There is an odd passage of Scripture in Luke chapter 10.  I say odd because it is the only place where it is said of Jesus that he was full of joy in the Holy Spirit.  Jesus was full of joy.  That is kind of different.  Remember last week Jesus was anything but joyous.  He was irritated at the disciples and even rebuked them.  But just a week later, in our time, Jesus is full of joy at what had happened through the disciples.  That is good news.  We humans can please Jesus. 

That leaves me with an interesting proposition for you this morning. Do you want to fill Jesus with joy?  Wouldn’t it be great to be able to please Jesus?  Do you want any more in your life than to please your creator; to fill him with joy?  Well, this morning we are going to find out how to do that; at least one way.  Last week we found out how to aggravate Jesus, and we learned how not to do that, but this week we have a much more pleasant sermon. This week you can say to me, “I enjoyed your sermon.” I am going to tell you how to make Jesus happy.  Does that sound good?

Well, let’s begin in Luke chapter 10. 

Luke 10:1-2 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go.  He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” 

Jesus introduces a new metaphor about how we should think about who we are.   There is a mindset, a change of paradigms, here that we need to adopt. In order to be in a position to fill Jesus with joy we need to adopt a new metaphor about who we are. 

We need to think of the world as a huge field of grain.  Everyone who has not become a disciple of Jesus is a stalk of grain in this huge field. Those who need to hear the message of Jesus need harvesting. We are the harvesters.  So, mental-paradigm shift; I see myself going into the huge field with this big sickle.  I don’t think a John Deere tracker works well with our metaphor.  I take sickle and harvest the grain. I am a harvester. 

After I have taken a few swings and realize this is going to be hard work, what do I want?  More harvesters, so I pray.  This shift of thinking is the beginning, getting in the game, of what makes Jesus full of joy but that is not what Luke says fills Jesus full of joy.   Let’s keep reading. 

Luke 10:3-9  “Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.  Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.  "When you enter a house, first say, 'Peace to this house.'  If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you.  Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.  "When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you.  Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The kingdom of God is near you.'”

I am getting a sense of urgency about all this.  As we move into the world as harvesters, we are to move with a sense of the immediate. There is a deadline.  There are lots to do and little time to do it.  Jesus tells his disciples not to dilly dally around, or worry about preparations, or even chat along the way, but to get to it.  “Get busy harvesting.” What you are doing is too important to allow the mundane to get in your way.

You have a message with a time limit, “The kingdom of God is near you.”  So, we need to tweak our paradigm.  Not only are we harvesters, there is more grain to harvest than we are going to get to before time is up.  There has to be this sense of urgency as we go into the huge field.

I a going to skip this “Lambs among wolves” now because I don’t want to give away what it is that makes Jesus full of joy till the end of the sermon.  But if you are playing Blues Clues, get out your notebooks and write down, “I’m sending you out like lambs among wolves.”

But still Luke does not say Jesus is full of joy.  Keep going. 

Luke 10:10-16   But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say,   'Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God is near.'  I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.   "Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.  But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you.  And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths.   "He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you, rejects me; but he who rejects me, rejects him who sent me."

Okay we are still working on our paradigm shift.  We are harvesters working in the huge field, there is a sense of urgency, time is running out, but as we attempt to use our sickle some of the grain is going to refuse to be cut.  That is a bit shocking, “Grain that doesn’t want to be cut?”  But we knew this already.  There are people all around us who just don’t want to think about the kingdom of God and that it is near.

So, what should be our attitude about this?  You move on.  You don’t allow the stubborn grain to deter you from harvesting others.  Setting the metaphor aside for a moment, isn’t that exactly what we do?  We allow what others think about Christianity and church and Jesus affect whether or not we share the good news about Jesus with them.  As harvesters there is more grain in the huge field than we will ever get to, so just move on.  Let them know that the “Kingdom of Heaven is near” and keep going.
I want to add something scary here; a sidebar.  If it will be harder on Korazin! and Bethsaida than Tyre and Sidon, I suspect it will even be harder on the US of A.  We have every opportunity to know Jesus and every tool to teach Jesus and all the money we need to spread Jesus.  It could be harder on us if we reject the message. There is going to be a day of reckoning.  Well, no joy here, so let’s quickly move on. We are getting closer.  The 72 come back to Jesus in the next verse. 

Luke 10:17-20  The seventy-two returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name."  He replied, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.   I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.  However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."

We are getting closer.  Three times he mentions joy.  The disciples get back from their mission and Jesus shares their excitement. They have done what Jesus sent them to do. And they are fired up that they were able to cast out demons.  Remember last week, there was a problem with just that and Jesus was upset that they were not able to cast the demon from the boy.  But now they are successful and they are excited about defeating Satan. 

Jesus joins them in their excitement. He knows what they feel like because he too has cast Satan out of heaven.  But then he tells them there is really something more important to be excited about.  Pressing our metaphor; we are harvester, huge field, there is a sense of urgency, some of the grain is going to refuse to be cut, but here is the exciting part, some will want to be harvested.  As you go into the Master’s grain field he will give you power to do his will.  He will give you power to defeat Satan! You are a powerful harvester in the huge grain field. 

And that is wonderful enough but Jesus says what is even better is your name is written in heaven.  When our names are written in heaven our victory over Satan is complete.  Isn’t that cool that are names are in heaven?  How do you suppose that works?  Is there a book; a big old musty book with an ancient cover that is opened up and written in with a quill?  Is it etched in a stone monolith like the Vietnam Memorial? Is it in the big computer in the Sky? Tanya and I have recently received our passports in preparation of the big cruise.  My name is all shiny and hologramy and it allows me to enter other places.  My name is written on the eternal passport.  It says, “Harvester Timothy Donald Stidham.”  Visa stamped on the side which says, “Heaven.”  Now that is something to rejoice over.  Harvesters have their names on the eternal passport!  Is that something you want? 

That is what we are to rejoice over but that is not exactly what fills Jesus with joy.  Keep reading.  It’s in the next verses. 

Luke 10:21-24   At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.   "All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him."  Then he turned to his disciples and said privately, "Blessed are the eyes that see what you see.  For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it."

“What?  Say that again, Jesus.  I didn’t get it.  Why are you full of joy?”

"I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.”

It seems Jesus is happy because the children get it and the wise guys don’t. There is some mystery that has been revealed to those He chooses to reveal it to and it is hidden from those He chooses not to reveal it to. There is a paradox here that thrills Jesus. 

There is a paradox to Christianity and a paradox in our faith.  It is the way of God that is not the way of man.  As urgent harvesters in the huge field there is a method to our harvesting that is a God-thing that is not a wisdom-of-this-world thing.  The power of our harvesting is in the power of weakness; the power of children. 

®It is the power of the lambs amongst the wolves. 
®It is the power of a death on a cross.
®It is humility as a weapon and not arrogant faith.
®It is forgiveness instead of retribution.
®It is the power of little things and kindness, and love.
®It is the power of having a child-like faith and expressing it in joy.

Is there anything more contagious than joy?  The simple joy of having our names written in heaven is the power of our harvesting. It is not about mass marketing or high powered sales techniques or spiffy programs or shiny buildings.  It is each of us considering ourselves as harvesters taking the joy of our names written on the heavenly passport and gently offering it to the world. 

Jesus is full of joy in the Spirit when we take the power of childlikeness into a world of wolves.  For the last several weeks we have been talking about faith.
®Faith Revealed – in the circumstances of life.
®Faith Increased – as we share and feed and learn and worship
®Faith Humbled – there is no arrogance in our faith. It is not about us.
®Faith Celebrated – When we know the joy of having our names written in heaven and we celebrate that joy freely with others we become harvesters with enormous power; the power of celebration.  The power of childlikeness.  The power to defeat Satan is the power of taking a humble faith into the grain field of the world around us and celebrating!

So, do you want to please Jesus?  Do you want him to be filled with joy in the Spirit over you?  Then make the paradigm shift to become harvesters who celebrate their faith.