The Joy Challenge – Week 3

“You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
Psalm 16:11 (NKJV) 

In 1824, Ludwig van Beethoven completed his Ninth Symphony, Ode to Joy, written by German poet/playwright Friedrich Schiller in the summer of 1785. It’s the European Anthem of the joy that peace and brotherhood bring. What’s amazing is that Beethoven was deaf when he composed Ode to Joy! He couldn’t hear a single note. Later, in 1907, a poem written by Henry van Dyke, called The Hymn of Joy was set to the famous “Ode to Joy” melody in the final movement of the Ninth Symphony. It begins with “Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee, God of glory, Lord of love….” The entire hymn is a song of joy for the Giver of immortal gladness!

In Psalm 16, David wrote a very personal hymn of joy expressing the goodness of God. He uses over 25 personal pronouns in just 11 verses of this hymn. Take a moment to review David’s Ode to Joy in seven of these verses:

• In verse two he writes, “I said to the LORD, ‘You are my Master! Every good thing I have comes from You.’” (NLT)

• He adds this in verse 5, “LORD, You alone are my inheritance, my cup of blessing. You guard all that is mine.” (NLT)

• Verse 6 says, “The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.” (NIV)

• Verse 7 says, “I will bless the Lord who counsels me; He gives me wisdom in the night. He tells me what to do.” (TLB)

• Verses 8 and 9 say, “I know the LORD is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me. No wonder my heart is glad, and I rejoice. My body rests in safety.” (NLT)

• Then David concludes with this in verse 11, “You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”  (NKJV)

When you read this hymn of joy, you can’t help but feel the intimacy David experienced with God. Here’s the point: Fullness of joy comes from the presence of the Lord. From His right hand, David says, are pleasures forevermore! This is the path of life God has for those who make the Lord their refuge! David’s hymn began with this prayer, “Save me, O God, because I have come to you for refuge.” Psalm 16:1 (TLB)

Have you made the Lord your refuge? The word refuge means a safe place, a hiding place, a fortress where you are protected by the one in whom you put your trust. Jesus Christ came to save us from our sins, to provide a safe refuge for us to experience the fullness of His joy. Like David, we can experience that same joy when we cry out, “Lord, save me! I come to You for refuge.”

If you’ve done that, then your Joy Challenge today is to take a moment and write your own Ode to Joy!  Use Psalm 16 as a model for what you want to express in gratitude to God for all He has done for you. What good things has He given you? How has God guarded your life and protected you? Where have your boundary lines fallen? In what ways has He directed your life and blessed you? How has God come through for you and brought you joy? Write it down in your journal, pray it back to God, and watch your joy tank overflow with praise!

“Now that you know this truth, how happy you will be if you put it into practice!”
John 13:17 (TEV) 

In our Joy Challenge, we are discovering that joy is a focus not a feeling. That means we can experience joy even when we don’t feel it if we keep our focus on God and His Word. We don’t have to wait to feel joyful when we live by faith. Are you living by faith or by feelings? As a Christ follower, the Bible says we are to live by faith. What’s the difference? Author and counselor, Neil Anderson, noted, “If you believe what you feel, instead of believing the truth, your walk will be as inconsistent as your feelings. If what you believe does not reflect the truth, then what you feel does not reflect reality. The order of Scripture is to live by faith according to what God says is true.  Your emotions will follow…. We don’t feel our way into good behavior; we behave our way into good feeling.” 

Jesus put it like this, “Now that you know this truth, how happy you will be if you put it into practice!” John 13:17 (TEV) He is saying that if you wait until you feel like doing what is right, you may never do it. But, if you do what is right, you will feel good about it. Your feelings will catch up when you act on the truth you know to be right. 

So, what do you do when your feelings do not reflect the truth? First of all, it helps to understand that your feelings are neither right nor wrong. You don’t have to feel guilty about your emotions. They are an important part of your being. Learning to acknowledge our emotions is a critical part of our freedom and maturity. You can’t be right with God and not be real. Don’t repress your feelings. Learn to express them to God. Revealing your feelings is the first step to healing. Tell Him exactly how you feel. The Psalms are a good example and model for expressing our feelings to God. Being spiritual doesn’t mean you cover up how you feel and deny your emotions. It means you are real and honest with God about how you feel. It means you obey the truth, not because you feel like it, but because you believe it is the truth. Your feelings, Jesus said, would catch up with your obedience.  “… How happy you will be if you put it into practice.” That’s where our joy comes from. We focus on the truth of God’s Word and put it into practice and before you know it our hearts are filled with joy! Joy comes from putting God’s Word into practice in our everyday lives even when we don’t feel like it. Let’s practice joy today!

God, help me to be honest with You about my feelings. Look into my heart today. I want to be real. Heal the hurts of my heart that I covered up because it was too painful to express. Teach me to walk by faith, believing that my feelings will catch up with my obedience to Your truth. I want to be led by Your Spirit and not by my emotions. 

“I’ve learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I’m just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I’ve found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am.”
Philippians 4:11-13 (MSG)

Do you suffer from FOMO – Fear Of Missing Out? It’s a joy killer. It robs you of the joy of the present, and all that God has given you now. FOMO feeds covetousness. We want what we don’t have and are never satisfied with what we do have. If you want to experience real joy, you must learn the secret of contentment. In Philippians 4:11-12 (NET), the apostle Paul wrote, “I have learned to be content in any circumstance. I have experienced times of need and times of abundance. In any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of contentment, whether I go satisfied or hungry, have plenty or nothing.” Did you notice that twice Paul mentions that contentment was a “learned” character quality? It didn’t come naturally. He had to learn it and so will you and I if we want to experience joy no matter what happens.

I love the way The Message puts this passage, “I’ve learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I’m just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I’ve found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am.” Can you really say that as well? How do we learn contentment like that? Imagine being just as happy in poverty as you are in prosperity, with an empty stomach as with a full one. That sounds so counterintuitive. Is it even possible?

To discover Paul’s secret, we must understand a couple of things about contentment.

First, contentment is realizing that God has provided everything I need for my present happiness. In his letter to Timothy, Paul wrote, “Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave it. So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content.… Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment.” 1 Timothy 6:6-8; 17 (NLT) I love that last part, God gives us all we need for our enjoyment! He’s not putting a premium on poverty or prosperity. Another translation says, “God richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.” Are you enjoying all that God has so richly supplied for you?

Second, if I’m not content with what I have, I will never be content with what I want.

Still, knowing these two truths is not enough alone, is it? So, how can we learn the secret of contentment so our joy remains constant no matter what our circumstances may be?  I believe verse 13 holds the answer. Paul said, “Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am.”

In other words, your possessions don’t define you. Jesus said our lives don’t consist in the abundance of our possessions or the lack of them. In an argument over an inheritance when a man asked Jesus to tell his brother to divide their father’s estate with him, Jesus said, “Beware! Don’t always be wishing for what you don’t have. For real life and real living are not related to how rich we are.” Luke 12:15 (TLB) Some of the most discontented people I know are the wealthiest! Think about it. If having more made you happier, then those with the most would be the happiest, but are they? How often do we hear of those with so much ending their own lives in misery?

Wouldn’t you like to break free from FOMO? You can! Learn the joy of contentment so that whatever you have, wherever you are, you can make it through anything in the One who makes you who you are in Christ! Find your identity in Him! When you do, you’ve found the secret of contentment.

“… You’ll not likely go wrong here if you keep remembering that our Master said, ‘You’re far happier giving than getting.'”
Acts 20:35 (MSG)

Yesterday we found the cure for FOMO – Fear Of Missing Out. It’s in learning as Paul did in Philippians 4:11-13, the secret of contentment. We looked at two truths about contentment that help us learn this secret.

1.    Contentment is realizing that God has provided everything I need for my present happiness.

2.    If I’m not content with what I have, I will never be content with what I want.

Let’s consider a third truth about contentment today that dives deeper into the depths of joy we can experience when we learn the secret of contentment.

3.    Contentment is knowing that the more I release earthly possessions, the more I can grasp eternal treasure!

In Acts 20:35 (MSG), as the apostle Paul was saying an emotional farewell to the leaders of the church in Ephesus, he left them with this parting reminder, “… You’ll not likely go wrong here if you keep remembering that our Master said, ‘You’re far happier giving than getting.’” Have you discovered that in your life? Another translation says, “‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” (NIV).  This is the joy of giving! The joy of giving comes from a contented life. The church in Philippi understood that. When Paul wrote to them revealing the secret of contentment. He said, “As you know, you Philippians were the only ones who gave me financial help when I first brought you the Good News and then traveled on from Macedonia. No other church did this. Even when I was in Thessalonica you sent help more than once. I don’t say this because I want a gift from you. Rather, I want you to receive a reward for your kindness. At the moment I have all I need—and more! I am generously supplied with the gifts you sent me with Epaphroditus. They are a sweet-smelling sacrifice that is acceptable and pleasing to God. And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from His glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:15-19 (NLT)  

Commenting on this passage, author and pastor Warren Wiersbe said, “There is an interesting contrast between Philippians 4:18 and 19. We might state it this way if we were to paraphrase Paul: “You met my need, and God is going to meet your need. You met one need that I have, but my God will meet all of your needs. You gave out of your poverty, but God will supply your needs out of His riches in glory!” Wow! The joy of giving keeps on giving doesn’t it?! How is that? Because we can never ever outgive God!  He is the Giver of every good and perfect gift! That’s why Jesus said, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  Matthew 6:19-21 (NIV)

In other words, do your giving while you’re living so you’ll have the joy of knowing where it’s going!

If you’ve never experienced the joy of giving then here’s your Joy Challenge – Try it! I double-dare you. See if you’re heart will not well up with joy when you give. Giving will demonstrate your dependence on God and express your gratitude to God for all He’s given you. I challenge you with the joy of giving not in order to receive anything but as Paul said, “I want you to receive the blessing that comes from giving.” Philippians 4:17 (CEV)

“Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice!”
Philippians 4:4 (NLT)

The more we grow in grace and get to know our Heavenly Father, the more we experience joy. Joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. We can’t produce it. We simply bear the fruit of joy that the Holy Spirit produces in our hearts when we are rightly related to Jesus. Though He was called a “man of sorrows” and “acquainted with grief,” Jesus was full of joy in the LORD!

In Philippians 4:4 (NLT), the apostle Paul gives a radical joy challenge when he writes, “Always be full of joy in the Lord. (And in case you missed it, he repeats) I say it again – Rejoice!” The word “always” in that passage is the New Testament word “pantote.” It can be translated, Alway, Always, Ever, For Ever, Evermore, All the time, At All Times. That seems pretty radical, doesn’t it? That’s why I call it “Radical Joy!” He is saying that no matter what happens, good or bad, we can always be full of joy in the Lord. How is that possible? Because our joy is in the Lord, and not in our circumstances. If our joy were in our circumstances, we would not always be full of joy, would we? No one is happy or jumping for joy when bad things happen, when we face the loss of a loved one, the economy drops out, or our health fails us. All these things happen in a fallen world. This isn’t heaven. Jesus warned us in John 16:33, that in this world we would have troubles, but then He adds something radical. He says, “Be of good cheer!”

In The Joy of Christianity sermon message our good friend, Lee Strobel, shared four reasons we could be of good cheer and experience joy even in the midst of our struggles that I think bear repeating. I believe they hold the key to unlocking radical joy in your life. When joy becomes a challenge because of the struggles you’re facing, consider these four truths that will fill you with joy! We’ll look at two of them today and the other two reasons tomorrow.

1.    God will lovingly comfort us.

God cares about what you are going through. He understands what you’re facing. The Psalmists said, “When anxiety was great within me, Your consolation brought me joy.” Psalm 94:19 (NIV)

2.    Nothing can take what really matters.

The writer of Hebrews encourages Christ followers with what really mattered and assured them that nothing can take that away! The same is true today for you and me as followers of Jesus. He said, “You suffered along with those who were thrown into jail, and when all you owned was taken from you, you accepted it with joy. You knew there were better things waiting for you that will last forever.” Hebrews 10:34 (NLT) Imagine having everything you own taken from you and accepting that with joy! How could they remain full of joy? Because they knew there were better things waiting for them that would last forever! Their joy was in Jesus, in the Lord, and not in things that didn’t really matter in eternity. Do you have a radical joy like that?

When joy becomes a challenge because of the struggles you’re going through, and we all experience them, remember these first two truths from God’s Word. God desires to lovingly comfort us in all our troubles and nothing can take away what really matters. We’ll look at two more Biblical truths that enable us to experience radical joy tomorrow. Practice these first two and experience God’s comfort.