Northside Church - Sydney
Reverse Garbage – Finding Treasure in the Familiar
I'm listening to another great message from Northside Community Church. I love the Antiques Roadshow, don't you? No, because I'm a fine purveyor of antiques. I just love the concept that people could take something, what they think is a piece of junk using it as a doorstop, for example, they take it into a county fair in England somewhere and someone tells them that this funny little statue they've been using as a doorstop was from the Napoleonic Wars or something similar, and it's worth £50,000. And they're over the moon and it's just a great night in front of the television. Wow, what a life. Look, there's something about that when you find treasure and what has become overly familiar, and that is the premise of this short series we were doing in the lead-up to Christmas in this series called Reverse Garbage. It's a whole new thing that is happening these days around the world that people are going back to these shops which is dealing in other people's garbage. It's funny to think that people would pay for it, but they do. You can go down south somewhere in the Shire, and there are stores down there, and you can, they've got plenty of stuff for those stores down that way, and look, either way, what it is, is people find that treasure in the familiar, Christmas can be like that words like joy and hope and peace. And that's what we look at tonight when we look at the word joy. My question is, have you used it like a doorstop? Have you used a word that has such depth and nuance and history? And really it's just sitting, propping open a door at home for you in that spiritual sense. Have a read here from 1 Peter 1 verses 3 through to 9, praise be to God and Father, our Lord Jesus Christ. In His great mercy, He's given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade, kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, there's the joyward, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so your faith of greater worth than God which perishes even though refined by the fire may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and you are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Do you ever remember your favourite Christmas time as a kid? I mean, it's there been that moment in your life where it's just the quintessential Christmas moment. It could have been a particular year for you, it could have been a particular type of present time. As it was for me, I remember on that hot summer's night, smell of pine had filled the house, a weird blink down the hallway of the Christmas lights, they were the type of lights that if you stepped on them, you might as well have stepped on a landmine, they were all sort of spiky ones. I tried to keep my six-year-old eyes awake, I would run out to lounger and the sack would be empty and the promise of Santa was still on the way and there was just one present that I was holding out for. I'd go out again and check he hadn't been, he hadn't been and I went out and then suddenly it must have, it felt like 3am or 4am, the sacks were full but I didn't dare look. And so I managed to go off to sleep for an hour or two but at 5am I got that up and we went out and we ran into the lounge room as kids do and there I opened up the sack and there it was, everything I could have ever dreamed for, a tape of Michael Jackson's bad. Before you get too excited, before you get too excited to accompany the tape it was something I'd seen in the shops, it was just a mere hope for me, it was nothing other than a Sony Walkman, complete with the thin metal bit, the headphones that went there and the foam ear pads that made sure that you could listen with great comfort and it was a golden era back then just as a side note wasn't it, you know, when you had to use a motor to search your music library with the Ford or the rewind or the fast forward button or more importantly that the artists in the top 10 those days were at least over the age of 13 years old. I don't know if you've had a similar experience that quintessential Christmas moment and yet somehow I wonder for us that are here as grown ups tonight whether tomorrow night we're on the eve of Christmas Eve whether tomorrow night will be as sleepless, whether tomorrow night will be as hopeful in that sense whether or not we will get out there and when we're we see these presents on Christmas day of course they'll be fun and they'll be laughter and will in joy this time together but it won't quite be the same right, why is that? You know C.S. Lewis felt exactly the same way when he wrote this in his book Surprised by Joy he says I call it joy, the first is itself the memory of a memory, it was a sensation of course of desire but desire for what, before I knew what I desired the desire itself was gone, the whole glimpse withdrawn, the world turned commonplace again or only stirred by a longing for the longing that you just ceased. In that sense the central story of my life has been about nothing else the quality common to these three experiences is that of an unsatisfied desire which is itself more desirable than any other satisfaction I call it joy which here is a technical term and must be sharply distinguished from both happiness and pleasure joy in my sense has indeed one characteristic and one only in common with them the fact that anyone who has experienced it will want it again I doubt whether anyone who has tasted it joy that is whatever if both were in their power exchanged for all the pleasures in their world but then joy is never in our power and pleasure often is. You see what he's saying we all desire joy, we've all experienced joy at one point in our lives and that's why joy is such a problem that's why joy is elusive tonight first we see the elusiveness of joy the problem with the elusiveness of joy is that deep down we know that it won't last we know that it won't stay forever you know what the CS Lewis is saying you know he's saying the joy is like fairy floss that's how I see what he's saying joy is like fairy floss that the very act of tasting it dissolves it away and the result is right you could go one of two ways you can either if you want to desire for more eat more fairy floss just give me a more fairy floss and we do that all the time with our lives right we just we just turn up the volume more fun more good times more laughter we just we just turn the volume up more or the other way that we go is you say I'm never eating fairy floss again I don't I don't want to be reminded of its sweetness and its beauty I'm not going to touch it again I vow never to touch it again and don't we ever do that I'm never falling in love again I'm never giving my heart to that someone or something that caused me joy but you know either way these two things are trying to counteract the elusiveness of joy Tim Keller chatting with the mate the other morning over coffee shared this illustration with me from Tim Keller he puts it confrontingly like this and Keller describes that he says here's the problem with joy you could you could be at a wonderful dinner outing great Christmas lunch we say go there the food's fantastic it's like nothing you've ever tasted before the laughter is frivolous and you're laughing so hard that you're almost crying there's good friends all the people that you could ever only want to be in the world would be there with you and the moment just feel so sweet like it couldn't be never any better than this and then a thought breaks in and crushes it all and you will come to a realization that at some point in time one person sitting around at that table will be the only one left joy's elusive ouch can't you see it's plain that it's plain that joy is not an illusion we've tasted it we know it but our pain from the elusiveness of our joy is that it doesn't last we felt it we do feel it but like CS Lewis Lewis says it's a desire that we can't satisfy and we're left wondering if we may ever taste it again well happy Christmas that's the question I guess some of you may very well be in the same boat you may be feeling the same pace and pains this Christmas let's be real we're all grown up where there may be family members that we're not reconciled with there may be things that are not right with there may be memories of memories that we could wish we can only go back to it and we are left wondering how can we ever be constantly joyful that's the elusiveness and then of course we see the uniqueness of Christian joy verse six in this you greatly rejoice though now for a little while you may have to have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials you see what Peter's saying there in this passage is he's saying for the Christian it's possible to be joyful at exactly the same time that you're experiencing pain and suffering in your life exactly at the same time it's now this is off the charts for most people this is off the rig to scale for most people they're thinking it's not possible tell you why it's the super so good principle and we're talking Christmas times now you know I remember Christmas a while back family events my poor Nan had been out searching that was back in the days where he didn't have to do Kris Kringle we're so economically minded these days back in my day every kid got a present from the 15 relatives that you had it was glorious it was wonderful and so my Nan had been searching desperately from a little cousin to get him the perfect present he'd wanted all year he wanted a super so good and so she went shopping and unfortunately she mustn't have gone to Toys R Us she went to Franklin's instead and got him this present she watches him there and he rips the paper off he takes one look at it he goes this super so grew his crap throws it to the other side of the room and he was filthy for the rest of the day he he was not in a happy mood whatsoever it's the super so good principle you see Brett's representative of most people not that you're all desperately want a super so good at night but here's the thing joy is often found in your ex not in your ex boyfriend or girlfriend in your ex the ex unless I have ex I can't be happy unless I have this one thing I can't be joyful that's what Brett was saying unless you give me my specific nerve brand of super so car then I'm going to be filthy for the rest of Christmas day and it's your fault man your fault unless I can have ex and as adults we laugh at Brett's super soaker antics don't we we laugh at the way is but come on let's be serious are we really that much different are we really like surely you know I mean our responses are a lot more measured aren't they you know when we're in front of the boss we don't we don't throw stuff across the room but we're constantly saying this super soaker is crap constantly saying unless I have ex I can't be joyful unless in my I have ex in my job life unless I have ex in my relation alive unless I have ex in my financial life I can't be joyful it's off the charts for people isn't it you see what people are saying they're saying how can you have joy when the very things that give you joy are being torn away from you it's not possible and the reason is that for many people joy is in their circumstances joy is in the things around them you know they're saying what is suffering what is pain other than stripping you with the things that give you joy and so what they're saying is you can't have joy in any circumstance Peter in what you're saying here because joy is in your circumstances it's either in your health and or your professional success it's in your health and or your relational success it's in your your relational success and or your financial success it's in your financial success and or your family success all of these things are your source of joy and here's what's unique about this wonderful verse that when you dig into the grammar there's a there's incredible paradox here there's something upside down in this wait for it here look at this he says um he says though though you are in this you greatly rejoice present tense in this you greatly you're rejoicing now though now for a little while you may have to suffer all kinds of grief in the joy now present tense grief in the present tense it's a both end he's saying joy now grief now both are happening at the same time and we're going how is this possible and here is their uniqueness of Christian joy is that you Christian joy is no longer linked to your circumstances they're not related anymore it's not not the same anymore how well finally we go from the uniqueness to the source of joy what is the source of joy look here's the thing if I was getting a new Walkman on Tuesday would would I have a sleepless night tomorrow actually I might actually if Sony bought back the Walkman that would be pretty exciting but if for the purposes of the illustration what would I have a sleepless night no Walkman's are outdated they're inferior you know Michael Jackson's dead the it's with the era is gone we can't go back to the glory days of the 80s as much as I'd like to but here's the thing not not only is the object of my affection changed from Sony Walkman's to iPods but the ability of that affection to fully satisfy me has changed you see a six year old can think that their whole world has just exploded with joy when they receive a Walkman do you think a 36 year old could have much bigger things like houses and cars and if was an Audi now that's a different story if was an Audi in Santa on Tuesday you know maybe we'd get there close but look here's here's the thing here's here's the thing if if that's the case with kids if we know if you know that that's true of yourself if you're with me tonight how can you be sure that what you've anchored your affection to today in order to get your joy well a remain constant that that object won't change and more importantly that it will truly satisfy you when you've grown up in another 30 years time how can you be absolutely sure you see it was never about the Walkman and here's why you see the joy was not in the Walkman in and of itself it was something far deeper it was just a glimpse it was a taste it was an excitement of that desire that C.S. Lewis talked about something beyond me and that for a Christian is exactly what it's about you see here's the thing for a Christian joy is not the end product it's the byproduct of the life that we live in God I still put it I don't know maybe it's just me maybe I could be sick or something but I love the exhilaration of roller coasters you know that feeling when you just go right over the top of that thing and you stare down what looks like certain death and your stomach comes back up through your mouth and you're tasting that Pluto pup that you've eaten about half an hour before I love that exhilaration of roller coasters and you know what there be two ways for me to chase that Pluto pup in the mouth type feeling this week two ways I could go up to Warner Brothers movie world and get on the Superman ride again or I could jump off a cliff see both both of them have the same end product both of them elicit the same exhilarating Pluto pup in mouth feeling as you're going through that and as your acceleration gets faster and faster and faster but here's the thing one source of that feeling leads to safety another one leads to ultimate destruction and so friends what I'm saying is don't chase joy for joy's sake it's you have to chase the source of joy in that sense and most preferably a roller coaster look isn't that what this passage is saying look the question you need to ask yourself tonight is how can I be assured that my present day source of joy is the roller coaster is something that will lead me to safety in the long run you know how do I know that it's not harming in me than the long run how do I know that I've got the right source of joy but the question that's what this passage is saying is the way you'll tell the litmus test is how are you relating to death how are you relating to suffering how are you relating to pain even now is there a possibility of joy if there is then your joy has been uncoupled from your circumstances and finally you're seeing joy for what it really is listen to what Lewis says again in his conclusion with it all he says of joy for that after all is what the story has mainly been about to tell you the truth the subject has lost nearly all interest for me since I became a Christian I believe that the old stab the old bittersweet has come to me as often and as sharply since my conversion as at any time of my life whatever but now I know that the experience considered as a state of my own mind had never had the kind of importance I once gave it joy was only valuable as a pointer to something other and outer and while that other was in doubt the point naturally loomed larger my thoughts he who first sees it cries look and the whole party gathers around in stairs but when we have found the road and a passing signpost every few miles we shall not stop and stare they'll encourage us and we shall be grateful to the authority that set them up but we shall not stop and stare or not much not on this road though their pillars are of silver and their lettering of gold they lead us to heaven you see what he's saying you say you need to see all the good things in life you need to see you know the all the beautiful lights that you've probably seen at Christmas time all the things that are costing people an arm and a leg thanks to the electricity bills in our new south Wales government you need to see Christmas carols in the domain you need to see all these wonderful things of Christmas but see them for what they are guys not as the destination of joy but its signposts they're pointing to something deeper and something greater what's that verse three into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish spoil or fade kept in heaven for you you know an inheritance that will never perish spoil or fade kept in heaven what is that you know you know what that is it's the ultimate Christmas dinner it's it's it's it's a time and place where the where the food couldn't get any better it's it's it's a time and place in in where the grief that that you have experienced all of this lifetime has been transformed into a laughter that is so big and so hard you got tears running from your eyes it's a place where all all the pains of this life have have just been dissolved into the good times that are around you and you look around at the faces in the table around you and though you've never known them on this side of heaven they look more familiar to you and you love them deeper than you could have loved your own child and and right at that moment if it ever be possible i'm using some license here but for ever at that moment looking from the outside your face begins to drop as you think that that cruel moment is going to creep back into this moment of joy the master himself puts his hand on his shoulder and he looks at you and he says child don't be sad this joy lasts forever that hope that's the source of the christian joy that hope means when you look at your own tables this christmas and you have those reflective moments in the beauty of seeing little nephews and nieces laughing on christmas day discovering their own versions of sony walkmans see family and friends that you've longed to be with you've had that wonderful moment of elusive joy that sius law says then you as a christian can be reminded that it will not slip away from you forever and like the fairy floss that it made us old in the boxing day and the sweetness may not return but you need not continue the stuff you face with it because there's the ultimate christmas den awaiting for you whenever that might be would you like that this christmas how do you get it here's how first and foremost you've got to drop your ex this christmas i don't mean your ex boyfriend or girlfriend again i mean you've got it you've got to drop that one thing that that ex that has secretly been haunting that one thing that you said i must have in order to be joyful do you know what that is that one thing that you've got to have don't look see it as a signpost see it as a signpost but more importantly you've got to live verse eight though you have not seen him you love him and even though you do not see him now you believe in him and you're filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy you know how does how does believe in jesus give me an inexpressible joy Hebrews 11 2 says it shows you the source of his joy it says let us fix our eyes upon jesus the perfecter of our faith who for the joy set before him endured the cross and scorned at shame it says for the joy set before him a joy son there was something in front of him that was greater than and more exhilarating more wonderful and more valuable to him that even the cross was able to bear you know what would that be would it be a glorious crown in heaven no he's already had that great him said this morning what do you give well gift he give the to someone who's had everything he had everything and in Isaiah 53 says by by his knowledge my righteousness his my servant will justify many and he will bear their iniquities you know what the you know what the result of his suffering was at the cross it was you as i said he justified many you know what you know what it's saying there the joy that was before jesus christ at the cross was you there was nothing more wonderful and exciting and incredible to jesus christ than his hope that you would be sitting with him at the ultimate christmas dinner that friend a place awaits you tonight if you don't know him or believe in him a place is waiting at his table where his face is downcast a little for lawn until the loved one that he wants sits with him there look the joy here's the thing the living joy that jesus had was a thought of being with you forever does that move you does that even begin to shake you because here's what's going on here's how it works that knowing knowing that you were jesus's joy is a very thing that helps you make him your source of joy the more you dwell upon that and the more you move into that you will have a joy that will last forever and so friends joy it's not mansions it's not earthly glory it's your shepherd it's your brother it's your king it's your prince with open arms saying come to christmas dinner come to the table and so in knowing that you're his joy that can be your true joy and nothing less see it love him experience at this christmas you'll have a joy that lasts forever