The Joy of Fatherhood

Title- The Joy of Fatherhood

Passage-1 John 1:4

Attention-

Charlie Brown in A Charlie Brown Christmas spends the movie looking for the joy of Christmas. He says at one point, “Ther must be something wrong with me Linus, Christmas is coming and I don’t feel happy. I don’t feel the way I’m suppose to feel.” Linus tells him at one point “Charlie Brown, you’re the only person I know that can takena wonderful season like Christmas and turn it into a problem.

Unfortunately there are some Christians that struggle to find the joy of the Christian life.

They turn what could be the most joyous part of life into a miserable mess

John speaks to his readers about joy.

Introduction-

I won’t belabor the first few weeks of our study but just to remind us that John is writing to believers who are struggling with love

What happens to people who lose love

They become miserable

They become intolerable

The become who John is writing to

Those Christians who look like they sucked on a lemon

That is who John is writing to for the purpose of reminding them of where their joy comes from.

Main truth-

The only path to fullness of joy is through Jesus Christ

Transition #1-

What is being taught? (Explain the passage and draw out the 1st century truth)

Joy- What is it?

This world looks to many way to experience what they think is joy.

The only results they get are fleeting moments of “happiness” and “good feelings”

In contrast to the fleeting happiness this world has to offer the meaning behind this word goes infinitely beyond our human comprehension of happiness or even joy.

We could look at Paul’s epistles and see that true joy. biblical joy, is found even in the midst of pain and suffering.

The key is understanding that happiness is temporary while joy is absolute.

The Australian pastor/evangelist J Sidlow Baxter put it this way...”When happenings happen to happen happily, you have happiness; when happenings happen to happen unhappily, you have unhappiness; happiness then is merely circumstantial happiness. But joy is independent of circumstances.”

How do obtain joy? It is the result of salvation. Our salvation bring us hope, peace and joy

Romans 15:13 KJV 1900

Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.

Paul spend much of the book of Philippians dealing with the topic of joy....from prison

In the first two chapters he uses this exact word four times…(1:4, 1:25, 2:2, 2:29)…he also uses several other words to express joy…one translated “rejoice” 8x and “glad” 3x

One commentator describes the message of Philippians this way “In Philippians joy is a continuous defient nevertheless”

No matter what happens, joy never forgets, never fades, never fails

Why? Because it is from the Lord

So how is joy possible? Through hope, which in the biblical sense is certainty

Joy is impossible when everything around us is uncertain and we live in uncertainty.

We need something absolute to bring us joy

We need the hope and forgiveness that Jesus brings.

How do we get it? Faith in Jesus Christ and the filling of the HS

It is the filling of the Spirit of God that allows the believer to experience joy.

How does John describe this joy? Complete or full.

John uses the perfect tense, that is it is a moment in time that has ongoing consequences

At salvation you were filled and you are continually filled.

The word itself was often used for sailing and would be used for a ship that was at capacity

Like today they would not want to waste time and resources sailing a ship that was only half full.

They would set sail when they were at capacity

Full of crew, rowers, soldiers, prisoners, and cargo

This is the sense that John has in mind when he discusses our fullness of joy.

And the grammer he uses tells us that this completeness of joy is ongoing.

Paul uses this same word in Colossians 2:9-10

Colossians 2:9–10 KJV 1900

For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:

How much of the Godhead dwells in Christ? All

How frequently does that change? It doesn’t

Transition #2-

How do we understand this in our context? (Bridge 1st century truth to today)

How to receive the joy hasn’t changed, believe on the lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.

How are we filled…the same, it hasn’t changed. A life of submission to the Holy Spirit

So how come there are times that I am so miserable?

If God hasn’t changed then there must be something going on on my end.

I must have changed.

I think there are times we are living in the Spirit how we sometimes drive.

You head out onto the road and in town you KNOW it 25mph

You head a little out of town and it goes up to 45mph

THen you hit the interstate and it’s 70mph

And you drive on the interstate for an hour

You are enjoying whoever is riding with you or listening to the radio

What can happen

You can forget about the speed limit and be consumed with whats going on in the car

Has the speed limit changed?

What happens when you finally look down at the speedometer and see how fast you are going?

Slam on the brakes

Transition #3-

How do we live this out in our context? (Application of the biblical truth to us personally)

THere are times in our lives that we forget the Holy Spirit and our relationship with God and we need to slam on the brakes and get back to driving within the law

How do we do this?

1- Hearing the preaching of God’s Word on a regular basis

If you are watching online and do not atttend a church that regularily exposits the Word of God you need to find one that does.

The preaching of the Word of God is central to the mission and work of the church.

2- Reading of God’s Word on a regular basis

Reading devotionals are not a bad thing but there ought to be NOTHING that takes the place of reading directly from the Bible!!

The reading of Scripture is the key that unlocks the door to Spiritual growth

3- Obeying and submitting to what we read and hear

Knowledge without application is less than worthless…it is destructive

Paul told the Corinthiand believers that “knowledge puffeth up” 1 Cor. 8:1

Facts alone make one arrogant

It is the appication that will make us humble

4- We will spend time in prayer

The first three (listening, reading, application) will not be a consistant part of your life if you are not praying

Unless you commune with God you won’t understand what you read.

It is through prayer that the Holy Spirit enlighten Scripture to us, whether read or heard

So, today is Father’s Day....how do we aply this to Fathers?

Dad’s we need to live a life of faith before our children…no matter how old they are.

Before the children of the church you are a member of

You need to live a life marked by joy

How? The listening to, the reading of, and the application of Scripture in our lives.

This is the power cord that energizes us with joy

Just like a drill or saw needs a cord to run we need God’s Word in order to be filled with joyful hope.

Kids learn so much about life by watching their parents.

What we model is more impactful than what we say

What you tell the kids of this church won’t mean a thing to them unless you live it out before them.

What we tell the world will be ignored if we don’t live out a life of faith that is expressed in joyful hope.

Conclusion Review-

Believers, the joy you want is already withing you, you just need to slow down and get into God’s Word, apply God’s Word

If you are here this morning and have never asked Christ to forgive you of your sins, that is the beginning of the path to true joy and not just perpetual experiences of happiness that do not last.

Call to action-

Call out to Jesus this morning

Admit your sin

Believe on Him

Ask Him for forgiveness

Christians we need to call out to Him as well

We get tierd up with this world, the things of this world, the people, discussions, arguments of this world…in a word we become inattentive drivers

We need to put on the brakes, call out to the Lord and get into His Word.

As believers we have the joy we are looking for within us, lets put in the effort to experience that joy.

Closing song-