Sermon Tone Analysis

This is going to be fast and maybe feel like trying to drink out of a fire hydrant…because I want us to swim in the depth of the joy God has promised us and not to miss out on the joy set before us.

Why? BecauseJoy is necessary…happiness is commanded to the church.

Why?

Because we were created to glorify God…and what glorifies God…

When we put our faith in Him and trust Him and obey Him and live for Him…but not simply of duty or because we have to or because we don’t want or go to hell...

That isn’t very glorifying to God if we...

And the whole time we are bored and sleepy or worse...unhappy for His glory.

No! God is not glorified by your bored faith…or uninterested obedience....or unhappy devotion…in those things He gets no glory...

If we are being honest…the one that gets the glory by that type of faith…un-joyful faith…is us...

It is saying…God isn’t really that awesome…Jesus isn’t my greatest treasure or the source of unending joy…I would rather be doing somethinf else than living for God...

Everyone else is having fun…but at least I am showing up…at least I am not like them.

Church we know that makes no sense...we need to dig deeper.

Yes God is infinite....Yes God is Holy…Yes God is so perfect and good that sin can not be in His presence or go unpunished…yes God’s wrath will fall upon all those who are not in Christ…and at he same time...

Actually because of and over those truths...

Our God is a happy God…eternally and infinitely…full of joy.

This is difficult for us to fathom because we are finite human beings…so we can not imagine how God can be infinitely and eternally happy…like even before he made us God was happy…for all eternity…in perfect triune union and joy....

We have never experienced that and don’t often hear God described that way....but God is unchanging…we can not limit Him by what our minds can grasp...

God is not only infinitely happy…and unendingly joyful…He is the only true source of joy…the joy we experience in anything else meant to point us to…drive us to thanksgiving for and praise of our happy…Holy…God...

And God is most glorified by us church...when we are made happy....joyful....emotionally satisfied by Him.

The point of the universe is God…and all things are for His glory.

So we do not make Him glorious…but we enjoy and recognize and prolaim and display His glory…because...

This includes us...

And therefore we who are called by His name…the church…is to live for His glory...

or

That is the point…the main thing.

We read our Bibles…to discover more and mroe of the glory of our awesome and Holy God…to dig for more treasure…and to learn how to better live for Him and find our joy in living for His glory.

We meet on Wednesdays and now this morning on Sundays to renew our minds and refresh our souls in our happy and awesome and Holy creator God…to swim in the ocean of His love nag grace for us…to humbly confess our sins and to bring praise and joyfully worship our glorious God…

Not to make Him glorious…but becuase of His glory…and in our Joy...

And we are to live all of life for His glory…joyfully.

Finding our joy ultimately in Him.

That is the main thing…the point of life is that all we do…it is to be for the glory of God.

That we would be a people that pursues our joy…passionately pursues our joy…in God…and His glory.

A church unified around that truth it the most powerful force in the world...a church unified around that truth is the one the gates of hell will not stand against...a church unified…living out that truth together in all parts of life...in perfect unity is what Jesus says will cause unbelievers to believe the gospel we speak.

All of the other things will become clear if we are clear on this truth…

We will no longer argue and debate the obvious truths of the Bible…becuase our glorious, soveriegn, powerful, miraculous, God and His Word are the source of our joy…so we can say with the Psalmist...

119  Blessed are those whose way is blameless,

who walk in the law of the LORD!

Psalm 119:2

2  Blessed are those who keep his testimonies,

who seek him with their whole heart,

Psalm 119:12

12  Blessed are you, O LORD;

teach me your statutes!

Psalm 119:56

56  This blessing has fallen to me,

that I have kept your precepts.

Lord because...

Sin and obedience and evil will be put in perspective by this thruth...

Faith and love and doctrine and salvation and gifts and soverignty and evangelism and the church…and even suffering…when seen through the lenses of…all things joyfully for the glory of God...

If we are to be of...one faith...one Christ...one way...one truth...one salvation...one Jesus.

We need to start with…God.

His glory…and all things are to be done and said and seen with that in perspective.

We need to know the point.

Let me ask you this...

What is the purpose of school or education?

What is the point of football?

What is the point your job?

What is the point of your marriage?

What is the point of parenting?

What is the point of what you spend most of your time doing?

Now, I guess some of you may say point something like high school is nothing...it's pointless.

But know this...all of the things we choose to do with our time or even are forced to do with our time have a point.

We may not agree with the point.

We may not agree with the purpose.

But they have one.

All things do.

What happens, however, if we spend time doing one of these things without having any idea what the point or the purpose is.

For example, going to high school day in and day out for 4 years...without knowing the point is to learn some stuff and gain some knowledge…to be put to use in your future.

What about basketball.

What if you spend your time every day by working on dribbling and passing and running and jumpoing but noone ever told you that hte point of basketball is to shoot the ball into the hoop to score points…and that scoring more points than the other team is the pijnt of the game...

You may be good at dribbling…even the best dribbler in the world…but if you have no idea what is the ultimate point of the game…then what your potential for success in a basketball game.

If this is true for basketball and school.

How much more so for life.

You get one crack at this thing called life.

70 or 80 or 90 years…which are not promised to us...but even if we live that long…by the way...it may seem like a long time when you're five or 10.

But in light of eternity…as I stand here at age 41...seventy years is the blink of an eye.

It is a dot on the never-ending timeline.

And what if you live this one life that you've been given…or we give our lives to this thing called church...without having any idea what the point is.

That would be tragic.

It would be sad.

And your chance of success or failure in life (or as the church) would be extremely low.

You may succeed at something in this life and from a cultural perspective you may live a very good life…

We may all stand at your funeral and say what is said at every American funeral…he lived a good life and was a good guy and is in a better place now...

But what if we are completely missing the point…

What if we spend most of your time and energy not doing the ultimate thing we were made to do with our life.

Or how about as a church…what if we miss the point…we may build an amazing church that is of no eternal or kingdom significance if we do not know the point...

Or as missionary William Carey once said, "I’m not afraid of failure.

I’m afraid of succeeding at things that don’t matter."

So what is the point?

Of both the church and your life?

Of marriage and parenting and all things?

To glorify God.

All thing for His glory.

And therefore to point us and others to the ultimate treasure of the universe…our lord Jesus Christ.

That is the point.

He is the point.

And for us to pursue our joy in God and His glory with all we have…and all we have been given.

Our point is to glorify God by enjoying Him…finding our joy in Him now and forever.

So what is joy?

Christian joy...