Bridge Church Vancouver

No one should have more joy in their lives than followers of Jesus.  We have every reason to live in joy and express a joy that can change the world.  If we have no joy in our life then we have missed the message of the Gospel.

Jesus came to bring joy into our lives, he does not want us to miss living with Joy

Dancing Shirtless guy video ...

Interestingly, this was not the only video of this guy at the Sasquatch music festival in 2009.  There are a number of videos of this guy on youtube...

This is not a message about leadership – although I think the maker of this video offers some great insights.  And this dancing guy certainly attracts a group, but honestly, I don’t think it was this guys keen insights to leadership that attracts the crowd.  I think there was something about him that got the people going.  I believe there was something that made him stand out and ultimately turn a beautiful day at a music concert into a spectacular experience for those who were a part of that experience. 

What was it about this guy = what was it that caused him to get up, by himself, half naked and start to dance in the middle of this field.  Drugs, alcohol?  They are going to accentuate what is already there.  I think this guy had joy in his life that caused him to get up and do something.

Jesus wants us to experience joy – full, complete, unrestrained joy.  So many Christians today live without joy.  So many people in the world live without joy and if anyone should be able to demonstrate a life of joy it should be us, as followers of Jesus    

Gal 5:22  But the fruit of the Spirit is ... joy,...

We have all been around people who fake joy, and you can tell it is kind of a plastic life they are living – and no one wants that kind of experience.

John 15:9-12

"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

This is how this verse comes together

Joy is at the center of love

"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you …

…. Love each other as I have loved you.

We are very interested in quality of life issues today and Jesus is as well, quality of life to him looks like joy.  Living in the love that Jesus has for fills our hearts with joy. 

 1 Peter 1:8

Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, NIV

Obedience is the evidence of love

Now remain in my love. 10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love

Just like an egg that has a shell of love

And that chicken sits on the egg like it knows it should

The life of a new chick is produced

Joy grows from an obedient life surrounded by love.

I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

Obedience and love go hand in hand

John 14:15

"If you love me, you will obey what I command. NIV

Psalms 19:8

The precepts of the LORD are right,

giving joy to the heart.

The commands of the LORD are radiant,

giving light to the eyes.

Precepts – mandate, intentionality – properly appointed, - to care for, to manage, look after

“I am intentionally going through my life with the desire to fulfill God’s mandate of what is right and true”  and when I do this it brings joy into my life

God’s ways are enlightening, as I do them they start making more and more sense in my life

If I want a better relationship with my wife or husband, treating them in godly ways (the way God says I should treat them) will increase my satisfaction (and theirs, and Gods) and I will experience more joy in my life.

To obey God requires a choice on my part.  Joy is discovered through my choices.  Will I choose to ‘see’ myself as God ‘sees’ me and respond to Him accordingly.  When I choose to receive God’s love for me and I choose to obey him trusting that His ways are good, I am putting myself in a position that sets me apart from the rest of the world – I begin to live in a joy that floods my soul.

 It is not that I ‘choose to live a joyful life’ but “I choose to love God and obey Him; and to love others around me” and I find joy filling my heart.  I have something to dance about.

Joy is a condition, quality of our heart.  Joy expresses what is going-on on the inside of our lives and flows out our faces, words, actions, attitudes.  Joy is expressed in many different ways, but real joy is unmistakable and is probably best tested in the midst of trials. 

Joy is the blessing that God’s spirit brings into your life even when others slander you, lie about you, discredit you – a Christians heart can still draw from the well of joy and keep their hearts clean and pure

Matthew 5:11-12 "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Joy that comes from God’s spirit continues to flow in and through our lives in the midst of financial crisis, deteriorating health, or betrayal of a friend

2 Corinthians 7:4  “...in all our troubles my joy knows no bounds.”

If Joy was dependent upon circumstances of life being just right then there would be no strength to joy and it would be synonymous with happiness

Joy stealers –  Great suckers of joy

Joy suckers are like vacuum cleaners, they care nothing for what they pick up and they put everything they suck up with all the other dirt they have inside.   These things will suck joy right out of our lives. 

Critical attitude - critical thinking of others or self   Criticism of others will suck my joy out -

“Refuse to speak a negative word about yourself or others, when someone speaks something negative about you, refuse to receive it and renounce it in the name of Jesus!”

People can often steal your joy through criticism when we are loving ourselves more than God. 

When we focus on tearing others down, we really take ourselves down at the same time. 

“I know I am supposed to love this person, but...” = no joy

There is a place for positive criticism, and that place is soaked, dyed, baked, glued, and so thoroughly saturated in love.  If positive criticism is not delivered and more importantly received in love the questions should be rightly asked “was that really positive criticism?”

We can be so consumed by what others think of us and it will suck your joy.  The guy in the video did not care what everyone around him thought of him, and before long everyone joined him.  If he were so concerned about what everyone else thought, he would never stood up and danced, or he would have sat down at the first sign of criticism. 

A friend & i were visiting this week.  He was telling me of a conversation he had with a person in his church who was uncomfortable with the idea of evangelism and sharing her faith because she didn’t want to look out of step with her friends – she didn’t want to look ‘religious’ –

She had no joy in her life and she had no impact either.

Focusing on hardship

Life is hard – for everyone – when my mother was very sick and she let her illness consume her thoughts and attitudes, her joy in life wasted away, but when she did not let her illness and the hardness of her life become the focus of her life – joy was free to grow in her.

“Life is hard, but God is good”

This is hard and I am not happy about it – sucks joy

Hebrews 12:2

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. NIV

Focusing on the hardship of unresolved hurt or pain only leads to bitterness – this is why resolving relationships is crucial because it restores joy.

Settling for imitations             

Selling out short – thinking that satisfying my desires will be the evidence of joy in my life.

Almost anything can be an imitation of a source of joy

                Kids – Friends – Relationships – Sex – Money – Career...

They way they typically work is:

I pour my life into them, they promise to provide me some level of satisfaction,  that satisfaction means I will feel good about me in some way, me feeling good about me is the same as joy – and I have just settled for an imitation of joy.

We all do it,

We think getting married will satisfy my heart

We think having kids will satisfy my heart

We think getting this job, this career, this promotion will satisfy my heart

“We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition, when infinite joy is offered to us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in the slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”  C.S. Lewis (The Weight of Glory)

Disobedience - Stop obeying him –

                When you stop obeying him, your joy will dry up

                Trust that He is good – he is not trying to control you – he wants to transform you

When we consciously determine not to obey him, we have just entered the realm of rebellion.  We are listening to and responding to something or someone (particularly this someone) other than Jesus. 

God wants to bring us back to the original design of who we were made to be, what we were made to do, and that we were to be and do that in a relationship with him, a trusted relationship of love.  This going back to formula – in a sense – requires a transformation on our parts – transforming how we think and act – so that joy again begins to flow in us and through us. 

Some are not sure they really want to be transformed, or that they need to be transformed.  We live in the medicated age, the age of supplements, if you just add this to my life things will be better.  If I do this yoga, if I take this herb, if I read this book then it will balance my life and everything will be good, I will be happy, and joy will be restored.  But that is not the path to joy, it is a dead end.  All that ends up in the vaccum cleaner with last years efforts.

                When we stop responding to the Lords precepts should we be surprised when our joy disappears.  If our joy is not complete – full, a plethora of joy in our lives could it be that we have stopped obeying him, and experiencing his love?

Discovering joy again

Realize God is good and really does love you – in the midst of your mess, in the middle of your confusion, at the center of your uncertainties He really does love you

                He makes that love known – he meets you wherever you are at

                                                                                He sent his son

                                                                                He accepts you on the basis of your faith in His son

Respond to His love – wherever you are at, you can respond to him. 

                Turning away from whatever is captivating your focus and looking to him

                Acknowledging you need Him – and this other stuff wont respond to you like he will

                Begin to obey Him – if that means forgiving others then forgive, if that means

The joy he intends for us is a full, complete and permanent joy, that can not be moved or shaken.  If you are not experiencing joy in your life, perhaps you should ask yourself if I have stopped responding to him in obedience.  Am I experiencing his love in my life.  If you are not experiencing joy you can begin today, you can begin right now,

Realize God is good and he loves you

Respond to him, be moved in your heart and mind towards him

Turn away from whatever is captivating you and holding you back

Begin obeying him

Experience the joy begin to flow into your life and grow