JOY TO THE WORLD. One version is the famous Christmas carol. The other one is Three-Dog-Night’s Jeremiah the Bullfrog. Read on to understand the difference.

I attempted a sermon on the subject of JOY at our local chapel two weeks ago. It was not that easy. I am still not sure I got it right. I understand happiness and pleasure and even contentedness. But JOY is difficult to explain.

JOY leaves you speechless. It cannot really be explained with words. But I tried anyway. (Click here to listen).

So, what is JOY? We start with the birth of a baby, which makes JOY the centerpiece of Christmas celebrations. The fact that God came into the world as a Baby, not some glorious King, is still mind-boggling. Joseph and Mary experienced JOY in a barn when Jesus was born.

Old golfers like me well remember the US Open in 1999. Phil Mickelson was leading at Pinehurst on Sunday but his very pregnant wife was back in Arizona. On Saturday night, Phil said, "If I get the baby call, I will be on the jet for home, even if it is in the middle of the round." It's just a fact that the birth of a baby trumps all other priorities.

I was a judge in family court for 15 years. The only JOY in the family court were adoptions. The rest was misery, but oh the excruciating JOY of those adoptions when children were legally being born again.

Have you seen the new Netflix movie “JOY”? No matter what your ethics or politics tell you about Vetro Fertilization, the point remains— the birth of a baby brings JOY. The title of the movie comes from the true story of Louise Brown, the first baby born through IVF in 1978. The doctor gave her the middle name of JOY. And all agreed. It was perfect.

Three words that all start with “S” help me define JOY.

The first “S” is the connection to SORROW.

Joy and sorrow seem to be connected. Jesus mentioned these two words together in the Upper Room, knowing that his disciples would experience both sorrow and joy in the days ahead—“When a woman is in labor, she has pain because her time has come, but when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the suffering because of the JOY that a person has been born into the world. So, you also have sorrow now, but I will see you again. Your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take away your JOY from you.” (John 16:21-22).

There seems to be a coin with two sides— not heads and tails, but sorrow and JOY.

Psalm 126 says, “Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of JOY.” Psalm 30:5 tells us that “Weeping may last through the night, but JOY comes in the morning.”

Tears accompany JOY. God created Tears for both times of sorrow and JOY. Indeed, have you ever caught yourself weeping and confused about whether the tears are sorrow or JOY?

My brother passed away on October 31. I was in the room when he died. I've gotten so much JOY since then, remembering that moment when Danny moved into the presence of pure JOY- Jesus Himself. It leaves me speechless, but JOY is mixed with my sorrow. The occasional tear proves it. By the way, the baby picture above is Danny in 1953.

This will seem trivial to anyone who is not a dog-lover, but I had to put my dog down in March. Little Birdie Bea went to heaven as I held her in my arms. In the doctor’s waiting room, the nurse at the Vet’s office gave Birdie Bea a Hershey’s Kiss. She gobbled it down and looked at me with pure JOY as if to say, “Hey man, where has this been my whole life?” And now, just remembering that story as I write brings me a little slice of JOY, with a tear.

The second “S” is SURPRISE. You cannot plan JOY.

C.S. Lewis titled his Autobiography “Surprised by Joy”. The title and the idea come from a poem by the famed poet William Wordsworth. “Surprised by Joy” was an ode about the death of Wordsworth’s three-year-old daughter. She was gone— yet he was surprised by the joy of her memory. JOY surprised him in his sorrow.

Surprised by joy—- impatient as the Wind, I turned to share the transport. Oh! With whom but Thee, long buried in the silent Tomb. That spot which no vicissitude can find? Love, faithful love, recalled thee to my mind—-But how could I forget thee?—-- Through what power, even for the least division of an hour, have I been so beguiled as to be blind, To my most grievous loss!—- That thought’s return was the worst pang that sorrow ever bore, Save one, one only, when I stood forlorn, Knowing my heart’s best treasure was no more; That neither present time, nor years unborn Could to my sight that heavenly face restore.

Along his path from atheism to Christ, CS Lewis kept running into this thing called JOY, which for him were surprising little moments that shocked him into thinking “WOW, there's something out there beyond myself.” These little snippets of JOY were signposts along the way in his journey to faith. It was God showing up and saying ‘I'm here’.

These incidents of JOY are typically like smoke. Just a quick moment and they are gone. All we know is that we want it to happen again.

My third “S” is the most obvious one — SINGING. Joy brings singing and singing brings JOY.

“Joy to the World, the Lord is Come.” This famous Isaac Watts tune from 1719 is a must-sing classic during the Christmas season. George Frideric Handel, of Hallelujah Chorus fame, is credited with the original tune.

But be careful with this Singing bit. The rock-n-roll world is full of counterfeits…!

Three-Dog-Night’s drug-induced version of “JOY TO THE WORLD” tells us that Jeremiah was a Bullfrog! The original lyric said that Jeremiah was a Prophet, but somewhere in the mind of a drug-drenched Hoyt Axton and lead singer Chuck Negron, the prophet became a bullfrog!

Jeremiah was a bullfrog
Was a good friend of mine
I never understood a single word he said
But I helped him a-drink his wine
And he always had some mighty fine wine

Singin' joy to the world
All the boys and girls now
Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea
Joy to you and me

And if I were the king of the world
Tell you what I'd do
I'd throw away the cars and the bars and the war
Make sweet love to you

Sing it now, joy to the world
All the boys and girls
Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea
Joy to you and me

You know I love the ladies
Love to have my fun
I'm a high-life flyer and a rainbow rider
A straight shootin' son-of-a-gun
I said a straight shootin' son-of-a-gun

You can see that Three-Dog-Night’s version was based on alcohol, drugs, sex, and rock-n-roll. Axton struggled with cocaine addiction until his sad death at 61. Chuck Negron was on top of the world with Three-Dog-Night as the lead singer in 1972 but a homeless drug addict by 1991.

So the contrast between the JOY of Isaac Watts in 1719 and the JOY of Chuck Negron in 1971 is quite stark.

So, let’s finish with three more comments on the real Isaac Watts classic version of 1719. First, ‘Joy to the World’ was not intended as a Christmas carol. It was about the Second Coming. It was not about the first coming. It is: ‘Joy to the world; the Lord is come’. Meaning, that Jesus is coming again.

As for me, my mind does not run to the second coming of Rapture and Revelation. Instead, the most authentic Second Coming is the one that everybody needs to experience NOW. You heard me—- the Second Coming should be NOW. It should not be a future event only.

There is a second coming that must come for everybody —— when He comes into your heart. He came into my heart on February 6, 1970. That was my second coming. I presume Jesus is coming again on the clouds as I have been taught from childhood, but honestly, I am not waiting for that to happen. He has already come to me. And when he comes again for me at death, it will be JOY- pure JOY.

Second, Isaac Watts reminds us of Nature Sings. “Let heaven and nature sing, let heaven and nature sing”.

Sue and I experience this nature singing from our back porch, overlooking a lake and the beauty of a golf course in Alabama. But it is most real for me in Scotland. I wrote about it in Player’s Progress when the plaque inside the Dornoch Cathedral pointed me to the beauty of Links Golf. A walk around a links golf course lets you Look Up at the heavens, Look Out at the sea, Look Down at the earth, and last, Look In to find your soul.

Once upon a time, I played golf mostly for the scorecard and the competition. I was sadly stuck on myself and the numbers of the game. But as I have gotten older, it is now the JOY of nature singing to me on the course. The wind, the grass, the sky, the walk on a field created by God. No bogey can ruin the songs that nature sings.

But third and last, the Watts tune ends with “the wonders of His love”. WONDER- one of the greatest words in the English language. It's something that's sort of unexplainable. The wonders of His love have allowed you to be alive. It's a miracle to be born again, but it's a miracle to be born too. The wonders of His love.

We all remember the great Christmas movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” with Jimmy Stewart. The angel comes to save George Bailey by helping him see how much good he has done on the earth. What if George had never been born? It would have been Potterville and the town would have been full of poor and destitute folks only. So let's finish with this thought— just like George Bailey, pause for a moment and imagine if you’d never been born. And thank God for the wonderful life he has given you!

And even more, what if Jesus had never been born? There'd be no hymns. There'd be no Christmas carols. There would be no Bible. There would be no church. There would be no bride of Christ, which is you and me. Atheists would rule the world.

It would be the ‘days of Noah’ when all the people did only evil all the time. All the people. Did only evil. All the time. That's why the flood came, and God said, we must start all over. And that would be permanent if the Bible stopped at Malachi— if Jesus hadn't been born. But Jesus was born. And Christmas is our remembrance of the blessings of Bethlehem.

And so…. we end with one of the greatest connections between Singing and Joy.

Beethoven’s greatest work, supposedly his 9th Symphony, was finished in 1824, and is known as ‘Ode to Joy’. In 1907, Henry van Dyke finally put words to the masterpiece and we now sing Joy, Joyful, We Adore Thee all around the world. And not just in churches. It is the anthem of the European Parliament and more. JOY seems to be possible for everyone, whether Christian or not. Check out this link - Flash Mob in London: Ode to Joy (2019).

But the rest of Beethoven’s story is that by the time he finished “Ode to Joy”, he was deaf. He could not physically hear the tune. It did not matter because it was all in his head. This JOY can live between your ears and live in your heart. It is not dependent on circumstances.

A perfect example is Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was arrested and murdered by Hitler in April 1945. His biography is clear, however, that he had JOY in prison those last two years. You can have JOY in prison. You don't have to live on a golf course or experience the sea of Links golf in Scotland to experience JOY.

You just need an awareness of the gift which God will give you, IF you will pay attention all around you. JOY is waiting on us all.

Lettie Cowman adds insight in Streams in the Desert (December 11). “My Goal is God Himself, not joy, not peace.” You can't make JOY happen, but you can know God. And He will give you JOY along the way.

AMEN.