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The Discipline of Celebration Although Jesus could see what was just up ahead – he didn’t enter the gates of Jerusalem like some defeated, dejected has-been, but with all the joy and celebration which a Triumphant King deserves. When Jesus rode down the slopes of the Mount of Olives on the donkey, (Luke 19:37)” the crowds of his disciples began to thank God and praise Him in loud voices for all the great things they had seen.” This is the true discipline of Celebration – it focuses on what God has done! And on what they have seen. And here’s a question for us too! How much do we focus our joy and celebration on noticing what God has done and is doing in us and around us? We should begin thinking about the discipline of Celebration from the understanding that our God is a Joyful God. Read the opening sentences of Genesis and we see that God is a Joyful God. He saw what He had made and it was very good. Which is another way of saying that god was very happy, very pleased, even ecstatic with what he had made.- and it was good! G.K. Chesterton says we will not understand God until we understand this – that God is the happiest being in the universe.” God also knows sorrow, of course. Jesus is remembered among other things, as a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” But the sorrow of God , like the anger of God, is his temporary response to a fallen world. Joy is God’s basic character. Joy is God’s eternal destiny. God is the happiest being in the universe. And God’s intention was that his creation would mirror His joy. And as products of His creation, creatures made in his image, we are to reflect God’s fierce joy in life. After teaching on the need for obedience, Jesus told his friends that his aim was that they should be filled with joy, but not just any kind of joy: “I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. The problem with people, according to Jesus, is not that we are too happy for God’s taste – but that we are not happy enough. C.S. Lewis said , “Joy is the serious business of heaven.” The Apostle Paul wrote “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.” The bible puts joy in the non-optional category. Joy is a command. Joylessness is a serious sin. So we are invited to rejoice in every moment of life, because every moment of life is a gift. And that means we may well have to cultivate that practice of enjoying every moment, if it doesn’t seem to be part of our nature. Joy is also necessary for our spiritual strength. Nehemiah says “the joy of the Lord is your strength.” We all know that when we are joyful people we are much stronger – in every way - ( and much better to be with) than when we are sad, disheartened, dejected ,mournful. So joyfulness and Celebration is a discipline well worth training in. So to end on a practical note – how can we grow in joyfulness? Here are a few suggestions which John Ortberg makes in his book.
So – 1. Begin the practice the discipline of Celebration; 2,. Begin now!
One day of the week eat foods you love, go and watch a fun movie – Wild hogs! - listen to music that you love, read books that you love and that refresh your spirit, wear clothes that make you happy and feel good, surround yourself with beauty - and as you do all these things , give thanks to God for his wonderful goodness. Take time to experience and savour joy, then direct your heart toward God so that you come ti know he is the giver of every good and perfect gift, and finally,
“Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.” At the end of this age God will dance with his people. As John the apostle says in Rev.21. “He will dwell with them; and they will be his people, and God himself with be with them and be their God, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more.”
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