The Joy of Christ

Read: John 17:13

John 17:13 KJV 1900

13 And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

There are several things that characterize the life of a Christian. At the top of that list should be “joy”

Adrian Rogers Sermon Archive Introduction

Joy is the birthright of the child of God. Every child of God ought to have conscious joy. Every child of God ought to have conspicuous joy. Every child of God ought to have continuous joy. Every child of God ought to have contagious joy. Joy is the birthright of the child of God. And if you’re not living a life of joy, you’re living beneath your privileges as a Christian. And it’s so important that you have joy to win the lost. If you want people to believe in your Savior, dear friend, the mark of the authenticity of Christ in your life is the joy of the Lord Jesus Christ.

JOY : closely related to happiness and gladness, but joy is more of a state of being rather than an emotion. Joy is the result of a choice. Joy is listed as part of the fruit of the spirit.

Someone has said, Happiness is an emotion, and joy is an attitude. Emotions come and go, but attitudes come and grow

Robert J. Morgan, Nelson’s Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations, and Quotes, electronic ed. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2000), 496.

Jesus mentions joy many times to the disciples. “About His joy being complete and full in them.

Jesus told the disciples to have joy over being born again. We can have joy when we realize who we are: “children of God and joint heirs with Christ (Romans 8:16-17).

We can have joy when we remember we were dead in sins, but we are now made alive in Christ (Rom. 6:4).

We were once headed for eternal death - but now death has no hold on us we can rejoice in that, we can have joy over that (1 Cor. 15:55-58).

Jesus in His high priestly prayer to the Father prays that the disciples would have His “joy fulfilled in themselves” in other words, that they would be “full of Christ’s joy” or “complete in joy”

Adrian Rogers Sermon Archive II. The Stability of This Joy

I was reading the other day about a little girl who lives in Winnipeg, Canada, and she entered a contest; really she wanted to see how long she could smile, she wanted to break the Guinness Book of World Records, and so she smiled as long as she could smile. The previous record in the Guinness Book of World Records was 7 hours and 32 minutes. Someone had held a smile for 7 hours and 32 minutes, and this little girl, Lisa Lester, was able to smile for 10 hours and 5 minutes.

But friend, there’s a difference between joy and smiling. You can smile, perhaps, for 10 hours and 5 minutes, and then that smile will leave your face. But I want to tell you, even when the tears are coursing down your cheeks, there can be joy in your heart. This is the joy that will never leave you. Jesus Christ was facing the cross when He spoke of His joy

Listen to what Jesus says

John 17:13 KJV 1900

13 And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

Jesus immediately points out in the very next line - that they are in a hateful and hostile world and going to be hated, but that wasn’t going to be or didn’t need to be a barrier or hindrance to their joy.

Blackaby says of this verse, “Don’t deny yourself that which is your birthright as a child of God. Don’t be satisfied with a joyless life. There ought to be in every Christian a deep, settled fullness of the joy of Christ that no circumstance of life can dispel. This comes as you allow the Holy Spirit to express Himself in your life. One of the fruits of the Spirit is joy (Gal. 5:22). This joy is unlike any happiness that is produced by the world. It fills you and permeates everything you do.

Henry T. Blackaby and Richard Blackaby, Experiencing God Day by Day (Nashville, TN: B&H Books, 1998).

Nelson’s Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations & Quotes Joy

Many people have heard that JOY means Jesus first, Others next, and Yourself last. But in a Christmas sermon in 1998, Pastor Phil Toole of Mountain Valley Community Church of Scottsdale, Arizona, put it different.

Jesus

O

You

“The ‘J’ stands for Jesus,” said Pastor Toole. “The ‘Y’ stands for you. Do you know what the ‘O’ stands for? It stands for zero. Just what it says—nothing. What I am saying here is the way to stay close to Jesus and keep joy in your heart is let nothing between Jesus and you.”

Experiencing God Day by Day May

Jesus did not pray that you would merely be happy or even that you would escape grief. He prayed that you would have the same joy that the Father had given Him: a divine joy, a joy that comes from a deep and unwavering relationship with the Father. It is a joy that is grounded so firmly in a relationship with God that no change in circumstances could ever shake it. This is the kind of joy that Christ is praying will be in you.

John 17:13 KJV 1900

13 And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

Jesus prayed for our joy to be fulfilled - Lets live it out.