JOY

from my message on Oct. 12, 2014, from Philippians 4:1-9

Sing with me, I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart (Where?)
        Down in my heart, down in my heart.
I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart (Where?)
       Down in my heart to stay.

Is that true?  Do you have that joy...in your heart?

Joy....life in Christ is marked by joy.  Joy is much deeper than any passing emotion like happiness or sadness.  You can have joy even though the scores from the football games of yesterday didn't go your way.

Paul writes to the church in Philippi, a Roman colony in Macedonia.  He calls them "my joy and my crown."  He tells them, "Rejoice in the Lord, always; again, I say, Rejoice."

Next Sunday, Oct. 19, we will observe ReThink Church Plus One, a time when we will go out into the world to serve others.  We will do this not out of guilt or obligation, but joy.

I have a memory device for you.  JOY will be an acronym.  The J stands for Jesus.  Our joy is rooted in him.  Notice how many times in the passage Paul says, "in the Lord."  Stand firm ...in the Lord.  Keep your hearts and minds... in Christ Jesus, in the Lord.  Rejoice...in the Lord.

I don't discount that there are other revelations of God and other world religions, but we have a particular revelation in Jesus Christ.  When I was sharing this idea of ReThink Church Plus One this summer with some focus groups, Kevin said, "I really like it.  It is exactly what Jesus did.  He didn't say, 'Here's a bunch of theology or here's a lot of rules to memorize.'  He said, 'Follow me.'  When they followed Him, they saw him heal people, teach people, feed people.  Then later, they asked Him, 'What happened there?  What did it mean?'  Then Jesus could tell them about how the Kingdom of God had come close to them.  Their lives were changed."

This is joy, following Jesus and seeing lives changed.

The O stand for Others.  We realize that we can gain wisdom from others, even as we are called to serve others.  The list of admirable qualities that Paul quotes from, things that are true, holy, just, pure, lovely, worthy of praise, actually comes from Greek philosophy. We can find Jesus everywhere.  We can take the best insights from anywhere.

Paul says that we are to show gentleness or generosity or consideration to all people.  We begin right here in community.  You are not going to believe it, but there was conflict in the early church!  Do you know something about conflict in church?  If you don't, you will.  It is bound to happen.

Apparently 2 leaders in the church, 2 women were in disagreement.  Paul invites others, an unknown person, Clement, and other co-workers, to help them resolve this.

Gerard, a member of this church, has been the leader on some 31 builds for Habitat for Humanity homes.  I like to work on his Friday crew.  I like to take my hammer and hit things.  Once upon a time some years ago, 2 members of this church were in conflict and were part of the Friday crew.  I noticed that Gerard paired them up, intentionally I think, to build cabinets together.  Lots of little screws, nuts and bolts to put in.  It was amazing how the differences dissolved as they worked together. There is much joy in resolution.

ReThink Church projects for others will help us overcome our conflicts too.

Y stands for You.  You cannot do this Christian walk alone.  You cannot know who you are except by being in relationship with Jesus and Others.  There is great joy in knowing who you are and your purpose here.

ReThink Church Plus One will give you an opportunity for joy.  You can fill out the hard copy insert in your bulletin, go on-line at our church website, or call the office.  Join us in joy next Sunday.

Watch the video to see some more ways you can get involved.

I am encouraging you to invite someone to serve alongside of you, your Plus One.   I have a story from a hero of mine, Fred Craddock, a professor of preaching.  I will quote it almost verbatim to bring Jesus, Others, and You together.

When I was pastoring in Tennessee, there was a girl about 7 years old who came to our church regularly for Sunday School, and sometimes here parents let her stay for the worship service.  They didn't come.  We had a circular drive at that church.  It was built for people who let their children off and drove on.  We didn't want to inconvenience them, so we had a circular drive. But they were very faithful, Mom and Dad.  They had moved from New Jersey with the new chemical plant.  He was upwardly mobile; they were both very ambitious; and they didn't come to church.  There wasn't really any need for that, I guess.

But on Saturday nights, the whole town knew of their parties.  They gave parties, not for entertainment, but as part of the upwardly mobile thing.  That determined who was invited:  the right people, the one just above, and finally on up to the boss.  And those parties ere full of drinking and wild and vulgar things.  Everybody knew.  But there was their beautiful girl every Sunday.

One Sunday morning I looked out, and she was there.  I thought, "Well, she's with her friends." but it was her Mom and Dad.  After the sermon, at the close of the service, as is the custom at my church, came an invitation to discipleship, and Mr. and Mrs. Mom and Dad came to the front.  They confessed their faith in Christ.  Afterward I asked, "What prompted this?"

They said, "Well, do you know about our parties?"  And I said, "Yeah, I have heard about your parties."

They said, "Well, we had one last night again, and it got a little loud, and it got a little rough, and there was too much drinking.  We woke up our daughter, and she came downstairs to the 3rd step.  She saw that we were eating and drinking, and she said, "Oh, can I say the blessing?  God is great, God is good, let us thank him for our food.  Good-night, everybody.'  She went back upstairs.

People started saying, "Oh, my land, it's time to go. We've got to be going.  We've stayed way too long."  Within 2 minutes the room was empty.

Mr. and Mrs. Mom and Dad began cleaning up, picking up crumpled napkins and wasted and spilled peanuts and half-eaten sandwiches, and taking empty glasses on trays to the kitchen.  And with 2 trays, he and she met on either side of the sink, they looked at each other, and he expressed what both were thinking:  "Where do we think we're going?"  The moment of truth.

There is more joy in heaven over one who repents that 99 that have no need of repentance.  Joy comes in relationship with Jesus and Others. That's the good news I have to share with you today.