Surprised By Joy
Sermon
Living The Easter Faith
Sermons For The Easter Season
Let us pray: O God our heavenly Father, in many ways we seek
to know you so that we might find the true riches of life. Hear
now thy servants who desire to learn of your love and glory. In
the name of Jesus we pray, Amen.
The Christian author C.S. Lewis, in an autobiography which he
has titled Surprised by Joy, tells of his conversion to
Christianity. This book is an account of how Lewis, an
accomplished and well-known British intellectual, became a truly
Christian person. It is about leaving the superficial religion of
his childhood, and his movement to a deep and abiding faith in
the God revealed in Jesus Christ. You should really read this
book, which is both an amusing and yet very profound account of
how, as Lewis describes it, "God closed in on me."
Being a fierce free thinker and free spirit, prior to his
conversion, Lewis wanted, above all things, not to be "interfered
with." He says that he wanted "to call my soul my own." But, as
Lewis learns, after he met God, he was not to be allowed to
"play" at philosophy any longer.
After years of fighting his conversion, God finally conquered
the soul of C.S. Lewis. Lewis says this about his transformation:
"You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after
night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my
work, the steady, unrelenting approach of him whom I so earnestly
desired not to meet. That which I had greatly feared had at last
come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted
that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps that night the
most
dejected and reluctant convert in all of England." God simply
said to this man, "I am the Lord; I am that I am."
Lewis concludes, "The hardness of God is kinder than the
softness of men, and His compulsion is our liberation."1 Once God
comes to us, God cannot be refused. So it is, once we have tasted
God, only God will do.
C.S. Lewis then describes his experience of the person Jesus
Christ which came later, after his conversion to mere belief in
God. He uses a single word that many people today do not often
associate with an experience of Christ. He calls that which he
experienced deep in his soul simply "joy."
One can say then that to experience Christ in the depths of
one's heart, to be converted, is to be "surprised by joy." What
is this joy? It is something that cannot be described in human
words. It is a feeling of God's presence that is at once both
greater and more profound than pleasure. As Lewis says, perhaps
all pleasures are but a substitute for joy.
Joy is not a possession. It is instead found in the desiring
of Christ. The thrill comes only when one's whole attention and
desire are focused on this something which is other than
ourselves, this Christ who is a personal savior. Real joy points
to something other and outer, to something bigger and greater
than that which is human. To experience joy is to catch a glimpse
of the spiritual, of the eternal. Real joy then is that feeling
that points toward God. To feel joy is to experience personally
the living Spirit of God Almighty in one's heart and soul.
In our gospel lesson, Jesus tells a parable that illustrated
for his audience the meaning of joy. Jesus says that the kingdom
of heaven, which we all are seeking, is like finding treasure
that has been buried in a field. In doing so, Jesus strikes a
theme which has always had romantic interest for men and women.
Who among us has not as a child, or perhaps even as an adult,
dreamed of finding buried treasure which would make us rich and
happy? Many of the best-loved stories of our youth, such as
Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, have had the search for
buried treasure as their theme.
52
Today, searching for buried treasure still has that romantic
interest. However, actually finding buried treasure is something
that rarely happens. But in Israel, in the time of Jesus, things
were quite different.
The reason for this was that in those days there were no banks
in which ordinary people could store their money. One of the
common ways of safely storing one's fortune during threatening
times was to bury the coins in a location which was only known to
the owner.
It was not unusual for the owner to die without revealing the
location of his buried treasure. It was therefore not uncommon
for there to be an unexpected discovery of a fortune, for
instance, when a farmer was plowing his field. It was this
accidental discovery of gold, silver, or jewels that Jesus
compares to finding the kingdom of heaven.
Who among us would not be thrilled by finding buried treasure?
The point of Jesus' teaching here is that there is a great joy in
finding God that is not unlike that of finding a fortune.
Furthermore, the truth is that the finding of God brings a
much deeper and lasting joy than the uncovering of buried gold
could ever bring us. Indeed, this finding of God is worth giving
up everything one has in order to have it, just as the finder of
buried treasure will sell all that he has in order to buy the
field in which he made the discovery.
This parable then is good news for those of us who search for
depth and meaning in our lives. We need this word of hope which
tells us that yes, it is possible to find a source of joy that
can last for eternity.
Do we not need this word of hope now more than ever? A
newspaper carried an article with this headline: "Poll Shows
Americans Are Deeply Pessimistic." This Gallup poll revealed some
interesting information. It shows that two out of three Americans
believe that the United States is in a serious long-term
economic, moral and spiritual decline. The poll reveals a
pessimism that is breathtaking in its sweep and intensity.
A majority of people believe that a good education doesn't
insure getting a good job. Four in ten say working hard doesn't
53
guarantee fair treatment from an employer. Almost half say they
don't think their views will be taken seriously even if they do
participate in the political process.2
Of course, nobody needed to tell us this. We all know that
things are not going very well in so many areas of America's
social and economic life.
But nevertheless, we who call ourselves Christians should have
hope. Because you see, we are the ones who can experience real
joy in living. And the reason is that if we have that joy deep
down in our heart that only Christ can bring us, then we will
have the strength and courage to overcome any obstacles which
life may throw in front of us. As Paul teaches us in the letter
to the Philippians (4:13), we can do all things in Christ who
strengthens you and me.
The source of joy for the person who has faith is not at the
mercy of other people and outward circumstances. Happiness for
the Christian is not determined by his surroundings and other
human beings. This is why Jesus taught in the parables that the
spiritual treasure which God surprises us with is an inward and
personal possession. Faith in Christ as Lord and Savior is God's
gift to us in this resurrection age in which we live.
Gallia K. MacKinney writes in an article titled, "What I
Discovered in Prison" about her conversion to Christianity. Her
father was an operatic singer, her mother an artist. They lived
on the French Riviera where they enjoyed the finer things of life
-- beautiful homes, servants, everything that money could buy.
Ms. MacKinney says that she took it for granted that she deserved
all this. The family motto was "All is ours. We have the money,
we have the name, we have everything."3
However, all of that changed very quickly when World War II
broke out and the occupation of France began. Gallia and her
parents became involved in the resistance, aiding their Jewish
friends who were trying to flee the country.
One day armed men came bursting into their home and arrested
Gallia and her mother and father. They were taken to a
confiscated hotel and questioned at gunpoint for hours.
54
Gallia and her parents were then separated. She was put onto a
truck and taken away to a camp, which was actually a number of
horsebarns with barbed-wire fences around them. It was filthy.
She had to sleep on straw beds infested with lice. There was
torture that was hard to describe.
One day after Gallia had returned from the medical compound
where she had seen her mother, she saw a disheveled man get off
one of the buses. Although it was strictly forbidden, she
exchanged a few words with her father and passed messages on
scraps of paper.
These brutalities could easily have broken Gallia, her mother
and father. But one thing saved them. At different times,
throughout their ordeal, Gallia, her mother and her father each
accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. In him they found a joy
that they had never had before, even in the happiest moments of
their lives.
Finally, the Allied Forces arrived. The prison doors were
opened, and Gallia and her parents were let out alive. They
returned to their hometown.
Gallia MacKinney writes: "We had lost every earthly possession
-- money, furniture, jewelry, furs, clothes. Some Christians
shared their ration cards with us until we were reestablished.
Instead of a luxurious apartment, we now had two tiny rooms and
we shared a public toilet between floors in the building. But we
were happy."
She concludes her story with these words: "Many people fool
themselves by saying, 'I bought it. It's mine.' But things can be
taken away in the snap of a finger. It happened to Papa and Mama.
It happened to me. But now I have everything. I have Christ. He
can't be taken away."4
In the gospel lesson for the morning, Jesus reiterates his
teaching by telling another parable. He says, "The kingdom of
heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding
one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and
bought it."
This parable is known as the "Pearl of Great Price." Its
message is the same as that of the parable about buried
55
treasure, except for one very important point. The pearl, for
which the merchant would sell everything he has in order to own,
is found only after a long and exhausting search. A merchant in
search of fine pearls might travel as far as India or the Persian
Gulf.5
So it is with our faith and trust in God. Faith in God is the
only thing that matters in the end. It is indeed worth giving up
everything we own in order to have this faith. And yet, it may
not come in an instant.
Faith is something that we need to seek constantly in prayer
and worship and study of God's Word. It is that which we must be
willing to work and sacrifice for in order to receive. Faith is
something that grows deeper and richer and more valuable to us
with the passage of time.
There is a story about a prisoner in Sydney, Australia, who
engineered a daring escape by climbing underneath the hood of a
van delivering bread to a prison where he was serving his term.
However, the escape was foiled when at the van's next stop, he
climbed out hot and dirty, only to find himself in the yard of
another prison, just four miles away from the one from which he
had just escaped!
How often we seek escape from our unhappiness and boredom by
moving from one situation to another, or from one person to
another, or from one new purchase to another. It just seems
characteristic of the human race to always be in search of some
finer pearl.
We think that if we can find the right person, or rise to a
certain level of income, this will bring us happiness. But those
who believe that myth only find that enough is never enough. Some
people go through their entire lives, always seeking a finer
pearl, never being satisfied, escaping from jail to jail.
Deeper than the need for things is the need to be at peace
with God and to trust in his will for our lives. Jesus Christ
enables us to have that relationship with God that can bring us
genuine happiness. It is what it means to be "surprised by joy."
This is how God intended us to live in the new age inaugurated by
his Son Jesus Christ.
56
My prayer for you is that you may find the peace of God and
the joy of Christ in your heart this day and always. May you be
blessed by God's Spirit in all that you do.
Benediction: Our Father and our God, we have worshiped
together and shared the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. We have
sought you in the depths of our hearts in prayer. As we go from
your house, may you be with us in all that we do.
May the blessing of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be
with you now and always, Amen.
1-C.S. Lewis, Surprised By Joy (New York: Harcourt, Brace &
World, Inc., 1955), pp. 227-228.
2-Youngstown Vindicator, September 13, 1992, p. C-1.
3-Gallia K. MacKinney, "What I Discovered in Prison," Wondrous
Power Wondrous Love (Minneapolis: World Wide, 1983), p. 212.
4-Ibid.
5-Interpreter's Bible, vol. 7, p. 420.
to know you so that we might find the true riches of life. Hear
now thy servants who desire to learn of your love and glory. In
the name of Jesus we pray, Amen.
The Christian author C.S. Lewis, in an autobiography which he
has titled Surprised by Joy, tells of his conversion to
Christianity. This book is an account of how Lewis, an
accomplished and well-known British intellectual, became a truly
Christian person. It is about leaving the superficial religion of
his childhood, and his movement to a deep and abiding faith in
the God revealed in Jesus Christ. You should really read this
book, which is both an amusing and yet very profound account of
how, as Lewis describes it, "God closed in on me."
Being a fierce free thinker and free spirit, prior to his
conversion, Lewis wanted, above all things, not to be "interfered
with." He says that he wanted "to call my soul my own." But, as
Lewis learns, after he met God, he was not to be allowed to
"play" at philosophy any longer.
After years of fighting his conversion, God finally conquered
the soul of C.S. Lewis. Lewis says this about his transformation:
"You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after
night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my
work, the steady, unrelenting approach of him whom I so earnestly
desired not to meet. That which I had greatly feared had at last
come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted
that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps that night the
most
dejected and reluctant convert in all of England." God simply
said to this man, "I am the Lord; I am that I am."
Lewis concludes, "The hardness of God is kinder than the
softness of men, and His compulsion is our liberation."1 Once God
comes to us, God cannot be refused. So it is, once we have tasted
God, only God will do.
C.S. Lewis then describes his experience of the person Jesus
Christ which came later, after his conversion to mere belief in
God. He uses a single word that many people today do not often
associate with an experience of Christ. He calls that which he
experienced deep in his soul simply "joy."
One can say then that to experience Christ in the depths of
one's heart, to be converted, is to be "surprised by joy." What
is this joy? It is something that cannot be described in human
words. It is a feeling of God's presence that is at once both
greater and more profound than pleasure. As Lewis says, perhaps
all pleasures are but a substitute for joy.
Joy is not a possession. It is instead found in the desiring
of Christ. The thrill comes only when one's whole attention and
desire are focused on this something which is other than
ourselves, this Christ who is a personal savior. Real joy points
to something other and outer, to something bigger and greater
than that which is human. To experience joy is to catch a glimpse
of the spiritual, of the eternal. Real joy then is that feeling
that points toward God. To feel joy is to experience personally
the living Spirit of God Almighty in one's heart and soul.
In our gospel lesson, Jesus tells a parable that illustrated
for his audience the meaning of joy. Jesus says that the kingdom
of heaven, which we all are seeking, is like finding treasure
that has been buried in a field. In doing so, Jesus strikes a
theme which has always had romantic interest for men and women.
Who among us has not as a child, or perhaps even as an adult,
dreamed of finding buried treasure which would make us rich and
happy? Many of the best-loved stories of our youth, such as
Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, have had the search for
buried treasure as their theme.
52
Today, searching for buried treasure still has that romantic
interest. However, actually finding buried treasure is something
that rarely happens. But in Israel, in the time of Jesus, things
were quite different.
The reason for this was that in those days there were no banks
in which ordinary people could store their money. One of the
common ways of safely storing one's fortune during threatening
times was to bury the coins in a location which was only known to
the owner.
It was not unusual for the owner to die without revealing the
location of his buried treasure. It was therefore not uncommon
for there to be an unexpected discovery of a fortune, for
instance, when a farmer was plowing his field. It was this
accidental discovery of gold, silver, or jewels that Jesus
compares to finding the kingdom of heaven.
Who among us would not be thrilled by finding buried treasure?
The point of Jesus' teaching here is that there is a great joy in
finding God that is not unlike that of finding a fortune.
Furthermore, the truth is that the finding of God brings a
much deeper and lasting joy than the uncovering of buried gold
could ever bring us. Indeed, this finding of God is worth giving
up everything one has in order to have it, just as the finder of
buried treasure will sell all that he has in order to buy the
field in which he made the discovery.
This parable then is good news for those of us who search for
depth and meaning in our lives. We need this word of hope which
tells us that yes, it is possible to find a source of joy that
can last for eternity.
Do we not need this word of hope now more than ever? A
newspaper carried an article with this headline: "Poll Shows
Americans Are Deeply Pessimistic." This Gallup poll revealed some
interesting information. It shows that two out of three Americans
believe that the United States is in a serious long-term
economic, moral and spiritual decline. The poll reveals a
pessimism that is breathtaking in its sweep and intensity.
A majority of people believe that a good education doesn't
insure getting a good job. Four in ten say working hard doesn't
53
guarantee fair treatment from an employer. Almost half say they
don't think their views will be taken seriously even if they do
participate in the political process.2
Of course, nobody needed to tell us this. We all know that
things are not going very well in so many areas of America's
social and economic life.
But nevertheless, we who call ourselves Christians should have
hope. Because you see, we are the ones who can experience real
joy in living. And the reason is that if we have that joy deep
down in our heart that only Christ can bring us, then we will
have the strength and courage to overcome any obstacles which
life may throw in front of us. As Paul teaches us in the letter
to the Philippians (4:13), we can do all things in Christ who
strengthens you and me.
The source of joy for the person who has faith is not at the
mercy of other people and outward circumstances. Happiness for
the Christian is not determined by his surroundings and other
human beings. This is why Jesus taught in the parables that the
spiritual treasure which God surprises us with is an inward and
personal possession. Faith in Christ as Lord and Savior is God's
gift to us in this resurrection age in which we live.
Gallia K. MacKinney writes in an article titled, "What I
Discovered in Prison" about her conversion to Christianity. Her
father was an operatic singer, her mother an artist. They lived
on the French Riviera where they enjoyed the finer things of life
-- beautiful homes, servants, everything that money could buy.
Ms. MacKinney says that she took it for granted that she deserved
all this. The family motto was "All is ours. We have the money,
we have the name, we have everything."3
However, all of that changed very quickly when World War II
broke out and the occupation of France began. Gallia and her
parents became involved in the resistance, aiding their Jewish
friends who were trying to flee the country.
One day armed men came bursting into their home and arrested
Gallia and her mother and father. They were taken to a
confiscated hotel and questioned at gunpoint for hours.
54
Gallia and her parents were then separated. She was put onto a
truck and taken away to a camp, which was actually a number of
horsebarns with barbed-wire fences around them. It was filthy.
She had to sleep on straw beds infested with lice. There was
torture that was hard to describe.
One day after Gallia had returned from the medical compound
where she had seen her mother, she saw a disheveled man get off
one of the buses. Although it was strictly forbidden, she
exchanged a few words with her father and passed messages on
scraps of paper.
These brutalities could easily have broken Gallia, her mother
and father. But one thing saved them. At different times,
throughout their ordeal, Gallia, her mother and her father each
accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. In him they found a joy
that they had never had before, even in the happiest moments of
their lives.
Finally, the Allied Forces arrived. The prison doors were
opened, and Gallia and her parents were let out alive. They
returned to their hometown.
Gallia MacKinney writes: "We had lost every earthly possession
-- money, furniture, jewelry, furs, clothes. Some Christians
shared their ration cards with us until we were reestablished.
Instead of a luxurious apartment, we now had two tiny rooms and
we shared a public toilet between floors in the building. But we
were happy."
She concludes her story with these words: "Many people fool
themselves by saying, 'I bought it. It's mine.' But things can be
taken away in the snap of a finger. It happened to Papa and Mama.
It happened to me. But now I have everything. I have Christ. He
can't be taken away."4
In the gospel lesson for the morning, Jesus reiterates his
teaching by telling another parable. He says, "The kingdom of
heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding
one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and
bought it."
This parable is known as the "Pearl of Great Price." Its
message is the same as that of the parable about buried
55
treasure, except for one very important point. The pearl, for
which the merchant would sell everything he has in order to own,
is found only after a long and exhausting search. A merchant in
search of fine pearls might travel as far as India or the Persian
Gulf.5
So it is with our faith and trust in God. Faith in God is the
only thing that matters in the end. It is indeed worth giving up
everything we own in order to have this faith. And yet, it may
not come in an instant.
Faith is something that we need to seek constantly in prayer
and worship and study of God's Word. It is that which we must be
willing to work and sacrifice for in order to receive. Faith is
something that grows deeper and richer and more valuable to us
with the passage of time.
There is a story about a prisoner in Sydney, Australia, who
engineered a daring escape by climbing underneath the hood of a
van delivering bread to a prison where he was serving his term.
However, the escape was foiled when at the van's next stop, he
climbed out hot and dirty, only to find himself in the yard of
another prison, just four miles away from the one from which he
had just escaped!
How often we seek escape from our unhappiness and boredom by
moving from one situation to another, or from one person to
another, or from one new purchase to another. It just seems
characteristic of the human race to always be in search of some
finer pearl.
We think that if we can find the right person, or rise to a
certain level of income, this will bring us happiness. But those
who believe that myth only find that enough is never enough. Some
people go through their entire lives, always seeking a finer
pearl, never being satisfied, escaping from jail to jail.
Deeper than the need for things is the need to be at peace
with God and to trust in his will for our lives. Jesus Christ
enables us to have that relationship with God that can bring us
genuine happiness. It is what it means to be "surprised by joy."
This is how God intended us to live in the new age inaugurated by
his Son Jesus Christ.
56
My prayer for you is that you may find the peace of God and
the joy of Christ in your heart this day and always. May you be
blessed by God's Spirit in all that you do.
Benediction: Our Father and our God, we have worshiped
together and shared the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. We have
sought you in the depths of our hearts in prayer. As we go from
your house, may you be with us in all that we do.
May the blessing of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be
with you now and always, Amen.
1-C.S. Lewis, Surprised By Joy (New York: Harcourt, Brace &
World, Inc., 1955), pp. 227-228.
2-Youngstown Vindicator, September 13, 1992, p. C-1.
3-Gallia K. MacKinney, "What I Discovered in Prison," Wondrous
Power Wondrous Love (Minneapolis: World Wide, 1983), p. 212.
4-Ibid.
5-Interpreter's Bible, vol. 7, p. 420.
