A Faithful Life Leads to Joy
Setting your hope in the promise of God leads us to joy; and leaves a trail of joy, a life marked by joy.
The trail of a faithful life is marked by JOY
Happy mothers day! Nothing brings a person joy quite like a child,
21 Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said,
We are not always faithful to our word, but God is always faithful to his – when He says something, you can count on it. – you can take him at his word
Ps 33:4 For the word of the Lord is right and true; he is faithful in all he does.
…and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised.
God delivers – not just lip service – but what he says happens
2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age,
Sometime what God says and does – does not make sense to us, but God is God
When we were moving here, it didn’t make sense to some people, but we knew what God had told us and that was enough
There are times God will tell you something, to do something, to say something, to not say something, to go somewhere, and maybe it doesn’t make sense to you, but will you do it? It has been my experience – and others – that when we trust God to believe & do what he has told us it will lead to joy.
“…at the very time God had promised him.”
“God is never late, but seldom early”.
I have a tendency to want to put words into God’s mouth, and they are always the words I would want to hear, that make sense to me, would be the most comfortable to me. But God delivers what He says – what he has promised – according to his intentions, his desire, his design, his timing.
We are responsible for every word that comes out of our mouths, especially the ones we ascribe to God, He takes that quiet seriously, because God is going to do everything he says he will do,
Even if he says he is going to bring a baby from a couple of old people, that he is going to make a great nation out of a child from a tired and worn out couple. That is precisely what he does.
3 Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him
Isaac = ‘He laughs’
Not that the baby laughs, but this baby was the fruit of Abraham as a result of Gods faithfulness and it resulted in joy.
- Abraham laughed when he was told he would have a son
Gen 17:17
17 Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, "Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?"
- When Sarah heard she would have a child
Gen 18:11-15
11 Abraham and Sarah were already old and well advanced in years, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. 12 So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, "After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?"
But God’s response was…
13 Then the Lord said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Will I really have a child, now that I am old?' 14 Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son."
This was a miracle child conceived in laughter – Joy marked Isaac’s life even before he was born
6 Sarah said, "God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me."
Abraham was a faithful man who did what God told him to do – and God blessed him beyond what he dreamed.
4 When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him. 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
Circumcision was not part of the culture – It was a mark that God gave Abraham to remind him and his descendants of the covenant relationship they had with God. Abraham remembered this covenant and obeyed God in it. It is one thing to recognize God and another to do what he says. God didn’t remind him of the command of circumcision, but Abraham remembered what God told him and obeyed.
When we trust God to be who he says and do what he says, He turns a life into A God sized life
"Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age."
Sarah is saying: “I would never have believed that God could or would do this in my life…but look”
There is great joy in a God-sized life! When we limit God – we limit our Joy!
A faithful life is a joy-oriented life
8 The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast.
Abraham had a heart that longed to celebrate. There is more to joy than a party, but it starts there.
I remember the day I carried out the last bag of garbage that had disposable diapers in it – we partied, I called our friends together and we went out for ice cream, because I was happy
Joyful hearts look for opportunities to celebrate. When a joyful heart is squeezed – it looks like a party.
Laughter is contagious! –
I remember last summer our Diana, Abby & I and some friends were sitting in a Dairy Queen and one of us got tickeled at something and soon the whole bunch of us were laughing hysterically, what kicked it off was not nearly as funny as watching each other laugh, but the laughter was contagious.
Abraham was able to experience joy in his life because he knew what God had promised him and believed God was able to deliver the promise and when he did he celebrated. Abraham lived his life on the promises of God and it led him to a life of joy!
This is not just about life being a party, but living a life that is marked by joy and leaving a trail of joy.
It was pointed out to me this week that I don’t always live with much joy in my life. I think that happens when I set my expectations on things that are not what God has promised, but the things I want out of my life, or wanting God to promise things he has not promised, but thinking He ought to.
Do you know what God has promised you?
When we don’t know what the promises are, we will never know when they are fulfilled and we will miss the joy God wants us to live with. God has promised you and I hundreds of things that will impact our lives, do you know what they are?
Jesus said : John 16:24 “Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.
John 17:13-14 “…they may have the full measure of my joy within them.”
John 10:10 I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Isa 61:7 everlasting joy will be theirs.
Do you expect him to fulfill those promises?
God is faithful and trustworthy – you can trust him and experience his promises being fulfilled in your life and see joy growing, being restored, renewed. We can orient our lives towards a direction of joy where we fully anticipate God fulfilling what he says. Abraham expected God to fulfill his promise and when he did it lead him to joy
Don’t let life suck you dry, Jesus invites us into a relationship that will renew you, restore you,
Find him faithful and true.
Joy stealers – Great suckers of joy
When we loose sight of God’s promises, life still goes on, but some of the ways life goes on will ultimately suck joy from our lives. 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 -
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?”
Focusing on hardship
Life is hard – for everyone –When we focus on a hardship, we are saying I feel cheated in some particular way. Either God is not delivering what I want out of life, or he has gone to sleep and it is all up to me and it is not working out. Sarai did that when she gave her maid servant, Hagar, to her husband Abram as a wife so maybe she would have children, because things were not working out the way she thought they should, and it was disasterous…Resentment grew – not joy.
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” - When things are hard and we let them turn our lives sour – 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.
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 God –
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?
The path to discovering joy again in your life.
1 Remember what God has promised you
Ps 33:4 For the word of the Lord is right and true; he is faithful in all he does.
2. Let the promise become your hope – When you look to the realization of the promise being fulfilled, orienting your life in that direction…
3. Rely on your relationship with God to carry you through when it is hard
Life can be hard for everyone
4. Celebrate the promises God fulfills – give him the credit and receive the promise has his gift of love.
Ps 33:4 For the word of the Lord is right and true; he is faithful in all he does.
This morning, if you have been living with no joy in your life, consider Jesus may be inviting you into a relationship with him where he can restore and renew your joy, as a full , complete, everlasting joy.
This morning if you have lost sight of the joy in your life – return to Him and remember the promises he has given you and give yourself to them.
This morning if you have joy in your life – celebrate that – mark the ways God has fulfilled his promises to you.