Joy as a reponse

At Ichthus, the "preacher" for the Saturday evening service was Jon Weece. He is the senior pastor at Southland Christian Chruch in Lexington.

His sermon on Saturday was based on the scripture in Acts 16:16-40. It's the story of Paul and Silas in prison and how they sang and prayed while they were chained. Joy in a time of torture and pain. How is it that they could find joy in this situation.

Because joy is not happiness. Weece quoted Karl Barth, who called joy "the defiant nevertheless." He also said that if we miss out on joy, then we miss out on our reason for existence.

Does that sound like strong words? I think he may be right. Remember, joy is not happiness. Weece called joy the natural response to the grace of God. In fact, he said that joy and grace share the same root word. he said that joy is kara and grace is karos. If grace is the love of God, then joy is our response to that love. It isn't dependent upon external forces -- it's a response to the activity of God in our lives.

Back when our church started natural church development, one of the judgments about worship was whether the worship in our church was joyful. This gave some people pause, because they didn't think that worship should always be joyful. But if we think of joy as our response to the grace of God, then worship should always be joyful. It should always be a response to the grace of God. In fact, Weece described worship as that which prepares you for heaven.

According to Weece, Christ can displace the worry at the center of your life with joy. Doesn't that sound great? Know what it sounds like to me? Peace.

Image: Tiny little bee in St. John's Wort, and a close up of the bee.