What Does Jesus Want to Give Us?

Jesus came to give us abundant, joyful, and eternal life. I want to focus today especially on the fact that Jesus wants to give us his joy. It may be hard to believe but our team is well into planning for Vacation Bible School this summer. One song I remember learning at VBS went like this, “I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy, down in my heart, “Where?” Down in my heart, “Where?” Down in my heart to stay, “I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy, down in my heart to stay. and I am happy so very happy, I’ve got the love of Jesus in my heart.”

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April 17, 2016
John 15:7-11 What Does Jesus Want to Give Us?
Pastor Doug Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church

Listen to John 15:7-11, “7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.”

Chapters 15, 16, and 17, in the Gospel of John include Jesus’ final major speech to his disciples and perhaps his most important prayer to God.  These are the words of a teacher to his students on the night before his violent, painful death. They’re not spoken as a master to servants, but from one friend to another. They’re the words of someone who is going to die to those he loves and who love him. One could say many things in such a situation. We might speak of the injustice and unfairness of it all and feel sorry for ourselves. We could speak angrily of revenge. We could lament our unfortunate condition before God and within earshot of everyone else in an attempt to garner sympathy. We could speak words of assurance, comfort, appreciation and hope. It might come as somewhat of a surprise in this situation to hear words of joy. Jesus speaks of joy not once, not twice, but three times in these chapters. Three times he speaks, not of an occasional burst of happiness but of complete joy.

The first time in John 15:11, Jesus is speaking of our relationship with him.  Jesus says one of the main reasons he came was “so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.” As we’re united with Jesus through his word, prayer, and loving obedience the result in our lives will be joy. Jesus wants us to have the complete joy that comes from an intimate and lasting relationship with the loving and gracious God who gives us life.  If we’ve got the joy of Jesus down in our heart, it should show on our face.  Dennis Prager in his book, Happiness Is a Serious Problem, shares this experience:

“I once asked a deeply religious man if he considered himself a truly pious person. He responded that while he aspired to be one, he felt that he fell short in two areas. One of those areas was his not being a happy enough person to be considered truly pious. “His point was that unhappy religious people reflect poorly on their religion and on their Creator. He was right; in fact, unhappy religious people pose a real challenge to faith. If their faith is so impressive, why aren’t these devoted adherents happy? There are only two possible reasons: either they’re not practicing their faith correctly, or they’re practicing their faith correctly and the religion itself is not conducive to happiness.  Most outsiders assume the latter reason. Unhappy religious people should therefore think about how important being happy is – if not for themselves, then for the sake of their religion. Unhappy, let alone angry, religious people provide more persuasive arguments for atheism and secularism than do all the arguments of atheists.”

While joy and happiness are not exactly the same, because happiness is often more associated with our circumstances, I believe it’s true that following Jesus is conducive to joy. If we practice our faith correctly, the fruit of joy which is second in Paul’s list of the fruit of the Spirit will begin to grow and become increasingly evident in our lives over time. If we can learn how to have the joy of Jesus in our lives, (through hearing his word, prayer, and loving obedience); perhaps we’ll be able to face life, even in the challenging and heart-breaking times, with an attitude that is marked by joy.

The second time Jesus speaks of Joy in John 16:22-24, he says to his disciples, “So you have pain now; but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. On that day you will ask nothing of me. Very truly, I tell you, if you ask anything of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name.  Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.”

A key thing to note here is having the joy of Jesus does not spare us from pain or the hardships of life, for some people, it may actually increase them. All of us have pain in our lives of varying degrees and intensities. Henri Nouwen in his book, Here and Now: Living in the Spirit, wrote: “I have a friend who radiates joy, not because his life is easy, but because he habitually recognizes God’s presence in the midst of all human suffering, his own as well as others’…My friend’s joy is contagious. The more I am with him, the more I catch glimpses of the sun shining through the clouds. Yes, I know there’s a sun, even though the skies are covered with clouds. While my friend always spoke about the sun, I kept speaking about the clouds, until one day I realized that it was the sun that allowed me to see the clouds. Those who keep speaking about the sun while walking under a cloudy sky are messengers of hope, the true saints of our day.”

Each of us makes the decision, dozens of times a day, about whether we’re going to speak about the “sun” or about the “clouds.”  Whether we will spread and share light, love, and joy. Jesus knows there are clouds, he knows about pain, but he says in John 16 if we ask, we will receive, so that our joy may be complete. Someone might say, “That isn’t true, “Ask and you will receive,” I prayed for someone to be healed and they weren’t. They died.” Jesus understands those feelings. He’s speaking about joy moments before he is: abandoned by his friends, arrested, beaten, taunted, whipped and crucified. Most of us, including Jesus, are not seeking painful events in our lives, but tests, afflictions, and trials come to all of us.

The Letter of James begins (1:2-4), “My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete (there’s that word again), lacking in nothing.”

A pastor in Florida used to have count-it-all-joy parties every now and then. He so believed this verse that when he’d face a difficult situation, he’d call friends over to his house.  He’d say, “I want you to come to my house for a party.” His friends would ask, “What’s the situation?” “Well, I’m going through this incredibly difficult crisis right now, and I’m having a count-it-all-joy party. We’re going to celebrate the difficulty, because I know that this difficulty is going to bring something of special value to my life. I don’t know what it is yet, but I want you to come and count it all joy with me.” Have any of you ever thrown a count-it-all-joy party? I haven’t. It’s hard to consider a trial pure joy, because trials and hardships hurt. Sometimes they hurt more than we feel we can bear. Yet through our pain and our trials we discover what our faith is made of and it can even mature and deepen.

            The third time Jesus speaks of joy is in his farewell discourse in John 17:13, he says in a prayer to the Father, “But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves.” Jesus is praying for us, not himself. Jesus wants his followers to understand that his death is not cause for sadness; because he’s returning to the Father. Jesus is praying that his followers will be united as one, even as Jesus and the Father are one. In John’s gospel, the arrival of Jesus is cause for joy and the departure of Jesus will bring joy as well. It’s hard for us to think of joy and death at the same time, yet how we view death is transformed by our faith.

April 9 was the 71^st anniversary of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s death. He was a pastor and theologian who was part of an effort to assassinate Adolph Hitler during WWII. Shortly before returning to Germany before the war began, Bonhoeffer was in England and America. While in England he spoke these words in a sermon in London. “No one has yet believed in God and the kingdom of God, no one has yet heard about the realm of the resurrected, and not been homesick from that hour, waiting and looking forward joyfully to being released from bodily existence.

Whether we are young or old makes no difference. What are twenty or thirty or forty years in the sight of God? And which of us knows how near he or she may already be to the goal? That life only really begins when it ends here on earth, that all that is here is only the prologue before the curtain goes up- that is for young and old alike to think about. Why are we so afraid when we think about death?…Death is only dreadful for those who live in dread and fear of it. Death is not wild and terrible, if only we can be still and hold fast to God’s Word. Death is not bitter, if we have not become bitter ourselves. Death is grace, the greatest gift of grace that God gives to people who believe in him. Death is mild, death is sweet and gentle, it beckons to us with heavenly power, if only we realize that it is the gateway to our homeland, the tabernacle of joy, the everlasting kingdom of peace. How do we know that dying is so dreadful? Who knows whether, in our human fear and anguish we are only shivering and shuddering at the most glorious, heavenly, blessed event in the world? Death is hell and night and cold, if it is not transformed by our faith. But that is just what is so marvelous, that we can transform death.” Because Jesus has been raised we need not be afraid of death and we can even face it with anticipation and joy.

In John 3:25-30, the disciples of John the Baptist come to John concerned that he is losing market share to Jesus, “Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing, and all are going to him.” John the Baptist isn’t upset about this development, it means he has done his job and he says, “The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. For this reason my joy has been fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease.”  John’s words are good advice for having the joy of Jesus. Jesus must increase within us and our old nature, our selfish self, our addicted self, our self-sufficient self, must decrease. The theologian Helmut Thielicke wrote this about joyless Christians, “The glum, sour faces of many Christians…They rather give the impression that, instead of coming from the Father’s joyful banquet, they have just come from the Sheriff who has auctioned off their sins and now are sorry they can’t get them back again.”

Jesus radiated joy; that’s part of what made him attractive to all kinds of people: children and adults, the troubled, the grieving, tax collectors, prostitutes, people from all walks of life. About the only people who didn’t like Jesus were the religious people who thought Jesus hung around with the wrong crowd, went to too many parties, and gave God a bad name. The gospels record Jesus as breaking up every funeral he attended!

Having the joy of Jesus comes from being intimately united with Jesus through our habits, attitudes, and decisions so that Jesus is increasing in us and our old self is decreasing. Having the joy of Jesus comes through praying for God’s Spirit to grow the fruit of joy within us in all circumstances. We can be encouraged knowing this is not only our prayer, but Jesus prayed and is still praying that we may have his complete joy in our lives.

Do you know what it is like in the presence of God?  1 Chronicles 16:27 says, “Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and Joy in his dwelling place.”

Psalm 16:11 assures us, “In your presence there is fullness of joy.”

Questions for Discussion or Reflection

1. Do you associate Jesus with joy? Why or why not?
2. Did you already know or were you surprised to discover that Jesus speaks three times in John about his joy and our joy?
3. How would you describe or picture “complete” or “full” joy? What would it be like to have that kind of joy in our life on a daily basis?
4. The first time Jesus speaks of joy in John 15 he is speaking in terms of our relationship with him. How does having a close relationship with Jesus impact our joy?
5. The second time Jesus speaks of joy in John 16 he also talks about pain. How does the joy we have in Jesus help us in times of pain, hardship, or suffering?
6. In his prayer for his followers in John 17, Jesus talks about joy even in the face of his pending death. How does having the joy of Jesus help us even in times of death and loss?
7. What is one thing you can do to cultivate and demonstrate the joy of Jesus in your life?