Joy of the Lord

Investigative

You’re walking down the street one day and as you glance into a nearby store you see on the screen that a winning mega millions ticket has been sold nearby. You daydream what it would’ve been like to buy a winning ticket but alas you don’t play. Interrupting your daydream a discarded crumbled up piece of paper hits your foot. You reach down and open it only to find a mega millions ticket, dated today with the matching winning numbers you just witnessed on the screen....what do you feel?

Excitement? Like you found something precious? Joy?

The more that I contemplate the things of God the more that I realize how the world attempts to promise them by some other means

We’ve talked about sabbath/rest or shalom/peace.

Each of these things are promised at the conclusion of something or the attaining of some ever moving goal.

Today we will talk about joy and we’ll see that it is the same. The primary purpose of this preaching is to get you to fall out of love with the world and in love with God…to realize that Yahweh is your treasure.

My working definition of joy is - “the elation produced from the fervent expectation of future well-being, present contentment, and meditation on previous deliverance”

Biblical joy engages the emotions...

The Psalmist in Ps. 4:7 states that Yahweh has put more joy in his heart than the world has with their abundance.

Scripture commands that we have joy in Yahweh, Ps. 37:4, Ps. 32:11, Ps. 67:4 because of Yahweh’s righteous judgment, etc.

Following a harrowing escape from Egypt in Exodus 15, the children of Israel launch into a song celebrating Yahweh’s victory from the pursuing Egyptians and the dread He placed on the other nations around them.

Notice that they weren’t in the land yet but were in a wilderness yet they had joy!!!

The joy of the Lord engages the emotions to such a degree that it is most often coupled in Scripture with singing!

Psalm 105:43–45 ESV

So he brought his people out with joy, his chosen ones with singing. And he gave them the lands of the nations, and they took possession of the fruit of the peoples’ toil, that they might keep his statutes and observe his laws. Praise the Lord!

Actually in a study published in 2019 in the National Institutes of Health found that there was a significant decrease in anxiety and depression amongst participants that sang while having a loved one battle cancer.

However, Scripture makes it clear that while joy isn’t exclusive to believers...

Proverbs 15:21 ESV

Folly is a joy to him who lacks sense, but a man of understanding walks straight ahead.

there is a joy that is uniquely available to believers…that is called the joy of the Lord.

It is not dependent on the circumstances…let’s take a look at a passage in Psalm 16 specifically the last verse

Psalm 16:11 ESV

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

The Psalmist has unpacked that Yahweh is superior to the other gods and their followers. In the last half of the Psalm he begins to explain why.

Verse 11 he states “you make known to me the path of life”

So there is a superiority of Yahweh due to the knowledge that He gives about the present life.

What is that present life like for the Psalmist? Surrounded by people who run after other gods and offer them sacrifice. Yet God has given this person vision.

First know that the joy of the Lord is rooted in the knowledge of God, his character and actions.

He continues that Yahweh’s presence is the fullness of joy. So with that knowledge the Psalmist realizes that joy isn’t found in a situation but in a location...

“in your presence is the fullness of joy”…this means that the joy wasn’t determined by circumstance but by where you cast your lot…see v. 5…the Psalmist chose Yahweh.

Secondly, know that to dwell in the presence of Yahweh he must always be before you, see v. 8.

If in the presence of Yahweh is the fullness of joy and presently you don’t have any or maybe you have joy but fear it being taken away…the real question is...where are you?

TR: I’ll pause there and ask us to take a moment to reflect on what I’ve said and the truths of this passage, in a few moments I’d like for you all to verbally respond in a Q&A time to three questions. 1) Where is this passage challenging or presenting some conflict with you? 2) Where is this passage bringing some clarity to you or confirming something for you? 3) What thoughts does this passage lead you to?

Expressive

As we move into a time of response and explore what God is doing among us, I’d like to outline some ground rules.

Please don’t share more than a minute so other people can have a time to respond, you can also text in a question or statement in the GroupMe.

Please remember we are different humans with different opinions and it’s okay to hear something you don’t agree with.

This is a time to be nourished by listening to what the Spirit of God is doing amongst each other.

Take 5 minutes to discuss as groups then we’ll open it up to the larger room.

TR: SIT DOWN ON A STOOL

Collective

TR: STAND UP

I’d like to take a minute to collect our clarities and our conflicts

What are some themes you see on the board?

What are our feelings? What is intriguing?

What might God’s Spirit be saying?

Declarative

I have often found myself with fleeting senses of joy. I get a new job, a promotion, things are going well in life. However, with each of these is also the foreboding shadowing of the possibility of it being taken away.

Whether it be from trauma or stress....I have realized that this fear isn’t bundled with the joy of the Lord.

His joy is free from fear or possessiveness...

The Joy of the Lord is your strength - Neh. 8:10

We often quote this but what does it mean?

This came during a period when the Israelites had been restored to the land yet had been grieved by Ezra’s teaching of the Law and them realizing all that they failed to do. (notice the knowledge application again previously mentioned in Psalms)

Yet, they remembered Yahweh was in their presence as they celebrated the Feast of Booths, recalling when they dwelt in the wilderness with the pillar of God guiding and protecting them.

And just as the Psalmist ended in Ps. 16, they were reminded how Yahweh had powerfully brought them into the Promised Land.

They were satisfied in the Lord and being supremely satisfied in God is part of what saving faith is!! cf. John 6:35

And being awakened to that joy is EXACTLY what getting saved is…beholding the superior satisfaction in Yahweh cf. Mat. 13:44

LAND IT LOUD

See we all received that crumbled up piece of paper referenced earlier, as we stared at others wondering what joy felt like, that paper that was disposed of by this world.

It was purchased by the Son of God, Jesus! and far better than empty numbers to riches that’ll be corrupted, it said “YOU’VE BEEN REDEEMED!”

The joy of the Lord is only found when you dwell on what Yahweh has, is, and is going to do!

It is at that moment that the circumstances begin to be drowned out by the presence of God.

When you can be possessed by a satisfaction that overwhelms any current predicament.

This is how the believers of old confounded their persecutors and how modern day saints praise through the pain…because they had their eyes set on something greater than their situation.

The great lie of this world is that to possess the joy you must possess the treasure!

That is false! To possess the joy you must be possessed by the treasure giver…that’s what Scripture calls “joy everlasting”

When I think about Jesus and what he’s done for me, when I think about Jesus and how he’s set me free I can dance all night.

What manner of joy possesses you? The fleeting pleasures of this world that push you to chase empty riches or the joy that overcomes and overwhelms tribulations.

The joy that took Jesus to the cross to be reunited with His bride although the path was through suffering.

That is the joy he’s called us to and offers to us today.

communion