Lighten Up!
Various Scriptures
Introduction
We all like being around people who are generally upbeat, don’t we?
I mean, if you had your choice of being with someone who had a smile or someone who looked like he was weaned on sour lemons, who would you most likely pick?
I’d pick the smiley guy almost every time, and here’s why.
One thing I have never been able to understand is the notion of a grumpy Christian.
Grumpy Christian. To me that seems like an oxymoron on the same level as “jumbo shrimp,” or “plastic glass,” or “congressional budget cuts.”
It’s genuinely hard for me to understand how someone who claims to be walking with God could be grumpy for any length of time.
Now let me be quick to say that I am not talking about sadness. I am not talking about genuine SORROW.
And I am not talking about some fake happiness. I would never suggest we walk around with a plastic smile on our face pretending that everything is okay all the time.
Things happen, things go wrong, and we are faced with heartache and hurt.
I’m not talking about that.
I’m talking about a basic attitude – how we carry ourselves.
I want to focus on the everyday attitude we carry with us.
Let me ask you a question. How would others characterize your attitude…your “bearing,” if you will?
Do they see you living a life of joy, peace, and rest, or do they see someone who looks like they have no hope for today, much less for eternity?
Which attitude do you think will be more likely to attract someone to the gospel?
Think about it – why would anyone want to be a Christian if the ones he sees are always sullen and grumpy?
Can you imagine someone with a perpetually long face trying to tell someone the “Good News?”
“What’s so good about it? The prospect of being as cheerful and excited as you? No thanks!”
My purpose today is to encourage you to be the type of person other people point to when they are discussing people they like being around.
We are going to spend our time on three areas, and the first one is…
I. The Joy.
By joy, I don’t mean “happiness”, because happiness is dependent on circumstances.
Heartburn from eating a pizza too fast can make you unhappy, right?
Joy is an inward attitude that has God as its OBJECT and its SOURCE.
It’s much deeper than happiness, and can present even in the midst of pain.
Why? Because the focus of joy is not the pain or the circumstance, but God.
Let’s take a look at three areas of joy.
A. Joy in the Lord.
First, as I just mentioned, joy has God as its object and its source.
If you can focus on Him, then it is easy to have joy in Him.
Listen to Psalm 28:7-
The LORD is my strength and my shield;
my heart trusts in him, and I am helped.
My heart leaps for joy
and I will give thanks to him in song.
Just taking the time to think of all He has done for you in securing your salvation and in offering you a full and abundant life will go a long way to experiencing that joy.
Take some time to look over His wonderful promises in Scripture given so that you and I who don’t deserve it can live lives in close relationship with Him.
He has gone above and beyond the call of duty, so to speak, to give you eternal life in heaven and a full life here on earth.
Rejoice! Not only has He given you breath for today, we’re told in Ephesians that He has given us every spiritual blessing in Christ!
He has promised to be active in your life at all times. The great, awesome, mighty God of all creation is also all-loving.
Join with King David in allowing your heart to leap for joy and give thanks to Him.
There is joy in the Lord.
Next we look at…
B. Joy in our salvation.
This is hard to explain unless you have experienced it.
When I was a freshman down at SDSU, I was visiting my grandparents outside Watertown for Christmas.
One of my uncles and I had spent hours the night before discussing the fact that I had given my life to Christ a couple months before that.
But one night my grandmother was playing some Christmas music on the record player.
For you younger folks, a record was this big round piece of black vinyl that had these grooves in it that contained the music.
Anyway, the music was playing, and I had a sense of joy and wonder that I had never experience about anything prior to that.
It finally dawned on me that we were celebrating the One who died for me so I could go to heaven.
And the songs of Christmas took on a significance for me that I had never known before.
Think about that for awhile, and see if it doesn’t do something for your attitude in general.
God has been very kind to remind me of this often so I can rejoice in His salvation.
And it never gets tiring. Not when I reflect on how dirty I was when I came to Him for cleansing and forgiveness, and how He took me just as I was and made me a new creation in Christ.
It’s my opinion that once you really get a handle on the depths from which He saved you, you can’t go very long with a sour attitude.
Christ’s death and resurrection give us hope.
1 Cor. 15:19 says this:
If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.
But guess what! We don’t need to pitied. Instead we can rejoice that His salvation is complete, and it is yours and mine if we put our trust in Him.
Take joy in that!
Next, we take a look at…
C. Joy in living.
This is just kind of a basic outlook that says I am glad to be alive.
This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us be glad and rejoice in it!
I love that verse. But like you, I have a hard time rejoicing some days, esp. if I know that something stressful is going to happen.
One time at work, as an elderly customer was leaving, I said, “Have a good day!”
He looked back at me and said, “When you’re my age, they’re ALL good.”
This guy was willing to find the good in life rather than focus on the negative.
That’s not always easy, especially during an election year.
Walk around like you have something to live for now, and to look forward to in eternity, and it will draw others not only to YOU, but will give you the opportunity to draw them to Jesus.
See how that works?
Closely tied to the joy is …
II. The Fruit.
The focus of this next part is the fruit of the Spirit.
You probably already have this memorized, but allow me to read Galatians 5:22-23:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Before we get into this section, I want to say something and I want you to listen carefully.
The fruits of the Spirit are the measure, if you will, of your walk with God and the impact you are allowing Him to have in your life.
If you are not exhibiting the fruits of the Spirit, you are not walking as Jesus would have you to walk. And your relationship with Him is less than it should be.
You see where I am coming from?
If not, I think you will understand more as we continue.
We are going to focus on four of these fruits briefly, then I want to move onto some practical application stuff.
First, we look at…
A. Love.
Listen to Jesus words in John 13:34
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
There’s a chorus that was real popular in the 70’s and early 80’s. It was called, They Will Know We Are Christians By Our Love.
Remember that one?
Why is love so hard for some Christians to practice? It’s hard for them to practice it toward non-Christians and to Christians.
My guess is that they are afraid of getting burned by people because they have been hurt in the past.
Or they just have never developed in this area.
Either way, it is not good, and it needs to be developed.
Remember that we reflect Christ in how we love not only other Christians, but those outside the Church for whom Jesus died.
And don’t ever get into the thought that we don’t need to love someone if they don’t deserve it.
Did Jesus give His salvation to you because you deserved it?
You know the answer.
Treat others the same way.
Next, let’s look at…
B. Patience.
Some of you are saying, “Okay, but get a move on!”
Patience is one of those fruits of the Spirit that seems to be in short supply in the Church.
As long as things are going just your way, it’s fine.
But let something go wrong, or let someone step on your toes, unintentionally or not, and watch out.
I admit that I need work in this area. If I am running late to something, I get impatient with whoever it is that is impeding my progress.
This is not good.
We get impatient waiting for our food in the restaurant, even though there are other people who were there before us.
We get impatient at the traffic lights, or at the bank line.
When we display our impatience, how do you think this reflects on us and our relationship with Christ?
Not very well.
Remember, God is patient with you, so you need to be patient with others.
The last two fruits we will look at this morning are…
C. Kindness and Gentleness.
Is there really any need to talk about these very much?
It seems to me that it should be fairly obvious that we should be kind and gentle to others.
If you disagree with someone about something, do you approach them in a sweet spirit, or do you plot for the time you can really let them have it – in Christian love, of course.
Some Christians just can’t wait to give someone “what they deserve.”
Rather than forgive, they start an account of bitterness, and take every chance they can to make a deposit, until the time comes that they are able to confront whoever it is they are upset with, then watch out.
Let me assure you this is not a good prescription for healthy relationships of any kind, and it only makes forgiveness and restoration harder, if not impossible.
You are familiar with the old saying, “You get more flies with honey than you do with vinegar.”
That should be on a plaque in all our homes.
Practice kindness and gentleness, and just see how people flock to be around you.
It works – believe me.
The Church of Jesus Christ needs to shine in the world as people who are loving, patient, kind, and gentle.
Before we move on, let me ask you a question. Why is it that certain cults seem to grow in spite of the spread of the gospel around the world?
One of the major reasons is that most of the people getting involved with cults are not getting involved because of the doctrine or teaching of the group. Most of the people I know who have been involved in cults have no idea what the basic beliefs of the group are.
They join because they are loved and accepted. Not looked down on.
How much more should we, who worship the true God of Scripture, display these attributes, especially since they are enabled in us by God Himself?
I want you to think about it.
Well, we now move on to…
III. The Practice.
We are not going to stay here long, but I would like to give just a few practical suggestions for displaying these fruits of the Spirit as we go about living.
First…
A. At Work.
When you are at work, how do you treat your employers? With respect, or derision?
If you are an employer, how do you treat your employees? Do you look down on them, lording it over them, or do you treat them with respect, knowing that you are not really “The Boss,” but rather serve a God who sees all?
Do you complain about co-workers, employers, or employees behind their back to others at the job, or do you take the high road, privately giving them the opportunity to respond to your concerns?
Be loving, patient, kind, and gentle, and you will gain the respect of just about everyone there.
B. At Home.
I’d like to think we have this figured out as it relates to our families, but that is not always the case.
We could spend weeks just talking about this, but we will not.
Instead, I will summarize it this way:
Extend the fruits of the Spirit to your family, and watch the dividends pour in.
If you are unable to do that, then take advantage of the thousands of resources available from Christian authors to help you.
It won’t always, be easy, but I guarantee it will pay off.
C. At Play.
We have already touched on this a little, but I want to take a little time and tell you something that is a pet peeve of mine.
When I was a waiter, I found that Christians can be the hardest people to serve in a restaurant.
You would think they would be the best people to serve, but many times that is not the case.
In my experience, it was the Christians who complained the loudest, were the most impatient, and the most rude to the servers.
If something was not quite right, you could be sure to hear about it, and demanded to make it right.
I determined a long time ago, that I would make it my goal in a restaurant, no matter if it was a drive-in, a fast-food place, or a top-notch fancy place, that I would be the best customer that place had that day.
I would be pleasant to the waiter or waitress, and I would go out of my way to make their job as easy as possible.
If something was wrong, I would first decide if it was worth bothering him or her about. In most cases it is not.
If it did need to be brought up, I would begin by apologizing for being a bother.
Then I would describe the problem, pointing out that it may have been my lack of clear communication that caused the problem.
I have never in all my years of doing this been turned down, if I was in the right.
When I leave, I always leave a tip of at least 15%, unless the service was extremely poor, and I still leave a tip, and then visit with the manager at a later date.
If you are courteous, you can expect at least two things.
First, watch what happens next time you go there.
That waiters or waitresses will just about kill themselves to wait on you, and you will get the best service in the place.
Secondly, and most importantly, you will win their respect, which is absolutely essential in sharing the gospel with someone.
That is just one area, but it is one in which Christians have the opportunity to shine like a light, or to blow it big time.
One way to summarize this section is to look at the words of Jesus in Matthew 7:12 –
So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
“Oh yeah! If I want others to love me, I need to show love. If I want others to be patient with me, I need to be patient with them. And if I want others to show me kindness and gentleness, maybe I should show it to them.”
Conclusion
Let’s finish this off, shall we?
I would just like to summarize in this manner:
The love that God showered on you needs to be reflected in everything we do.
How many times have I said from this pulpit that we are to reflect God’s workings in us?
This is no different.
God is loving, patient, kind, and gentle.
And He has given us every reason to be joyous, so leave here today, determined to LIGHTEN UP!
Remember that Grumpy is one of the Seven Dwarves, not a Fruit of the Spirit!
Invitation
Before we go tonight, I want you to think back to what I said about the Christmas I spent with my grandmother and the joy I felt in realizing that Christ came to earth for me.
He came to earth for you, too.
And He didn’t just come so we could have a holiday to celebrate. He came to bring you to heaven. But He had to die to do it.
You see, the Bible says that there is no one righteous, not one. We are all sinners. It also says that we deserve hell for our sins, and no amount of good deeds or religious activity will change that.
But Jesus died to pay the penalty our sins deserve.
And not only did He cover our sins with His blood, He opened the way for you and me to go to heaven when we die.
If you are here tonight, and you aren’t sure God would allow you into heaven, then I have wonderful news.
Because of Jesus, you can know right now.
It’s a simple as ABC:
Admit you are a sinner.
Believe Jesus died for you and rose from the dead to bring you to heaven.
Call on Him to forgive you, and to give you eternal life in heaven. The Bible says that all who call on the Lord will be saved.
Don’t delay another day. Get this settled tonight, and go home resting in the fact that you will spend eternity in heaven.
We are going to pray, and if you want to take Christ tonight as your Savior, you will get that opportunity.
After we pray I want everyone to keep their heads bowed and their eyes closed for just a few moments.
Let’s pray.
(Prayer for salvation)
(Prayer for others who need help with “lightening up.”)
