Joyride - Pt. 1 – Running on E
I. Introduction
Life is a series of ups and a series of downs. Cycles that loop. Turns and shifts that sling us in a different direction than we anticipated. Our life often feels much like an amusement ride! And not the kiddy ones. The white knuckle, scream your lungs out, close your eyes and hold on for dear life kind of ride! The wisest man in Ecclesiastes forewarned us in his examination of life that it was going to be a wild ride of tears and laughter, birth and death, killing and healing . . . a total of 29 mutually opposed seasons that jerk us and clank us through the ride of life. High highs and low lows. And most of us, most of the time just wished things could level out! We wish for this because our joy level is so often tied to the direction of our life. When we are up our joy level is high. When we are down there is no joy to be found. Even though in children's church we sang that we had the joy, joy, joy down in our heart to stay we live an almost Dr. Jekyll Mr. Hyde experience. It is into this wild ride that Jesus walks onto the scene and in one statement reveals that He can level things out. We love this statement but often fail to really dig into the means to obtain what Jesus is offering. So we continue to hear the promise and yet continue to run on E.
II. Text
John 15:11
I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
“I’ve told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature.
These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
Jesus comes along and offers us a joy ride. We fixate on His statement that He can make our joy complete. Make our joy full. Make our joy mature. We set around and wait for Him to accomplish this in our life as we continue to experience the harrowing corners and cliff like drop offs. We think He has shortchanged us or is unable to fulfill His promises. However, the issue is that we grab onto the promise of complete joy and never stop to read the first part of that statement. It is essential to stop and read that because in that moment it is revealed that He told us some things on purpose that determine whether or not our joy can be complete.
So, let's back up and hear what He says determines our joy level.
John 15:1-10
“I am the Real Vine and my Father is the Farmer. He cuts off every branch of me that doesn’t bear grapes. And every branch that is grape-bearing he prunes back so it will bear even more. You are already pruned back by the message I have spoken. “Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can’t bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can’t bear fruit unless you are joined with me. “I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing. Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire. But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon. This is how my Father shows who he is—when you produce grapes, when you mature as my disciples. “I’ve loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love. If you keep my commands, you’ll remain intimately at home in my love. That’s what I’ve done—kept my Father’s commands and made myself at home in his love.
Our joy level is based on whether or not we will embrace the prerequisites of having joy!
1. We must be pruned!
Are we willing to embrace and appreciate pruning?
Jesus makes it clear that our Father in our best interest will make cuts out of our lives. In other words, He will remove things. Most of us are unwilling to accept cuts. We have joy until God removes things. As long as He is adding things we are smiling and dancing through life. However, it is when He cuts things off that we like but that He has determined is stunting our growth that most of us become angry, despondent, depressed and even tempted to walk out of the vineyard altogether.
Let a death come that we didn't want to come and we lose our joy. Let a breakup take place when we thought it was going to be a hookup. Let a firing take place when we thought we were headed for a promotion. Let a zig come when we anticipated a zag and we become grumpy and disgruntled.
Jesus reveals to us that our joy will be dependent on trusting God enough to know what/who needs to be removed from our life! Some of us have no joy because we fight cuts. We hang on to things/people that God was trying to remove so that our joy could be full!
Jesus also points out (and this one is really hard to accept) that God doesn't just cut when things are going bad but He actually says there are times when you are bearing fruit that He will step in and prune. Right at the time when you thought everything was going as good as it could go. Right when you were making a name for yourself, getting noticed, enjoying life Jesus says God will prune so that you can bear even more fruit. Reminder God isn't really concerned about your comfort He is concerned about your character. We like an adding God but often resist a cutting God.
So He will prune in order to prod you to growth and if we can embrace the pruning God as he lops things off from our life our joy will be increased.
2. We must be rooted!
We want joy without the requirement of being rooted in Jesus. We quote, “In Him we live, move and have our being but is that how we live?”
Jesus, on purpose so that we can have full joy, uses the language of connection. He says live in me, rooted, connected; make your home in, intimate. In using those words, He drives home the fact that our life separated from Him cannot be full of joy! We want Jesus to be the basis of our church life. However, we allow Him to have very little to do with our home, work, leisure life and that way of living is diametrically opposed to the way of living that Jesus says will bring fullness of joy!
How do we know if we are rooted, connected and have our life positioned in Him? How do we know that are set up for full joy? It is easy to claim rootedness but Jesus actually gives us two standards by which we can determine our level of rootedness! I think it interesting the order that He mentions. He says we are positioned for fullness of joy when:
a. His Words are at home in you.
Your level of joy is directly proportional to the Word that has made its home in you. No Word = No Joy. Little Word = Little Joy. Much Word = Much Joy.
David understood this . . . Psalm 119:28 - I weep with sorrow; encourage me by your word.
Solomon knew because he was instructed by David . . . My son, attend to my words; incline your ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. Proverbs 4:20-22
A Wordless life can't help but be a joyless life. It is when and only when your life becomes a residence of His Word that you can find real and lasting joy. Only His Word can bring joy in the mourning. Only His Word can wipe sorrow away! Only His Word brings life!
b. We become obedient to His commands.
We must obey His commandments - our joy is dependent on our obedience. You would think those of us that are parents would understand this concept. However, for some reason we seem surprised that when our life is full of disobedience our life is void of joy. Think about your own experience with your kids . . . is your life full of joy or is your kid's life full of joy when they disobey? No! Likewise . . . when we fail to obey there is no platform for sustained joy. We fail to obey His command to:
forgive - we are surprised our life is full of bitterness
give - and we are surprised our life is full of lack
connect - life is full of isolation/loneliness
honor - life is full of no favor
It is almost comical at times to talk to people who are struggling and who are down in the dumps. I say that because the root of their lack of joy can almost always be traced to an area of disobedience and we never seem to make the connection! Obedience is a key component for joy!
It is interesting to me the order Jesus followed. You can't keep His commands if you don't know what they are! So He says make His Word at home in us so that we will know what He has instructed us to do!
Jesus desires to give us fullness of joy, complete joy, and whole joy. We like that part of the verse. We don't like the "I have told you these things" part of the verse and therefore we continue to run on empty!
Jesus in His declaration that He can give us fullness of joy issues a wakeup call or challenge. Because it stands to reason that if He can make our joy full, whole and complete then that must mean that our joy can be less than full.
I want to challenge you today don't live at a level lower than what Jesus has made available to us. Don't accept less than full and worse yet don't call empty full. I think too many of us have grown comfortable in an unpruned life. I think too many of us have grown comfortable in a Wordless life. I think too many of us have grown comfortable in disobedience. Worse yet I think many of us have moments of joy, fleeting joy, or seconds of happiness and we accept that lower level of living rather than realizing that there is fullness of joy. We can't just sing about joy we must experience the Joy Ride that Jesus has promised us!
Check your Word and your obedience level.
