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Advent - Joy | Pastor Kami Palmer | Faith Church · Faith Church Podcast

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All right, today is joy, and you'll notice on
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our joy banner, our focus is on the magi, the
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joy of the magi. And I've just been enjoying
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their part of this story in the Bible, because
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their story is a story of worship. Their story
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is a story of joy. And so we read it at the beginning
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as Carter was lighting our Advent candle. But
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they were a group of people that were traveling,
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weren't they? They were travelers. And that's
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who we are. We are pilgrimage people. And so
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when I'm walking in the woods, I like to walk
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where there's trees and woods. And I usually,
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in those moments, I don't like to listen to things.
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I don't like to listen to podcasts or even music.
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I like it quiet and silent. I think it resets
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my brain and my spirit. But I've discovered every
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once in a while. The Walking Song. Who were the
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pre -Hobbit people? Who were they called? I know
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you all don't know. You're not a nerdy bunch,
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and Rachel's not here. She's my only other, like,
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real Lord of the Rings nerd. And so the people
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before they became Hobbits that settled, they
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were a wandering people. Harfoots. Thank you.
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Thank you, Charlene. And they were like a nomadic
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people. And so whenever they were, oh, there
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she is, Rachel. We're just talking about the
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rings of power. Whenever they were traveling,
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they would have walking songs that they would
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sing. And so one day I was walking through the
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woods, and I just had it in me, I need to listen
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to this wandering song. And so I began to play
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it. It was actually the Sunday that I took off
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and said, I'm leaving you all and I'm going for
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a hike in the woods. And I began to listen to
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this song as I was hiking through the woods and
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just felt the presence of the Lord. And it just
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simply says, I trade all I've known for the unknown
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ahead. Call to me, call to me, lands far away.
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If I had a voice, I would sing it for you. Of
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drink I have little, in food I have less. My
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strength tells me no, but the path demands yes.
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My legs are so short and the way is so long.
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I've no rest nor comfort, nor comfort but song.
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Sing to me, sing to me lands far away. Oh, rise
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up and guide me this wandering day. My friend,
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we have a land far away calling to us here today.
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We are a pilgrimage people. This is not our final
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home. There is a land that calls to us today.
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There is a path that we are on that demands our
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yes. And as I was listening to that, it was just
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resonating. My eternal home, it was like I could
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just hear it. Even as I'm saying it, I can feel
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it. Hearing it call to me. Come on, Cammie. We're
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waiting for you. We're waiting for you. Stay
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on this path. And when I hear the call, I can't
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help but, yes, I got to go. I got to go. Right?
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We are traveling. ever toward our home and so
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my question is what or who is guiding you on
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your journey today we're celebrating the advent
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week of joy and in that we are following this
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company of travelers the magi who are on this
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journey of joyful worship it was a journey marked
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by joyful worship. And so before we talk about
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their journey, I want you to envision for a moment
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a tale of two kingdoms. I want you to take for
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a moment and just imagine. I think God gives
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us imaginations, and sometimes we just need to
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stop and use our imagination. And so I want you
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just to imagine for a moment the kingdom of darkness.
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Some of you, that might be a very real, you don't
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need to imagine anything. What you came out of
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was just very real. But this kingdom of darkness
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that's characterized by sin, by evil, by lies,
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by misery and chaos, a waste of purpose, death,
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hatred. Spiritual bondage. It's a real kingdom.
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Right? We've seen it portrayed in all kinds of
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movies, good and evil. And even now, in your
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imagination, you might be imagining a scene that
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you've seen that really replicates what that
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kingdom of darkness looks like. It's a real kingdom,
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though. It's not a fictional place. The kingdom
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of darkness is real. And it operates in deception
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and fear and rebellion. The tale of two kingdoms,
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the kingdom of darkness and in opposition, the
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kingdom of light. And it's such a contrast between
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the two kingdoms, isn't it? The kingdom of light,
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which is characterized by goodness and peace,
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eternal life, divine purpose, righteousness,
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joy. It's in such opposition to the kingdom of
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darkness. It operates in truth and freedom and
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love. Which kingdom would you choose in a tale
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of two kingdoms? Right? I love, and Darren made
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me years ago a porch swing, and he had engraved
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on the top of it this verse out of Romans 14.
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For the kingdom of God is righteousness, peace,
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and joy in the Holy Spirit. This kingdom that
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we are a part of should be a kingdom of joy.
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And we're not talking today about an emotion.
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So often we come into this thinking it has something
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to do with our emotions, and it doesn't. However,
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I want to read to you this. It was a study based
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in Britain. And here's what they found, that
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people older than 52, raise your hands. I'm not
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there yet. I'm just turning 51, so I get to keep
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my hand down. I think it shouldn't yours be up.
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You're awfully. Okay, let me see them again.
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You're over 52. Okay, here's your statistic.
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Just barely. Doesn't matter. You're over. You're
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over. People older, until I turn 52, and then
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it'll be a different story. People older than
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52 tend to be grumpier than younger people. Linda's
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the exception. People, man, oh, the 52 -year
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-olds are all rising up. I'm definitely not going
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to the seniors group this week. Hey, I didn't
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say this. The study said it. Okay, 52 tend to
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be grumpier than younger people. The poll results
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found that those over 50, so I'm in this group,
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laughed far less and complained far more than
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people under 50. You laugh less, you complain
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more. I can tell you're all loving this study.
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The study found, now listen, it's going to get
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interesting. The average number of laughs per
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day, now I've helped you with this today, so
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here you go. The laughs per day declines as a
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person ages. Infants, we've got an infant in
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the room today. Infants generally laughed up
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to 300 times per day. An infant will laugh up
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to 300 times per day. While teenagers laugh an
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average of six times a day. Hey, it just gets
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worse from here. Don't be judging them because
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it's getting worse for us. By the time a person
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reaches the age of 60, the laughs per day had
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declined to only 2 .5. Are we talking about being
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a greeter at the Walmart door, Jill? Listen,
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here's the takeaway. An infant laughs up to 300
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times per day. I believe that we were created
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with the capacity for great joy. And we have
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let life and circumstances drain that capacity,
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narrow that capacity down. And I believe as kingdom
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people, And I know, and I believe this is why
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some of you are like, no way, no way, because
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we're kingdom people. And as kingdom people,
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what does it say about our youth in Isaiah? It
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gets renewed. I believe that we can begin to
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laugh again as kingdom people, right? As our
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youth is renewed, our capacity is restored to
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laugh and to be containers of joy of the Lord.
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And so today, I just want to say, let's increase
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our capacity for joy. Let's increase and not
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be a part of this world statistics and say, we
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want to be a people that look a little different,
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that are marked by joy. And so today's text,
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we read a bit of it before, but I want us to
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focus in on Matthew chapter 1, verses 10 and
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11. They had been traveling, the magi, they had
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been traveling looking for this child. And finally,
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after their travels, it says they saw the star
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and they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.
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Not just joy, not just great joy, exceedingly
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great joy. Why? They've been following the star
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all along. They had seen the star all along.
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But there came the moment when the star stopped
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and marked the presence. And as it marked the
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presence, the response that arose up within the
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Magi was that of exceedingly great joy. And when
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they had come into the house, they saw the young
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child with Mary, his mother, and fell down and
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worshipped him. These great, distinguished, educated
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astronomers. They fell down at this child's feet
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and worshipped. And then they opened their treasures
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and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense,
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and myrrh. Back in the 80s, there was a very
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popular definition of joy, which some of you
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probably remember. And it has stuck with me.
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It used to be, I think, in the women's bathroom
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of Faith Church when I was growing up in Washington.
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And it was simply this. Here is a very simplified
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definition of joy. Jesus, others, and you. Right?
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In that order. J -O -Y. Jesus, others, and you.
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Would you like to come and sing it for us, Jesse?
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You can sing that to jingle bells, I hear. This
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might be a good bingo night rendition for us
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tonight. You're going to get it stuck forever
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in your head. Jesus, others, you. And that might
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seem like that's so 20 years ago. I guess I'm
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older than that. 40 years ago. 40 years ago.
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But there is truth in it. In this alignment,
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there is joy. And so I want us for a moment to
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walk through this. And it begins with Jesus,
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his presence. The joy of his presence. And this
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kind of joy is not anything that is self -generated.
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I am not the originator of joy in my life. I
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am not the source of joy in my life. There is
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only one giver of joy, and it is Jesus. The magi,
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exceedingly great joy, came to them as they observed
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the star marking the place of his presence. There
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is something about a life that has been marked
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by his presence. It is a life that is marked
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by joy. I want to walk through a few examples
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of this because we hear and we even sang it today.
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The joy of the Lord is my strength and that sounds
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so good. But man, how do you walk in that? What
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does that mean when everything around me just
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is kind of stinky? Let me just give you a little
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bit of inspiration. For what that can look like.
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You've heard me talk about him before. But I
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can't talk about joy in our daily life without
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talking about Brother Lawrence. A 1700 monk who
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didn't just pray in a chapel. He prayed while
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peeling potatoes. He was the chef of the monastery.
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And day in and day out. And it wasn't like today.
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He didn't have KitchenAid, beautiful mixer that
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I have, two of them, praise the Lord. He didn't
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have a microwave. He didn't have a gas stove
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to flick on. He had to go chop the wood to bring
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it in and start the fires, right? And so it was
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this kind of life, the day in and day out monotony.
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He didn't worship just during services. He worshiped
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while he scrubbed pans. And here's the key. Here's
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what he said, Brother Lawrence. There was no
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difference to him between the time he spent doing
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business in life, between the time in the soapy
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water, that was his business, and the peeling
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of potatoes. There was no difference from that
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to when he was on his knees in prayer. It was
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all the same to him. He lived life marked by
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the presence of God. God was in both places.
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Susanna Wesley, she was one of my heroes as I
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was raising my children, mother of John and Charles
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Wesley, two of the most influential leaders in
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church history, wrote many hymns. She had 19
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children. This being in the chaos of 18th century
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life. No tablets for her so that she could have
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quiet time. No dishwashers, no air conditioning,
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no Walmart grocery pickups. Here's what she did.
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She would sit down in her kitchen. she would
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throw her apron over her head and pray. That
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apron became a holy place. It was her tent of
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meeting. Everyone, every child in the house knew
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when Mama's got her apron over her head, you
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don't bother her. She's talking to Jesus, and
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she did that every day, often up to two hours.
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Not in a cathedral, not on a retreat, not on
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a mom's night out, but in the middle of the clatter,
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the crying, and the chores of 19 kids. She made
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space. She had been marked by the presence of
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God. In the early church, in the early centuries
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of the church, before Christianity was legalized,
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following Jesus was dangerous. It is around the
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world today. Eyewitnesses recorded stories of
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Christians led into Roman arenas to be executed.
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And instead of cursing their fate, they sang
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hymns. Not dirges, not laments. They sang songs
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of joy. One of the most well -documented examples
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was that of Perpetua and Felicitas, two young
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women imprisoned in North Africa in 2003. Or
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203, sorry. On the day of their execution, they
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marched into the arena in dignity and sang. And
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here's what shook the Roman world. The people
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didn't just see martyrs die, they saw them die
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singing, and many came to faith because of that.
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They were singing songs of joy. The underground
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church in China, one young woman had been imprisoned
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for her faith and said, he was with me in the
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cell, I was never alone. And I'm so happy to
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be with him again in worship. Jonathan Edwards,
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known to be a preacher of great conviction, of
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gravity. You may have heard of his sermon, famous
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sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.
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It was reported that as the one local farmer
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wrote, as they were walking home under the stars
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following the service, they did not speak. For
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the joy was too heavy for words. Jerusha, his
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daughter, sitting in silence after a service,
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her heart so full of joy, she feared it would
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burst. For you sports fans, Reggie White, NFL.
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He once said, I believe the joy that comes from
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being with God is better than any victory I've
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had on the field. He was known for encouraging
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teammates, smiling during games, and carrying
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himself with peace and confidence that didn't
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come from stats or contracts, but knowing he
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was walking with God. Richard Warmbrand. a Romanian
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pastor in the communist takeover in the 20th
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century. For preaching the gospel, was arrested
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and spent 14 years in prison, much of it in solitary
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confinement. Tortured, starved, and forbidden
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to speak the name of Jesus. And he wrote about
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his time in prison. He began to move into a place
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of such joy that he said, I have danced for joy
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in the cell. where I was kept for three years.
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No music, no light, no Bible. He just danced
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for joy in the presence of the Lord in that cell.
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This man went on to found, you may have heard
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of it, the voice of the martyrs, telling the
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stories of believers worldwide. Listen, Psalm
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1611 says it. It is in your presence that there
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is fullness of joy. It is not for the ideal times.
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These are just a few examples. You could go on
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all day. It has nothing to do with your circumstances.
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It has everything to do with his presence. And
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I find it interesting that in neuroscience, we
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have this thing called mirror neurons. And so
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in your brain, there are parts that are fired
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not just when you do something, but when you
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see someone else do it. So it's why you see somebody
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stub their toe and you wince, right? You watch
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a sappy Hallmark movie and you start crying.
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Not because of anything that's happening to you.
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You didn't meet the man in flannel and give up
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everything to go live on his farm. But you're
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crying. Gotta love a guy in flannel. That's why
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you wore that today, isn't it? Your brain mirrors
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what it sees. So in a sense, we're wired, literally
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wired for connection. And so when you are literally
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feeling other people's experience in your own
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bodies, when you are around a calm person, you'll
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become calm. When you're around someone joyful,
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you will begin to be joyful. So let's think about
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that now on a spiritual level. What happens when
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you spend time in the presence of the creator
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of the universe? What happens when you spend
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time with our perfect, loving, joyful father?
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You are literally wired to begin to... reflect,
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and mirror him. You are wired to emotionally
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respond to the people we're with, and so spending
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time in the presence of God should awaken joy
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in us. He is joy, and we can't spend time with
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him and not begin to experience joy. your brain
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begins to be fired up and responds. It's not
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a forced happiness. It's not an artificial cheer,
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but it's a real soul -deep joy that mirrors the
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heart of the Father. You were created for that.
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And so joy doesn't come from your circumstance.
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It doesn't come from you. It comes as you spend
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time in the presence of our Lord. And so it matters
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not what's going on. He is with you. He's with
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you in the dark places and the broken places.
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He is available to you at all times. And so as
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you engage with the Father, joy. awakened. And
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so we begin, always, always, the starting point
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is joy comes from Jesus. Now, some of us like
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to just have the joy of others. Some of us think
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we can have just the joy with Jesus and we don't
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have to bother with the others. But the truth
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is, is that there is joy in community. You were
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created. The term magi is not a singular term.
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It is a plural term. This was a group of men
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traveling together. They were a company of men
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on a mission together. We were meant to do it
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together. A diary was found in the home of an
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elderly lady. who had passed away. The same line
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was found for every day for the last years of
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her life. Each day she had written down, no one
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visited, no one called, no one cared. We were
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designed to have others in our life. We were
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designed to be in community. In fact, in the
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words of Hebrews chapter 10, Verse 24, he says,
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and let us consider how we may spur one another
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on toward love and good deeds, not giving up
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meeting together as some are in the habit of
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doing, but encouraging one another. And all the
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more as you see the day approaching, the closer
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we get in our journey toward eternity, the more
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we need one another. And so how we interact as
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a community is important. We just read what Hebrews
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said. Let me put it in a way that will get this
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in your mind and you'll leave here with this
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stuck in your brain. It's been in mine all morning.
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In the words of Willie Nelson, you were always
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on my mind. Maybe I didn't love you. Would you
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like to come sing it, Darren? Maybe I didn't
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love you quite as often as I could have. And
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maybe I didn't treat you quite as good as I should
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have. If I made you feel second best, I'm sorry
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I was blind. You were always on my mind. And
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maybe I didn't hold you all those lonely, lonely
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times. I guess I never told you I'm so happy
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you're mine. Little things I should have said
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and done. I just never took the time. But you
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were always on my mind. See, I wanted you to
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get this stuck to remind you, as it goes through
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your head this week, the little things matter
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with one another. A quick text to somebody. Hey,
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I missed you today. What does this let us know?
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We are seen. We are seen. We are known by our
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community. I love that Paul wrote to the church
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of Thessalonica, for what is our hope and our
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joy, the crown in which we glory, and the presence
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of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you?
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He's saying this to the church. You. Our joy.
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Indeed, you are our glory and joy. You often
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hear us talking about community here and the
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need for the community of Christ. I think, though,
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that one doesn't really believe that until one
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really engages with that. And you suddenly realize,
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wow. I need these people, and these people need
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me. We need one another. It's part of the joy
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we were created for. The Trinity, the Father,
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the Son, and the Holy Spirit had wonderful communion
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with one another, relationship with one another.
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But they wanted others brought into that. We
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were brought into that. And so God himself was
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set up himself for community. We are the image
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of our father, and so also we need community.
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A story comes to us of long ago of a king who
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organized a great race within his kingdom. All
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the young men of the kingdom participated, and
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a bag of gold was to be given to the winner.
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The finish line was within the courtyard of the
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king's palace. The race was run. The runners
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were surprised to find in the middle of the road
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leading to the king's palace a great pile of
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rocks and stones. But they managed to scramble
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over it or to run around it and come to the courtyard.
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Finally, all the runners had crossed the finish
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line except one. But still the king did not call
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the race off, and after a while one lone runner
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came through the gate. He lifted a bleeding hand
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and said, O king, I am sorry that I am so late,
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but you see I found a pile of rocks and stones,
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and it took me a while, and I wounded myself
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in removing them. Then he lifted the other hand,
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and in it was a bag. He said, but great king,
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I found beneath the pile of rocks this bag of
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gold. The king said, my son, you have won the
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race. For the one runs best, who makes the way
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safer for those who follow. We weren't meant
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to make a wild dash toward our eternal home by
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ourselves. As we read in Hebrews, we were called
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to say, come on, let's go and do this together.
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I'm going to kind of wade back here and catch
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this person that's kind of having trouble, and
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I'm going to help them along. There's joy in
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the others. And what you begin to find when you
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engage in the others, in the community, is the
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treasure. The treasure that God has for us and
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the one another. And so there's joy in the community.
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So there's joy in Jesus, joy in community and
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others. And finally, there's joy in you. And
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Darren said it, didn't he, earlier. Sometimes
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we have a hard time believing that God would
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desire us. That God would care about my worship.
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But the Magi, what did they do? Then they began
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to open up their treasures and lay them at the
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feet of Jesus. Listen, they traveled together.
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They got to the presence together. But there
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came a moment when they each had to bring their
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own gift and lay it at the feet of Jesus. The
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truth is, as much as we need others, nobody else
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can stand in for you. Nobody else will stand
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in the judgment seat, before the judgment seat.
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It's just us and him, individually, right? And
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so it matters. You matter to him. And we live
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in this time. They traveled together, the Magi,
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but in the end, they brought their own worship.
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And we live in this. We say this term often because
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I think it's an interesting one. An upside down
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kingdom. It doesn't make sense to this world.
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Because in this world we're all about self -care,
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right? Putting self first to take care of self.
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When John 15, what does it do? It calls us. It
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says no greater love has anyone than this that
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they lay down their life for their friends. And
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so. In the end, here's the power of joy, is that
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this circles back around to his presence. Because
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it begins and ends with his presence in your
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life. Self -care begins with your relationship
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with Christ. So here's what I want us to do.
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We are in this Advent season. I love Advent because
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it makes a lot of space for us. It kind of forces
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space into what can be a very crazy, chaotic
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time. But my prayer for you in this Advent season
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is that it would be a time for you to re -engage
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with his presence. That it would be a time that
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remembering that like the Magi, we're on a worship
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journey. We're looking for something else, something
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to come, the lands that are calling to us. Come
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on, the path is demanding our yes. We're on this
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worship journey that can only be a worship journey
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if his presence. has marked our life. And so
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as the team comes back up, I want to just conclude
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by this reminder that we are a pilgrim people.
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And Psalm 84, more and more and more, has become
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a life verse for me. Blessed is the man whose
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strength is in you, whose heart is set on pilgrimage.
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Can I just ask the question, what is your heart
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set on today? Is it set on this life? Or is your
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heart set on the pilgrimage from where we're
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going, our eternal home? It's up to us. We get
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the power to set things in our life. Whose heart
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is set on pilgrimage? And we refer to Nehemiah
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8 .10 that said that the joy of the Lord is your
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strength. And so when I take that and I go back
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to Psalm 84, the man whose strength is in you,
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I'm convinced that it is joy, the joy of the
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Lord, that is what gives you what you need for
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your pilgrimage. That without it, you will lose
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heart. And when you lose heart, you will step
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off the path. You will disengage from the journey
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toward the Lord. And so today what we want to
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do is we want to re -engage with his presence
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in joy. Maybe, I know we laughed about it earlier,
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maybe you found yourself grumbling a little more.
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laughing a little less. Today, I want to encourage
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you to make the choice to be a person marked
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by the presence and the joy of the presence,
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that you are going to be a kingdom person, marked
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by presence, marked by joy. And you're not going
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to let this world determine your joy level. You're
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going to, in the presence, You're going to let
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him determine your joy level. Amen? And so it's
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nothing that is belittling your pain, nothing
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that is belittling the struggle for where you're
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at. That is real, and joy is not saying that
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that is not real. Joy is saying it's in those
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places that joy of the Lord becomes a very real
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reality. Right? Nothing else makes sense that
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I have this joy. I know it doesn't come from
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the circumstance, because all I know is pain
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and sorrow. But there's this abiding thing in
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me, and it just gives me the strength to keep
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going, to keep walking, and to not stop. It's
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the joy of his presence. And sometimes we just
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need to stop, stop bemoaning the pain, right?
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We need to stop grumbling about the circumstance.
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We just need to lean in and let the joy of the
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Father. We need to start to mirror. Let those
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neurons in your brain get fired up by His joy,
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renewing your strength. Amen? And so here's what
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we're going to do today. I've asked the team,
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I just want us, that the altar response is going
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to be as we just stand and we begin to celebrate
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in joy. And as we do that, this is, remember,
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nothing to do with your emotions. This is rejoicing
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in the presence of God. This is rejoicing that
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we're doing it with one another in community,
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right? This is the joy of knowing that the God
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of the universe sees you and takes joy in you.
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And we want to reflect back joy to him. And so
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this morning we're going to stand and we're going
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to conclude our service time with a song of rejoicing,
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a song of praise. And in a way, you're going
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to have to disengage yourself a bit from your
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circumstance. In a way, I need you to kind of
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let loose your footwear. You got to kind of get
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some lightness to your feet so that you can rise
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up to where God is. and his great presence full
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of joy. Amen? And so as the team leads us, this
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is your declaration that I'm going to be a person
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of joy. I'm going to be a kingdom -minded person.
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I'm going to be a person marked by the presence
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of the almighty God. Amen? So let's just worship
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in joy for a few more moments.