Here are some December headlines: Ghost guns — a type of untraceable, homemade firearm — has surfaced as the new weapon of choice of violent criminals after one was used to murder a Health Care CEO while attending investors’ conference. CEO copycat killings are feared. The price of eggs is up 37.5% just in time for Christmas baking. A Canadian woman has been arrested for allegedly attempting to smuggle 10.2 kilograms of methamphetamine worth up to $2.2 million into New Zealand by disguising them as Christmas presents. Where is the Christmas joy? It’s enough to drive you to get the pourable kind. Thank God we have joy options. We get joy from our songs: "Silent night, Holy Night,” “We Three Kings,” “Joy to the World”, even “Charlie Browns’ Merry Christmas, Baby”:
“Merry, merry, merry, Christmas baby,
Oh! you sure been good to me.
I haven't had a drink this evenin' baby,
But I'm all lit up like a Christmas tree.”
Forbes Magazine says there are at least ten reasons for our Christmas joy. Here are a few, in no particular order:
1. Christmas joy helps you love everybody, and everybody loves you.
2. Christmas joy gives you that warm feeling inside.
3. Christmas joy helps you be the funny guy at the party.
4. Christmas joy helps you tolerate your mother-in-law and the rest of the family.
The joy that Forbes is talking about is Christmas joy in a cup. You might know that joy: Hennessey, Courvoisier, and Johnny Walker. It’s what Jamie Foxx sings of when he belts “Blame it on the goose, gotcha feeling loose …the a-a-a-alcohol.” That ah-ah-ah-alcohol accounts for $12 billion dollars in liquor sales in the season between Thanksgiving and New Year’s.
There is a better joy—the Gaudete (Latin for rejoice) joy of the third Sunday of Advent found in Philippians 4:4-7. It is a greater joy because Jesus is not the reason for the season, but the reason for joy that has no season. It is timeless for three reasons. Think of it as a drink recipe in three parts: one part kindness, two parts prayer and three parts peace. If you want a sample, pass me your cup.
Part 1: Gentleness-Kindness. Jesus is the reason for our joy because Jesus’ promised return is near, bringing a gentleness to our strife.
Philippians 4:4-5 4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
Paul urges the Philippians to rejoice always, not just during Christmas. They can have a joy even if there are relationship conflicts that threaten to tear you apart. The soon return of Christ will usher in kindness. So, if we have any squabbles, resort to kindness (gentleness). When Jesus comes, he will settle the score. There was disharmony at Paul’s favorite church—Philippi. Two sisters, Euodia and Syntyche, were fighting. We don’t know the issue; it’s not important. What’s important is that they must reach some agreement so that this squabble does not spill over and affect the entire church.
In our time of unprecedented division, we don’t have to resort to rudeness when we don’t agree like making sheep noises at people wearing masks. C’mon people, we are better than that. There is no squabble that a little kindness, forbearance can’t cure. Jesus is coming back. Do you want him to catch you in an act of bad behavior? Christ’s return promises a harmony you cannot get from ah-ah-alcohol. Blame this harmony on the nearness of Je-Je-Je-Jesus, the reason for your joy for any season. The recipe for joy is one part gentleness.
Part 2: Prayer. Jesus is the reason for our joy because God hears our prayers of thanksgiving, given in the name of Christ. Look at verse 6:
Philippians 4:6-7 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Paul urged the Philippians to pray with thanksgiving—not worry—because God’s answer will be favorable to our requests if asked right. We are not to worry as if we are not concerned, but that we have the confidence that God’s got this. It’s all good. Jesus said in Matthew 7:11, in paraphrase:
11 "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!
And in John 14:14: if you shall ask the Father for anything, He will give it to you in My name.
Jesus sits at the feet of God interceding on our behalf saying: “Give it to them daddy if it is good for them: not a stone, not a snake. Give them a good gift. No returns necessary.”
And when you get that answer to your prayer, don’t respond with the “ah-ah- alcohol.” Begin and end your prayers with “tha, tha, thank ya.” The recipe for a shot of joy is two-parts prayer.
Finally, part 3, peace. Jesus is the reason for our joy this and all seasons because God gives us his peace through Jesus, the Prince of Peace.
Philippians 4: 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus
John describes this incomprehensible peace this way:
"Peace, I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. John 14:27
This peace guards your heart. The world’s peace through a pint leaves you merry for a moment, but when you wake up, you wake up fearful still. But with the peace of God, you have a confidence in the midst of chaos. The world might not get it, but you do. For unto us a child is born; for unto us a child is given and he shall be called, the Prince of Peace. You can have peace when:
When there is no food in the pantry, there is God who has the “cattle of a thousand hills.”
When there is no room in the homeless shelters, there is God, whose “earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.”
When gerrymandering seeks to gut your power, there is God whose Son rose with “all power in His hand.”
When divorce and abandonment are under your Charlie Brown pitiful tree, there is an assurance that “nothing shall separate you from the love of God.”
There is a joy that comes from the “ah-ah-a-alcohol”, then comes the hangover. But there is a joy without seasonal residue. Its recipe’s third part is shalom—peace.
Ghost guns, the price of eggs, drugs smuggled in wrapped gifts—it’s enough to make you drink a pourable joy this Christmas and maybe all year round. May I suggest a “Philippian” on the rock—Christ. How do you make it? It’s one part gentleness, two parts prayer and three parts peace. Stirred, never shaken. Drink up.
So well done 💯🙏🥰🎊🎄