Sermons from Lone
Rock Bible Church Getting That Joy Down in My Heart What else does Jesus want? He wants
His people to become filled with His joy. This is important, so what do we need to know? 1. We need to
know what “joy” is (17:13) We are continuing our journey through
this prayer. I call the entire prayer “What Jesus Wants.” It is an expression of
His desire, His prayer to the Father just prior to the crucifixion. Beginning in verse 13,
what Jesus wants is for His people to be filled with His joy. That is what we will be
talking about today and next time. 13"But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the
world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. There is an interesting dilemma back
in the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah chapter 1 talks about how Nehemiah finds out that
Jerusalem is in terribly tough shape. He is exiled in Persia. He commences to pray about
what God would have him do. He is the cupbearer to the king so he has a ready audience in
the throne room. Nehemiah 2 He was sad, but he had not looked sad
yet. He was sad because his city was torn down. 2So the king said to me, "Why is your face sad though you are
not sick? This is nothing but sadness of heart." Interestingly, Nehemiah says: “Then
I was very much afraid.” The reason that is interesting is because it was a
capital offense in the courts of Persia to be sad in the presence of the king. You cannot
be sad in the presence of the king. It does not matter what your personal problems are or
what is going is going on in your life that might cause you to be down in the mouth. Being
in the presence of the king just ought to overwhelm that and make it all right.
That’s why Nehemiah was afraid. He thought, “Here I am in the king’s
presence, I could lose my head.” Being in his presence ought to overwhelm all
sadness. In other words, “King -- whatever makes you happy ought to make me
happy.” That probably did not work real well
in the courts of Persia, but brothers and sisters; it sure ought to be that way in the
courts of heaven. I can remember a number of years ago,
back in the 90’s, one of the major media commissioned a reporter to study the
evangelical Christians of America. This reporter had to go out and be among them. Go to
church with them, hang out with them at Bible studies, interview them, try to get to know
the evangelical Christians of America. So
they send a reporter in order to get educated. The reporter made of series of
installments as far as to what evangelicals are all about. I can remember clearly the
conclusion of the report. It went something like this: We may not understand them. We may
not agree with them, and at times these Christians may be a bit irritating but they are
the happiest people I have ever been around. That’s quite interesting. What does Jesus want? He wants, as the
verse says, that they may have My joy made full in themselves.” A sour, dour,
pessimistic Christian is missing something Jesus wants. We all have our moments and there
are times the circumstances in life can certainly weigh us down. But all things being
equal, the Christian whose countenance is perpetually fallen is a contradiction to what it
is to know the Savior and His joy. What we have in these verses is what
we might call a formula for Christians to be filled with the fullness of the joy of Jesus,
How does that work? We need to know a few truths. That is what we are going to be walking
through. Each item in the list is necessary and they are all related to one another, as
you shall see. They kind of blend together really well. God’s people ought to know
God’s joy. There ought to be a link there. It ought to be tangible. It ought to be
consistent. It ought to mark lives. But first we need to know what joy is. 1. We need to know what
“joy” is (17:13) That can be an elusive issue with
many. I have a very simple definition for joy. Jesus said, “I want them (that is, My
people) to have My joy made full in themselves.” Joy, very simply means
“delight.” We were hoping for something maybe a little deeper, maybe a little
more theological, maybe a little more cerebral, but when it comes to this, no. The word
simply means “delight,” happy, if you will. What this joy is not -- and this is
sometimes where the confusion enters in -- it is not someone with a bubbly personality.
That is just personality and some folks, happily, are like that. That is not what we are
talking about here. Neither is it mindless hilarity where everything is a scream and life
is slapstick. Neither is it laughter for its own sake. Nor is it whistle-in-the-dark
optimism. Nor is it euphoria, nor a pretend, Christian smile painted on the face
happiness, just because we figure we need to be that way. Specifically it is genuine delight in
what genuinely delights God. That is a specific definition of the joy that is under
discussion here. This is something I think we evangelical, Bible-type Christians come up
short on occasionally. We forget much about the Person of God and sometimes we are
inclined to make God exclusively academic, exclusively theological. We will find shelter
and refuge there because it is safe. Let’s remember this about God -- He is a Person
and personhood is defined as a being with will, intellect, and emotion. The notion of joy has everything to do
with the emotions of God. This is not simply a theological truism that we can wrap
ourselves around and occasionally hide behind. God has feelings and one of them is joy. He
wants us to feel that with Him. He is a Person. So it is OK to be happy in the Lord,
although it can be a bit confusing from time to time. Every person ever born naturally
pursues joy one way or the other. All in vain, but here are some various avenues of
pursuit, many through wealth. If I have a lot of money, I will be happy. An extremely wealthy man told me one
time that having all this money does not make me happy, it only makes me comfortable. If
happiness eludes, it is not bound to joy. Some people pursue joy through career or through
philanthropy, being nice. Some people look for that satisfaction, that joy, that delight,
that happiness, in relationships. That doesn’t work. Others try hobbies. Others, like
Dr. Timothy Leary, just take pills. In his case, took pills. Many pursue joy through the gratification of the flesh in whatever form is available. This is just a common, universal human pursuit. We are wired this way. Why? Because God is a God of joy and every human being is created in His image and we all have that intrinsic, natural pursuit. The Bible argues that there is only one legitimate avenue for it. I think Saint Augustine put his finger on it when he put it this way many years ago when he said: “Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee.” God claims exclusive ownership as the source and fountain of our joy. C.S. Lewis put it this way and I love this quote. He said, “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.” Bingo! Does Jesus know that? Sure He does. Is that what the prayer is about? Yes, it is. We need to understand joy is genuine delight and what genuinely delights God and the source of that will not be found in this world. Let me quote a couple Psalms. Psalm 16:11 -- after David, under the
inspiration of the Spirit has prayed with regard to afterlife, resurrection, and so forth,
he says this: You will
make known to me the path of life; I was made for that world where my
heart will find its rest in Thee. One of the most maligned verses,
perhaps, in the Psalms is Psalm 37:4: Delight
yourself in the LORD; We are so quick to reverse that. Dear
God, this is what I want; therefore, give it to me and I will delight in You.” No,
that is not how David put it. If my delight is in the Lord, my heart is in sync with His
heart and I will ask for that which He wants. That’s how that works. Jesus, in John 15 put it this way
beginning in verse 10. 10 "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love;
just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. I have kept My Father’s
commandments. I do not have a problem with joy, Jesus is saying. My joy is available to
you. Again, we are not talking here about shallow, giddy, mindless hilarity. We are
talking, particularly, about a joy that is mature, a joy that has come to an understanding
who and what is important and what is not. Jesus has brought these men to that
point. This is a joy that delights in a job well done. It is a joy that delights in being
satisfied with that which is right and good and worthwhile. This is why Jesus, in John
17:4, earlier in this prayer says, " I glorified You on the earth,
having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.” There is a joy that comes with
satisfaction of completion of a worthwhile project that is unique and that is special.
Jesus is saying we need to be fully engaged like this. “My prayer is that they may
have My joy made full in themselves.” First understand what it is, genuine
delight in what genuinely delights God. We are to be so fully engaged. I have heard people
say God wants us happy. No, not necessarily. God wants us happy in Him. It is not
God’s object to make happy all the people of the world. It is God’s object to
make holy His people. Happiness is found as our wills line up with His as what delights
Him delights us. To do that we have to be like Jesus. He talks about keeping His
Father’s commandments. He talks about finishing the work He started. In other words,
we cannot be happy, we cannot have the joy if we are, as James puts it, in two minds. The
one mind, “I’m going to seek some happiness over here. I’ll go to church
and I’ll go to Bible study and I’ll seek some happiness over there.” If you
want that two-minds business, it is the like the guy with one foot on the dock and the
other in the boat. It doesn’t work very well and makes him extremely uncomfortable.
The most miserable people in the world are those who know Jesus but are seeking joy
elsewhere. That is a miserable place to be and Jesus is saying, “Come on over. Be
fully delighted in what fully delights Me.” 2. We need to know our roots
(17:14,16) We really need to connect with where
we are from with who we really are. John 17, verses 14 and 16 are complementary to one
another. 14"I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them,
because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 16"They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Jesus knows where His roots are
spiritually. He says I hand that off to these disciples and now the world has an issue
with them. This is a given when two kingdoms collide, the kingdom of heaven and the
kingdom of this world. When God’s people embrace Him and when His Word becomes our
word and His joy becomes our joy, we cannot expect the applause of the world. Inevitably,
the world will be aggravated and when circumstances allow, opposed, as is the case with so
many of our brothers around the world. We need to make some definitions. What
is the world? We are not just talking about the globe. The world is this: it is a natural
-- and that is a deliberate use of the word, natural, born into it -- mindset that puts
mankind at the center of all that matters. God is moved aside somehow. In the world, God
is either nonexistent or He is impotent or He is irrelevant. At best, the world views God
as a talisman, a good luck charm, as something that is probably not a bad idea. A number of years ago Stephen Covey
wrote a book, “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” and this is what he
does, unwittingly, with God. There are certain areas of life that need to come together,
that need to coordinate, that need to be balanced. Spiritual is just one of them. In that
case, God becomes far, far less than He truly is. The world puts God in a nonexistent or
irrelevant status and in so doing, sanctions many gods. Then the world comes to a point
that says there have to be a lot of ways to get to heaven or to get to God. Because of
that, the world with many gods and not a relevant one, embraces no absolute truth.
“Truth to you is not what it is to me or what it is to them.” It has both feet
planted in mid air. When there is no absolute truth and when there are many ways and many
opinions and all are valid, strife results, much strife. This world that revolves around the
well being of mankind, this world that puts mankind in the center, this world has no
charter, no purpose, no agenda, no one at the helm. It is, in a biblical sense, a ship of
fools. It is the blind leading the blind. There is no marked out destination by the world
according to Scripture. It is just, “Let’s all get the best we can out of this
life we have and we don’t know where it goes after that.” The Bible, on the other hand, is so
opposite. The Bible tells us over and over again, from cover to cover about an infinite,
personal God who makes and keeps promises, who orchestrates history deliberately from a
definite beginning to a definite ending. The point of view of the world and that of the
Bible could not be more opposite. Jesus is saying, “Are you with Me?” “Your
roots are with Me,” He is saying. We need to remember our roots. The world has, as its driving force, only
gratification and power. That is why it bumps up against God’s world that is the
kingdom of heaven. Back in the early 60’s, a musical
was written in England. It was about a little clown who just could not get ahead of the
circumstances of life that just kept putting him down. The title of that musical was
“Stop the World, I Want to Get Off.” Almost prophetic, and I can understand it.
If indeed it were possible, how many would stop the world in order to get off? Jesus is saying about His people that
they are not of the world. Their origins are not here. Their point of birth and place of
birth are different. They are not of the world. It is interesting in the Beatitudes in
Matthew 5, verses 11 and 12, Jesus talks about how blessed are you -- you are actually the
object of God’s focused favor -- when the world reviles you and persecutes and puts
you down. His next words are “Rejoice. I know how you feel.” There is room for
joy in the conflict because it reminds us of which side we are on. Three truths to remember as far as
knowing our roots. First of all, we need to remember our birth, even our rebirth. It has a
lot to do with roots, does it not? John 1:13, discussing where believers are from: 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become
children of God, even to those who believe in His name, Born of God -- very important. Jesus
told Nicodemus two chapters later in John 3: “unless one is born again he cannot
see the kingdom of God." In verse 5 -- if one is not born again he cannot enter
the kingdom of God. Do we remember our birth? Do we remember our rebirth? I do. I was 19,
almost 20. I needed rebirth badly and God, in His grace, delivered me. Not everybody has
that vivid recall. If you cannot remember your rebirth,
that is one thing, but being sure that you are reborn is quite another. It is never
too late to go before God and say, “Dear God, I do not remember my point of
conversion. I was perhaps too young.” Perhaps it was a gradual process, which is the
case in many people’s lives. I may not remember it, but Dear God, I want to affirm
before You here and now that I am not trusting any of my own works to get me to heaven. I
do not believe I am good enough. As a matter of fact, I deserve hell and I know it. But I
also know that Your Son, Jesus died on the cross, shed His blood, to pay my way to heaven
and I am only trusting Him to get me there.” That is what we need to know with
conviction before God. That is the expression of what it is to be born again. All my trust
in Jesus only, in this life and in the next. We need to remember our rebirth.’ Secondly, we need to remember who our
Father is. In I Peter 1, Peter, the same one who was a fisherman on the Sea of Galilee,
later in life wrote this: 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, Who is our Father? Do you remember in
Luke 15 perhaps that most touching of all stories told by our Lord was that of the
prodigal son and how it was he turned his back on his father, went to a distant land and
squandered his inheritance and ultimately came to himself. He remembered who his father
was. His father was the one standing in the doorway looking for him to return, loving him
with a heart of a devoted father who, seeing him on the horizon, threw aside all protocol
and ran to his prodigal son. Remember who our Father is. Who would it be in the world to
love like that? Third in knowing our root, let’s
remember where home is. Let’s remember where citizenship is. In Philippians 3:20 Paul says: For our
citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ; “For our citizenship is in
heaven.” That is because that is where our Father lives. That is because that is the
source of our rebirth. Colossians 3:1 -- similar words: Therefore
if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is,
seated at the right hand of God. That is where our citizenship is -- it
is recorded in heaven, not here. Dave Simmons from the Rocky Mountain
Bible Mission recently returned from Rome. He echoed the words of Dorothy Gayle from
Kansas, “There is no place like home!” Let us remember where our home is. In the last verse of John 16, Jesus is
comforting His disciples, warning them what is coming, informing them He is leaving. John 16:33 This is good news! Don’t think
for a minute that those of our family who are being persecuted in foreign lands don’t
remind themselves of this every single day. They know where home is and they know who has
won. 3. We need to know our place
(17:15) 15"I do not ask You
to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. We are staying in the world; just
protect them from the evil one. But our place is in the world that does not want us. It is no secret that I have not had
the best of luck with dogs. We had a little dog whose name was Pete. Pete came to live
with us from central Montana. I didn’t have the foresight to remove the tags from his
collar. Pete did not want to stay home. We lived about three blocks from Reserve Street at
the time. Pete got out and ran out into the middle of Reserve Street. He stopped traffic.
A dear lady opened the door and Pete jumped in. She took him to the Humane Society. They
called central Montana and central Montana called me. It cost $30 to get the mutt out of
hock. That happened twice, sixty bucks. I remember going down to the Humane
Society. I was fuming and I was unhappy with Pete. I said some words to that effect to the
lady who said, “Oh, he just doesn’t know his place.” His place evidently
was not our house nor was it Reserve Street nor was it the lady’s car nor was it the
Humane Society. He ended up going back to “his place” in central Montana. “I do not ask that you take them
out of the world.” They need to know their place. The monastic movement of the Middle
Ages was a response to this, perhaps an over response in that the monks in the monasteries
determined that they would remove themselves from the world and indeed they did. The
cloistered themselves in isolated places, did some good things, did some Scripture scribal
work and so forth, but were minimal as far as an effect for the gospel in the world. This is not what Jesus had in mind
when He called His disciples -- and this theme is reiterated throughout the New Testament
-- He said, “Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.” Fishers of men
belong on the ocean, in the sea of humanity. Fishers of men belong at the shore. Fishers
of men need tackle and opportunity and need to get themselves there. He told His
disciples, “You are the salt of the earth, the preserving influence. You are the
light of the world. Do not hide your light under a basket.” Isn’t it interesting
that He prays that His people will not be taken out, but will be kept. “This is My design to reach the
world” so we need to be in the fishing business. We need to be in our place in the
world. We need to be there with purpose and focus. We need to be there with discipline and
we need to be there with accountability, but folks, we need to be there as a light for
Jesus. In the world is where we see Him work
and when we see Him work, we will know His joy and we will share it with Him. It is an
arena in which we are not comfortable, perhaps. Nor do we feel, perhaps, as safe as we
might like. Therefore it is an arena in which we must trust Him and we must see what He
does. If you have never been into an arena
of ministry that is different, I challenge you to get there. No one likes to go to the
nursing home just to go to the nursing home, but this last Tuesday we buried a lady who
came to faith because one of our number went into the world and met her there. This is how
it works. Nobody necessarily likes to minister
in a jail. Jails are uncomfortable places. They are full of people who are not like we
are. They make us a little nervous, and they shut the door behind you when you go in. But
in those circumstances, Jesus said, “I did not come to call the well, I came to call
the sick.” Why are God’s people so slow to get where the sick are? Getting to know children in an arena
like Awana, having input into their lives with perhaps maybe the only input for the
gospel, watch God work. We are more comfortable perhaps at home. We are not as comfortable perhaps on
the campus of the University, ministering in the International Christian Student
Fellowship, but we will see God work there. It will not necessarily be a journey going to
Oaxaca or Baja, but God will work there as His people are out of their comfort zone and
into an arena where only God can be trusted because we do not have control any longer. The
arena is next door, either near or far, but the arena is that place of unfamiliarity where
we cannot control and we must simply obey God and trust Him to work -- and He will. We need to know our place. We need to
determine to be a missionary and see what happens. What would it be like if each of us
went before God, and said “God, I maybe have a mundane lot. Maybe things are a bit
predictable to me. Maybe I need to step out a little bit. God would you open my eyes to
the unseen field in which you have placed me. God, would You make me a missionary. Would
You place a name, a face, a burden, a person on my heart. Would you open a door for me to
make that contact, to do an act of love. God, I want to share the gospel. God, I want to
see You work. Lord, would you use me. Just use me.” I know what would happen. He
would and maybe that is why that prayer is not prayed as often as it should -- because we
are a little reluctant to go there. He wants us there. Our place is in the work. In Ephesians 6 Paul is asking for
prayer, just as our persecuted brothers do. He understands exactly where they are because
in Ephesians, he is in prison. In Ephesians 6:19 he says: “Pray on my behalf, that
utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the
mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; “ Paul says, “I am an ambassador,
an emissary. I am sent on marching orders from one homeland to another, from the kingdom
of heaven to the kingdom of this world. I am an ambassador, but I am one in chains. I want
to speak boldly as I ought to speak.” In II Corinthians 5:20 Paul says, speaking of all of us, “We are ambassadors for Christ.” We could have been saved and immediately removed to heaven, but He has left us here to be his ambassadors, that we actually may open our mouths and speak. May He give us the grace. May He give us the opportunity. When next we meet, we will talk about three more truths that move us to the fullness of His joy. "Scripture
taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Jim Carlson 2005, Lone Rock Bible Church, Stevensville Montana, USA |