"The Joy of Christ"

2 Corinthians 6:1–2,11–13 ¹Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. ²For he says,

“In a favorable time I listened to you,
and in a day of salvation I have helped you.”
Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
¹¹We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide open. ¹²You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. ¹³In return (I speak as to children) widen your hearts also.

          Christianity is not a belief as the world might have us believe, it is a way of life and in fact it is life.  We start as infants and begin to learn by seeing and hearing taking it upon faith that we are being taught by those who know.  We then become children and now we learn by careful study as we have now been shown how to learn on our own.  But as children we also must have our time to play and enjoy the wonders of the world and the imagination God has gifted us with.

          It is this childhood that we sometimes lose and other times fear losing.  When we lose our childhood we forget to have fun and we also lose our faith.  When we fear losing our childhood we try to hang on to it and we do not grow.  However if we do not fear losing our childhood we grow and still are able to enjoy the wonders of the all the gifts God has given us.  We realize there is a time to learn and a time to play.  And both times are a time to feel joy.

          Joy is one of the gifts that God gives us and one that we do not realize we throw away.  The Corinthians were for the most part epicureans as they spent most of their time trying to gain happiness.  The problem with happiness is that if is not coupled with joy does not last long.  We get gifts from one another and we are happy with them for a fleeting moment and then we tire of them and that happiness is gone.  We find ourselves looking for the next happiness fix when we should be hanging on to the joy Christ died to give us.

Mark 4:38–41 ³⁸But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” ³⁹And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. ⁴⁰He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” ⁴¹And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?”

          Our lives actually become easier to contend with when we realize that Christ is in our lives.  We will always have storms in our lives to contend with, and some of the storms will be worse than others.  Depending on our faith in God we will be able to stay the course even through the toughest of life's storms and feel the joy Christ gives us from the cross to His resurrection.

          Hebrews 12:2 ² looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

          The storm Christ endured was greater than any we could face on our own.  Jesus took all our sin past, present, and future on His shoulders and endured the great pain that the law demanded to be paid.  I'm not sure what eternal pain would feel like, but praise Jesus Christ that He suffered it for you and me. 

          Christianity is life and in this life of Christ there is joy and the joy is that Christ takes care of us through forgiveness and salvation.  God our Father takes care of us through what He provides and the vocation we have.  The Holy Spirit comes along and fills us with joy through God's word and builds up our faith so we can feel the joy God wants us to have.

          Christian life is a life to share in joy and as we share this joy with others Christ than starts to work in those whom we share with.  Christianity is joy!  Joy is knowing we have a God who loves us and cares for us even in an eternal relationship.  Is that just awesome knowing we are the joy of Christ forever?  Amen.