JOY

Dear friends,

This morning I would like to write to you about joy. In his last hours with his disciples, Jesus said to them:

If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.

I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. (John 15:10-11 NIV)

I don’t know about you, but when I read the first sentence (v.10), the words are so familiar to me that I don’t notice them anymore beyond their obvious meaning:

If you want the kind of loving relationship with me that I enjoy with my Father, you should obey my commands just as I have obeyed his (my paraphrase).

But this morning I was struck by Jesus’ statement in verse 11, in which he explains to his disciples why he is bothering to teach them about obedience. He states,

“I have told you this so that…my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”

We see here that Jesus’ joy must be received (“in you”), and that our joy must be made “complete” (full, consummated, brought to realization).

Jesus’ joy is already complete because he has perfectly obeyed his Father’s commands – and in a few short hours the world will forever know the full extent of his love, even unto death on a cross. But Jesus’ joy at completing his Father’s commands is not for him alone; he wants his joy to be “in us” and in all who will believe in his Name.

In one sense, we receive the joy of Jesus in us when we accept by faith his completed obedience (death on the cross) for us and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. His love for us is consummated as we receive the fruit of his obedient love for the Father.

In another sense, our joy is consummated or made complete in us through our obedience to his command to love one another by the power of the Holy Spirit in us.

We see then that joy is a fruit of God's Holy Spirit which flows out of obedient love, first out of Jesus’ obedience to the Father – which we receive by faith, and secondly out of our obedience to Jesus – which we carry out by loving one another in word and deed.

As we receive by faith the forgiveness of our sins through Jesus’ completed obedience, a “love tank” for godly joy is created in us by the power of the Holy Spirit. But that tank needs regular filling. The Holy Spirit fills it up in us as we walk as Jesus walked, in the power of the Holy Spirit, loving one another and our neighbor as ourselves in word (verbal testimony of Jesus) and deed (living testimony of Jesus).

Please pray with me: “Jesus, it’s so clear to me that my joy is incomplete. I believe in your Name and what you have done for me, but my joy is still inconsistent and lacking. I have not equated the level of joy in my life with how I love others. I confess that my love for others has been inconsistent and lacking, which I now realize is directly related to the level of joy in my life. Lord God, set a right heart within me, that the motivation of my obedience to you would be inspired by your obedience to the Father, and that the motivation of my love for others would be inspired by your love for me. Thank you for loving me so completely. Thank you for designing me to be dissatisfied when I am not walking in step with you in regard to loving other people. Lord, help me by your Holy Spirit to love you by loving others, just as you loved your Father by loving us. In your Name I ask these things, Amen.”

With love,

Jonathan

Yet it was good of you.

I can do everything through him who gives me strength. Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. (Phil. 4:13-14)

Dear friends,

I give thanks today for the goodness of genuine brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. My wife and I have several times been impacted by the verse from Philippians 4:13 which reminds us of the source of our strength in good times and bad, "I can do all things through him who strengthens me."

Yet this morning for the first time I was impacted by the combination of that verse with the verse following, which says, "Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles." How good and pleasing it is to Jesus when his children share in one another's troubles. They are the tangible body of Jesus to us in our troubles. They remind us that God is not a God of affirmation alone but of concrete support and encouragement.

Yesterday a group of people came from one of our house churches and cleaned our home for us. They got on their hands and knees and scrubbed the floors, gave us support, food and money, and did everything in their power to love us.

In this time of distress for our family, as we go through cancer together with my wife, we are grateful for the love of God who gives us the strength to do everything by his Spirit, and we are moved and humbled by the the willingness of so many to share in our troubles.

"Jesus, thank you for coming to our home yesterday. Thank you for cleaning and setting things in order. Thank you for building a little table and chairs for our girls so Liz doesn't have to lift them. Thank you for being willing to get dirty for us, to do unpleasant, menial tasks. Thank you for loving us so completely through our brothers and sisters - for washing our home as you washed your disciples' feet.

Jesus, change our hearts today. Help us to be willing servants as we go on our way. Help us to respond to your call to be your hands and arms and legs to the weary. Give us the words and actions to strengthen the hearts of those who are suffering and in distress. Jesus, you are beautiful in all your ways. Thank you. Thank you. Amen."

Love,
Your brother Jonathan