RESTORING THE JOY
Part 3: Starting Out Right
I had to go and put some new tires on our truck this past week. That was fun, let me tell you. We had known for some time we were going to need new tires, because the tread was getting thin. We ended up getting them a little sooner than we thought because one of the tires got a nail in it and started going flat on me.
That’s not the only tire we’ve had problems with lately either. All summer we’ve been battling with one of our mower tires that wouldn’t hold air. Just about the time I’d get it fixed another one would go flat. Yesterday we discovered one of the tires on the church mower had gone flat.
Tires aren’t the only thing we’ve had trouble with lately either. It seems that our checking account has sprung a leak as well. You know what I mean? I keep putting money in it and it keeps leaking out. Am I the only one that struggles with a leaking checking account?
A lot of things leak in life, don’t they? Everything from baby diapers to soda cans, garden hoses to radiators, air conditioners to kitchen sinks, levies to roofs, pentagons to senate chambers. We have air leaks and oil leaks, water leaks and freon leaks. Why is it that nothing stays where it‘s supposed to?
You know, there is another leak a lot of people struggle with as well, and that is a joy leak. Jesus said in,
> John 10:10 “I have come that they might have life and have it in abundance.”
In other words, one of the reasons Jesus came was so that you and I could live abundant, victorious, joy-filled lives.
Let me ask you, does your joy ever leak out? Mine does. I can be living large and enjoying life, and then a day, or a week, or a month later I look around one day and discover the joy isn’t there that I used to have. I never see a puddle or anything so I guess it evaporates. Either that or Gladys cleans it up behind me. “Gladys have you seen my joy?” “Yeah, I put it on the counter by your cell phone. I wish you’d get that leak fixed because usually right after you lose your joy, I lose mine too.”
It works like that sometimes doesn’t it?
Jesus came because He loves God and because He loves us. He came to bring us freedom, and forgiveness; salvation and security; but He also came to bring us abundance and joy. If Jesus came to bring us joy, why is it that so few of us have it in our lives? I believe one of the primary reasons many people’s joy has leaked out is found in Exodus chapter 20.
- Read Exodus 20:1-7
Let’s think about the situation here. The Israelites lived in Egypt for more than 400 years and during the majority of that time they were slaves. For years, and generations they looked forward to the day when they would be free, when they would have their own homes in their own lands. For years they cried under the oppressive bondage of their slave masters. God heard their cries. He answered their prayers. He sent Moses to lead them to freedom.
After God sent 10 plagues against the Egyptians, they decided it might be time to let the people go. The Israelites marched out of Egypt, led by Moses who was led by God. God parted the Red Sea so the Israelites could cross and then closed it behind them; destroying the Egyptian army that had been pursuing them.
When they were hungry, God sent manna. When they were thirsty, He sent water from a rock. God provided all they needed. Then He led them to Mount Sinai, where He gave them the 10 Commandments. He said, “Listen. 400 years ago there were only about 60 of you. Now I’ve multiplied you to the point where you number in the millions. I have made you a great nation. I have brought you out of slavery and given you your freedom. I’ve destroyed your enemies, and gave you much of their riches. I’ve fed you and given you water to drink. Now, I am about to lead you to a land of your own. I’m going to give you houses you didn’t build. I’m going to give you gardens and vineyards you didn’t plant. I’m going to give you all of that, but this is the only way all of this is going to work. This is the only way you’re going to find the peace and joy you’ve been looking for. I must be the Only God in your life.”
My friend, I believe that is why some of us have allowed our joy to leak out. We have forgotten God’s first rule for joyous living.
What is that rule?
I. GOD MUST BE FIRST
My friend, if you are going to plug the leak in your life, God must be first. He must be God.
My friends, you and I were created to fellowship, to worship, and to love God. I was reading just yesterday that researchers in several different universities have discovered that we have a gene in us that causes us to worship, to seek God. We are wired that way, and the only way we are going to find the joy that so many seek is to begin doing what we were created to do, to worship God. To make Him first in our lives.
Let me ask you my friend, can you truthfully say that God is first in your life? Let me ask you, when push comes to shove in your life, what gives way? When something really neat is happening on Sunday morning, where do you find yourself? When your daily schedule is tight does the laundry wait for another day, or does the Lord? When time is short, what gets cut, your newspaper, your TV, or your time with God? When the budget is tight, what gets cut?
Listen to what Jesus says in John 15.
> John 15:5-6a I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without Me. If anyone does not remain in Me, he is thrown aside like a branch and he withers.
Does that sound like your life right now? Are you withering? Is your joy seeping out? Then get plug the leak. Rearrange your priorities. God must be first.
II. GOD MUST BE ALONE
- Exodus 20:3
Not only must God be first in your life, but if the joy is to remain, He must be alone in your life.
It is so easy to be turned this way and that, to get distracted, to get busy, to allow competing interests pull you every direction. You want to please your wife or your husband. You want to be a good parent and make your children happy. You want to be a good employee and advance at work. You wouldn’t mind having a new car or another car. You want to be a friend and have friends. You work and work trying to set some money aside and yet it seems you can’t catch up.
Look at what Jesus says in:
- Read Matthew 6:25-34
>Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be provided for you.
Oh my friend, the peace comes, the joy comes when God alone, when Jesus alone is the Lord of your life.
Listen to Jesus again in:
> Matthew 6:24 No one can be a slave of two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot be slaves of God and of money.
My friend, if you are going to keep the joy from leaking out of your life, you must plug the leaks. You must make God first in your life and He must stand alone in your life.
You must realize that you are not living for yourself and that this life is just preparation for the next one. Your life is much more important than the things you do and the things you have.
In his book, Wild At Heart, John Eldridge says that men are created with 3 great desires. We must have a battle to fight, a maiden to rescue, and an adventure to live.
Let me tell you my friend, the greatest adventure you will ever know is the adventure of living and serving under a general Who never loses, Who always knows what the enemy is doing, and Who loves His troops enough to give His own life for them.
Let me ask you my friend, what changes need to made in your life in order to get your life back in order?
What does it mean to you? Do you need to stop right now and say, “Lord, my career will no longer be the god in my life. Right now, I am going to put you first in all that I do, and I will trust you to take care of the rest?” Do you need to say, “Lord, I have struggled with my finances and continue to lose. I am going to put you first in all that I do and trust you to work in that situation?” Do you need to say, “Lord, I have been mighty busy trying to take care of things and trying to make things work out with my family. Lord, I’m tired. From here on out, I’m going to make you first in my life, and then let the chips fall where they will. I trust You.”? ...
Will you do that right now?
