LOTTIE MOON

At first glance, that seems absolutely insane, doesn’t it? I mean, for us SOIL folk, that seems like some dystopian sci-fi novel, or like something Pixar’s Wall-E was warning us about 15 years ago.

But 15 years ago, did you think you would see everyone sitting around a dinner table, walking through the store, or worse yet driving in the car, with their eyes on a tiny little screen in their hands?

As small town Midwesterners, we’re so quick to judge and say, “That’ll never happen,” when as ambassadors of the Kingdom of God, we should be thinking more along the lines of “If that happens, what is the proper gospel-centered, mission-critical response? How do we use this new tool to reach these people that we may not be able to any other way?”

God may not be calling you specifically to spend your time evangelizing a virtual world… but he has called us to make disciples of the world, and that crowd is the definition of a tribe, a tribe that will be seated at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb one day.

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INTRO

This time of year, people (including us) are looking for comfort. They’re looking for…

  1. HOPE, which only comes when we believe that God is great.
  2. PEACE, which only comes when we believe that God is glorious.
  3. JOY which only comes when we believe that God is good.

JOY, only comes when we believe that God is good.

(1) GOD IS GOOD…

(…all the time)

But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord.

Luke 2:10–11

Last week, what the angels said after this, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among people with whom he is pleased!” And we said we can’t

(2) …SO I CAN LIVE WITH JOY…

I recently heard the story of an elderly widow in Russia who has taken a job cleaning the stairwells of a grim apartment block. Her state pension covers her own needs, but she wants to earn extra money for missionaries working in Mongolia.

What makes someone do that for people and churches she’ll never see in this life? The answer is joy.

When you truly believe that God is altogether good and altogether satisfying, that changes the way you see the world, the way you live in the world.

Joy in the Story

The invitation of the Bible is not to dreary abstinence. It’s a call to find in God that which truly satisfies. It’s believing that we find lasting fulfillment, satisfaction, joy, and identity in knowing God, and nowhere else.

Tim Chester, You Can Change

Then he said to them, “Go and eat what is rich, drink what is sweet, and send portions to those who have nothing prepared, since today is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, because the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

Nehemiah 8:10

That sounds a lot like what we do at Christmas, doesn’t it?

Religion was never designed to make our pleasures less.

Issac Watts, We’re Marching to Zion

(3) …AND I DON’T HAVE TO LOOK ELSEWHERE.

There’s a whole bunch of people looking everywhere else this time of year.

Every longing in us is a version of our longing for God. That longing may be a distorted version of our longing for God, but it’s still a longing for the God we were made to know.

Tim Chester, You Can Change

Fruit of Unbelief in Goodness of God

Woman at the Well

Jesus asks her to fetch her husband, which seems to come completely out of left field—didn’t have anything to do with what they were talking about. And yet it had everything to do with what what Jesus wanted to talk to her about. In fact, it led straight to her heart.

She’s been looking for meaning, satisfaction, and fulfillment in marriage, sex, and intimacy. But they’re like water that leaves her thirsty again. No doubt there was real pleasure. But it didn’t last. It wasn’t the real thing. It left her thirsty.

There was a clear pattern in her life.

What are the patterns in your life? How often do you say “If only…”? What comes after your “if onlies”? When it comes to that area of your life, do you really believe that God is good?

CONCLUSION

The opposite of joy isn’t suffering, it’s indifference, numbness, hopelessness.

I know Christmas can be “the most wonderful time of the year”, it can also be the most painful, most lonely, most triggering.

If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to
your children, how much more will your Father in heaven
give good things to those who ask him.

Matthew 7:11

Every good and perfect gift is from above,
coming down from the Father of lights,
who does not change like shifting shadows.

James 1:17

He did not even spare his own Son but gave him up for
us all. How will he not also with him grant us everything?

Romans 8:32