Gladness and Joy - Unquenchable Joy

Today I want to talk with you about possessing an unquenchable joy – an authentic happiness that’s an incorporated part of you.

1. •I’m talking about a joy that withstands personal trials, tribulation and tragedy.
   

2. •I have wondered what to call this joy – the best phrase I have been able to come up with is “incorporated joy”, meaning it is joy that is built-in or integrated into me.
   

2 Corinthians 8:2 is a statement of much value in this regard:

v 1-2 (NKJV) Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia:  that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality.

v 2 (AMP) Fierce troubles came down on the people of those churches, pushing them to the very limit. The trial exposed their true colours: They were incredibly happy, though desperately poor. The pressure triggered something totally unexpected: an outpouring of pure and generous gifts.

Trials are not unusual events for us as Christians.

1. •“Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.”     1 Peter 4:12
   

1. •In fact, whether you’re a Christian or not, there will always be ‘storms of life’. When Jesus was talking about facing trouble and trial he said, “when the storm comes”, not, “if the storm comes”.
   

1. •It’s foolish to ignore the fact that we will encounter pain along the way, and that there can be a long term circumstance with which we walk through life – Paul had a thorn in the flesh.
   

However the Bible seems to be continually telling us that there’s a joy that stays, a rejoicing that’s unquenchable even through the toughest of times.

1. •James wrote “… count it all joy when you fall into various trials …” 
   

1. •Paul, who gave us a whole list of trials and sad events that he experienced, also wrote to say Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice.
   

1. •Both the old and new testament people of God had what Habakkuk confessed “Though the fig tree does not blossom and there are no fruit on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation” (Habakkuk 3:17 & 18)
   

1. •When David heard that his child had died he got up, washed, dressed and went into the temple to worship.
   

On Thursday 18th May 2000 Suzanne and I lost our 16 year old son, Regan, after he suffered cardiac arrest during a school Physical Education class. Regan’s death was sudden and unexpected – the most painful ‘storm’ that has ever slammed into us and our family

Apart from the season of shock and grief; for almost eleven years now Sue and I have carried this sadness in our lives, and yet amazingly, at the same time, we possess a happiness and joy in life that the tragedy and it’s long term sadness was unable to quench.

It’s “incorporated joy” . . . it’s a nature.

1. •Incorporated joy is usually supplying an emotional joy to us, but even when other emotions are in play, this wonderful happiness remains.
   

1. •It’s the joy that is infused in us through the glad gospel of the happy God.
   

1. •John 15:9-11 As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.
   

“The storms of life” are those events that usually provoke the cry – ‘Why God?’

Laid off at work, an accident, the death of a loved one, a stock market crash, being a victim of crime … add to natural disasters many other things that happen to us that are quite out of our control. We can’t even control the evil intentions of others. So we ask, ‘Why God?’

1. •This may be a surprise, but God is not the cause of everything in our lives. Even ‘chance’ can play a part.
   

1. •“The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the   wise or wealth to the brilliant or favour to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all. Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come: As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so men are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them.” (Ecclesiastes 9:11 & 12)
   

1. •We don’t have to read deep meanings into everything that takes place. Sometimes things just happen. They are the storms of life, and God never seems to tell us why they come, he just said they would, and how we can prevail when they do.
   

However there are two things that can ensure we stay connected to that “incorporated joy” that infused happiness, through those stormy seasons: we associate Jesus with two “storm” stories in the gospels; 1. Something he taught, and 2. Something he did.

Luke 6:47 – 49

1. Ensure you are ready in advance. That you have been committed to digging out all the ‘shifting sand’, found the ‘bedrock’, and built your ‘house’ on it.

HOUSE = our lives – human beings need foundations and something huge, stable, strong and totally reliable outside of themselves to connect to.

SHIFTING SAND = fables (non-biblical concepts of God or life) … these are usually conceived because the simplicity, the extreme generosity, and the ease of the gospel has stumbled us. Erroneous and religious ideas that add deceptive layers to the simple solid rock of Christ:

1. •ideas that we can’t have pleased God (none did! Jesus death pleased God)
   

2. •ideas that if we had done this or that life or God would’ve been more favourable   toward us
   

3. •we’re susceptible in times of trouble, I entertained a fable concerning the faithfulness of God (the Lord’s loved ones are precious to him and it grieves him when they die  Psalm 116:15 NLT)
   

4. •The simplicity, generosity and ease of the gospel is a scandal to religion and stumbling block to us – so we, and religion, “help” the gospel with layers of sand.
   

5. •1 Corinthians 1:23 we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness. ‘Stumbling block’ = (Gk) skandalon – scandal.
   

BEDROCK = The rock is the scandal:

1. •that instantly – upon trusting the gospel of Christ’s substitutionary death on the cross – I became a new, a ‘kainos’ creation (of an entirely different and new kind and nature);
   

1. •that there was and still is nothing I can do or cease from doing to make the salvation, the love, the grace, the acceptance, the favour, the kindness of God toward me any better – he has lavished all this upon me;
   

1. •that I was instantly ushered into a union with Christ – I am in him and he is in me – the divine nature of the happy God; it’s not something that’s in me like water in a glass (that can be emptied) a better illustration is that of a heart transplant – now totally essential to my existence (Ezekiel 36:26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.)
   

Jesus said, “build on that!” Dig out all the layers of sand until you find the simple, solid, and immovable rock. You’ll come through the storm with that deep well of joy ministering life and healing and restoration.

2. Speak to the storm. Remember Jesus? He took command of the tempest – there are usually two: the ONE on the outside, the SECOND on the inside. We can’t always control the external, but we can conquer inner space. Instead of talking about the storm, we speak to it.

Many years ago a man travelled in advance of his family in his service for God. His wife and children took passage on a ship following him some weeks after. However, a violent storm arose and his wife and young children perished. Soon after being hit with this devastating news, the man penned these words…

When peace like a river attendeth my way,

When sorrows like sea billows roll;

Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say:

“It is well, it is well with my soul”

Tho’ Satan should buffet, tho’ trials should come,

Let this blest assurance control,

That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate,

And shed His own blood for my soul.

It is well with my soul, It is well with my soul,

It is well, it is well, with my soul.

What was this man doing? Speaking to his storm. What we say in storms either empower a fable or empower truth that makes us free.

Habakkuk speaking to his storm: “Though the fig tree does not blossom - yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation”

In 1 Corinthians chapter 6 Paul was speaking about his life, he says in tribulations, in needs, in distresses . . . as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.

It’s the wonder of incorporated joy. The Message puts it, immersed in tears, yet always filled with deep joy.

Every now and again my thinking gets out of sync with this indescribable reality, and I have to recalibrate. I find it best done standing still and letting my heart and mind go nowhere else but to his unconditional, ever present and rich goodness toward me – just me.

He said "This is the rest with which You may cause the weary to rest," And, "This is the refreshing"; Yet they would not hear. (Isaiah 28:12)

Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord (Acts 3:19)

1. •The work of labouring out of sync with incorporated joy will quickly weary us.
   

2. •Repenting means to ‘change your heart and mind’ – recalibrate, turn your heart and mind again to the scandal.
   

3. •Stand still in the presence of the Lord and be refreshed.