Delight in God

Question of the week:

What do you enjoy the most in this world?

Audience participation. Ask them what they shared. Repeat it and make appropriate comments.

If we wanted to rephrase this question a little differently we could ask:

What do you treasure or delight in the most?

But these aren’t words we commonly use. So what does it mean to treasure something or to take delight in it?

Audience participation. Ask them what they shared. Repeat it and make appropriate comments.

The dictionary defines it simply as being very happy because of something or to enjoy it very much. Which is why I asked the question, what do you enjoy the most in this world?

And it’s with this in mind, let us dive in to what God is teaching us today.

Recap:

Journey with Jesus

So we have been talking about journeying with Jesus, which we break down into three categories: Worship, Community, and Mission.

Journey with Jesus Worship, Community, Mission

These are categories for our life: how we relate to God, how we relate to the church, our brothers and sisters in Christ, and how we relate to those outside of the church, non-believers. And within each of these we have an aspect of being and doing.

For the first chunk of this series we are focusing on Worship. Last week, Dave shared about the being aspect of worship, which is experiencing and dwelling in God’s love. If you take a look at the 1 pagers we handed out last week and this week you’ll see on the left side it says, You Are Loved. This is the being aspect of worship.

We recognize that we love God because He first loved us (1 Jn 4:19) and Dave shared at length what God loving us really means. He is for us, He is with us. His words, His love, who He says we are, these things are far more important than anything else in this world. Nothing can separate us from His love; not you, not nature, not other people, not even Satan. He will always love us.

This week we are going to talk about what His love compels us to do. Looking at the one pager it says, “You are Loved” and there is an arrow that points to “Delight in God.” This is because it is God’s love that leads us to love Him, to delight in Him. So we are going to talk about the doing aspect of worship, which is Delighting in God.

Introduction:

Delight in God

Delighting in God takes many forms and has a lot of overlap with the other principles of our worship document. Looking just below the top of the sheet you’ll see a big bold header that says principles. We “do” worship by Delighting in God, and we delight in God through humility (which includes submission), by remaining in Jesus, and by trusting God.

We delight in God through: Humility, Remaining in Jesus, and Trusting God

There are many other ways we can delight in God, but these are just a few that we think are really important and that we wanted to focus on. These are the essential aspects of worship and being in relationship with God.

But before we dive deeper let me pray.

Prayer

When it comes to delighting in God I have often said that the Journey with Jesus is all about delayed gratification. And this is true to a certain extent. We see bits of this all over the New Testament. One example is in the book of Hebrews. If you’ll all turn with me to Hebrews 12:1-2 now.

The author of Hebrews describes the Journey with Jesus as a race. In Hebrews 12:1–2 it says,

Hebrews 12:1–2 (CSB)

Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

You see, a Journey with Jesus is like a race with a finish line. We’re called to fix our eyes on Jesus, on the finish line, on heaven, on what is to come. Not only this, but Jesus Himself prioritized delayed gratification. It says, “For the joy that lay before Him, he endured the cross.” Jesus was willing to endure humanity, suffering, torture and death, because he knew that what was waiting for Him on the other side of it was worth it. We are the joy set before Him. He endured the cross for us, to rescue us. Though He Himself was God and could have and do anything He wanted, He was willing to die on the cross because that’s how badly He wanted us to be with Him. For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross. The journey of Christ, and the journey of His followers is filled with delayed gratification.

In a separate passage, Paul says that our time here on earth, this momentary, light affliction, is nothing next to Jesus. He goes on to say that everything compared to Christ is garbage! The surpassing worth of Christ is too much to compare to anything this world has to offer. There are many other places in the Bible that talk about waiting expectantly, having hope for the future, setting our minds on heaven.

So there is truth to the statement, that following Jesus is filled with delayed gratification. But this isn't the whole picture, it’s missing some important parts.

We aren't just waiting for joy and fulfillment. We don’t have to die and go to heaven to experience God’s goodness. These are things that we can experience here and now. A journey with Jesus is filled with delayed gratification, yes, but there is also immediate pleasure. We can delight in God now, enjoy Him every moment of our lives, and not just in some theoretical or abstract way. We can experience God and truly feel delight for Him now. But we need His help. We can’t do it without Him.

Illustration

I’ve seen this throughout my own life. Part of the reason I talk about delayed gratification so much is because I’m all about it. I have dreams and goals and ambitions that fill my thoughts and time. And I love working hard towards something, even if it takes a long time to see the results. But I’m not solely focused on delayed gratification. One of the many pieces of advice I’ve been given as I work in ministry has been to have a hobby, which was not something I was lacking. Haha.

A hobby usually means you have something tangible that produces immediate results. The reason this is recommended is because ministry doesn’t have much immediate gratification. Growing and and walking with Jesus takes a lifetime, and it’s often slow work. But with hobbies, like woodworking, I can take a piece of wood and make something out of it in just a few hours. And there’s a lot of joy and excitement from that. And not just woodworking, I have tons of hobbies, vastly too many, and I kind of hop around from one to the other depending on time and what season of life I’m in. In one season I’m playing tons of volleyball and thrilled by brief moments of good plays and a hard spike. In the next season I throw myself extra deep into my school-work because a topic interests me or I can feel God teaching me something. In the next season I might play a lot of Minecraft and work on my YouTube Channel. And in the next I’ll be building things for fun or as gifts. With all these hobbies it’s clear that I love immediate gratification.

But in all these things there’s balance. God doesn’t just reward us at the end of life like that’s all there is to look forward too. There’s not just a prize at the end of the race. There’s moments of joy and glory every step along the way because God is with us in every moment! He’s even with us in our hobbies. You can enjoy your favorite activities even more if you do them with God. He wants to walk with us through every part of this life. All we have to do is let Him. We can enjoy time with God no matter what we’re doing! And he makes the activities we do even more enjoyable. So my question to use is:

How can you invite God into your favorite activities?

Maybe it’s by taking time to pray before and during them. Maybe it’s listening to worship music or a sermon while to it. Maybe doing it with you brothers and sisters in Christ. Or maybe it’s something else. It’ll likely be different for each person and each activity. But we can delight in God no matter where we are or what we’re doing!

Glorify God by Enjoying Him

That’s why the Westminster Shorter Catechism describes the Journey with Jesus like this. It says that, “The Chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”

John Piper is famous for editing this quote by changing one word. He says,

The chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever.

It is through our enjoyment that we glorify God.

So the chief end of man, your greatest purpose, the reason you were created, that all of us exist, was to glorify God by enjoying Him. We glorify God by delighting in Him. We glorify Him by being happy and having our joy come from Him.

We see this combination of our pleasure and God’s glory throughout the Bible. It’s especially clear in the Psalms. Let’s turn now to Psalm 95:1-7. Psalm 95:1-7 says,

Psalm 95:1–7 (CSB)

Come, let’s shout joyfully to the Lord, shout triumphantly to the rock of our salvation! Let’s enter his presence with thanksgiving; let’s shout triumphantly to him in song. For the Lord is a great God, a great King above all gods. The depths of the earth are in his hand, and the mountain peaks are his. The sea is his; he made it. His hands formed the dry land. Come, let’s worship and bow down; let’s kneel before the Lord our Maker. For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, the sheep under his care.

We glorify God when we worship Him, when we speak of His power, when we consider all that He’s created, when we stand in awe of Him, when we sing to Him, like we have done tonight and will do more here soon, when we shout and acknowledge that Everything is His!

And we do all of this in joy, with thanksgiving, with triumph! We experience great joy simply by knowing, experiencing, and praising God.

If you love God, if you delight in Him, then you have to enjoy glorifying and praising Him.

But we don’t just get simple satisfaction from singing some songs. It’s so much bigger than that. In fact, the Bible promises to give us all the desires of hearts! Let’s turn now to Psalm 37.

Our Hearts’ Desires

In Psalm 37: 3-4 it says,

Psalm 37:3–4 (CSB)

Trust in the Lord and do what is good; dwell in the land and live securely. Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires.

The scriptures promise it here! And so clearly! If you delight in God then He will give you the desires of your hearts! What an astounding promise!? How can this be? Was the author of this Psalm just speaking from wishful thinking or personal experience? How can anyone make a statement that audacious?

But it’s not just one author that says this, Jesus Himself promises this in John 15. Let’s turn now to John 15.

In John 15:1-11 it says,

John 15:1–11 (CSB)

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. Every branch in me that does not produce fruit he removes, and he prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me. If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown aside like a branch and he withers. They gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned.

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commands you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.

Here it is again! Jesus Himself promises that anyone who remains in Him can ask for anything they want and it will be done for them? He wants to give us His joy! And not just temporary joy, or a joy we have to wait to die to receive. He wants to give us this joy now, His complete joy. How can He promise something so massive?...

You see, there’s a few caveats to these promises. If we go back to Psalm 37:3-4

Psalm 37:3–4 (CSB)

Trust in the Lord and do what is good; dwell in the land and live securely. Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires.

We don’t simply get whatever we want right here and now. First we have to trust in the Lord and submit to what He wants us to do, and we have to delight in Him.

The same goes for John 15:7

John 15:7 (CSB)

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you.

To get what you want you have to delight in God, trust Him, remain in Him, and submit to Him in complete humility. You have to give Him everything you have and all that you are. He will accept nothing less than your whole life. But what He offers in return is worth more than our lives. He offers us the desires of hearts! His very own joy. To give us anything we could possibly want!

But you see, there’s something funny that happens when you begin to trust God, and remain in Him, and delight in Him. Your heart’s desires begin to change. You begin to realize more and more that nothing else other than God Himself could satisfy you, could fill your heart. Nothing this world has to offer even comes close. You begin to understand more and more why Paul would say everything is utter garbage compared to knowing and experiencing Christ. If you give God everything, before you know it, Jesus will be your heart’s desire, He will be your greatest love. And He will give you everything, more than you could ask or imagine. Because He Himself is worth more than everything else combined.

Illustration

This might be hard from some of you to imagine. Your desires suddenly shifting in some dramatic way. But if you think about it our desires change all the time. Since we were kids most of us have had dreams and goals change. As we’ve gone through adolescence and puberty a lot of desires changed. And even now in college, as young adults who are trying to figure out what they want to do for the rest of their lives, many of you will grow and change in ways you couldn’t imagine, or maybe don’t even notice. When I was a student the career and major I wanted to go into changed multiple times. I went from wanting to be a vet as a kid, to loving math and wanting to do engineering, to hating calculus and wanting to work with computers, to not wanting to stare at code all day and do something artistic. And even after all of that and getting my degree, I now work in full time ministry, instead of any one of those. Not only this, but there are countless ways God has worked in my life and changed me an my desires. And He can do the same for all of us. In fact, he wants to.

But this process isn’t something God does alone. He wants our participation. Right? To get the desires of your hearts you gotta delight in God, be humble, remain in Jesus, and trust God.

Application

So how do we do this? How do we gain perfect satisfaction and delight in God?

Well, first and most importantly, we have to recognize our need for Him and ask him for help. We exhibit humility in this, knowing we can’t do it on our own. We need God every day, for every moment of our lives. And this is a lesson I’ve learned the hard way over and over again. I’ve tried for most of my life to do things my way and in my strength, but it’s only left my feeling empty. I think I can get the results I want and then go to God afterwards. But God doesn’t just want you at your best. He wants everything. And even our best is nothing compared to God. The Bible says that:

1 Corinthians 1:25 (CSB)

God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

Do you recognize your need for God? Do you feel how badly you need Him?

So if you haven’t caught on yet. I’m still just working my way through the one pager, one thing at a time. The first one below ‘Delight in God’ is ‘Humility’, which is a vital aspect to delighting in and worshiping God. Next is remain:

We also have to remain in Jesus and spend time with Him.

Now if you look below the Principles on the one pager you’ll see a list of practices that are all about spending time with Jesus. Things like prayer, reading the Bible, resting with Jesus, having a Sabbath, attending church groups or services. These are all ways we spend time with Jesus. These are all things we need to do if we want to learn to delight in God. And this is where Jesus says, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you wish and it’ll be done for you.” How amazing is that. Spending time with Jesus makes everything better! Just like bringing Him into your hobbies and activities. And it doesn’t just give us momentary happiness, it gives us joy that will last. The more time you spend with Jesus the more you become like Him. His joy is everlasting.

And I know that life isn’t all happiness and delight. There are moments and days and seasons of hardship that make all of these words feel like they’re in vain. You might be experiencing hardship to the point you don’t know how you’re going to make it through, let alone delight in God in the meantime. But God promises to be with you no matter what. Like Dave said last week, nothing can separate you from the love of God. How much greater will we feel His presence, His goodness, His love, if we remain in Him.

But to do this, to remain in Jesus, even when it’s hard or your life is falling apart, we have to trust Him. We have to trust that God is with us, that He will never leave or forsake us, that nothing can separate us from His love. Remaining in God is deeply connected to trusting Him. And not only this, it’s connected to humility as well.

Trusting God is a way of depending on and submitting to Him. As you spend time with Jesus. As you read God’s word and see Him move in your life, you’ll learn to trust Him more and more. And if you really trust God and what He calls us to in His word, then you’ll begin to obey it more and more, knowing that God’s will for your life is far better than yours. These three parts of worship are all interconnected and all lead to greater joy, to greater delight in God.

So I exhort you. If you want to be happy, if you want to be satisfied, if you want to get your heart’s desires, then Delight in God! And this isn’t just some prosperity gospel or name it and claim idea. God doesn’t promise you health and wealth. He doesn’t promise you a stable job, a nice family, and a quiet life. He doesn’t promise to give you all of your current hopes and dreams. But he’ll give you something that is far more valuable and far more satisfying.

If you want to get your heart’s desires, whatever you want, then read the one pager and do what is says. Look at our principles. If you delight in God, submit to Him in humility, remain in Jesus, and trust God, then according to Psalm 37 and John 15 God’s going to give you all of this and more. But be warned, it’ll cost you your life, and the things you want when you start this journey with Jesus, will not be the things you get. Your wants will change, your heart’s desires will shift, and instead, God is going to give you something better than you could imagine, Himself.

Let me pray.