Tag: joy

His Why Is Joy

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(Hebrews 12:1-3)

I think it’s already hit the pinnacle of popularity, but you are probably familiar with the encouragements on the part of businesses, organizations, and even individuals to really focus on your “why?”. Authors and TED talk speakers like Simon Sinek made it popular once again for organizations and businesses to emphasize their “why.” When the emphasis is on the “why,” people are attracted to working for you and with you. When they are clear on the “why” then the “what” and the “how” come much more naturally. 

Churches do the same thing. It’s a popular notion among Christians that belong to a local congregation that having membership simply means that you show up sometimes on Sunday morning. But the “why” is actually much more than that. It’s about joining together and carrying out the mission and ministry that Jesus has given us to do together. Where I serve at Shepherd of the Hills, our why is “Seeking the Lost and Serving the Found. 

Individuals may have a “why,” too. Mark Twain is credited with saying that the two most important days of your life are the day you were born and the day you figured out why. My personal why is quite simple: to bring people closer to Jesus. Whether you already know him by faith or not, my why is the same. My fulfillment, my satisfaction, my joy in life is when God can use me to bring wherever you are closer to Jesus. 

Speaking of Jesus, he had a “why,” too. Understanding it is key to grasping what he did during Holy Week. Why would he do what he did? What drove him? What fueled him to knowingly take on all the suffering and be willing to be crucified?

It’s one thing for the criminals crucified with him – they had no choice! They committed a crime. There were consequences. They didn’t have the option of saying, “That’s all right. I’ll skip the cross, thank you.”

But Jesus did not have to endure it, so what drove him? Here are the first three verses from Hebrews, chapter 12. As you read through them, see if you can capture Jesus’ “why.” 

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

Did you catch it? Was his why clear?

“For the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” For the joy set before him! That was Jesus’ why! And you know what I love about this section is that the writer to the Hebrews does not expand on what that joy was. He doesn’t say, “By the way, here’s the joy that Jesus was focused on: …” And so we are kind of left on our own. We’re on our own knowing Jesus’ words and actions recorded for us in Scripture and God’s gracious promises, trying to wrap our hearts and our minds around exactly what that joy was.

There are so many possible answers, aren’t there? And maybe it’s not just one or the other, but collectively all of them. The joy that would come from knowing he was going to finally crush Satan’s head, that he was going to win the victory.

The joy that would come from knowing that he set sinners free from the condemnation of sin.

The joy that would come from knowing that he made salvation possible so that literally no one else would have to experience the hell that he did on Good Friday.

The joy of being able to see his people forgive one another.

The joy of returning to his rightful place in heaven.

The joy of being with his Father once again and having perfectly fulfilled his Father’s will.

The joy of being there, not just with his Father, but with you, too. To know that because of what he would endure on the cross that he would not spend eternity alone in heaven but would be with all of those who by God’s grace through faith cling to him as their Savior. We cannot begin to imagine the agony, the pain of being separated from and abandoned by the Father as Jesus was, and yet imagine how great that joy must be if the level of joy exceeded that level of suffering!

Jesus had his why and you are included in it. And so Jesus naturally becomes our why, too. Now we turn that around as the writer to the Hebrews did. The joy that Jesus won for us is also the joy that drives us to follow in his footsteps.

I captured the writer’s encouragements as I saw them in these verses with three simple words: Release, Refocus, and Reflect.

Release is really what he had in mind when he said “Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.” Release. Let go of it. Imagine running a race if you were the only one on the track who still had his warmups on. Not only would everyone look at you foolishly, but you’d lose the race! Take it off. You don’t want that extra material dragging you, and neither would you have your watch or your headphones or a backpack or anything else. You take that stuff off so that you can run more effectively.

Jesus encourages us to do the same as we follow him. Release those things, not just the stuff that tangles us in sin – clearly that as well – but notice he says even the things that hinder us, and not just some things, not just a few things that are easy to release or let go, but everything.

I think there are a lot of us within Christianity who are pretty solid, pretty content to say, “I can part with or give up 50%, 75%, or 90%, but what is that remainder for you that you can’t let go of? That may not even be sinful. It may be a good thing, and yet it’s hindering you from a closer walk with Jesus.

Is it the validation that you’re seeking from somebody else? Is it a toxic relationship that needs to be done in your life? Is it some goal that you have been pursuing for far too long that is distracting you from the one thing needful?

And my encouragement for you, especially this Holy Week, is to reflect personally on that and ask, “What is it that I, for maybe as long as I have been a Christian, have been hanging on to that I need to release and let go because it is hindering me from a deeper walk with Jesus and a stronger faith?

Release that.

And then refocus.

That’s what the writer to the Hebrews is saying when he encourages us to “fix our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” If you’re running that race and you take off your warm-up gear or maybe your backpack and all of your stuff with it, that’s great, but if you are still looking back at it while running then it is distracting you and you need to refocus. And the same is true if you were to turn and look back at all of the other competitors that you are racing against.

We do that too in Christianity, don’t we? We think that the competition is really gauging myself against other Christians. How do I match up? How do I compare to this Christian or that Christian?

But that’s not the game. That’s not the race that we’re running. Jesus has not said anywhere, “Make sure that you’re just a step ahead of another Christian.” We’ll always find somebody behind us. We’ll also, always see people ahead of us. Ahead of us is where Jesus wants us to look, but not at the other competitors; rather, at our Savior, the one who has already crossed the finish line for us, the one who has already won the victory for us. It’s already guaranteed. And that’s why you can exert all of your strength in the race. That’s why you can be fully focused on crossing that finish line. Imagine your Savior Jesus there waiting for you, the loudest one cheering for you with open arms, ready to greet you, to embrace you when you spill across that finish line.

Refocus. Fix your eyes on him as often as you need to.

The final one might be the one that we struggle with the most: reflect.

The writer to the Hebrews said it this way, “Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Consider doesn’t just mean, “Hey, you know this information, right?” Consider means chew on it. Reflect on it. Meditate on everything that your Jesus has done for you.

That’s what we were doing earlier when we were reflecting on the joy that was driving Jesus to endure what he did. To reflect is to stop and ponder and think, how much must my Savior, love me to endure what he did for me?

We are so busy and so preoccupied running from one thing to the next that we rarely pause, not just to read the Bible, but to reflect on what it means for us. To consider who it reveals Jesus to be for us and the difference that makes in our lives.

Reflect, and you will find more inspiration and more gospel – good news – motivation to keep running your race faithfully.

Jesus, our why, prompts us to do these three things: release, refocus, reflect. It’s an ongoing and repeated pattern. And it’s one that we carry out because we know the finish line has already been crossed by our Savior. But we don’t have to wait till we get home to heaven to experience the taste of the joys that he won for us. Those joys can be ours right now because Jesus allowed that joy to be his “why” and drive him to do all that he did this week for us.

He Is Bringing Perfect Joy

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(Isaiah 61:1-3, 10-11)

What would you say has been the single most joy-filled event or experience in your lifetime? Things like wedding days and the birth of children often top the list. A life-changing travel experience or mission trip might also rank at or near the top. A championship victory after a perfect or nearly-flawless season could be a source of joy. Is there one joy-filled occasion that stands out for you more than all others?

As you think about whatever it is at the top of your list, does it still fill you with the same level of joy as it did when you originally experienced it? Probably not. Remembering such an occasion does not fill us the way experiencing it does. The worldly joys we experience tend to fade over time.

Christians experience an entirely different kind of joy. The Third Sunday in Advent has historically been referred to as Guadete Sunday, which is Latin for “rejoice.” It is the Sunday in Advent on which the pink candle, the joy candle, is lit. As the Church shifts her attention in this season of Advent from the anticipation of Christ’s Second Coming to its celebration of Christ’s First Coming, the theme of joy is certainly an appropriate one. Joy is ours because Jesus became ours at Christmas. Perfect joy is ours only when perfect Jesus is its source.

I recently came across a definition of joy from another pastor/author that continues to grow on me: “a happiness that isn’t based on happenings.” This understanding of joy allows us to experience it independent of circumstances or situations. It isn’t a conditional feeling or emotion that depends entirely on a specific outcome.

That sets joy and happiness apart. As Christians who know joy, we can be happy even when things don’t go our way. We can be happy even in disappointment, even in sorrow, yes, even in loss. Why? That’s what Isaiah 61 explains for us.

When it comes worldly joys, somewhere in the discussion we have to include experiences of being captivated by nature. Anyone who has ever endured a strenuous hike to view a waterfall knows how rewarding it can be to arrive at the majestic waterfall – it leaves us captivated. An evening with minimal light pollution will leave us captivated by the vast array of stars littered across the night sky. A sunrise or sunset may also leave us captivated by the colors it paints as it reflects on the clouds.

It isn’t just nature that captivates us with that kind of joy. When we have the opportunity to watch people at the top of their craft performing at the highest level, it is captivating. To witness a dancer of the highest caliber glide gracefully and effortlessly, a magician shocking onlookers with an inexplicable trick, a comedian crush a gut-busting set, a band put on a once-in-a-lifetime concert – these types of performances are glimpses of greatness that are so captivating that there is nothing that could distract us in that moment. 

Captivated by Christ

When we have the opportunity to reflect on these words of Isaiah, realizing they are essentially the words of Jesus himself, how can it be anything but captivating? Talk about someone at the top of their craft performing at the highest level! There is no one greater at saving than the Savior, and Isaiah captivates us with rich images of how he would carry out his saving work.   

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion” (v1-3a).

There’s something for everyone. “Good news” for “the poor,” “bind[ing] up the brokenhearted,” “freedom for the captives,” “release from darkness,” and “comfort for all who mourn.” 

To be poor is to be without something, to lack something, and the good news of the gospel is that Jesus Christ richly provides everything that is needed! Paul reflected this when he wrote about Jesus, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9).

To live in a world covered in sin’s fingerprints is to know heartbreak firsthand. Every one of us has been on the receiving end of sin’s crushing blow, victims of sexual abuse and assault, slanderous gossip, betrayal, and infidelity, to name a few. We have experienced trauma and great loss. We are brokenhearted, but it is for the brokenhearted that Jesus came, that he might bind up our wounded hearts!

To live in a world covered in sin’s fingerprints also acknowledges that far too many of those fingerprints are mine. We aren’t only on the receiving end of the heartbreak we just described; too often we are also the cause of it. By nature we can do nothing but sin. When outside of faith, people are helplessly enslaved to sin and have no choice but to sin – it’s all they can do. Apart from Jesus, we are captive, prisoners to sin and sin’s source, Satan. And for those captives, for those prisoners, Jesus Christ came to provide freedom and release!

To live in a world covered in sin’s fingerprints is to know mourning and grieving, for even when the cause of that mourning and grieving may not directly affect us at all, it still affects us. The internet and smart phones have partnered together to saturate our heads and hearts with more stories of sadness and tragedy from all over the world than any culture has ever before been exposed to. We see citizens of other countries harmed by their own government instead of protected by it, a flood of innocent lives cut short by senseless wars, the trafficking of women and children, those in our own community bending over another garbage can hoping to salvage something for their next meal, cancer diagnoses, tragic accidents – all of it is more than our heads and hearts were ever intended to process. But even as we sit in a pool of tears, Jesus Christ came to comfort and provide for us!

How can we be anything but captivated by Christ and the saving work he came to do? Talk about someone at the top of their craft performing at the highest level! There is no one greater at saving than the Savior! 

Clothed with Christ

Not only are we captivated by Christ; Isaiah reminds us that we’re also clothed with Christ. “he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels” (v.10). Dressed in Christ, you’ve never looked better! Christ alone has your salvation and your righteousness covered, and by faith he now covers you with them. 

Salvation is a term that is used to frequently that we can easily lose sight of the weight of its significance. Think of the police officer wearing his bulletproof vest. In a non-theological sense, that vest may very well be responsible for his salvation. It could stop a bullet that would otherwise end his life!

If I am wearing Christ’s salvation, then I have protection even greater than a bullet-proof vest. I have something that will protect and save me for eternity. Dressed with salvation, forgiveness is assured and my name is written in the Book of Life. I have his salvation, so nothing more is needed. I am saved. I am safe.

And his robe of righteousness that also covers me means that I measure up. I am good enough. I am right with God. We have a tendency to look back and wonder if we said the right thing, did the right thing, or acted in the right way. But if I am wearing Christ’s robe of righteousness, his “right-ness” means that every right thing that has ever been required for my salvation has already been carried out in Christ.

It’s difficult to imagine Isaiah’s imagery here without considering the place of baptism in the life of the Christian, “for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (Galatians 3:27). Paul explains that these clothes are draped upon the child of God in baptism. In baptism you were dressed with the garments of salvation and Christ’s robe of righteousness. Not only are you the best dressed, but you are also dressed completely with everything you need. I don’t need to keep shopping for another outfit to try to impress God. I don’t need to keep running back to my own closet to pretend I can find there an outfit that has fewer stains or might fool the Father with an appearance of minimal stain or blemish. I am clothed with Christ in baptism!

Now then, being captivated by Christ and clothed with Christ, what is our response? We rejoice, of course! Verse 10 is the believer’s joyful response at all of this joyful news. “I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God.”  The word translated “delight” is actually the same word for “joy” repeated in the original, so as to amplify the joy. The believer is saying “I rejoiced with great joy” or “I joyfully rejoiced.” Then a different “joy” word is used in the second part, which could also be “exalt” or “celebrate.” The point is clear no matter how we translate it – so long as we have Jesus Christ, we have joy, and reason to rejoice! 

Today, this week, next weekend, and throughout the season of Christmas and beyond, rejoice. Delight in the Lord.

How does one do that? I don’t just mean singing favorite Christmas hymns like Joy to the World (while that certainly can be included as a part of it!).

Delighting in and rejoicing in Jesus is not accidental. It is deliberate. It is intentional. It is planned. It is a priority. It is something we can and ought to do every day as we hit the pause button, whether in the morning or at any time of the day. Reflect and be captivated by Christ. Marvel that you are clothed with Christ (you could certainly use Isaiah 61:1-3 for reflection!). Let no other worries or anxieties rob you of rejoicing, for your joy is not a happiness based on happenings, but a joy in Jesus. A perfect joy from a perfect Savior. 

His Humility, Our Hope

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(Philippians 2:5-11)

Experience has probably taught you why it’s unwise to grocery shop while you’re hungry. Your stomach will steer your purchases and convince you to fill your grocery cart with unnecessary items that were not on your list. When that happens, you’re far more likely to end up busting the grocery budget! Not only that, but if you happen to be doing the shopping according to a list that your spouse put together, sometimes we end up neglecting to grab a number of items on the list! Being so focused on satisfying a grumbling stomach leads to forgetting to fully carry out what we set out to do in the first place: bring home all the grocery items on the list. Hunger compels the starving shopper to focus on satisfying self.

If only the desire to satisfy self was limited to the grocery store on occasion! But we know better. The whole world view of our culture is to look at everything through a selfish lens. We have sold ourselves on the lie that tolerating anything and permitting everything is the absolute most loving thing one can do for his fellow man. While we celebrate such “progress” on the surface, framed as genuine concern for the welfare of others, what really drives such thinking is complete and utter selfishness.

Letting anything and everything go for others is really all about me. If I refuse to judge or condemn something in someone else – no matter how absurd or outlandish it may be – then I have just paved the way for me to serve myself in any way imaginable, fully expecting that others won’t condemn me just as I have chosen not to condemn them. We all mind our own business, and we call it tolerance for the greater good when in reality it is merely permission for me to serve myself.

It might sound like I am just ragging on our culture. It might sound like one of those “the world is really awful, but we Christians are really good, so be careful out there good Christians” messages. But it isn’t. It isn’t because you know better. We aren’t so naive as to pretend we want nothing of that sort of world, but know that our sinful selfish nature delights in being a part of such a self-serving world! From that first self-serving bite of fruit in Eden, our self-serving nature has been at war with the saint inside each of us, and that self-serving nature has gotten sneakier and sneakier at slipping his own self-serving purposes in here and there! So the world is only the problem as much as I am a part of the world – ripe with the same self-seeking desires.

Paul addressed it in the verses just before the ones in our Philippians Reading this morning. He wrote, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others” (2:3-4).

Considering the number of letters Paul authored in the New Testament, it’s fascinating that we find these words in his letter to the Philippians, referred to as the letter of joy due to the significant references to joy or rejoicing throughout the letter. It turns our idea of joy on its head, as our warped minds tend to think that joy is tied to getting what we want. But if that’s the case, then why would Paul stress the importance of seeking the interests of others and not self? If joy is found in service to self, then in this letter more than any other, we’d expect Paul to be writing, “Do whatever makes you happy. Life is too short. Don’t worry about other people who drag down your dreams and desires. Look out for number one and ignore the haters.” But in this letter of joy, Paul encourages the exact opposite! Don’t serve yourself; serve others. Then you’ll find joy!

So what follows in the verses from Philippians is no shock at all, for it falls in line beautifully with what the writer to the Hebrews wrote about Jesus, who “for the joy set before him  [he] endured the cross” (12:2). Joy drove Jesus to die, but that joy did not stem from self-serving motives at all; rather, his joy was tied directly to serving the interests of others, and that path collided at the cross. So his joy didn’t come from somehow circumventing the cross in service to self, but in enduring the cross in the best interest of you and me and every last sinner.

That was the ultimate expression of humility, which is what Paul described so magnificently in the verses of our text this morning: “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God  something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:6-8).

What a breath of fresh air we see in Jesus! Paul encouraged us to do something radical, something that we’ve never seen nor been able to carry out when he wrote that we are to put the kibosh on selfish ambition and look to the interests of others. This is an entirely foreign concept to us, so we would have no idea what it looks like – were it not for Jesus Christ, who literally demonstrated humility perfectly for us!

That theme of humility was certainly evident from the Savior whose entire life and ministry were about serving other people. That humility was reflected in his humble entrance into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey to fulfill Scripture. That humility would be highlighted later that same week on the day we call Good Friday, when the very One who created life would sacrifice his own – for the interest of others. Never will we behold a greater example of humility, not only because Jesus was willing to sink to the lowest depths of death by crucifixion – the innocent dying a criminal’s death for a world of criminals who actually deserved it! But what makes his humility so exemplary was knowing the heights of heaven from which he came to stoop so low to such a death!

When we consider the words of Paul here in Philippians 2, 6-11, can you imagine how very real the temptation must have been for Jesus to flip these verses upside down? He surely could have exalted himself first as he entered Jerusalem. He could have demanded on Palm Sunday that every knee bow and every tongue confess him as Lord and Savior. He would have had every right to humble the crowds and exalt himself first and only after that die a death of humility. 

After all, that’s so often how our acts of humility are carried out, aren’t they? Sure, we’ll clean this or wash that, we’ll carry out this or that act of service, but not without making sure that at least someone else knows about it. How ironic is it that we want to be exalted even for our humility?!? Our pride demands that we are noticed, and it will grab hold of anything it can get its hands on to exalt self – even humility!

How often when we are engaged in conversation are we simply listening long enough to make sure the topic of conversation comes back to us and something we’ve done or someone we’ve known? And even on the other end of the spectrum, when we claim that we don’t want to be acknowledged, we make sure that others know that we don’t want to be acknowledged – so our pride is satisfied by knowing that others know we don’t want to be known! What great and amazing humility we have! Ah, quite the opposite: what damning pride lurks in each of us, which explains why humility and the interests of others are so unnatural for us!

So be comforted that the One individual who walked this planet and actually had every right to exalt himself chose to do exactly the opposite. His perfectly obedient humility could satisfy our Holy Father in a way that our pride-filled humility never could! Jesus both perfected humility for us and paid for our lack of it, for our sinful pride, for our propensity to care about ourselves far more than anyone else. It was as if Jesus not only perfectly obeyed the speed limit every time he drove, but he also paid for every one of our speeding tickets (and just to point out how natural our pride is, how many of you just filled up with pride inside because you’ve never gotten a speeding ticket?). 

So let me be clear. During Holy Week, on Palm Sunday, your Savior’s perfect humility attained for you before God what your pride never could. The price paid on the cross was the price paid for your pride. God doesn’t see us for what we are on our own, but rather through faith in Jesus he sees what his Son was for us. We are free. Pride has been forgiven. Humble obedience has been offered up and accepted by the Father through the Son. 

Now we are free to go back to Paul’s encouragement that preceded these powerful verses. We can revisit his encouragement and as forgiven saints, no longer condemned for pride, and strive to show it. We can find genuine joy in seeking to carry out what Paul calls us to: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others” (2:3-4). We can prick the balloon of pride as often as we need to and deflate ourselves, not hoping to earn something by it, but because we’ve already received everything through Jesus – forgiveness, salvation, eternal life, and freedom from bondage to our pride. 

And the more we empty ourselves of ourselves, the more room there is for Jesus to fill us up. And the more filled up with Jesus we are, the more natural it becomes to set aside selfish ambition. The more realistic it is to value others above ourselves. The easier it becomes to look to the interests of others. When we have deflated ourselves and come back down to earth, we see the cross from a different perspective – not a high altitude view looking down on it, but up close and personal, looking up to it, so that more of Jesus fills my frame of view and I see the cross as not just one event for a lot of people, but THE event necessary for me.

Notice how small something looks from an airplane. That’s how Jesus looks to us when pride is allowed to reside inside. But on the ground, things are much larger. As the pride is let out, we come back down to earth and see things differently. I can make out more clearly not just a Saviour, but my Savior. This shifts our view from “Yes, he’s the Savior of all, and me, too,” to “Yes, he’s my Savior first and foremost, but also the Savior for all.” 

This leads to evangelism so that we can address the foremost need others have. After all, the second half of these verses will be true – all will know who he is. Let us use this week, this time that we have on earth, to do all we can so that others confess him by faith rather than by force on the last day, when even unbelievers will experience the regret of knowing they rejected the Savior.

If you shop while you’re hungry, your stomach will steer your purchases and you might ignore the list. So eat first, so that your own self-interest doesn’t get in the way. When you are full, then you can focus on the list. When we are filled up with Jesus, then we can focus on the other stuff. Fill up with as much Jesus as you can during Holy Week and Easter season and always, and be ready to find the true joy that will follow.