F.O.T.S. - Joy

Intro

My name is Jamie, I’m the Next Step Pastor at REVO

It’s so good to be with you

Last week we started a new series on the Fruits of the Spirit where Pastor Nathan broke down what true love looks like

Today we are continuing the series, talking about Joy

But before we dive into God’s word let’s pray

Prayer

Pray about peace and that God would use my words, Matthew’s words, and Stephen’s words

Fruits of the Spirit

The series comes from Galatians 5 which says

Galatians 5:22–23 ESV

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Last week we talked about love and what it means

How we are called to love God and love our neighbors

Today we are talking about joy

Joy is maybe one of the hardest things to understand

Which is kind of ironic because I bet at Christmas time every lady in the room is pulling out a decorative pillow with the word “joy” embroidered on it

But what does joy actually mean?

I mean A.W. Tozer a great American pastor and author said this about Joy:

Joy is a great therapeutic for the mind.

A. W. Tozer

But how can we know what true joy is?

So many people get joy and happiness confused

I mean lets think about it

A good cheesecake brings me happiness for about 5 minutes, but that happiness is gone when you add up the calories - so it can’t be joy

A new phone brings happiness for a few days, but that happiness is gone when it gets cracked, stops charging, or the next model comes out - so it can’t be joy

Vacation brings a lot of happiness the entire time you are on vacation, but that happiness leaves when you start to head home and realize that you go back to work - so it can’t be joy

So the question really becomes what is true joy?

What better place to look for the answer than the Bible and one of the most joyous books being Philippians!

See Philippians could be considered one of the happiest, most joy filled books in the Bible.

It has 4 chapters, and within those 4 chapters Paul references joy, happiness, and rejoicing 16 different times. Joy is one of the major themes of the book

The crazy part about that is when Paul wrote Philippians he was in jail

Not only was Paul in jail, but he was awaiting his death sentence

Yet through all of this Paul writes a book, that is joy-filled!

Change your perspective

Listen to what Paul says about his circumstances

Philippians 1:12–14 ESV

12 I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, 13 so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. 14 And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

Paul tells the Philippians here that what happened to him has only helped the spread of the Gospel

So what did happen to Paul?

He was arrested, falsely charged, dragged to Rome, put in prison, chained up, and was given a death sentence

This is a scenario that would cause almost everyone to assume that Paul would lose his joy

They would see this problem as too big

However, Paul said that what happened to him was for Christ, and even that others were sharing the Gospel even more because of his imprisonment

Here’s Paul’s first lesson to us about Joy

Learn to look at problems from God’s POV

To find true joy in life, you must learn to look at problems in your life from God’s POV, not yours

Take Paul’s imprisonment for example

Paul was considered a royal prisoner by Rome, meaning he was a high value prisoner

What they would do to a high value prisoner is have them chained to a guard 24 hours a day.

Now history tells us that Paul was in jail for 2 years, so for 2 years straight he was chained to a prison guard

Historians also tell us that prison guards were swapped every 4 hours

If you do the quick math, there was 3,280 different guard changes

That means there was 3,280 different opportunities that Paul had to share the Gospel with someone - and think they couldn’t get away from Paul they were literally chained to him

Paul had to be ecstatic about this opportunity that God gave him

And guess what - it worked!

Philippians 4:21–22 ESV

21 Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me greet you. 22 All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar’s household.

Paul is telling them that people in the house of Caesar are believers. This could only happen because guards that were chained to Paul were the same guards that guard the palace

So they are hearing the Gospel and then bringing it into the Caesar’s house!

What Paul is telling us is that we must change our perspective when it comes to the circumstances you are facing in life

Start looking at them through God’s eyes

Churches were constantly writing to Paul: are you okay? We hate you’re in prison. What can we do to make it feel a little better?

Paul writing to the churches: This isn’t a problem, this is fantastic! They are feeding me (free food), I have shelter, and I get to share the Gospel 3,280 times with people I otherwise would have never interacted with!

See how big a flip that is?

Looking at Paul’s problem from man’s perspective says that you’re in prison and life is terrible.

Looking at Paul’s problem from God’s perspective says you can share the Gospel 3,280 different times, they have to listen, and by the way all your needs are taken care of

Having true joy, like Paul, is being able to look at the circumstances that you are facing and say “this is a good thing, God is blessing me through this time”

True joy is being able to see God’s hand working in your problems

Being able to see that this is all for God

True joy is believing what Paul wrote to the Romans

Romans 8:28 ESV

28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Here’s a very simple thing you can do to start experiencing this joy Paul is talking about

Think about your biggest problem, the thing that is a major stress for you

Then say a simple prayer: “Lord help me to see this problem from your POV”

Do this daily. Repetitively. Faithfully. Lord help me to see this problem from your perspective

You’ll be surprised how your perspective will start to change when you start praying this prayer

But let’s be real here

It’s a hard prayer, one that I’ve been praying a lot recently

See the last time I gave a message on this stage, it was for a double funeral for two of my students

Me and Kasey were really close to them and their family

And from that moment where we received the phone call, to now, our prayer has been a simple hard prayer

“God show us what you’re doing, how you’re working, and let us play the part you want us to play in it”

“Lord give us your perspective and not ours.”

I believe that Madi and Jayce are in heaven, that God called them home

But the pain is still there. They are gone, no longer alive on earth. We’ll never get to speak to them, their family will only have their memories of them

But now the struggle is how do we see this tragedy from God’s eyes

Better yet, how do we look at the situation from God’s POV and not my POV

My perspective wants to rant and rave about how it’s not fair, how God took away two teenagers, how they were doing nothing wrong in that moment to cause them to die and how it was unfair

However, God’s POV is showing me something completely different

That God brought them home with Him, calling them out of this evil world

And from this tragedy we’ve seen the rest of our students take their faith very seriously

We’ve seen students that were on the outskirts, now coming into the fold

We’ve seen students asking questions about life and death, about Jesus and his sacrifice, we’ve been able to minister to the families and serve them

Problems to us are opportunities for God to move and work

When we focus on the problems of our life, and not on how God is trying to use those problems for His good, we are missing out on the joy that God promises us

If you want to culminate Joy you first must look at the problems in your life from God’s POV

Where do you get your joy

Paul is also telling us a second thing about joy

Check the source of your Joy

You must check your source of Joy

There are a lot of things in life that can bring joy and satisfaction

Satan has crafted this world to please us - everything in it will bring joy and happiness for a moment

He is the great counterfeit - taking God’s creations and using it to pull people away

He is constantly trying to get people to find their joy in life

He wants you to get your joy from your money, or from drugs and alcohol, your joy from vacations, your joy pornography and other sexual acts.

Satan wants your joy to be found only in the world

But listen to what the preacher in Ecclesiastes says about a life of joy only found in the world

Ecclesiastes 2:1–11 ESV

1 I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was vanity. 2 I said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?” 3 I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine—my heart still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life. 4 I made great works. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. 5 I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. 6 I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. 7 I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. 8 I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines, the delight of the sons of man. 9 So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me. 10 And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. 11 Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

Solomon the writer of Ecclesiastes says he tried everything in life

He built houses, he build vineyards, he made pools, he owned cattle, he had silver and gold and all treasures, he had women, and he kept nothing from him

Anything Solomon wanted he chased after and got

Yet as he said the end of all that toil left him empty

He said it was all vanity - a vapor, it was all striving after the wind

He was seeking for true joy and fulfillment in everything that life offered him, yet he didn’t find it anywhere

If you want true joy you must check where you are getting joy from

If you are only getting joy from things in the world you will never be satisfied and will continually need more and want more to be fully filled

Satan’s counterfeit joy cannot sustain you

That joy will not be complete

Yet think about Paul - full of joy while being in prison

His source of joy clearly wasn’t based on his circumstances

Think about how infuriating it must have been to be the guards with Paul - trying to crush his spirit

They decide to throw him jail - thinking that would stop him “Sounds good, I’ll win the guards to Christ!”

They decide to torture him “So be it, I don’t consider the present sufferings of this world to compare to the future glory that will be reveled to me”

That doesn’t stop his joy so they decide to give him life in prison“To live is Christ!”

Still unbothered they decide to give him the death penalty “To die is gain!”

There was no breaking Paul’s joy!

There was no robbing Paul’s joy!

His joy didn’t come from his present circumstances

Listen to what Paul said about his circumstances

Philippians 4:11–13 ESV

11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Paul said I have learned to be content in all situations

If I’m well fed, or hungry

If I have a lot of money, or am completely poor

I am completely content

My joy doesn’t come from my circumstances

It rests in the Lord who gives me strength

The Joy of the Lord is everlasting, it never runs out but will continue to give you strength

If you want joy you must check where you are seeking out your joy

If you are seeking joy from the world, it will never last

Instead seek your joy from the Lord

The devil’s scheme

Here’s the problem

Satan wants you to find your joy in the world - in his counterfeit

If you resist that, if you find your joy elsewhere Satan isn’t going to give up

Instead Satan will seek to distract you and pull you away from your source of joy

This happened to Paul constantly

Philippians 1:15–17 ESV

15 Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. 16 The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17 The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment.

Paul constantly had churches that he planted writing to him about their problems

About false teachers coming and trying to twist the words of Christ

Or even preachers that are preaching the Gospel message, but doing it for selfish ambition

Their message may be true, but their heart was bad

These are things that could very easily snatch up Paul’s joy

If his life circumstances (being in jail, beaten, chained to a guard 24/7, and ultimate death penalty) couldn’t snatch his joy, Satan thought that having his church plants constantly have problems would snatch his joy

But listen to what Paul said about these problems

Philippians 1:18 ESV

18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice,

He said he will rejoice because Christ is being proclaimed!

The last thing Paul is trying to teach us about joy is that we must

Focus on Jesus

Jesus must be the focus of everything in our life

If we want true joy like Paul has, Jesus must be our main focus

Churches are writing to Paul with problems about people having bad motives inside the church

Paul’s response? “What then?” “What does it matter?”

Paul was unbothered by the problem

He saw that Jesus was being magnified and that was all He cared about!

Some people focus on situations and hardships. The focus on the difficult times and problems in their lives.

By doing that there is no joy, there is no satisfaction.

To have a true joy you must stay focused on Jesus

Satan is going to try and get you to find your joy in the world, if that doesn’t work he is going to try and bring up problems to take your eyes off of the true source of joy

You must remain focused on Jesus

There is always a reason to be joyful in the Lord

Psalm 34:1 ESV

1 I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

David tells us that we must praise and bless the Lord at all times

No matter what happens because He is good

1 Thessalonians 5:18 ESV

18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Paul tells us to give thanks in every circumstance!

Everything we face should be an opportunity for us to praise God

Colossians 3:23–24 ESV

23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

Our joy comes from the Lord

Our joy comes from what Jesus gives us!

In your best situations in life, praise the Lord!

In your worst situations in life, praise the Lord!

You can do this because you are praising Jesus for what He did!

For taking your place on the cross, because of our sin that should have been me, that should have been you

For dying on the cross, sin = death and that death Jesus took should have been ours, we should be separated from the Lord forever because of our sin

For forgiving sins, sin and perfection don’t mix, so the fact God came down to forgive our sins is worthy of celebrating

If you want true joy from the Lord you must focus on Jesus!

Don’t seek joy from any other place, because that is a counterfeit.

Seek joy from the Lord!

Conclusion

Paul taught us three things when it comes to joy

Look at your problems from God’s perspective

In every situation you find your self in, seek to see what God is doing

Check your source of joy

Are you seeking joy from the world? It will always let you down

Focus on Jesus

Jesus is the only place that true joy comes from, focus on Him!

You can’t choose what you go through, but you can choose what you focus on.

You can’t change the circumstances that happen, but you can control who and what you focus on!

No matter what, praise the Lord in every circumstance

That is where true joy lies!

Let’s pray