Radical Joy in Christ
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This morning if you have a bible, and I hope you do, go ahead and turn over to . That will be our home text for the morning. So and while you are turning there...
So and while you are turning there...
Dismiss Children to Kid Life
The coaching staff at IPJH & HS - had this ability in my formative years. They were men who yelled too much, for certain, but they taught me how to endure. Their slogan was “no pain, no gain.” Being sore was a coat of strength. Fighting through pain was courage. Hitting harder, running faster, lifting more, jumping higher and sacrificing for the team - that was honor.
In particular, I remember a track practice in which we were running an TOO MANY 400 meter dashes’. And I was probably a few in and we were being timed, so no slacking, and I was coming around the second curve - and I yelled at one coach and said “I’m going to throw up!” So, he waved me over - told me to stick my hand down my throat, which I did - and I threw up. Then he patted me back on to the track to keep going. I finished every 400 that day.
What were my coaches drawing out of me?
Drive. A hard-nosed, gutsy, fist-clinched, white-knuckled desire to push through difficulty.
We All Have Our Blind Spots
We All Have Our Blind Spots
If you do not have a bible- in the pew in front of you you can find one to use this morning and if you don’t own a personal bible for your home - take this as a gift from First Baptist to you. We want you in this thing.
, “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
Pray
Now, translate that characterstic to Student Ministry. Obviously, there are some major benefits - the spiritual maturation rate of a student sometimes seems to be the speed of sloth, so a driving endurance is key to stick to trusting and waiting and teaching and preaching and praying and counseling.
Chris Newport was a mentor of mine during my college days, we would run together, (he was a beast) drink coffee together, talk about life together, read Scripture together, and he walked me through meaty theology. He was a great mentor. He also made me read books, which was not my thing a decade ago, but I remember he put a book in my hand when I was 22 years old, weeks from graduating from Texas Tech, and still on the fence about university life or church life.
This is that little book - it’s entitled “The Dangerous Duty of Delight: The Glorified God and The Satisfied Soul by John Piper. I read the book - it was short and that was nice, but this book was a seed in my heart that has bloomed over the years and has crept into the fabric of my living, the passion of my preaching, and the goal of our student ministry here at First Baptist Church. In a nutshell the book is about Radical Joy.
This book taught me to chase down joy in God like my life depended on it. By God’s Spirit, through this book, I saw the great need for me, Josh Fields, to pursue at all costs my personal joy. Now, a 22 year old being told to pursue at all costs his happiness kind of sounds like giving a 14 year old a million dollars - not a great idea. But what Piper and other’s like King David and Paul pointed me to was the idea that I must be pursuing Radical Joy in Christ.
And this morning, from the Bible, I want you to see and feel, what I hope, by God’s grace, our Student Ministry see’s and feel’s regularly. Radical Joy in Christ.
Pray
, “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
Pray
God’s Glory or Your Joy?
God’s Glory or Your Joy?
But, at other times it seems to be a bit of detractor: like when a Kid rolls his ankle out on the lawn Wednesday night and ole Josh, there spiritual leader is yelling “suck it up butter cup!” My grandma rolled her ankle last night and is out hoeing weeds this morning (maybe a bit of embellishment).
So, if we are to be maximizing our joy in Christ than it begs the question:
Is your life about God’s glory or your joy?
Church, the bible is chalked full with the concept that you exist, I exist, this world exists to magnify and glorify the greatness of our God. Not only that, but God works everything for His personal fame. That’s the testimony of this book.
Or, a student complains about the food he is getting FOR FREE and you got me telling them “you don’t have to eat!”
We see it in nature: David writes in , “The heavens declare the glory of God, the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” We were in the Wichita Mountains a few weeks back and if you got out of the tent after 2am and just looked up - God’s glory. The Milky Way - countless stars, that were breathtaking, lit the dark night sky. The heavens telling, the heavens proclaiming, and the heavens declaring the glorious majestic nature of our powerful God.
Or, the student who smashed through a window a few years back and gets some gnarly stiches on his hand - he’s fine, by the way - and you got me chest bumping his toughness. It’s not that I don’t have compassion, but my compassion line is a few feet down the road than most. My coaches drew this out of me for better and worse.
But we also see it in mankind of which we are taught in Genesis that mankind was made in the image and likeness of God - image bearers of God. Representatives of God. Living fleshy statues reflecting God’s goodness, His creativity and glory. Isaiah speaking of God’s people specifically says “I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made,” ().
Look, we all have our blind spots. Some of you have an overwhelming love for you kid - but it hasn’t come with the truth of God’s love - and your “love” has actually shaded their ability to grow and mature. We all have blind spots. For some - it’s a party you follow; for others it’s a TV show you justify; maybe, it’s gossip you call “venting”; does being told what to do bother you? You likely have an issue with authority! We all have our blind spots - and, we all have similar blind spots that we don’t see, that we don’t recognize, because of where we find ourself in history. If you imagine that we are all - our culture - a painting. We are in the painting so we don’t have a good persepective to see our collective blindspots.
Even Jesus, His entire earthly ministry was centered on glorifying the Father by accomplishing His mission. That’s what He says in his High Priestly Prayer “I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do” (). Jesus’ entire earthly ministry was situated in such a way that God would get glory for the great things Jesus was doing. Everything is about His glory.
And think about us, about Christians, Christs’ bride, we are called to do all things from eating a meal with your family to cutting the grass to working with a insurance company - all things to the glory of God. That’s what Paul describes to the church in Corinth where he says “so, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
Timeout, so if everything exists for the glory of God and we are to live, and feel, and think, and act to the glory of God.
Than what’s all this stuff about maxing out our joy?
And Radical Joy at that. Why Joy? Why fight to feel joy in Christ? Why work toward inspiring joy in young people? Why preach joy in Christ rather than glorifying Christ? Is it an either/or thing?
Like, we place supreme value on teaching students to follow Jesus in that way.
What way?
Joyfully.
That’s big right?
Joyfully.
This may help you think through the relationship between joy in Christ and glorifying Him: Imagine when I first met Katie I saw her and I understood, with my mind, her to be beautiful. I looked at her face intently - and thought, according to the characteristics that are attractive in women she would be classified as attractive. Then I met some of my friends and I was like “guys Katie is very attractive. She is well spoken, I like how she looks, she love Jesus, her hair is nice, and bonus she bathes. When I think through the qualities a woman needs to possess to be my mate and I put it into my equation I built - she is a 92% match for me. Can’t go wrong with that.” I figure I should ask her on a date.
Student smashes through a window a few years back and gets some gnarly stiches on his hand - he’s fine, by the way - and you got me chest bumping his toughness.
I’m not alone in this - last fall I read a book by a church father named Athanasius, famous for giving us a written record of the accepted NT at an early date of 367 AD. But, what struck me as important - besides the meat of the book - was the introduction that was written by CS Lewis. In it he pointed me to an understanding that we all have blind spots. That, to quote Lewis “every age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes.”
God’s Glory and Your Joy
God’s Glory and Your Joy
What’s wrong with this scenario? Though, those things are true of Katie - she isn’t being properly gloried in. Why? There is no longing; there is no delight. There is not passion.
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However: Imagine when I first met Katie and I saw her - I wanted to talk to her but I got a knot in my throat, my palms got clammy, my pits were gushing forth rivers of perspiration and my heart was beating like a drum because I was enraptured. I was scared to speak with her because of how beautiful she was (and is), and I didn’t want reality to crush my hope. Then after leaving her presence I get on the phone and call my momma and I’m like “mom! I met my wife. She is beautiful. She’s well spoken. She works at a coffee shop. She loves Jesus. She’s smarter than me (not difficult) let me rephrase she’s smarter than most, her hair smells like fresh linens and country music and sunsets and bonus she bathes. I’m going to marry that girl.”
What made this scenario right? Well, those things I said were true AND Katie IS being properly gloried in. Why? There is longing in my heart; there is white hot desire for her. Passion. A deep delight in her.
Here’s how Jonathan Edwards put it in his book “The End for Which God Created the World”: “God is glorified not only by His glory’s being seen [like looking at nature to see God’s power, but not being swayed in your heart with admiration for Him], but by it being rejoiced in.”
Church, God gets greater glory when we find joy in our relationship with Him, than when we just have a relationship with Him. God gets greater glory when we enjoy being at church, and we delight in lifting His name in song, and we hunger to hear His word declared than when we do it just because He said to do it and it’s our duty. I guess I’ll just do it. I mean I am a Christian. We don’t sleep in on Sundays. It’s our duty. Duty is necessary, but it’s a crutch - we want to want to be here - in that God get’s greater glory.
God is Serious about Your Joy in Him because God is Serious about His Glory
God is Serious about Your Joy in Him because God is Serious about His Glory
Church, God is serious about your joy in Him because God is serious about His glory.
When you find your joy in Him - God’s glory is maxed in you. I love because it paints a picture of the joy and pleasure we can find and will find in God forever. Listen to David’s words, “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
Joy, happiness - call it what you want, but it is the bottom line of your life. Pascal in his famous Penses penned, “All men seek happiness.” We all seek it. Everything that you do - from brushing your teeth (or not); to dieting or not; to investing in your 401k or not; to waking up early to be with the Lord or not; to coming to church or not - every action you make, bottom line, is made based on your personal happiness.
And so in the face of this longing in our heart for happiness and practical day to day living after it - David points to God and says - First Baptist Church of Iowa Park - fullness of joy; see God’s presence. Pleasure anyone?
You even plan your future in such a way that you maximize your personal happiness. And so in the face of this longing and practical living - David points to God and says - First Baptist Church of Iowa Park - fullness of joy; see God’s presence. Pleasure anyone? Every fleeting pleasure you’ve dreamed up in your bent toward sin mind and heart is checkmated by the pleasure that God holds for you in his hand. God is serious about His children’s joy in Him; as serious as He is about His glory. Because they are not two paths - but one. Pursuing our joy in God is pursuing God’s glory in us. Let me say that again - pursuing our joy in God is pursuing God’s glory in us.
Every fleeting pleasure you’ve dreamed up in your bent toward sin mind and heart is checkmated by the pleasure that God holds for you in his hand. God is serious about His children’s joy in Him; as serious as He is about His glory. Because they are not two roads - but one. It’s not like you wake up and go - today is about God’s glory - so grit your teeth and get going. Then the next day is about joy in God - now I get to be happy. Pursuing our joy in God is pursuing God’s glory in us. Let me say that again - pursuing our joy in God is pursuing God’s glory in us.
And church, God is so serious about joy that He commands it again and again throughout the bible. We see it both in the Old and New Testaments:
Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things, therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness, and lacking everything. And he will put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you.
Here God threatens Israel because their service was not joyful and glad hearted service.
Let Israel be glad in his Maker;
let the children of Zion rejoice in their King!
Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
When the Lord restores the fortunes of his people,
let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.
Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous,
and give thanks to his holy name!
Psalm
Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Serve the Lord with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!
Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous,
and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!
Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you judge the peoples with equity
and guide the nations upon earth. Selah
Psalm
And then in the New Testament we see at the end of the beatitudes Jesus saying:
And then in the New Testament we see:
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
So, Christians are blessed to suffer for the sake of Christ and then commanded to rejoice and be glad because of a future reward - namely Christ Himself in heaven. It’s in His presence there is fullness of joy, at God’s right hand are pleasures forevermore. In Luke’s account of this text he actually says to “leap for joy” at the pending reward for our happy obedience.
Or,
Rejoice always,
Or,
Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.
Or,
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.
I hope you are beginning to see, church, that joy is not elective. It’s not like questioning whether or not you should get braces - yeah, I got the ole gap teeth, but it could be my Micheal Strahan calling card. Should I take it or leave it? That’s not how the bible speaks of joy. Joy is not elective and it’s not just something that obeying God produces, like how a running car produces exhaust - it is actually obedience to God. Being joyful in God is obedience to God. God commands for you to be happy in Him.
In we see the God of infinite joy, the God of perfect pleasure; the God who makes His children aware of the path of life. He beckons us to Himself to partake of His infinite joy.
To leave happy in God. To find satisfaction in Him. To find myself covered in Christ, each day, who He is and what He has done. A great puritan preacher, Richard Baxter once said, “may delighting in him, be the work of our lives.” And that takes us back to . The God of infinite joy, the God of perfect pleasure; the God who makes His children aware of the path of life. He beckons us to Himself to partake of His infinite joy.
But, can we be honest together for a moment?
I don’t feel this joy as often as I want. God’s forever joy, God’s deep happiness - the pleasure that He extends - I don’t feel it warming my bones near enough. And if we were all honest, we’d say that we feel the chilling breeze of sadness from time to time. Cold drafts of discouragement and depression. The frigid feeling that our relationship with Christ feels like duty and not like delight. You’ve felt that, you possible feel that now - in this moment. This morning getting ready for church, feeling that oh so familiar feeling of, anything else and anywhere else.
Or,
I think many times we feel like the child who spent weeks working and tinkering to build a prize toy sail boat. He was happy. He was proud. He made this with his entire heart and with lots of ingenuity. And so he walks down to the coast and puts his toy sailboat in the ocean - but the tide begins to pull it from him. And with great concern he watches it as it drifts beyond his reach. And then a bigger kid comes from behind and begins to throw rocks [he thinks] at the toy boat - and the younger master craftsman begins to cry and beg the bigger boy to stop trying to ruin his creation. But what the younger boy didn’t know was that the older boy was trying to create waves on the other side of the boat to send the boat back home.
And often we are the younger boy and we think God is the older boy. We view God’s providence in our life as either inconvenient, harsh or downright cruel. We look around and wish for another job, a different boss, a larger house. If we just had this talent or that type of friendship or if we were starting at this position or this thing...then I could be happy in God. If God wasn’t punishing me, throwing rocks at my life, with these awful circumstances, well then I could find full joy in God. We don’t feel God’s joy as often as we’d like.
But our greatest enemy in our pursuit of joy in Jesus is that “sin that so easily entangles us.” This is what great theologians would call abiding or indwelling sin in the believer. I think of Paul crying out to the Romans in chapter 7 of his great epistle “wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” It was his concluding question that was birthed out of that experience in each of us. As followers of Christ we know what we must do, we know what God calls us into, but instead we turn from that and do what we know we ought not do. Paul even gets at our heart and mind with pin-point accuracy when he said, “I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing!”
Have you ever been there? I know I can’t be alone in this. Indwelling sin is the reason we naturally think there is more pleasure in things other than in God Himself. We worship the gift rather than Giver who is to be praised.
Church our own emotions distract us from Radical Joy; our limited understanding of God’s good providence ruins our hope of Radical Joy in Christ; and finally, abiding and indwelling sin in us - is a ravenous wolf that stalks our joy like it’s Red Riding Hood or the Three Little Pigs.
So, what are we to do?
Fight For Joy
Fight For Joy
We must fight. We must fight for it. We must fight for joy. Look back at , “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” This type of satisfaction is too good just to say - well, if it’s that hard than we should walk away. No! We will seek happiness, so let’s get the richest happiness and the most happiness and that’s found in the presence of God. So we fight.
But how do we fight for this affection or emotion?
We Fight for Joy with...
His Word
His Word
The Word of God does many things, but at bottom it reveals the one true God. It reveals Jesus Christ, His person, His works, His sacrifice and His resurrection. It also reveals the meaning of what Jesus did. So, if joy is found, as teaches, in the presence of God than the bible is foundational in our Fight for Joy because in it and through it we can know God, by faith in His Son Jesus.
But one more reason we should be living not on bread alone, but on every word that comes out of the mouth of God is because John said in chapter 8 verse 32 of his gospel, “and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” And in this context that freedom Jesus is getting at is the freedom from sin - our greatest enemy. So we Fight for Joy with His Word.
We also Fight for Joy with...
His Ear
His Ear
So, if it’s true, and I believe it is, that God’s max glory in us is when we are maxed happy in Him than He wants our joy to be in Him and our joy to be full. And, it is our experience that our normal day to day is not type living. Pleased by the pleasure of God - full in His presence; overflowing with deep joy in Him. That’s not our normal. It’s just not. Than it follows that we should persist to pray for our joy and happiness and satisfaction to flow out of our relationship with God. We should take up God’s ear for that.
In the gospel of Luke we read of a parable of a man who goes to a friend at midnight and pounds upon the door asking for food for a friend of his. But the response is “You kiddin’ me. Have you looked at the sun dial. Not happening.” But then Jesus turns the story on it’s head when he says it does happen - but it wasn’t the friendship of the men that ultimately led the neighbor to give away his food, rather it was the persistence of the friend that made the friend rise and give him food.
Point: if you want joy with God you Fight for this Joy by having God’s ear day after day after day after day - persistently. He cares for His glory, thus He cares about your joy in Him. So pray with Moses, “Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days,” (). So we Fight for Joy with His Ear.
And we Fight for Joy with...
His People
His People
Our Student Ministry mission reads: “We place supreme value on teaching students to joyfully follow Jesus.” That’s what we are up to on Wednesday nights at Fuel. When our sights are on Christ we are after that. And, Paul sought this for the church in Corinth “Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith,” (). Paul worked for the church in Corinth’s joy in Jesus. Like that was a thing. That’s what he was up to. That’s what he was aiming at in them.
And don’t you think for a second, Paul didn’t call out sin in that church, oh he did. Why? So repentance could take place. Why? So, relational restoration could take place. And ultimately, joy in Christ could be found in those paths of life.
Hear this church: Spirit-dependent people, those who love of God, joyful followers of Christ they just have a way of putting wind in your sails when the moment is ripe. We are here to stir one another up to good deeds. We come here week after week after week - to enjoy God, to lift up His name in praise and hear from His word in order that our joy would be in Him and our joy would be complete and in order to be sent out. So we Fight for Joy with His people.
And finally, we Fight for Joy with...
His World
His World
By using His world. I mention this one last, because it is the most susceptible to idolatry, but I discovered it’s value in a book called “When I don’t Desire God” by Piper.
So think back on , “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.” So David admits that there is a way to see the world - to look at the heavens - and not give glory to mother earth, or papa sky, or master nature, or some other make believe idol, but to see the beauty in creation and that take you, as were in an elevator, to seeing God’s glory. Here’s how CS Lewis on this concept:
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“I was standing today in the dark toolshed. The sun was shining outside and through the crack at the top of the door there came a sunbeam. From where I stood that beam of light, with the specks of dust floating in it, was the most strking thing in the place. Everything else was almost pitch-black. I was seeing the beam, not seeing things by it. Then I moved so that the beam fell on my eyes. Instantly the whole previous picture vanished. I saw no toolshed, and (above all) no beam. Instead I saw, framed in the irregular cranny at the top of the door, green leaves moving on the branches of a tree outside and beyond that 90 odd million miles away, the sun. Looking along the beam, and looking at the beam are very different experiences.”
So we don’t just look at the sky at night, but in the words of Lewis we “look along” the sky. To see God’s greatness and glory. We look up the beam of light. So let’s flesh this out a bit.
Fight for Joy by getting adequate rest.
God made our bodies in such a way that the physical and spiritual interweave. They are not a one-to-one correlation, but in my experience rested saints seem to experience the joy of the Lord and bear the fruit of peace and patience in a greater quantity than those who sleep 2-4 hours each night for extended periods of time. So you use sleep as a beam to look up. Use sleep as a tool to position yourself to experience “pleasures forevermore.” Fight for Joy by getting adequate rest. So sleep for your joy.
Fight for Joy by eating well and exercising regularly.
Look, our culture idolizes physical health. I’m not looking to do that this morning. Some of you are more prone than others to fall trap to this greedy idol of image and health. However, just because Satan knows your weakness and temptation doesn’t mean that eating well and exercising are not meant to be used as a tool to Fight for Joy. I don’t know about you but I can’t remember the last time I put down an entire pizza and followed it with a bowl of ice cream that lead me to “look up the beam” - and see the beauty of God. It didn’t lead to happiness in God. I wasn’t basking in the fullness of God’s joy - I was lamenting in the bloating of my bowls. So in this toil for happiness in Christ we also eat well and exercise regularly.
Fight for Joy with music.
, “Oh sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth!” You know this one, oh so well. Music, the perfect arrangement - that beloved song from your childhood; that hymn that touches the depths of your heart with thick-cut theology. Hearing Trent, Andrew, Kylie or Kamryn lift their lovely voices to the Lord are beams for me. I work to peer up them and experience joy in Christ. God has used these and many others to swell my heart Grinch-style for Him.
Personally, Kristan Stanfill and Shane and Shane are three musicians that God has used to swell my heart Grinch-style for Him.
So when joy in Christ feels beyond our finger-tips: Fight with God’s Word, His ear, His people and His world. But know, at the end of the day, the fight for joy is a paradox. Look back at : “You make known to me the path of life;” - So if God reveals the path of life - which is ultimately Jesus - and it is in Him where joy is found - it is in His presence that we find this joy - than we must come to Him as needy beggars of His joy.
Take Courage, in this Fight God alone Creates Joy in God
Take Courage, in this Fight God alone Creates Joy in God
The path to fullness of joy and the path to forever, godly, redeemed pleasure is a gift - a gift that comes from God. That’s why the Old Testament saints prayed like this: “Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.” The saints prayed for joy. They asked for it. Because they knew it was a gift.
That’s why this is a paradox. God commands that we be joyful, all the while knowing that it is a gift of His grace. You can’t just make yourself happy in God. It doesn’t work that way. And for some this leads to passivity and fatalism, but for us it should lead to courage and hope.
I like to think of it this way: I’m a yard guy and what you must do as a yard guy is dig up weeds, pick up trash, spray stickers, mow, weed-eat, blow, rake, mulch, trim bushes, pick up pecans, raise the canopy on your trees. To make a lawn rich and full and healthy - it takes work; it’s a fight. But I also admit it is God who makes the grass seed grow. He sends the sun and He sends the rain. And after five years of being here I’ve witnessed lean years and full years, but God’s taken my grass through it all. And so it is with us in the fight for joy.
Joy is an affection that we cannot just conjure up. But, God will create in you believer what he commands. God gives this Radical Joy that he is so serious about.
Church, if you can see this truth and fall in love with this reality - God gets most glory when you get the most joy in God. Everything can change. This is a foundational shift. It will transform your prayer life. It will transform your service. And it will transform your relationships. Oh God “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
Pray & Invitation