After discussing Philippians 2:19-3:3, we focused on the joy Paul urges the Philippians to have. First, we looked at some other Scriptures about joy.
Psalm 5:11
Psalm 16:11
Psalm 19:8a
Psalm 21:6
Psalm 28:7
Psalm 66:1
Psalm 67:4
Psalm 68:3
Psalm 71:23
Psalm 126:3
Proverbs 29:6
Isaiah 12:3
Luke 2:10
John 15:11
John 17:13
Romans 15:13
Galatians 5:22
Hebrews 1:9
James 1:2
Nehemiah 8:10
We started out by showing the kids a cute YouTube called Snap Your Joy about a company that set up a camera to capture the joy on people's faces when they knew they were being photographed. Very cute. We also talked about some things that typically bring us joy.
Next we took two balloon "friends", Mr. Hothead and Mr. Level-Headed and talked about their joy. Mr. Hothead had evident joy on his face, but when held over the open flame of a candle, which represented troubles and problems, his lack of inner joy was soon evident...as he exploded into bits all over the place! We talked about how that is a good representation of our reactions to trials sometimes as well. Mr. Hothead's fellow balloon man, Mr. Level-Headed had the same look of joy of his face, but quite a different reaction to the troubles that soon plagued him. When held over the open flame....nothing! The smile remained, no eruptions or angry outbursts. What was the difference between Mr. Level-Headed and Mr. Hothead? Mr. Level-Headed was filled with some water, which represented being filled with God's Holy Spirit. When we are filled with that same Holy Spirit, we also are capable of responding to troubles and problems with calm...and even with joy!
Next, we took a 1 cm in diameter and 6" long copper tube to teach the kids how Jesus bears the heat of our troubles and problems so we don't have to stress over them and can still live in joy regardless of our circumstances. We showed the kids how a regular piece of paper, when held to a candle flame, will burn and disintegrate. This is usually a picture of how we handle difficult circumstances. We get angry, lose our cool, shrivel up and retreat, burn out, etc... Next, we wrapped an exact replica of that piece of paper around the copper tube and held it into the flame as well. Guess what? The paper never burned! Why? Because we had ourselves wrapped around the truths of God and His promises. The lesson? When we are on our own over the fire, we are toast! We can't take the heat....not and remain joyful! But when our lives are wrapped tightly around God...through prayer, fellowship with Him, and His Word...He takes the heat for us. God helps us deal with the difficult times in life and maintain our constant joy by taking the heat off of us.
And why is it so important to remain joyful? Matthew Henry said, "The joy of the Lord will arm us against the assaults of our spiritual enemies and put our mouths out of taste for those pleasures with which the tempter baits his hooks." Think of fish. When they are full of the joy of being fish, living in the lake or pond or ocean...wherever they live, they are content with what they have there...krill, fish, algae, whatever they eat. When they are not happy with their surroundings and their dinner choices, they can be easily tempted by some colorful lure with a big fat yummy worm on the end of it...a lure that will literally lure them to their demise!
For us as Christians, when we are so full of the joy of the Lord we could just burst, we will have no desire to be tempted by anything the enemy dangles in front of us....for two reasons. First, we're full of the joy of the Lord, nothing is lacking....there are no empty spaces to fill up with anything else. Second, the joy of the Lord gives us a desire to praise God and give Him some of that joy back. Falling into sinful temptations will only grieve the Lord and consequently, rob us of our joy.
So, "Rejoice in the Lord always! Again, I say rejoice!"
