The Joy of the Lord

Do our attitudes and actions bring Joy to our Father?

Ephesians 4:25–32 ESV

Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

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The biggest question as Christians that we need to ask this morning is, do my actions and attitudes bring Joy to my Father? We spend the majority of our time focused on our Joy. We ask God to heal our cancers, to help us financially and to give us all the things we desire. I want us to take a break from ourselves for just a few minutes this morning and ask, are we really concerned with the Joy of the Lord. How do we bring Joy to the Lord? Today we will answer these questions and we will set our hearts on what it is that truly brings Joy to the Lord. We will set aside our wants, and desires and begin to see what it means when the Bible says that the Joy of the Lord is our Strength.

The Attitude of Joy

Does your attitude bring joy to the Father?

We often times do not take the time to think about our attitudes and how we are bringing the Father joy through our attitudes. We can see through scripture that God does care about the attitudes that we are displaying and what is in our hearts when we are displaying his love.

2 Corinthians 9:7 ESV

Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

2 Corinthians

How is your attitude when God calls you to give?

What about the times that God calls you to give not tithes but something you view as a

necessity?

Philippians 2:14 ESV

Do all things without grumbling or disputing,

How are our attitudes with each other?

God calls us to

Ephesians 6:7 ESV

rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man,

Do we view the things we do as we are serving the Lord?

We are called to a life that reflects the attitude of Christ. God is firstly concerned about the attitude that we have when we are carrying out the Gospel. I have heard it said that I don't have to like you I just have to love you. A better way to put this is that I'm not happy with having to be nice to you but because I want to go to heaven I’m going to play nice in the sandbox. This is not at all the life God has called us to. We are to love and like the ones that God has called us to serve no matter how frustrating they can be at times.

Ephesians 4:25–26 ESV

Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,

This passage sums it up pretty well for us we are to put away the things that are not true and just, and to speak in truth and love with each other. We are to have anger at injustice and allow the Lord room for his wrath. When we allow others sins to drive us away from the lives that God has called us to we are the ones that are sinning. Is it better for a sinner to continue in their sin or for a Christian to allow a sinners choices to lead them into sin? The attitude of Joy that brings the Father Joy is when we have a cheerful heart when giving to the most aggravating people in our lives because we are not giving to them we are giving to the Lord.

The Actions of Joy

An attitude of Joy should lead to Actions of Joy. A heart that is happy leads to actions that are happy. we cannot overlook the fact that God first calls our hearts to be right then calls our actions to be right.

Ephesians

Ephesians 4:27–28 ESV

and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.

Ephesians 4:27–29 ESV

and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

We are immediately called to action. We see that God has moved from the attitude of Joy to the Actions of Joy. Joy will cause us to shed our sinful nature and to become new. This scripture uses the example of a thief who then works to share what he has with those in need. We are the thief. Before Christ we spend our time taking what we can get for ourselves. Some of us call it earning, some call it being a good steward, some might even call it hoarding. When our entire lives are spend using the gifts that God has given us to make something for ourselves we are thief's. God does not bless us so that we can bless ourselves, He blesses us so that we can bless others.

God gave us a very early example of the action of Joy.

Genesis 12:3 ESV

I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

God told Abraham that the blessing he was receiving would be for all people through him. In our Bible the word Bless in its forms is used 543 times in 481 verses. In those verses you will always see a blessing and how God expects that blessing to be used. Are our actions showing that we are trying to bring joy to the Father through our actions? Why has God blessed you? I can tell you, but that is not the hard part. The hard part is following through with the actions. It is easy to say that God has blessed me. It is not so easy to give my only pair of shoes to a homeless person and consider it joy. It is not easy to go through trials and consider them joy. The actions of Joy are determined by the object of our Joy.

The Attention of our Joy

Ephesians 4:30–32 ESV

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

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The attention of our Joy should be placed on how our actions bring Joy to the Father. All of our actions and attitudes should be focused on the Father. When we focus on the simple question of, does my attitude or action I have right now make the Father happy? We will find ourselves living a life that mirrors the life of Christ. What does it mean to grieve the Holy Spirit? It means to not have a heart and mind that is set on the desires of God. A life that is self centered and not focused on the desires of God for the lives of those around us. Watch this short clip.

What did you notice in the clip? Did you notice that after everything the children did they ran to their parents? This is the way we should be. Our attention should not be on what we have to give away or how much it might hurt our pride to do something. We should have our attention solely on how what we are doing makes our Father feel. We should be proud of being the ones who give our last dollar to those in need, not because we are helping them but because we are making our Father proud and bringing Him happiness. The Fathers joy may cause us to go through some pain. Take Jesus example

Luke 22:42 ESV

saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”

Jesus understood that His sacrifice and pain would bring the ultimate Joy to the Father and He considered His Fathers desires over His own. Are we as a Church considering God’s will over our own? Are we willing to make sacrifices as long as they don’t truly cost us anything? Are you willing to put yourself on a cross to make the Father happy? It is when our Father sees us caring more for others than ourselves that we bring Him true joy. The Bible says in

John 15:13 ESV

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

We must be willing to care more about others than ourselves even to the point of death. That is when we find Our Fathers Joy. It is time for the church to put away all malice inside and outside of our walls, to focus only on the things that bring the Father joy. Sometimes that means that we will go through pain or our pride will need to be left to the side. It means that when others choose to not do the right thing that no matter the cost we do the right thing. I pray that we will focus the attention of our Joy on the Father and that our Joy will be bringing Him Joy. As a Father I get my Joy when I see my children learning and growing and can I tell you I pray my children are like the children in the video we just watched. True success and true Joy will be found when we focus on the Joy of the Lord.