391: Joe Pommer - Exhortation: The Union of Sorrow and Joy

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

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   Welcome to good christophian talks. Thank you for joining us this week on this podcast. We select one talk a week to help us get the. Bible in our. Daily News feed. Each week we post a talk that we previewed from suggestions sent in by listeners from around the world. Then we record a short intro beforehand as a personalized recommendation to you on why we are sharing the talk.

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   And now let’s talk more about this week’s talk. Hey everyone, it’s Jason Hensley. This week we are going to be listening to a very recent talk given just in the last few weeks at the Pittsburgh Ecclesia. It’s by brother Joe Palmer. And what I really loved about it is the paradox that he considers.

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   So the talk is called the Union of Sorrow and Joy. And what he looks at is just the interaction between these two emotions. I find this really powerful because I think sometimes we find ourselves in life thinking, well, I just wish I could avoid all sorrow. And yet there’s actually something between these two emotions, sorrow and joy, that the two of them really work together and the two of them are valuable.

4. 1:20

   And that’s not to say that when sorrow goes away, we won’t be excited about it. That’s, that’s our hope. But here in this life there is a value in sorrow and joy, and ultimately we see that sorrow and joy in the Lord Jesus. And in discussing that, Brother Joe very powerfully brings us to the emblems and what we think about when we are taking that bread and that wine. So I hope that you find this encouraging and that it helps you in your remembrance of the Lord and in appreciating what God brings into our lives.

5. 1:59

   This is Joe Palmer, the union of sorrow and joy. Good morning brothers and sisters. Gives me great joy to have this opportunity once again to come up and speak to you all this morning on the topic of the union of sorrow and joy. And now you might be thinking, let’s, it’s a bit paradoxical, isn’t it?

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   Those seem to have a rather inverse relationship, and you would be right, but I think that there’s certain instances in life in which they can coexist, which we’ll explore in a short while. And I’ve been considering this topic for a few years now, trying to to make sense of it, exploring biblical references, seeing how both of these actions and emotions play out in my own life, and it’s been an interesting journey thus far. What really birthed this thought process, though, was the time that we have around the table of remembrance as we partake of these emblems.

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   It certainly should evoke some specific emotions, so we’ll dive into that first. And after we’ve considered the basis of these emotions, we’ll touch on some scriptural examples of those who came before us experiencing the same blend of emotions. We’ll take a look at some of the Old Testament references that speak to this union and show how they can exist together in harmony as they pertain to our Father’s plan. And finally, to wrap things up, we’ll look a little bit into what this looked like in Christ’s life, the examples that we can take from Him, and what we can walk away with today, feeling like we have a better grasp on our relationship to these emblems before us and the emotions that they evoke. So I think the first and most important aspect of this to understand is the personal aspect. Now, I could stand up here and run through a list of biblical examples, but what does sorrow and joy really look like in real life, in our lives?

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   And I think the first step is acknowledging that these two may be opposite in real life, but they very often occupy the same moments. We’ve all experienced situations in our lives in which we were deeply happy and deeply sad at the same time. And so finding this union of sorrow and joy at the memorial table is not seemingly unnatural for us to feel. It’s a very real and a very human experience. Sometimes it happens in rather quick succession, and other times it’s drawn out over longer experiences. So let’s let’s shed some light on both of these. The primary example we’re obviously focusing on today is the parent child example, the relationship that God and Christ share, which we will discuss a bit later on. But from the human perspective, we can consider the emotions of parent experiences when their child goes through a major life change.

9. 5:10

   When a child leaves home, I believe that parents are filled with both sorrow and joy. At at least I hope. I suppose it depends on how broken up you are about it. But to to focus on the emotions though the parents are filled with sorrow that something has changed. The daily routines are no longer the same.

10. 5:31

    Their room in the house becomes empty. The noise of their voice is no longer present every day. But inversely, they’re joyful. Joyful that their child is stepping into a new chapter of their life, whether that’s going off to college, moving into their own home, moving in with someone whom they married, which presents a whole nother set of emotions. In these moments, the parents are not choosing one emotion over the other.

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    They’re experiencing both together. The sorrow doesn’t lessen the joy, and the joy doesn’t lessen the heartache they might experience. And really, both of these emotions deepen one another. They both join together to display a different emotion entirely. They they display love. And so that’s what it looks like externally between two parties. But what about internally? What about when we’re experiencing sorrow and joy for ourselves?

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    So think about a time when you worked tirelessly to achieve a goal that might be finishing your degree, building your business, recovering from some life altering illness, or maybe restoring A damaged relationship. When that breakthrough finally comes, there’s an immense amount of joy that follows, joy that the theoretical battle has been won. But this is where we start to explore the timeline of the longer experiences.

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    The sorrow is or or was present on the journey that got you there. I suppose it’s present at the time of success, when you reflect on how you got there. Sleepless nights, repetitive failures, sunk cost, battle after battle. It’s been kind of interesting writing this exhortation around the time of the Winter Olympics when when an athlete wins their event, 99 times out of 100, they’re crying when they win the the tears present at the moment of victory. And not because of sorrow alone, and not because of joy alone, but because the weight of their journey that they felt, the effort that they put into achieving their goal has finally been realized.

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    And I think that that mixture of emotion is much more full than just pure celebration ever could be. The last personal aspect we’ll consider this morning is the example of reconciliation after a time of conflict, mainly focusing on some longer term issues. And this is also an example we’ll explore in just a bit in our scriptural application section.

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    So consider the example of of two people or groups of people that have estranged themselves from one another. I’m purposely not attributing this section to anything specific because I want you to think of your own example. And ideally, for one reason or another, they choose to reconcile. And in this reconciliation, we see both of these emotions present.

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    Once again, there’s joy about the opportunity of restoration the the forgiveness it’s given and received, and the peace that follows all of this. But there’s also commonly present sorrow, maybe regret for wasted time, a loss of opportunity. Maybe it’s pain over words, sad and anger. Or maybe it’s the awareness of what was lost if the relationship isn’t exactly the same. And really, reconciliation is rarely one emotion or the other, because it takes the identification of both to truly allow the issue to come to a head. And I think the summation of this section of this morning’s exhortation can really be boiled down into a few practical takeaways.

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    When these emotions unite, we see them one develop. Depth 2, We see them evolve into greater emotional experiences. And three, we see the benefit of this union. But what happens if they’re separated? So let’s consider sorrow without joy for just a moment. Sorrow without joy can become bitterness. It can become self condemnation, especially around the table of remembrance. It becomes a sort of heaviness that we carry without any real hope for anything in the future.

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    What about joy without sorrow? I think that joy without sorrow, especially in the context of this morning’s content, can become superficial, really lacking any real depth can be rooted in naivety, not understanding the full picture. It’s, I guess, a celebration of outcome without a consideration of cost. And we’ll explore this imbalance later when we come back around to our approach to the table of remembrance. And so now that we’ve explored what this union looks like in our own lives, and I’m sure that I’ve left out some valuable examples, so I’d, I’d love to hear more if anyone would like to share later on.

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    Let’s let’s consider the scriptural aspect of the union of sorrow and joy. This is certainly not something discovered by man. This is something that God recognized as such an important balance that he would coat his scriptures in an array of examples for us to consider and to learn from. Some demonstrations of both emotions clearly present together and and not sequentially, but intertwined. After brother Bill Fulkert’s exhortation that he gave a few weeks ago on Romans 10 and 11, the the topic of being grafted into the tree.

20. 11:22

    We chatted a bit afterwards about some of the other recent happenings in the daily Bible readings and one of those was in Genesis 45. But firstly focusing on Romans 10. In Romans 10, verse one, Paul says, brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. And so Paul was focused on the salvation of others.

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    And in the same vein, taking a look at the actions of Joseph, let’s take a look at Genesis 45. But before we read there, let’s set the scene for this topic, kind of taking a look at some of the sorrow and the joy that Joseph has experienced up to this point. So in sorrow, we know that he was betrayed by his own brothers, he was sold into slavery, he was falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife, and he was wrongly imprisoned for years. And I feel like if I was in this situation, it’s going to be nearly impossible for me to see the joyful aspect of this. But Joseph, true to his name to increase, increases his faith and his joy despite his grievous journey through life thus far. Enjoy.

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    Joseph recognizes God’s Providence. He’s reunited with his brethren. He gets the opportunity to preserve his family, to preserve the line of Israel. And so again looking at Genesis 45, verse 5, I believe we see what I’ll coin as the union moment. Genesis 45 five says now therefore be not grieved, not angry with yourselves that ye sold me hit her, for God did send me before you to preserve life.

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    So he tells his brethren to not be grieved, which to me seems a bit rich coming from the man who weeps bitterly several times in this chapter. But the tears are not pure grief or pure happiness. They’re both. He remembers the betrayal of his brothers, but he recognizes his place in the salvation of all the land, not just his family.

24. 13:31

    And the sorrow in the injustice that he experienced coexists with that divine purpose that God had bestowed upon him. And it would be easy to stand defeated in Joseph’s shoes many times over if our sole focus was sorrow and despair. In the same manner, it certainly wouldn’t be easy to stand in Job’s shoes either. All through the book of Job, we see the incredible amount of sorrow that was heaped on him chapter after chapter, and starting at the very beginning of his story, he loses basically everything but his own life.

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    He loses his offspring, he loses his great wealth and possessions, he even loses his good health. And so this obviously puts him at an all time low, just absolutely writhing and spiritual anguish. And as icing on the cake, even his friends turn against him, sending railing accusations chapter after chapter. But as we know, by the end of the book, Chapter 42, all is restored to Job twofold. As we were reading this at the end of last year in our daily reading planners, Sister Anna Folkerts had mentioned that sure, God restored all things to Job twice as much as he had before.

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    Even his sons and daughters were given to him again, but the memory of his first children would have still existed. And I agree, Job still had to sit with the grief and the sorrow of losing his original posterity. But Job was able to recognize despite a life that included the graves of his children, he was still restored by God.

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    In this I think that he gained A deeper knowledge of God’s power and character. In Job 42 verse 5, the the union moment. Once again, I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee. So Job knew who God was. He had a strongly established faith before all of these things befell him.

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    But now he accepted the sorrow and he allowed God to turn that into joy. And I think that’s a truly mature form of unifying his sorrow and his experience with his joy and his restoration. The last scriptural example I’ll focus on, unsurprisingly, is our Lord Jesus Christ. There are several key passages in Scripture that really highlight this concept as a continual experience for Christ and going through the literal timeline.

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    We’ll, we’ll take a look first at the Last Supper held in the upper room, fully furnished, made ready for Christ to share one final meal before his betrayal, his sentence, and his crucifixion. And consider the blend of sorrow and joy from Christ’s perspective. Obviously, he knew exactly what was going to happen. He knew that Judas would betray him.

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    He knew that Peter the rock, the strong foundation would deny him. And he knew that when he was apprehended that all of his followers would scatter. And knowing all of this, I think that it makes his actions following that much more meaningful. So take a look at the account in the Gospel of John 13.

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    He embraces one of the most lone, the one of the most lowly servant duties. He washes his disciples feet and these are the feet that would run to betray and to deny and to abandon. He spends the next few chapters after that speaking to his disciples of peace, of promises of the future and and prayer for their unity and their future glory that they would experience.

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    And looking at the joy piece of this example, we can take a look at John chapter 15 verse 11 where Christ speaking to his disciples. He says these things. Have I spoken to you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy may be full? And here Christ is Speaking of joy on the night that he was betrayed.

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    I think that this is the union moment in the upper room, but it’s not the only one. So let’s move forward a little bit in the story to the Garden of Gethsemane and we’ll switch over to the Gospel of Matthew. John doesn’t have much to say about this encounter, but in Matthew 26, verse 38, Jesus speaks exactly about one of these emotions.

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    He says. Then he saith unto them, That being Peter, James, and John in the garden, with him my soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death. Tear ye here and watch with me. We know that this is a serious event in this evening of Jesus life. It’s not language to be taken lightly. He truly was exceeding sorrowful.

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    Luke tells us that his sweat was as great drops of blood. But in the same prayer, excuse me, in the same prayer, Christ exhibits the acceptance of His Father’s plan, the joy that was to follow these cursed events. So looking forward, just a few more verses, in Matthew 26, verse 42, he went away again the second time and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me except I drink it, Thy will be done.

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    In this there is sorrow. There’s deep, overwhelming sorrow, but here He displays trust and obedience in His Father’s command, having confidence that there was joy to come. And you might be wondering now, I don’t know. I’m not really seeing the joy aspect of this example, to which I would agree. It’s not expressly found in Matthew chapter 26.

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    We’ve got to turn over a few books to Hebrews 12 to see this a little bit more clearly. And I think if you were to take this idea, the idea of the union of sorrow and joy, and boil it down into one piece of Scripture, I think that this is it. On the heels of the faith chapter, we come to Hebrews 12 verses one and two.

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    Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us. And let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

39. 20:27

    The cross was sorrow. It was physical agony. It was public humiliation. It was abandonment by those closest to Him. But the endurance of that sorrow was fuelled by joy, The joy set before Him. That joy was his Father’s will being accomplished. It was a way of redemption being offered. It was bringing sons and daughters into glory to his Heavenly Father. The sorrow was real.

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    It was tangible and witnessable. But so is the joy, and neither cancelled each other out. Now Christ had the power of the Holy Spirit. He could have easily denied the feeling of pain. He could have removed Himself from the cross, but He chose not to because of the joy beyond it as it pertains to His Father’s plan.

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    I think this is the truest display of the union of sorrow and joy. Isaiah 53 verse 3 calls Him a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Yet Hebrews one verse 9 says, Therefore God, even thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. God has given him more honor and joy than anyone like him.

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    What a remarkable pairing of verses to describe our Lord. And to start to bring this morning’s exhortation to a close. I want to get to the crux of why this topic has been on my mind for so long now. When I was baptized just a few years ago, I knew that when I approached the table of remembrance and partake of these emblems before us, I’m supposed to utilize that time to seek forgiveness for my sins, to repent to God through Jesus Christ. But nobody really tells you what to say or how to feel during this time.

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    So what is the right thing to do? What do we say to God in these moments? What do we think about as we consider our actions and the life laid down for us that even gives us this opportunity in the 1st place? Now obviously these answers will differ for everybody, but this is what it looks like for me.

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    For a few years now. I feel that I frequently spend that time hyper fixating on the sorrow in the sacrifice. I, I think each week, wow, I have done this sacrifice an incredible disservice, which is the truth that that is the reality of everyone’s situation. It’s a a standard that will never be lived up to. And personally, I feel in these moments deep sorrow that I failed yet again, often for the same things as the week before. And in doing this I have become negligent in my recognition of the joy.

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    But how can this paradox exist in the space of this table? Brothers and sisters, I think that we again must embody Christ. And looking at the commonly quoted passage before the emblems are shared, First Corinthians Chapter 11, looking at verse 26, Paul says for as as he’s remembering what Christ told them at the institution of this meal. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord’s death till he come. And in that single verse that we read nearly every week, both emotions are present in the Lord’s example that he gave on the night of his betrayal, we proclaim his death, and that cannot be considered without sorrow. But we also proclaim that he will come, and that cannot be considered without joy.

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    And in recent history, I think it’s a lot more common to hear funerals called a celebration of life. And I think that’s what this is. Each week we aren’t here merely for a funeral service, but a celebration of Christ’s life and the life to come. So I continually seek to find that balance and the union of sorrow and joy.

47. 24:46

    And I urge you all to do the same, if you’re not already, as we continually await our Lord’s return. Thank you for listening to the Good Christadelphian Talks podcast. We hope this talk helped you in your walk and brightened your day. If you would like to hear more, please subscribe for new episodes. We are on all major podcast platforms and also on YouTube. If you enjoyed this particular talk, please share it with someone else who you think might enjoy it too. For show notes on the talk you just listened to, visit [email protected] or check out the Show Notes section of your podcast player.

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