Can you tell the difference Act 3

Another source of our joy is His Law. “Your statutes are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart” Psalm 119:111. Maybe it’s kind of odd thinking of Law as a source of joy. I sadly confess I got pulled over the other week, and did not have a joy experience because of law. We can have a tendency to look at God’s Law the same way. We view His Law as something we break, and then have to pay a big fine for. However, the relationship that we are to have with the Law of God is one that brings us delight and joy. The entire chapter of 119, the longest Psalm, speaks of the delight, hope, goodness, light and joy that we benefit from learning and obeying God’s Law. We may read those verses and wonder how God’s Word and Law can become a honeycomb to our lips, like water to a man dying of thirst, how our heart can pant after it. I think of another verse in 1 John 5 “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. 2 by this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. 3For this is the love of God that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome”.
How do we get ourselves to a place where His Law can be a source of our joy? Well, for certain, when we are living in a way that is contrary to His Law, joy from this sources is not possible. In fact, my personal experience has been it brings increased misery and stress. It brings misery, because we know the difference, we know what we are doing does not please God . For the follower of Christ they cannot fully enjoy the worldly pursuit of happiness because they hearing and feeling the convicting words of the Holy Spirit. Stress because we know that we are living a dual life, and we are internally questioning “who is the real me”? We look in the mirror and do not want to look ourselves in the eye. Joy can, and will only return when we confess our sins, and repent of our selfish pursuits. But here is a key point, it is not the job of the community of Christ to condemn each other, when one is found out. It is to love in a way that restores the person to strength and hope. We need to let God’s Word penetrate into our hearts, minds and senses – and that can only come through the regular hearing and reading of His Word. We need to come to the place where his Word and Law are a delight and joy to our soul.

A third source is in what God has done. “For you make me glad by your deeds, O LORD; I sing for joy at the works of your hands”. Psalm 92:4.

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.

God has done so much for us. The blessings and bounty we have in our lives are because of His constant grace and mercy. We need to consider His works and provisions on our behalf just because He loves us - not because we have earned or deserve them. Our joy comes from simply reflecting on His deeds. We are to be looking for the work of God’s hand in our life and in the lives of others. Those works are all around us. When we see them we find joy.

Fourthly, because of the Holy Spirit dwelling within. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness…” Galatians 5:22.

The very nature of the Holy Spirit is joy. He dwells within and brings that joy nature into us. Think about that for a moment. God has placed His own eternal presence ‘in’ you. It doesn’t come and go – even when we blow it. He stays, urging, encouraging, and praying on our behalf. The Holy Spirit constantly desires to have our lives draw close to God.

Romans 15:13May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope
by the power of the Holy Spirit.

We need to let His joy come to the surface.

Fifthly, a great sense of our joy comes from when we are able to share the love of Christ with each other.

John 15:11I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

There is something incredible that happens when God’s people come together and share and encourage one another about the presence of God. Read 1 John carefully, you will see how this is in what we say, but more importantly, how we demonstrate that love practically. So often we talk about everything else – or set other things up priority. Unfortunately we can think we’re being ‘over religious’ when we engage in this kind of talk with one another – but in fact, it is one of the ways that our joy is made complete. It’s no wonder the enemy seeks to do anything he can to disrupt these encounters.

And lastly our prayer life. John 16:24 until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.

There is a direct correlation between the depth and quality of our communication with God and the quality and quantity of joy in our lives. I think that we have some discovery to do about what prayer really is. Simply, it is open, honest, selfless, faith-filled, His way, God seeking communication, that may or may not include closing one’s eyes, or even words (Be still and know that I am God). It is depended on our willingness to let 'His will be done" in our lives, and in the lives of others, through us.

This week we have focussed on finding true joy in our lives. As we reflect back, we see that none of the foundations of joy are found in the feelings of happiness, but in decisions of the will. It's not that the feeling of happiness is wrong, God created us with that ability. The problem is when we are lead and focussed on happiness as a immediate goal, rather than the result of a life well lived. Seek joy, and happiness will be added unto you.

Anyway, I was just thinking.

Neil

Can you tell the difference? Act 2 scene 1

I have great memories of Christmas Eve services watching the annual Sunday School's presentation. I have numerous video tapes of these proceedings – many of them with close ups of my own kids as they wiggled, poked and struggled to hold up their over sized ‘shepherd’ bathrooms. Suddenly, (usually preceded by the thudding of winter boots over a plywood covered of the baptism tank- and the loud whispers of teachers coaching the angels on their lines) choir-robed , coat hanger leaning haloed angels would appear and declare

"Do not be afraid. We bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people”.

These are some of the most incredible words ever spoken on the face of the earth. Joy for the follower of Christ is of a difference substance than the happiness the world seeks. What is the source of that joy? One primary source is found here in the declaration of the Angels: Our salvation.
Psalm 51:12 states, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me”. What is this ‘good news of great joy’? Do we realize what it is that we have been saved from and unto? Unless we truly embrace the eternal reality of our lossness, the foundation and sustaining quality of our joy will be in question. Think of the perspectives of the Angels who brought the glad tiding of Good News to all people that night. They have been observers of human history since the beginning. They experienced the rebellion in Heaven that saw the ‘Angel of Light’ became the ‘the father of lies’. They warred with and watched as a third of their fellow heavenly host were judged and swept into hell– they watched as the purity and holiness of creation violated and the cancer of sin and death was introduced. They witness the banishment of Adam and Eve from the paradise that God had created for them. They stood alongside God as atrocities upon atrocities occurred through history toward God, His people, and inflicted on all humanity. They have watched as the perfection of creation increasingly was/is impacted by the effects of death, shame and sin. They know, see, have stood in the presence of the horror of humanity lost and destine to an eternity apart of God.
I don’t want to be melodramatic, but there is truth in that we have mentally and emotionally down played that apart from Christ all people are headed for eternity separated from God. The Angels had been waiting for that moment for thousands of years, knowing that God had a planned, and now it had come – right at this moment, there was a child, not any child, the perfect, holy Lamb of God who had come to take away the sins of the world. Then God gives the WORD and the Angels burst onto the skies that night, singing, praising and shouting “Glory to God in the highest”. But not fully prepare however for the event that would occur a short 33 years later when they would be restrained by God Himself from launching a full out assault on the earth as this same Lamb would be tortured, despised and crucified by the same people they had announced the good news of great joy.
We need to understand something, that night was not a historical moment; but a ceaseless Universal declaration of the coming of salvation to all creation (Rom 8:19). The wellspring of our endless joy comes as we see and accept the truth of our own hopeless state and know that we have been delivered by the action of God’s own hand.
“My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you— I, whom you have redeemed” Psalm 71:23.
What greater source of happiness can there be in our life than the knowledge that you and I have be adopted as eternal Son’s and daughter of God? One of the first steps of finding a life of great joy is the daily reflection of the gift of our salvation.

Pray with me: Oh Merciful and Loving Father of Creation. The words of the Psalmist David "My sin is ever before me (Psalm 51:3)" resonate in my mind and heart. I am aware that I have been given a priceless gift, that You have placed Your eternal presence within me in the Holy Spirit. That I have been released from my unpayable debt that demanded eternal separation from God. You know me, and have called me your child. You are the Joy of my Salvation.

"Do not be afraid. We bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people”.

Anyway, I was just thinking.

Neil

Can you tell the difference?

The spam filter went down at work for a few days – at no fault of the IT department. So all weekend I was getting inundated with junk mail, most of which I was trying to eliminate as fast as it come in. One kept catching my attention however, as it was promising inexpensive replica watches for bargain prices. The ad went like this:

“Ever see someone with one of those expensive watches and want to feel the power and presence of that on your own wrist. For much less than you think, you could have the feelings of prestige and refinement that set you apart from the crowd. These watches look and feel like the real McCoy in every detail. Only a qualified jeweler would be able to tell them apart. Have the presence without the investment. “

That got me thinking, that’s a lot like the difference between joy and happiness. Many people settle for happiness, which is just a replica of joy. One of the reasons is the promise that happiness will bring the same benefits as joy for only a fraction of the investment. The challenge is, like a replica watch, although you might fool those around you that you have is the real McCoy, you yourself know that it is a fraud. When people ask you "Is that real", it forces you to lie - or risk exposure of the deception for what it is. People want happiness but they don’t often want to make the invest of what it takes to gain joy. What happens is that although it may fool those around us, there is a hollowness and emptiness that comes. The voices inside accuse us of being a fake and fraud. We fool others at the expense of own lives. The result is that we become even more unhappy.

People want joy in their life. It is amazing the chances, choices and personal prices that people will take in order to have moments of happiness, only to discover that what they hoped to bring them that happiness evaporates in their hands and leads them in a worse state. God does not promise happiness, but he does promise joy. It is God’s purpose that joy, unlike happiness be everlasting.

“…and the ransomed of the LORD will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away” Isaiah 35:10.

What is joy? Is joy just a feeling, like happiness that comes and goes with a circumstance– I feel happy, I feel sad, or is there a more quantitative aspect to joy that make it more enduring? There are some realities about the nature of happiness that we accept.



• Happiness is not to be a goal
• Happiness is not a ‘Right’
• Happiness is not guaranteed
• Happiness is not the cure for sadness
• Happiness is fleeting



Over the next few days of this Advent week of Joy, we are going to be considering how we replace the replica of of happiness for the real McCoy of Joy.

Maybe our new ad should be

"Tired of the hangovers of the replica of happiness? Ever want to have the geninue article of joy? Why settle for a replica of momentary happiness, when you can experience the real thing. It is true that it will cost you your whole life, but what value of what you recieve far surpassess the price".

Anyway, I was just thinking.

Neil