I hope everyone is having a good time today here at church. We’ve got a lot to celebrate today. I apologize to the six of you who were listening to the sermon last week and heard me say we were going to be talking about a God of Second Chances today...tune in next week for that one…but today I just felt like we needed to celebrate. Let me tell you something, if by the end of this service or the end of the fall party tonight you aren’t excited or happy or in a good mood, check your pulse. Because this is a fantastic day. This is a day for worshipping God, because this is the day that the Lord has made, so let us rejoice and be glad in it! Someone say amen. … This is a good day to make some noise, ok?
I know that for a lot of you Sunday is a good day to be quiet, maybe even catch
a nap during church, but not today. Today is a good day to be a little rowdy.
We’re singing Christmas carols in September. We’ve had some great music from
Today, we worship our God who is a God of Celebration. And we are going to worship him by practicing the spiritual discipline of celebration. And celebration really is a spiritual discipline. We are called to celebrate, even when we don’t feel like it. Philippians 4:4 says, “Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say, rejoice!” It doesn’t say, “Rejoice in the Lord when you feel like it” or “when God gives you an extra blessing” or “just on Sunday mornings.” It says rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS. Celebration is a discipline. We are commanded to celebrate.
So let’s talk about what that does and does not look like. First, celebrating
as a discipline does not mean that we celebrate things that are evil. There’s
some popular teaching going around that says we should praise God for the
difficulties that come into our lives. Now that’s alright if what you are
praising God for is the ability to see down the road where you have gotten
through the time of difficulty, but we shouldn’t praise God for manifestations
of evil in our lives. We don’t praise God for the flood that
We also don’t celebrate out of force or habit. In other words, celebration should not be insincere. How many of you have a scene like this at your home every now and then? You sit down for dinner with your spouse and kids and you say, “Alright let’s pray. Thank you God for this wonderful food and for the hands that prepared it. In Jesus name, amen. Are you kidding me? Liver again! I hate liver!” So what are you thanking God for if you don’t really mean it? Our celebration should be sincere and meaningful.
Now, having said that, we must also realize that each and every person in this room, with no exceptions, has reason to sincerely celebrate! If you are here this morning and you are alive and ticking, and you are in the presence of people who love you, and you are surrounded by the spirit of the God who loves and has created you and has sustained your life, then you have a reason to celebrate this morning. If Jesus Christ has saved your life, you DEFINITELY have reason to celebrate this morning! But why does God want us to celebrate? What is the importance of celebration?
I believe that there are some major benefits to celebration. First, those of you who read Reader’s Digest might know that laughter is the best medicine. There is some medical evidence out there that good, wholesome, genuine laughter actually can work like an anesthetic and can release hormones that aid in the healing process. I think we’ve all heard this before: laughter is healthy. Laughter is the best medicine.
And not just for serious illnesses, but celebration can also be the antidote for the depression and sadness that plagues many of us in our lives. It’s the type of society we live in. There are so many people who are living with depression and anxiety and constant sadness. I’m not saying that celebration will necessarily cure clinical depression, but I sure don’t see how it could have a negative effect. You know the writer of Ecclesiastes was pretty bowed down with depression and a sense of meaninglessness. So what does he finally resolve? He figures that it is good to eat, drink, and be merry. In other words, stop focusing on all that is wrong and start celebrating all that is right! And in doing so, celebration creates more celebration.
Second, I believe that celebration does wonders in saving us from taking ourselves too seriously. In other words, no one should leave a church on Sunday morning looking like they just came out of a funeral. Christians in this country have done a wonderful job of gaining a reputation as stuffy, boring, serious people. That’s ridiculous. Of all the people in all the world, Christians should be the most alive, free, and interesting. Celebration as a discipline helps us towards that end. It adds festivity and hilarity to our lives. At some point, we have to be able to just laugh at ourselves.
I really appreciate the custom of the festival of fools that they used to have in medieval times. If you’ve ever seen the Disney cartoon version of the Hunchback of Notre Dame, then you know what I’m talking about. For one day a year, you could poke fun at anyone and get away with it. Employees could mock their bosses. Political leaders were roasted. We don’t necessarily need the drunkenness and debauchery that went along with the festival, but I think it is important that we take opportunities to stop taking ourselves so seriously and laugh at ourselves from time to time.
Stemming from this, a third benefit of celebration is that it gives us perspective. When we laugh at ourselves, we can come to see that the importance that we place upon ourselves and the things that we do is not as great as maybe we think it is. Celebration is the great equalizer. During a time of celebration, the high and mighty are brought back down to reality, and the weak and lowly forget their lot in life and instead celebrate it’s goodness. Together, the rich and poor, the powerful and powerless all celebrate the glory and wonder and goodness of our God.
Finally, if you are still looking for a reason to celebrate, none of this has yet convinced you, let me tell you why I think that may be. The scriptures tell us that true celebration, true joy come from obedience. That seems like a paradox, doesn’t it? How can joy come from something boring like obedience? First, let me say that the reason this doesn’t make sense is that we live in a world that believes that joy comes from breaking all the rules. Ask anyone in a prison, and they’ll tell you that ultimately, that’s just not true. True joy comes from obedience. At one point in Jesus’ ministry, after hearing Jesus speak a woman cried out, “Blessed is the mother who gave birth to you!” And Jesus replied, “Even more blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” It is more blessed, more joy comes from keeping the word of God than from being the mother of the Messiah! That’s a huge promise!
And it makes so much sense. Of course joy comes from following the instructions of the one who ordered our lives! True joy and celebration result when we are obedient to the giver and sustainer of our lives. So if you are having trouble finding a reason to celebrate, maybe you need to look at your obedience to the One who is the ultimate source of joy. God is the giver of everything that is good. Joy and celebration are good. So if you are having trouble finding joy in your life, maybe you need to draw closer to the God who is the giver of joy.
That doesn’t mean that you come to church on Sunday mornings for your “joy fix.” We aren’t supposed to come to church to get us enough joy to make it through the toil and misery of the next six days. Hear this clearly: The joy of God isn’t meant to just help us “get through” life. The joy of God is meant to transform our lives. God turns our mourning into dancing. The joy of God isn’t a tool to distract us from the bad stuff going on in our lives. The joy of God is a tool that changes the bad stuff into good stuff.
So we know that we are supposed to celebrate, but what does that look like? What does it look like to celebrate God? What are some practical ways that we can do this? Well, today a really easy answer is to join us at the fall party tonight. We’re going to celebrate! We’re going to have a good time together celebrating life, friendship, and the blessings of God. We’re going to play games and eat some really good food and listen to some fun music. That’s celebrating life! It’s good to step back every now and then and realize how blessed we are, and to just celebrate it! And since celebration is primarily a corporate discipline, one that we practice together as a body of Christ, this party tonight will be a great place to practice the discipline of celebration.
Laughter, as I said, is a great was to celebrate. Jesus had a sense of humor. Some of the parables are downright funny. It’s ok to let go and just have a good laugh. Laugh at yourself. There are some Christians who constantly feel the need to say something profound. Lots of them are on seminary campuses…campi? Campuses? They go to seminary. And they are boring! There is no joy in their lives! How many people want to join a religion like this? (Frown face) “Would you like to know Jesus as your personal savior? He can fill your life with joy.” No one!
You know there have been times when in the midst of worship or devotions or prayer, I’ve just started to laugh. I probably look crazy while I’m doing it, but sometimes I just get so overwhelmed by God and his goodness and how much I don’t deserve his grace, that it’s almost comical! So let yourself laugh.
Let me share with you one of the goals of my life. I want to be so full of joy and laughter and happiness that when I’m an old man, like when I hit 100 and I’m all wrinkly, I want the wrinkles in my face to the wrinkles that come from years of smiling. You know? I want it to be so that you literally cannot wipe the smile off my face. I want people to be able to physically see the joy that Christ has brought into my life.
We can also celebrate God through using the creative gifts he has given us. I know a man who has two unique gifts: woodcarving and growing pumpkins the size of a small car. That can be a celebration! I know a lot of musically inclined people, and I’m forcing some of them to celebrate through music in just a little bit. I know people who dance and sing and celebrate that way. I know artists who celebrate through painting or sculpting or sewing. I know some master cooks here in this church that show up on the first Sunday of the month at potluck dinners. This is celebration! The Bible tells us that whether we eat, drink, or whatever we do, we should do it all for the glory of God. Celebrate God through using your creative gifts!
We can also celebrate God through our various holidays and festivals. The Jewish culture had a great festival called the year of Jubilee. I’d love to bring this one back: it’s a year when all debts are forgiven and all loans are canceled. Raise your hand if you’d like that to become a national holiday! But we’ve got some other really good ones: Christmas and Easter are the two big ones, but why not have some others? Halloween doesn’t have to be about evil and darkness, it can be about fun and candy and harvest and even the light of the world coming into the darkness and shining his light before all men! Celebrate and have a good time! Celebrate family holidays like birthdays and anniversaries in the spirit of God and enjoy each other’s company.
Above all, remember this. There is a reason that we celebrate. One main reason.
The reason is this: God is worthy of our celebration. He is worthy! He has
blessed us here on earth, and will continue to bless us in the time to come. If
the musicians that I coerced into playing would come up, we’re going to sing a
closing song, and the words will be on the wall. This will probably be a new
song for a lot of you, but the fact of the matter is, none of our hymns
captured the excitement and celebration of this day the way that this song
does. I want you to really listen to the words and sing along. Even if you
don’t know it, sing it out. Sing it loud. The song is called “How Can I Keep
from Singing?” And I really hope that at some point this is true for us: that
the love of God and the grace of Jesus is so overpowering in our lives, that we
can’t help but sing or shout or make a joyful noise to God. So even if you
don’t know this song, and even if you can’t carry a tune in a bucket, I want
you to sing out, because we aren’t singing for each other. We’re singing for
the God who created us and gives us joy in our lives.
Van Buren United
Pastor Dan Metzger