Over the last several years, God has graciously been teaching me so much about Christian joy. (Trust me, I still have a lot to learn, though.) I have often found myself overwhelmed as God has allowed me to see a little more clearly that He actually wants His people to enjoy Him. Think about that for a minute: God, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, wants people to enjoy Him (John 15:11). In fact, our enjoyment of God actually brings glory to God. I urge you to take a few minutes to meditate on that thought. (I am deeply convinced that a biblical understanding of Christian joy will revolutionize the life of any believer.) Interestingly, however, Christianity is often reduced to a list of rules to follow, rather than a Savior to enjoy.
Now, we need to be careful here, because we are wading out into some interesting waters considering the world that we live in today. The world often equates joy with the acquisition of more "stuff" (e.g. the more stuff you have, the more joy you have). If we are not careful, we can look at Christian joy through that same lens. However, biblical Christianity teaches that joy is not found in the "stuff" that we have, but rather is found in a person; true and lasting joy is only found in Jesus!
At this point, considering what we have been talking about all week, you might be asking, "What do the last few paragraphs have to do with spiritual disciplines?" The truth is, they have everything to do with spiritual disciplines.
Take a look at John 15:11 with me… It says, "I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete." This is huge, and I want to make sure we do not miss it! Notice that Jesus tells His followers that He has "told you these things" for a purpose. That purpose is "that [His] joy may be in you and your joy may be complete."
Notice that it is Christ's joy transferred to them, and this is what leads to their fullness of joy. Why is their joy full? Because it is Jesus' joy in them, not their own. It is massively important to note that this is not a circumstantial kind of joy. This is a joy that cannot be shaken by circumstances because it is a joy given to us by a King who cannot be shaken by circumstances.
This leads us full circle back to the first half of John 15, which we studied on Monday. (I encourage you to go back and study this text if you have not already.) In order to understand how to access this Christ-centered joy, we must first understand what it is that Jesus "told them". As we saw on Monday, In John 15:5, Jesus told his followers to "abide in Him, and He in them." Ultimately, "abiding in Christ, and Christ abiding in the believer" is the key! To be clear, it is the believer abiding in Christ and Christ abiding in the believer that leads to overwhelming joy. So again, how do we abide in Christ? As we have seen, the believer abides in Christ by taking part in spiritual disciplines. By taking part in spiritual disciplines, we are aligning ourselves under Christ's authority and trusting Him to be the source of our joy!
May we be a people who are serious about communing with Christ!
Recognizing that there is no way we could examine all of the spiritual disciplines this week, I would like to encourage you to take a look at Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, by Donald S. Whitney. You will be massively blessed by it!
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