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Topic: Rejoicing (11/22/04)
TITLE: Bill Cosby, Bringing In The Sheaves By Josephus van den Hoek 11/25/04 |
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We have often read and been told growing up that Christians are joyous people. I find that a bit hard to believe when so many of us Christians are walking around with long faces. We show our dissatisfaction sooner than our joyful rejoicing. Isn’t that a bit contradictory? When was the last time you burst out in song (outside of the church) and rejoiced openly of Gods wonders and splendors?
In my mind I hear Bill Cosby’s words from a recording we used to play when we were kids. I can’t remember the beginning of the whole skit but I can share what I do remember. It goes something like this: The character Bill plays is looking for a bar but keeps getting distracted from ordering his drink. This happens all day until he finally comes to a quite bar where he feels he will finally be able to order his drink in peace and quite. Suddenly you hear “The door kicked open and guess who walked in!? Hooray for the salvation Army band!” In the background of the recording you hear a band playing “we shall come rejoicing bringing in the sheaves….” Thank God for the Salvation Army!
Herein lies the secret to the rejoicing that we all should be experiencing.. You see, when the song says we shall come rejoicing it also says bringing in the sheaves. The secret is in the second phrase “bringing in”.
By bringing in the sheaves we can rejoice because the hard work of hoeing the hard earth under the hot sun, planting seed after seed after seed by hand, fertilizing amidst the “perfume” of the fertilizer and pest control have all already been done. By bringing in the sheaves we can also rejoice because it’s a time of harvest. Biblically speaking angels rejoice over every soul that is saved as it occurs. They are not said to be rejoicing while we are being tempted, or while we are struggling with our conscience. But they do rejoice at the end result.
If we just do the work that God asks us to do as faithful Christians we will all be rejoicing simultaneously with all of Gods angels when Jesus returns. I cannot imagine that any of us will remember sweating in the hot sun on that wonderful day. We will have grins from ear to ear and I doubt that any of us will be able to contain the joy of the experience. Jesus really does know how to party. Now that makes my heart leap! He really does want to give us a life to the max! Go for it!