Messages of Joy Archive
"AAA" Joy:
The Joy of the Lord!
The joy of the Lord springs from God, and has God for its object. Most of the things that spring from God have God’s creatures as its object. Such as love. Humans are the objects of God’s Love.
The reason we do not hear a lot about joy is because joy has God for its object. In today’s modern Christian experience most Christians are concerned about what God can do for them. Joy is the byproduct of our making God the object of our adoration and worship.
The Christian rejoices mainly in God himself; he is happy because there is a God, and because God is in his person and character what he is.
A further source of joy is found by the Christian, who is living near to God, and has been reconciled to God, accepted by God, and adopted into close relationship to God. It makes a person glad to know that though once his sins had provoked the Lord they are all blotted out, not one of them remained; though once he was estranged from God, and far off from him by wicked works, yet he is made nigh by the blood of Christ.
The joy of the Lord springs also from an assurance that all the future, whatever it may be, is guaranteed by divine goodness, that being children of God, the love of God towards us abides and remains unchangeable.
There is an opportunity of delight for every Christian when he comes into actual fellowship with God. Do you know what it means—to walk with God—Enoch's joy; to sit at Jesus' feet—Mary's joy; to lean your head upon Jesus' bosom—John's familiar joy?
Another form of "the joy of the Lord" will visit us practically every day in the honor of being allowed to serve him. It is a joy worth worlds to be allowed to do good. To teach a little child his letters for Christ, will give a true heart some taste of the joy of the Lord, if it be consciously done for the Lord's sake alone.
First, it leads to great praise.
The next result is great sacrifice.
But then the text tells us that holy joy leads to family happiness. "
THIS JOY, THIS STRENGTH, ARE BOTH WITHIN OUR REACH! "For the Lord had made them glad with great joy." God alone can give us this great joy.
A place, A purpose, and A power.
Joy is mentioned in Jesus' farewell conversation with his disciples from the 15th chapter of John.
That text provides an odd setting for a discussion of joy. After talking about many things, Jesus finally got down to the reason for his remarks to the disciples: He said, "I've told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature. (John 15:11)
O.K., What are "these things?" What would enable you and me to live with joy?
It seems to me that Jesus was saying that we are able to experience joy in our lives because in Christ, we have a place, a purpose, and a power.
First, the place. Jesus said, "I go to prepare a place for you, so that where I am, there you may be also." He talks about his Father's house in which all of us have a place.
I think that at some level we all are concerned about our destiny. What happens to us when we die? Somewhere within us, we deal with our fears and anxieties about our destiny. Jesus' words in John 14 will always be some of the most treasured in the Scriptures. . "Don't let your hearts be troubled, don't be afraid, because I myself go to prepare a place for you, and I'll be there with you."
That is our destiny, that is our place! We feel joy because Jesus has assured us that we have a place.
He also said, we have a purpose. I've always wanted to know my Purpose In Life. It is a basic need for all of us, and we tend to envy people who know from the time they're children exactly what their life's work will be.
What a joy it would be to know our purpose, to know why we are here! Our purpose is to love. We are to love one another as Jesus has loved us.
The good news about this is that we can fulfill this purpose, no matter what our daily occupation, our education level, our personality, our family history, our age, no matter what other variables in our lives. We have a reason for being, an opportunity to experience every single day full of meaning and contributing to the well-being of others. When we love, we live out the purpose Jesus gave us.
That purpose is the only thing that matters to God. We can count up the successes we've had, the money we've made, and the trips we've taken. But none of that will enable us to feel the joy that our lives have been significant, if we have not loved one another as Christ has loved us. We have, in Christ, a purpose.
And finally, Jesus gave a means for joy when he told his disciples that they have a power. He said, "(you) will do greater works than mine." He said that he was sending the Holy Spirit to be with us, and that he himself would abide in us, enabling us to bear fruit.
I think the biggest killjoy in life is the feeling of inadequacy. It's hard to be a joyful person when you feel that your efforts aren't good enough, or that you aren't able to handle the challenges and opportunities, the twists and turns of life.
And perhaps the hardest thing for us to accept and believe is that God wants to empower us. It isn't easy to say with conviction that wonderful sentence that the apostle Paul gave us, "I can do all things through him who strengthens me."
"Can do" power is a consistent gift of God. "Can do" power is reliable, effective, and unfailing. In Christ we have "can do" power.
Joy, comes to us when we know we have a place and a purpose and a power. Jesus wants us to think about what we are given; he wants to repent of our sins but to rejoice in our salvation; he wants us feel that our discipleship a joyful privilege.
Jesus knows that when we have joy, we are magnetic and contagious. In fact, he knows that joy is the best evangelism tool we have.
Joy is the Jesus way. Joyful people cannot contain it. Joy never travels incognito, never puts on sunglasses and a scarf. It is always out there to bless, and to invite others to experience it for themselves.
Our agenda at Trinity Church is to find joy and be complete in Christ.
May His desire become a living reality in our lives, today and always.
