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2 12/13/15 West Valley Church Michael O Neill Advent 2015 Jesus Family Tree Joy: Jehoiachin 1 This season of Advent, our sermons are exploring the stories of just a few of the people in Jesus Family Tree; some are well known and some not so well known. We want to see a more human side of Jesus and to find in their stories the traditional Advent themes of Hope, Joy, Peace, and Love. The Bible is not afraid to show that there are all kinds of people in Jesus family tree. There are good people, bad people, and people we know practically nothing about. Some were kings and heroes of the faith who were dedicated completely to God. But others were sinners on a grand scale: murderers, prostitutes, and all kinds of dysfunctional characters. In other words, they ran the gamut of ordinary people, like you and me. Reading through the list of names can feel monotonous, yet all of the people listed have made some contribution to the One Whose arrival we celebrate: Jesus. These are names that have faces and stories to tell it was important enough to Matthew to list them and to God to have them included in Scripture. So far, we ve looked at the guy at the top of the list, Abraham, and then last week we looked at the four women. Next week we will look at Mary and Joseph s unique place in the lineage, and on Christmas Eve we will see some things I ll bet you didn t know about Jesus in this family tree. But for today, we are going to learn lessons on joy from Jehoiachin. Let me tell you the story of his time, and then let s learn some lessons on joy for your time. Jehoiachin can be found by several names Jeconiah, Coniah, and Jechonias. These are all Hebrew, Babylonian, and Greek versions of the same name. He became king of Judah at 18 years of age, and there is some indication that he sort of co-kinged with his father from the time he was ten until he was eighteen when he became King. He was King of Judah for a time a very brief time! Actually, he was only the king for about 3 months. Just after he became King, the Babylonians took up a siege against the kingdom of Judah, and Jehoiachin had no choice other than to surrender. He and all his leaders and servants and many civilians and all the treasures were taken off to Babylon many thousands of people. Only the old and infirm and 1 Research for this message from Logos Bible Software 6.7 SR-1 6.7.0.0044, 2000-2015, Faithlife Corporation, and from a message by Brian Bill, Journeying to Joy
3 handicapped were allowed to stay in Judah. Jehoiachin remained in prison for thirty-eight years. After that king of Babylon died, the next Babylonian king brought Jehoiachin out of prison and let him eat at the royal table for the remainder of his days, sort of as a reward for good behavior while he was in prison. But he was never allowed back to Jerusalem and he died in Babylonian captivity. 2 Now you might ask why he is listed in Jesus family tree. To understand that, you have to first understand what Jehoiachin is associated with in the family history. Matthew writes: Josiah was the father of Jehoiachin and his brothers (born at the time of the exile to Babylon). (Matthew 1:11, nlt) If you ve read the genealogy in Matthew 1:1-17 you ll see that it s broken up into three groupings. Verse 17 says: Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah. (Matthew 1:17, niv) Would you like to know why Matthew did that? Then come to the Christmas Eve service! I ll explain it there. But here s what Jehoiachin in the family tree represents: he represents the beginning of the Babylonian captivity that lasted for about seventy years. Even though it was only 70 years in all of Jewish history, it was a terrible turning point and the Babylonian captivity is a dark and painful time in the family history of the Jews. In fact, it was so painful for Jews that they would use the word exile or deportation instead of the word captivity, and it was still too painful a word for the Jews, even when Matthew wrote his Gospel over 500 years later, it was still forbidden to say the word captivity. So Jehoiachin represents for the Jews not a time of joy, but a time of joy dispelled. There was nothing to be joyful about. Some of you might feel like that today that there is nothing to be joyful about. Maybe you ve been spending too much time watching the news or listening to presidential candidates speeches. Maybe your personal circumstances are such that you feel like what Jehoiachin represents a time with no joy whatsoever. Some of you have recently had a loved one pass away. Some of you are fighting a cancer diagnosis. Some of you are going through a divorce or family disruptions. Some of you are facing unemployment. Whatever the reason, you feel like this is a joyless season. So let me share with you some things that can help restore your joy in this time. I bring you Good News of Great Joy for all people... (Luke 2:10, niv) So said the angels as they announced the arrival of Jesus Christ. Jesus, later as an adult, said that He came to give us His joy, and that He wants His joy to be complete in us. (John 15:11, 16:24) What is this joy? The joy Christ gives is much different than what the world calls joy. 2 Walter A. Elwell and Barry J. Beitzel, Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988), 1102.
4 We typically tend to equate joy with happiness, but those really are two different things. They may mingle together at times in our emotions but they are not the same. They each spring from a different source: happiness comes from the circumstances, people, and world around me, while joy originates directly from the Spirit of the Living God. Happiness is conditioned by, and often dependent upon what is happening to me ( happening and happiness come from the same root: hap, which means luck, occurrence, accident ). If people treat me good, if things are going well in my life, then I m happy. If my circumstances are not favorable, then I m unhappy. On the other hand, the pulse of joy beats throughout Scripture as a profound, compelling quality of life that transcends the events, circumstances, and disasters that sometimes seem to plague us. Joy is a divine dimension of living that is not shackled by circumstances. The Hebrew word means, to leap or spin around with pleasure. In the New Testament the word refers to gladness, bliss and celebration. There is a difference. The joy that comes with Christ in your life is a joy that is promised to you and is real and available to you every day and every moment. If you and I are going to have this kind of joy, we need to guard against three common joy busters and we need to cultivate some joy builders into our lives. Let s start with the Joy Busters things that steal our joy. In the Apostle Paul s letter to the church that was in the city of Galatia, he asked a very penetrating question: Where is that joyful and grateful spirit you felt then? (Galatians 4:15, nlt) Maybe you need to ask yourself that today: What has happened to all my joy? William Barclay, a Bible scholar from a previous generation said that a gloomy Christian is a contradiction in terms, and nothing in all religious history has done Christianity more harm than its connection with black clothes and long faces. So here are the three Joy Busters: The first joy buster is 1. Unsatisfied Expectations Think about Jehoiachin; he had only been king for three months! Becoming king and then having your entire treasury ransacked, your citizens captured and then being hauled off to prison for the next 38 years was not at all what he expected! Talk about unsatisfied expectations! But it doesn t have to be drastically bad circumstances. Do you ever feel like you re just going through some joyless routines in life? If the truth were known some of us are discontent with the way our lives are progressing. It could be that your expectations for your marriage have not been met. Or, maybe your kids aren t living the way you feel they should. Perhaps you don t have everything you want a bigger house, a nicer car, and a better job. I don t know maybe your expectations are too high, or maybe not. But whenever our joy is based
5 on other people or things no matter how good they are or how much we love them on anyone or anything instead of Christ, we are setting ourselves up for this joy buster. Often, unsatisfied expectations come from an attitude of discontent. I m convinced that a spirit of discontent can rob us of joy. Listen to how Paul discovered the secret of being content with whatever God had given or not given him: I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. (Philippians 4:12, niv) Notice he said he learned even Paul had to learn how to live with unsatisfied expectations. We, too, must learn to live with plenty or with little. Here s the secret: we can be content because we know that God is the ultimate source of everything we need. We can trust him, not happenstance. Contentment doesn t come when we have everything we want but when we want everything we have (repeat). The second Joy buster is 2. Unresolved Conflict Our joy evaporates when we allow conflict between ourselves and another person to go on. When someone s offense against us occupies our mental and emotional attention, we have little left over for the Lord. Anger clouds the eyes of our heart and obscures our view of God, draining away our joy. A huge part of the reason that Jehoiachin s kingdom was ransacked was because of the weakening of the nation of Israel because of division over unresolved family conflict that had continued for generations! (1 Kings 12:19) The Bible challenges us not to allow relational ruptures to fester because bitterness can set in: Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. (Hebrews 12:14-15, niv) The Bible instructs us that love keeps no record of wrongs. (1 Corinthians 13:5) So if you are itemizing people s mess-ups your own joy is being busted up. Paul recognized the link between joy and unity with one another in the church: Then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. (Philippians 2:2, niv) Unity isn t a suggestion in the Bible for the church; it s commanded of all God s people, and it produces joy. That s why here at our church we always speak up against gossip gossip is the devil s number one tool to divide and conquer the church, which robs us of our joy and destroys our witness to the world. The third joy buster is
6 3. Unconfessed Sin This one may be responsible for chasing more joy out of our lives than any other. Guilt can gut your joy faster than anything I know. King David was one of Jesus great great great great great (a bunch of greats) grandfathers. King David understood this very well when he attempted to ignore the promptings of the Spirit. Take a look at what he wrote: Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit. When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD" and you forgave the guilt of my sin. (Psalm 32:1-5, niv) I love how this Psalm ends. After David owned up to his sin, his joy returned. He wrote: Rejoice in the LORD and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart! (Psalm 32:11, niv) Did you catch that? He was not able to rejoice and experience the joy of the Lord until he confessed his sins! That s very similar to what David wrote in another Psalm: Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. (Psalm 51:7-8, niv) Despite the return of David s joy, some of the consequences of his sin contributed to the loss of Jehoiachin s joy all those generations later. Before we move on to some positive joy builders, I want to give the Holy Spirit an opportunity right now to work in you. Let s think about these joy busters. Allow God s Spirit to prompt you to acknowledge, confess, and repent. Please bow your heads and clear your hearts: Do you have some unsatisfied expectations that have led to a spirit of discontentment? If so, determine to do whatever it takes to learn the secret of wanting everything you have and not necessarily having everything you want. Trust God that he will always give you what you need. When you do, you ll begin to experience joy in even the small things of life. Confess your discontentment to Him right now. (pause) Are you involved in some conflict with someone? If so, confess it to God and make plans to reconcile with that person and get back on your journey to joy. Sometimes that s not possible the person may be long gone, but you can at least confess your part in it to God. (pause)
7 Is God s hand heavy upon you right now because of some sin that you ve not confessed and repented of? Don t keep silent any longer it will only chew up your joy. Acknowledge your transgression and taste the joy that was once yours. Then you ll be truly glad and rejoice in the Lord again. (pause) Friends, I have some great news this morning. Lost joy can be restored. Let s look at King David again as an example. As a result of some discontentment, some conflict, and some open sin, King David had flamed out spiritually. His joy was a long-lost memory. And yet, he boldly prayed: Restore to me the joy of your salvation (Psalm 51:12, niv) God honored his prayer, and God will honor yours. So now let s look at some Joy Builders. God not only wants to restore our lost joy, He also wants us to cultivate those things that will build lasting joy into our lives. The Bible gives us at least six ways to experience this joy: 1. Recognize God as Joyful We can be helped greatly if we learn to see the Almighty not as a taskmaster, but as the God of the Universe with a smile on His face. There s a verse tucked away in the Old Testament but ought to be on billboards. Listen carefully to its promise and to how God feels about you: For the LORD your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With His love, He will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs." (Zephaniah 3:17, nlt) God sent Jesus to be with you to save you, love you, and God delights in you and breaks out into song when He thinks about you! I love how the Living Bible paraphrases this verse: Is that a joyous choir I hear? No, it is the Lord himself exulting over you in happy song. Psalm 104:31 says, May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in his works. You are his works! You are his creation that he rejoices over. Friend, if we have little or no joy in our lives, it could very well be that we don t know God well enough because joy is one of His character qualities. When we recognize God as joyful we will be even more drawn to Him. He is not a judge just waiting for us to mess up. He has created us to be His delight. He finds great joy in you! His joy can be transmitted directly to us by His Holy Spirit, who lives within us as Christians. That s exactly why the Bible says: The joy of the LORD is your strength. (Nehemiah 8:10, niv) I pray that we ll experience the Lord s joy as well. Next
8 2. Rehearse God s Attributes in Worship God s joy flows into us, and then when we celebrate His attributes in worship we allow our joy to flow back to Him. Psalm 66 says: Shout with joy to God, all the earth! Sing the glory of his name; make his praise glorious! Say to God, How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies cringe before you. All the earth bows down to you; they sing praise to you, they sing praise to your name. (Psalm 66:1-4, niv) As we worship, we rehearse who God is and what he s done for us by celebrating His attributes, and then the fruit of joy will begin to blossom in our lives. When David focused on God s character in Psalm 28, he couldn t help but break out into joy: The Lord is my strength and shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to Him in song. (Psalm 28:7, niv) That s what worship does in us! Third 3. Reaffirm Your Commitment to Others The first two joy builders are vertical and have to do with how we view God and how He views us. If we re serious about experiencing joy, we must also make sure that we are doing OK on the horizontal dimension by living in biblical community with others. We can t do it alone. The Bible challenges us to rejoice with those who rejoice (Romans 12:15, niv) We re not able to do that if we re not in fellowship with other believers, if we re not connected to others. Here s the point: as I connect with you and you connect with me, our joy will overflow. We need each other. If we re not attending church on a regular basis, or we come but don t interact with others, we could be jeopardizing our own joy and the joy of other people. That s another reason why our small groups are so important and why we strongly encourage you to be in a small group! When we live in loving relationships with our brothers and sisters in Christ, we ll be more joyful and we ll help others have joy. As we gather with other believers for accountability, growth, prayer, and study, God will use each of us to raise the joy temperature around here. Next 4. Reignite Your Passion for Evangelism That means introducing people to Jesus Christ. One of the best ways to build joy into your life is by talking to others about Jesus. Philemon 6: I pray that you may be
9 active in sharing your faith, (why?) so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ. (Philemon 6, niv) The more you share Jesus with others, the better you understand every good thing you have in Christ. Luke 15 records for us how much joy there is when someone lost is found. Jesus says that when the lost sheep is recovered, the owner joyfully puts it on his shoulders and then goes home and calls his friends and neighbors together and declares in verse 6, Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep. (Then Jesus said) I tell you in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents Jesus reminds us that we can be filled with glad joy when we participate in the process of evangelism: The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike! (John 4:36, nlt) When we tell others about Jesus, not only do we appreciate God s gift of grace in our lives but we also get to see the joy of those who experience brand new life in Christ. Next 5. Release Your Problems to the Lord One of the hallmarks of Christian joy is that it can be experienced in the midst of intense sorrow and loss. Often we define happiness as the absence of something undesirable, such as pain, suffering, or disappointment. But Christian joy is the proper response to the presence of something desirable: God Himself. In Acts 16:16-36, the authorities put Paul and Silas in prison and tortured them for their faith. After they were severely flogged, they were thrown into prison. In order to make sure they didn t escape, they were put in the inner cell and had their legs locked in stocks and chained. Now, if that were me, I think it s safe to say I d be a little bit stressed and not very joyful! Verse 25 says that Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God This Greek word for praying is not the word used just for making requests the word is associated with praise and worship. That means they weren t asking God to get them out, they were praising God while they were in! Instead they turned this tough situation into an opportunity for rejoicing! As a result, the jailer and his family saw Christ in them and became Christians, too! Because God is in charge we can have joy no matter what happens. Paul put it this way in 2 Corinthians 7:4: in all our troubles my joy knows no bounds. James 1:2 challenges us to consider it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds. This takes a conscious decision to trust God, and we re commanded to work at it. While we can t manufacture joy we can give our problems to the Lord by leaning on Him with everything we ve got, and then we gain His joy.
10 Finally, the greatest source of joy is when we 6. Remain Close to Jesus The only way to know true, ever-present joy is to be obedient to Christ and submit to the Spirit on a daily basis. Don t search for joy; instead look for the one who is joy Himself. Joy is the flag that flies over the castle of our hearts announcing that Jesus is in residence. Jesus put it this way: If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. (John 15:10-11, niv) If we want the kind of joy that is complete, lacking nothing, then we must remain close to Jesus. While Paul was in prison he wrote this: May you always be joyful in your union with the Lord. I say it again: rejoice! (Philippians 4:4, niv) Paul wasn t a prisoner to his circumstances. In his heart, he was free and joyful. By changing his attitude and being close to Christ, he had joy in every circumstance and was able to change the world. You can know and have joy at all times, if you remain close to Christ! That s why Christmas is so important: it is Joy present in this world and present in our lives today. Remember I told you that Jehoiachin was at a turning point in the three groupings of Matthew s list there is the list from Abraham to David, from David to Jehoiachin and the Babylonian Exile, and then Jehoiachin and the Babylonian Exile to Jesus. Jehoiachin represents the beginning of a very dark, joyless time in the family tree. That s why Jesus is at the end of the list because he put an end to those times, and dark times don t define us anymore; joy does! Your joyless times can come to an end in Jesus too! Joy has entered the world and can enter our lives. Our circumstances might not change, but we will change because we have joy because we have Jesus! Pray