Our Pursuit: Joy Overflowing in Love

0:00 Last night, we saw that God made us for His own glory and that He made us for real joy in Him and that these two pursuits are actually one, marvelous, amazing, glorious pursuit because God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. And then this morning, we tracked divine glory and human joy in the life of Jesus, the God-man. Fully God, fully man, in one spectacular person. His life work and his lead prayer were for his Father's glory. and as he drew near to the cross to the completion of his life's work he acknowledged and he prayed for his glory as one with his fathers and we went to Hebrews 12 and John 12 and John 17 and we pondered Jesus' joy what was the joy set before him?

1:12 we saw several aspects of that joy. Joy in his father's glory, joy in the defeat of Satan, joy in his own exaltation and nearness to the father. And then finally, the other one we saw there was love for his people, which leads us to this session, this afternoon, where we finish up. in john chapter 13 verse 1 leading into the account of jesus washing the feet of his disciples john says when his hour drew near to depart out of this world to his father having loved his own who were in the world he loved them to the end this god man who so clearly pursued his father's glory throughout his life, John says, loved his own.

2:13 And they're not in competition. He was able to love his own, his disciples, his people, because he loved his Father's glory and he loved him to the end. And so John 13, 34, the great love command has as its standard, as its grounding, Jesus' love for his people, which is exhibited at the cross. A new commandment I give you, that you love one another, here's the key, just as I have loved you, so you also are to love one another. Verse 34 in John 13. Now, in this third and final session, it gets more personal. This is about our pursuit of joy. And about our love.

3:08 you might ask is it loving to pursue your joy sounds selfish like you're thinking all about your joy are you gonna love somebody else doesn't love mean that you not pursue your own joy but you pursue the joy of your beloved will the ones who we love truly be loved and feel loved if we seek to have real joy in God to his glory in fact a related question the deeper question the one behind it that you may want to ask is what about God himself is it loving for God to pursue his glory and then loving for us to pursue our joy in him to his glory now a quick word here that I want to insert between this focus on God's pursuit last night the focus on Jesus's pursuit this morning and then now as we turn to our pursuit, I feel like there's a missing piece here in the middle.

4:31 If I had another session, I think I would spend that session talking about what I call habits of grace, which is just a fresh way of talking about spiritual disciplines. I would rather talk about the means of God's grace. That's the old Puritan way of talking about spiritual disciplines. Spiritual disciplines is newer language. in the last generation or two. The older language is means of grace. What I love about that language is means of grace accents that God is the great actor and source. Sometimes I feel spiritual disciplines. It's like, oh, I got to do the thing. And is it a capital S spirit? Or is it just me, lowercase l spirit? I got to do the disciplines, got to do the duties. Means of grace emphasizes that the God of all grace, the blessed God who's infinitely happy and overflowing in grace has revealed the channels of his ongoing grace in our lives the channels of ongoing joy real joy and means of grace we want to align our lives with his revealed means of grace that's what I call habits of grace habits of grace practices in our lives where we align our lives with the means, the revealed means of God's ongoing flow of grace for lives of real joy. Now, I know, I remember as a college student, as a young adult, trying to put together a list of these spiritual disciplines.

6:07 it's like 12 15 20 24 you can make a long list of potential spiritual disciplines like i i want to have real joy do i have to do all these things next thing you start looking your schedule going i would have to be a monk to do all the spiritual disciplines but i got a job or i'm a student or a father or a mother how can i do that a project of mine has been trying to boil down through the 20 or 24 or 15, whatever long your list of spiritual disciplines is, I want to know the key principles. What are God's key principles of grace that operate in and through that long list of potential practices? Here's my summary. So I'm just inserting this little parenthesis here between Jesus' pursuit and our pursuit, which is where we're ending, this little section here on habits of grace.

7:06 My summary is God's ongoing grace for the Christian life, for feeding our real joy in him, comes through hearing his voice in his word and having his ear in prayer and belonging to his body, the covenant fellowship of the local church. Now, there are other supplements to those three. I can even talk about how sleep and diet and exercise can be supplements to help to clear get things out of the way help us be ready to receive but those are God's main channels of ongoing grace in the Christian life so as you think all right I'm hearing about this real joy I want this real joy I want to pursue it in my life now what how do I receive this real joy and my summary is hear his voice in his word this is why Christians talk about reading the Bible this is why it's so important we talk about meditating on the word not just reading it quick and moving on and reading it as fast as we read screens in our lives and moving on, it's not going to change you, it's not going to feed you it's not going to strengthen real joy unhurried reception of the voice of the living God by the power of his spirit through his word.

8:31 The word of God is so important to Christians. It is not a dead book. It's not a mere historical record. It is the living voice of the living God by the power of his spirit to feed your real joy in him. And then this is a relationship. God speaks through his word and we respond in prayer. This is relational. We don't do prayers to move around beads or check boxes. Prayer is a response to his word. We hear from God in his word. We respond to him in prayer. To pray is to address some God, either the one you're imagining or the one you've actually heard about from his own self-revelation in his word. And then God doesn't leave us on our own in these relational pursuits of hearing from him and responding to him, but he brings together a body.

9:25 The local church. And he means for us to have a covenant fellowship. Not just float in and out of mildly Christian relationships, but to have covenant fellowship where we commit to be the church to each other in good times and bad times. And so we have here some daily, some weekly rhythms of life where we keep accessing the living waters. You keep coming back to the table to eat the feast. you refill your soul so that then you can pour out as God calls in our lives of love which is where we come now in this fourth session this is about the call to pour out we want to get concrete here we want to talk application here and move into the real moments of life what might this real joy look like in your life, in the neighborhood, in your home in your city Let me start by asking, where do you turn, what's your reflex of soul in moments of decision?

10:35 to what or to whom do you look for help when you need to choose between two paths this is really relevant for the call of love the call of love meets us at the most unexpected times with some need and there's a decision do i have reason not to help or am i going to give of my energy, my time, my finances to help, to demonstrate love. We live most of our lives spontaneously. We're not pausing to reflect over every decision. Most of our lives spontaneously flowing out of the heart who we've become. But sometimes we come to these key moments of decision. it might be as small as a request to help a church member or a text informing you of a friend who's in need and so you're presented in the moment unexpected moment with an opportunity to love and so you pause consider am I going to do this?

11:50 is it going to cost me something? am I going to do this? where do you look for clarity specifically as christians what might we put before our minds and put before our hearts to guide us in these key moments of decision where either love's going to happen or it's not the end of Acts 20, which Nima just read there, doesn't only give us a Christian way to pursue that, but what I would call a Christian hedonistic approach. Or, just translate that, Christian joy-seeking approach.

12:42 How the holy pursuit of joy can be a compass for our soul to point us north for love. Now, if you're reading a red-letter Bible, if you guys have red-letter Bibles in Norton, okay, all right, if you've got a red-letter Bible, you might expect the Gospels are going to have plenty of red, but not the book of Acts. Acts is going to have some red. Peter sees this vision.

13:16 Paul on the Damascus Road. You're going to find some splashes of red in the book of Acts. but Acts 20 is a really strange place for red everybody's got red maybe you saw it oh here it is all of a sudden there's red Acts chapter 20 verse 35 Acts 20 here is Paul's last will and testament to these dearly known dearly beloved elders in Ephesus he has them meet him on the beach in Miletus he says farewell to them he's making his way to Jerusalem he's thinking he won't see them again So he gives him this rich and moving farewell speech, verses 18 to 35. And then it culminates, surprisingly, with these red letters, out of the blue, in Paul's speech in Acts 20. as he comes to the close of his message he reminds them of his own hard work and they themselves have seen that nobody's going to argue with the Herculean work ethic of the Apostle Paul apparently he wants to model that for him and then he says this in verse 35 this is so good and it's so relevant to our pursuit of real joy in God. In all things, I have shown you that by working hard in this way, we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, it is more blessed to give than to receive.

14:53 more blessed. That means more happy. It is happier. It is more joyful to give than to receive. This is pleasure-seeking logic. It's just a shameless appeal to joy. and this is his parting word to these Ephesian elders amazing last thing I have to say to you pursue your joy you Ephesian elders you will be happier if that's how Paul closes this moving speech not only does Paul believe this truth that is more blessed to give than to receive and not only does he live by it himself and not only does he quote it for others but he adds that these church leaders should explicitly remember it.

16:05 Bring it to mind. Keep bringing it to mind. Have it guide you. Have it motivate you. Turn here. This is the place to turn. Turn here in key moments of decision. This pursuit of joy is gonna tip you over from selfishness to love. in key moments of decision. This is the sort of truth that deserves remembrance. so be conscious about it regularly rehearse it if you want to live in the supernatural way of jesus and not in the natural way of sinful man and the natural person then remember this teaching from jesus and there are many ethicists in the last few generations who would say precisely the opposite. You've got to forget it. Forget it. Joy is icing on the cake.

17:13 Forget your joy and just love out of duty. And if you happen to get joy in the end, icing on the cake. That's not what Jesus teaches. That's not what Paul believes. That's not what Paul quotes. That's not what he says to remember. Paul says remember that Jesus said it's more blessed to give than to receive. If you pursue your greater blessedness, your real joy, you will be loving in a way you would not be if you didn't. the natural human instinct is I'll be happier if I get rather than give but Jesus has turned that logic on its head and we need to see why he can turn it on its head not just arbitrarily but he's got reasons for it in the nature of his father that whether this particular wording in Acts 20 verse 35 is Jesus' own wording or it's Paul's kind of summary of Jesus' ethic, I don't think we need to say conclusively.

18:33 Some people speculate, well, oh, this must be a quote from Jesus. It's not in the Gospels. It was captured elsewhere or somebody told it to Paul, didn't make it into the Gospels. Now Paul's given it to us. So we have these words from Jesus. I don't think we have to enter into that discussion. Whether this is from Jesus or it's a summary from Paul, Or it's a summary from Luke. Luke's very able. I guarantee Luke's able. Whoever summary it is, it's good. It's a good summary. It's true. this is indeed how jesus taught this in summary form is the spirit of jesus's regular appeals to his disciples and that's what i want you to see here in this session i remember last night we we quoted c.s lewis where he talked about jesus's unblushing promises of reward throughout the gospels i love that lewis with his first class mind and intellect observe that and summarize that so well jesus does make unblushing promises of reward throughout the gospels and he says give to others and you will get from your father in heaven give on earth Jesus says and you'll receive from heaven give of your earthly temporal possessions and you will get a heavenly eternal possession the heart of Jesus' appeal is you get more in giving than you get in getting.

20:15 however there's a really important way we need to fill that out getting from whom giving to whom here's how i'll expand it slightly you get more from god in giving to others than in getting from others right we got you got to get this right who are you getting from who are you giving to sometimes we turn this around it is so sad when this happens among professing christians where we orient on the christian life as giving to god giving you my worship giving you my life and then we start to pull from others i'm orienting on the world to get from others and i'm pretending as if i'm giving to god with my christianity It's exactly the opposite.

21:12 God gives to us, fills us up with real joy at the banquet of his table and enables us to give to others. Got to get the direction right. From him we get, to others we give. That's Jesus' ethic. So whether Acts 20.35 is a quote from Jesus or it's Paul's summary or it's Luke's summary, it does match Jesus' ethic wonderfully. And I want to show you specifically how it does so. And with each specific instance, I want you to take encouragement for your giving and for your loving as we go from here. So I got four passages that contain four core promises. I will summarize the core promise.

22:06 In my own words, I'll give you the promise. And then I'll read the passage, and I'm going to bring all four here from the Gospel of Luke. So Luke is the book of Acts, and let's pick them up from the Gospel of Luke, these four, and show how Jesus' regular teaching for giving is this ethic, this ethic of pleasure-seeking in receiving from God and giving to others. and these texts are going to very focus very much focus on giving but what i want you to hear is the larger picture of loving loving takes giving of self of time of energy of effort sacrifice it can involve finances these texts are focused in particular on the giving of finances because giving is what mentioned is much mentioned in acts 20 but the principle holds for how you be people who have and give and extend our love.

23:08 So number one, God will out-give you. These are truths to rehearse. In a moment of decision, you're presented an opportunity to love, presented an opportunity to give, and you remind your soul, God will out-give me. God will out-love me. I will not out love him. This is Luke 6, 38. If you're following along, I'll take these in order, beginning in Luke 6, and we'll move up to Luke 16 with these four. So Luke 6, 38. Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap.

24:02 Luke 6.38 we need to get the context here to understand verse 38. In Luke chapter 6, Jesus has instructed his disciples on how they should treat others. And then he tells about how they will be treated by the Most High, who is your Father. So verse 37, look at the previous verse. Judge not others, and you will not be judged by your Father. Condemn not others, and you will not be condemned by your Father. Forgive others, and you will be forgiven by your Father. That's how the pattern works. Treat others on earth well with an explicit view toward the benefit that comes from heaven. Jesus' ethic here is plainly not the natural human ethic that says Treat others well and they will treat me well This is just natural human I treat somebody well, they treat me well No God in the picture at all Jesus is explicitly denying that As his ethic Verse 34 If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you?

25:37 Even sinners lend to sinners to get back the same amount. Rather, Jesus says in verse 35, love. Here's love explicitly. Here's love. Love your enemies and do good and lend expecting nothing in return from them. And your reward will be great.

26:07 See the move there? Nothing from them. You give here. You don't get here. You give here. You get here from your father. the credit here or the benefit to which jesus makes explicit appeal is not what others do for you in return but what your heavenly father will be and do for you you give to others seeking nothing in return from them because you are looking to the reward you get from your father so get this straight we are seeking return we're looking for reward but not from man that's too small it doesn't last very long we're looking for reward return from god When he gives, he doesn't hold back like man does.

27:07 He doesn't cut corners in his giving. He doesn't ration limited resources. He lavishes infinite resources on his people. This comes back to the good measure, pressed down, shaking together, running over. Maybe in the modern world we might compare that to an ice cream cone. we have a ice cream shop in the twin cities called nelson's probably swedish ancestry and nelson's is known as being over the top generous so if if you're hungry for ice cream you're looking at all the flavors you pick your flavor you pick your cone and the worker back there is probably a teenager the worker back there they they scoop a little bit and they put it on top and you look at like what they just put it on top i know the whole cone is empty but at nelson's and they're known for this.

28:10 At Nelson's, they're going to give you good measure. They're not going to get a bunch. They're going to press it down. It's ice cream, so you don't shake it together. They press it down. They press it all the way into the cone. And then running over is their specialty. I mean, it's almost a joke. It is laughable for people who come to Nelson's for the first time. You have to tell them ahead of time. Folks who have been there before, you're used to it. It's laughable. They pile it on. They pile it on. so tall, it's about to fall over. You can order a child-size ice cream. Now, this wouldn't be allowed in Sweden, right? The government would shut Nelson's down. This is America. Order a child-size and get a gallon of ice cream. They pile it on top. So when I go to Nelson's, I don't eat a child-size by myself. I share it with one of my children, my family of six. We can order three child-sized ice creams and all eat to our heart's content. And it is such a picture of the lavishness of our God. He's not leaving the cone empty. He's piling it on top. He's punching it down. He's so big it's about to fall over. You got to grab it with a plate or a cup.

29:25 So number one, Luke six, God will out give you. He will out love you. I promise you will not out love the almighty God and knowing that you are freed to give, freed to love. There will be no deficit for those who love well. Number two, God gives treasure that will not fail. Now we're jumping forward to Luke 12, verses 32 to 34. God gives treasure that will not fail. Verse 32. Fear not, little flock. for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Oh, I just love that little flock.

30:20 Modest, marginal, small, weak, little flock. He's going to give you the kingdom. running over. Sell your possessions and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with money bags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. So this is the same spirit and holy joy-seeking as we see in Jesus' other ethic, in his line of reasoning. As you empty your earthly, aging, stealable wallets by giving to others who are in need, you provide yourselves with heavenly money bags that do not grow old, treasure that cannot be stolen by thieves or destroyed by moths.

31:22 so again we're finding this this two directions of giving you've already seen it number one jesus people give to others in need number two jesus's father gives to his people coming down from heaven might give to others you give from your limited possessions to the needy and you get from your father's unlimited bounty and remembering that motivates the giving. Jesus doesn't want us to forget that. He's motivating us by that. Remembering your father, his lavishness, his giving motivates us.

32:05 Knowing that your father has it all and that what he has cannot be stolen or destroyed and that he happily gives to his children and doesn't hold back. You are freed from hoarding and holding tightly to your earthly possessions. That includes time and energy. And this appeal is plainly joy-seeking. Give to the needy, recalling your father has no needs. Not only does he care for his little flock and thus free you to care for others, but in your very giving to others, you accrue more blessing from your father. You are more blessed, Jesus says, to give to others and so to receive from your Father in heaven.

32:55 More free to love. This giving is an act of love. Believing that your Father gives treasure that doesn't fail and seeking that treasure frees you in love to give to those in need. That's number two. Number three, God will make you happy.

33:16 It's so simple, but it's so profound. This is Luke 14. God will make you happy. Luke 14, verses 13 to 14. When you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed because they cannot repay you. Are you starting to pick up on the logic here? You're going to be blessed because they can't repay you. Uh-oh, what does that leave? that leaves space for your father for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just so this one luke 14 here comes the closest to acts 20 35 of all of them they're all nearby but this is probably the closest because it mentions being blessed happy it mentions the call to give it mentions the promise of repayment or reward and this is not the blessed of being praised this is the blessed of being happy when you give to others and they cannot repay you god will make you happy he will repay you in the end and knowing that makes us not only happy in the end but through faith streams to us in the present Thank you.

34:48 this is this is really a profound insight in this text into jesus's ethic when he mentions others who cannot repay you right that's setting up the scenario that provides clarity about the ethic the natural human less happy way is to give to others who will give back to you. They'll repay you, tit for tat. That's just normal human interaction. You have your reward from that human, and you leave there untapped, infinite joy resources from heaven and eternity. But the supernatural, divine, more blessed way is to give to others who cannot repay you.

35:44 Because then you know that your heart has been truly seeking real joy. Your heart has looked to the majestic rewards of heaven rather than the measly reimbursements of earth. And your heavenly Father has never missed a single payment. He will repay you. In His perfect justice, he will reward you with everything you deserve. And in addition to that, in his amazing grace, he will lavish you with far more than you deserve. You will be happier by far to be rewarded by him than to be repaid by fellow humans. And through that freeing, joy-seeking intention, you will be enabled in that moment to love rather than be selfish. You love, knowing that you're all-seeing, all-knowing, all-just, all-gracious Heavenly Father will not let any act in the name of His Son go without reward.

36:52 The glory of His Son is at stake. However hidden it may be in this age, one day the books are going to be open. The world will know. Jesus will be honored. and our heavenly Father will shower his children with everything good they are owed and far, far more lavishly than what they deserve.

37:15 Jesus said that even one who gives a cup of cold water in his name will by no means lose his reward. How much more one who gives a feast to the needy and lives a life of love. Number four then, last one.

37:35 This is in Luke 16. God will receive you into his house. Luke 16 verse 9. This is the most peculiar of the four passages. God will receive you into his house. Jesus tells this parable of the unrighteous manager who shrewdly uses his temporary access to wealth to secure favor for himself once the stewardship is taken away.

38:09 And Jesus acknowledges that what this steward does is unrighteous. He's not telling his disciples to go do that, but he's teaching an important lesson in this parable, in this scenario. So he risks drawing on this joy-seeking lesson for his disciples. This is verse 9 of chapter 16. Make friends for yourself by means of unrighteous wealth, which you have in this age, so that when it fails, and it will, they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.

38:43 All right, we've seen this logic before, even if it hasn't been quite as provocative as this parable. Our possessions on earth and our time on earth and our energy in this life are so fleeting, so soon they will fail us. Why hold on to them and be ruined?

39:06 When you could use what you have right now, the stewardship you have now, to make friends for yourself with God Almighty. That's who the friends are in the parable. He says, make friends. The plural is from the parable. What's intended is God himself. You've got one friend. In mine, who will receive you into his eternal dwelling. This is an appeal to joy, plain and simple. Holding on now to earthly possessions will not make you deeply and enduringly happy.

39:44 If you really want to be happy, if you want real joy, loosen your grip. Give generously. not that you might receive in return from fellow humans but that you might receive now and for forever from your father in heaven and one day as a guest and even more than that as a child you will be taken into the home that is heaven so it is more blessed to give than to receive i think is a marvelous summary of jesus's ethic we could go on do other examples there's four examples of jesus teaching it's more blessed to give than to receive so how might it become tangible then for us in moments of decision moments that call for an act of love for generosity with our time our finances our energy our attention Thank you.

40:46 When faced with the opportunity to give and the call to love, Jesus would say, consider your holy joy. He didn't tell us all these things to forget about real joy.

41:07 He says, remember. Remember your holy joy. That's what Jesus would have us do. That's what Paul did. That's why he says, remember. Remember your real joy. It will not ruin you. It will release you to love. if you remember real joy. So very practically, you come to a moment of decision. You hear of a need.

41:35 Christian love is calling. You can think of all sorts of selfish reasons not to do it. And you can think of pretty human, natural reasons you might say yes, what you might receive in return on the horizontal level. And at that moment, Jesus and Paul would have us turn our minds to the promises of God. This is very practical. In that moment, where do you go with your mind? Turn to the promises of God. You might remind yourself, he will out-give your giving, guaranteed. He'll out-love your loving. Or you might remind yourself, he gives treasure that will not fail. Or he will make you happy forever in measure right now and fully for forever. and in the end he will even receive you into the endless divine generosity of his own house why would I not love why would I not give I want real joy unblushing promises of reward grab one of them rehearse it and then act in faith believing the promise for your real joy.

43:02 Or, if you need a summary, if all else fails you, a text doesn't come to mind, you can grab Acts 20, 35, which is an inspired summary of the teaching of Jesus. It is more blessed. You will be happier to give to others than receive from them. Now, back to the question at the beginning here as we close. First, the question about God.

43:33 Is it loving for God to pursue his glory? Answer, yes. In fact, he would be unloving to not pursue and display and put before our eyes his own glory. He is the one who is supremely valuable and satisfying. If he were to forsake himself as God, he would not love us but ruin us, condemn us to misery. If he points us to anything other than himself for real joy, he misleads or deceives or destroys us.

44:14 That would be hatred, not love. For God, love is putting his glory and his son's glory on display for us that we might find real joy in him. What about for us? Is it loving for us to pursue joy in God? Will the loved ones in our lives truly feel loved and be loved if we seek our real joy in God and his glory? I can't promise you that they will feel loved. you're not responsible for their heart, for what they feel.

45:04 You are responsible for acting according to who God is and His Word and what is in fact loving in your soul in seeking real joy, not simply what feels loving for them wherever they're at in their headspace related to God. but unless we seek our real joy in God we cannot love others as we ought without joy in God we will not have the overflow of joy to move with love towards others needs God's promises of reward free us from selfishness to pursue better joys through loving others and without joy in God, we will not point our loved ones to the only source of real joy. The reason they may not feel loved is because they may not acknowledge God as the only source of real joy.

46:03 So, in the call of love, in the call to do something hard, or sometimes the harder thing, to say something hard. to open your mouth to that neighbor about the gospel or that loved one, maybe even a stranger.

46:24 Remember joy. Rehearse a promise of reward. Believe the promise. And in faith, take a risk to love. And however it goes, your Father will reward you and you will not regret his reward. Let's pray. So Father in heaven, for these dear brothers and sisters now, I come to the end of this conference and we are commissioned back to our callings, various cities, even various countries, our households, our churches.

47:06 Oh Father, would you send us with the spirit of Jesus' teaching. Send us with a holy, joy-seeking ethic that brings about concrete, real love in our lives, that we'd be able to say the thing that feels hard, that feels awkward, but needs to be said from love, that we'd not be selfish and gathering our own time and stuff and energy and attention, but willing to give, take the risk to bless others and do something good. Father, I pray that this focus this weekend on real joy would have real implications, a real outflow, real applications, real effects in our lives, that you'd change us, change the way we think, fill our hearts in such a way that we want to act. We don't want to go back to all the same old patterns. We want to be changed.

48:01 We want to be ready to act for love, ready to speak for love. and you've given us your Holy Spirit. We are not on our own in the call for love, but dwelt by you in your Spirit through your Son.

48:23 And so, Father, would you send us now for joy and in love to your glory. In Jesus' name we pray.