Thoughts for Sunday’s lesson on Joy

My prayer for this meeting is that God will be here, working in each of our hearts and minds. Just having Him here is enough. But I think that I would like us to feel that we’ve been hugged by him before we’re done here.

I’ve wanted to share something with you for over a month, because I wanted to take my turn, and also because I like seeing what God will provide when he opens a door like this. A friend once told me that he likes the thrill of his police job because it presents new challenges. We should feel the same way about our relationship with God.

The topic I believe God has given me is about Joy. It’s not because I’m a joy specialist – I don’t think I’m even a particularly joyful person, so I’ve got something to learn here.

So let’s get our minds oriented. We are going to talk about Joy – but there are some other things to discuss first.

The fellowship God intended for us…
The Ancient Language of Eden, Don Milam, 2003, ISBN 0-7684-2162-4, pg 30-31
God’s love for man is not a meaningless cliche. It is lavishly
rich in content expressing itself in actions on behalf of His beloved
children. God’s thoughts concerning you are saturated with extrav-
agant emotions of desire and devotion. Thinking about you put a
smile on His face. He longs for the presence of your company. He
is devoted to your well-being. You are the focus of His unlimited af-
fection as He is constantly calling you from the depths of your
being. He really, really likes you.

The intensity of God’s love for us is like…

• I told my son last night, that you can’t have love without closeness. He thought it was ok to do our evening bible/book reading away from me, without the close snuggling I like. That simply doesn’t work for me!
• God is infatuated with us. He created us to be His companion – like his bride.
• What was it like for you when you were growing deeply in love with your wife? What are your most beautiful memories? I had one “magical” walk with my wife in the Fall, where I realized I’d like to marry this girl. Spending time together and pleasing one another is at the core of a love life.
• It’s much the same with God, but we (men) are in the helper role.

What happened to that love life with God? Genesis 2:17 –

but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.

The danger of the knowledge of Good and Evil may be, that about 70% of the time, we think thoughts that God never planned for us. Instead of being focused on pleasing the God of good, we are not only distracted by negative and evil thoughts, but that we are capable of doing good that isn’t the thing God wants us to do. I’ve called that shotgun Christianity in the past. For example, I can buy my wife flowers instead of talking to her. The flowers are a good thought, but what she craves is the conversation with me ! One is good, but one is higher than that. How sad that man can do good that isn’t enriching and resulting from the love life with God.

Understand our shame…
The Ancient Language of Eden, pg 73
Thus, destructive thoughts of shame were introduced into the
being and language of man. At first subtle, eventually they would
saturate his psyche to be acted out in his daily life. Shame would
drive mankind in the wrong direction—away from the presence of
Father. This is the destructive power of shame. Rather than draw us
to the place of healing it drives us to run and hide from God and
others. Unable to bear the guilt of our actions we hunt for places of
seclusion that result in a numbing sense of loneliness. Enter the Ian- I guage of self-hate, compulsive comparison with others, unworthi- /
ness, and voraciously needing the approval of others. ,X
Man helplessly wallows in the mire of guilt and shame until
the coming of Jesus. In Jesus the filthy clothing of shame is re-
placed with the clothing of the Spirit.

The pain that Adam and Eve felt did not begin to compare to
the pain of loss pulsating in Father’s heart. Though deeply hurt, He
could not leave His children to wander the world uncovered. He al-
ready had a plan in the works that would take care of everything, but
until its appointed time, Father would provide a covering for His
still beloved children.

Genesis 6:3 My Spirit will not strive/abide/contend with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”

“Dc Talk: Things Of This World”
70 years is all we got
To accumulate goods that seem to mean a lot
For the first 20 years, you’re off to school
Learnin’ principles and learnin’ the tools
To make lots of money, the ultimate goal
Gain the whole world and yet lose ya soul
Huh, humanism is on a roll
20 gets the knowledge, 30 years to apply
and just 20 years left for askin’ why

“strive” and “contend” suggest an effort God is making, that isn’t always getting satisfactory results. Has anyone here ever loved someone who didn’t love you back? How long could you deal with that before going crazy?

We need to understand how far even the church (we) are from God…
The Ancient Language of Eden, pg 80-81
While working on a publishing project with Tommy Tenney
and his father, I had scheduled a conference call to discuss some is-
sues related to the project. In the middle of our conversation,
Tommy’s father turned the conversation to a more personal nature.
I’ll never forget these loving words he directed to his son. “Tommy,
before Jesus was a principle, He was a person.”

This is the crux of our dilemma in these days. The church has
been more concerned with the principles of Christianity than the
heart of Christianity—the person of Jesus. We have elevated the
study of Christ over the pursuit of Christ. Intellectual knowledge
has displaced spiritual pursuit. One dreadful result of this intellec-
tual approach is the judgments we make of one another based upon
our theological persuasions. We have made Jesus into a doctrine we
must believe rather than a person we love. Then, we judge and con-
demn one another on the basis of those doctrinal persuasions rather
than the reality of our personal experiences with Christ. How sad
Father must be!

As the first century faded into the sunrise of the second centu-
ry, men wandered from the vitality of the primitive church’s inti-
mate experience with Christ. In an effort to defend the essence of
who Jesus is, systematic theology was born. The Church became
obsessed with explaining Him rather than experiencing Him. Each
succeeding generation has, in its own way, added to the theological
definition of who He is. We have carved out our religious creeds,
and these fragile carvings have become the core of our belief sys-
tem, assuring us that we are worshiping the right Jesus. Or are we?
Is it possible we have made an idol out of our theology?

From the second century forward, theologians wrestled with
the divine and human natures of Jesus, eventually settling on a
creedal agreement on his hypostatic (human and divine) nature.
They battled over the nature of His essence, creating fissures in the
Body of Christ as theology split off into various forms of gnostic
and patristic positions.

Medieval times denuded and stripped Him of His authentic
self, transforming Him into some sort of mystical apparition. Each
succeeding generation added its own humanistic descriptions grad-
ually morphing Jesus into a theological construct. In our times, men
have forced Him into all manner of theological straightjackets to
strengthen their own religious stances.
Separated now by two centuries of theological development,
the Church, by and large, has lost the awe-inspiring reality of Jesus.
Blaise Pascal made a powerful indictment on the Christianity of his
day that is an appropriate analogy of our own times: God created
man in His image, and man returned the favor!

We are guilty of reshaping Christ into the image of our own
personal beliefs. We have made Him small so we can fit Him into
our pathetically circumscribed spirits. Preserving our personal the-
ologies has been more important than the pursuit of true ultimate re-
ality. Our knowledge of Christ has been forged through the study of
books and sermons from the pulpit, rather than through the person-
al experiences of life and revelations of the Spirit.

Sadly, religion has taken away our Lord, and we do not know
where it has laid Him. He has been misplaced in a labyrinth of reli-
gious rhetoric. This is the challenge of our times—the recovery of
Christ. We will not discover Him in the study halls of religion, but
in the secret places of the Spirit. Christian knowledge will do us no good, in the darkness of a life without a love life relationship with God. We need the relationship, and the knowledge isn’t a condition for approaching God.

This passage really touched my heart…
Nehemiah 8:7-12
The Levites instructed the people in the Law while the people were standing there. 8 They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was being read. 9 Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, “This day is sacred to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law. 10 Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” 11 The Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be still, for this is a sacred day. Do not grieve.” 12 Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them.

What do you suppose could cause so many people to weep when they heard the Law being read? Perhaps the Israelites wept and mourned because they saw clearly how unbearable the Law really is, and that they could not possibly satisfy the Law. Does law communicate love well?

How can understanding LAW make a person greatly joyful? What does it mean, “for the joy of the LORD is your strength” ? What is the LORD joyful about? Could it just be US – that love infatuation He has with us? Could he be really fired up about the plans he has for us?

Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Luke 2:10

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.” What is that joy? Jesus, our salvation, is the great joy, because he can rejoin US completely in that love life God wants with us.

Acts 2:46-47
Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

The people were overjoyed with the fact that their sins were paid for by the saviour, Jesus, and that they could come before God with clean hearts. God is overjoyed that he can be intimate with US again (His Spirit is in us)!! But there’s more to come when we are fully re-joined with him one day.

Spend some time talking to God, praising him.

Psalms 51:12
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a right spirit within Me.
Cast me not away from Thy presence, O Lord,
And take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.
Restore unto me the joy of my salvation
And renew a right spirit within Me.

Eating together can be a celebration of God’s love for us.

Presented by Glen Stewart