There can be joy in the midst of struggle, joy despite difficult circumstances.  People in our culture speak of being happy, but they are referring to circumstances in their lives lining up a certain way.  This is not joy.  Joy is much deeper.  Joy comes from inside, not from the outside, as we will see this morning.

Last week, we preached on the struggle that was and is a part of Christmas, and a part of life on earth, and we looked at God’s solution to struggle– to seek, then to know His Word and then to stand upon His Word.  This morning, we are going to look at some of the same passages, but we are looking at the joy which was a part of the first advent of our Lord Jesus, His incarnation to become like a man.  Our theme idea is Joy was a part of the birth and life of Jesus, and is designed to be a part of our lives this Christmas season.

I. Joy in the announcement.

In the initial announcement from Gabriel to Mary, that the favor of the Lord was on her and that she was going to have a child, who would be the Messiah, the Son of God, Mary is confused, even though she knows what the angel is saying to her is a good thing.  You and I would have been confused too.  A short time later, after the initial struggle of telling her parents and Joseph what had happened, Mary goes off to the hill country to visit Elizabeth her relative who is about to have a miracle baby.  As soon as Elizabeth hears the sound of Mary’s voice, John, the baby in her womb, leaps for joy!  No doubt, Elizabeth felt this joy too, but she comments on the response from her baby!  Why was there joy for Elizabeth and joy for her baby, John?  The joy came from within, as released by her faith and by the presence of the Spirit of God.

Notice that the text specifically states that Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.  Joy is one of the results of being filled with the Spirit.  Joy is one of the fruits of having and knowing the Holy Spirit.  Joy happens when we are filled up with the Spirit.  Do you want more joy?  Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you up and overflow out of you.  Tell the Lord you want more of Him and less of self. 

Let me remind you that if you know Jesus Christ this morning, the Holy Spirit dwells within you and marks you as one who belongs to Jesus.  But, just because the Holy Spirit now dwells in you to make you a born again believer does not mean that you are filled with the Spirit as this text states.  Each morning after getting ready for my day, I take my coffee into our front room– it is a very small room where we have placed a love seat and piano, and the purpose of this small room is prayer– one of the requests I make daily, in fact many times during the day, is to ask for the Spirit of God who dwells within me to fill me and to overflow out of me.  I ask and believe that the Lord will fill the cup of my heart to overflowing with the love of Christ present in the Holy Spirit.  I invite the Spirit of God to have His way in me, submitting my will to His, and believing that it is God’s will to fill me with His Spirit.  The Spirit of God was given to you for many purposes, all of which we cannot talk about this morning– to lead you into truth, to reveal things about God to you, to convict you of sin, to comfort you in grief, to strengthen you in your weakness, to enable you to live out the will of God, to know and then use spiritual gifts, which are the power tools He has given to us for His work.  Ask for the fullness of the Spirit of God, or if you would like, during our response time at the end of the service, allow a couple of elders to pray for you for the fullness of the Spirit’s work in you.

Mary responds to the joy of Elizabeth in a song.  It is hard to know exactly what Mary felt in these days, but she knew that God was doing a great thing and that she had been chosen by her Lord to be a very critical part of what He was doing.  When Mary begins her declaration of praise in Mary’s song, verses 46-48, she is declaring that she will rejoice in the God her Savior.  In other words, her will is involved.  I have been a part of dynamic, powerful worship times, and asked what another person thought and there was no connection with what I experienced.  The other person was so caught up in how they felt or what they wanted that they entirely missed what the Spirit of God was doing in the worship which was taking place!  This has probably happened to me before also, when I was not expecting nor really wanting the Lord to show up and change me.  Joy begins with our will.  When we choose to be joyful in God our Savior, then the experience of joy is very near the surface.  This is why we are able to rejoice in the Lord always, according to Paul in Philippians 4:4.  In every circumstance, whether you evaluate it as ‘good’ or as ‘bad’, you can choose to rejoice in the Lord.  Let me give you a personal testimony about this.  When my eyes are on myself, worrying about something or struggling with something, then I have no joy. 

Several months ago, I needed to confront a person about something he had said, which had hurt me.  For the better part of the day, I was consumed with how I felt– hurt and angry and I had no joy.  I was worried about confronting the person, and didn’t quite know how to respond.  I was trying to pray the next day and the thought came to me, as if out of the blue, but I know the source was the Holy Spirit bringing conviction to me, that I had my eyes in completely the wrong place.  It took a little time, but as I released the hurt to the Lord and chose to forgive the person, repeatedly, whenever the hurt would come to my mind, the Lord enabled me to release the hurt.  As I released more and more of the hurt and placed my eyes more and more on Jesus, the joy of the Lord began to return to me.  I chose to praise Him and to rejoice in His presence and goodness, and in time, my heart was engaged and I experienced the joy I had been choosing to embrace with my will for a time. 

I think Mary knew there would be very hard days ahead for her, but still she chooses to rejoice in God her Savior, as He worked in the midst of difficulty and struggle to give her joy.  When everything is going well for us circumstantially, and we rejoice at the goodness of the Lord, the world looks at us and shrugs, because people in the world interpret this as being happy with your circumstances.  But, when there is struggle and difficulty around you, as we talked about last week, and there is also present, at the same time, the joy of the Lord within you and coming out of your life, that is the time people in the world sit up and take notice.  “Wait a minute, something is happening here which isn’t normal...”  A well know Christian speaker was participating with us in worship before he spoke, when I was leading the service at the last church where I pastored.  After we had worshiped for a season and there was much joy in the sanctuary, he stopped me in the midst of my personal praise as I participated with others in that body, and said, “Wait a minute, what is happening here isn’t normal in my experience in churches in America...There is real joy here!”  I commented back, “It’s normal here!  Enjoy it!”  And we both jumped back into the river of joy which was flowing through that sanctuary.

Joy should be normal for the Christian.  Don’t beat yourself up if it is not– that won’t help you and isn’t biblical.  Choose to rejoice in Him, ask for His presence right where you are.  Then watch to see how God answers!

II. Joy in the birth of Jesus.

Let me read a portion of this story so it is fresh in your memory– Luke 2:6-18.  Mary and Joseph make it to Bethlehem, are led to the stable, the most humble surroundings you can imagine, and the Messiah is born.  At first, no one seems to even know that the Messiah has come, that is until the angelic host shows up.  Shepherds are doing what they did every night, watching the sheep and trying to stay warm.  There doesn’t seem to be much joy or much of anything in their midst before the appearance of the angelic host.  The first angel shows up to announce the Messiah’s birth to these lowly shepherds– “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all peoples...”  Then the company of angels shows up.  It is like the angels can’t hold in their joy any longer, so sing at the top of their angelic lungs about this great event which has just happened.  God’s incredible plan has taken a leap forward after all these centuries!  His Messiah has come to earth!  There was joy in the announcement by the angel, there was joy in their presence and joy in their song.

The shepherds experience this joy coming from heaven and are filled with it themselves.  These shepherds go to see the sight– the cause of all the joy!  When they see Jesus and worship Him, they go off to tell others about what God has done!  Where does the shepherds’ joy originate?  With the angels who came to share the good news, or more accurately, with God Himself.  Joy came to the shepherds in response to the joy which the angels conveyed!  So once again we see this dynamic– joy is present when the presence of God breaks through into the earth, and when people respond to revelation of the character of God.  There is joy in the journey when we obey the Lord and respond to what He is asking from us.  As you think about His character, this fits!  God created each of us to fellowship with the Godhead– Father, Son and Spirit who all enjoy perfect fellowship with one another.  Jesus died so we might be brought into this relationship, into this fellowship of joy.  It is a phenomenal thought, but that is God’s heart, to fellowship with His people.  1 John 1:3‑4 states, “We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.  We write this to make your joy complete.”   Joy comes to us in full measure when we’re in fellowship with the Triune God.  This is what Revelation tells us– “The dwelling place of God is with men!”  He tabernacles over us and with us.  He wipes every tear from our eye.  Every image given speaks of relationship– abiding and delightful relationship with our Lord and with one another.  God has a perfect plan He has designed for us in which we are to walk.  As we listen to Him, get our marching orders from Him and walk out this relationship, this perfect plan He has designed for us, there is much joy in the journey because we are doing what God created for us to do.  This deepens relationship, and so deepens the joy.

III. God’s intent for joy to be a part of our lives.

Joy is God’s idea. It emanates from His very heart.  Joy is the result of a heart inviting Jesus to take up permanent residence inside and believing that God will do this very thing.  You can be walking through much difficulty, and still experience the joy of Jesus.  Look at what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 7:4, “in all our troubles my joy knows no bounds.”  Paul had great difficulty, which he expounds on in this letter to the church at Corinth.  Even in the midst of struggle with them, struggle from the Jews who were trying to kill him and struggle from his own flesh, Paul says his joy knows no bounds!  That is powerful. 

How do you get to that place of delighting in the joy of the Lord in the midst of life’s struggle?  Let me share with you a couple of steps you can make this Christmas season to experience the joy which God intends for you to experience:

1. Joy is all about relationship.  To have growing relationships, you must choose to spend time in them.  So do this. Make right choices about your time.  This afternoon as you head home, declare as Mary did that you are going to rejoice in the Lord, in the midst of every trial you now face!  Choose to set aside time to worship.  If you trust Jesus, trust Him with your time too!  Keep priorities crystal clear.  Worship first, no matter what else happens.  Trust that the Lord will multiply your time.  This is the same principle as with money which the Lord has entrusted to you.  Choose to tithe, even though you cannot figure out a way to do it on paper, and watch to see how God supplies every need, sometimes by the hour.  Trust Him with your time also.  He knows what needs to happen today in your life and is able to make things go much quicker or much more slowly. 

2. Enjoy the small things each day this Christmas season.  Watch for God’s presence in each errand, in each phone call, in each activity.  The key to joy is the presence of God, so invite Him into each activity and each errand, and watch how He shows up!  Sometimes this means changing your perspective or your attitude.  My wife will tell you that I really do not like to shop.  This is true of most guys, right?  If I have to go with her, and have my eye on my watch– can we just hurry up and make a decision!– she does not enjoy our time together and I do not enjoy our time together!  Invite God into the midst of every errand and every activity and choose to enjoy it with Him!