Central Lutheran Church - Elk River
Central Lutheran Church - Elk River
The Joy of Advent with Ben Carruthers
Ever found yourself stuck at the DMV, feeling the seconds tick by with no sign of joy? Let's explore the often overlooked connection between waiting and joy, especially during the Advent season. Sharing personal stories, from the mundane frustration of traffic jams to the deeply emotional anticipation of a child's birth, we navigate the human struggle to find joy in life's pauses. UC Davis behavioral psychologist Alyssa Lerjwood joins us to shed light on our natural inclination towards negativity, even amidst positive outcomes. Together, we'll reflect on what truly brings us joy and identify the hidden culprits stealing it away as we face life's waiting periods.
We also journey into the Gospel of John's depiction of joy—"hara"—as an unshakeable force rooted in God's promises rather than fleeting happiness. Discover how this profound joy can transcend life's wilderness moments, offering solace and strength. With touching anecdotes, like a child's heartbreak over a lost Play-Doh, we'll explore the transformative power of acknowledging emotions and offering comfort. As the Advent season unfolds, we challenge ourselves to become true bringers of joy and truth, being present in both our own and others' moments of sorrow and anticipation. Embrace the spirit of "hara" with us, and learn how to share this gift of joy with the world around you.
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Good morning. My name is Ben Carruthers. I'm the director of student and family ministry here. Great to be with you this morning and worship with you. And for those of you online, thanks for tuning in.
Speaker 1:We are in our sermon series the Gift of Advent, and we've been talking about each one of those Peace, hope, and today is joy, and so we're going to talk about this gift of joy. However, we're in the Advent season, which Pastor Ryan talked about a little bit ago. That Advent means we're in this waiting period. We're waiting for something. We're waiting for the birth of Jesus. We're waiting for our Savior to be born. We're waiting. And then I thought about joy. I thought about waiting and I was like those do not go together. We do not. We're not joyful people when we wait. Check this out. We are not joyful people when we have to go to the DMV. Right, you go there. It's not a bunch of people with smiles and like, hey, how you doing, right, it's kind of a miserable place to go. However, I will say the Monticello DMV is quite good. I don't know what that came from, but it's really well done. But we're not patiently waiting for anything there. How about this one? Yeah, traffic, right, if you pull up in someone's traffic, you normally don't see a lot of smiles, right, we're not joyful waiters. And this one, yeah, the drive-thru line, right. I can't tell you how many times I've been in this position. I'm like how much food did you order? Like, what are you getting? Let's move. Right, there is no joy. How about this one? Yeah, the joy of waiting for Christmas. If you ask any of my kids about how about the joy of waiting, they're like there is no joy in the wait, there's only Christmas morning. Right, the joy of waiting is something that we don't really understand and we're not wired that way.
Speaker 1:When my youngest was born, ezra Arlo, who was born two years before, that was my first experience with a baby being born and he came quick in the world. Man, we got to the hospital within a couple hours. Now, for me it felt quick, right, but it was like boom, boom, boom done. And with Ezra we had an appointment set up at 7.30, right, and I'm still kind of new to this. I'm like all right, so we have an appointment at 7.30. He should be born around 10 30, get a little lunch, you should go, fine.
Speaker 1:And we get there 7 30 in the morning and it was all day of waiting for me. All right, I was waiting all day, all day till like 11 o'clock at night and I'd look over my wife. I was like anything right, I mean like anything waiting we're not great at waiting and then we talk about this idea of joy, the joy in waiting. We're going to talk a lot about this idea of how maybe we're not wired for joy and how there are things of this world and the spiritual world that don't want us to experience this joy.
Speaker 1:But as we go into this scripture passage and as we go into this message today, I want you to think about two things as we do. The first question is what brings you joy? What brings you joy? And the second is what takes your joy away? And I want you to think about those things as we dive into the passage this morning. But first, will you pray with me, heavenly Father, lord, god, we give you thanks and praise for the opportunity to be here, to worship with one another, to be in Advent and to wait the good news of your birth, of you, coming to us. Lord, we pray about this thing called joy and, lord, there are people in this room who don't want to be sitting here and listening to a message about joy because it is nowhere to be found. There are people in this room who are in a place where there's so much hurt and pain they don't even want to feel joy in their life. They want to sit in that pain and the hurt. Lord, I pray that, no matter where we come from today and where our heart is at, that, they become open to receive your word this morning. It's in your name we pray Amen. So joy.
Speaker 1:So there is some pretty interesting studies out there that show that biologically, we are not hardwired to be joyful people Right now. For some of you, this is the point in the sermon. If I was listening to it sit next to my wife and someone just said that she'd look over and be like, right, right. There are people I'm kind of known as like the grumpy old man, get off my lawn type of guy, which I'm okay with, right, but we're not biologically hardwired for joy. There's a behavioral psychologist in the name of Alyssa Lerjwood out of UC Davis and she did this study about behaviors and about negative things in our lives and about our joy, and this is how the study went. She had two groups, group A and group B, right study groups. And in group A she went and told them that you're about to have a medical procedure and there is a 70% chance that the procedure is going to go really well. And their reactions were joyful. That's pretty good, right. So we had a joyful group of people. Then they went to group B and they said there is a 30% chance that this procedure could go wrong. Obviously, their reaction was negative, right, same statistics, just different presentation. But then she went back to group A and said there is a 30% chance that this procedure could go wrong. And they immediately went to the negative, even though they were just at positive. And here, in the same statistics, they went to the negative. And they went back to group B and they said just the opposite but there's a 70% chance that this procedure could go well. And you know what happened? They stayed negative. They stayed negative Because when something negative happens to us, it almost imprints in our life and in our memory, and I'll show you what I mean.
Speaker 1:So this is me, right here. This is me. This is baseline joy, okay. Baseline happiness, that's baseline joy. I have much better hair than that. Hope we have that going there. Okay, this is me at baseline right, this is baseline joy, if you want to call it that way.
Speaker 1:Now, one thing that I feel much joy in my life is this the opportunity to bring God's Word to people, to hopefully bring people closer to the heart of God through His Word. This is something that brings me great joy and I've done it for many years, and for about 15 or so years I've done it and throughout those years you get a compliment. Someone says, man, that word really struck me. Or man, what God used you today, that really struck home with me. It's making me think about it, draw me closer. Those are moments, man, where your joy kind of peaks, like that's awesome, that's what we're praying about, that this is what God would do, and my joy peaks. But then you know, everything happens. Your Sunday continues on, life hits you when you leave the room and even though that was a mountaintop experience, how quickly does the joy fade back to baseline?
Speaker 1:Now, what's interesting about this is, about 15 years ago, very early on in my ministry career, I had the opportunity to give a message and I had done some of them and gotten positive feedback, and on this one in particular, I gave the sermon and probably heard some good feedback from it. But on this one in particular, I gave the sermon and probably heard some good feedback from it. But on Monday morning I went to the office and in our box which is just like kind of our little mailboxes there was a letter in there with my name on it, ben. So I opened it up thinking, oh man, this is probably something. Oh man, your message really spoke to me, or whatever. It was the harshest critique I've ever got in my life, the harshest critique. That was 15 years ago and it just brought me here Because something that I get so much joy in, someone had some negative words to say, and that's all right.
Speaker 1:But 15 years has gone by and in that time, man, I've had some awesome things happen, right, being born I mean not being born, my kids being born, I mean I like being born, I'm not going to lie, that's pretty up here, pretty exciting Getting married you know this job at Central, all this stuff. But I can tell you this Every time I prepare for this, every time I plan to write a message for Wednesday with the students, or on Sunday morning, this comes back to haunt me and one of the things that I get most joy out of, brings me back down because of something that happened 15 years ago, because joy is not easy. We're wired this way. We're wired that these things have a lasting effect. Biologically, we are wired for negativity. The joy is hard.
Speaker 1:Now, beside all that, beside all this biological stuff that's going on, there's this other force out there, the spiritual force that doesn't want you to be happy, that doesn't want you to experience the joy that this life that God has to offer you. The spiritual battle is going on for your joy. John 10.10 says that the enemy comes only to kill, steal and destroy. What better way than to steal your joy out of your life, than to do those three things To take your joy away? To kill, steal and destroy. There is a battle going on and we experience it. We experience it when we look in the mirror and we say we're not pretty enough. We look at it when we look out into the world and we don't have all the coolest toys and the newest things. We experience it all the time when we start to believe the lies about who we are, from the evil of this world and it takes the truth away, the joy away that says that you are sons and daughters of God. The spiritual battle is raging for your joy. The spiritual battle is raging for your joy.
Speaker 1:So so far in a sermon about joy, how joyful you feeling. You're probably like man, this lady back here. She was right. You gotta figure this out, brothers. But that's where this passage comes in. That's where the story that we hear every single year at Christmas comes in. This is where our passage from Luke comes in If we go to the next slide, luke, chapter 2, you heard Arlo read it before.
Speaker 1:Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them and the radiance of the Lord's glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. Don't be afraid. He said I bring you good news, the gospel that will bring you great joy to all people. Now stop there, sarah. So the shepherds are out hanging out in the field. Angel appears to them and he says I've got news for you and the world that is going to bring you great joy. What did they think? That was? Maybe a new shepherd staff, some new sandals, another shepherd to help out? There's lots of sheep out here.
Speaker 1:Because when I read that and when I think, what if someone said, ben, I've got news for you that's going to change your life. I've got news for you that's going to change your life. I've got news for you that's going to bring you so much joy. That's where my mind goes. My mind goes to things like that oh man, maybe I'll have a bigger bank account. Oh man, maybe I'll get a new car. Oh man, maybe this, maybe that. That's where my mind goes, and just so you know, those things aren't bad.
Speaker 1:It's not bad to have these things and our relationships of this life bring us joy. It's completely fine. It's fine if you find joy in the relationships that you have. It's fine that you find joy in some of the stuff of this world. It's fine that you find joy as a grown adult going to Disney World without your kids. It's fine, it it's fine. It's fine, it's completely fine. But it's when those things start to take over, because the angel tells him this is the news. This is where your joy is found.
Speaker 1:Next slide sir the Savior. Yes, the Messiah the Lord has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David. This is what you've been waiting for, this is what your heart has been longing for, whether you know it or not. This is where your joy and the world's joy is found Not in the things of this world, not even in the relationships of this world, because the best, the coolest things, the best, most healthy relationships in this world can be gone like that. And if it's in those things that you find your joy, then your joy is gone. Then your joy is gone. It's in the promise of the Messiah, it's in the promise of Jesus is where we find our joy.
Speaker 1:Now, joy is the word that we're talking about. So sometimes it's pretty cool to dive into a little word, study on that word, right, we're going to nerd out a little bit about it. And so in the New Testament, the New Testament was written in Greek and the Greek word the New Testament, the New Testament was written in Greek and the Greek word now I would probably pronounce that chapa, but that's not it. It's hara. Everyone say hara. That's the Greek word for joy and that's the word that is in this passage where the angel is talking to the shepherds.
Speaker 1:Now, if you dive into the Greek meaning of this word, it means joy, but it doesn't mean joy that you find in relationships of this world. It doesn't mean joy that you find in relationships of this world. It doesn't mean joy that you find in the things of this world. The meaning of this word means the joy that is found in a relationship with God because of the grace of God. That's a big definition for a small word. The joy that is found only in God. That is the gift that is coming to us, that is the gift that we've been waiting for. This joy that is only found in the gift and the promises of God and in the Lord Jesus. Now, the cool thing about a word study is that you look at that word and you're like where else in scripture is this exact word used? Because throughout the New Testament, the word joy is in many places. So you want to find exactly where this hara is used.
Speaker 1:And it's used in this passage from John, where Jesus is speaking to people and the disciples and it goes like this I have loved you, even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father's commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things that you will be filled with my hara. Yes, your hara will overflow Central. This is the good news of the gospel. This is the good news that tells us our joy will overflow, not because of the conditions of this world or the relationships that we have of this world, or the things that we have in this world. Our hara, our joy, overflows because we find it in the gifts and promises of Jesus Christ, the promises that says you will never be alone, the promises that say I forgive you, my grace, my love is abundant and it's enough for you. These are the promises that we have. These are the promises that we have in Christ Jesus, and this is where we find our joy. Now, to give you an idea of how important this is, well, I'll leave me up there for a second Now.
Speaker 1:Joy, as much as the world would tell us, it is not circumstantial. It is not circumstantial. It is not circumstantial. Same thing, same graph Live in life. Live in life Ups and downs, ups and downs. Here, at a point in my life, at a point in your life, maybe you messed up, maybe you messed up and caused some hurt and some pain in your life, in others' lives and man, that kind of thing that really sucks the joy out of life.
Speaker 1:And what's difficult about this is we are putting our joy in our own actions, in what we do. We, a group of sinners who are in need of a Savior, are putting our joy based on what we do and, and when we do that, that stuff sticks with us, we start to believe in the lies of the evil of this world that says this is who you are, central. This is why I think we feel that we are biologically hardwired for negativity, because the world and the evil of this world has come upon us time and time and time again and reminded us of these times in our lives when we have messed up, when we have caused hurt and pain for others, and in our own life, and the world says don't forget it, because this is who you are. This is what it looks like to have your joy taken from you, stolen from you, killed from you. But the good news of the gospel of Christmas, of the gift of Advent, is this is not who we are. The good news of joy of hara is that it doesn't come from us. It can't come from us. It comes only from the grace of God, which means if you are here today and you are walking, maybe in what we call the wilderness and you are feeling maybe this right now. Or maybe you are dealing with hurt and pain of loss of a loved one, where Christmas season brings no joy, and you're walking in the wilderness.
Speaker 1:And I was asked a great question after the first service. This lady asked me what do you mean by the wilderness? That's a great question. What do you mean by that? What I mean by the wilderness is the wilderness is a place, man. The desert is a place where you are out and you don't see an end to anything. The hurt and the pain and the confusion just seems to keep on going and there's no hope and there's no joy in sight and you feel utterly alone. I think that's what the wilderness is.
Speaker 1:If our hurrah was based on anything that we could do, we would just sit there in misery. But our hurrah is not based in that. It's based in the promise of God that says, no matter how long you feel like you're in the desert, no matter what puts you there, that you feel that you are not alone. There is nothing that can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. That's the joy. That's why people can walk through the desert.
Speaker 1:That's why people can walk through the hurt and pain and even when they don't see an end in sight, they can walk through it and still somehow be joyful. Maybe not the joyful that we think about a giant smile on our face and faking that everything's okay, but somehow deep inside of them they have this reassurance, the reassurance that comes only from God, that he is with us, that God sent his son Jesus to die for us because he loves us that much and he's not going to leave us out there alone to live in the hurt and the pain. And then you come through it. Something happened to me in my life where I have had to come through it, and there's been ups and downs, but I'm still on my journey and I can tell you, as I look back through this hurt, through this pain, through these mistakes, this journey has now become a gift, because it's changed me. That's why we can have joy. It's the same joy that, as the Israelites came out of slavery and entered the wilderness for 40 years, scripture tells us that they still had joy in the wilderness. Our hara, our joy comes from God, the grace and the promises that are found in Him Central. Let us be people of hara.
Speaker 1:I want to close with this quick story. Hara is the noun presentation of this word, the noun form of this word, and so, if you dive a little bit deeper, there is a verb form of this word which, from second grade I remember, is an action word, it's a doing word, and so this is the verb form and this is haro. Everyone say haro, haro, haro. This word is translated to rejoice, rejoice. It's the verb form of joy, to rejoice, which to me means that this thing called joy is also an action word, which means we can be bringers of joy Because we know God's promises in our heart, we know the hara and where it comes from, not of the things of this world, but from the gifts and grace and promises of God, and we can be bringers of that. Last night I'll close with this quick story I think I said I'd close twice, so we're gonna go for a hat trick Last night I was going over my message.
Speaker 1:It was pretty late, about 9 30 at night and our youngest, ezra, who was not sleeping at this point, which is not abnormal. He likes to set up his stuffies and read to them until like 9 o'clock at night. But he came out and he was crying and he came over and sat on my lap and I was like what's up, buddy? What's going on? He's like I can't get to sleep. All I can think about are sad things. And I'm like what? Well, what's going on, buddy?
Speaker 1:And you know, every now and then we'll hear a story from how they remember my mother-in-law's dog that died a couple years ago, and sometimes that'll come back up. And that's kind of what I was expecting to hear. And he just sat there crying and he said I remember the time that I dropped my Play-Doh in my pizza and you had to throw my Play-Doh and pizza away. Now he's crying, right, and I'm trying to hold back the laughter. But I thought to myself I'm like this is perfect. I'm closing my message on what it means to be bringers of joy. And here is my kid and, as silly as it seems, his sadness is real to him. His loss of Play-Doh and pizza fantastic combination, by the way it's brought him to this point of sadness and it's taking some joy in life away. And I'm like this is exactly. I need to be a bringer of joy.
Speaker 1:So I sat him down and I said let me tell you about this word hurrah. Right, I didn't do that. Don't do that I had him in my lap and I just told him the truth. I said, buddy, we can get you more Play-Doh. I said, buddy, we'll have pizza again. And then I said, pal, you gotta get to sleep Because when you wake up it's one day closer to Christmas. And he wiped his tears. I walked him to bed and he fell asleep. See, sometimes to be a bringer of joy just means to speak truth. Speak truth. Sometimes a bringer of joy means just to sit in the wilderness with people and don't say anything but Central Lutheran Church. May we be people of hurrah this Christmas season and may we bring people who truly bring joy to the world. Amen.
