LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2019, Page 98

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But there is nothing like the wonderful Yes! that we
have been given in Jesus Christ. As many as were the
promises of God, they have found their Yes and Amen
in Christ Jesus. 2 Paul talks a lot about this joyous
Christian Yes! in his first letter to the Thessalonians.
The Thessalonians have come to know and trust in this
Jesus. And that is cause for ceaseless joy.
As you all know, the challenges to joy in this world can
be enormous. At the time of Paul’s letter, the
Thessalonian congregation was experiencing great
suffering. They faced persecution and even murder at
the hands of their own countrymen, precisely because
they had abandoned the worship of idols and turned to
the true God and His Son Jesus Christ. 3 Persecution
hardly seems like a circumstance in which people
would rejoice, or in which they could rejoice. Yet Paul’s
exhortation rings out: Rejoice always. Pántote — at all
times. To rejoice, then, does not mean “don’t hurt,”
“don’t grieve,” or “don’t die,” but it means that even
along with the pain and tears of this life, along with the
suffering and crosses, the Yes that we have been given
in Christ Jesus cannot, will not, be taken from us. Paul
speaks from experience. Elsewhere, Paul describes his
“afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, and hunger” —
and then says, “We are … sorrowful, yet always
rejoicing!” 4
Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. There will be tears. But
even through tears, Christians utter the Yes! the Amen!
the rejoicing given us by God in Christ Jesus.
Of course, religious persecution is not the only
affliction that we confront in this vale of tears. If we
made a list of all the reasons in this world NOT to
rejoice, all the things that stand in the way of rejoicing,
the list could grow very long: natural disasters, tragic
accidents, separation and loneliness, divorce, abuse,
wayward children, financial debt, job loss, addiction,
injustice, physical illness, the suffering of loved ones,
those wandering from the faith, death with its loss and
grief. Who can rejoice — who can say “Yes!” — in the
face of so many things that make us say, “Oh no. No, no,
no.”? And yet, in Christ, we are called to rejoice, even in
such a world, even in such circumstances. And in Christ
we have reason to!
Yes, life brings dark times. But even in the brightest
moments, true joy in this world is elusive. It has often
been noted that, right in the most joyous moments of
life, there is a tinge of sorrow, a tinge of fear, a tinge of
unease. It’s not dour pessimism but simple honesty to
acknowledge that the joys of this life are fleeting, so
easily swept away by sorrow, by loss and ultimately by
98 | PROCEEDINGS OF THE 2019 (67TH) LCMS CONVENTION

death. Luther observes how even the greatest joys of
this world ultimately prove to be empty: “In
comparison with Christian joy,” he writes, “all the joy
that ever was on earth or is yet to come is to be
considered mere child’s play. For no worldly joy is so
great and glorious that it is not impure and mixed with
sorrow, or that sorrow does not follow it.” 5 Over every
bright, bright joy, over the loudest and greatest Yes!
that the world has to offer, falls the dim shadow of
death, and the stark No! of the grave, and beyond that,
divine judgment.
This incompleteness of earthly joy, even in moments of
greatest happiness, is recognized not only by
Christians, but by all honest observers. The great
Japanese poet Basho once wrote this haiku verse: “Even
in Kyoto — hearing the cuckoo’s cry — I long for
Kyoto.” One commentator explains: “Basho loved the
Japanese city Kyoto. So much so that when he was away
from it, he was filled with longing. But more than this,
even when Basho was in Kyoto, he felt the same
longing. Why so? Because he knew that he could not
always be there; that he would have to, at times, be
separated from it; and that, at death, he would have to
lose it forever. He understood that all earthly joys are
fading and impermanent. This means that even when
he was in his beloved city, hearing the cuckoo's cry, he
felt a sense of loss, a tinge of sadness.” 6
In the end, every earthly joy is fleeting, and death
threatens to end all joy. It is a grim but undeniable
reality facing us and all of our friends and relatives, coworkers and neighbors. This is the dim stage on which
Christian joy can shine, must shine. And so St. Paul calls
upon you and me to rejoice, always, and he adds: “for
this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thess.
5:18).
FIVE ASPECTS OF CHRISTIAN JOY
Jesus Christ brings joy. For the rest of this morning’s
essay, I would like to consider five aspects of Christian
joy, building on Paul’s phrase “this is the will of God in
Christ Jesus for you.”
1.

Joy is the will of God.

2. True joy is given in Christ Jesus.
3. This joy is for you.
4. This eternal joy can shine in daily life.
5. This joy is a shared joy.
1. JOY IS THE WILL OF GOD
First, joy is the will of God.

Convention Essays