John 15:11

Introduction

At Christmas we say and hear words we never use any other time

We sing words we usually pass over and never dive into

How about “Hark the herald angel sing”?

We all sing it and none of us Hark any other time of year

Every one of us proudly sings “In Egg Shells This Day OH”

Never caring it is In Exclesis Deo which means Glory to God in the highest

Don’t get me started on the train-wreck of a Christmas shoes song

We go through so many motions and miss in the familiar fly over words the depth of the Gospel on Display right in front of our eyes

“God and Sinners Reconciled”?

There is no deeper need for the human condition

“The King of Kings lay thus in lowly manger In all our trials born to be our friend”

What kind of King takes the place of his rebellious kingdom to be our friend

Before our eyes are passed over words that connect to the epic drama we have been in since Eden

O Come O Come Emmanuel shouts the victory we have “O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free Thine own from Satan's tyranny; From depths of hell Thy people save,And give them victory o'er the grave

This is the Gospel

Words like Joy saturate the songs we sing

Joy to the world is a song we sing

But do we know what the Joy is? Why we need it? How in awe of Joy we should be?

The short verse we are going to be in shines the brightest light in the bible on a word we so easily pass over

JOY

Joy so amazing that one Christmas Hymn calls us to “fall on our knees” when we get a glimpse of it.

This morning we are going to be in a short verse John 15:11

and unpack the Joy we have available in Christ

We are going to see 3 things

Joy Is God’s Idea

The Upside Down Path to Joy

The Joy of a Crucified Life

Let’s read this short verse and dive in

John 15:11 CSB

“I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.

The first thing we see is

1. Joy is God’s Idea

Right off the bat we see Jesus has brought to a close all he has been teaching his disciples on the last night of his time on earth

Think of the gravity of this situation

The king of kings is trying one last time to give his disciples the most important teaching he can

Every word chosen for the most important conversation the world has ever seen

Our verse starts with “I have told you these things....”

What are these things he has told them before he drinks the cup of suffering…that he says will complete their joy?

John 13 begins this passion filled evening 2000 years ago

John 13:1 CSB

Before the Passover Festival, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

What has been since before the begining of all things has gone public

It is the love, friendship, and joy of the Trinity

Jesus has become the ulitmate exile and he is about to go home to the ones he loves

The Father and the Holy Spirit who is about to come

Love one another like they have loved forever

The love of friends…the love we can only get from deep relationship

John 15:13–17 CSB

No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants anymore, because a servant doesn’t know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me, but I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce fruit and that your fruit should remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you. “This is what I command you: Love one another.

Three times they are called Friends

The joy of relationships wasn’t created in genesis it has always existed in the trinity

Adam was still without sin when the Lord saw his loneliness and called it not good

It is because we are made in the image of God that we long to be known, loved, commited to, never abandoned

Loneliness doesn’t create a lack of joy because of sin

We are lonely because we are made in the image of God..we long for the joy of being loved because we are made in the image of a God who has eternally existed in that relationship

stats from in search of the common good

Lack of relationship destroys the human heart

Loneliness hollows us out as people

This was the anguish of Christ when for the first time ever the father turned his back …abandonment crushed the Son of God

The gospel is gods idea the ultimate joy we are anchored in is the gospel

2. The Upside Down Path to Joy

Upside down arrival

Upside down way to joy

upside down anchor

3. The Joy of a Crucified Life

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 16

20 Truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice. You will become sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy. 21 When a woman is in labor, she has pain because her time has come. But when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the suffering because of the joy that a person has been born into the world. 22 So you also have sorrow now. But I will see you again. Your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy from you.

23 “In that day you will not ask me anything. Truly I tell you, anything you ask the Father in my name, he will give you. 24 Until now you have asked for nothing in my name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.