John Gunter: Again, I wanna echo some of things Terry said, love to have you in class. We've been having great discussion and time together where we are learning together, and that's that's the feeling in the room. And I think what Terry was trying to say is John doesn't just preach at us the whole time. We are we are discussing. I even moved the lectern down there this morning, and I was quickly reminded that's second change I've made since I've been here, so I'm better watch it, is what I got, I think.
But we we love to have you there, and and so thankful that you're here right now as we as we worship God together, hopefully, as an extension of your life's worship to God, that we don't just come for an hour or two hours on Sunday, but we worship as we live our life. I wanna start with a question this morning. We we've been talking about kind of these Christmas season ideas. We've talked about hope, and we've talked about peace, and today we're gonna talk about joy. So what brings you joy?
In my life, a lot of things bring me joy. I can look back at different parts of my life and see where in the past something brought me joy, and now I don't much less care about it. I used to have every football package on TV that I could purchase. And Saturday Well, you know how it is, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, even Monday night, you get two days off, Tuesday and Wednesday, I was watching football. And what I started noticing was, if my team did well, that's great.
If my team did not, that ruined my weekend. I no longer had joy. And as an Arkansas Razorback fan, the game should come with, like, a warning, like, may cause depression, you know, something like that. My kids bring me joy at times. Sometimes.
Right? Right before, you know, we started this worship, one kid came to me and had marks on himself from the other kid, and we're gonna have to address that in a little while. So sometimes, my kids bring me joy. Christmas season, I think, we would we would say, we look at as kind of a joyful time, or we we hope it is. Right?
Tammy has joy on her sweater this morning. So everybody stare at Tammy and make her uncomfortable. We hope it's a joyful time. Right? It is a time, most of us, of nostalgia.
Right? You think about the things you did as a kid. You as a parent or grandparent, likely are trying to build memories with your kids, grandkids, whoever. And so it's a time we're trying to create joy for others as well. But I would say often, we can get in just kind of like my football watching.
We can desire joy but not have it. We can lose our joy. And so this morning, the the title of the lesson is Joy the World Cannot Take. And so when we think about joy, I think about I I think we we probably mostly think about just good feelings. Right?
And those can be very fleeting, as in my example of football. Yesterday, we we were in a tournament, in a soccer tournament, and I told you guys we're we're a young team playing up into a higher level, and so you really have to find joy in different ways when you're playing hard competition that's older than you. My first game yesterday, we played so I have 2016 and twenty seventeen kids, that's when they were born, 2016 and 2017. By the way, if that throws you off, they're all like nine years old now, so that's that's been a while. And so the first game, we played all twenty fifteen kids, all older kids, and we lost, but we lost two to one.
You take joy in a loss. Now, I was over the moon for that because it was two to one at halftime, and it was a it was a draw the rest of way. We didn't give up any more gold, and we didn't score any, but we didn't give And so I was after the game, I was full of joy. Then we played a game at 02:00, and we lost five to nothing. It's hard to take a lot of joy in those times.
Right? And so, joy is kind of fleeting like that. One moment, you're up, and it it feels like, okay, this is this is joy to me, that I feel these feelings, and all of a sudden, something else happens. You ever gotten a text that just took the wind out of your sails? There's something small something at work, everything's going great, all of a sudden, it's a Monday again.
Right? All of a sudden, it's gone. And so joy can be very fleeting. And so, this morning, we wanna talk about joy that doesn't do this. So joy that we wanna talk about, real joy, does not rise and fall with the circumstances of life.
Our real joy as Christians is only found in Christ. Amen? That is our constant. That is that is not an up and down. Christ is and should be our joy.
And so we're gonna start with a reading from John 15 in verse nine this morning. As the father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 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. Now, these things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
You ever think about Christ desiring that you receive joy, that you have joy in your life? He teaches here that his commandments bring about this kind of joy. Now, I don't know what you think about when you think about the word commandment. Kids, if your mom or dad in a little while says, I command you to do this, you might go, hold on just a second. Right?
And you might as an adult. Right? If I stand up here and say, I command you, so we might step back from that. But I want you to think for just a second about a time in your life when you know you did something good for someone, Like, everything was in line. Have you felt that before?
That I I am doing the right thing, I know I'm doing the right thing, and everything feels good. You ever felt bad? I am doing the right thing, and I feel bad. Well, that might mean your heart's in the wrong place. But everything is in line.
That's what that's what Jesus is talking about here. If everything is in line, if your desire is to follow what what Christ is telling you, he says, just as I followed what my father commanded of me, and everything falls in line. These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. And what he's saying there is his joy is in you because you know you're in him. You are following him, that your desires are lined up with his, and everything is right and falls into place.
And that doesn't come and go as as the other examples that we have talked about. In Romans eight, starting in verse 38, the apostle Paul says this, for I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present, things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. This should be the source of our joy, that nothing, really aside from us choosing to leave him, nothing can separate us and force us out of this relationship that we have with Jesus Christ. That should bring you joy.
Now, I I I'm not naive enough, and I've been around long enough to know that Christians that should know this can sometimes have an overwhelming feeling of guilt, like God still can't help them. Like I failed too many times about, you know, the same thing. But this is what the apostle Paul said, For I am sure that neither death nor life, angels nor rulers, nor things present, things to come, nor powers, height, nor depth, anything else, and all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Do you know that God loves you this morning? That God so loved the world that he did what, church?
He sent his only son for you. Now, you may have a hard day today, you may have a hard day sometime this week, but this will not change, church. This will be with you in the days where everything is going well, in the days where it's not. God loves you and nothing, Paul says, can separate you from that love. In Psalms sixteen eleven, you make known to me the path of life.
In your presence there is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. And the psalmist here is really just saying that that our joy is found in God, That as we draw close to him, you experience a joy of life. Now the problem comes is when I think my joy can be found in something else, and I go and pursue that. Anybody in here want to testify this morning that at one point in my life, I thought joy could be found over there, and I found out differently.
Amen? Yeah. That I feel like I'm going to abandon that. Now, we might not say that mentally, I'm going to abandon God and go do that, but our actions show that that's what we chose. That I I desired that more than I desired this.
And so, I go and pursue that, and what I've forgotten is that my true joy can be found in God. I've said this before, but I think it's interesting because we probably all in this room know who Jim Carrey the actor is. Whether you like his movies or not, you're probably aware of who he is, and at one point, he talked about, you know, he's made a bunch of money over his lifetime, and he happened to say that, you know, I found out that money does not bring about joy. And people basically told him to shut up, you know. Now, I would love to have that experience and be able to relay to you whether or not it does.
But he is someone who has experienced that, and what he's saying is, yeah, if you think it does, it doesn't. And that's how life goes. Right? I think that's gonna bring me more pleasure or joy, and I'll do that for a little while only to find out that that maybe it did. I mean, absolutely.
Right? If you had plenty of money, it's gonna bring about some joy, some experiences, some things like that. Right? But is that joy, are those experiences going to stay? Are they going to last?
I love this example, I've used it before as well, but how do you feel when you get a new vehicle? It doesn't have to be brand new, but new to you. Oh, this is what I wanted. Oh, this is what I needed. I'm glad I finally have that, it's gonna bring me joy.
Couple of years down the road, you look at the same vehicle that you loved and brought you joy, you go, boy, is a piece of junk, I need something else. Right? Still, it probably gets you down the road and all of those things, we we trade in like, you know, nobody's business. But again, we're chasing something that's fleeting versus drawing near to God in his love and abiding in that joy. From Isaiah 35 in verse one, the wilderness and the dry land shall be glad.
The desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus. I should have put a picture of this. You don't know what a crocus is, you ought to you to Google it. Not right now. But it it's a beautiful, like, blue kind of purple flower.
I'm partially color blind, it's one of those. I I know that. But beautiful. And so it says, the desert shall rejoice and blossom like a curse. So bringing forth beauty is what it's saying.
And it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it. The majesty of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God. Strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, be strong, fear not, behold, your God will come with vengeance.
With the recompense of God, he will come and save you. And so the beginning of this this scripture is a desert. Now, you might think a desert's beautiful, but the imagery the psalmist is using is, if you've ever been to Israel, Israel is interesting because on one side of the hill, it is desert, absolute desert. You cross over that hill, and it can look like Texas and Arkansas. Crops, agriculture, all the things.
And so, right there in a very small country, you get all of these things. And so, what he's talking about is very dry, bare, nothing else, and when I look at a desert, I don't see beauty. I see dry, there's nothing there. You know, my desires come into effect, I want to be in woods that can be hunted for white tailed deer. You know, that's not it right there in the desert.
It says, from the desert springs forth beauty. Springs forth all of these things. Be strong, fear not, be behold, the Lord your God will come with vengeance. And so, the days that you have that aren't going well that you go, I don't know how it could get any worse. Know that even in those times, God can bring forth beauty.
Have you ever been through something very difficult in your life, and you wouldn't do it again, but right now, you can see that from those times brought forth beauty, brought forth joy, because God is faithful. God is still here. God is still with you. He has not left. Now, your feelings of joy over, if I'm desiring joy to come from my circumstances, that might have been gone.
But the joy in knowing that I belong to God and he loves me never leaves. And what we're talking about this morning, joy blossoms as faith becomes obedience, and as we're obedient, that that trust in God becomes action, that we follow close to Him. In Psalm 19 verse eight, the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure and lightening the eye. And so we draw close to God with our obedience to him.
James one twenty two, be ye doers of the word and not hearers, only deceiving yourselves. And sometimes we find ourselves in that, don't we? That we hear and think, well, that's a great idea, but I never do. And so in in not doing and not being obedient, not trusting to the point of obedience, I'm not actually drawing close to God, and we can deceive ourselves. I I came and I came to bible class, and I sat in church, and we sang songs, did all that, and we can get nothing out of that, can't we?
We can be so distracted, we can just not care, we can just be here to get the boxes checked. You know, churches all over The United States lost members after COVID, not because they passed away, because they realized at some point that, well, I don't need that box checked anymore. So we lost a lot of people that were checking boxes, didn't we? It was almost a gut check. And so what we do is we want to desire being close to God, to be obedient, to trust in him, to the point of drawing near to him.
Back to I Isaiah 35. Isaiah says this, then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert. The burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water.
In the haunts of jackals where they lie down, the grass shall become reeds and rushes. Out of a desert comes beauty. Out of the hard times comes joy, and you've seen it because God is faithful. And so Christ will bring that joy to us, will he not? Sure.
In Psalm 30 verse five, for his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning. Anybody know that song? Joy comes in the morning. You've been there.
You've lived it. I know you have, and I don't desire the storm, but I know that God is faithful, that he will get me through this. And so in first Peter chapter one, Peter says this, in this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.
When Peter wrote these words, he was writing to people that are just like us, who didn't walk with Jesus, who didn't see firsthand all of the things that happened there. But he's talking about people who have faith, who are trying to draw close to Christ, desiring that relationship with him. And so he's saying, well, you don't see him, you do love him, and, as Peter encourages, the Christians there. So joy is not the denial of sorrow. Do you understand, as Peter said, that there are trials within life?
Yes. Anybody confused about that yet? Thought once you accepted Christ, you're baptized into his name, the road would be clear and you'd be on easy street. No? We know there are trials in life, and so joy is not the denial of those things.
We're not walking around just saying, oh, I'm just happy all the time. No? There are things in life that are not gonna bring you joy, but in the presence of Christ, knowing that Christ is in the midst of all those things, that should bring you joy. And back to Isaiah verse eight, and a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the way of holiness. You see how this desert is transforming before our eyes here?
The unclean shall not pass over, and it shall belong to those who walk on the way, if they are fools, that shall not go astray. Elbow somebody who's a fool this morning. And God says, even if you are a fool, doesn't matter. Right? It's it's not about intellect.
K? Even if you are a fool, you will not go astray on this road. No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come upon it. It's free of danger. What a beautiful idea.
They shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there, and the ransom of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing. Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. They shall obtain gladness, and joy, and sorrow, and sighing shall flee away. Amen? Oh, I desire that, don't you?
I want that joy. This idea of a road that is absent of any danger, that you are walking with other people. Does it encourage you when you're walking with other people who desire Christ? Yeah. Gives me strength, helps me do what I need to do, right, to have the right desires, have the right attitude.
And that's what he's saying. Okay? We started with a desert, and now we have this beautiful picture of a landscape with pools and and beautiful flowers, and there's no danger there, and you're by people who desire God. Can you imagine that? I want to imagine that.
Because God loves us, and this is what he wants for it for us is what Isaiah is telling us this morning. And so a joyful people display or should display goodness to the rest of the world. Okay? What does that look like? Again, that shouldn't look like I'm out here faking joy all the time, but what it should look like, I think, is Christians out in the world encouraging others.
When things look dim, we should be encouraging. Not just because everything's going well for us, we know it's not going to, but we can encourage people by pointing them back to Christ and what he has done for us. We can encourage them by pointing them back to God and saying, God loved you so much that this is what he's done for you. And some of you can even pull that verse back up and say, even a fool like you is not going to lose the way. Philippians four, rejoice in the Lord always.
Again, I say rejoice. Rejoice in my circumstances, rejoice that everything's going my way, rejoice that no. Rejoice in the what, church? In the Lord always, and what he has done, not just your circumstances. Psalm 98 verse four, make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.
Break forth into joyous song and sing praises. We talked about this a little bit in class this morning. It says a joyful noise. Right, Scott? Not everybody's gotta be hitting the right note at the same time.
If you don't hit the right note, then some of the rest of us are gonna lose joy. No. I'm just kidding. We used to be chanting. We didn't have four part harmony for a long time.
Right? Make a joyful noise to the Lord. All the earth break forth in a joyous song and sing praises, because we know that God loves us, and and from that comes worship to him. A joyful noise, a joyful song, we're to we're going to sing praises because of what God has done, and that becomes our worship, not just in this time, but throughout our lives, throughout this week. Your life and how you live it becomes this hope for the world because we impact the world around us, don't we?
We should. And so Jesus invites us all into his joy. We sing a song, and I should have told Tyler to sing it, but I didn't. It's my fault. From Nehemiah eight ten, let's see if you can spot it.
Then he said to them, go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions Boy, that sounds like you're thinking, where did we sing that? Right? Send portions to anyone who has nothing ready for this day is holy to our Lord, and do not be grieved for the joy of the Lord is your strength. I bet you got it by the end, didn't you? The joy of the Lord is my strength.
And so, this Christmas season, as we hope to bring joy, we hope to experience joy, we want to encourage you to draw close to Christ. Because your ultimate joy, no matter what is going on, is going to be found in him. He is our constant. Allow him to shape our life, become obedient to him if that is an issue for you right now. Draw close to him.
If you're struggling with that this morning, use it as an experiment. Use your curiosity and see, okay, let's see what happens when I draw close to God. Does that mean your way is going to be easy again? No. But what it does mean is you're going to experience love, you're going to experience joy that can't be explained by just your circumstances.
So let the joy of Christ fill you so that it may shine through you as an example to everyone else. And so we're gonna have a time of invitation. If you have not begun this journey, why not right now? Why not begin that walk with him, put on Christ in baptism, draw close to him. If you need the prayers of the church, we'd love to pray with you.
Will you come as we stand and as we sing.