FINDING COMPLETE JOY

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Now remain in My love. If you keep My commands, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in His love. I have told you this so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”

John 15:9-11

“Until now you have not asked for anything in My name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.”

John 16:24

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Joy.

It’s the opposite of despair and I don’t think I have ever met anyone who likes to live in despair. I think it’s obvious that joy is always the more preferred, and better, option. But how do we find it? And when we do, will it be only be partial or fleeting?

Well, both questions are answered in today’s text from the Gospel of John, chapters 15 and 16.

First, how do we find joy?

Note that there are three pathways that Jesus mentions in these two chapters.

In chapter 15, we find the way to complete joy is through obedience and love.

“As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Now remain in My love. If you keep My commands, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in His love. I have told you this so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” John 15:9-11

God loved Jesus. After all, He was God’s one and only Son, and so God loved Him as any parent would love their child. The difference is that God’s love was as perfect as His Son was.

Jesus, armed with the love of His Father God, loved all people, despite their sinfulness, with that same love and then He encouraged His followers to remain in the love He gave them.

How would Jesus know that His disciples had remained in His love?

Their actions would reveal it.

For Jesus makes it clear that the proof of someone remaining in His love would be evident in the way they kept His commands. He had perfectly kept His Father’s commands and in turn, He expected His disciples to follow His lead. After all, Christians are to be Christ-like in the way they live and this goes for loving as He loved and modeling His obedience in following His Father’s commandments. And just in case a believer needed any more incentive, Jesus makes it clear that these two actions, loving as He loved and being obedient as He was obedient, would bring Him great joy and then He would in turn pass that joy down to the joy producer.

This friends was the complete joy that Jesus was talking about, a pure joy that does not have its origins with the world or within ourselves. Rather, it’s a joy that starts with Jesus.

So obedience and love are two of the three pathways to complete joy that Jesus mentions. The third is found in chapter 16:

“Until now you have not asked for anything in My name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.”  John 16:24

Jesus had been with His disciples day after day ever since He first called them to follow Him. With that, the disciples were never in a place of need or want because they always had what they needed by being in company with their Master. Even when He sent them out on their own, His hand was always upon them and what they were doing.

But now, Jesus was leaving. As He addressed them after finishing the Passover meal, He knew He would be crucified before sunset on the following day. Now very much alive, He would be dead and lying in a tomb within 24 hours. Three days later, He would be brought back to life through the incredible resurrection power of God and 50 days from that He would ascend to sit in authority over everything in heaven and on earth, finally leaving His faithful followers behind.

Indeed, the disciples had not asked for anything in Jesus’ name when He was with them but after He departed, they would be calling on His name for help and guidance. When they did, note that Jesus promised He would answer their petitions and provide for their needs, and it was this divine provision from their risen Master that would also lead them to complete joy.

And so in review, Jesus calls us to be obedient to His commands, to remain in His love, and to ask and receive His Provision. When we do one or more of these, we find our way to the complete joy we crave, a complete joy only found in Jesus.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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