The Path to Complete Joy

I was so saddened when I heard the news Monday morning, as I talked with my father, about the shootings that took place in Las Vegas at the country music festival on Sunday evening!

Some 58 people killed and around 500 wounded from this atrocity that took place and with the media and the nation looking for answers as to why it happened.

Yet, Paul warned us of what lives would look like and act like apart from those devoted wholly to the Lord, , “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

This evening, I would for us to take a couple of minutes and pray together for the families and friends of those fatal victims from the shooting, as well as those who were wounded, because people are looking right now to the media and the nation at large, for answers as to why this man did this.

We need to step up as the church body and lift them up and pray for guidance as to how we can help and serve during this time of worldly confusion.

We also need to pray even more intently for our President and his staff as the thumb and weight of this event will put more pressure upon him. (PRAY FOR GODLY WISDOM AND COUNSEL AND PEACE ABOUT HIM AND HIS FAMILY!)

This evening, I would like to revisit what I started talking about Sunday morning. (What can anyone tell me about our JOY from the Lord?)

I talked about the JOY of the Lord, for those who may not have been here on Sunday.

One of the verse that I mentioned Sunday that pertains to our life and walk as servants in the Kingdom of God was , “The Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and JOY in the Holy Spirit.”

And I mentioned in conjunction with this, that it was the Apostle Paul who gave us the command that we are to always rejoice! In like manner, James told us that we are to count it all JOY when we face various trials and difficulties.

In other words, our JOY is not to determined by what is going on in the world around us or in our own lives.

OUR JOY IS NOT FOUND IN THIS LIFE OR ITS CIRCUMSTANCES!

I like the way that David said it and I mentioned this on Sunday, “In your presence there is fullness of joy!”

And I know that, just I mentioned Sunday and we have said a thousand times before, JOY is part of the FRUIT of HOLY SPIRIT, as we find in , right?

BUT, there is more to having the JOY of the Lord existing and operating within your life, than just saying, “I have Holy Spirit living within me!”

In other words, His presence brings fullness of joy, no questions asked. Yet, there is something else that has to happen, before HE brings this overflowing and abundant JOY into your life!

And for the church body as a whole, there is a quality that must exist that involves this very thing, so as to have complete and abiding JOY at all times!

How do we know, or even better, how does the world know that we are truly disciples and followers of Jesus Christ?

What is the hallmark indicator of our title, “A follower of Christ”, or of a “Christian”?

I mean, as an ordained minister, I have card that states that I am ordained to perform the role of a minister of the gospel message.

As the operator of a motor vehicle, you carry a card that states that you are licensed and legal to drive.

I carry a card that says that I am legal to vote in my district.

I can carry a card that lets people know that I can openly carry a firearm in public.

To many Christians, placing decals and static stickers that say the name “JESUS”, or depict the Greek fish symbol (ichthys) on their vehicles, or their clothing are their way of letting the world know that they believe in Jesus. Maybe having a favorite Bible verse tattooed on their body is their way of letting everyone know that they are a follower of Jesus.

Or a more universal symbol that “believers” use if wearing the cross.

(I am not saying that there is anything wrong with any of these things. I am simply giving an example of how some people announce their belief and faith. AMEN?!)

I don’t want any pitch forks and torches showing up at my house tonight because someone said that I said something derogatory about their favorite symbol or visual item!

Yet, Jesus, Himself gave us the clearest definition and picture of what a disciple would look like.

Surprisingly enough, it is not based upon the flamboyancy of your attire or your brazen use of symbols and pictures, or even how loud you scream out His name, or sing during worship!

The truest depiction of a disciple of Jesus Christ, is found in John’s Gospel as Jesus, Himself, declared it.

So, with that being said, Let’s turn in our Bibles to John’s gospel. ,

John 13:34–35 NLT

So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

Now, remember that before this took place, in , Jesus took the law and did a major condensing of it for practical application,

Matthew 22:35–40 NLT

One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” Jesus replied, “ ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

Jesus simplified all of the law and then funneled it down even more refined for the true follower/disciple of His, as we see in the passage.

We are no longer to just love our neighbor as our self, which can be interpretive and limited, as people would find loopholes to restrict who their neighbor is.

With Jesus’ new proclamation, you are to love one another more than yourself and serve them all, equally, even to the point of laying down your life for the sake of theirs!

If we are doing this, then the world will know that we are TRULY His disciples!

Now, how does this situation of being His true disciples tie in with our JOY in the Lord? I HAVE NO IDEA!!!

Seriously though, let’s keep looking at the words that Jesus was stressing to His disciples through the next few chapters and how they tie in together.

Now remember, John chapter 13-17 are all of the things that Jesus was trying to convey to His disciples on the night of His arrest, right before the Garden of Gethsemane scene.

So, if you knew that you had a limited amount of time to really drive home some important information so as to make a point with people who you cared for, right before something traumatic is about to happen, (information that was really crucial for their benefit, both then and later as well), wouldn’t you think that the words you choose to use would be carefully selected?

OK, and if you kept repeating a similar theme, wouldn’t you think then that it was REALLY important?

Right, so Jesus just finished saying that, “I am giving you a new commandment” and then we continue in with this,

John 14:15 NLT

“If you love me, obey my commandments.

Then move down to verses 20-21, “In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

Then verses 23-24, “Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me.”

Next look over at ,

John 15:7–10 ESV

If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.

Verse 12, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.”

Verse 17, “These things I command you, so that you will love one another.”

Do you think that Jesus is trying to stress a point about following His words, His commands, HIS WILL?

is all about Jesus being the TRUE VINE and that apart from Him, we can do nothing, (KINGDOM WISE THAT IS), but if we abide (stay, remain) in Him and His will and follow His commands, then we will bear much fruit.

Our fruit, the works that we do for the Kingdom of God and the results thereof, will be bountiful/plentiful in the Kingdom if we stay within the commands of Jesus. (As HE restated for clarity in verse 12, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”)

So, the imperative here by Jesus is easily seen and understood, “The world (around you) will know that you are truly MY disciples, but virtue of the fact that they see your GREAT LOVE for one another.”

If the world does not see this kind of love coming from within the Body of Christ, then our labor, our efforts, our churches and our external ministries will be negated and of no real eternal significance!

Just as Paul stressed to the church in Corinth, “If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.”

So here is the connection between our following the command will of Jesus and holding to the ordinance of “Loving one another, just as Jesus loved us” and the JOY of the Lord.

In , right after Jesus has reaffirmed that we are to keep His commandments, He says this,

John 15:11 NLT

I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!

And what, prey tell, is Jesus’ JOY that He said we would be filled with?

He just answered that in verse 10, where He states that He kept His Father’s commands and thus abided in His Father’s love.

You see, as we stated earlier from the Psalms, being the presence of God, is the fullness of all JOY!

Jesus knew better than anyone else, what being in His Father’s presence felt like and the JOY that went with it!

Just as we see Jesus stating in , during His High Priestly Prayer, “ I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.”

Jesus looked forward to being back in the full, glorious presence of His Father!

So much so, that He looked past the torment, the torture and the humiliation awaiting Him at the Cross, and endured it all for the JOY that was set before Him.

What was the JOY set before Him?

Again, it was completing His Father’s will and being reinstated in glory at the right hand of the throne of God!

So, does everyone see and understand that our JOY, is directly related to our hearts desire to serve and follow the command will of Jesus Christ and ultimately that of His Father?

And does everyone understand that His command will for us is openly stated that we are to LOVE one another to the same level that He loved us?

Do you all see the connection between operating in the AGAPE LOVE of the Father and experiencing the overflowing JOY that come from Holy Spirit dwelling within us?

One more aspect about the Complete Joy of the Lord, that I want to mention tonight is found in , , ,

Philippians 2:1–8 NLT

Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose. Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

Philippians 2:13 NLT

For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.

Philippians 2:13 NLT

For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.

Philippians 2:18 NLT

Yes, you should rejoice, and I will share your joy.

Philippians 2:18 NLT

Yes, you should rejoice, and I will share your joy.

Let me quickly just give you the abridged summary of this whole passage.

Paul is writing this letter while in prison and his concern and his attention is focused on one main thing; one thing that will make him feel complete in his JOY.

He is stating that the unity of the church is crucial and that this must be established and in doing so, if he could only but here of it, his JOY would be complete!

What would we be writing to others about if we were in prison?

What would make our JOY complete?!

Look at Paul is saying in the opening of this passage. The intro verbiage of “if there”, is better looked at as, “since there”, meaning that when Jesus is the head and Lord, then these things listed out here are available and abounding.

Notice the prime word there, again, koinonia, for fellowship.

It is really impossible, if the Spirit of God is allowed to move and control and the body is operating in his gifts and talents and out the desire to serve the Lord and follow the commands of Jesus, for TRUE UNITY to not exist!

If there is true koinonia in the body, as in the church of Acts, then unity must happen!

It is the role and ability of Holy Spirit, to create fellowship both between the believer and God, as well as between believers!

And Paul is saying here what John said in his epistles to the church, as in ,

1 John 1:3–4 NLT

We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy.

There it is again, koinonia of the Spirit and unity between the Godhead and the church!

,

2 John 12 NLT

I have much more to say to you, but I don’t want to do it with paper and ink. For I hope to visit you soon and talk with you face to face. Then our joy will be complete.

Our coming together and talking completes the believer’s JOY, which is the way that God designed it!

, “Some of the traveling teachers recently returned and made me very happy by telling me about your faithfulness and that you are living according to the truth.   I could have no greater joy than to hear that my children are following the truth.”

Well, what truth is John talking about?

There is only one TRUTH and that is Jesus, Himself!

So, if they were walking in and living according to the TRUTH, then that means they were following the commands of Jesus and we just saw how that this brings true JOY to the believer!

And if we are walking in unity, under the divine fellowship of Holy Spirit, then our JOY must increase and be made complete, because Holy Spirit is in control and not ourselves and out of our own selfish nature! AMEN?!