Sermons
Joy In Sorrow
JOY IN SORROW
Sermon Outline By Terry Siverd
Cortland Church of Christ / October 22, 2017
Leslie Flynn tells the story of a godly member of his congregation, who was admitted to a NYC hospital with
a very serious illness. Noting his cool attitude and bright cheefulness, the doctor spoke candidly to him saying:
Your optimism is inappropriate for your situation.
How is it that some people can be miserable in the lap of leisure while others can be joyful in the midst of misery?
Emperor Nero grumbled on the throne while the apostle Paul sang in a dungeon.
People often seek happiness in all the wrong places.
PURSE / Monetary wealth is not all that its cracked up to be. An abundance of things can leave us high and dry.
On his deathbed, Jay Gould’s stated: I suppose I am the most miserable man on earth.
PLEASURES / “Hedonism leads to the dead-end street of frustration, boredom, and burned-out ashes.”
POWER / Not a few have been corrupted and grossly discontented by power.
History is littered with powerful men and women who were quite dissatisfied and unhappy.
PRESTIGE / Fame is fleeting.
The famous writer Ernest Hemingway won both the Nobel and Pulitzer Prizes.
He had a home in the Idaho Sawtooth Mountains; an apartment in NYC; a specially rigged yacht to fish the Gulf stream;
Apartments were made readily available to him at the Ritz in Paris and another at the Gritti in Venice.
He had a sturdy marriage and lots of friends. He was a literary genius but he put a shotgun to his head and killed himself.
POTENT POTABLES / Often obtained in bottles in the form of alcohol or pills.
I spoke the eulogy of a young lady recently who had so much going for her. She was a member of the Thespian Society; In High School she won first place as “alto vocalist”; She sang with the Madrigals, the Toledo all-women’s choir and
was a big-city try-outs finalist with American Idol. She had an adorable young son. Yet she died from a heroin overdose.
In truth, the problem at least in part, is actually the pursuit of happiness.
The book of Ecclesiastes contains “diary entries” kept by King Solomon as a record of his pursuit of happiness.
The book is more than just a diary - - it is also a kind of homiletical notebook. The book opens as follows (Eccl.1:1):
“the words of the preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.” Later on in our Wednesday PM series on
Great-Chapters-of-the-Bible, Rob Espinosa will teach from Eccl.12. What begins (Eccl.1:2) with an
exclamation of exasperation - - Vanity of vanities! All is vanity!, ends with a sober admonition - - the conclusion,
when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.
For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil (Eccl.12:13-14).
What the Scriptures actually reveal is that JOY or happiness is not the quest itself,
but rather the byproduct of a life lived by seeking to please God and help others.
With a paradoxically strange twist, when we seek happiness it tends to elude us.
But when we do right with others and with God, we almost always embrace happiness.
Augustine (354-430A.D.) summed it up this way: Man was made for God and will not rest until he rests in God.
Thus far in this sermon I have used the words “joy” and “happiness” interchangeably.
Although most dictionaries reflect little variance, there may be merit to distinguishing between the two.
Someone has illustrated the difference this way:
Happiness depends on satisfying happenings whereas joy is independent of circumstances.
Ocean gales, ripping through the Atlantic, can catapult waves 50 feet high. Yet 50 feet below, the water is perfectly calm.
Similarly, happiness is like the surface of the sea, ever changing. Joy is like the ocean bed, ever the same.
Many people feign happiness (it seems genuine, but deep down inside it is counterfeit).
Even laughter can be quite deceiving. The loudest laugh may hide the hollowest heart.
Prov.14:13 states, “Even in laughter, the heart may be in pain…”
Most all of us have been acquainted with someone who has committed suicide. Sometimes their pain is well hidden.
Years ago, a despondent man once asked his doctor for a cure for his blues.
When the doctor recommended reading an amusing book, he replied, “I’ve tried that and it didn’t work.”
The doctor offered other suggestions and received similar responses.
Finally the doctor directed him to go to the circus - - that circus clown can make anybody laugh.
The despondent patient looked at the doctor and said, “I am that clown!”
Real happiness is found when we live for something bigger than ourselves.
Or to speak more Biblically, when we freely place ourselves in the full service of God and Christ.
So many of David’s psalms spring forth in the midst of trouble.
Be sure to notice to focus of David’s joy!!
16:11 / In Thy presence is fullness of joy; In Thy right hand are pleasures forever
21:1 / O Lord, in Thy strength the king will be glad, and in Thy salvation how greatly we will rejoice
30:5 / Sing praises to the Lord, you His holy ones
35:9 / My soul shall rejoice in the Lord
David writes often of making a joyful noise to the Lord
66:1 / Shout joyfully to the Lord
81:1 / Sing for joy to God our strength
95:1-2 / Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation
Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.
100:1-2 / Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing.
Heb.12:2 speaks of Jesus - - who for the joy set before Him endured the cross
Jn.15:11 records words spoken by Jesus in the shadow of the cross:
These things have I spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.
Mt.26:30 notes that after “The Last Supper” on the way to the mount of Olives, where Jesus would pray in
the garden of Gethsemane on the eve of His crucifixion, they sang a hymn (a hymn was often a praise song).
The actions of Jesus were not lost on the disciples.
When Stephen was speaking prior to his being stoned to death his face shone like an angel (Acts 6:15).
His last spoken words (Acts 7:59-60) must has surely been uttered with a joyful heart:
Lord Jesus, receive my spirit… Lord, do not hold this sin against them.
After a cruel beating (a flogging), Peter and John departed from the kangaroo court called the Sanhedrin (Acts 5:41) - -
So they went on their way…REJOICING that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name.
In language that seems on the face of it to be upside down (as least by common human standards), the apostolic
writers confirm in their epistles that they had come to understand clearly the concept of joy in the midst of sorrow.
The apostle James writes (Js.1:2) - -
Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
The apostle Peter writes (1Pet.4:16) - -
If anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not feel ashamed, but in that name let him glorify God.
Both James and Peter were not writing from some insulated-from-the-world ivory tower.
They had tasted sorrows themselves and knew whereof they spoke.
The apostle Paul also writes as one singing from the same sheet of music (given to the apostles by the Lord),
Perhaps more than any other disciple, Paul has tasted the hurt, pain, sorrow and shame associated with following Jesus.
We remember how Paul & Silas sang praises while imprisoned in Phillipi after having been severely beaten (Acts 16:25).
As to Paul’s cumulative sufferings, see 1Cor.4:9-13 and 2Cor.11:22-28.
In 2Cor.6:10, Paul refers to disciples of Jesus as sorrowful yet always rejoicing.
What Paul is saying here is that in the ugliness of profound grief God’s children are able to rejoice.
“The hallelujahs of joy reverberate on broken heart strings.” Our rejoicing is not that of happy feelings;
it is triumph in trial and confidence in a supreme God. The real taste of celestial joy is discovering
that we can conquer sorrow through Him who loves us.” / Dr. James Means in Tearful Celebration
The early Christians had a reputation for being able to rejoice in suffering.
In A.D. 200, Cyprian of Carthage wrote a letter to a friend in which he described the wickedness going on in the Roman Empire, including wars, robbery, piracy, arson, and men murdered in the amphitheater. He spoke of the selfishness and cruelty and misery and despair under all roofs. It is a bad world…an incredibly bad world. But I have discovered in the midst of it, a quiet and holy people who have learned a great secret. They had found a joy which is a thousand times better than that of any of the pleasures of our sinful life. They are despised and persecuted, but they care not.
They have overcome the world. These people…are Christians, and I am one of them.”
This model of rejoicing in sorrow was taught by Jesus to His apostles.
Peter & John and James & Paul and thousands of first-century Christians learned this lesson very well. And, as we have seen from Cyprian’s correspondence, so did the saints of the second century. Likewise for saints throughout the ages.
May God give us strength so that in this matter of suffering with joy we might hear Him say to us, “Well done…”.
May God strengthen us so that others may also say of us - - they have learned well the life of their Master.
God continues to call us to REJOICE IN SUFFERING. Let us resolve to do this very thing,
and in so doing may our actions speak to those around us and thereby bring glory to our heavenly Father.
Whatever it is that ails us - - physically, mentally, emotionally & spiritually, let us learn to suffer with a smile - - not a smile plastered on just make a show, but a smile that reflects a real down-deep sense of joy & gratitude in whatever.
Prayer
Preacher’s Note: I am indebted to Leslie Flynn (Holy Contradictions), for many of the thoughts used in this sermon.
