Joy to the World
Job 20:5 (NIV) says, "...the joy of the godless lasts but a moment."
When I was a youngster Christmas was an obsession. I had a paper route, and starting the day after Thanksgiving, the newspaper started the Christmas countdown. Every day as I folded papers the number was right there on the front page in bold print and above the fold. "#### Days Until Christmas."
By the time Christmas Eve rolled around, I’d be stir crazy. I’d do everything to fall asleep, but couldn’t. I dreamed about legos, train sets, erector sets, computer games, CDs, and fishing gear. In the morning we’d race out into the family room and rip into the presents. With paper flying everywhere we’d eagerly grab the next gift, and the next gift, and the next gift, until finally mom and dad would disappear into their bedroom and bring out that one final gift.
Everything leading up to the final gift was just a tease. The final gift was different. It was intended to satisfy the deepest cravings of the soul. Yet it rarely did. The excitement of Christmas morning would fade away twice as quickly as it came.
"...the joy of the godless lasts but a moment."
The joy of Christmas, the joy of unwrapping presents-- it's like a flash. It's here, then it's gone. We are well acquainted with such fleeting moments of happiness. But enduring joy remains a complete stranger. Why is joy so elusive?
Imagine if you were to discover someone or something that could produce everlasting joy. Imagine if you found a way to wrap it up and give it to others so that they could have what you have.This is what we are really trying to do at Christmas. We're trying to create joy, and package joy, and share joy. But our gifts are just a tease. Even our greatest gifts are a mere tease!
So as we rejoice, there is a part of us that remains sad. The gifts get returned, they get put into the closet, and another year passes.
The story of Isaac Watts.
There was a young man who lived a century and half ago who was named Isaac Watts. As an infant, Isaac was nursed by his mother on the steps of a jailhouse. The Church of England had imprisoned Isaac’s father for his refusal to conform to the church’s worship practices. Imagine being thrown in jail for not worshiping in a certain way!
Like his father, Isaac was deeply dissatisfied with church worship. The formal Church disdained hymns as being unscriptural and offensive to the doctrines of the Church. Congregants were instructed to only sing the Psalms. The texts chosen were ludicrous at times. The tone and mood of the services was dreary. There was so little joy. People sang like out of sync zombies. Not all of the Psalms were meant to be sung!
Returning from the service one Sunday morning, Isaac complained vehemently to his father about the psalm singing that put peopleoff from worshiping.Fed up, his father challenged him. "Why don't you write a hymn suitable for congregational singing?" In the course of one afternoon Watts did just that, and that evening the congregation sang hymn number one.
There are some interesting facts about Isaac Watts.He had learned Latin by age four, Greek at nine, French at eleven, and Hebrew at thirteen. Watts would go on to write the majority of his songs between the age of twenty and twenty-two. Do you want to guess how many hymns he wrote? Six hundred and ninety seven!
The first hymn he wrote was called, "Behold the Glories of the Lamb". One of his most notable hymns was, "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross". One of his most popular hymns that we sing every Christmas is,"Joy to the World". People complained that his hymns were too worldly. His songsoutraged people, split congregations, and got pastors fired. His music is still splitting congregations and getting pastors fired. Worship wars!
At agetwenty-four,Isaac preached his first sermon. He went on to write some sixty different books on theology, logic, and philosophy,including children’s books. By agefiftyhe was a national figure, esteemed by Anglicans and dissenters alike. He became larger than life! Source of information: http://www.victorshepherd.on.ca/Sermons/isaac.htm
What was the driving force behind Watts' life?
So let me ask. What compels a person to learn Latin by agefour,Greek (the language in which the New Testamentwas written) by age nine, French at age eleven, and Hebrew (the languagein which the Old Testament was written) by age thirteen? What compels a young person by agetwenty-two to write almost seven hundred hymns? What compels a person from agetwenty-four to write a single book, let alone sixty!
Friends, the joy of the godless lasts but a moment. Yet herewas aman whose joy continues to infect Christians sometwo and a halfcenturies after his death! Herewas a man whose joy in the Lord was so real and compelling, who had so much joy bottled up inside him, that the only relief he could find was in writing new songs. Six hundred ninety seven new songs!
When is the last time the joy of the Lord so flooded your soul that you wanted to start bottling it up and giving it to others for Christmas? Psalm 98 captures the joy that Isaac Watts had for the Lord.Psalm 98 was the mission statement of his life. I wonder if you ever feel this way at Christmas?
"Sing to the LORD a new song,for he has done marvelous things;his right hand and his holy armhave worked salvation for him. The LORD has made his salvation knownand revealed his righteousness to the nations. He has remembered his loveand his faithfulness to the house of Israel;all the ends of the earth have seenthe salvation of our God."
"Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth,burst into jubilant song with music; make music to the LORD with the harp,with the harp and the sound of singing, with trumpets and the blast of the ram's horn—shout for joy before the LORD, the King."
"Let the sea resound, and everything in it,the world, and all who live in it. Let the rivers clap their hands,let the mountains sing together for joy; let them sing before the LORD,for he comes to judge the earth.He will judge the world in righteousnessand the peoples with equity."
"Sing to the LORD a new song."Sometimes the old songs just won’t do.
Those gifts under the tree just cannot satisfy our souls.The only gift that can satisfy our souls is the gift the Father hung on the tree. While the world drones about lifelessly, chasing one fleeting promise of joy after another, the Christian has true joy. We have the son of God, born of a virgin, laid in a manger, crucified on the cross for our sins, and risen from the dead on the third day. He is now reigning as King at the right hand of the Father for all eternity, preparing us a home and promising to return. If that doesn’t put joy in your heart, than what can?
It’s time we started singing a new song. A song that was penned by a young man just broiling inside with joy for the Lord. A song full of exclamation points, a song pointing the world to true joy, and a song that we can bottle up and share with others. The joy of the godless lasts but a moment,but the joy of the Lord endures for all eternity.
"Joy to the world, the Lord is Come! Let earth receive her King. Let every heart prepare Him room. And heaven and nature sing, And heaven and nature sing, And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing."
"Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns! Let men their songs employ. While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains, Repeat the sounding joy, Repeat the sounding joy, Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy."
"No more let sins and sorrows grow, Nor thorns infest the ground. He comes to make His blessings flow, Far as the curse is found, Far as the curse is found, Far as, far as, the curse is found."
He rules the world with truth and grace, And makes the nations prove, The glories of His righteousness, And wonders of His love, And wonders of His love, And wonders, and wonders, of His love.
Prayer: Jesus is thegift we cannot return nor should weput away in closet.