WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.319 Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast. 00:00:02.479 --> 00:00:07.040 We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ. 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:08.640 Thanks for tuning in. 00:00:19.440 --> 00:00:20.079 Amen. 00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:20.719 Amen. 00:00:20.879 --> 00:00:22.399 Good morning, Awakening. 00:00:22.559 --> 00:00:25.839 Good Yeah, what is up? 00:00:26.079 --> 00:00:28.800 Awakening showing up this Thanksgiving. 00:00:28.960 --> 00:00:29.679 Great to be with you. 00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:31.359 On your chairs, you have this card. 00:00:31.519 --> 00:00:34.000 Pull it out or hold it up with me. 00:00:34.079 --> 00:00:36.320 We're starting a new series called Take Joy. 00:00:36.399 --> 00:00:37.679 Go ahead and say that with me. 00:00:37.920 --> 00:00:39.039 Take Joy. 00:00:39.679 --> 00:00:43.119 And we'll be diving in into this incredible book called Philippians. 00:00:43.200 --> 00:00:46.719 That's actually a book really rightly called of joy. 00:00:46.880 --> 00:00:51.520 And so we're going to be talking and teaching through Philippians 4, 4 through 9. 00:00:51.600 --> 00:00:57.759 And what you'll see is it's the passage that we're going to be studying for the next four weeks, right here. 00:00:57.920 --> 00:00:59.280 Here's what I want you to do. 00:00:59.520 --> 00:01:00.880 I want you to take this card. 00:01:00.960 --> 00:01:01.920 We made it nice, right? 00:01:02.079 --> 00:01:02.799 Isn't that nice? 00:01:03.039 --> 00:01:03.439 Ooh. 00:01:03.679 --> 00:01:04.640 Ooh, ooh. 00:01:04.879 --> 00:01:06.079 That's the proper response. 00:01:06.239 --> 00:01:08.239 Ooh, yeah, isn't that nice? 00:01:08.480 --> 00:01:09.439 We made it nice. 00:01:09.599 --> 00:01:10.640 Here's the reason why. 00:01:10.879 --> 00:01:11.840 I want you to take it. 00:01:11.920 --> 00:01:19.280 I want you to put it maybe on your bathroom mirror, maybe at your desk at home or at work or in your car. 00:01:19.599 --> 00:01:23.599 What we want to do is we want to meditate and memorize God's word. 00:01:23.760 --> 00:01:26.239 It's a powerful thing, what we put in our minds. 00:01:26.400 --> 00:01:29.359 In fact, it's one of the most important decisions you make every day. 00:01:29.519 --> 00:01:32.159 We'll talk more about that in week three. 00:01:32.400 --> 00:01:40.719 But together, your Christmas season, I believe, will be powerfully transformed as you put God's word into your mind. 00:01:40.799 --> 00:01:42.239 So would you memorize this with us? 00:01:42.400 --> 00:01:45.840 We're just going to take a couple verses each week, and you're going to take this with you? 00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:47.680 This means yes, right? 00:01:48.159 --> 00:01:49.280 We're not doing this. 00:01:49.439 --> 00:01:49.760 Okay. 00:01:50.480 --> 00:01:51.439 All right, there we go. 00:01:51.680 --> 00:01:53.599 Take joy, take joy. 00:01:53.760 --> 00:01:57.760 Um, uh, by the way, I I love, I love what C.S. 00:01:57.920 --> 00:01:58.560 Lewis said. 00:01:58.719 --> 00:02:02.959 He said this, that joy is the serious business of heaven. 00:02:03.120 --> 00:02:04.319 Isn't that good? 00:02:04.719 --> 00:02:08.400 Joy is the serious business of heaven. 00:02:08.639 --> 00:02:13.840 Um, you know, Christmas season, one, I just wanted to let you know something. 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:20.080 Uh you probably didn't know I had the power to say this, but I do. 00:02:20.479 --> 00:02:25.120 Um it's now okay to listen to Christmas music. 00:02:25.520 --> 00:02:27.039 It's now the official time. 00:02:27.199 --> 00:02:29.599 If you're doing it before, we forgive you. 00:02:29.759 --> 00:02:30.639 Uh we do. 00:02:30.800 --> 00:02:33.759 It's now the appropriate time to put up your tree. 00:02:33.919 --> 00:02:35.039 We got our tree yesterday. 00:02:35.199 --> 00:02:39.759 We went up into the mountains of Las Gatas and we got our tree cut it down. 00:02:39.840 --> 00:02:41.840 In fact, I'm wearing the exact same clothes. 00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:45.840 That's too much information as I did that. 00:02:46.400 --> 00:02:56.400 And here's what's interesting about this season is we kind of think this should be the most joy-filled season or time, right? 00:02:56.800 --> 00:02:59.680 It's like this is the most merry time of all. 00:02:59.840 --> 00:03:07.840 We should have the most joys filled with family and friends, and you know, sometimes just to get through Thanksgiving, you have a friends giving, right? 00:03:07.919 --> 00:03:12.159 To be with you, you're like, okay, we're gonna, this is the most joy-filled time. 00:03:12.240 --> 00:03:13.599 And yet, isn't it true? 00:03:13.759 --> 00:03:19.759 All the hurry and the hustle creates more stress and anxiety than joy. 00:03:20.560 --> 00:03:32.479 And then something happens around this season where actually heartache and pain are magnified, they're not diminished. 00:03:34.240 --> 00:03:42.400 And so, how do you experience deep true lasting joy? 00:03:43.840 --> 00:03:53.199 Like, can you experience joy in the midst of struggle and confusion and pain this Christmas season? 00:03:56.960 --> 00:04:08.879 Over the next several weeks, we're gonna discover and learn that you don't have to just find joy, hope for joy, wish for joy. 00:04:09.280 --> 00:04:13.680 But we're actually gonna learn and discover how do we take joy. 00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:19.519 That we don't just have it happen to us, but we can actually take joy this season. 00:04:19.759 --> 00:04:35.120 Uh, in Philippians 4, if you got your Bibles 4-4, the Apostle Paul begins the conversation this way with three sentences that um I think if we're really honest, we're gonna read these, and it would be easy to pass by. 00:04:35.600 --> 00:04:43.279 Easy to just go, those are nice words, or you know, things that you go like, oh that that that's lovely, or no, that's impossible. 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:49.199 And we just move on, and yet these are so powerful and life-changing truths. 00:04:49.279 --> 00:04:50.879 He says this, uh, rejoice. 00:04:51.120 --> 00:04:52.000 Actually, no, no, no. 00:04:52.240 --> 00:04:53.680 Would you read this with me? 00:04:53.839 --> 00:04:55.199 All right, out loud. 00:04:55.279 --> 00:04:56.000 Can you do this? 00:04:56.480 --> 00:04:59.920 All right, rejoice in the Lord always. 00:05:00.160 --> 00:05:02.639 I will say it again, rejoice. 00:05:02.800 --> 00:05:04.480 Yeah, because of the exclamation point, right? 00:05:04.560 --> 00:05:05.600 You had to you had to go up. 00:05:05.759 --> 00:05:09.839 All right, let your gentleness be evident to all. 00:05:11.680 --> 00:05:12.720 The Lord is near. 00:05:12.959 --> 00:05:19.519 Rejoice in the Lord always, not some of the time, not when you feel like it, all the time. 00:05:20.879 --> 00:05:25.439 And then if you missed it, in case you didn't hear it, um, I know you're reading it. 00:05:25.600 --> 00:05:29.360 I wrote it, so obviously you saw it, but I'll say it again. 00:05:30.240 --> 00:05:38.240 Rejoice! And then let your gentleness, not your judgmentleness, be evident to everyone. 00:05:38.480 --> 00:05:48.480 People that you agree with and disagree with, people that are, you know, you like, and maybe some of the people around the table that you didn't like this last Thanksgiving. 00:05:48.959 --> 00:05:56.959 People that you are in your political party, and people who aren't in your political party, let your gentleness be evident to all. 00:05:57.120 --> 00:05:59.360 The Lord is near. 00:05:59.839 --> 00:06:05.920 Now, we want to talk about how do you experience true, deep, lasting joy? 00:06:06.000 --> 00:06:07.279 How do you take joy? 00:06:07.439 --> 00:06:15.519 But before we dive into this scripture and unpack it, we first have to ask and answer the question: what is joy to begin with? 00:06:15.680 --> 00:06:19.839 Because I think there's a lot of confusion of like, what exactly is joy? 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:23.279 Dallas Willard gives us a great definition of joy in it. 00:06:23.439 --> 00:06:34.240 He says this joy is not a passing sensation of pleasure, but a pervasive sense of well-being that's infused with hope because of the goodness of God. 00:06:34.480 --> 00:06:44.240 Joy is not this passing sense of pleasure, it's not just this emotional roller coaster highs and lows and good and bad. 00:06:44.480 --> 00:06:57.439 It's actually this pervasive sense of well-being that's infused with hope because of the goodness of God, this sense of all is right in me deeply. 00:06:57.759 --> 00:07:05.360 Not because of circumstances are right, because of the goodness and the nature and the character of God. 00:07:05.680 --> 00:07:11.920 Now, I think one of the things that we do is we begin to kind of pit joy with happiness, right? 00:07:12.079 --> 00:07:16.240 You have the joyful light, a happy life, and I actually don't want to do that. 00:07:16.399 --> 00:07:25.120 In fact, so much that you'll see even through scripture, there's times that God's word uses joy and happiness interchangeably. 00:07:25.439 --> 00:07:30.639 You know, like Jesus said, blessed are the pure, you know, in heart, for they'll see God. 00:07:30.800 --> 00:07:33.040 Literally, happy are those. 00:07:33.519 --> 00:07:43.360 Now, here's the reason why is we tend to do this is about 50 years ago or so, we shifted the definition of happiness. 00:07:43.600 --> 00:07:50.240 And so because we changed it, then now our definition of happiness no longer fits, you know, every situation. 00:07:50.560 --> 00:07:57.279 And uh the definition of happiness used to be that I am living a life I'm happy with. 00:07:57.839 --> 00:08:02.319 That was the definition of happiness, that I'm actually living a life I'm happy with. 00:08:02.399 --> 00:08:08.959 And we shifted it over the last several decades to now I'm living to be happy. 00:08:09.279 --> 00:08:16.959 That life and all that I have is to exist for this sensation of pleasure. 00:08:18.000 --> 00:08:20.800 And so, joy, this deep joy. 00:08:21.040 --> 00:08:24.800 In fact, I like the way he continues on and says and writes about it. 00:08:24.959 --> 00:08:33.840 It's pervasive, it's constant, an unending sense of well-being that though that flows from a vision, peace, righteousness, and hope. 00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:38.799 True joy is robust, even including outright hilarity. 00:08:38.960 --> 00:08:46.799 We can experience the joy of being in God's kingdom even in the midst of suffering and loss. 00:08:47.279 --> 00:08:51.840 Joy doesn't arrive on the scene in good times and flee in bad times. 00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:55.039 It is a companion through all times. 00:08:55.519 --> 00:08:59.519 Kay Warren in her book Choose Joy writes this about it, her definition. 00:08:59.759 --> 00:09:15.679 Joy is the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life, the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is going to be all right, the determined choice to praise God in all things. 00:09:17.759 --> 00:09:19.519 So, how do you experience that? 00:09:21.519 --> 00:09:27.039 How do you experience true, deep, lasting joy? 00:09:27.519 --> 00:09:31.519 Paul gives us three sentences that are so powerful. 00:09:31.840 --> 00:09:42.000 And the first thing that he's gonna say that's completely counterintuitive to the way we think about joy, and it's so important that we understand it. 00:09:42.159 --> 00:09:45.600 He's gonna say that joy is fundamentally a choice. 00:09:46.480 --> 00:09:48.639 Joy is fundamentally a choice. 00:09:48.879 --> 00:10:01.120 We think of it as a response and a reaction, and he says, no, no, no, it is a decision of the will, it is a choice, not a reaction of the heart. 00:10:01.440 --> 00:10:05.679 In fact, he says it, remember, we just read it, rejoice in the Lord always. 00:10:05.759 --> 00:10:07.440 I'll say it again, rejoice. 00:10:07.600 --> 00:10:13.840 Both of those words, rejoice, there are present active commands or imperatives. 00:10:14.080 --> 00:10:17.360 He's commanding the Philippians to rejoice. 00:10:17.519 --> 00:10:20.240 He's saying it's not optional. 00:10:21.279 --> 00:10:25.440 In fact, you can't live without it, you can't navigate life without it. 00:10:25.600 --> 00:10:30.240 I'm commanding you, and so you have a choice to either do it or not do it. 00:10:30.320 --> 00:10:33.039 Now notice what the apostle Paul didn't say. 00:10:33.279 --> 00:10:36.159 Rejoice in your circumstances always. 00:10:36.399 --> 00:10:38.080 I'll say it again. 00:10:38.480 --> 00:10:39.440 Rejoice. 00:10:40.159 --> 00:10:44.159 Because I think that's where we land often with rejoicing, right? 00:10:44.240 --> 00:10:48.240 And choosing to, I'll choose to have joy when life goes X, Y, and Z. 00:10:48.320 --> 00:10:53.279 And honestly, Ryan, the Apostle Paul doesn't know what I'm going through. 00:10:53.440 --> 00:10:59.919 And my life is so painful and so hard, and I can't choose joy in this season. 00:11:00.159 --> 00:11:06.000 I I just I would caution you with the Apostle Paul and his life and his circumstances. 00:11:06.320 --> 00:11:21.600 He was pinning this book while being in chains in prison in Rome, facing imminent execution, writing to the Philippian church that are undergoing current and present suffering for their faith. 00:11:21.840 --> 00:11:26.799 He is one familiar with pain and circumstances that are unfavorable. 00:11:28.960 --> 00:11:31.120 Not because circumstances are favorable. 00:11:32.720 --> 00:11:42.320 Not because you have the American dream, because everything worked out right, because your five-year plan came to fruition, or at least you're on pace. 00:11:43.120 --> 00:11:44.639 Notice what he didn't say either. 00:11:44.720 --> 00:11:46.720 He says, Rejoice in your possessions always. 00:11:46.799 --> 00:11:48.559 I'll say it again, rejoice. 00:11:48.720 --> 00:12:11.840 He didn't say, you know what, when your 401k is healthy, when your you know net worth is strong, uh, when when when you're able to go on the vacations that you always dreamed of and travel all the world when when you have the right fit, when you have the right car, when you look the part. 00:12:12.799 --> 00:12:16.000 He didn't say rejoice in your personality always. 00:12:16.159 --> 00:12:22.080 Because I think some of us are a little bit like that, like, well, Ryan, I just don't have the personality for joy, frankly, right? 00:12:22.320 --> 00:12:23.519 I just I don't. 00:12:23.759 --> 00:12:25.759 And there is a little bit of truth to this. 00:12:25.919 --> 00:12:26.799 So hang on. 00:12:27.039 --> 00:12:28.159 Um uh Dr. 00:12:28.240 --> 00:12:33.679 Henry Cloud in his book, The Law of Happiness, fantastic book, does a ton of research on this. 00:12:33.759 --> 00:12:37.519 And he says about 50% of the happiness we experience is genetic. 00:12:37.679 --> 00:12:39.919 We don't talk about this enough in church world. 00:12:40.080 --> 00:12:52.399 It's genetic, your makeup of who you are, and there are some real reasons for many of us, or not many of us, or some of us, to get help if we're having some genetic issues. 00:12:52.480 --> 00:13:04.080 We need whether we need, if we had a sickness physical, we'd go to the doctor, and if we have some emotional or or psychological things, we need a psychologist or a um a therapist. 00:13:04.240 --> 00:13:04.559 Okay? 00:13:07.840 --> 00:13:16.559 10% is circumstantial, 40% is by how you live your life. 00:13:16.720 --> 00:13:21.360 You have way more agency over your joy than you realize. 00:13:21.600 --> 00:13:23.279 You have a choice. 00:13:23.440 --> 00:13:24.960 It's not just your personality. 00:13:25.039 --> 00:13:33.519 Well, I'm an Enneagram 4, and so I'm really deep and moody and emotional, and I'm an Enneagram 2, or I'm an extrovert, and so I'm the life of the party. 00:13:33.679 --> 00:13:41.519 This isn't a personality thing of like I'm just bubbly all the time, and well, I'm kind of an Eeyore, and I I love, you know, like sad movies. 00:13:42.320 --> 00:13:42.879 I don't. 00:13:43.039 --> 00:13:44.240 I hate sad movies. 00:13:44.480 --> 00:13:46.720 Anyways, that's you didn't call for that. 00:13:46.960 --> 00:13:49.360 Okay, rejoice in your career always. 00:13:49.440 --> 00:14:02.960 He didn't say rejoice in your career, that you're upwardly mobile, that you now have your dream job, that you have life working out the way you thought it would work out, that you, you know, have a great boss or good coworkers. 00:14:03.200 --> 00:14:08.320 He didn't say rejoice in your relationships always. 00:14:09.039 --> 00:14:13.840 Isn't that where we often try to find or draw joy from, right? 00:14:13.919 --> 00:14:17.600 It's in our relationships, and he he he didn't say that. 00:14:17.679 --> 00:14:19.360 And it's like not just rejoice. 00:14:19.440 --> 00:14:34.480 I mean, we joked a little bit earlier, but some of you literally did have a friends giving just to get through your Thanksgiving because of the few people that are around the table at Thanksgiving that you see once a year, and that's about all you can handle, and yet they're blood. 00:14:37.440 --> 00:14:37.840 Right? 00:14:39.039 --> 00:14:46.480 Rejoice in your friends, rejoice in your marriage, rejoice in your kids. 00:14:47.039 --> 00:14:52.720 And there's so many places we seek and we're looking to find joy. 00:14:52.879 --> 00:14:54.399 And here we have to wrestle with this question. 00:14:54.480 --> 00:14:56.559 Come on, we have to wrestle with this question. 00:14:56.720 --> 00:15:01.919 What if the things we think will give you joy, give us joy really won't? 00:15:02.480 --> 00:15:03.600 Have you thought about that? 00:15:03.679 --> 00:15:04.879 Have you at least wrestled with that? 00:15:04.960 --> 00:15:10.000 What if this thing that you're going, no, I filled in the blank here, rejoice in always. 00:15:10.159 --> 00:15:11.679 I thought that would give me joy. 00:15:11.840 --> 00:15:13.840 What if it actually won't? 00:15:14.320 --> 00:15:15.679 Where you're going, like, huh? 00:15:15.840 --> 00:15:16.720 You know what? 00:15:17.039 --> 00:15:18.320 I thought it would. 00:15:18.559 --> 00:15:24.000 I've been running after it, I've been hoping for it, but it certainly hasn't. 00:15:24.240 --> 00:15:29.759 You see, the source of your joy will determine the sturdiness of your joy. 00:15:30.159 --> 00:15:42.240 The source, like the object where you place it, this is the reason Paul says, rejoice in the Lord, not in circumstances, not in a better life, not in the American dream. 00:15:42.320 --> 00:15:56.399 He says, rejoice in the Lord, because the source of your joy will determine the sturdiness, the strength, the ability to weather the storms of life, to navigate through the dark times of life. 00:15:56.720 --> 00:15:59.519 Where is your joy found? 00:15:59.679 --> 00:16:02.320 Is a fundamental question you need to answer. 00:16:02.879 --> 00:16:08.320 The source of your joy will determine the sturdiness of your joy. 00:16:08.639 --> 00:16:12.559 He says, rejoice in the Lord. 00:16:15.200 --> 00:16:15.840 Rejoice. 00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:22.000 Think about this in the God of all grace, grace, God's unmerited favor poured out onto you. 00:16:22.399 --> 00:16:30.879 The God who says his throne is a throne of grace, so you can approach it with confidence in your time of need, that you receive mercy and help. 00:16:31.120 --> 00:16:34.799 Like he says, I'm pouring out my grace towards you. 00:16:35.039 --> 00:16:36.240 Think about this. 00:16:36.559 --> 00:16:44.080 Rejoice in the Lord, the God of all goodness, whose goodness and mercy follows you all the days of your life. 00:16:44.240 --> 00:16:47.200 Like you woke up this morning, and today is a gift, by the way. 00:16:47.360 --> 00:16:48.879 We weren't guaranteed today. 00:16:49.039 --> 00:16:51.679 We woke up with breath in our lungs and a new day. 00:16:51.759 --> 00:16:55.120 And he says, His mercy is new every single morning. 00:16:55.200 --> 00:16:56.480 You woke up to new mercy. 00:16:56.559 --> 00:16:58.799 You're like, hello, I didn't even recognize it. 00:16:58.879 --> 00:17:00.159 I didn't even thank him for it. 00:17:00.320 --> 00:17:04.720 But I woke up and his mercy is brand spanking new to me today. 00:17:04.960 --> 00:17:07.039 Woo! That is amazing. 00:17:07.279 --> 00:17:08.799 Great is his faithfulness. 00:17:11.119 --> 00:17:17.359 And then we get, and then sometimes you're going like, Preacher Ryan, because I don't ever call myself, that was weird. 00:17:17.440 --> 00:17:19.599 Let's never, let's, let's not do, let's not do that. 00:17:19.680 --> 00:17:24.480 But I was getting in preacher mode, you know, and like, and and we talked about all those good things. 00:17:26.240 --> 00:17:36.400 And here's what happens is we put those as the source instead of something got supplied. 00:17:37.039 --> 00:17:38.960 See, it's radically different. 00:17:39.279 --> 00:17:45.119 Whether it's your job or your career or your house or your mate or your kids or your friendship. 00:17:45.359 --> 00:17:51.200 Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of heavenly lights, who does not change like a shifting shadow. 00:17:51.359 --> 00:17:55.440 So every good thing you have is supplied by God Himself. 00:17:55.519 --> 00:17:59.200 And so certainly it is enjoyable, and He's given you to enjoy. 00:17:59.279 --> 00:18:02.079 But it is not the source of your joy, it is the gift. 00:18:02.240 --> 00:18:04.160 The giver is the source. 00:18:04.720 --> 00:18:05.359 Shift. 00:18:06.559 --> 00:18:10.559 See, God is the only true source of joy. 00:18:12.400 --> 00:18:16.400 The giver of all good in our lives. 00:18:16.799 --> 00:18:17.680 I like how C.S. 00:18:17.759 --> 00:18:18.319 Lewis says it. 00:18:18.400 --> 00:18:21.359 He says, if you want to get warm, you must stand near the fire. 00:18:21.599 --> 00:18:24.240 If you want to get wet, you must get into the water. 00:18:24.400 --> 00:18:33.839 If you want joy, power, peace, eternal life, you must get close to or even into the thing that has them. 00:18:34.079 --> 00:18:39.599 They're not a sort of prize which God could, if he chose, just hand out to anyone. 00:18:40.640 --> 00:18:48.319 This is why the psalmist says this you make known to me the path of life in your presence. 00:18:48.880 --> 00:18:52.640 In your presence, there is fullness of joy. 00:18:53.200 --> 00:18:55.759 You make known to me the path of life. 00:18:55.920 --> 00:18:57.279 We don't think about this. 00:18:57.519 --> 00:19:03.279 In the presence of God is absolute fullness of joy. 00:19:03.519 --> 00:19:05.039 We don't preach that enough. 00:19:05.440 --> 00:19:07.039 We understand that he's holy. 00:19:07.119 --> 00:19:08.480 We understand that he's righteous. 00:19:08.559 --> 00:19:10.559 We understand that he's high and lifted up. 00:19:10.720 --> 00:19:19.519 But did you know that in the very presence of God is the absolute fullness of joy, that he's the God of all joy. 00:19:19.759 --> 00:19:23.839 At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. 00:19:25.440 --> 00:19:26.000 C.S. 00:19:26.079 --> 00:19:29.039 Lewis in another excerpt would write this. 00:19:29.519 --> 00:19:34.240 It would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong but too weak. 00:19:34.559 --> 00:19:41.200 We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us. 00:19:41.759 --> 00:19:50.880 Like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. 00:19:51.519 --> 00:19:54.559 We are far too easily, quickly. 00:19:56.319 --> 00:19:58.960 Joy fundamentally is a choice. 00:19:59.119 --> 00:20:02.799 The source of your joy will determine the sturdiness of your joy. 00:20:02.960 --> 00:20:04.559 He says, Rejoice in the Lord. 00:20:04.640 --> 00:20:10.480 And then he's going to say this that it's not only a choice, but it's also a path. 00:20:11.279 --> 00:20:16.000 It's a way of being, a way of life, a way that you are. 00:20:16.160 --> 00:20:20.880 He says, Let your gentleness be evident to all. 00:20:22.480 --> 00:20:25.839 It's actually gentleness, the gentleness of your life. 00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:28.720 Let it be on display for everyone around you. 00:20:28.799 --> 00:20:35.279 Like when they interact with you, when they see you, when they come around you, like your gentleness just oozes. 00:20:35.440 --> 00:20:41.599 Like, like how other people should experience the joy that are in Christians is gentleness. 00:20:42.400 --> 00:20:44.240 Not judgmental criticism. 00:20:45.359 --> 00:20:47.039 Not critical quickness. 00:20:47.759 --> 00:20:49.599 Not passive aggressive. 00:20:52.640 --> 00:21:01.119 And it's this way of going about life that is evident to everyone in their life. 00:21:01.440 --> 00:21:05.519 This word gentle actually is really difficult to translate into English. 00:21:05.599 --> 00:21:10.079 We don't have one word uh that can you know equate to it. 00:21:10.240 --> 00:21:26.400 And so gentleness literally means um not insisting on every right of letter, of law, or custom, yielding, gentle, kind, courteous, and tolerant. 00:21:27.039 --> 00:21:29.680 Some of your translations may say reasonableness. 00:21:29.920 --> 00:21:37.119 Let your reasonableness be evident, considerate, kindness, unselfishness, graciousness, patience, humility. 00:21:37.359 --> 00:21:39.680 Aristotle described gentleness here. 00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:56.480 The gentle person is the one who by choice and habit does what is equitable, and who does not stand on his right unduly, but is content to receive a smaller share, although he has the law on his side, doesn't enforce his way. 00:21:56.880 --> 00:21:59.519 The Greeks themselves explain the word as justice. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:01.680 And something better than justice. 00:22:01.839 --> 00:22:06.400 This word has justice at its core and it goes beyond justice. 00:22:07.359 --> 00:22:16.480 Theologian William Barclay says people have the quality of gentleness if they know when not to apply the strict letter of the law. 00:22:16.880 --> 00:22:21.119 When to relax justice and introduce mercy. 00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:25.759 Let your gentleness be evident to all. 00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:28.720 Like that is the joy-filled life. 00:22:28.880 --> 00:22:32.079 That is the path of a joy-filled person. 00:22:32.960 --> 00:22:41.359 The best like illustration of this word gentleness that I could think of comes from the life of Jesus, obviously. 00:22:42.240 --> 00:22:46.000 But in John chapter 8, in the woman caught in adultery. 00:22:47.039 --> 00:22:57.599 And this idea of justice and beyond justice that leads to gentleness and mercy, not exacting the very letter of the law, but bringing mercy. 00:22:58.480 --> 00:23:15.119 This woman, she was ripped out of a moment, it literally says, caught in the act of adultery, most likely not clothed or barely clothed, by a couple of Pharisees who were trying to catch Jesus and trying to trap Jesus. 00:23:15.359 --> 00:23:18.240 And so they bring this woman, humiliated. 00:23:18.400 --> 00:23:19.279 Think about this. 00:23:19.599 --> 00:23:28.240 Her greatest shame is now on public display, and she is humiliated, thrown into the middle. 00:23:28.559 --> 00:23:34.319 And the Pharisee says, Jesus, the law of Moses, the law, are you gonna abide by the law? 00:23:34.480 --> 00:23:40.400 The law says anyone who's committed an act of adultery is to be stoned. 00:23:41.680 --> 00:23:44.640 Different kind of stone for some of you with a rock. 00:23:44.799 --> 00:23:47.200 Okay, you're like, some of you, I lost you. 00:23:47.359 --> 00:23:51.119 I was like, to be stoned. 00:23:51.599 --> 00:23:55.920 And um Jesus did something so fascinating. 00:23:56.240 --> 00:24:02.720 He bent down, he didn't respond, and he began to draw in the sand. 00:24:02.880 --> 00:24:07.359 We have no idea what he drew, and many people have tried to speculate. 00:24:07.680 --> 00:24:10.720 But here's what I know at least happened in this moment. 00:24:11.359 --> 00:24:23.680 All of the eyes were on the woman humiliated, and all of a sudden Jesus just begins to bend down and kneel and write in the sand, and now all eyes are on Jesus. 00:24:23.839 --> 00:24:30.720 Instead of their eyes being on her, he then began to shift their eyes onto him and take her shame. 00:24:32.400 --> 00:24:42.000 And he stands up and he says, You who have no sin cast the first stone. 00:24:43.599 --> 00:24:49.359 And the text says, One by one they left, beginning with the older ones. 00:24:51.519 --> 00:24:55.279 And then Jesus looks at the woman and says, Woman, where are your accusers? 00:24:56.880 --> 00:24:58.880 And she says, They're not here. 00:24:59.759 --> 00:25:10.640 And he says, This powerful line, this is grace, this is mercy, this is the God of all grace in our lives, in a response to who we are in our brokenness and our shame. 00:25:10.799 --> 00:25:14.160 And he says, Neither do I accuse you. 00:25:14.880 --> 00:25:21.359 And here's what's so beautiful about the gentle life is it leads with mercy, but then he doesn't leave her in that state. 00:25:21.440 --> 00:25:23.119 He says, Now go and sin no more. 00:25:23.279 --> 00:25:24.960 Now go and live a new life. 00:25:25.119 --> 00:25:28.640 Go and live out a radical new way of being. 00:25:39.920 --> 00:25:48.960 Where the evidence of others' experience of us is a gentleness, justice that moves and goes beyond it to mercy. 00:25:49.119 --> 00:25:49.599 In fact, C. 00:25:49.759 --> 00:25:49.839 S. 00:25:49.920 --> 00:25:51.680 Lewis said it this way: yes, I'm in a C. 00:25:51.839 --> 00:25:51.920 S. 00:25:52.079 --> 00:25:53.759 Lewis state of mind. 00:25:54.240 --> 00:26:03.359 Joy burst in our lives when we go about doing the good at hand and not trying to manipulate things and times to achieve joy. 00:26:03.599 --> 00:26:07.599 Joy burst in our lives when we go about doing good. 00:26:08.319 --> 00:26:15.599 When we go about our day and asking this question, what is the good and gentle response to my boss? 00:26:15.920 --> 00:26:19.440 What is the good and gentle response to my spouse? 00:26:19.599 --> 00:26:23.039 What is the good and gentle response to my kids? 00:26:23.200 --> 00:26:26.559 What is the good and gentle response before I post? 00:26:30.079 --> 00:26:32.160 It says that is the pathway. 00:26:32.319 --> 00:26:33.599 It burst onto our life. 00:26:33.839 --> 00:26:40.799 Here's what's amazing: the research that we have today corroborates that. 00:26:41.039 --> 00:26:42.799 In fact, again, uh, Dr. 00:26:42.880 --> 00:26:52.000 Henry Cloud in the Law of Happiness, he says this happiness fundamentally comes as a byproduct of the life well lived. 00:26:52.160 --> 00:27:04.559 What research revealed was that happiness comes largely from how we live our lives and in to which activities we decide to invest our hearts, minds, souls, and strengths. 00:27:06.400 --> 00:27:07.920 It's a pathway. 00:27:09.680 --> 00:27:15.920 And so, this is an important delineation because we think of our emotions and we're wrestling with this. 00:27:16.160 --> 00:27:22.160 You cannot choose your emotions, but you can choose your actions. 00:27:22.799 --> 00:27:29.359 And you cannot feel your way into actions, but you can act your way into feelings. 00:27:29.680 --> 00:27:51.119 And so often we allow our feelings to be in the driver's seat, and we wait until we feel like it, and yet what we need to do is begin to act joyfully, act good, act gentle, and then we'll begin to be experience the fruit of that and the emotion of that. 00:27:51.759 --> 00:27:52.559 In fact, Dr. 00:27:52.640 --> 00:28:06.480 Henry Crow Henry Cloud talks about it this way uh just as nutrition is for the body, there is practices we need to do for the soul that we put into place. 00:28:07.279 --> 00:28:09.680 Eugene Peterson says it this way. 00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:16.079 He says, Joy is not a requirement for Christian discipleship, it is a consequence. 00:28:16.880 --> 00:28:27.519 It is not what we have to acquire in order to experience life in Christ, it is what comes to us when we are walking in the way of faith and obedience. 00:28:28.400 --> 00:28:30.000 We don't say this enough. 00:28:31.279 --> 00:28:36.640 The most joy-filled way to live is to follow Jesus. 00:28:46.960 --> 00:28:52.640 And since he's the author of life, then he knows how we should go about life. 00:28:52.960 --> 00:29:02.960 And it's a consequence of, and as we follow him, we experience deep meaning, lasting joy. 00:29:03.599 --> 00:29:04.799 How do we experience it? 00:29:04.960 --> 00:29:12.160 Well, first it's a choice, it's a path, and then finally, we've been dancing around this our entire time together. 00:29:12.400 --> 00:29:13.839 Joy is a person. 00:29:14.799 --> 00:29:16.160 Joy is a person. 00:29:16.400 --> 00:29:18.640 He closes, rejoice in the Lord always. 00:29:18.720 --> 00:29:20.000 I'll say it again, rejoice. 00:29:20.079 --> 00:29:27.759 Let your gentleness be evident to every single person, and then the Lord is near. 00:29:29.440 --> 00:29:32.000 The Lord is near. 00:29:32.799 --> 00:29:35.680 Jesus is near. 00:29:36.559 --> 00:29:39.279 If Jesus is near, joy is near. 00:29:40.960 --> 00:29:44.240 The Lord is near. 00:29:44.559 --> 00:29:54.240 Now, when we think about this, when we read it, our first glance, we just think about the promise of his presence, which is so good and so true. 00:29:54.480 --> 00:29:58.000 You know, Jesus said, I'll never leave you and never forsake you. 00:29:58.160 --> 00:29:59.920 That I'm always with you. 00:30:00.160 --> 00:30:02.559 And this reality, and this is an amazing reality. 00:30:02.720 --> 00:30:04.880 Paul tells us to rejoice in the Lord. 00:30:05.039 --> 00:30:09.359 In Colossians 1:27, he says, It's Christ in you, the hope of glory. 00:30:09.440 --> 00:30:14.400 So not only am I rejoicing in the Lord, but then the Lord Jesus Christ is in me. 00:30:14.480 --> 00:30:17.519 And so I have the Holy Spirit indwelling in me. 00:30:17.599 --> 00:30:29.920 The fruit of the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, like joy in me, the supernatural power of the presence of Jesus in me. 00:30:31.519 --> 00:30:36.880 The Apostle Paul actually uh was had a little different intending, though. 00:30:37.519 --> 00:30:49.039 This was a phrase that the early Christians would use to encourage one another, to speak life and hope, to remind themselves of the promise that Jesus made. 00:30:49.920 --> 00:30:52.079 The Lord is near. 00:30:53.359 --> 00:30:57.440 Meaning that Jesus will return. 00:30:59.039 --> 00:31:08.319 See, we actually need a promise that has the power to give us enough hope to drive out fear. 00:31:09.920 --> 00:31:22.240 That promise can only come by someone who defeated the greatest kill joy of all time: sin, death, and Satan. 00:31:23.279 --> 00:31:31.119 Not only did he defeat it, he rose again on the third day, and he said, I'm coming again. 00:31:31.839 --> 00:31:34.240 We sit between the Advents. 00:31:34.480 --> 00:31:46.799 Today is the first day of Advent where we are celebrating the first arrival of the Messiah, where people for centuries longed and waited, when will the Messiah, the anointed one, come? 00:31:47.039 --> 00:31:56.160 And Jesus arrives on the planet, joy in flesh, to take on the kill joy of humanity. 00:31:58.400 --> 00:32:12.079 And then he said, and I am returning, I am coming back, and it matters, and I'm gonna restore and I'm gonna renew and make all things right. 00:32:12.240 --> 00:32:17.599 I'm going to mend the broken places in you and in this world. 00:32:17.920 --> 00:32:22.079 Louis Smead in his great little book, it's a great title, by the way. 00:32:22.400 --> 00:32:28.400 How can it be all right when everything's all wrong? 00:32:28.799 --> 00:32:29.920 Writes this. 00:32:30.240 --> 00:32:32.000 You were created for joy. 00:32:32.160 --> 00:32:36.960 And if you miss it, we miss the reason for our existence. 00:32:38.559 --> 00:32:44.799 The reason Jesus Christ lived and died on earth was to restore us to the joy we have lost. 00:32:45.119 --> 00:32:51.759 His Spirit comes to us with the power to believe that joy is our birthright. 00:32:52.720 --> 00:32:53.359 Who? 00:32:54.160 --> 00:32:57.039 Because the Lord has made this day for us. 00:32:57.279 --> 00:33:00.880 Joy isn't something that you hope to attain one day. 00:33:01.039 --> 00:33:01.839 You wish for. 00:33:02.000 --> 00:33:06.960 Maybe you level up in the Christian life, you know, you know, some of those really godly saints. 00:33:07.119 --> 00:33:07.680 No, no, no. 00:33:07.759 --> 00:33:16.319 It's your birthright that Jesus paid for, that he accomplished on the cross, and he says, This is the reason I came for you. 00:33:16.480 --> 00:33:23.119 In fact, to his disciples, he said this on the night he was betrayed, John 15, when he's talking about abiding in him, he said this. 00:33:23.279 --> 00:33:33.839 He said, I've told you this, that my joy will be in you, and that your joy would be complete. 00:33:34.640 --> 00:33:42.319 My joy, the joy, the God of all joy, would be in you, and your joy would be complete. 00:33:42.400 --> 00:33:46.160 And John 10, 10, the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. 00:33:46.319 --> 00:33:51.279 Jesus said, But I've come to give you life with joy in abundance. 00:33:51.920 --> 00:33:55.920 That's my purpose of the reason I came. 00:33:56.960 --> 00:34:01.920 I like how the author of Hebrews said it. 00:34:02.880 --> 00:34:09.360 As he was talking about our journey and our path and the work that Jesus accomplished. 00:34:09.440 --> 00:34:30.239 He said, And let us run with perseverance, the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, fixing our eyes on the person of joy, Jesus, who accomplished the work that we might have joy, that joy actually is our foundation and our birthright because we are adopted into the family of God. 00:34:31.679 --> 00:34:35.440 The pioneer, the perfecter, the author of our faith. 00:34:35.840 --> 00:34:37.760 Then he said this: this is great. 00:34:38.320 --> 00:34:44.239 Who for the joy set before him endured the cross. 00:34:45.440 --> 00:34:49.519 The Greek word uh keros is the word for joy. 00:34:49.679 --> 00:34:56.639 It's used um, I believe, 74 times, 76 times, somewhere in there. 00:34:58.000 --> 00:34:59.360 In the New Testament. 00:34:59.519 --> 00:35:04.159 Most of the times it's used uh for joy, rejoice, glad. 00:35:04.400 --> 00:35:06.320 Eight times it's used for a greeting. 00:35:06.400 --> 00:35:08.880 It was actually a common greeting in the ancient day. 00:35:09.119 --> 00:35:13.760 Um, like, and wouldn't that be a great way we start, you know, maybe this holiday season. 00:35:13.920 --> 00:35:16.159 Rejoice, you know, and you're like, nobody knows what that means. 00:35:16.400 --> 00:35:18.559 Okay, you know, but in here you would know what that means. 00:35:18.719 --> 00:35:21.679 You'd be like, rejoice, and that's just how you'd greet one another. 00:35:22.000 --> 00:35:26.639 Three times it's used as the word hail, H-A-I-L. 00:35:26.880 --> 00:35:31.519 It's the way you would welcome or greet royalty, an emperor, a king. 00:35:31.840 --> 00:35:35.519 Of those three times, it's used of Jesus. 00:35:35.760 --> 00:35:43.840 It was what the soldiers wrote, and then nailed onto the cross. 00:35:44.880 --> 00:35:48.719 Hail, the king of the Jews. 00:35:49.599 --> 00:35:53.280 Rejoice, the king of the Jews. 00:35:53.360 --> 00:36:00.960 They had no idea how profound what they had just written was, or how prophetic what they had just written was. 00:36:01.199 --> 00:36:15.039 Rejoice because the king, eternal, has taken on your kill joy and my kill joy, and has brought you eternal, infinite joy on the cross. 00:36:15.199 --> 00:36:18.639 Rejoice because Jesus has paid it all. 00:36:18.880 --> 00:36:28.320 Rejoice because joy has stepped into humanity and he came for you, and he came for me, and he made a way for you, and he made a way for me. 00:36:28.480 --> 00:36:34.079 Rejoice because you know what kept him on the cross was not the nails in his hand. 00:36:34.880 --> 00:36:36.400 This is amazing. 00:36:38.559 --> 00:36:58.559 Before the joy set before him, the joy of welcoming you into his family is what kept him on the cross, scorning at shame, sitting down at the right hand at the throne of God. 00:36:59.519 --> 00:37:05.599 How do we experience true lasting, enduring joy? 00:37:06.880 --> 00:37:08.639 Fundamentally, it's a choice. 00:37:09.280 --> 00:37:10.320 It's a path. 00:37:11.039 --> 00:37:14.639 Ultimately, it's the person of Jesus. 00:37:15.440 --> 00:37:22.320 When I was a kid, uh we'd go to my Uncle Mark and Aunt Punky's house every so often. 00:37:22.400 --> 00:37:25.679 Um, hi, Uncle Mark and Aunt Punky, if you're watching. 00:37:25.920 --> 00:37:30.800 Um we loved going to our our Uncle and Aunt's house. 00:37:30.880 --> 00:37:32.400 Uh one, they had this basement. 00:37:32.480 --> 00:37:33.280 Uh, it was amazing. 00:37:33.360 --> 00:37:36.079 There's in Kentucky, uh, and they had this basement. 00:37:36.480 --> 00:37:43.760 And uh down there, Uncle Mark had every um every movie of James Bond. 00:37:43.920 --> 00:37:45.199 Uh yeah, it was amazing. 00:37:45.280 --> 00:37:52.480 Uh we were not allowed to watch it as kids, and so we would sneak it late at night uh and watch stay up late and watch James Bond. 00:37:52.639 --> 00:37:54.559 It's just confessing to your mom right now. 00:37:54.800 --> 00:38:00.079 Um and they also had an Atari, and this was amazing. 00:38:00.239 --> 00:38:02.079 I was like, yeah, we didn't have one growing up. 00:38:02.159 --> 00:38:03.760 I know, I was deprived, I get it. 00:38:03.840 --> 00:38:05.280 Uh you can feel bad for me. 00:38:05.360 --> 00:38:07.199 We they they they had an Atari, it was awesome. 00:38:07.280 --> 00:38:09.199 So I'd be like, playing Atari. 00:38:09.360 --> 00:38:14.480 I remember one night uh everyone was gonna go out for the night, and they're like, oh, it's gonna be fun. 00:38:14.559 --> 00:38:21.360 We're gonna do I I don't, I wasn't even really listening because I was playing Atari, and you know, you're just sitting there, and I was just like, no, no, go. 00:38:21.519 --> 00:38:22.800 And so they left for hours. 00:38:22.960 --> 00:38:24.159 I have no idea because why? 00:38:24.320 --> 00:38:27.679 I was playing Atari, I'm on my little joystick, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah. 00:38:28.239 --> 00:38:31.920 They come back, they went to the carnival. 00:38:32.800 --> 00:38:38.880 And I was like, oh, my joystick wasn't so joyful anymore. 00:38:39.519 --> 00:38:40.719 They went to the carnival. 00:38:40.800 --> 00:38:46.480 I think my dad like won one of those basketball shooting things because someone came in with a huge, you know, stuffed animals. 00:38:46.559 --> 00:39:01.360 They're they went telling me about these rides and like the all these different prizes and food, and I'm just going, like, oh my goodness, I missed out on it because I was so stuck on this is the greatest thing ever, and I couldn't imagine anything else. 00:39:01.440 --> 00:39:05.039 And so I was holding on tightly to my joystick. 00:39:08.079 --> 00:39:10.719 The reality is, is what you do this. 00:39:12.079 --> 00:39:22.239 You have something that you're holding on to tightly that you think is gonna bring and produce joy, and Jesus says, I'm your joy. 00:39:24.159 --> 00:39:25.519 Would you let go of that? 00:39:27.440 --> 00:39:28.880 Would you respond to me? 00:39:29.920 --> 00:39:30.960 I'm your joy. 00:39:32.639 --> 00:39:33.519 Maybe C.S. 00:39:33.679 --> 00:39:48.079 Lewis was right that we're so easily pleased, and we're missing out on infinite joy because we're just thinking this is all that there is. 00:39:49.440 --> 00:39:56.480 You know, for some, you've never started a relationship with Jesus because you've been holding something so dearly. 00:39:56.559 --> 00:39:58.880 You're like, I have this and I I want to keep this. 00:39:59.039 --> 00:40:00.880 And Jesus says, I'm your joy. 00:40:01.199 --> 00:40:02.480 Say yes to me. 00:40:02.719 --> 00:40:04.480 And today you can say yes to him. 00:40:04.719 --> 00:40:07.360 Would you come into my life and make me new? 00:40:07.519 --> 00:40:12.000 I long to experience your joy and your peace and your presence. 00:40:12.159 --> 00:40:15.440 Come into my life, and he does every single time. 00:40:17.039 --> 00:40:19.599 For others, you've just been doing your own thing. 00:40:24.960 --> 00:40:29.679 Where you say, no, no, today I choose to rejoice in the Lord. 00:40:36.559 --> 00:40:37.280 Infinite. 00:40:37.920 --> 00:40:41.119 And I recognize I've been settling for lesser things. 00:40:42.880 --> 00:40:44.000 And I want you. 00:40:44.880 --> 00:40:46.800 No, no, no, I need you. 00:40:49.199 --> 00:40:55.760 We're gonna close with communion, and I want to invite you to take communion. 00:40:55.840 --> 00:41:07.360 It's a time where we remember Jesus, his body, which is the bread broken for us, his blood poured out for us, that he took on our ultimate kill joy. 00:41:10.320 --> 00:41:28.239 That we might experience our the birthright, what he paid for, what is ours in him, deep, profound, pervasive joy. 00:41:29.039 --> 00:41:35.679 If you're a follower of Jesus, or maybe you're for the very first time saying yes to Jesus, we practice an open table, all are welcome. 00:41:35.760 --> 00:41:39.440 So during worship, we're gonna invite you to come forward and partake. 00:41:40.239 --> 00:41:44.960 But I encourage you before you do, what's your joystick? 00:41:46.239 --> 00:41:50.159 What's the thing that you're holding on to that you think is your ultimate? 00:41:51.760 --> 00:41:54.159 Could it be the very thing you think is gonna bring you joy? 00:41:56.880 --> 00:41:59.199 Jesus, thank you so much for this time. 00:41:59.360 --> 00:42:07.840 Thank you for your grace, thank you that you came for us, you love us in this moment. 00:42:08.000 --> 00:42:18.239 May we respond to you and release the things that we hold so tightly, we call so precious, but actually have a tight grip on us. 00:42:21.679 --> 00:42:28.639 May we experience you, joy, peace, and life. 00:42:28.880 --> 00:42:30.400 In Jesus' name. 00:42:31.519 --> 00:42:32.159 Amen. 00:42:35.119 --> 00:42:37.440 We hope you are blessed by this message. 00:42:37.679 --> 00:42:42.079 Please subscribe to our podcast for access to every episode as they're uploaded. 00:42:42.239 --> 00:42:44.320 And hey, we'd love to connect with you. 00:42:44.480 --> 00:42:50.400 Take a next step by filling out our virtual connection card at awakeningchurch.com slash card.