The Letter of First John       Message Two

1 John 1:4   And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

Before we continue with the letter, we should define “…your joy…”.  The Lord led John to write this letter that it will provide us as believers with all we need, as noted by the Apostle Paul, in –

2 Timothy 3:16-17  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

– and being provided, or furnished by the Word of God, our joy may be full!  The question before us then is “What is joy”?  To help us we will look at three things, beginning with –

I.  The Recognition of Joy.

    We need to know that –

  A.  Joy is not the same as –

    1.  Happiness or feeling blessed

John 13:16-17  Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.

    2.  Pleasure     The word means ‘thinks well of/ approves/willing

Luke 12:32  Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Have you been served at Chick-Fil-A?  The response to “Thank you” is always “Its my pleasure”.  They think well of your business, being happy that you are at their establishment, and they are willing to serve.  This is a pleasant response, but it is not ‘Joy’. 

    3.  Emotion

Webster defines emotion as “Literally, a moving of the mind or soul; hence, any agitation of mind or excitement of sensibility.”

Joy then, which would include happiness, blessedness, and pleasure, is the emotional state of the believer’s heart and mind willingly being moved toward singlemindedness with God.

Therefore – 

  B.  Joy is the knowledge of fulfilling the will of God.

       In Him, it is an attribute, infinite and unchanging.  He is –

II.  The Resource of Joy.      John 15:11 “…my joy might in you…” 

  A.  The source of the believer’s joy. The Lord Jesus Christ

John 15:10-11  If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

When we get saved, we are made alive in Him.  We are indwelt by God the Holy Spirit – new creatures in Christ Jesus.  We are bought with a price and are not our own.  That which we have is –

His love by which He sought us,

His salvation by which He saved us,

His love, by which we love Him and others,

His message that we declare to the world, and

His joy that we might have to its fulness when “we love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength:”  

We rejoice in –

  B.  The state of being in –

    1.  The Present

The joy of the Lord wells up in us like the living water the Lord spoke of while speaking with the woman in Samaria –

John 4:13-14  Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

When we are right with Him, joy wells up in us.  The pump handle of righteousness empties us of self and draws up the joy of the Lord from the well inside us, having already sprung up into everlasting life, and now filling us, no – overfilling us with joy, His joy!

And we look to –

    2.  The Future – a prepared place

Matthew 25:21  His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

Where?  He has told us where –

John 14:1-3  Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

Can we imagine if there were a sign at the entrance to the Father’s House that it might welcome us with these words “enter thou into the joy of thy lord.”

Our joy because it is His joy –

1 Peter 1:3-5  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

It is all about Him and we learn from His example through –

  C.  The Steadfastness of His joy

Our joy is through drawn from His Joy, and His joy is steadfast, not affected by the things trials and tribulations that we endure.

Hebrews 12:1-4  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

Paul the Apostle, through the commitment of his life, the confidence of his calling,  the crucifixion of his flesh, and the care for the salvation of men, was able to say through the grace of God –

Acts 20:22-24  And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there: Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.

He had learned joy – “…looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.”  We can have this same joy, and having spoken of the Recognition and the Resource of joy, now we look at –

III.  The Reception      “…your joy might be full.”    How does it influence the believer’s life?

Joy is a result of and an indicator of our walk with the Lord.  As He is the Vine and we are the branches drawing all that we are from Him, the results are seen as fruit to be a blessing to all!

Galatians 5:22-23  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Our joy can withstand the cold winter blasts and killing frosts because the Vine is alive – rooted in eternity past and throughout eternity future!

John 16:22-24   And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.

Not in our circumstances.  We learn this from the Lord’s words as recorded in –

Luke 10:17  And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. 

What is going to happen when the devils are not subject to them?

Mark 9:28-29  And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out? And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.

Where is their joy now?

It is not just the response to our circumstances, but is the response to the knowledge that we are faithful in our relationship with God.

In Conclusion, I want to read this definition –

Our son, James Burke, shared this definition and I believe it is a great help to understanding what we are speaking on now –

Joy In the New Testament, we never find joy or happiness defined, but we find them described. The word Μακάριοι is in many translations represented as “blessed”, but is often, and better, translated as “happy”. Read Matthew 5, in which chapter the conditions of happiness are described 9 times. Throughout the New Testament we see “happy” followed by a “because”. Happiness is a response to circumstances. On the other hand, χαρᾶς is translated as “joy”. This word is very closely related to the word χάρις, which means both grace and gift. There are never conditions described for joy in the New Testament, simply commands to rejoice! Read Matthew 28:9, Romans 12:15, Philippians 3:1. God does not command us to a reaction but to an attitude. An attitude that understands life as a gift, and settles in to trust the Giver regardless of circumstances. Joy is produced by love because love turns our thoughts away from ourselves and focuses on others. O. Henry wrote a wonderful story, titled “The Gift of the Magi”, in which a man and wife are very poor, but each possess a cherished item they value above any comfort selling would provide. Yet each secretly sells their treasure in order to buy a Christmas gift for the other. The heartache of the sacrifice was nothing to the joy of the giving. Hebrews 12:2 says, “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame…”. We see even for Jesus, the parent of joy was sacrificial love. In order to experience the joy of redeeming us, He endured the suffering of the cross. If He had not loved us enough to die for our sins while we still rebelled against Him, he could not have experienced the joy that was set before Him. Have you ever picked an apple off a tree and bitten into it, to discover a worm living inside? How did the worm get there? Most of the time, a worm in the fruit starts out as an egg on the blossom. When the apple tree flowers, insects come and lay their eggs in the blooms, and the fruit forms around them. Once the fruit is large enough and ripe enough, the eggs hatch and the worms eat their way out. Apple orchards must spray the budding trees to protect the ripened fruit. We have already seen how joy is the product of sacrificial love. But sometimes our love gets contaminated with hopes of recognition, or desires for recompense, or feelings of pride or self righteousness. Then the joy that follows is also contaminated with discontent, or disappointment or hurt feelings. To have pure fruit, we must guard against the eggs of corruption.

Do you have the fulness of joy today?

What is the source?  Or would you say

Who is the Source?

Are you right with Him today?