Finding Joy In A Storm Tossed World Series

Mabel and I became friends over the next few weeks, and I went to see her once or twice a week for the next 3 years. Her first words to me were usually an offer of hard candy from a tissue box near her bed. Some days I would read to her from the Bible, and often when I would pause she would continue reciting the passage from memory, word-for-word. On other days I would take a book of hymns and sing with her, and she would know all the words of the old songs. For Mabel, these were not merely exercises in memory. She would often stop in mid-hymn and make a brief comment about lyrics she considered particularly relevant to her own situation. II never heard her speak of loneliness or pain except in the stress she placed on certain lines in certain hymns. …

During one hectic week of final exams I was frustrated because my mind seemed to be pulled in 10 directions at once with all the things that I had to think about. The question occurred to me, ‘What does Mabel have to think about-hour after hour, day after day, week after week, not even able to know if it’s day or night?’ So I went to her and asked, ‘Mabel, what do you think about when you lie here?’

And she said, ‘I think about my Jesus.’

I sat there, and thought for a moment about the difficulty, for me, of thinking about Jesus for even 5 minutes, and I asked, ‘What do you think about Jesus?’ She replied slowly and deliberately as I wrote…:

I think about how good he’s been to me. He’s been awfully good to me in my life, you know…. I’m one of those kind who’s mostly satisfied…. Lots of folks would think I’m kind of old-fashioned. But I don’t care. I’d rather have Jesus. He’s all the world to me.

And then Mabel began to sing an old hymn:

Jesus is all the world to me, My life, my joy, my all.

He is my strength from day to day, Without him I would fall.

When I am sad, to him I go. No other one can cheer me so.

When I am sad, He makes me glad. He’s my friend.

[Quoted in The Life You’ve Always Wanted. Expanded edition, By John Ortberg. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002, 22-24]

My friend, do you see the contrast? On one hand, you have a young man who because of a storm and a setback, wanted to take his life. On the other hand, you have a woman, with all the pain and loneliness the world could send her way, singing about Jesus for more than 25 years. What’s the difference? The difference is the joy the Lord gives. One has it and the other does not, and let me tell you, in that area, the world is filled with the haves & the have-nots.

This morning I would like to show you how you can become a “Have”. I would like to share how you can find joy in a storm-torn world.

- Read John 15:1-11

> John 15:11 These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.

Do you see Jesus’ desire? He said He wants His joy to be in you and for your joy to be complete.

Many people today believe that Jesus came bringing nothing but rules and regulations. Many believe Jesus was simply a man of sorrow and judging by the words and faces of some who claim to be Christians today, they are carrying on that tradition. But Jesus was a joy-bringer. The angels, announcing His birth said, “I bring you good tidings of great joy.” Jesus Himself said in John 10:10 I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. And here in John 15:11 Jesus says, “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. The Christian life is a joy-filled life, when lived as God intended it. Paul himself says that joy is one of the fruits of the Spirit.