks to God, is renouncing our feelings of entitlement and instead acknowledging and expressing our gratitude for the many gifts that we have been given in spite of ourselves as we fellowship with God and His people. What do we have that has not been given to us?

In this regard, joy is a sign, perhaps the sign,  of a community that has become the dwelling place of God. And this is what Advent announces. God is with us. In spite of our sin, rebellion, brokenness, and transgressions, God has determined to make His home with us, for our good and for the life of the world. 

And why is joy a sign of God’s presence in our midst? Because, as we have seen in our first two Sundays in Advent, God’s presence is His faithful pledge to bring righteousness and peace to this world. This is what our Old Testament reading declares to us this morning, Isaiah 61. God’s anointed, Jesus Christ, has come to bring Good News to those who are in sorrow, to those who suffer, to those who are oppressed--to the poor, the brokenhearted, the captive, those who mourn (Isa 61.1-3). This anointed one brings righteousness--that is, justice and restoration. He builds up the ruins, and repairs the generational devastations of sin (Isa 61.3-4). We “rejoice in the Lord” because He has clothed us with garments of salvation, he has covered us with righteousness (61.10). That is to say that the coming of the anointed one puts things to right. For this reason, Isaiah reminds us that “the Lord God will cause righteous and praise” (61.11).

Our Psalm points us to this as well: the theme of joy and gladness permeates Psalm 126. And what is the occasion for joy, what is the cause for joy? Restoration from the Lord (Psa 126.1,4).  It brings joy, gladness, laughter (Psa 126.2,3,5,6). 

We see this most clearly in the birth, life, death, ascension, and pending return of Jesus; God is making all things right. He is restoring all things. He is reconciling those who have been alienated from His life; He is healing relational discord; He is entering into our pain, suffering, and sorrow and  bringing forth justice and righteousness for those who have been oppressed, healing for those who are sick and brokenhearted. As Paul states in Romans 14.7--joy is a result of the kingdom of God--the rule and reign of God that brings about righteousness, a righteousness that brings peace--peace with others, and peace with creation as a whole. God’s kingdom is His presence which brings relational wholeness, shalom (or peace). 

And this peace which produces joy starts with the people of God, the church, the community that has a foretaste of God’s glory through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. As Paul says, the Spirit is a deposit, or a downpayment, on what is to come (Eph 1.14). One of the ways that we “quench the Spirit” (1 Thess 5.19) is by failing to attend to the witness of the Spirit in our lives, the testimony of the Spirit that says “You belong to me. You are my child. Your home is with me. I am making all things new, making this place a fitting home for my dwelling.” 

But thinking about joy in the context of Advent is to remember that this true life that has entered into our world through Jesus and by the Spirit, this life of righteousness, peace, and joy, is lived now in the midst of the false life. That is to say that this world, in some important ways, is not fitting for a complete life of joy. The conditions under which we live between the two advents of Christ are not ideal for a life of joy. Why? As long as people continue to be alienated from God’s life and cut off from their only source of enduring hope,  there will be disorder, corruption, disharmony, and death--in other words, there will continue to be injustice, oppression, pain, sorrow, and anger as long as rebellion exists! In this regard, we can both rejoice and lament--these are not mutually exclusive. 

In the midst of our “rejoicing always” we can, and must also ask Why, Lord? Or, Why not, Lord? Or When, Lord? Or, Where are you, Lord? Lament is honesty before God. It is a way of expressing that we still trust in God and that we seek His justice, righteousness, peace, and joy. Rather than turn away from God in the face of pain, sorrow, injustice, oppression, and hurt, rather than move to despair and isolation--in faith, in lament we move towards the God who is with us and who promises to restore all things. 

Life as we patiently wait for the final coming of the Lord (1 Thess 5.23), is not only a life of joy. It is also a life of sorrow, anger, and suffering. But it is so because we know that this false life is not what will always be.  We “rejoice always” because our true source of joy is always with us. We know and have experienced that true life only comes from sharing life with God and His people. For this reason, we see the world as it actually is and not just as we wish it would be. We live in the real world; we can feel the pain of the world, we can see oppression and the devastating effects of sin and rebellion. So, while we are called to rejoice always, this does not mean that we must pretend that there are not things in this world that should cause us grief, anger, and sorrow. To rejoice always is not to turn a deaf ear to the cries of our world. 

But the amazing and transformative truth of Advent reminds us that even in this darkness, light has appeared! We see the light at the end of the tunnel, if you will. In 1 Thessalonians 5.4-5, Paul says it like this: “But you are not in darkness, brothers and sisters...For you are all children of the light”.  This was the testimony of John the Baptist, as we read in the Gospel of John. “He came to bear witness about the light” (John 1.8). The true light, which gives light to everyone was coming into the world” (John 1.9). Jesus is our light in the midst of darkness--in the midst of corruption, evil, oppression, pain, sorrow, and suffering. 

Joy, then, is a sign that darkness cannot and has not overcome the light. Joy is a sign of the light dawning, of the world being enlightened by the presence of God, who is with us and is working all things for His glory and our good. Joy in our midst is our way of subversively resisting the powers and principalities of this world that seek to destroy us and alienate us from the God of life. Joy is the way that we resist and reject the false life, the condition that we find ourselves in now. Perhaps nothing angers the Enemy more than our joy. For nothing more purely bears witness to God’s presence and work among us than joy, delight! 

So Advent is a time to resist, to rebel against the patterns of this world that are seeking to lead us to despair--by rejoicing in the Lord. But full joy only comes with the advent of God’s righteousness and concomitant peace. So our joy, in this inbetween time, will always come with mourning over the fact that our island of peace that we enjoy has yet to be fully consummated, yet to be fully integrated into the whole of the world. 

But in Christ, and by the Spirit, we know this world will be made whole. Righteousness will dwell with no rivals. Peace will be the characteristic of this new age that is dawning. For now, then, our lives might look foolish and weak. For now our joy might be mixed with suffering, pain, and sorrow. But that is only because we know that the world is not yet as it will be, as it should be. And we know this because of the witness of the Spirit. And we become aware of this when we pray--paying attention to God’s presence and work in our lives, and when we give thanks--recognizing the many gifts of God for our delight and flourishing. In the meantime, we test all things and hold fast to what is good (1 Thess 5.21). Our joy enables us to resist every form of evil (1 Thess 5.22). And as we cooperate with the work of the Spirit in our lives, we become sanctified--set apart, made holy, made a dwelling place for God in our spirit, soul, and body (1 Thess 5.23). 

Reflection/Discussion Questions

1. How do prayer and thanksgiving enable us to “rejoice always”?

2. During this Advent season, how might you do more to cultivate a life of prayer and thanksgiving? 

3. What needs restoring in your own life as you wait for the Lord’s return?

4. How does the joy of the Lord equip you to enter into the pain, sorrow, and sufferings of others?

5. How can you join with God as He works in our midst to restore all things?  

In the midst of this false life, these  unfitting conditions of this “in-between” life that we live, this life of darkness, we know that the one who has called us is faithful, and that He will keep us blameless (1 Thess 5.23-24) so that we can join Him in His work of restoration. This is the source of our joy. This is how we bear witness to the truth of Advent, how we declare with our affections that “Jesus is Lord”. We rejoice always. And we rejoice, in part, by giving thanks…

Eucharist

For God is with us. He is for us. He is at work, restoring all things. And this Table reminds us that death, our chief enemy, has been destroyed. Our one and only hope in this false life, is the truth of the resurrection, which is why this Table is good. We celebrate the ultimate gift of life--fellowship with God--enabled by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 

Benediction

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.