And then we wonder why we're
missing them. We can't have what we don't know.
And if we did have it, we wouldn't know what it was because we don't
know what it is. Now that I've discombobulated your cognition
this morning, let's consider what that means in practice.
It's like the word love. We love pizza. We love the weather.
We love each other. It should feel really good to
you to know that your relationships, the love that you have, are as
much as a pepperoni. You say, oh, there's an essence,
there's a different type. Well, there may be, but I believe
that sometimes we should reserve words for what they actually
are. You know how I define love. It has nothing to do with affection,
or feeling, or emotion. Those are things that come from
it. But the love itself is an act of the will. It is a decisive thing based
on the person that you are. Everything else ebbs and flows.
Happiness is fleeting. I mean, you can't say, I am so
happy that I fell down the stairs and broke my neck. I'm just so
happy. You say, well, I'm happy that
I didn't break my neck. when I fell down the stairs,
but I'm not very happy that I fell down the stairs. I'm happy. But what happens when
you're not happy? Are you sad? Are you angry? See, these emotions, we define
them in such a way that we think they're things. We've relegated the idea of what
we feel and how we've defined it to something we should chase. Something we should obtain. Rather
than understand them for how God has created them that they
just are. God can be angry but it does
not move Him. It does not drive Him. Jesus was angry. And in a decisive act of His
will based on the righteousness that He is, He took a little
time, he found some cords, and he built a scourge. And he meticulously put it all
together. And I want to think, they're thinking, what is that
crazy guy doing now? Let's just cash out. And then Jesus took
that scourge, and he violently beat these people over the face
and brow. Kicked over their tables. And in an amazing picture of
the Gospel, the good report of the Son of God, He let the animals
out of their cages, and He tossed the money back to the poor. It's
a picture. We have zeal for His Father's
house. Who are the house of the Lord? It is us, the beloved. We're the pillars of the temple. See, just even that picture,
we misinterpret it. So we're not looking at it from
the right lens. The same thing is true with joy.
Joy is not happiness. We've learned in 1 Peter 1 where
it talks about this. Let me read a few things. Let's
just start with verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that according to His great mercy
He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. to an inheritance
that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven
for you, who, by God's power, are being guarded through faith
for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last day. In this you
rejoice. What is rejoice? Experience joy. It doesn't mean stating joy.
It doesn't mean acting emotionally out of joy. It doesn't mean even
confessing joy. It doesn't mean smiling. It doesn't
mean happiness. In this, you rejoice, though
now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various
trials that test your faith, which is better and more precious
than gold that perishes. And this testing may be found
to result in praise. It's an expression. And glory. It's a mindset of understanding
who God really is. You see God in His glory. Imagine
it as if He's hiding nothing. He's showing you everything.
And honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have
not seen Him, you love Him. Though you do not now see Him,
you believe in Him and rejoice. with a joy that is inexpressible, and filled with glory, obtaining
the outcome of your faith, which is the salvation of your souls.
And in verse 10, you know this, the entirety of the cosmos, the
angelic host, look to this day as the point of their existence
to exalt and exalt God, the Son, and salvation. It is the single
glorification of God alone. The salvation of those people. It's a joy. It is the most profound
theme in Scripture. We chase it. I still feel heavy. I don't feel like I have purpose.
I don't know what I'm doing in life. What does that have to do with
your joy? So then we get well-meaning,
I'll just be nice, ignorant people who think they know, and because
they don't have the same level of stress or experience or trauma,
they're very quick to say, well, you just gotta decide to have
joy. Well, like you said this morning, we don't just decide. Joy is
not a choice. Now, at the same time, when joy
is present, it is a choice. It is a choice of our mindset,
it is a choice of our frame, it is a choice of how we reframe
the world around us, by what lens we would look to if our
joy is waning, but ultimately, it is just so misunderstood. It's like Jesus telling His disciples,
and He says, I'm going to leave with you a peace that the world
knows not of. In the same way Jesus is saying,
I'm going to give you a joy that the world doesn't understand
you. The same way He says, I'm going to give you a love that
the world can't understand you. Do you love Me, Peter? Do you
love Me? Do you love Me? Then go feed
My sheep. Peter couldn't love Jesus the
way Jesus needs to be loved. And neither can you. Because Christ is the embodiment
of pure love, joy, peace, hope, righteousness. And we've been
declared such. Biblical joy is not happiness. It's an unshakable confidence.
It's a ground upon which we can stand in every circumstance. But where is this confidence?
This is the problem. Confidence is not in ourselves.
It is not with faith that we hold to our own understanding
or to our own just power, our own strength. We can be strong.
Listen, humanity is extremely resilient. Very resilient. You can take your body and you
can transform it. You can stretch your mind and
you can increase your ability to grasp. I don't care how old
you are or young. You can train yourself in just
a few short weeks to rewire, rewire, listen to what I'm about
to say, the very psychological essence of your brain activity. You can do it. but you can't make yourself joyful. There are things that you can
do that will stop trying to flush down the toilet, but you can't
make it. So the confidence is unshakable,
not because it's in how strong we are, or how resilient we are,
But it's unshakable because the confidence is in God's character.
How unshakable He is. How unfailing He is. How His
promises are true and how His presence is eternal. Because I believe, in my very
limited ignorance, that almost all anxiety roots from identity
and the uncertainty of life. So confidence and knowing who
we are only goes so far. And we should. We should not
take those cues from the world around us or even have hard of
interpretation of what the Bible says about us. Because you ask
most Christians, who are you? I'm a sinner saved by grace.
Is that a true statement? Yes, it's a true statement. That's true about you, but that's
not the who of you. Because to say, well I'm a sinner,
that's who I am. No, that's what you were. Did
you still sin? Yes. Does that make you a sinner?
Absolutely. Why? Because that's what Charles Minnie
said. The father of modern day evangelicalism. That's why the
mourner's bench and the altar calls are so effective. No, you
little piece of trash. You want God to burn you in His
leaf pile? Or do you want to come on down here and get washed
by the blood of Jesus? I mean, who doesn't want to come
get washed? But it's psychological abuse.
It's not even good news, is it? If you've got the strength to
stand for Jesus, He'll stand for you. How many times have
you heard that? That gave me chills coming to
the back of my spine. I remember as a little boy, 7 or 8 years
old hearing that. Confidence is in God's
care. Who are you in Christ? I am the righteousness of God. That's arrogant. That's truth. I am the one who will stand and
share in the glory of Jesus Christ. The very thing Lucifer said he
would take, I get. And how in the world? You see how close we are? I've
been saying this a lot of times. It's a very fine line, like the
space between your fingers when they touch. It's a very fine
line to fall off into this ridiculous, it's all about you. and blurring the reality of what
the gospel has accomplished. And therein lies what Paul teaches
the devil, vocabulary on salvation but fear and trouble, by entrusting
yourself in the confidence of God's character. by sitting down
at the feet of Jesus while the rest of your brothers and sisters
work to serve Him. Sit. Martha, sit. That's what faith is. It's okay, honey. Just go to
sleep. The storm will be fine. You know, that's how it works.
It's okay, the plane's not going to crash. It's just turbulence. How many times have we had our
children fearful and we've just calmed them down and they don't
argue? Well the way that shear went down,
I mean, I know an aerodynamic equation in my head is going
to show that the probability of us going into a tailspin right
now is very high. I don't trust you. You shouldn't
trust me, you should trust the Lord. He does this every day. But God, eternally, has never
changed. He's been in the same flight
pattern since He started. When was that? Never. Now then
our mind goes elsewhere. We lose all sight of what James
is even talking about this morning because we're thinking about
the eternal nature of God. Good. You know what you're not
thinking about? How do I get joy again? So just like that, without even
on purpose, just by accident, What you listen to in your ears
changes where your mind goes. So what are you listening to? Are you listening to the history
of your life? Well, today's not the best day
of my life, you might say, but I remember the best day of my
life. And we wonder and we reminisce about that and we think, you
know, if I could just get these things in life, if I could just get
these stresses out of my life, these relationships intact, this financial situation,
if we could just have this, oh, I'm going to have another good
day. No, today is the best day of my life. I thought you said
that about yesterday. What? What is yesterday? What
is yesterday? What are you looking forward
to tomorrow? This is why we don't have joy, beloved. Because we're
not living in reality. We're living in the worries of
what may happen. And with the reminiscing nostalgia
of what did happen. Or even the pain of what did
happen. Reinforcing the fear of what may happen again. But
missing the reality of who we are right now for the Lord. Unshakable confidence is where
joy is found in the character of God, in the presence of God,
in the promises of God, regardless of the circumstances. And joy, according to the Bible,
is a gift. I'm going to put that next. It's a command. And it's a gift. When the Bible
says, rejoice, and again I say to you, rejoice. That's a command. It's to say, hey guys, I want
you to think about rejoicing. I want you to try. Notice, I
want you to rejoice. Rejoice in the name of the Lord
right now. Just do it. Rejoice. What does that do? I
think we're going to clap. We're going to yell. We're going
to scream. We're going to stand. We're going to sit in solemnness.
We're going to sit in quiet. For those of you who read my
writing, you know I had a real just decided just to start writing
some of that weird stuff out on paper. No more in the presence of God
when you're on your face weeping with the Bible in your lap than
you are kicking a ball with your kids. Because the presence of God does
not wane, does not change based on our posture before Him. Our
awareness may be a little different. The reality of where we're focusing
on our mindfulness on Him But at the same time when we are
in a state of joy, that mindfulness is ever present, but not overpowering
the need to cut the grass, or to clean the pool, or to pay
the taxes. It's a command and a gift, something
we're called to cultivate, but it's supernaturally supplied
by God the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5.22, for the gifts
of the Spirit. Please. Patience. So in 1 Peter we've seen this
over and over again. It provides one of the most powerful
expositions of joy in every circumstance. Joy in suffering. So we've talked
about it last week. It's sort of hidden in the middle
of talking about it. Oh, there it is. So this outline
that I had last week was about 17 points. I've pulled it down
to 8 and probably maybe 3 or 4 per thing. Eight or nine ways
that we can cultivate today. You won't get all that. You won't
even be able to organize it. It's okay. I don't teach that.
Outlines are organic. They shift as the mouth opens. That's okay. Joy and suffering. Peter's teaching
his audience that our joy is not diminished
by the trials we go through, but that we're refined through. So then our life amplifies, displays,
portrays, is, last week, a witness to God's character. When we are
joyful, people are confused. How is this the best day of your
life? What happened to you? Or they laugh. I would just say
to try it. Just pretend for a moment that
you're me. And today, tomorrow, and Tuesday,
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, for the next seven
days, when someone says, hey, how are you doing? You say, this
is the best day of my life. I want you to record, number
one, how that feels. And number two, how many people
laugh. They almost all laugh. Some coaching slash counseling
points. Hey, Mr. Chickens, how you doing? It's
the best day of my life. You find that funny that I'm having
the best day of my life? Why? Is it not the best day of your
life? Then I put them into an existential
crisis in about 90 seconds. And then they don't know what
to do. So what we'll do this morning is
sort of pick this apart. What is the biblical definition
of joy? What does it even mean? Well, the most common word for
joy is kara, a characteristic. What does it mean? Delight, gladness,
deep contentment, and it's always paired with the presence of God,
like in Luke chapter 2 and Philippians 4 and other places. So that it
is only present in the presence of God. In other words, it means
jubilation or rejoicing, an act of sense, exceeding joy or Something
of that nature, and that's like Luke 1 and 1 Peter 1.8, the word
there. But what's the association? It's
not about us having that within us, it's about the revelation
of Jesus Christ and the presence of Christ. And that even then,
that joy is going to be inexpressible. There's something inside of us
growing and overflowing. I have water that you know not
of. The order I have wells up to
eternal life. I have food that you know not
of, Jesus tells His disciples when they come back from Psychic
Heart in John chapter 4. When they come to something to eat,
they ask if He is the food. My food is to do the will of
the One who sent Me. The exceeding joy of Christ was to do what
the Father willed, to be in the presence with the Father. Our
joy and its expression is full with the presence of God. So
unlike fleeting happiness, joy according to the Bible is rooted
in eternity. That which is unshakable. That
which is immutable. And I earnestly believe psychologically
that when we come to even unbelievers find the essence of our root
identity and we understand that it's always been there and we
We hear it, we resonate with it instead of putting on all
these masks and clothes and layers and ideas and philosophies and
structures and systems and religions and everything else that we are
most confident and that we are most free. But it only takes
us so far. For the believer, there is no
stopping place. There is no stopping place. We know who we are because we
can hear it. We can feel it. We can understand
it. We can discover it. We can learn it every single
day. I wrote two poems yesterday, just getting up yesterday, watching
the sun peep through the mini blinds. And I thought of all
the times in every single season of my life, I wake up early and
sometimes late at night I've been going back to sleep. of how much I enjoy watching
the sun rise. And I thought, what if
the sun rose to see me? And that's an arrogant idea. But what instead of seeing the
manifestation of nature, which is the hand of God, what if I
saw myself in the same way that God sees me? And in this little
metaphor, the turn is that the sun was waiting on me to get
out of the way. And until I got up, it would
not rise. Well, that's never going to happen.
But here's an incredible idea to carry this along in this oddity,
is that in the scripture, the Bible talks about eternity having
no night. Why? There's no need for it. shadow of darkness. There's no need for it. The sun
never sets. Why? Because Christ is the light. I don't know what God's going
to do cosmologically. I'm not really interested in
that after that point. I don't even know if physics
will apply anymore. It's going to be sad, but at the same time
we're here. It doesn't matter. In that same way, the sun rises
and sets on the person of Christ. So we share in Him, in His death,
in His resurrection, the promise of His glory, the promise one
day of immutable righteousness. Not just by declaration, which
is what it is now, but by very essence. Ontologically, we will
not be divine, but we will share in the perfect divine righteousness
of Jesus. I think we have an identity problem
in the church. And I think that's how Paul and
John and the rest of these guys could face the sword and the
hanging and the burning and everything else. And absolute, you know,
life sentences in prison. And never miss a beat. And be
able to say, holy cow, I can't feel my left side of my body,
but this is the best day of my life. And by every logical reason, evidence in the world and historically,
that is insanity. but you can't lose it and no
one can take it away. At the same time you can't pursue
it as if it's something to obtain. We have joy in trials. I've just
read verses 6-9 to you. In this you rejoice. This exuberant delight in what? The trials that burn you and
refine you. You will be grieved Coexisting
with this incredible joy, grief and joy in the same place. Joy
is that which launches the grief. Joy is not just a foundation,
it is the lens through which we grieve. Joy is not the absence of sorrow, but the rock solid confidence
in the middle of it. the tested genuineness of your
faith. Suffering purifies us, making
it the most valuable thing in the world to our faith. Thus to our joy. Joy in trials is evidence of
a growing and maturing faith. Can we lose that? Yes. You go
to the gym, you go to the gym, you go to the gym. Holidays come,
you take five weeks off. It's like, hey, where do all
my gains go? Into the pie. Into the bed. Whatever else you want to do
sitting around doing nothing. Joy and persecution. Chapter
four, we talked about last week. Genesis 13, Genesis 12, you don't
be surprised in the fire of trial when it comes upon you to test
you as though something strange were happening, but rejoice,
command it, insofar as you share Christ's suffering. But you may
also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed. If you're
insulted for the name of Christ, you're blessed for the spirit
of glory and if God rests upon you, the presence of God, this unshakable, immutable understanding
of His identity and thus informing the reality of who we are and
whose we are in Him. Joy. But 1 Peter is not the only
place we see it. I know that's where we've been
over the last year. That's not the only place we see this anywhere.
We can find joy in trials. We can find joy in the presence
of God. We can find joy in the Holy Spirit. You can find joy
in salvation. I believe the story of salvation
is the deepest joy. It's the source of our deepest
hope. It's the source of our greatest confidence. That's why
if we don't get the gospel right, not in the theological structure,
but in the essence of what matters most, who we are. Because how
we see ourself directly defines in our minds and the world around
us who God is. And God is really, really concerned. And I say concerned
in a real fun way. But God takes who He is seriously. And He proves Himself by showing,
not by telling. And so if we are misunderstanding
who we are in Him, then we are misunderstanding who He is. Because if we are His glory,
strange, huh? How He reveals who He is, that's
what that means. If Christ is His glory, we are
to be like Christ. We are to stand in that glory.
We are evidence and witnesses of the testimony of who God is,
His character. The same way that our joy in
the midst of our pain and suffering is a testimony to the character
of God, to His name. But we can't say, oh no, now
I've got to be joyful or I'll mess up God's name. That's not
joy, that's fear. Perfect love casts out all, not
some, all fear. Because life as a believer is
not getting it right. Life is a believer of knowing
that you have been made right, so now let's walk and figure
it out. Because the more we think we've
got it right, the deeper we are in the delusion. The purer a culture looks, the
further they are away from the Father. The more Christian we become,
the less Christ-like we live. Just look at history. Ask yourself, what's the meanest
person you've ever met? They probably did it to you in
church. At least in the name of Christ. The Holy Spirit sustains our
joy. The joy of our salvation. Fear not! For look, behold, I
bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the
people. The pronouncement of Jesus Christ's birth. Paul in
Romans 15, may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace
in believing. And the Holy Spirit sustains
us there. In Acts chapter 13, we
see that. The disciples were filled with joy and with the
Holy Spirit. And there's hundreds of examples. Counted all joy. My brothers
and sisters, when you make trials, It's like Corinthians chapter
6, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing. Joy is not the absence of pain. It's not the absence of sadness.
It's not the absence of frustration. It's not the absence of fear.
It is an ever-present foundation that keeps us in the midst of
all of it. Christ embodies this. Christ
embodies it. Nobody else embodies it like
Christ and no one will ever embody it like Christ. But the mind
of Christ is ours. We have it already. The question
is, are we focused on it? How? Listen to the words of the
scripture. Christ's joy in obedience and
suffering, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of
our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him, endeared
the cross. And in that, Christ secures our
eternal joy. Revelation 21-4, we hear these
words, He will wipe away every tear from our eye, and death
shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning,
nor crying, nor pain, where the former things have passed away. Friends, I have worked deeply
to try to experience what that would be like in my life. I have sat hours meditating on
that, putting myself in a place where that kind of thing would
exist. And you can't. You can get to this, even if
you could, you'd have to wake out of that nightmare. So how do
we cultivate this joy? 5,932 ways, let's begin. I don't
know how many. But before we get there, let's
think about what we want. If we think that joy is going to
make us happy. If I just have joy, I'll be happy.
No. Same way if I just find happiness,
I'm in joy. Or if I find joy, you know what, it may heal your
body. It may heal mine. But there are
some diseases that aren't because of the lack of joy. It's because
the body is breaking down. Because things happen. You catch something or things
just wear out. 30 or 90, it doesn't matter. The time comes when the time
comes. What happens when we find this joy, when we see the embodiment
of the true joy that Jesus Christ not only talks about but lives
and then promises, it sustains our faith. It allows us to trust
and rest deeply in times of conflict, in times of stress, in times
of things. that are hard, and then that, it causes us to endure. It strengthens our endurance.
We're able to stand up under the pressure. When we see fear,
the outcome of joy, fear becomes a fuel to rejoice. Hey, hey,
hey, what is a fear? What do I fear? There's still
one thing. There's still one thing that
if I meditated on it, if I ruminated on it, I would experience anxiety.
And that is that I would live a day without being authentically
me. That something else would drive me without my knowledge. So every day that we have joy,
it overcomes our fear. And so what we see as fear is
now food. Instead of seeing a shark coming
to get us, we see shark steaks. Instead of worrying about what's
going to happen tomorrow with our finances, we think, hmm, this
is going to drive me to a place of discovery. This is going to
drive me to a place of understanding. This is going to drive me to
a place of rejoicing. Joy overcomes fear. It's also
a testimony to people, believers and unbelievers, and one another,
and to ourselves. It strengthens our home. Confidence
to know that, hey, you know what, by the Lord's mercy, it's because
of the joy that I have, this confidence is unshakable. So it's a testimony to ourselves.
It's a testimony to the world around us. So ask yourself the
last time you heard someone just expressively talk about how hopeful
they were. How's it going? Life stinks. That's what I get.
It's all good. I said, is it? Tell me about
it. I'm just noticing. I love to hear good news. I wish
the tabloids were like, best thing to happen today. I mean,
was it the sun in that one of them? National Enquirer and all
that kind of stuff? Imagine it opened up and said,
Martha Stewart woke up this morning and felt like dancing and wrote
a poem. Here it is. Blue Bird. I unsubscribed to
all but two of the Blue Birds last week. I keep them at Daily
Markets. They just want to know what's
going on in this world and in the world. All the other stuff
is just like the headlines. They might as well read, you're
dead and you're probably not going to read this. The world
has come to an end. We have found the Matrix. I mean,
it's just nonsense. But when have you ever heard
of someone telling you about all the good thoughts they have,
or the hopes they have? I've seen this play stuff. I've
seen people excited, ecstatic, just like, just this exuberance
about certain things, or certain people, or certain activities,
or certain... And what it was, was the fool's errand of taking
what was anxiety and reframing it in absurdity. Oh, when this
happens, then all this is going to work out. I think James had something to
say about that. If the Lord wills, but what does it mean for it
to work out? That's what I like to ask. What does it mean for
it to work out? It's going to work out? What's that mean? Oh,
it's going to be great, and my portfolio is going to get back,
and you know, 2025 is just going to be a really good year for
me. You don't read economics, do you? Let's start with Cicero
and let's just get caught up. Are you ready? Give a 17-year-old
cashier Cicero a couple of weeks back. I don't think she read. How do you know all this? I said,
I read economics. I love it. My hope is it not
in the economy. But see, we absurdly think that
our hope is in something else. Our hope is in the immovable,
unshakable foundation of the character and the promises of
God's power. And in that, we must know who we are in Him,
that our hope would be full, that our joy would be a testimony.
And then what happens? When we're in that place, no
matter what, what happens? It transforms suffering into
an opportunity for worship that actually flows out of us. Worship
is not contrived. Worship flows out of us. It flows out of us, naturally.
You can't pretend to worship. You can feel all you want, and
you know, and I'm quasi-Pentecostal anyway, in my blood. I think
we ought to be more expressive when we're talking. I think we
ought to all write poetry. You know what I call it, Pentecostal?
Call it Renaissance, okay? Just relax. I think we ought to listen to intuition,
but not trust it. It's like when the light comes
on in the dash, it's probably just trying to get you to go
get an oil change. But it could be that you're about to die. Because
the car is going to explode. Don't worry about it. Both are a problem. But worship
is something that comes from a joy, not a feigned hope. Dude, I love the feeling. Music,
I can get lost in it. And I used to fight that so much.
I used to fight creating music. I used to fight it. But not anymore.
I can enjoy the expressiveness of writing a love song. Or writing
a song about the weather. And then also singing a song
of praise. But how can we worship if we
have no How do we do it? How do we get
it? This is the outcome. This is what you're telling us, Pastor. This is good
news. How do I do it? Introduction. I've already said it. Joy is not passive. It is granted and commanded and
gifted, but it also must be cultivated. It also must be cultivated. The
image of the garden. Everything you ever need, beloved
humans, right here. Don't eat that. Just don't eat
that. Why not? You'll die. What's death? Nothing to fear. Never seen it. What did God tell them to do?
You can eat all you want. Just cultivate it. Grow it. Harvest it. Cultivate it. No weeds. No drought. No pestilence. Passive joy doesn't make sense. It also has to be cultivated.
That's why it calls us to rejoice. So we have to dig in and say,
well I'm not rejoicing. Why? Okay, let's do this. How do we cultivate it? We must
actively align our identity, our truth, and our mindset with
God's promises rather than with our emotions and our circumstances
and our fears. The first one is rejoice in your
Gospel identity every single day. Your identity is not in
your sin. Your identity is not in your
failings. Your identity is not in your feelings. Your identity
is not in your circumstances. It's in Christ. See, many of us lack joy because
we try to find our identity in everything and put Christ on.
Put Christ on in such a way that it's, you know, we try to make
Him fit our career, relationship, our status, success, health,
personal performance, perfectionist here. But joy is secure when
it's rooted in the unchanging truth of who we are in Christ. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,
he's a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold,
the word behold. Look, see, the new is here. I don't see new because you're
looking the wrong way. If you don't see new, then you're
going to just be the old you, right? The old you is what you
were, not who you are. You were a what, now you are
a who. By God's power are being guarded. Who? by God's power being guarded
through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed to you in
the last time. In this you rejoice. So no wonder we have this identity
anxiety as Christians. Colossians 3, for you have died.
Drowning to live, there's a positive side of drowning. And I know
a love like this, all poems I've written in the last three years,
reflective of my time in the scripture, of my time in the
journey of facing hell every single day of my life. You died. What you were is dead. Who you are is alive in Christ.
And what you will become is just like Him. Not now, but you are
alive in Him now. There is therefore now no condemnation,
except in myself. Oh, I just can't get it right.
You know, I use our daily intake of food and bathroom output as
the object lesson here. We always beat ourselves up because
we failed to keep a promise, we failed to keep a resolution,
we failed to keep a goal, we failed to stay on track, we're
not praying, we're not studying, we didn't get to church, we didn't
get up on time, we didn't get to work, we didn't pay the bill.
Oh man, I lost my temper. I kicked the dog, I slapped the
kids, and I poured out the orange juice. Whatever else you did
wrong. What's that got to do with anything? When you get up and you're busy
and you go, man, I didn't eat breakfast today. I'm just a terrible ingester
of food. I'll never eat again. I'm done. I'm never going to eat again.
No, we gorge ourselves that night. Give me the triple dope burger
and give me two of them. You ever not gone to the bathroom
because you were busy? If you've been to a movie theater, you
have. Because I'm not wasting that $943. I'm bringing the whole
thing, and I'm not going to miss any of the movies. So when I
go to stand up, my legs don't work. Why? Because there's 65 ounces of
fluid in there. Well, I didn't go to the bathroom
like I said. I'm just never going to. And yet we do that with everything
else in life. We beat ourselves up over everything. Because we
rather reject ourselves and wallow and sit in our pain about who
we are in our own eyes rather than see ourselves for who we
are in the possible future. Let's make a decision today. I read the Bible all week long.
Let me read it now. I didn't get a chance to eat
lunch. I'm going to have a snack. Dairy
Queen, perhaps? And then, what happens? We rejoice
in our Gospel identity. Then we're able to anchor our
joy in truth, not emotion. Who are you? I don't know. Yes you do. Find it. You're in
there. You cannot decide who you are
and you cannot become something you're not. You have to uncover
who you really are. I've been using that metaphor
for years now. About taking off the labels. Taking off the clothes.
Taking off the labels. Taking off the pressure. Taking
off the driving voices. Other people's opinions are none
of our business. Other people's opinions of us
are certainly none of our business. Other people's opinions of our
family is none of our business. Other people's opinions of our
opinions is none of our business. And our opinions of their opinions
of us that is none of our business is none of our business. You
get the point? I don't even know if that worked,
but it sounds silly. Our anchor is in the truth. Our
joy is in the truth, not in how we feel. Feelings fluctuate,
but truth does not. If joy is based on emotions,
it's going to rise and fall with circumstances. Jesus says, you
will know the truth and the truth will set you free. Why? Because
it's in you. Your testimonies are my heritage
forever, for they are the joy of my heart, writes David in
Psalm 119. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the
Word of the Lord stands forever. How do I get that? Meditate on
the Word of God. Not because you have to, not
because you know you should, but because it's like food. It's like food. And as you're doing so, another
way to cultivate joy is to ask God, the Holy Spirit, to actually
give it to you. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit.
It's active and present in our lives. It's not about personal
effort. As a matter of fact, we can't get it, but we can cultivate
it. We're called to rejoice, but true biblical joy is Spirit-empowered. So when we feel dry, when we
feel discouraged, don't say, oh, just some terrible joy. It's
personal. Just never have joy. Just say,
Father, I don't have joy. This stinks. And it's probably
your fault. I won't blame you for it. I need
joy. I would never say that to God,
but He knows you're thinking of Him. Why are you hiding from
the omniscient Lord? If I wipe off my face, He won't
know I got into the powdered doughnuts. If you didn't clean your hands,
He'll be guilty for it. Or it's usually egg wash, that's
my children. Who ate the powdered doughnuts?
I don't know. You know what I mean? It's all over their face and
nose. Pray! What is prayer like? Um, hey
guys, can you turn the air conditioning up a little bit? Thanks, appreciate
it. Hey God, I need some joy. Hey, what do you want for lunch? It's
a conversation that happens incessantly. the presence of God with us.
We don't have to bring ourselves into the presence of God anymore.
Holy of Holies, the curtains were torn down baby. This is
over. We are walking in communion with
God right now. No matter what we're doing, no
matter what we're saying, no matter how good, bad, or evil
it might be. God's not standing on the corner
going, where'd you go? What are you doing over there?
Come back over this way. He's with us. So imagine, I said this last
week, what are we inviting God into in our thoughts and minds? Focused in, in our minds, on
eternity, not the temporary. Most joylessness comes from focusing
on the wrong things. The problems, the disappointments,
the frustrations, the unfulfilled desires, the oh I wish, I should
have, could have, would have, delumerance or whatever it else
may be in any context of our life. I just not sold all that
Bitcoin. Don't even get me started because
I can probably get it on the spot right there. The slight momentary affliction.
is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory that is beyond
comparison with what it's false and exaggerated for. As we look
to the things that are unseen, not the things that are seen.
For the things that are seen are passing away and temporal,
but the things that are unseen are eternal. So when trials come, shift your
perspective. It's called reframe, by the way.
Look in a different way. Oh, this is horrible. Is it?
Yes, it's horrible. What's coming next in your mind?
And then it's going to happen, and this is going to happen,
and I'm going to do this. This is horrible. It's going to hurt. This may happen. So what? Who am I in the midst of it?
I get to be me in the midst of this. That's why something strange
inside of me wants another kiss. I'm not kidding. I don't, but
I've got some more exploration to do. Four days wasn't enough.
It's weird, right? But when you're only a little
over two years old as a human being in freedom, it's an incredible
pleasure. What were those other 48 years
about? I don't know. Has it changed? Because I don't know who that
was. I don't know who that was. It's then when we are focused
on eternity, our mind is free, and we can live truthfully and
authentically in Christ. Blessed is the man against whom
the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is
no deceit. You know the greatest deceit in life? Lying to yourself. Listening to the lies of the
voices inside of you that sound like you, but are actually an
amalgamation of everything that you've ever been told about who
you're supposed to be. Rather than hearing the voice
of your Savior. Therefore, having put away falsehood,
let each one of you speak the truth of this neighbor. For we
are members of one another. Joy, freedom does not exist where
there is hypocrisy, self-deception, or people-pleasing. Let me say
that again. Joy cannot exist where there
is hypocrisy. What is that? Acting apart. Posturing. Joy can't be posturing.
I'm just so happy. Are you? It cannot exist where there is
self-deception. Where you're blind to what's
really happening inside of you. And it will never exist where
there is people-pleasing motivation. Ever. Many believers lose joy
because they are trying to live according to false expectations
or external approval. I mentioned this last weekend
about hospitality. So we need to examine the areas
where we feel the pressure to perform in the name of Christ
and perform so that we're not seen in a wrong way. Let people
see you the way they see you. I do not want you to be a slave
to that anymore. Who cares? Well, I care. If you don't care, you're scared.
It doesn't matter. It's about my testimony. It's
not about your testimony. The closer you walk in true authenticity
with Christ, the more they're going to make stuff up about
you. So when you're gentle in spirit,
when you're kind, when you're long-serving, when you're patient,
when you try to lead instead of dictate, they're going to
hate you even more. They're going to make stuff up
about you that's going to malign you in such a way that you never
thought possible. You thought, did somebody drop
a fiction novel and stick my name in it? Yes. Welcome to the
family. But when that doesn't trigger
you, there are no triggers when you're free, when your joy is
full. And what comes out then, when
I see the pressure to perform, I do nothing. That's what you
do. That's what you say. I will do
nothing. I will not make a decision. You
feel a little guilty in your spirit, you pause. You take a
day. And then you make a decision
that you're going to act because it's something that you should
do because it's who you are and it's what you want to do. If
you're doing it because you feel guilty, don't do it. Even if the guilt is a good indicator
of something you should pay attention to, do not be driven by guilt. It is ungodly. Now you're going
to be guilty about feeling guilty. Don't do anything. What is the outcome? Well, one
of the best ways of cultivating this in our lives is to cultivate
gratitude. Just be thankful. It's the fastest way to restore
joy. That's why I didn't start with
it. Because it shifts our focus to
what we lack and puts it on what we have. I'm not a big fan of saying,
well, I used to be like this, and I used to do this, or I'm
this, or I'm that, and not anymore. No, who are you now? Just say
who you are now. We always want to compare ourselves to what
we weren't. Why don't we just say who we are and what we are?
Positively be thankful for what God has created in us and what
God has offered to us and what God has promised to us and what
God is doing through us. I think you find that I have
joy in that. Not I think you find that I'm not all impressed
about this and I'm not all impressed about that and I just wish all
this stuff was over and I'm trying to be joyful. That's garbage.
It's a trap. But sometimes what I find when
talking to people is that they love that state of mind. Sometimes
chaos and being a victim and suffering is just not where people
find their power. It's not where people find their
purpose. Well, if everything's good, what good am I? I've got nothing
bad to talk about. What can I say? It's the best day of my life.
Start there. Why? I'm just thankful for what? Just am. Some people, after they
laugh, say, well, yeah, I guess it is the best day of our life.
We got up today. I said, baby, I got up because it was the best
day of my life. I got up because it's the best
day of my life. See the difference? I'm thankful
for it. I'm thankful for the gospel.
I'm thankful for the life God's given me. I'm thankful for the
problems. I'm thankful for the fear because I'm hungry. I'm
thankful for the chaos because that builds our character. We
become more and more and more and more the image of our Lord.
Authentically knowing and being certain. And when we find a place
of uncertainty, we don't look at it and go, oh no, the whole
yes. I get to clean that out of my
life real quick. Moving right along. Pure me. Joyful me. Thankful me. Rejoice
always and pray without ceasing. Give thanks in all circumstances
for this is the will of God for you. 1 Thessalonians 5.18 Do not be anxious about anything,
but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving
let your requests be known to God and the peace of God which
surpasses all cognition, logic, reason, understanding, sanity. who will guard your hearts and
minds in Christ Jesus. I'm going to say, before I get to
the last two points, I know it's been a while. I'm going to say that when we
get here, a lot of us are driven to this place like, okay, I'm
going to start doing some stuff. I'm just going to start putting this
in action in my life. The action is in the presence
of Sid still. Because until you can find the
joy in sitting still, please don't do these last two things. Serving others. Because what
you will do is you will validate yourself unconsciously and your
joy will be attached to the things that you're doing to help other
people. Well that makes me happy. Good. Happiness is fine. If your
joy is attached to helping other people, it will kill you when
it goes away. Asking for a friend. And then you won't want to help
anybody. Hospital, what? Nothing. But then when we are able to
have this thankfulness to resonate in this joy. We can serve others
in love to experience a deeper joy. An overflowing of an already
full cup. A happiness that helps other
people have an impact. Why? It isn't the cup of cold
water that we give them. It's our presence. God's presence. God with us. The water will dry
up. The water will be drunk. The
water will turn to urea. Go back into the sewers. But the presence, the spirit,
the heart, our joy will reign. It is more blessed to give than
to receive. If you pour yourself out for
the hungry and satisfy the desires of the afflicted, then your light
will rise in the darkness and your gloom will be as the
new day. We can't do it for joy. We do
it because it's who we are and joy. And until you're able to rest
in that, don't go out and try to serve. And when you do serve,
just say, I'm going to serve one person this year. I'm going
to serve one person this month. I'm going to serve one person
this month. And then just don't say that anymore. You'll be able to serve when
it comes along. As you're able, without feeling
guilty, you'll say, I can't do that, but I can do this. God doesn't need us to be superheroes
running around trying to help everything and everybody all
the time. And honestly, I'm more
inclined to help a man push a van that he's trying to get down
the road rather than stop and see because his hood's up and
he's sitting on the back of the cigarette looking at his phone. I tend to be more inclined to
help people who are trying than to go get people who want to
try. And that leads me to my final
point, is that we need to surround ourselves with people and Christ. Isolation is a death
knell, and it rings so softly that we don't notice it. At the same time, community can't
be the source of our joy and hurt. Because when we get there,
then it becomes a negative energy. It becomes a negative sense of
desperation. It becomes a negative sense of
like, man, if I'm not around these people, I just don't know
if I'm going to make it. Rather than I can't wait to be around
these people. Because I love them and I'm going to be there.
But when we are lacking in that, we feel it, right? But that feeling
is a sign. That feeling is a sign that there's
something else missing. It's okay to want things, it's
okay to need things, but don't let your confidence and your
joy be tied to those things you want and need. It must be on an immovable, immutable
truth. And that is that God does not
leave, move, or fail. Isolation leads to joylessness. Because we were created for connection. So sometimes people can get all
this other stuff going on. The opportunity there to engage
is not there. Intimacy is found in 14, 15 different ways in life. And it all has to do with conversation
and connection and creativity in the context of how we speak
and live with each other. God has said in His Word, let
there be and there was and it was good and He expects us to
be in the same way with each other. To have not this creative power
in what we do, but the creative sense in when we speak, and when
we relate, and when we grow together. We are creatives. We're creating
a connection that glorifies Christ. Let us consider how to stir one
another up to love and good deeds. Not neglecting to meet together,
as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another.
And all the more as you see the day of Christ drawing near. So we need to intentionally engage
in the fellowship of Christians. How can we do that? Bible study,
coming to the Lord's Day, having our meal. Whatever. If you feel
the need to do more, do more. Invite, engage, ask. I don't understand how some people
can live in isolation. I tried it. It's a definite thing. At the same time, when we are
confident, when we are strong, when our joy is secure, it's
okay that we're alone. Because we can be alone and not
lonely. See, joy is not an emotion. It's
a way of life rooted in truth, in identity, in eternity. It's
cultivated through knowing who we are in Christ and living truthfully
in that. Anchoring ourselves in the Word
of God and walking in community and thanksgiving with others.
So when we align ourselves in this way with the truth of Christ,
the promises of God, joy becomes our default state. Not our struggle. The lack of joy is not a battle
to be won, but it's a beacon to pay attention. And this is the essence of it. Learning to sit in the knowledge
of Christ and let Him guide. But seeing, seeing how we're
supposed to see ourselves. is what Christ did. What He did
with His body, what He did with His life, is He gave Himself
for us. And He never wavered. But He did fear. He never gave
up, but He did want to escape it. Take this cup from me, Father. He was never broken and in an
emotional state of despair, but He did weep over those who didn't
see Him. So, what is it Trace said, March
5th of 2023? It's okay to not be okay. Favorable moment in our life. What about you? Let's rejoice
as we remember who Christ is for us. Let's pray. We thank
you Father for the love The depths of which we will never grasp, but we will always see and be
looking. God, you fill us even more than
hearing the words that come out of my own mouth. Your spirit
blesses me. Help the church know that this
is not a lesson for them. This is a learning for us. A reminder of whose we are. And that even when we feel like
we're very far away, You are right with us. And so as we continue to worship
this morning, as we take the table, Lord, I understand the
sense in which people want to establish that the body, that
Christ Himself is present in this opportunity because in the
Spirit He is. So I see it. We are in Him and He is in us
and we are together in His name. We are remembering who He is
and whose we are in Him. That we are your righteousness. Not just sinners, women or all. We are your beloved. Not just
people who need to be thankful that they were adopted. Lord, even when we get it all
wrong, make it all right. So help us
to have compassion for this world and for people in it, everyone
in it. Help us to live as people who
have compassion for ourselves. Fill us with the fullness of
your joy. and then help us to spread it
to others. As we face the temptation and the spiritual battles that
will come against us this very day, to try to take it and make
us to express the despair rather than the hope. Lord, help us
to be mindful of it and to see it and know it. And to make a
choice to say, no, I'm going to express what's really inside
of me, which is the joy of the Lord. And help us to be thankful for
it as we walk this life together in Jesus' name. Amen.