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Title: JOY of the Spirit Text: Romans 5.1-5 Date: 9-24-06.am INTRODUCTION: I want to talk this morning today about Joy. Joy in spite of the difficulties of life. I think we are all familiar with the difficulties of life. None of us are immune and as sure as night follows day they will come into our lives. Jesus said, “In the world you have tribulation,” John 16:33(NAS) We don’t need a list, we all know them and they are not something to be happy about. But, there is a difference between happiness and joy. Happiness is… …shallow …external without internal depth …based on chance …dependent on circumstances Happiness is a good thing. It gives us emotional release we need. When we are happy our body shows it; smiling, jumping, singing, shouting, laughing and sometimes even crying. Joy is… …deep …internal with external expression …based on choice …dependent on Christ When we look at joy in the Scriptures what we find is genuine joy, produced by the Spirit of God, also brings shouting and singing, leaping and laughing, but it does so even in the face of hard times. I believe there is a tremendous lack of joy in our society today. Article I of the secularist creed is the belief that happiness is the product of choice unhinged from value judgments. We are living in a generation that has bought into the idea. I believe that’s one of the reasons our culture is so attracted and addicted to alcohol…even though it takes millions of lives every year; even though is destroys lives and families and homes, we excuse it away. The lack of joy is also one of the reasons there is such a tremendous focus on sexuality in our culture. I think it’s one of the reasons there is a disproportionate emphasis on sports and entertainment and the money we are willing to spend for those who entertain us, it’s one of the reasons we create twisted video games, where we become drug dealers and hit men and street gang members and even members of the mafia and if you read or watched anything about the school shooting in Canada the young man responsible was infatuated, if not addicted, to a game based on the shootings at Columbine High School where he could play at killing classmates and teachers, until he could do the real thing. These are not fun games, they are filled with violence. All of these things seek to provide us with happiness and emotional release and a distraction from the demands of life, but they can’t provide joy. What is joy, what do we mean when we talk about SPIRITUAL JOY (Romans 5:1-5):
I.Spiritual joy begins with the Grace of God (Romans 5:1-2a). Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. -Romans 5:1-2a There is nothing in all the world as fulfilling as the joy of experiencing the grace of God. Of having the relationship with God that you were created to enjoy. The Greek charán which means: JOY. The Greek charis which means: GRACE. They come from the same root word. You see the similarity between the two because when you received grace, you’ve received joy as a result of the Spirits presence in your life!
II. Spiritual joy is built on hope Rom 5:2b We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God -Romans 5:2b There are two key words in this text here the first is the word hope. Rom 8:24-25 24 For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one also hope for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it. (NAS) 1 Pet 1:3 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, (NAS) This kind of hope is a living hope in a living Savior. According the Thayer’s Greek dictionary this kind of hope is a joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation. It is a sure and certain hope in the ultimate deliverance from a world marred by sin a world filled with disease, pain, heartache, suffering and death. The resurrection of Jesus gave hope proof and permanence. III. Spiritual joy is anchored in the Glory of God Rom 5:2b. We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God -Romans 5:2b The anchor of hope in our lives is the glory of God. What do we mean when we talk about the glory of God? The glory of God simply refers to the totality of His magnificence. God's glory is not just one characteristic or attribute it is the essence of all that He is; all of His goodness and greatness all of holiness and perfection. It is the manifestation of God's total character. Throughout history God’s glory has been to some degree manifest in the world Ps 19:1 The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. (NAS) Rom 1:20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. (NAS) It was supremely manifest in the incarnation - God came into the world in flesh in Jesus Christ John 1:14 14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory , glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. NASB We see the splendor and majesty of God in His creation, His moral and ethical goodness his holiness and righteousness were made manifest in Jesus Christ so we are able to understand how wonderful and marvelous and gracious and loving God is. All of that is His glory
Here, however, Paul is talking about our hope in sharing in that glory. One day the curtain of heaven will be raised and the glory of God will be fully displayed. Christ will return in power and glory (Matt 24:30) and the Bible says we will see Him as he truly is (1 Jn 3:2) in all His radiance, but not only that we will be transformed into the glory of God. (Phil 3:30-21) I Jn 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is. (NAS) Phil 3:20-21 20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; 21 who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself. (NAS) Make no mistake we will not be gods, we will not be divine. The ultimate hope of the believer is that he will share in the divine qualities and attributes. This is simply another way of speaking of the complete salvation experience; when we shall triumph in the completion of the work of salvation and be freed from sin, and pain, and tears, and disease and death and permitted to participate in the full splendors that surround the throne of God in the heavens;
But how do we make it through the grind of everyday life that exists between the beginning Grace and the ending Glory? IV. Spiritual Joy endures through the Knowledge of God (Romans 5:3-4). When the tough times come we must rejoice in what we know. …we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know… -Romans 5:3 Even though we may be going through financial difficulty, family difficulty, job difficulty, physical difficulty . . . we can still have joy because we know. What do we know? Dr Stan Reeder of Westminister Church of the NAzarene in Westminister, CO acronym for what we know called POP. a) We know God has a PLAN (Jeremiah 29:11). ‘For I know the plans I have for you’ declares the Lord. ‘Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future.’ -Jeremiah 29:11 Looking at the future can be a somewhat depressing… we are all dying, we look at the moral climate our own country and around the world and we look at the political climate in the world and we see man’s cruelty to his fellow man and it worries and bothers us what will it be like for future generations for our children and our grandchildren. We don’t know what the future holds, but we know who holds the future. And we know God has a plan. b) We know how God OPERATES (Romans 8:28). And we KNOW that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according ho his purpose. -Romans 8:28 That doesn’t mean all things are good. But that God works in all things good and bad to accomplish His purpose in our lives. He works through bad circumstances, bad decisions, bad health. So as Jimmy Valvano said we must never, never, never give up. We know God is on the throne and our God never slumbers or sleeps nor is too busy for us. b) We know God PRODUCES (Romans 5:3b-5a). Paul tells us in this passage… …we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character hope. And hope does not disappoint us… -Romans 5:3b-5a
V. Spiritual Joy is Enabled by the SPIRIT of God (Romans 5:5). And hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. -Romans 5:5 Just like love, joy can’t be manufactured it can only be produced by the Spirit’s presence in our lives. We must love and we must rejoice but we can’t do that without Christ we can do nothing but we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength. |