Pursuit of Joy
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
So, back in the fall of 2013, at Indiana State, I started what would be the most important, introspective, life-altering class of my entire college career- Phycology 101.
Just kidding, this was a class that I can’t believe I actually paid money for. I’m going to say it was a complete waste of time, but let’s just say I didn’t actually attend very many of the sessions, and still got an A.
But, in that class, I learned about this thing you might be aware of, which is something called Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Slide.
And this hierarchy, represented in a pyramid, really focuses on our basic, intrinsic needs as human beings. What Maslow proposes and theorizes is the base layers of the pyramids must be met before pursing the higher parts.
So, before you meet your full, self-actualization potential, a person must have their physiological needs met (food, water, shelter), and be/feel safe. Only then can a person have love and belongingness, and have true accomplishment and pride.
In this, Maslow was trying to explain human motivation and behavior.
Another phycologist by the name of Dr. Martin Seligman had a similar hunch, and developed a system called the PERMA model, which basically explains all the needed components of human happiness, joy, and well-being. Slide.
PERMA stand for positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment. He argues that meeting these criteria will result in human flourishing and true happiness.
And you can find so many other phycologists with their list of basic human needs, all essentially trying to find the answer to a singular pursuit, the pursuit of happiness.
Now, I know you know that phrase, it’s in our sacred American document, the Declaration of Independence, which says “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
So, not only are scientists constantly trying to figure out what this pursuit of happiness is, but the founding fathers of the US thought this was a right of every citizen, every human.
What this tells us, then, is that all these lists of things we’re supposed to accomplish to be happy, they’re pointing to one, intrinsic need that every human being is trying to obtain, which is joy.
A peaceful life. Good feelings. Natural happiness. Contentment, Satisfaction. Well-being. Whatever you want to call it.
And it sure does seem like every decision we make, our choices, our habits, everything can be boiled down to our need for true happiness and joy.
But the problem is that often our joyful lives are fleeting. There’s a time of comfort, sure, but always always always, it will be followed by a time of distress. Of discomfort. That joy that is so comfortable is suddenly ripped away, and we have to find our way back and return to joy.
So, i’d like to invite our Scripture reader up, Stephen, and he’s going to read all of Psalm 100. If you could, please stand for the reading of God’s word.
Scripture reader
Now, as we examine this piece of the Psalms, it’s apparent that our world rarely matches what’s found in this Psalm of Jubilee. This Psalm of Thanksgiving.
This joy aspect of our lives that seems to drive most of what we do - the Psalmist here is writing that our encounter with the Lord should be the highest aspect of this joy. The whole earth should shout, we should serve with gladness, joyfully sing, enter his palace with thanks, bless His name.
See, this driving force of joy can be a blessing and a curse, because it often leads us to seek out temporary forms of pleasure and happiness. Our problem is we…
We seek joy outside of God
We seek joy outside of God
And this problem can be found after just reading the first verse: Psalm 100:1 “1 Let the whole earth shout triumphantly to the Lord!”
The whole earth, to the Lord. That word there, triumphantly, it means rejoice, or cheer, shout in joy to the Lord.
But more often than not, our cheers of joy are not directed toward the Lord. They are directed toward something else.
And this started all the way back in Genesis, all the way back at the origin of man.
6 The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
Adam and Eve has everything they could ever want, a perfect garden, perfect contentment, perfect relationship with God and each other. But, suddenly, it wasn’t enough.
Eve saw this tree, the fruit, and decided that there must be some deeper thing she was missing. As if God was holding out, and this fruit could fill the hole in her life that was seemingly empty.
The fruit was desirable and delightful. She walked past it, and suddenly her level of contentment dropped.
The same thing happens to me on prime day. I look at all the deals on Amazon, and suddenly I need something new.
See, whether Eve knew it or not, walking around in the garden, she was searching for contentment and joy. Her brain was focusing on trying to fulfill her carnal intrinsic need, and she was inadvertently looking around for something else besides her Creator.
And from that moment on, Eve decided God wasn’t enough, He wasn’t good enough to fulfill her needs, and she made the choice to find hey joy in something rather than someone.
And thus began a cycle that will last forever, until God makes a new earth. The builders of Babel decided the the Earth wasn’t enough, so they tried to make a tower to the heavens.
Abraham decided Sarah wasn’t enough, so he had a child with Hagar. The Hebrews decided God wasn’t good enough to follow, so they demanded to be taken back into Egyptian slavery, and then built a golden calf to worship.
King David, after defeating nearly every army in the land and has immense wisdom and wealth, he decided that Bathsheba was desirable and delightful, so he had her husband killed to be with her. Solomon, the offspring of that mistake, was even wealthier and more wise, the wealthiest and wisest to ever live, but 1000 wives and concubines weren’t enough.
Judas Iscariot saw 30 pieces of silver and traded his friend’s life for them, because He wasn’t enough.
And the cycle continues today. Politicians trade their morals and values for the highest paying superpac. Celebrities and athletes sell out for the best sponsorships.
Mothers and fathers choose drugs over their own children. Husbands leave wives, friends turn hostile. The list goes on and on.
When you seek temporary joys, you sabotage relationships, and you kill the part of yourself that is supposed to bear the image of our Creator. Fruitless joy seeking is rarely contained to only affecting the individual. The ripples are often endless, and destructive.
Even if you think you find that happiness, it doesn’t last, and it leaves you getting back up and continuing to seek that addiction until it kills your soul.
Eventually, it’s too late. The damage is done, and you’ve made irreparable damage.
3 Then Judas, his betrayer, seeing that Jesus had been condemned, was full of remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders. 4 “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood,” he said. “What’s that to us?” they said. “See to it yourself!” 5 So he threw the silver into the temple and departed. Then he went and hanged himself.
This is what inevitably happens when we trade what we know ss good for something that looks god, that looks delightful and desirable on the outside. It’s a trick of satan himself, because…
Fleeting Joy Leads to Despair
Fleeting Joy Leads to Despair
It always has, and it always will.
Unfortunately, realizing you’re choosing fleeting joy doesn’t happen until you start to feel those effects of despair. Of regret, of shame.
We’ve all experienced this. Times of intense joy and happiness, of comfort and peace, only for it to end and we’re left wondering what happened.
And that’s precisely the moment God comes in. That’s the moment we have a choice. We can either continue to seek the things that are temporary, that only give momentary happiness. Or we turn to God in humility and brokenness.
Notice the fork in the road pattern we’re constantly on. In our lowest moments, we’re forced to choose between two or more options.
When were in the dire straights of our lives, in the suffering, in the despair, even if it’s caused by our own two hands, were given a choice.
And our choice is which relationship to choose. Do you know what I mean?
We can choose a relationship with our addiction of choice, or we can choose to pursue our relationship with God.
We can choose a relationship with money and career, or we can choose to put God in control.
We can continue worshipping our family and children, or we can submit to the headship of God.
You see the pattern, our lives are often simple, small choices where we choose something temporal, vs. something eternal.
Jim Wilder and Marcus Warner wrote a book together called RARE Leadership where they uncover lots of brain science related to community and being a Christ-like leader. At one point in this book, they talk about level one of our brain, which is the deepest and most basic thing that drives each of us, and they call it the “attachment center”
This is what they write about the attachment center:
Rare Leadership: 4 Uncommon Habits For Increasing Trust, Joy, and Engagement in the People You Lead 3. The Elevator in Your Brain
The attachment center is all about relationships. Its greatest pleasure is joyful attachment. Its greatest pain is relational loss. Our deepest need and most desperate craving is joyful relationships. People will do crazy things in the pursuit of joyful relationship. They will leave the ministry, abandon their families, and run up their credit cards. The most common problems at level one are addictions. We ignore joy at our own peril.
Joyful attachment. That’s what God wants from us. Joyful attachment.
In fact, this is exactly the reason Jesus went willingly to the cross:
2 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.
We’re searching, and searching, and searching for this thing called happiness and joy and peace, but darn it if it’s not right in front of us at all times. Joy is Jesus Christ.
Joy is found only in God. He alone is the eternal joy that we’ve been looking for. That for the history of humanity, every single created person that has walked this earth is looking for.
10 But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: 11 Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord.
The culmination of joy came here, for us, lived a perfect life, was killed, endured the weight of death and defeated it forever, that is the eternal joy we find.
It is not dependent on our situation, or what happens to us, or our choices, God is always there offering complete joy at all time, we just have to come to Him in our brokenness and take the gift.
So, as followers of Christ, what we need to do is correctly follow our divine need for joy. We need to…
Find Our Joy Complete
Find Our Joy Complete
9 “As the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Remain in my love. 10 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. 11 “I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.
Our ultimate source of joy, our eternal state of joy, rests in the love of our Father.
I know on the surface, John 15 and Psalm 100 don’t go together, but let me tell you why they do, and why the entirety of Scripture is one, amazing connected story, interwoven at every letter.
Look at the last verse of Psalm 100.
5 For the Lord is good, and his faithful love endures forever; his faithfulness, through all generations.
That word: for. It’s a connection to the rest of the Psalm.
Remember what it said:
1 Let the whole earth shout triumphantly to the Lord! 2 Serve the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. 3 Acknowledge that the Lord is God. He made us, and we are his— his people, the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and bless his name.
Why do we do these things? Because the Lord is good, and His love is faithful to us, and it endures forever and ever and ever.
So now, in the face of the new covenant, looking at Jesus as our savior, the messiah, we are to remain, or abide, in him, and notice the concluding verse in John 15. It’s another connection phrase: Jesus says “I’m telling you this so that your joy can be complete”.
Our worth, our value, our identity, everything we are is wrapped up in what we find our complete joy in.
Our current brain science tells us our brain lights up when we encounter joyful connection, and the Scriptures affirm our highest and most essential connection and relationship is to our creator who we are wired to be like.
We are pursuing joy, and so is God. Him with us and us with Him.
That’s why we can serve the Lord with gladness, sing joyful songs to Him, acknowledge that he is good, enter his gates with thanksgiving.
Because He made us, and we are his-his people, the sheep of his pasture.
I don’t know another thing in this created universe that’s more sweeter and better, that’s more joyous than God saying: you are mine, no one can take you away, and I love you.
And I know what you may be thinking - this is wonderful right now, sitting in our building with like-minded Christ followers.
But I have a real life out there. With problems. With people who hate me. With my own addictions and shortcomings.
And I hear you, believe me, I’m in the same boat.
Let me share with you this encouragement this morning: God is bigger than all that. The blood of Christ covers all that.
Satan really has only gotten one thing right that I’ve noticed: he keeps telling us we aren’t enough. But the original lie, if you’ve noticed, was that God isn’t enough. Eat this fruit, because God is withholding something from you.
And this causes us to stay in our joyless rut, chasing our next fix, because we start pursuing God the same way as anything else.
We pursue him like money, when we don’t get enough, we’re through. We pursue him like a career, when we don’t feel appreciated, we back out. We pursue him like a drug, when we don’t feel that high, we find something that will. We pursue him like social media, just one more scroll to get our quick hit of dopamine.
And this causes us to do the opposite of what Dillon told us to do last week, which was to persist. He told us to persist with endurance, slowly, carefully, intentionally. Our regular pursuits of joy do not yield this. But God does.
Because our joy comes from the joy complete concept, because God is good, and his faithful love endures forever. That is complete joy. Eternal joy.
Let me read you the story of Paul and Silas to wrap up for the day. See, Paul and Silas were preaching to the people, and essentially the people did not like their proclamation of salvation.
This is what happened to them:
22 The crowd joined in the attack against them, and the chief magistrates stripped off their clothes and ordered them to be beaten with rods. 23 After they had severely flogged them, they threw them in jail, ordering the jailer to guard them carefully. 24 Receiving such an order, he put them into the inner prison and secured their feet in the stocks.
So, they were completley beaten, open wounds, stripped naked. And then put in the prison, the inner prison, which was essentially the dungeon, where all the other prisoners waste would run down to, being the lowest point.
The story continues:
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the jail were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s chains came loose.
Paul and Silas weren’t fighting the guards, cursing them, attempting to escape.
They were praying and singing hymns to God. And as a result, God moved. Mightily. But the earthquake isn’t the point of the story at all.
See, the jailer, seeing all the prisoners escape, he was in the process of killing himself. He was at a crossroad decision, knowing his fate of the Roman leaders found him. But Paul stopped him, and the jailer and his entire family were baptized and because followers of Christ.
34 He brought them into his house, set a meal before them, and rejoiced because he had come to believe in God with his entire household.
There’s the joy complete. From the cusp of death, to life.
You wanna be different than the world? You want to show Christ in a way that most people have never seen? Be joyous. Be legitimately happy to see someone else, for no other reason than they’re a fellow image bearer, a fellow creation of God.
Lot’s of other people, Christians or not, talk about “belief” in Jesus, they tolerate other people generally. God’s Kingdom that were building here on earth is built on joy. It’s built on “it’s good to be me here with you”.
So, as you go about your week, my challenge in your pursuit of joyous relationship with the Lord, be the Paul and Silas in your life. No matter what situation you’re in, remember that your joy comes from only the eternal creator, not your circumstances.
Be the joyous presence, because it is seen and heard, and is the difference between us and the world. Kingdom culture is the pursuit of joy in the likeness of Christ.
Chase that joy in Christ, abide in the love of the Father. Ask God to remove your heart that wants to chase fleeting happiness and replace it with a heart that with pray and sing in the face of whatever the world tries to throw at us.
God is so close. Jesus is so close. He’s close to see the next time you stumble to cream you for the next bad thing you do, he’s close because he loves you, and he wants you, you are his and he is yours.
13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Lets pray.
