I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! John 15:11 (NLT)
This past Sunday I preached on "Complete Joy" from the verse above, John 15:11 (you can listen to the sermon here or watch the service at our FB page here). Part of the sermon is about what are some of the typical reasons people (including Christians) give for being "unhappy" or what I would call "joy-less." Here is part of my notes from the sermon on reasons we "lose our joy."
1. We look more at our problems than we do at Jesus.
John Piper gives this definition of joy - "Christian joy is a good feeling in the soul, produced by the Holy Spirit, as he causes us to see the beauty of Christ in the word and in the world." Notice in Piper’s definition of joy - it is a good feeling in our souls, “produced by the Holy Spirit as He causes us to to SEE the beauty of Christ in the word and in the world.” Seeing Christ produces joy from the Holy Spirit, but in like manner, NOT seeing Christ causes us to lose our joy.
Have you ever been discouraged? When you experience discouragement, what is usually on your mind? Are you thinking about how great God is and how glorious it is to know Jesus? Or are you thinking about how bad your problems are, how much your job sucks, or how your life never seems to get any better? When you are discouraged are you focusing on Jesus or on your problems? Discouragement doesn’t cause us to focus on our problems, focusing on our problems causes discouragement. But Likewise focusing on Jesus causes joy, it causes us to be encouraged.
2. We have unmet expectations.
We lose our joy when our expectations aren’t met - when things don’t go as we think they should or as we plan for them to go. Have you ever experienced disappointment because something you planned didn’t turn out like you thought it would? Maybe a person didn’t live up to your expectations, or maybe an event or an experience - those things happen to all of us. But how we respond to those unmet expectations makes all the difference in the world.
Do you know why things don’t always go as you plan for them to? Because you are an imperfect, sinful, finite person living in a sin-filled imperfect world with other imperfect finite people. With all the imperfection in us and in the world, there is no way everything is going to go as planned all the time. That’s just reality. But how we respond makes all the difference in the world. Most people respond to unmet expectations with disappointment, frustration, anger - and if you do that enough it becomes a way of life and there is no joy in your life at all. You will lose your joy if you get mad every time things don’t go your way.
3. We have a Root of Bitterness in Our Heart
In Hebrews 12 we read: 14 “Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: 15 looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled…” The word translated “bitterness” means a harsh, resentful of acidic spirit. Describing someone who has become resentful or bitter because they have been hurt - a person who refuses to forgive and let go.
As young boy we lived in the country and the neighbor had cattle. In some places his fence was electrified. There were always older kids around and one day we were all playing and one of the older kids convinced some of us younger kids to join hands and have one person touch the electric fence - telling us that the current would just pass through all but the last person and only the last person would feel the shock - guess what… that weren’t true. We all felt the shock and it was the person who touched the fence that felt the most intense shock, it passed through all of us but decreased with intensity as it went.
So get this in your mind, because this is how bitterness works. Think of the person who you refuse to forgive, and you have them by the hand and then you grab the electric fence, thinking they are going to get the shock… and they do, but guess who gets the worst of it - you do, guess who gets blisters on their hands from holding onto the electric fence - you do. Unforgiveness, resentment, bitterness hurts you more than anyone else and it will cause you to lose your joy faster than anything else. Most Christians lose their joy because they are holding onto some anger, resentment, or unforgiveness and a root of bitterness has taken hold in their lives and it is robbing them of their joy.
The good news is that God wants you to be joyful and He has plenty of joy to give you. He speaks to you through His word so that His joy may be in you and that your joy will be complete. We'll talk more about what this means later (or you can listen to the sermon), but for now, think about whether the things I've listed are some of the reasons you may have lost your joy.
As young boy we lived in the country and the neighbor had cattle. In some places his fence was electrified. There were always older kids around and one day we were all playing and one of the older kids convinced some of us younger kids to join hands and have one person touch the electric fence - telling us that the current would just pass through all but the last person and only the last person would feel the shock - guess what… that weren’t true. We all felt the shock and it was the person who touched the fence that felt the most intense shock, it passed through all of us but decreased with intensity as it went.
So get this in your mind, because this is how bitterness works. Think of the person who you refuse to forgive, and you have them by the hand and then you grab the electric fence, thinking they are going to get the shock… and they do, but guess who gets the worst of it - you do, guess who gets blisters on their hands from holding onto the electric fence - you do. Unforgiveness, resentment, bitterness hurts you more than anyone else and it will cause you to lose your joy faster than anything else. Most Christians lose their joy because they are holding onto some anger, resentment, or unforgiveness and a root of bitterness has taken hold in their lives and it is robbing them of their joy.
The good news is that God wants you to be joyful and He has plenty of joy to give you. He speaks to you through His word so that His joy may be in you and that your joy will be complete. We'll talk more about what this means later (or you can listen to the sermon), but for now, think about whether the things I've listed are some of the reasons you may have lost your joy.
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