Wonderful Joy - January 22, 2017 sermon

By Pastor Greg

As some of you are aware, I spent my earlier years ignoring God.  I really didn’t think about Him too much and, quite frankly, didn’t believe all the religious things I heard in church.  I didn’t care about God and was sure He didn’t care about me.  Oh, don’t get me wrong.  I put on a good show.  I acted religious when needed, but when no one from the church was around … well, you get the point.  I even attended a Christian College.  But honestly, my heart wasn’t really into it; I didn’t take Christianity seriously. 

That all changed when a former coworker invited me to a young adult Bible Study.  A teacher showed me God’s love.  He answered my hard questions about the Bible and, late one night, I was changed.  I felt the Holy Spirit wash over me.  In a moment, my opinion about God began to change.  I started looking for ways to build a relationship with Him and ways to understand His word.  I began to care about God and began to see Jesus in a whole new way.  I remember burning music that had turned my heart away from God.  That really shocked my family.  The Apostle Paul was right.  “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” ^[1] (2 Corinthians 5:17). 

But, I continued to worry about my past; all those years I had offended God.  When would He hold my past against me?

On the day my first daughter was about to be born, deep in my heart, I was convinced that God would punish me for my past sins, and He would punish me through my unborn child.  However, when the doctor pronounced her healthy, you can’t imagine the joy I felt; joy in knowing my healthy child, but also the joy in finally understanding what the Lord meant when He said “I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins”^[2] (Hebrews 8:12).

I tell you this story because it is that “Joy” which continues to drive me today.  I cannot contain the joy I experienced in God’s forgiveness.  Simply because I trusted in Jesus to pay the penalty for my sinfulness, God no longer held my sins against me.  I am a new creation, and I feel compelled to tell this to as many people as I can.

This is what Jesus was trying to teach His disciples after the last Passover meal.  He sat with them in that upper room and tried to calm their fears.  They were beginning to grasp the idea that Jesus would soon be gone.  In a little while, they would not see Him, and this troubled their heart.  Sensing their fear and their worry, Jesus made several promises.  He said that one day they would all be together in the Father’s house.  He promised to send the Holy Spirit to be their comforter, guide, and advocate.  He told them these things so they would not abandon their faith (John 16:1).  And He promised them joy – joy that would overflow (John 15:11).

Jesus says to His followers ²⁰ “I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn over what is going to happen to me, but the world will rejoice. You will grieve, but your grief will suddenly turn to wonderful joy. ²¹ It will be like a woman suffering the pains of labor. When her child is born, her anguish gives way to joy because she has brought a new baby into the world. ²² So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy. ²³ At that time you won’t need to ask me for anything. I tell you the truth, you will ask the Father directly, and he will grant your request because you use my name. ²⁴ You haven’t done this before. Ask, using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy.

²⁵ “I have spoken of these matters in figures of speech, but soon I will stop speaking figuratively and will tell you plainly all about the Father. ²⁶ Then you will ask in my name. I’m not saying I will ask the Father on your behalf, ²⁷ for the Father himself loves you dearly because you love me and believe that I came from God. ²⁸ Yes, I came from the Father into the world, and now I will leave the world and return to the Father.” ^[3] (John 16:20-28).

What joy do you suppose the disciples experienced when they learned of Jesus’ resurrection?  Yeah, they were happy that their Lord was no longer dead, but what else?  What other joy did the resurrection produce in them?  The resurrection of Jesus proved that all His promises were true.  When Jesus promised everlasting life, His resurrection proved this promise was true.  When Jesus promised to forgive sins, His resurrection proved this promise was true.  And for those whose sins were great (think of the woman in Luke 7:47 who washed the feet of Jesus with her tears), to learn of the resurrection is to know those sins have indeed been washed away and are remembered no more.

I know we talk a great deal about God’s love, but do we truly understand what that means?  Have we really experienced His love?  Jesus reminded His followers that God loved them because they loved Him, but something else needed to happen for those words to sink deep into their hearts.  The same thing happened to me.  Even though I had turned my heart back to God, and took my relationship with Jesus seriously, something needed to happen for God’s love to really hit home.  The truth of forgiven sin needed to move from my head to my heart, and that happened during the birth of my first child.

If we are honest with ourselves, what we want from God is to know He truly loves us, that He forgives our sins, and that He is pleased with us.  It’s what every child wants from their father.  It’s what we want from God.  I’m not sure what it might take for you to finally experience this, but what I do know is that the disciples need to experience sadness before they could experience this joy.  I needed to experience guilt before I could experience this joy.  So maybe God is using what you are going through right now to help you experience His love, grace, and forgiveness.  Maybe He is trying to move His love from your head to your heart.

I do know this.  Sadness, guilt, and pain are not the end of the story because Jesus promised to turn our weeping into joy.  And His resurrection proves that His promises are true.

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^[1] Tyndale House Publishers. (2007). Holy Bible: New Living Translation (3rd ed.) (2 Co 5:17). Carol Stream, IL.

^[2] Tyndale House Publishers. (2007). Holy Bible: New Living Translation (3rd ed.) (Heb 8:12). Carol Stream, IL.

^[3] Tyndale House Publishers. (2007). Holy Bible: New Living Translation (3rd ed.) (Jn 16:20–28). Carol Stream, IL.