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John 15.9-17Sunday, May 21, 2006Sixth Sunday of Easter

Shelton, WA

COMPLETE JOY

How many of you remember that little peanuts cartoon that said, “Happiness is…. Happiness is a warm blanket… a cozy bed on a stormy night… a friend that will always be with you?” Or how about this one: “Happiness is being content with the little things in life.”

You know, there are probably as many different ideas of what Happiness is as there are people—maybe even more. It kind of makes you wonder: do we really know what happiness is? Do we really have any idea what we are looking for when we are looking for happiness?

You see so many people spend their whole lives searching for this elusive thing called happiness… but they never find it. Oh, they may find some sort of temporary rush… some sort of temporary satisfaction… but never anything lasting… never the real thing.

That’s because we are looking for happiness—for satisfaction—in all the wrong places. Most people look for it down the path of that Peanuts carton: Happiness is… you fill in the blank. And the sad thing is: when you think about happiness in that way, happiness is always a thing—it’s something you

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possess… something you get… something that’s yours. And there’s no satisfaction in that.

The words “joy” and “happiness” have become blurred. They are taken to mean the same thing when in reality they don’t. Though, I suppose, there’s a sense in which they are similar. But even though the differences may seem small and insignificant, the two words are not synonymous.

Happiness has become the ultimate prize we strive to make our own. It is the goal we spend our lives fighting to achieve. Unfortunately, the means we use to buy this happiness most often ends up possessing us. We become prisoners of the very thing we thought would set us free. The very thing we thought would fill our lives with such wonderful happiness and bliss has drained us and left us empty.

That’s because our quest for happiness—our quest of fulfillment and satisfaction—is primarily a selfish one. It’s a matter of… “please me… gratify me… do for me… you need to meet my needs or I won’t be happy.” It is all about me… But the truth is it’s not about me at all. The truth is it has nothing to do with me. It’s about something much bigger than me. You see that kind of happiness—the kind of happiness that centers on self—is nothing more than a distortion of true joy… it is polluted by sin… and it leads only to destruction.

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You see joy is not something we have to search for. It is not something we possess. It’s not about us. Joy is something that is produced in our lives—like fruit on a vine. It is out of an ever deepening relationship with our Creator that true joy grows. As we remain in Christ, joy begins to blossom in our lives.

It is a shared to joy. Jesus says that his joy will remain in us so that our joy may be full. It is the joy of Christ growing in each of us… a joy that comes from the completed work of Christ… from the finished work of the cross.

You know, it is a mystery to our way of thinking that the nearer Jesus drew to the cross, the more he spoke of joy. The closer his death loomed, the more the word “joy” filled his vocabulary. You see, Jesus saw beyond his death to his resurrection. He saw what his death would mean to the lives of his followers. Jesus saw the empty grave and felt the joy that the reunion of God and humanity would bring. Jesus’ joy was the ultimate joy of a work that has reached completion. “It is finished,” Jesus cried from the cross. Now enter into my joy.

The joy of Jesus is a creative joy. It is the joy of an artist. The painter labors day after day over his canvas. But when the painting is finally done, when it is finally finished, the artist experiences a kind of joy that goes way beyond mere

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happiness. It’s a kind of joy that brings a sense of fullness and satisfaction.

A sculptor carefully hammers away at her piece of stone. Slowly, tediously chipping away until all that is left is the image she saw hidden deep within that stone. And joy floods over her as she stands back to look at the finished work.

Jesus said that he will make our joy complete. That word “complete” is an interesting word. It means to cram full… to level up… to finish… to perfect or to fulfill. When Mary broke the alabaster jar of perfume at the feet of Jesus, the house was filled with the fragrance of that perfume. Jesus says he has not come to destroy the Law but to fulfill the law. And Paul says that love is the perfection of the Law.

When Jesus says he wants to make our joy complete, what he is saying is that he wants his joy to find fulfillment in us. Only that joy—only the joy of God—can bring completion and satisfaction to our lives. Earlier in the gospel John the Baptist speaks of the joy of the friend who, after a long wait, finally hears the voice of the coming bridegroom. And now that Christ has come, John says that same joy is his and that his joy is now made complete.

Joy fills the lives of all who abide in Christ and in whom Christ abides. It’s been said that “Joy is the flag which is flown

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from the castle of the heart when the King is in residence there.” Well, if that is true, if joy is the flag flown from the castle, well then the place where that castle is built must be the land of love. Love is the key to understanding joy.

There is perhaps no better expression of the joy of the Lord than the expression of love. Real love—the kind of love that God has shown to the Son and the Son has shown to us—this kind of love is not rooted in feelings and emotions, but in the will. It is not so much something we feel, or do, or get… as it is the act of giving ourselves away for the sake of others.

Love, especially Christian love, looks beyond itself to the needs of those around us. It’s about desiring the highest good for someone other than ourselves—even if it cost us everything. After all, the ultimate standard by which love for another is measured is, of course, God’s love for the world.

“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believe in him will not perish but have eternal live.” You see, “God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.”

Jesus wants us to remain in that love. Just as he remained in the Father’s love, Jesus wants us to remain in his love… a

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love that is self-sacrificing… a love that willingly lays down its life for another.

By remaining in that love… by remaining in the love of Jesus, we are drawn into the life of God… and the life of God is perfect love. To live in this world, yet to abide within the constancy of this love is to know perfect joy. And we remain in this love by loving one another.

An early South African Pioneer missionary wrote a paraphrase of 1 Corinthians chapter 13—the love chapter—that I think helps us see this. Let me read it to you:

If I have the language perfectly and speak it like a native, and have not his love for them, I am nothing. If I have diplomas and degrees and know all the up-to-date methods, and have not his touch of understanding love, I am nothing. If I am able to argue successfully against the religions of the people and make fools of them, and have not his wooing note, I am nothing. If I have all the faith and great ideals and magnificent plans, and not his love that sweats and bleeds and weeps and prays and pleads, I am nothing. If I give my clothing and money to them, and have not his love for them, I am nothing.

If I surrender all prospects, leave home and friends, make sacrifices of a missionary career, and turn sour

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and selfish amid the daily annoyances and slights of missionary life, and have not the love that yields its rights, its leisure’s, its pet plans, I am nothing. Virtue has ceased to go out of me. If I can heal all manner of sickness and disease, but wound hearts and hurt feelings for want of his love that is kind, I am nothing. If I can write articles or publish books that win applause, but fail to transcribe the Word of the Cross into the language of his love, I am nothing.

“There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Only here, in that place of genuine love, is complete joy found. Only in the midst of a love that is self-sacrificing is joy every realized. The fullness of joy is found only in a love that has died to self and is alive in Christ.

The Christian’s life should be characterized by unspeakable joy. That joy should be the very thing that makes us stand out from the vast crowd of people who are chasing after a fleeting form of happiness. Joy should be our crown in this life, marking us as children of the King. And that joy comes from abiding in Christ… abiding in his love… letting that love flow through us to those around us.

Please stand with me and let’s worship. In God’s presence the old is made new… the dead are brought to life… the blind are given sight… the lame rise up and dance. In God’s

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presence there is the fullness of love and joy—only in God’s presence. Let’s worship. Let’s enter God’s presence.

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