Welcome to the blog posts of Suck Spring Baptist Church! These blogs are designed to be an extra spiritual boost for the week, most often being a follow-up to the Sunday sermons. Each blog may be a brief summary of the main points from the sermon, or an additional nugget that relates to the truths of Sunday’s sermon. (I’ve observed that some people enjoy sermon nuggets more than the whole sermon. That’s like having lunch at Chik-fil-A. I enjoy eating chicken nuggets, and most of the time order the nuggets rather than the whole sandwich. But while there are nugget people and whole sandwich people, at least we are eating the same thing – chicken.)
This new year of 2017 we start a sermon series from the Bible book of Philippians, a letter of the apostle Paul that gives us some reasons to be joyful, and how we can reclaim and cultivate Christian joy in our lives. Some Christians have expressed that they feel a loss of joy in their life, and there are a variety of reasons why. Withholding from naming all of those reasons, let’s focus on how we can reclaim joy.
There are at least 140 references to joy in the New Testament. Why so many? Because joy is part of a genuine believer’s life. What is joy? It is an inward delight, contentment, and satisfaction in the Lord and His work in the Christian’s life.
While we will be looking in Philippians at what Paul has to say about joy, let me draw your attention to this nugget of what Jesus has to say about joy. Jesus says to his disciples in John 15:11, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” What things did Jesus speak? Starting in John 14, Jesus spoke about the Holy Spirit filling us and being our helper. Jesus spoke about the love that God the Father has for us, the peace that he leaves with us, and his own love for his disciples. Jesus taught that his disciples will produce much fruit as branches that are connected to the vine. In this word picture Jesus is the vine, and his disciples are the branches.
Being connected to Jesus the vine is critical for us to have joy in our lives. How do we start growing this joy? Having a daily time with Him in prayer, being mindful of His Spirit in us, and obeying His teachings. These will help produce the fruit of joy.
If joy is dependent upon and builds upon our relationship in Christ, then what would cause joy to be diminished, or fading, or even absent? A lack of daily closeness to Christ and failure to obey Him would cause joy to fade away. Unconfessed sin that we carry around like a weight squelches the activity of the Holy Spirit in our lives and joy stops being produced by the Spirit as fruit in our life. Totally rejecting Christ’s saving work and not surrendering our lives to Him as Savior and Lord would cause joy to be absent. Without a relationship with Christ a person would have no spiritual, Christian joy to begin with.
When Paul wrote to the young Christians in Philippi, he identified them as “in Christ” (Phil. 1:1). That’s where our joy begins. As you make strides to reclaim joy in your life, remember that it comes from Christ; it is not something you can acquire on your own. Begin praying for God to grow joy in your life and for Him to help you discover all the ways that joy is yours in Christ.
