John 15:5-11

⁵ “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. ⁷ But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted!⁸ When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father. ⁹ “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. ¹⁰ When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. ¹¹ I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!

In John 15 we see Jesus in the upper room with His disciples the night before his crucifixion. In a few hours, He will leave for the garden of Gethsemane where He will wrestle in prayer over the coming persecution. Soon He will be arrested, tried and convicted of crimes He never committed. Soon He will be spat on, slapped, and scorned, soon He will suffer humiliation and hatred. Not only will they mock Him but they will murder Him, nailing Him to the cross to slowly suffocate and die. Yet Jesus fully conscious of the circumstances to come said: “I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow” The cross is not what we would call a journey of joy, but here we see a significant difference between joy and happiness. Where happiness is based on the circumstances of the journey, joy is based on Jesus.  Unlike happiness that is based on fleeting feelings that ebb and flow on the currents of circumstance and fizzle out at the first turn of the tide, Jesus’ joy is full to overflowing. Jesus joy is not caned and contained by our circumstances.  Jesus teaches us a powerful principle here, that difficulty does not have to jam up or dam up your joy, and when the trials and tests of this life squeeze us from every side the juice that seeps out will reveal the hidden fruit of your heart. Just like a grape that is put in the press the juice that seeps out will either be the joy of Jesus sweet to the taste or junk that is sour. While we may not like the trials of this life they reveal what’s really going on in our life. Sadly, many Christians today reveal a foggy faith, where you can’t see God for the gloom. Instead of living a life of belief and blessing its burden and bondage. Where is the joy of Jesus today? When situations squeeze us where is the joy juice that should run out, overflowing and overtaking our lives? If you call yourself a Christian, then it’s not just who you follow but how you follow. If the who you follow is Jesus then the how should be with joy. Yet many of us act like living for the Lord is a pain instead of a privilege. I think it’s time for the church to stop making Christianity a chore and a burden and start living like it’s a blessing. Jesus makes it clear that we will face crummy circumstances, you see the goal is not to live a problem free life but a purpose driven life that pleases Jesus. How do we please Him, by living a joy filled life instead of a junk focused one. Yet in our pursuit of a pain free life we often trade pleasing Jesus for pleasure. But in our pursuit of happiness through pleasure the church has crashed into the culture, like a derailed train we have left the tracks of truth. We have a faith that frets instead of following. It seems that the only religious works that are of value are those which are somber, serious and sullen. Today there are those that only appear to be joyful when they are depressed. This is unbiblical behavior, and no I am not suggesting that we be unrealistic about life’s troubles or silly in the face of suffering. I’m saying that we should look like Christ regardless of the circumstances. Today as we journey together toward joy we are going to see in John 15:5-11 both joy builders and joy busters. The first joy builder is:

• Builder #1 Recognize you are loved by the Lord

Jesus says in verse 9 “as the Father loves me so I love you.” Our rejoicing revolves around relationship. We are loved by the Lord with a love that is not based on personal performance. This is a refreshing reassuring love that we can rest in. Have you listened to the Lords words, “I love you.” Could there be three more beautiful words coming from the mouth of God? These are more than just words mouthed by Jesus, these are words that moved Jesus to the cross. Words He modeled through His sacrificial death for our sins. Don’t miss the magnitude of his love: “as the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.” He doesn’t just tolerate us He treasures us.  The magnitude is found in the measure of Christ’s love; He loves us as the Father loves Him, with a divine affection, unrestrained, holding nothing back. First Jesus declares his love, second, he describes his love and third, he demands that we remain under the assurance and influence of his love. Living in His love is not just vertical between you and God but also horizontal between you and other people. Living in His love means extending that love to others, which brings us to our first joy buster:

• Buster #1 – Unresolved conflict

Our joy evaporates when we allow conflict to ruin our relationships with others. Instead of living in the joy we end up living in the junk. Anger clouds our view of God and blessing is replaced by bitterness. When we looked at cultivating Christs love in our lives we saw that love keeps no record of wrongs. If you’re still keeping score then the fruit of joy will be squashed in your life. Paul points to the link between joy and unity in Philippians 2:2: “Then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.” So, let me ask you are you living in the Lord’s love? Are you motivated by your performance or Christ’s passion? Often when we look in the mirror we look at the image reflected there with critical eyes instead of through Christ’s eyes. We focus on the flaws instead of on His fondness for us. Why does it matter if we are living in His love and looking at life through His eyes of love? Because if you are not living in the Lord’s love you will never be able to live out His love and touch others with His tender care. What about you is there any unresolved conflict that is causing you to wallow in the junk instead of walking in His joy?

John 15:5-11

⁵ “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. ⁷ But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted!⁸ When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father. ⁹ “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. ¹⁰ When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. ¹¹ I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!

Today as we continue in our 30-day series, “Cultivating Christ like Character” we come to the fruit of joy. For many of us joy just like love appears sporadically in our lives, like the morning mist that lingers for a moment but dissipates as soon as it is touched by the scorching Sun. Why do so few Christians live joyful lives? I believe it’s because we are trying to substitute the joy of Jesus for that which the world offers. God’s desire has always been for His children to experience great joy in this life, that is why He sent His Son Jesus to die for us, so that we could live the full and overflowing life that Jesus spoke of in John 10:10, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Many of us say that we want what He offers, yet God and man have differing ideas about how this is going to be accomplished. Joy is what the human heart really hungers for but rather than satisfying that hunger with God’s gift of joy, humanity by and large has chosen to chase happiness. It’s about what we can experience and get out of the deal. It’s a John 6 kind of religion, where our motive for following Jesus is food to make us feel good. We are happy as long as our bellies are being filled, but forsaken Him at the first hint of hardship. Today we have become derailed by what I call the doctrine of deserving, where we are taught that we deserve to be happy. A permeating philosophy that’s not just contaminating the culture but controlling the church, and because what we believe effects how we behave this deserving belief bleeds over into demanding behavior. As a result, many of us are chasing the American dream, the pursuit of happiness instead of the Almighty’s. The pursuit of this idealistic happiness consumes most of our lives, striving for something better. But what exactly is happiness? Each individual would describe this differently, and so, for decades the specifics of the American Dream keep changing and evolving until finally it’s defined by material possessions such as houses and cars and college degrees. So, stuff has become our measurement for success. We have stuffed our homes full of things and yet our hearts are empty because stuff never satisfies. We have become a society of storage units overflowing with stuff yet never satisfied. A society of stuff but no substance. A culture that has seen an increase in both consuming and depression, because the more we have the more dissatisfied we have become. What is interesting is that the word happy comes from the root word “hap” which literally means chance. This is the root of several other words, happen, hapless, and even haphazard.  Happiness depends upon what happens to you, based on chance and circumstance. But Christianity is not about circumstantial happiness that comes from chasing chance it’s about change that comes from chasing Christ. God’s Joy will always bring happiness, but the pursuit of happiness will not always bring joy. Because happiness is an emotion that is caused by our circumstances, happiness is reliant upon some situation or event to make us feel good. If something good happens we’ll feel good but if something bad happens we won’t. In contrast God’s Joy does not depend upon our current circumstances and can even transcend trials and tribulations. We are called to be followers of Christ not feelers of comfort that is why the Bible mentions “joy” or “rejoicing” 330 times, but only mentions “happiness” 26 times. God doesn’t want us emotionally chained to our circumstances He wants us to be free in Christ. Our problem is not only tied to our perspective but our position. There is a powerful story told about a house that architect Frank Lloyd Wright built for industrialist Hibbard Johnson in 1937. One rainy evening Johnson was entertaining distinguished guests for dinner when the roof began to leak. The water seeped through directly above Johnson himself, dripping steadily onto his bald head. Irate, he called Wright in Phoenix, Arizona. “Frank,” he said, “you built this beautiful house for me and we enjoy it very much. But … the roof leaks, and right now I am with some friends and distinguished guests and it is leaking right on top of my head.” There was a pause on the line, and Frank Lloyd Wright reportedly replied: “Well, Hib, why don’t you move your chair?” The problem is that some of us have positioned our chair under the wrong roof. Johnson’s roof was fine as long as it didn’t rain, He was happy until the storm showed up and the rain revealed a leak. We don’t like the storms but they reveal the roof that we are living under. Whether it is shingled with manmade happiness or Jesus shingles of joy that are impervious to the hard hail of this life. Most of us crave happiness and comfort but they never cultivate character, instead they often corrode our character. Joy on the other hand not only shapes our character but has the power to influence and change those around us. So, what about you, are you letting Christ cultivate your character so that your journey is one of joy, or are you chasing after circumstantial happiness?