Advent Joy

• Things get dull over time, don’t they?
  • I remember the first time I made a really great omelet.
    • They’re harder to do than you might imagine
    • I worked hard, not the most coordinated person in the world
    • Man, was I happy.
  • Now, I can practically bang out a cheese omelet with my eyes closed.
    • While that’s not, it doesn’t make me happy.
  • Second time you watch MOST movies, they get a little less enjoyable
    • You see plot holes, bad acting, the second time through.
  • Happiness needs novelty, newness otherwise it ceases to make quite as happy.
  • Most joyful feeling in the world
    • Ryan story – reading letters
    • There was a lot going on in my life at the time
      • Wasn’t happy at church I was serving
      • Other struggles of life
      • BOOM JOY
        • Saw his, became joyous
          • Reminded me of the whole sweep of the Christian story
        • Joy is always, well, joyful!

Differences

• Happiness is. Feeling generally tied to exterior things, joy is more of an inner satisfaction. 
• Happiness can be achieved singularly, joy requires another participant (God, other people, etc.)
• Happiness can be synthesized
  • Big Macs make me pretty happy
  • Dan Gilbert (2014) made a big deal about synthesizing happiness.
    • It’s a way to convert it to joy but, well, have you heard of either synthetic happiness or Dan Gilbert?
      • It can’t be done consistently without a Christian worldview
        • Why?
          • Hope falters without an understanding of The Kingdom.
          • There are somethings from which happiness cannot be synthesized WITHOUT an understanding of God.