Joy to the World

A Series on Advent

Luke 15:1-32

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2015%3A1-32&version=NIV;NLT

 

Something has really been bugging me this week! First, I should explain that I’ve been collecting coins recently; not a serious collector, just when I get change.

 

This week I found two older dimes and brought them home. But when I went to put them in my “collector’s box”, they were nowhere to be found. I looked everywhere… twice; on my desk, on the dresser, in the car, at the office. Everywhere.

 

Then today after work, I put on my jeans and low and behold, the dimes were in my pocket. I went running out to tell my wife. My coins had been lost, but now were found. I felt great joy to have found my coins.

 

Sometimes joy is hard to find. Maybe because we look for it in the wrong places. Or, maybe because we define it incorrectly. If joy is defined by our circumstances, those can change in an instant. True joy, the joy that we sing about at Christmas, is something much deeper.

 

Jesus loved to tell stories to teach a lesson; to teach people spiritual truths. On one occasion, Luke wrote how because “tax collectors and other notorious sinners” were listening to Jesus teach, and even eating with him, the religious leaders complained. So Jesus told them three stories.

 

The first was how one lost sheep out of one hundred, was so important to the shepherd that he left the rest of them in the wilderness, and went looking for it. When he eventually found it, he carried it back on his shoulders and told all of his friends how happy he was to have found his lost sheep.

 

No doubt, the listeners in the pastoral society of Jesus’ day, could easily relate to this story. However, you may need to think in terms of lost dimes or a wedding ring or relationship or job. In this story, Jesus is explaining why he came to earth as a baby, and what Christmas is all about. It’s about the joy of finding lost sheep.

 

Sir Isaac Watts wrote the famous carol, Joy to the World which echoes this same spiritual truth.

 

Joy to the world, the Lord is come
…Let earth receive her King
    …Let every heart prepare Him room
        …And Heaven and nature sing.

 

There is true joy when your heart; my heart; any heart; prepares to receive your King. So don’t let your joy be lost this Christmas; don’t tell him there’s no room in the inn; don’t settle for the joy of finding a lost dime. Instead, prepare Him room in your heart, and receive your King.