Joining in his Joy
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Big Idea
Big Idea
Tension: What is the motive Jesus gives his disciples for evangelism?
Resolution: namely that they can rejoice together with Christ.
Exegetical Idea: The motive that Jesus gave his disciples for evangelism was so that they could rejoice together with Christ.
Theological Idea: Christians should share the gospel so they can share in God’s joy.
Homiletical Idea: We should share Christ so we can share his joy.
Outline
Outline
Introduction:
You should share Christ.
Why should we share Christ?
How Obedience Sustains (vs. 31-34)
“Rabbi, eat.”
My food is to do the will of him who sent me
What is the analogy of food trying to communicate? That it is the food which sustains him.
Doing God’s will sustained Jesus. <John 5:30, 6:38-40>
“I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.
For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
In what way?
Because the Father rejoiced in his obedience, and the Son shared in his obedience. (38)
This is for us as well. God is pleased with our obedience. When we obey, we can share in that joy.
In other words, our motivation for all our Christian life is because there is joy in it.
Sharing in his Joy (35-38)
fields are white for the harvest (35)
when we share th3e gospel, we are reaping fruits for eternal life (36)
There is a natural divison of labor in the kingdom (37-38) (1 Cor 3:5-9)
What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.
God is sovereign over this entire process. (John 1:12-13, 6:70, 10:14-16, 13:18, 15:16-19)
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.”
I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.
I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another. “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
If God is really sovereign, then why does he use us? I mean, after all, why can’t he just turn the lights on.
Well, part of the reason is in this, God rejoices in unbeleivers coming to know him (36; Luke 15:3-7)
So he told them this parable: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
Which means this, God chooses to use us in evangelism so that we can share in his joy. (36)
The Example of hte woman
She shares her testimony (he told me all that I have ever done) (39)
She shares her savior, “he is the savior of hte world) (42)
Their faith takes on a life of its own.
Application:
God takes joy in saving you. <The story of the prodigal Son>
Your faith needs to take on a life of its own. <Have you put your faith in Jesus?>
The foundation for all obedience is that there is more joy in it.
are you wondering how you can kick a certain sin?
are you wondering how you can keep serving Christ even when you’re suffering?
Cultivate joy in Christ through means of grace.
Take confidence that he is the one who ultimately is working not us.
We should pray for the lost.
Specifically, we should pray that God would bring people into their lives who can share the gospel <Matt 9:37-38>
Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
Do your job, not somebody else’s. God has given all of us a job to do. Sometimes we plant, sometimes we harvest.
How to share Christ
Share your testimony
Share your Savior
Share in his joy
If we don’t share the gospel, we’re missing out on his joy.
Even if you don’t see progress, you don’t know the ending. So don’t be discouraged.
Conclusion: It will all be worth it in the end. <Grand parents>