The Hero Brings Joy

Well, hey, good morning. How are we doing today? You know, last week I shared a letter from Don and Martha. They are some missionaries that our church now prayerfully supports. They are doing incredible work in the Middle East. And I think if you haven’t been there, you may lack some of the visual and emotional context of what that means.

It’s no accident that the guy speaking on the screen, he was shrouded in shadows because if his identity was known or publicized, then he would at least be kicked out of the country that he’s working in. And people that he interacts with on a daily or weekly basis, they would face severe government and family persecution for it. That’s the type of work that our church is now engaged in. And prayerfully get to support Don and Martha. And we want to continue to financially support some other folks. That’s why we’re continuing to show these videos.

There’s another famous missionary couple that I want to talk a little bit about this morning. Jim and Elizabeth Elliott. Show of hand, anybody recognize those names, Jim and Elizabeth Elliott? Maybe half the room or we have more people. You just don’t want to show your hands. I don’t know. But they were missionaries in Central America. They felt an incredible burden to reach a tribe called the Akka people. There’s a couple different names. Akka is one of them. The Akka tribe was known to be extremely dangerous and hostile to outsiders, which meant that outsiders never really learned their language, never had any meaningful contact. So functionally for us as Christians, we recognize the Akka tribe was far from God’s grace, let alone modern civilization.

So Jim and a few other missionary husbands made it their mission to evangelize and reach the Akka people. So Jim Elliott and his group made contact with the Akka, get this, from a biplane using a loudspeaker and a basket to lower gifts down to them. After several months of doing this repeatedly, the men decide to build a base a short distance from one of the villages. And there they were approached one time by a small group of Akka men. And they even convinced one of the guys, through their very rudimentary language, to take a trip up into the sky with their metal bird. So the Akka people, the missionaries are encouraged by these friendly encounters with the Akka people. And they begin to make plans to go into the village.

But those plans were preempted by arrival of a larger group of Akka warriors who came and martyred Jim Elliott and his four companions on January 8th, 1956. Jim Elliott and the four missionary men with him all died trying to reach the Akka tribe. Jim is survived or was survived by his wife, Elizabeth Elliott. Get this, they’d only been married for four years. What’s more, a daughter named Valerie, 10 months old. Jim’s death left Elizabeth in the jungle of Ecuador with a toddler and a choice.

And before I proceed, how would you respond? Just be honest with yourself and with me. How would you respond to that? You flee. How’d you feel to that? What sort of feelings would you have toward God in your circumstances? Maybe you’re better than me, but I would be angry with God and deeply despairing. But Elizabeth Elliott, they just don’t make them like her anymore. Because instead of leaving Ecuador to return to her family back in America, she stayed. And eventually, two Akka women taught Miss Elliott and another missionary widow the Akkan language. One and a half years after Jim’s martyrdom, Elizabeth Elliott didn’t just stay in Ecuador. She actually moved into the village with the Akkan people. She didn’t just stay, she moved closer. And she wouldn’t leave Ecuador until 1963, seven years after her husband Jim was martyred by the people they loved.

And eventually, she’d launch a Christian radio ministry called Gateway to Joy. And she never once stated regret in going overseas, losing her husband to a premature death at the hands of a tribe that didn’t know Jesus, or staying there with their baby daughter. Though, she did not look at this with rose-colored glasses either. No. Elizabeth Elliott is remarkable because she experienced incredible pain, difficulty, and loss without wavering in her commitment to Jesus.

She is credited with saying this. The secret of joy is Christ in me. Not me in different circumstances. Let me say that again because we need that. The secret of joy is Christ in me. Not me in different circumstances. How many of us agree with this? How many of us can write this over our doorpost and go into the day, whatever it would have, and say, “I am choosing to have joy because I have Christ in me.” Elizabeth Elliott’s story, honestly, if I’m being honest with you, it puts a magnifying glass on my own heart, and it forces me to answer the question for myself: What’s my joy found in? Where is my joy? So, I bring her up for two reasons. One, I’ve already said, it’s because it’s the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering season right now. We, as a church, are giving financially because we want to financially support the work of missionaries like Don and Martha in the Middle East, like the gentlemen from South Asia on the screen, and people like Jim and Elizabeth Elliott around the world. Our church has a goal to raise $1,500 for the sake of this giving fund, and so far we have raised $590. Here’s the thing: I’m proud of each and every one of those $590, but I know the hospitality and the warmth that has been shown to my family can also be shown to missionaries around the world, and I am urging us not just to meet $1,500, but to surpass $1,500. We’re good. But there are missionaries around the world that desperately need our financial support. So please, before the end of the month, write a special check to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. We’ve got special envelopes in the back with Art Jr., and just let’s financially support some folks.

So that’s one reason. The second reason is because the world, our flesh, and the devil offer false sources of joy. The world, your flesh, and the devil want us to base our joy on circumstances. And circumstances are like a flimsy sand foundation that cannot withstand the weight of a storm and hold up the house of your life because when hard stuff comes, that sand will wash away and your house will fall flat. We need a rock-solid foundation of joy. And this morning, we will see how we can have that joy that Elizabeth Elliott had. So if you will, turn with me to the passage that was read this morning, Luke chapter 1. And we will see joy on display in a few other people and for what that means for us today. So you go ahead and open your Bibles, turn them on to Luke chapter 1. We’re going to read verses 39 through 56. But before I do that, I’m going to pray for us, okay? Let’s pray.

Lord, thank you for today. God, we love you. We want to love you more. God, I know and I confess for myself, Lord, that my own sources of joy, God, I’m just tempted to find them: Becca’s approval of me, my kids’ obedience toward me. God, however my stomach feels. Lord, I’m tempted to find my joy in what the weather’s like outside or if I get what I want. And Lord, none of that stuff lasts. I know it doesn’t, but Lord, I just have to be reminded of that. Father, I imagine there may be somebody in the room that’s in my position. And we need to be reminded of where true joy comes from. Lord, can you please get a hold of me and my words this morning? Can you get a hold of us and teach us where our joy comes from? Please, Lord. God, we love you. Amen.

How about this? I’m going to read Luke chapter 1, verses 39 through 56. The words will be on your screen. You can read it with me. “In those days, Mary set out and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judah, where she entered Zachariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped inside of her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Then she exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women and your child will be blessed. How could this happen to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For you see, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped for joy inside me. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord will fulfill what He has spoken to her.’ And Mary said, ’My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, because He has looked with favor on the humble condition of His servant. Surely from now on, all generations will call me blessed because the Mighty One has done great things for me and His name is holy. His mercy is from generation to generation on those who fear Him. He has done a mighty deed with His arm. He has scattered the proud because of the thoughts of their hearts. He has toppled the mighty from their thrones and exalted the lowly. He has satisfied the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty. He has helped His servant Israel, remembering His mercy to Abraham and His descendants forever, just as He spoke to our ancestors. And Mary stayed there with her about three months. Then she returned to her own home.

What a barrage of 15 or so verses for us. And I need to give us some context for where this moment comes. So Elizabeth and Mary, there are a couple of relatives, that are both given incredible promises. However, what you need to know is that Elizabeth is, we’ll say advanced in age. And she and her husband, Zachariah had been trying to have children for an entire marriage, but can’t. Mary on the other hand is extremely young, only actually engaged, and is still, as the Bible describes, a virgin.

Yet God sends the angel Gabriel to both. He sends the angel Gabriel to Elizabeth and says, “Hey, regardless of your marriage lifetime of barrenness, I am going to give you a son and his name will be John.” The angel then also goes to Mary and says, “Hey, regardless of the fact that you’re not married yet, you’re not married yet, and you haven’t actually been with your, in, in, engaged husband, I’m going to give you a son and his name will be Jesus.”

The promise about John is that he would become what we know, John the Baptist, Jesus, His name literally meaning God saves. In verse 32 of chapter one, it says that he will be great and will be called the son of the most high and the Lord God will give him the throne of His father, David. Two incredible promises given to two unlikely moms in really small towns in a corner country of the world 2000 years ago. Both women though readily accept their God given role in this unfolding story of God saving His people.

And our text comes immediately after Mary conceives Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit while Elizabeth is entering the late stages of her pregnancy. So all of that brings us back to verse 39, which brings us back to our passage for the morning, which teaches us one rock solid truth that you can base your life on. That truth is this. No Jesus, no joy. Let me say that again. No Jesus, you have no joy in this life. You have happenings that may give you happiness for a moment. But if you know Jesus, then you can know joy despite or regardless of whatever you go through in this world.

So in this passage, there are four people that know Jesus and because of that, they know joy. And the first one is John. Immediately after Mary gets to Elizabeth’s house and says, “Hey,” joy jumps off the page as the unborn baby John leaps in his mother’s womb. Said differently, John had joy at Mary’s voice. And that’s what we see immediately. The baby John leaps inside of Elizabeth. That word for leaped is the same word for an animal skipping with sheer delight.

I do not have a dog. My in-laws have a dog. And whenever we get to their house, I can hear that dog leaping and jumping with delight before I ever enter the room. Because Millie is desperately hoping I’m going to throw a ball with her. And if I do choose to be so benevolent and kind as to throw a ball with her, she will lose it with happiness. That is the same word used for the unborn baby John losing it for happiness inside of Elizabeth. This is not just a kick to the diaphragm. This is a full-fledged Spider-Man something. I don’t know. That’s what this is inside of his mom.

So why would he do that? Because on some level, and Becca’s over there making fun of me. I don’t know why she’s making fun of me, but she is. On some level, John, though unborn, knew his role. In fact, the Bible says in verses 15 through 17 of chapter 1, read this with me. For he, John, will be great in the sight of the Lord, and he will never drink wine or beer. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit while still in his mother’s womb. He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before Him, the Lord, in the spirit and the power of Elijah to turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the disobedient to the understanding of righteousness, to make ready for The Lord, a people prepared. John would be born to go. John would be born to turn many towards God. He would be born to go before Jesus, the long-awaited one. He would be born to prepare the way for the coming Messiah, the one that we have been promised and we are longing for. John would be born to proclaim the way of the Lord.

John’s joy was wrapped up in the presence of Jesus in the room. Mary had just barely conceived Jesus. John wasn’t even born yet, and he is already doing Spider-Man things in his mom’s womb. He is already excited. He’s already leaping for joy because he knows the time has come. The most important 33 years in the history of humanity was about to dawn. The sun of righteousness was about to rise on a land of darkness and shine on a people living in darkness to offer hope and joy and peace and love to a world that needs it. John, though unborn, knew this on some level because the Holy Spirit was with Him. That is this first person of joy in our passage.

But it’s not just Mary’s voice that provokes joy for John. It’s Mary’s belief that provokes joy for Elizabeth. Mary’s belief provokes joy for Elizabeth. John’s not the only one filled with the Holy Spirit here because verse 41. I just read it. It says that Elizabeth herself was filled with the Spirit and the Spirit’s presence inside of Elizabeth provokes or produces a song through Elizabeth. It’s a song about how Mary is blessed in her belief.

And when Elizabeth says, “Blessed are you among women,” she’s not invoking something. She’s not giving an incantation of something. She is recognizing something. She is recognizing and affirming the fact that she has been chosen by God and Mary has taken God’s word for what it is. Mary is believing God’s promises to her. That’s what makes her blessed. That Elizabeth knew that Mary was not just any old ordinary virgin mother of God, but Mary was the mother of her own Lord. Mary bore the king of the world, the true ruler of the universe. And Mary’s belief in God’s promise meant that His plan to save was beginning a new phase.

God is not just plotting out crops, tilling soil, or planting seed. God’s not even watering or waiting. At this point, God’s sickle is almost to the harvest and fruit of God’s plan is coming into blossom. Something new is happening. And Mary’s belief in God’s word was bringing it in. And Elizabeth recognized that. And I think Mary’s surrender to God’s plan goes with belief in His promise. That’s a faith example for us to follow. Mary totally submitted to and accepted God’s plan for her life.

And we’re not even really getting to her yet, but it makes me wonder if Elizabeth had joy at Mary’s belief in God’s word, who else might have joy if I believe in God’s word too? This past week, Becca and I both had opportunities to speak with folks that don’t go to church, don’t know Jesus, but we would call them spiritually sensitive. We had those conversations because we believe that what God’s word says is true. The gospel is God’s power to save, and it’s our job to proclaim it to people that don’t know Him. So we shared the truth of God’s hope with people, and they’re interested. And I don’t think I’m anything special. I usually fumble those conversations. I usually wish there was something I could take back or clean up next time. But the thing is, we believe God’s promise, and we’re just wondering who might have joy because we believe. Who might have joy in your family because you would believe God’s promise? Who might have joy in your neighborhood, in your workplace? Who might have joy at Publix because you take God at His word? Mary believed God’s word, so Elizabeth had joy.

So Elizabeth sings a song. Mary, though, responds to Elizabeth with a song of her own in verses 46 through 55. And that’s where we discover that she’s the third person of joy. Mary, though, had joy in God’s favor. She had joy in God’s favor. She says, “My soul magnifies the Lord. My spirit rejoices in God, my Savior, because He has looked with favor on the humble condition of His servant. Surely from now on, all generations will call me blessed, because the mighty one has done great things for me, and His name is holy. His mercy is from generation to generation on those who fear Him,” and so forth.

So what’s she doing with her song? Mary is magnifying. That first word, magnify.

A lot of faith traditions name this song after that. They call it the Magnificat. That’s not really something that we do a whole lot in our community, I don’t think. But it’s a lot of folks around the world preaching on the Magnificat this morning.

So what is she doing? She’s magnifying. Which does not mean that Mary is making God bigger. It means that Mary is increasing the perspective of God. It’s the difference between looking at the Grand Canyon from two miles away versus looking at it from two feet away. You don’t make the Grand Canyon any bigger by getting closer, but whenever you get closer, it looks bigger. And that’s what Mary is doing. She is increasing the perspective of God by magnifying Him.

So who is she magnifying specifically? She calls God, God my Savior. Fascinating. Mary recognizes in this song that she needs saving. Mary is just like you and me. Mary is a person who has committed sin against the heart of the Father. And she needs to be saved. Now what’s different is that she would deliver the one that would deliver her. As Julie sang about earlier.

So why would Mary magnify God? It’s because God has looked on Mary with favor in her humble condition. I think that Mary is not chosen for her perfection, but by God’s kindness. She had an undeserved and unexpected role in God’s plan. And Mary reinforces the truth that she didn’t deserve this honor. She couldn’t earn it by her good works. She was just a willing servant who embraced the role that God had for her. Indeed, the mighty one had done a great work for her.

So let’s recap a little bit. John, though one born, had joy in Mary’s voice because she bore the Messiah that He would announce. Elizabeth had joy in Mary’s belief because she bore the Lord of all, the king that we need. And Mary had joy in God’s favor because He chose her to bore the Savior of the world.

And this is where it gets personal for us in 2023. Because it’s clear that God’s miraculous work in Mary is a part of His miraculous work for us. God’s favor in choosing Mary to be the mother of Jesus leads to God’s mercy and blessing His people. Which means you and I are the fourth person of joy in this passage. Or at least we can be if we want to be.

Our joy comes from God’s mercy. In Jesus, God has accomplished great things for us. Verse 51, the proud are scattered. Verse 52, the mighty are toppled as the lowly are exalted. Verse 53, the rich are sent away empty and unsatisfied while the hungry are brought near and satisfied with good things.

God has enlisted a displaced, engaged peasant girl from a small town in a foreign-occupied country to give birth to the Savior of the world, God Himself. In God’s economy, being proud and mighty and rich does not set us up for success. No. The world will tell you to find your joy and security in what you can do and what you have to offer. But those are flimsy sand foundations for you to live your life on. That is not what God wants for you. And Jesus’ own ministry flipped the script on that one.

Self-reliant strength is a virtue for us as Americans. It is not a virtue for us as kingdom citizens. In fact, dependence on God is God’s goal for us. Which would mean that weakness is an advantage in God’s kingdom. And Jesus came and He did not base His ministry on the strength of men and women. But in fact, He leveraged their weakness so that His strength would be the focus.

Indeed, God’s plans don’t make sense to us. Isaiah 55:8-9 say these verses and you know them. For my thoughts are not your thoughts and your ways are not my ways. For as heaven is higher than earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts.

Again, 1 Corinthians 1:25. God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom. God’s weakness is stronger than human strength. By His own wisdom in ways we would not use, God has created salvation for His people and squashed the strength of the world.

We don’t boast in our flesh nor in the stuff of this world. Friends, do not boast in yourself or in this world. We don’t boast in our abilities or our bank accounts. Not in our credit scores, dollars or experiences. We don’t trust in our faithfulness to our commitments or the greatness of our accomplishments. Certainly not in the heights of our intellect or in the ingenuity of our plans. From A to Z, we have no boast because God’s ways, plans, wisdoms and actions are just flat out greater than ours. We would not choose an unwed virgin from an oppressed country from 2,000 years ago to be the vessel of salvation for the world. We would not do that. But God did. God did.

We don’t boast about anything or at least we should not boast about anything because nothing but God can save or satisfy. In His mercy, God has caused salvation for us by reversing the wisdom of the world. And all of this is listed in past tense. Think about it. Jesus has not been born yet. He’s not healed the woman with the 12-year discharge yet. He has not flipped any tables in the temple yet. He has not died on the cross yet. He has certainly not risen from the grave yet. But Mary prays and sings in faith. And she says, He has, He has, He has, He has. It’s because what Mary trusted would happen and what we look back on as did happening is the fountain and foundation and the source and the root of our joy. You and me can be the beneficiaries of what Mary believed would happen. Are you? Do you have joy?

Because these acts were not just done for the ethnic people of Israel. It says all of Abraham’s descendants. Last I checked, you and I were not Jewish in our ethnicity. We are a bunch of Gentile people in Ravenel, South Carolina in 2023. Which means unless we have been brought into Abraham’s family by faith, we have no chance. But here’s the deal. We have because of what Jesus did for us. We studied this a month ago with God’s big story, Revelation 21 and 22, that there is a multi-ethnic, multinational family around the throne of the Lamb singing His name, His praises in the future to come, which includes you and me and people where Don and Martha are witnessing today, where Jim and Elizabeth Elliot proclaimed the gospel in Ecuador 70 years ago. All that have faith in Christ can come into this family and experience the joy that God has for us. Don’t believe me? One of us does.

If you don’t believe me, listen to what Ephesians 1 has to say. God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ. Like Mary back then, God also chose us in Christ, not as an afterthought addition, but from the foundation of the world. As Mary didn’t have to earn her way into God’s plan, we also are predestined to be adopted as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ. As Mary needed the Savior, so did we. And in Christ, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses. As Mary was brought in on God’s plan, so God has made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure that He purposed in Christ as a plan for the right time. As Mary was given something of infinite worth, so we have received an inheritance we do not deserve. Because we were predestined according to the plan of the One who works out everything, and I mean everything, in agreement with the purpose of His will, so that what? So that we who already put our hope in Christ might bring praise to His glory. And lest we worry that God may take away this lavish grace that He has freely given us, in Christ we are sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, the down payment of our inheritance.

Does anybody else have joy in this church this morning? I’m not satisfied. Does anybody have joy in this church this morning? Finally, we are on the receiving end of God’s plan to save, and He has made that plan happen. We ought to have inexcusable joy at this incredible truth. No baby Jesus means no real joy. So what does that mean for the person at Publix that just cut you off? What does that mean for the family member that has cut you out? What does that mean for the person you want to cut out? Advent means that Jesus is on the scene, and we can have joy in our hearts, and that joy is always supposed to produce joy in others.

Imagine having the deep abiding joy that Elizabeth Elliot was known to have. Joy that persists despite pain and difficulty. True joy based not on ideal circumstances, but based on Christ in her. Do you have joy today? When I was a child, the pastor at my home church would regularly say that there There are only three types of people in the room. There are people that just got out of pain, there are people in the middle of pain, and there are people that are about to go into pain. And boy, nothing tests my joy quite like a little discomfort, right? Here’s the deal. You’re in one of those groups. You’re either in it, you just came out of it, or you’re about to go into it again. And what’s going to ooze out of you whenever the stuff of life presses on you? Paul would say in Galatians that the fruit or one of the fruit of the Spirit is joy. If you have Christ in you, then you ought to bear joy despite your own abilities.

So here’s the thing. We’re going to sing a few more songs. If you’re going through something right now that’s testing your joy, I want to pray with you. And here’s a secret. You don’t have to wait until the second song that’s called the Invitational. You can come down anytime you want. And also, if you’re not quite convinced that you know this Jesus guy, I’d love to pray with you too. So how about this? I’m going to pray for us while Donnie comes back up front, and we’re going to sing a few more songs. If you’d like to pray together, I’ll be up front and available for you.

Let’s pray. Lord, God, I feel a little bit like a phony, Lord, because I know just how disruptible my joy is. But God, I thank You about the truth that I mentioned earlier, that You do not show Your strength in my strength, but You show Your strength in my weakness, which actually means that my faltering joy is just another evidence of Your own wisdom and kindness. Wisdom that’s higher than my own wisdom and kindness that’s certainly higher than mine. God, I pray for the people of Sauldam Baptist Church that we would have real joy rooted in what Your Son came to do and what He did and what He will do again. I pray that everybody in this room would step into the story and be the fourth person, someone that has joy because of what You have done. Lord, I pray for folks in the room that don’t know You yet, and I pray that today that would change. Holy Spirit, can You please draw them to Yourself? Please, Lord, I want to pray for the folks that are not here with us this morning. God, asking that though they weren’t here, You would still give them deep abiding joy too. God, this is my offering to You, and I’m asking that You would do something with it. I love You.