How to Be in a Great Mood

We’re just a couple weeks away from Christmas. This is such a remarkable time of the year. A lot of times around this time of the year, we really look forward to Christmas, but we have a hard time experiencing it the way we want to. We build up these dreams of what it will be like to walk through Christmas. But then reality often doesn’t match up. Being in the Christmas season and being in the Christmas spirit is not the same thing. And we’ve all experienced this. There’s this odd dynamic that has to do with your mood — how you feel. We don’t usually talk about your mood around this time of the year, but your mood is actually a really important part of your spiritual life, although we don’t often think about them together. I would describe mood as — a pervasive tendency to feel a certain way. There are a lot of them, but I would say at it’s simplest, we can divide all moods into either — a good mood or a bad mood. We all tend to be in one or the other. A good mood is joyful, grateful, generous. A bad mood is negative, irritated, stressed, sad. There’s kind of an odd mystery to our moods. When you’re in a good mood, the world just looks better to you. Not only are you happy, but the future seems brighter. When you wake up in the morning, you’re more glad about it. Other people look more attractive and nicer to you. Your job or going to school is more fun for you. When you’re in a good mood, a sermon seems better to you. When you’re in a bad mood, that same sermon seems like it’s worse to you. So how are you feeling about this sermon today? It might be an indication of your mood. When you think about your baseline mood as you go through your day, for people who know you well, if they were asked on a scale of 1 to 10, what would they say is your default mood? What’s your baseline mood? What would you like it to be? You know, you only get to live once. What would you like your mood to be, and what are you doing to move toward that? I was talking to someone recently whose father just passed away. He told me his dad was always a moody guy. He just always seemed to be grumpy, and kind of yelled a lot. He used to wonder every day when his dad would come home from work — would it be grumpy dad? Or would it be less grumpy dad? Which one was going to come home that day? What this son remembers most about his dad was that he was a grumpy guy. It’s kind of sad when I think about the family he could have had and the relationship with his son that he could have had. I don’t think he had a bad heart. He just was the victim of this kind of chronic low-level irritation. * You know, moody people have fewer friends. * They have less intimacy with family members — those they want to love the most. * They’re less generous. * They’re more self-absorbed. There’s this important but kind of tricky connection with your spiritual life and your mood. On the one hand, being close to God is not the same thing as being in a good mood. Sometimes we confuse that. If someone asks, “How are you doing spiritually?” I just think, “Well, if I’m happy, then God is close. If I’m not, he’s far away.” But bad people can be in really good moods. They can win the lottery or something. It doesn’t mean they’re close to God. On the other hand, this is important to know about God. — God wants you to be in a good mood. The writers of Scripture say the characteristic or the manifestation, the fruit, of the Holy Spirit in your life are things like love, joy, and peace, and that will affect your mood. In fact, this is so deep. — Moods are contagious, so not only does God want you in a good mood, other people in your life want you in a good mood. It can feel kind of selfish to want to be in a good mood, but actually in your family — If your spouse, if your kids, are in a good mood, you get the spillover from that. That’s a gift to you. If people you work with come in and they’re in a good mood, it puts you in a good mood too. * As a church, we want to be a place where when people come to our church, they’re greeted by people who are in a great mood. * They’re taught by people who are in a great mood. * They’re led into worship by people who are in a great mood. * They’re actually sitting next to people who are in a really good mood. * If there’s someone sitting next to you right now, that person wants you to be in a really good mood. Now, on the other hand, following Jesus is about something different than just wanting to be in a good mood all the time. If I actually want my life (including my moods) to be redeemed by God, I’ll have to die to my insistence that life is always doing stuff to put me in a good mood. Jesus actually came, among many other reasons, to impact the mood of the human race. And how he does that depends on our receptivity to him. I thought as kind of an exercise of looking at Jesus and moods, we would take a look at some of the characters in that very first Christmas and what happened when they found out Jesus was present. And just do a little assessment. — Are they in a good mood or a bad mood because Jesus is with them? Let’s look at a few of them. When they [the magi, also known as the wise men] saw the star, they were overjoyed. Matthew 2:10 Are the magi in a good mood or a bad mood? Good mood! The shepherds find out God is present with Jesus. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. Luke 2:20 The shepherds are put in a good mood because Jesus has come. Then there are the angels. Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest…” Luke 2:13-14 The angels are in a good mood. Now in the Bible, you hardly ever read about a grumpy angel. They’re probably always pretty happy, but the coming of Jesus just makes them sing. Jesus’ mother, Mary, is maybe the most remarkable example of impact on a mood. She’s pregnant with Jesus. She goes to visit a relative of hers named Elizabeth. Elizabeth is pregnant with a son who is going to be John the Baptist. All Mary does is walk in the room in her pregnant condition. This is what the text says. In a loud voice Elizabeth exclaimed: … “As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.” Luke 1:42-44 What kind of mood was the fetus in? A little happy fetal mood. Fetal joy for the first time in human history! Jesus is apparently a very powerful mood-enhancing force. But he doesn’t always put people in a good mood. Another character in this story is a guy named Herod. He was called Herod the Great. He wanted to be the greatest. Anyone who was going to be greater than him was a threat. Jesus comes along. Herod wants to get rid of him. But the magi don’t let him do that. When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under. Matthew 2:16 What kind of mood was Herod in? He was in a really bad mood. When someone with a lot of power is in a really bad mood, it gets really dangerous for a lot of people. By the way, we live in a world where that’s still the case. Look at Ukraine. Look at stuff going on all around our world. Herod had what you might think of as kind of a mood disorder. And a lot of us suffer from this. The idea is for a lot of people when we think about what mood we’re in, we make this kind of association — “My mood is basically a product of whatever circumstances I happen to find myself in.” If I have good circumstances — I make some money, I get a good grade on a test, someone praises me, someone likes what I’m doing — I’m in a good mood. If I’m in bad circumstances — something bad happens, I flunk a test, I face criticism — then I’m in a bad mood. I just kind of go through my days. I wake up in neutral, and I expect life to give me good stuff. If it does, then I’ll be in a good mood, and if it doesn’t, I’ll be in a bad mood. I go through life as a moody person with all the trouble moody people have. Herod was a very moody guy. All the money in the world, all the power in the world, didn’t make him happy. He had either 11 or 12 wives (historians aren’t sure which). He had only one wife he really loved. Her name was Mariamne. At one point, he was convinced she was a threat to his throne, so he had her executed — the only woman he ever loved. He had a son by Mariamne, and he was afraid that son was going to try to take power, so he had his own son executed. He also had two other sons executed. When his barber said to him that he thought it was not good for him to be executing his sons, he had his barber executed. Herod was such a mean guy that when he was on his deathbed, it was really clear no one in Israel was going to be sad. So he had 70 of the most prominent citizens of Israel rounded up and locked in a room and left orders that on the day he died, they were all 70 to be executed, because when he died, he wanted there to be crying in Israel. He knew no one would cry for him, so he said, “I want 70 innocent, prominent people to die on the day I die so there will be mourning.” I was thinking — if having a lot of power and a lot of money and the ability to alter your circumstance ought to make you happy (most of us live that way), Herod should have been the happiest guy in Israel, but he was a miserable train wreck. By way of contrast, there’s this young girl. She had no money, no power. Her name is Mary. She gets visited by an angel from God, and then all these extraordinary things happen. There are two words to notice in this little sentence: treasure and ponder. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. Luke 2:19 Those words are both very significant. To ponder something means you think about it real deeply. You reflect on it. She would look at what was going on in her life in light of what she studied in the Bible. She would talk to God about it to try to discern what was going on. Sometimes people think of that phrase as this kind of Hallmark card moment. Like you’d have herbal tea and just savor it all. It’s actually a language that was used for the prophets in the Old Testament, these amazing characters who would discern what God was up to. Mary would ponder. And then she would treasure. To treasure means you find great value in these thoughts. You delight in them. You savor them. You turn them over and over in your mind. They move you to worship. As a general rule, whatever is going on in your life, your mood will tend to reflect what you habitually ponder and treasure. * It could be your money. * It could be your grades. * It could be your looks. * It could be your health. * It could be your success. * It could be God who is present with you in Jesus and loves you. In the moments that remain in this message, I want to walk through four practices to engage in between now and Christmas so that your whole person, including your heart, and your mood, can be guided by God. This is really a message about how to be in a great mood. How do you actually do that if you want to? Here’s the first practice. 1. Ask Jesus to set your mood first thing in the morning. This is a really good thing to do, because how you wake up in the morning is such a key thing. There are some people who are morning people. Are you a morning person? Do you love to wake up in the morning? Or do you hate… people who love to wake up in the morning? Our moods are such a mystery, aren’t they? We’ll actually say to people sometimes if they seem to be real grumpy, “You must have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed.” Which side is that? I’m not making this up. There’s a sleep disorder scholar. His name is Neil Robinson, and he did a study of over a thousand subjects and actually found out there is a correct side of the bed. I’m not making this up. He actually found out if you get up on the left side of the bed, you’re between 4 and 10 percent more likely to be in a better mood — to be a friendlier person, to enjoy your job or your school more than if you get up on the right side of the bed. By the way, I get up on the right side of the bed, but there’s only a 4 to 10 percent chance I would ever admit I’m a grumpy person. Here’s the idea on this one. When you get up tomorrow, you can do this. When you get up tomorrow morning, don’t worry about right side/left side. When you get up, make a commitment that your knees are going to hit the floor before your feet hit the floor, that you’re going to begin not with, “Oh, all the stuff I have to do. All the problems I have to solve. All the questions I have to answer.” I read a fascinating article recently. It said most of us are kept from going through life in joy and wonder the way God wants because we swim in an ocean of self-judgment. — “I’m not good enough. I’m not smart enough. I’m not successful enough. I’m not pretty enough. I’m not strong enough.” He said this causes us to live a life of anxious mulling instead of joyous doing. What a contrast. — A life of anxious mulling instead of joyous doing. So the idea is starting tomorrow, when you wake up, instead of anxious mulling, just recognize this is God’s day, and God is going to take you through it. It’s all in God’s hand, and God loves to make your day a blessing. There’s a fabulous statement in the Old Testament where the writer says to God, “God, your mercies are new every morning.” I love that — “new” every morning. The idea isn’t just that God is always a merciful God. It’s almost like when you were sleeping, God was in the kitchen cooking up a batch of fresh mercy. He loves doing that every morning. Do you understand God never gets tired of being God? God never gets tired of whipping up a new batch of mercy. There’s this great writer, G.K. Chesterton. There’s a fabulous passage where he talks about how God is like children in this way. This is what Chesterton writes. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never gotten tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we. — G.K. Chesterton Isn’t that great? “…we have sinned and grown old…” — Sin isn’t good. Sin doesn’t bring life. — “…we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.” So tomorrow morning — wake up and be young. Say: * God, do it again! Bring the sun up again. * Bring those same, old people into my life again. Give me another shot at them. Let me love them. * Give me moments where I can be so glad to be in this world with you. * God, heal me from sinning and growing old. The first practice is when you wake up tomorrow, seriously let your knees hit the floor before your feet hit the floor and ask Jesus, “Jesus, set my mood. Don’t let me start the day in neutral. Don’t let my circumstances set my day.” Alright, we’ll talk about the next practice in just a moment. Announcement Alright, the second practice to engage in between now and Christmas to allow your mood to be guided by God is: 2. Cultivate gratitude. We have this weird thing that happens to us. Someone gives me a gift, and maybe it’s a surprise. And I’m truly grateful for it. But if they were to give that same gift to me every day for a week, I would’t be seven times more grateful for it. I should be, but I wouldn’t. What happens if I get it every day for a week? I start to take it for granted. If I get it every day for a year, I feel entitled to it. I feel like you violated my rights if I don’t get it. “For we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.” Now what does this say about my relationship with God where God gives me more gifts than I can count every day, day after day, week after week, year after year? “Oh yeah, that’s my right.” I get mad if I don’t have that. Another great line from Chesterton: When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time. Why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with legs? — G.K. Chesterton Why is it that I don’t say every morning, “God, my feet work again, and my hands work.” How much giving into your life does it take for you to feel gratitude? It’s strange how often people whose lives hurt the worst feel gratitude most keenly. I was reading a book recently about a man named William Porter. He had what I feel was a really painful and difficult life. When he was born, his mom died. When he was an infant, his dad was a raging alcoholic and fled, left the scene pretty early on, so he had to fend for himself. Somehow, he made it to adulthood. He married a woman, and she gave birth to a little baby, but that baby died when it was still a baby boy. Then his wife got really, really ill. The company he worked for crashed, and he got arrested for embezzlement. He said he was innocent, but he had to flee the country. He lived in Honduras for a while. Then he got word that his wife (whom he loved) was deathly ill, so he came back to the States. She died, and he was captured and incarcerated for embezzlement. While he was in prison for several years, he discovered he could write. He had a real gift for writing. He’d write short stories. Of course he knew no one was going to want to publish or buy a story from a prisoner, so William Porter wrote under the pen name of O. Henry. Do you know a writer named O. Henry? One of the stories he wrote is a Christmas story about a young couple. It’s called The Gift of the Magi. They were a really poor, impoverished, young couple — Jim and Della. All Jim had of any value in the world was a gold watch. It was his grandfather’s and then his dad’s and then his. He managed to hang onto it. He didn’t look at it often because it was attached to a really cheap, kind of ugly leather strap. He couldn’t afford a chain. The other thing he really loved, because he loved his wife so much, was her long, beautiful hair. He wanted so badly to give her a wonderful Christmas present, to give her these really expensive hair accessories with jewels, but he had no money. So he gets this idea, “I could sell my old gold watch. I love it, but it would be worth it to sell it just to see her eyes light up and to see her put beautiful jewels in her hair.” So he does. He’s so excited on Christmas morning, and he goes to give the gift to Della. And he sees to his shock — she will not be able to wear them. She cut off her hair and sold it to a wig maker in order to buy a platinum chain for the watch he no longer owns. It’s this wonderful story with this amazing twist, which I’ve told you so I’ve kind of spoiled it. You don’t need to read that story now. Merry Christmas. But I want to read to you the last paragraph of the story. It’s so beautiful. The magi, as you know, were wise men — wonderfully wise men — who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones. And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi. When with a grateful heart, I just stand before God and say, “God, you’ve done it again. * More gifts than I can count. * My body. * Every lungful of air. * Every friendly face. * And especially your Son. God, what can I give? How can I be a giver like you? Alright, the third practice is: 3. Worship Jesus in your problems. This tends to be difficult for us. At the first Christmas, there were problems for everyone. There were problems for Joseph. There were problems for Mary. There were problems for Jesus. There were problems for the family. Jesus’ brother, James, decades later would write these words: Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. James 1:2-3 Consider it pure joy when you face trials. I have to tell you — I’m awful at this. Do you have a hard time with this one (actually considering it joy)? This week I was working on this message (this part of it), and trying to get this reality in my mind. So I decided to memorize this section. — “Consider it joy when you have problems.” While I was working on that, at the same time, my mind kept going back and forth between that and a relational problem in my life with someone where I need to take some serious steps to solve it, but I can’t. And it’s weighing me down. I would just obsess over that. And then go back to, “Consider it joy when you have problems.” And then I’m trying to figure out how to teach this to you — that you need to consider it pure joy when you have problems. Then my mind would go back to — I’m just obsessing over this problem. Then the thought occurred to me, kind of like it was from heaven. This happens sometimes. “Matt, do you have a problem?” “Yes, I have a problem.” “Matt, are you considering your problem pure joy?” “No, I’m not considering my problem pure joy. And the problem is I have to teach this stupid concept to our church about how you consider all your problems pure joy. I have to teach this stuff.” Then this thought came to me, “You know, Matt, you are your problem. — For you to be able to learn how to identify this is the problem you have to consider joy.” It’s not because I’m happy I have this problem, but because God is going to be at work in this problem to make me a different person. This problem doesn’t separate me from the love of God. It doesn’t have ultimate power over my life, so I can stand apart from this problem and say, “Go ahead, problem. Do your work, but God and I will make it through this together.” So between now and Christmas, when you have a problem, which you most likely will. * Maybe it’s that you will not have enough time. * Maybe you’ll not have enough money. * Maybe you’ll not have enough energy. * Maybe there will be someone who you wish was at the table on Christmas who is not there. * Maybe there will be someone who is at the table on Christmas who you wish was not there. You’re going to have some problem or another. And when you do, say with me, “I’m going to worship God in my problem. I will consider it joy when I face problems.” Will you do that this Christmas? Are you excited about doing that this Christmas? Alright, last practice. 4. Spread the word. You know, when Jesus came, when someone actually got confronted with the reality of Jesus, they had to tell people. It just spilled out of them. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child. Luke 2:17 There was an old woman named Anna in the temple. When Jesus was brought to her, Anna gave thanks to God. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” She gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem. Luke 2:38 You see, there’s something about God where if I have him, I don’t want to keep him all to myself. I have to give him away. When I talk to other people about him in ways that are appropriate and I ask God, * Would you lead me? * Would you help me have a spiritual conversation with this person? * Help me to encourage this person. * Help me to say to this person, “I’d love to pray for you if that’s okay.” * Help me tell this person, “You know, we have this church, and we’re going to be celebrating Christmas Eve. I’d love for you to join me.” You see, there’s something that happens when I do that — God becomes more alive inside me when I spread him to people outside me. I’ll tell you, there’s no one in the Bay Area who is so smart, so rich, so healthy, so successful that they don’t need Jesus. And there’s no one God doesn’t love. God is always in a good mood, but Jesus said something about what especially produces joy in heaven. I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. Luke 15:10 What do you say? Let’s make the angels happy. Let’s make laughter in heaven. Let’s extend some invitations this week. Alright, let’s pray. Blue Oaks Church PLeasanton, CA