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The Connection Between Love and Joy · Enjoying the Journey

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  In our busy world, family time is frequently neglected.
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  It is vital that we give attention to our families while
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  we can, and it is especially important to give attention to what
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  God says in his word about our homes. For the next
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  few moments, let's join Scott Pauley as we open the scriptures and and find
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  God's message for your family.
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  We are studying biblical principles for all of our families,
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  and I think we would do ourselves a disservice
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  if we simply skipped over the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ
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  and their connection to our home life. You see, in reality,
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  everything Jesus said applies in our homes.
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  I've often told people that none of us are better
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  Christians than the Christians we are in the privacy of our own home. So that's
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  really where you begin living out all of Christ's teachings,
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  at home. And the people who know you best are the people that live under
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  your roof. But I want to draw your attention today to something the
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  Lord Jesus said in John chapter number 15, because it shows us the
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  beautiful and powerful connection between love and
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  joy Now, John 15 is some of the most
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  personal of the remarks the Lord Jesus ever
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  made to his closest friends, his disciples.
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  Might I say that your closest friends should be your family?
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  The people closest to you on earth ought to be those that you live with.
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  They're the ones God chose for you. They're the ones the
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  Lord has allowed you to make this journey through life with. And so there ought
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  to be a certain intimacy, a level of fellowship
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  and depth that is greater than any other relationship
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  on earth. And frankly, I think sometimes we get in a great mess
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  in homes when people start building stronger relationships
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  outside of their home than they do inside of their home. Our Lord
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  Jesus was never married, did not have children,
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  and yet he did have a family. He had these disciples
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  And he treated them as children, and he brought them as
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  close and as near to him as any family member could possibly be.
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  And when you read our Lord's last words to his
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  disciples, you understand what I'm talking about.
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  Listen to a few of the things that Jesus said in John 15, verse 9:
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  As the Father hath loved me, so have
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  I loved you. Continue ye in my
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  love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide
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  in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his
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  love. Do you hear the family terminology?
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  Do you hear the intimacy here? He speaks of the Father's love,
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  he speaks of his love, and then he speaks of the disciples'
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  return love, their responsive love. This is
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  family. Oh dear friend, God the Father loves you.
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  The Lord Jesus Christ, he loves you.
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  Do you love him? Are you a member of the family of
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  God? So we see this family love, and then immediately he
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  says in verse 11, these things have I spoken unto you
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  that my joy might remain in you and that your joy
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  might be full. This is my commandment, that you love one
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  another as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than
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  this, that a man laid down his life for
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  his friends. Do you see the divine connection between
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  divine love and divine joy?
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  In our world today, everybody wants to be happy. They've made happiness
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  the goal. That's why they're miserable. They're trying to be joyful.
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  You can't be joyful by trying to be joyful. I even
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  heard an advertisement the other day, a company saying, we're going to help you be
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  a more joyful person. And I just thought to myself, There's nothing
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  this earth can offer you, nothing this world can give to
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  you, nothing you can acquire through your own means and effort that
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  can make you a joyful person. Joy is God's gift.
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  It's not the goal, it's the byproduct of
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  the Lord being in his rightful place. And specifically, according to what Jesus teaches
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  in John chapter 15, when there is love,
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  there is joy. Now, does that sound familiar? Because If you remember what Paul
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  wrote about the fullness of the Holy Spirit and the fruit
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  of the Holy Spirit, remember the fruit of the Spirit, number 1 is love,
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  number 2 is what? Joy. And so if
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  you get love, guess what you get next? You get joy. If you
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  learn to love, if you learn more about God's love for you,
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  if you live in love, then joy grows out of that.
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  Let me just point out 3 things about this joy that
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  grows out of the love of God. First of all, it's referenced here
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  that it is his joy. I love that Jesus
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  said, my joy I'm giving to you. I believe our Lord
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  was a joyful person. I think that's what made him so attractive. That's what made
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  disciples want to be with him and little children want to run into his
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  arms and outcasts of society think that they could draw near
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  to him. There was a beautiful, attractive joy And so the
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  joy that Jesus brings into homes is not the joy of a new car or
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  a bigger house, more money in the bank account,
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  a better retirement, nicer clothes.
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  No, no, no. The joy that he brings is his own joy.
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  It's joy not connected to things but
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  connected to a person. And then I love this connection. It's not only his
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  joy He said it can be our joy. He says,
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  my joy might remain in you, and then your joy might
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  be full. Do you see how his joy becomes our joy?
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  Oh, dear friend, the joy that Jesus promised and the joy that Jesus
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  offers today can be yours. Uh, it is free.
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  You, you don't get it by trying to have it. You don't psych yourself up
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  in the morning and say, I'm going to be a joyful person today. No.
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  You simply draw near to Jesus, and when you draw near to Jesus,
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  his love produces his joy.
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  When you start realizing how much he loves you, now that'll put some joy in
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  you. When you begin to learn to love him in response
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  and enter into a close fellowship with him, that will increase the joy. And then
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  when you learn to love one another, starting in your own home,
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  like Jesus loves sacrificially unselfishly.
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  There's a great joy in that. And so we have his
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  joy, we have our joy, and then don't miss this one—
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  we have full joy. Listen to the verse again: These things have I
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  spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you and
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  that your joy might be full.
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  In an empty world, our God is a God of fullness. In a world
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  that is just trying to find a little bit of happiness He provides overwhelming,
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  overflowing joy. In the words of the psalmist, your cup can run over.
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  That doesn't mean that you always walk around with a smile on
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  your face necessarily, or that every circumstance is pleasant, but it means
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  that way down deep inside where nobody goes but God, there is joy
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  that sustains you. The joy of the Lord as your strength,
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  and that out of that joy you can live. There's a fountain
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  of joy inside of you bubbling up.
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  It's what the world cannot give you, and if the world can't give it to
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  you, the world cannot take it away.
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  And remember what book we're in. We're in the Gospel according to John. If you
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  turn over to the end of your New Testament to the book of 1
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  John, the same man was used of the Holy Spirit to pen
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  these letters at the end of our New Testament. And John repeats
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  this. 1 John chapter 1, verse number 4: And
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  these things write we unto you, that your joy may be
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  full. You see, the Lord doesn't want you just to endure your
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  family and endure your life. He wants you to enjoy
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  him and to enjoy him even in your home.
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  I said to someone recently— I've said it many times through the years— the greatest
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  thing my parents ever gave to me and my sister was a happy home.
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  Now, we had material blessings, but that wasn't the greatest thing.
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  We were taught many wonderful things We had rules,
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  plenty of rules, but the greatest thing they gave us was
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  the joy of Jesus. They lived out such a joyful
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  Christian life that I desired that for myself. I wanted that
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  for my own life. And I want to challenge you today to draw near to
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  God and to learn more of his love,
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  to learn to love as he loves. And as you do, you'll find for yourself
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  and for your family the beautiful, powerful divine
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  connection between love and joy.
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  For more resources for your marriage and family, visit us
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  at etj.bible and click on the Take the
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  Next Step link, where you'll find many Bible resources that will
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  strengthen your marriage and equip you to raise your children in
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  the ways of the Lord. We highly recommend Scott's
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  book, New Testament Marriage, In it, you'll discover timeless
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  biblical principles from the husband and wife team Aquila and Priscilla,
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  and these principles are very applicable to your marriage today.
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  From all of us at Enjoying the Journey, thanks for listening today,
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  and until next time, we pray that you will enjoy the journey.