The Key To Living a Joyful Life
Steve W. Reeves
INTRODUCTION:
A. Once,
when Tami and I were in the process of moving I lost my wallet. It contained
my driver’s license, social security card,
fishing license and a crisp one hundred
dollar bill. I searched everywhere in our
house, in our car and in the moving van. I
even drove over 50 miles to a gas station
where I had stopped to fill up. I searched
for that wallet for days. Finally I bought
another one and gradually replaced the
contents with the exception of the one
hundred dollar bill. Several years later we had
some friends who were moving and needed
some boxes. I went to our storage room
and started to gather some boxes we had
kept. Guess what I found? There was
my wallet with all of its contents inside.
1. Do you know why I could not find my
wallet? The answer is quite simple. I was not
looking in the right place.
2. The wallet had not moved. I looked
everywhere I could imagine but failed to look in
the one place where it was to be found.
B. Do
you know why so many people today fail to experience real, deep, abiding joy?
1. A lot of people are searching for
happiness.
2. You may be a young person, a student, a
young married couple, parents raising
your children, empty nester or retired.
Everyone is looking for happiness. “I just
want to be happy,” is the cry of our
society.
3. May I tell you some things about
happiness?
a. You will never be happy all of the
time. How long can you hold a smile on your
face? A young lady named Lisa Lester
once set a world record of smiling for 10
hours and thirty-two minutes. Could
you do that?
b. Happiness is affected by our
circumstances. There are some circumstances that
do not call for happiness.
4. There is a difference between happiness
and joy.
1. Happiness is temporary. Joy is
eternal. You may find happiness in a new car but
the car is not going to stay new for
long. You may find happiness in sin (Hebrews
11:25) but that pleasure is only for
a season.
2. Happiness is outward expression. Joy
is an inward reality. Happiness is the
surface of the water. Joy is the
deep current.
3. Happiness is like a thermometer that
registers the temperature of its
environment. Joy is like a
thermostat that regulates the temperature of its
environment.
4. Happiness often evaporates in times
of suffering but joy is often strengthened in
difficult times. James wrote, “Consider it all
joy, my brethren, when you
encounter various trials, 3 knowing
that the testing of your faith produces
endurance” (James 1:2-3).
C.
Where can we find joy?
1. The shortest verse in the Bible in its
original language is not John 11:35 (“Jesus
wept”). It is 1 Thessalonians 5:16 –
“Rejoice always.”
2. John 15:11 – “These things I have spoken
to you so that My joy may be in you,
and that your joy may be made full.”
3. John 17:13 – “But now I come to You; and
these things I speak in the world so that
they may have My joy made full in
themselves.”
4. Philippians 4:4 – “Rejoice in the Lord
always; again I will say, rejoice!”
D. Joy
is one of the most important character traits in a Christian.
1. Can you imagine trying to evangelize the
world without a spirit of joy?
a. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. served as
an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court
for many years. He had a brilliant
mind and once contemplated becoming a
minister. He wrote, "I might
have been a minister myself, if a certain clergyman
had not looked and talked so like an
undertaker."
b. There should be joy in salvation. In
Psalm 51:12 David wrote, “Restore to me the
joy of your salvation.”
c. Who would want anything to do with a
mindset of misery?
2. Joy provides strength for daily living.
Nehemiah 8:10 says, “The joy of the Lord is
your strength.”
E. I
like to be happy and I like to see happy people. I’m more interested in being
filled
with the joy of the Lord and seeing that
joy in your life. May I tell you how to find this
joy? Notice four essential components of
joy in Romans 5.
I. THERE IS JOY IN A CLEANSED LIFE
A. Paul wrote, “Therefore, having been
justified by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through
whom also we have access by faith into
this grace in which we stand, and
rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”
B. Note the word, “justified” in verse 1.
What does this mean?
1. Imagine a ledger or record book of
your life. In this book is written down
everything you have ever thought,
done or said. Also in this book is every good
thing you had the opportunity to do
but did not do. It is certainly not a joyful
thought.
2. Because Jesus died on the cross for
your sins he offers to take every negative
action out of your book and replace
it with His righteousness. Across the record
of your life He is willing to write
in His blood, “paid in full.”
C. Because we have been justified we have
peace with God and access to God
through faith. What is the result? “We rejoice!”
II. THERE IS JOY IN A CONFIDENT LIFE
A. In what do we rejoice? Paul said, “We
rejoice in the hope of the glory of God?”
B. Do you have the hope that comes through
Christ?
1. Hope is not “wishful thinking.”
Biblical hope is “confident expectation based on
the reality of God’s promises.” In
verse 5 the apostle said, “And hope does not
disappoint us.”
2. If you are a child of God no situation
for you is hopeless. Paul instructed
persecuted Christians in Rome to
“rejoice in hope” (Romans 12:12). No matter
what happens in life God is greater.
a. You may lose your earthly treasure but you
have a greater treasure stored up
in heaven (Matthew 6:24).
b. You may lose your health but you
have been promised a new body that is
incorruptible (1 Corinthians 15:51-57).
c. You may lose your life but you
have been promised a “mansion” or “permanent
dwelling place” (John 14:1-3)
greater than anything this world offers.
3. Here it is. “Know Christ, know joy.
No Christ, no joy.”
III. THERE IS JOY IN A CHANGED LIFE
A. In verses 3-4 Paul wrote, “And not only
that, but we also glory in tribulations,
knowing that tribulation produces
perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character;
and character, hope.”
B. Paul knew what he was talking about!
When he and Silas were on the second
missionary journey they came to
Philippi. After several days of preaching they were
thrown into prison. Paul had encountered
many situations where he had been
persecuted, stoned and left for dead.
What type of response would you expect a
person to have in such a situation?
1. Look for a new line of work?
2. Hide for cover until the threat
passed?
3. In Acts 16:25 Paul and Silas were
singing and praying in the prison and the other
prisoners heard them.
C. For every difficulty and hardship we
experience in life there is the joy of knowing
that we are being molded into the image
of Christ and our faith is being refined by
fire. It’s not surprising that Jesus
said, “Blessed
are you when they revile and
persecute you, and say all kinds of evil
against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice
and be exceedingly glad, for great is
your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted
the prophets who were before you”
(Matthew 5:11-12).
IV. THERE IS JOY IN A CAPABLE LIFE
A. Paul said, “Now hope does not
disappoint, because the love of God has been
poured out in our hearts by the Holy
Spirit who was given to us” (vs. 5).
B. Our ability to live a joyful life does
not come from ourselves.
1. The “power of positive thinking” is
limited because our thinking is limited!
2. “For My thoughts are not your
thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the
Lord” (Isaiah 55:8).
C. The strength to live joyfully comes from
the dwelling of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
In Galatians 5:19-20 Paul lists the
fruit of the spirit. “Love, joy, peace, patience,
goodness, kindness, gentleness and faith.”
CONCLUSION:
A. Do
you have a set of keys in your pocket or purse? Suppose they represent the keys
to your life. God says, “If you want my joy
you must give me all of the keys to your
life.” Often we want to hold one for
ourselves. God says, “You must give me all of
them.” Are you willing to do so?
B.
Does God want you to be happy? He has greater interest in your eternal joy than
your momentary happiness. Do you know His
joy today?
