The Ways Joy Cares for Us

In yesterday's sermon we saw from Paul's words to the Philippians in 3:1 that being commanded to
rejoice in the Lord was safe for the church. We briefly looked at five ways that joy offers us protection in life. I thought it might be helpful to post these five ways that joy cares for us.


1. Joy reigns in my heart from its idolatrous tendencies.


I am inclined to give in an inordinate amount of attention and devotion to things other than God.

Work, sports, rest and relaxation, my sense of entitlement, etc. all call for the allegiance and adoration of my heart. Joy in the Lord draws my heart back to a place where my devotion and worship is rightly ordered with God being first above all. The psalmist connects our delight in God and his greatness above all things with our joy and gladness.

Ps 35:27- Let those who delight in my righteousness shout for joy and be glad and say forevermore, “Great is the LORD.”

Ps 43:4- Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy.


2. Joy protects me from straying after sin. Not only does it affect my heart, but it actually shapes my character and directs my actions.


Ps 119:11- Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart. I incline my heart to perform your statutes forever, to the end.

It is hard for people who do not find their joy in the Lord to understand why Chrsitians would want to obey the commands of the Lord. But when your joy is in the Lord, it makes plain sense. I love these statutes, these testimonies, and these commands. They are my joy because they come from God who is my joy.


3. Joy equips me to persevere in my walk with Christ, to not shrink back, but to press forward in faith.


Nehemiah 8:10- Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to the Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

Finding our joy in God is that which produces strength in us to walk faithfully after God.


4. Joy gives us perspective in trials and draws us toward faithfulness in those trials.


Ps 126:5,6- Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.

When my perspective on this life is directed by joy, I can see that God has bigger plans for me than just what is happening in front of me, and that ultimately his plan is for me to know true joy, whether that is here in this life or in heaven.


5. Joy is a genuine fruit of a life lived with God, so it ministers to our hearts in that it testifies to the reality of God’s presence in our lives.


Is 26:19- Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy!

1 Peter 1:8- 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.

Paul's command to us to rejoice in the Lord is not burdensome. It is good and right. And it provides us with protection that our souls desperately need. Joy is an excellent care-giver.

God TOTALLY Cares That You Had Your Quiet Time This Morning

In John chapter four Jesus tells a Samaritan woman, “the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father…the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth (21, 23).” In the overall context of this interaction Jesus had a very specific lesson that he was teaching this woman. For our discussion, however, our Lord’s use of some specific terms made me think a little about the logistics of my spiritual disciplines (Bible reading, prayer, fasting, gathering for worship, etc.).

I wouldn't mind having my quiet time here...

Jesus used the Samaritan woman’s evasive religious statement (“Our fathers worshiped [a time in the past] on this mountain [place]”) to show her the type of worshipers God desires. He was telling her that the time was at hand for something new. It was time for this woman to consider what true worship was to look like in her own life. The time was coming when the externals of religion would be of little consequence without the inward transformation of the worshiper's heart in spirit and in truth. Jesus also brought her attention to location. When this time came, which in fact was being ushered in by Jesus’ very words, the physical location of worship would no longer be important. For the Jew and the Samaritan, location was everything. The Jews had the temple in Jerusalem while the Samaritans had their own. Which was better? Which was more effective? Which was right? Jesus answers all of these questions with, “neither.” In Christ we are the temple (both individually and collectively) of the Holy Spirit being built together “into a dwelling place for God (Ephesians 2:22).”

We learn from the words of Christ that true worship is not about the externals. True worship occurs when an individual is transformed by the Holy Spirit and has his affections turned upward toward God and has his mind engaged by the truth of God’s word. So we can worship wherever we are and whenever we are there. We can walk through this life as living sacrifices (Romans 12) always being to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing (to borrow Paul’s deeply liturgical language of 2 Corinthians 2). The woman was concerned about what worship looked like, but Jesus taught her what worship really was to be about.

...or here.

Just for the sake of stirring things up, let me say that I think we need to have a little more of a “woman at the well” perspective in our spiritual practices. What I mean by this is that we need to bring time and place more to the forefront of our minds. 

Think with me about this example. I recently spoke to a friend of mine who has his finger on the pulse of a variety of prayer movements taking place around the world. He was telling me that a gentleman involved in one of the larger movements made a great point about the importance of time and place. He said that you can take a person who is highly passionate about prayer, has a deep faith in the power of prayer, and really takes hold of the throne of God when he enters into a time of prayer and put him alongside someone who has a set time when he prays and a particular location where he prays. He said that the latter will always pray more than the former. He said that one of the greatest factors, if not the greatest, involved in the growth of the particular prayer movement with which he was involved was a scheduled time and place of prayer among the participants.

This is a lesson that we can apply to our spiritual disciplines. I love Jesus. I know the value of His word. I sense the rest that is mine in the gospel. I never have to perform in order for God to accept me. I could pray every so often, read my Bible occasionally, and never tell people about Jesus and God would love me no more than he would if I spent every day fasting, praying, and speaking of Him. 

With that understanding, though, the more I can set aside a particular time each day to meet with God, and have that become the normal expectation and experience, the deeper my walk with Him will be. I can just about guarantee it.  And I find that in the midst of this consistency, I can be flexible when needed.

So the woman at the well had some serious heart issues that Jesus stepped into and transformed. But she might have been on to something when she gravitated toward time and place. Who knows, maybe she was just a highly organized planner. Probably not, but who knows?

God Doesn't Care That You Had Your Quiet Time This Morning

What happens when our spiritual disciplines don't impress God? What if I read my Bible every day and God doesn't "ooh" and "ahh" over me? What if I attend church and give generously and sing songs and even get on my knees to pray and it doesn't blow God away, or even make him sway a little? What if I go on a mission trip to the Middle East...to one of those really scary, hard places that most Christians would never go to...and God's eyebrows don't even move one little bit upward?

And what if I do all of these things and not only is God not impressed, but what if he is displeased? How could that be? Is it possible? What in the world are we talking about here?

I read a soul-shaking passage this morning from Isaiah 58. Israel was asking God why he didn't seem to accept their fasting. His response was startling.

3 "Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?" 

Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers.4 Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high.

God was saying that the spiritual disciplines of the Israelites did not impress him because ultimately they were seeking to serve themselves through their spirituality. Their efforts were devoid of care for others and delight in God.

God went on to tell his people that the type of fasting he sought was that which would press them to "loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke (58:6)." Abstain from eating bread, so you can take that bread and share it with the hungry. Use your home to care for the homeless. Take your extra clothes and cover the naked. Deny yourself in order to serve others.

The promise in this passage comes in verse 8. "Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, 'Here I am.'"

On this side of the cross, we clearly understand that simply giving food to the hungry and clothes to the naked do not make us acceptable to God. Only the righteousness of Christ imputed to us can allow us to enter into relationship with God. However, this relationship, when true, should drive us to care for others in a self-sacrificial way.

The gospel always moves us to give unto others, for at its heart, it is the work of God in giving to us in Christ. Imagine if God said, "I am going to do this great work of sending my Son into the world to take on flesh, earn a perfect righteousness before me, love like no one else, work mighty miracles, glorify me, lay his life down on a cruel cross, and then take it up again in mighty victory over sin and the grave. I am going to do all of this, and it won't make a lick of difference in your life or in this world."

Now, if God sent Jesus into this world only for his own benefit, he would still be just and right in so doing for he deserves all glory and can do all things for his good pleasure. But, he didn't do it this way. He sent Christ for his own glory AND for our good. His sacrifice blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

Because we have been the beneficiaries of blessings that come from true self-sacrifice on God's part, we are to reflect that reality to the world by sacrificing for the good of others. Isaiah 58 awakens us to the reality that this is the type of devotion that God desires of us.

How is the gospel driving you to deny yourself and care for others?

The Ground of our Confidence

I have been struck in recent days of the great confidence that we can experience in the gospel. My mantra, which I have spoken to those who would listen, but mostly just to myself, has been, "The gospel will win the day."

There are many new opportunities and challenges before my family in these days as we begin a new season of ministry. I am serving as the pastor of First Baptist Church of Longwood, FL. While getting my feet wet here, I am already midstream in my pursuit of a doctoral degree from Southeastern Seminary in Wake Forest, NC. Far more challenging, and rewarding, than either of these endeavors is my role as dad to five kids ranging in age from thirteen to six. In God's gratuitous grace, he has also given me the privilege and responsibility to be the husband of one wife.

I do not believe that I can manage all that is needed to be done in my life by my own ability. I do, however, believe that what God has done for me in Jesus is always enough. There is cause to have great confidence as we walk through this life. The benefits of God's grace for us are infinitely deep, immeasurably broad, and inexhaustibly rich. As I look to the cross, and then to an empty tomb, and finally to a Lamb-like Lion standing victoriously in heaven, My confidence in the gospel grows.

One of my favorite books is, The Gospel Primer, by Milton Vincent. On page 52, he writes:

Preaching the gospel to myself each day nourishes within me a holy brazenness to believe what God says, enjoy what He offers, and do what He commands. Admittedly, I don't deserve to be a child of God and I don't deserve to be free of sin's guilt and power. I don't deserve the staggering privilege of intimacy with God, nor any other blessing that Christ has purchased for me with His blood. I don't deserve to be useful to God. But by the grace of God I am what I am and I have what I have, and I hereby resolve not to let my portion of God's grace prove vain in me! And to the degree that I fail to live up to this resolve, I will boldly take for myself the forgiveness that God says is mine and continue walking in His grace. This is my manifesto, my daily resolve; and may God be glorified by this confidence that I place in Him.

Amen!