The Price of Joy

And we're going to speak for a few moments today.

My thought is the price of joy, the price of

joy. And if I had another title, I might call

it the price of perfection. But I didn't want

to use that one because I thought, well, maybe

that word perfection might, you know, mess with

some people's minds. But this is what we're going

to allow God to speak to our hearts today. Would

you pray with me? Father, we thank you for your.

presence that we feel today in this place. We

have come with a made up mind to give you all

the honor and all the glory. We were glad when

they said to us, let's go to the house of the

Lord. And we're thankful today, God, for all

your blessings, our health, our mind, our spirits,

our hearts, our families, God, every good thing

that you have blessed us with. We thank you today,

Lord. And we thank you for your word that's about

to go forward. God, let it. Let it touch our

hearts, God. Let it minister to us. Anoint our

hearing and anoint my lips of clay. In Jesus'

name we pray. Somebody say amen. You can be seated

in the presence of God. Joy and thanksgiving.

Amen. These are two relatable ideas in Scripture,

and they are often experienced together. Hand

in hand. Joy and thanksgiving. They appear in

such verses as Psalm 95 in verse 2, which says,

Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving.

Let us shout joyfully to him with psalms. How

many of you came to do that today? Amen. We come

before his presence with thanksgiving. But the

verse doesn't end there. It says, let us also

shout with joy because thanksgiving and joy,

they work together. They go hand in hand. And

maybe these two spiritual realities are closely

related because when you really begin to think

about the Lord, you begin to think about all

that he's done. and all that He is doing in your

life, you can't help but be thankful. Amen. Can't

help but be thankful. And at the same time, there

is a superseding joy that comes over you when

you begin to think about the Lord and what He

is doing. But I want to tell you today about

that joy. I want to preach for a few moments

about that joy because that joy is not cheap.

That joy is not cheap. In fact, joy is very costly.

Joy is painful. It's deep. It reaches into the

very deep recesses of our soul and our humanity.

I didn't come today to talk about happiness,

which is a beautiful idea in of itself. I came

to talk about joy. Amen. There's a stark contrast

between happiness and joy. Happiness is is cheap.

You know, it comes and it goes. But joy, real

joy is costly. It's very easy to rejoice at the

end of your trial. That's the easiest thing to

do when something is over. Right. After a long

fought battle. After a long trial or after a

tough ordeal, emotionally, spiritually, financially,

it's easy to take a sigh of relief, just to breathe

a sigh of relief and just, you know, wipe the

sweat off your brow and just be full of thanksgiving

and to rejoice at the end of a trial. But let

me tell you, church, it takes a lot of faith.

to count it all joy in the midst of your trial.

Doesn't take a lot of faith to praise God and

to rejoice when it's all said and done, when

it's all over. But it takes faith. Someone say

faith. Takes faith to rejoice in the midst of

it. Takes faith. Why? Because. Things are not

over yet, and it may still look like there's

a way to go. But there is a level of joy reserved

for the believer who can view their trials through

God's point of view, through heaven's point of

view, who can see the reward in the midst of

their pain, who can see the crown on the other

side of their cross. Let me tell you, not any

believer can do that. It takes faith. It takes

spiritual maturity. It takes hope, amen, to be

able to live your life to that degree. Anybody

can praise God for what he's done. But it takes

a certain kind of faith and a kind of resoluteness

within each. And it takes a kind of vision you've

got to have about God and about your life to

have joy in the midst of the trial. While there's

still that, you know, the dot, dot, dot at the

end of the sentence. You know, little dot, dot,

dot. You know, how many of you like that dot,

dot, dot when you're texting somebody, huh? And

you're waiting on an answer. And you're left

on dot, dot, dot. And you're staring at the screen

and you're waiting. Come on. Or when you're in

the checkout line, you're waiting for your loved

one or your spouse or somebody to tell you, hey,

do we need to get this? They're about to call

my name. And you're stuck on. Well, sometimes

we're stuck on dot, dot, dot with God. And what

do you do? when that happens what do you do when

it's like dot you're staring and you see God's

typing something right now but I don't know what

he's saying yet I don't know what the answer

is yet well can you still rejoice when you're

stuck on on hold like that can you still rejoice

when you haven't seen the fulfillment of the

promises of God well Jesus is our model the Bible

reads this way if you want to jot it down or

if you can go there quickly in Hebrews Chapter

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

12 and verse 2. Jesus is our model because the

Bible says there that for the joy, for the joy

that was set before him, he endured the cross.

You know, how many of you know that the cross

was not joyful, that the cross was not enjoyable?

Huh? Well, we don't know that. but we know based

on what Scripture tells us and what we have come

to understand about the gruesome nature of the

cross, that there was nothing enjoyable about

the cross. It was agonizing. It was torture.

But it was the price of joy. And this is why

scripture says that for the joy that was set

before him, he endured the cross. See, Jesus

endured the cross because there was this joy

that he was holding on to. Not because what he

was experiencing was pleasurable or that it was

pleasant, but because of the joy, this reward.

And of course, we're all sitting here today because

of that joy, because of our salvation, because

he canceled the debt of our sins. sin and he

redeemed us amen somebody give God praise for

that today amen but joy is it cost Jesus something

to obtain that joy it wasn't cheap it was costly

it was expensive and there was a price to pay

for that kind of joy you're not just going to

get it on the clearance rack of faith you're

not going to get it in the bargain basement of

faith This kind of joy is going to cost you something.

You're going to have to pay a price for it in

your life. And Scripture is replete with references

about the kind of price we have to pay. Before

you can reap in joy, you have to first sow in

tears. The Bible says if you sow in tears, you're

going to reap in joy. Before joy comes in the

morning, weeping must endure for a night. There

is a weeping period. Before beauty, there's ashes.

And before the oil of joy, there's a period of

mourning. You see, we all want the joy. We all

want the beauty. We all want the great things

that come in the morning. But the question for

us today is, can we praise God? And can we find

a reason to be thankful? Can we tap into that

future experience that we're going to have and

count it all? This is what. what Peter meant

when he said, count it all joy. Well, how am

I supposed to count it joy when I'm not experiencing

very joyful things? Well, you have to count it

all joy. You've got to count it. You've got to

tally it up in your mind and say, you know what?

Despite what's going on around me, despite the

trial that I'm enduring, God is still good. Somebody

say he's good. all joy in my my theological point

of view is that it would be like like you sometimes

you just got to praise God on credit because

God's got how many you know God's got good credit

amen I don't know what his credit score is but

it's a lot better than some of ours today Praise

God. Some of you, I'm shooting for 700. Pastor,

I'm going to get there. I've got to get beyond

that. Praise be to God. Hallelujah. But you know,

God's got good credit. And because he's been

so good, when you go through a trial and you

find yourself like you're starting to sink or

things are getting overwhelming, that's when

you start to remember, hey, wait a minute, God's

been good to me. And even though things don't

look too good right now, don't panic. Don't worry.

God's still with you. So you got to count it

all joy. It's all going to work out in the end.

I know somehow, someway, God's going to be glorified.

But the big question today is how do you do that?

Well, let me give you a few things before I get

out of your way today. There is a system. There

is some principles for us to understand about

how to count it all joy. Let me tell you, it's

about maintaining a healthy attitude, a healthy

perspective about your life, a Godward perspective,

a heavenward perspective about the challenges

that you face. And the first thing you've got

to do is, number one, again, no PowerPoint, so

you're going to have to write this stuff down.

Praise be to God. Hallelujah. Number one is you've

got to get over your why me attitude. That's

so good I need to say it again. Get over your

why me attitude. Someone say get over that. That's

right. James said, watch what he said. uh in

the verse that we read he said when you fall

into trials he did not say if you fall into trials

there's a big difference between when and if

it's not a matter of if but it's a matter of

when And so for somebody here today, your most

important battle that you have right now at this

very time in your life is the battle over around

asking God, why are you allowing this to happen?

And why are you allowing this trial to begin

with? And that's a sticking point for somebody

to say, well, why me, God? Why not them? You

know, I'm doing the best that I can. And they're

just, you know, when we start comparing ourselves

to others, you know, why me, Lord? I've been

trying. I've been faithful. I've been persistent

in these things. So why me? In fact, let me tell

you today, it's natural to ask that question.

It's only human to say, why me? And throughout

Scripture, some of our greatest. biblical figures,

biblical heroes, dare to ask that question. Even

David, King David, a man after God's own heart,

at one point say, my God, my God, why have you

forsaken me? Jesus on the cross repeated those

same words. My God, my God, why? It's totally

natural to ask that question. Why me? But let

me tell you, you can ask. I give you permission

to ask that question. It's okay sometimes to

ask that. Just don't get stuck there. God is

gracious with us. Amen. He'll put up with a little,

you know, he'll let us vent if we have to. He'll

let us get things off our chest if we have to.

He'll let us, you know, just react to things

the way that we do in our own personality. But

at some point, you can't get stuck there. You've

got to move on. And if not, the why me attitude

is a slippery slope to something that we would

call the woe is me attitude. Why me will become

the woe is me. And the woe is me is like why

me full blown. Now it's a total attitude of self

-pity and that will totally rob you of your joy.

And this can happen to anybody. It happened to

a woman named, for example, the woman scripture

tells us, Naomi, on her way back to Bethlehem.

Many of you will recall the story. Amen. When

Naomi went back to Bethlehem, you can read the

details in the book of Ruth. And she is now making

an effort to turn her life around. But she hasn't

quite figured things out yet spiritually. She's

still got some things to work on. And it comes

out as she is entering Bethlehem. Her old friends

see her coming and they begin to call out to

her. They recognize it had been some years. I'm

sure, you know, time and age had caught up to

her. Very difficult, painful things she went

through. went through, but they recognized her.

And they said, oh, here comes Naomi. They said,

Naomi, it's good to see you. You know, we missed

you, girl. You know, I don't know what they said.

Welcome back. You know, welcome back. And all

of a sudden, you know, they saw this. Naomi had

like this demeanor about her. She just came in.

I don't know. Her face was long. Ever seen a

long face? Just like, my God. Some people look

like they got baptized in lemon juice. My goodness.

Just the longest face. Here she comes back and

her face is long. I said, whoa, what happened

to Naomi? Is this the same gal that we knew back?

And she tells him, don't call me Naomi. She said,

call me Mara. For the Almighty has dealt very

bitterly with me. Now, here's the thing. Naomi's

name means pleasant or joy. And Mara is a name

that means bitter or bitterness. So check this

out. She says, don't call me joy. Don't call

me pleasant because of everything that I've been

through. The season that I'm coming out of right

now, she said, call me Mara. Call me bitter instead.

Let me tell you something. You cannot let that

why me attitude replace joy with bitterness in

your life. Let me tell you something. Can I preach

this for a few moments? Hallelujah. Somebody

say, go ahead. Amen. Hallelujah. Don't let your

trial change your name. Don't let a season of

pain, disappointment, heartbreak with God, with

man, with fellow, with loved one. Don't let a

season of heartbreak and disappointment change

your identity. No, you need to remember that

you're a child of the living God. You need to

remember that God has a plan for you. You need

to remember that you are the head and not the

tail, above and not beneath. You need to remember

who you are. Somebody give God some praise today.

But you know, Naomi got, she allowed the why

me to become a woe is me. And she said, call

me bitter. And you know, some of us, we don't

realize what we're telling people through our

actions, through our demeanor, through our body

language, through our spirit, is don't call me

joyful, call me bitter. And we allow that to

consume us. But today, hallelujah, the joy of

the Lord is here, and we need to rejoice always.

Amen. Hallelujah. Paul, or Peter writes in 1

Peter, 1 Peter chapter 4. And verses 12, he writes

1 Peter 4 · chapter mention

these words, Beloved, do not think it strange

concerning the fiery trial which is to try you,

as though some strange thing. In other words,

don't think that you're some kind of spiritual

oddball, that you're kind of a spiritual misfit,

that God is punishing you or something. Something

weird and bizarre and strange is happening. No,

he said, don't think that way. He said, but in

verse 13, but rejoice. Somebody say rejoice.

Amen. Say it again. Rejoice. Rejoice to the extent

that you may or that you partake of Christ's

sufferings that when his glory is revealed you

may also be with exceeding joy. He said don't

think that some bizarre like you got struck with

lightning and This is so unusual. Why me? No,

it happens to everybody. I hate to tell you,

but you're not that special. Man, Pastor, you're

really tearing me down now. You're not that special

in this sense. You're not the only one going

through something. You're not the only one suffering.

You're not the only one in pain. You're not the

only one that's got a family problem. You're

not the only one who's got this problem. And

I know when we're in it, it feels like we're

the only ones. Okay, you never felt that way.

Praise God. You're the only one. I must got a

target. Do I got a, do I got a, you ever feel

like you got a sign on your back that says kick

me? You know, do I got a target on me? Did I,

did I, what did I do to deserve this? No, you're

not, we're not that special. We all go through

these things. Hallelujah. But we are, we have

a, we have a choice to rejoice and we're partaking

in the sufferings of Christ. And guess what?

His glory is going to be revealed. All right,

number two. I spent a lot of time on that first

one. But this is the next thing we must do. So

number one, to remind you, you've got to get

over the why me attitude. Number two, stand firm

when your faith is on trial. Stand firm. Somebody

say stand firm. Stand firm when your faith is

on trial. Notice James says, knowing that the

testing, the testing or the trying. of your faith.

You see, God uses every trial to test your faith.

Why does he do that? Because faith is the primary

measuring stick that God uses to measure, to

evaluate your relationship with him. Not how

high you jump, not how loud you shout, even though

those things are wonderful. Not what you do in

all the other capacities of your life, but your

faith. This is what God, so this is why scripture

says that it's the only way to please God. If

you want to please, you must come to him believing

that he is a rewarder of them that diligently

seek him. It is impossible to please him without

faith. Amen. But what is faith? Well, listen,

I could be here for another 30 minutes just reading

off different definitions of what faith is. One

of the best definitions, however, I've seen about

faith is that faith, this is good. I found this

to be true. Faith is trusting in God's character

when you don't understand his ways. Mmm. Somebody

say mmm. I'm telling you, it's about faith is

trusting in God's character. When you don't understand

his way, say, God, I don't understand what you're

doing right now in my life. I don't understand

what you're doing at my workplace. I don't understand

what you're doing in my family. I don't understand.

God, there's a lot I don't understand. And at

times I start to question. I start to wonder.

But Lord, I believe that the best is yet. I believe

that you have something for me. me because the

word says you're a good God. And the word says

that all things work together for the good to

them that love the Lord and are called according

to his. I've got to hold on to what I know about

the character of God when my circumstances tell

me something otherwise. Amen. This is what we

got to do. So the bottom line, the bottom line,

it's about trusting in God and trusting in his

process. Somebody say trust the process. It's

about trusting that process when the pressure

is on. When things are escalating in your life

and you're searching and you're trying to find

an answer, trying to find a cure, trying to find

an open door, or just trying to make sense of

what God's doing. I'll be just another. Five

or six or seven minutes. We'll see. Six, seven.

Something like that. Hallelujah. I just sanctified

it. Don't worry. Amen. It was bound to happen

at some point. Hallelujah. Give me six or seven

minutes. Praise God. All right. But I don't understand

his ways. I don't understand. Imagine how Abraham

must have felt when God required of him the unthinkable.

God required him the unthinkable. In Genesis

22, chapter 22, verse 1, the Bible says, and

God tested Abraham. And this is what he told

him. He said, take now your son, your only son,

Isaac. whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah

and offer him there as a burnt offering on one

of the mountains of which I tell you. He says,

take your only son. Now, again, I'm just going

to presume and assume that you know some of the

context here of this story. Very quickly, this

was the son that him and his wife, Sarah, had

waited all their lives, many, many years on God

to answer a promise to give them a son, an heir.

Through which they could transfer the deed to

the promised land. And carry on the family name.

And multiply as the stars of the heaven. I mean

so much was riding on this child Isaac. And what

a promise. What a fulfillment of God's promise

in his life. And this was the thing that God

told Abraham. I want you to offer that up. Lay

it on the altar. Slay it. And. To hear that must

have pierced the hearing and the heart of Abraham.

Like, you want me to do what? You want me to

lay down the thing you gave me? It doesn't seem

right of you, God, that you would ask me for

this back. Now, there's so much going on here

in this story. So many different spiritual truths

that we can extract. But this is something that

really caught my attention. In thinking about...

The price of joy. Amen. And the joy that is set

before us as we endure our trials. Is that when

you start to think about what Isaac represented.

Amen. So Isaac, his name is special. His name

means laughter. Somebody say laughter. His name

means laughter. And as you know, laughter is

an expression of joy. We laugh when there's joy

in our hearts. We laugh when something good happens.

It's that joy. And so watch this. God says, I

want you to put the thing that gives you joy

on the altar. My, my, my. I want you to put the,

I want you to lay down your laughter. I want

you to lay it down at an altar. I want you to

give it to me. What does this mean in our lives?

Is God asking you to literally put something

down at an altar? Well, it could be at times

that there is a physical thing that God is asking

of us. But I think more often than not, it's

about our faith. It's about when trouble comes

knocking on our door. It's about when God allows

trouble to touch the things we enjoy. Brother

Tommy, if you can come in to the keys here, it's.

It's when God allows the thing that we enjoy.

I know every one of us, there are things in our

life that God has blessed us with, has given

unto us, has bestowed on us in one way or another

that brings us some satisfaction, that brings

us some joy, fulfillment. Maybe it fills our

cup in some way. You know, it brings joy to us.

It puts a smile. on our face. It puts joy in

our life. It makes us laugh. It makes us smile.

It gives us, you know, happy vibes, you know,

good vibes. It's just something that warms our

heart. It's something good and pleasant. Something

that was a gift from God. Something that we receive

joyfully from the Lord. And there are times in

our life, hear me today, and this could be in

our families, this could be It can be in our

marriage. It can be with our children. It can

be in our spirit, our relationships, even our

finances. Amen. Any area. But listen, when God

allows trouble to touch the very thing that he

gave us to begin with. It happens when you experience

trouble on the job. Watch this. The job that

you fasted and prayed for. Like, God, how are

you going to bless me with a job and then give

me a crazy co -worker? We love you if you're

watching right now. Or a demanding boss. This

is not what I signed up for. No, I signed up

for the benefits, God. I signed up for the 401K

package. I signed up, God, for the health care.

You know, I signed up to buy the car that I wanted.

I didn't sign up for this. Sometimes we feel

that way even about our relationships. Hallelujah.

This isn't exactly what I. So trouble is striking

now. My marriage is striking. My home. My ministry.

God, you gave me this ministry, Lord. I didn't

ask for it. You know, you gave me this gift.

You blessed me with this talent. And now. Something

is happening in my life that is putting that

into question. And trouble is coming. And now

I'm having to dig deeper. I'm having to dig into

my reserves to find that joy and satisfaction,

that happiness. I'm scraping the bottom of the

joy barrel to find reasons to lift my hands and

to be thankful. I don't even enjoy coming to

church like I used to. It's not the same anymore.

Ever since this or that. And so I'm having to

scrape to find. I'm having to muster up as much

joy as I can because it's been so hard. Because

God, you've allowed, you've asked me to lay something

down at the altar, Lord, that brings satisfaction

and joy to me. But let me tell you, if you will

trust God. When the thing that brings you joy

and satisfaction is tested, tried, or put into

question, if you will trust God, you will see

what Abraham saw. He said, Lord, nevertheless,

at your word, God, if this is what you want,

if this is what God wants to know, will you still

worship me? Will you still praise me? Hallelujah.

Somebody magnify the Lord. I invite you to stand

with me at this hour. Hallelujah. still. And

if you will trust him, hallelujah, if you will

trust him, you will see what Abraham saw, which

was a ram in the thicket. And he saw his provision.

And he said, oh, he is Jehovah Jireh. He is my

provider. And he saw the answer. When your joy

is being tried, when your faith is being tried,

and your joy is on the line. Your praise is a

little shaky. It's in that moment. It might be

in the midnight hour. It might be in a dark period.

It might be in a moment of vulnerability or weakness.

But God, let me tell you, He will show up on

time. Because He is an on -time kind of God.

You say, Pastor, what about Thanksgiving? Oh,

I've got a reason to be thankful today. I've

got a reason to be thankful to know that my life

is in His hands. And I can count it all joy today.

I can thank God and say, well, let me tell you,

anybody can thank Him for what He's done. Woo,

Jesus. Like I said, anybody can praise him and

have joy and rejoice when the trial is over.

But it takes faith. And it takes, hallelujah,

zeal. It takes passion. It takes hope, hallelujah,

to count it all joy. And to thank God in the

midst of it all. I wonder if there's somebody

here right now that says, Pastor. It's not all

figured out. It hasn't all been ironed out yet.

It hasn't all been fixed yet. But I'm going to

thank God in advance. I'm going to thank God

for what he's doing. I wonder right there if

we all got this time. can dig a little deeper

this afternoon and say, God, not only do I thank

you for what you've done, I thank you for a good

year. I thank you for my health, God. I thank

you, Lord, for my wealth. I thank you, God, for

your blessings. I thank you, Lord. that my mind

is right. I thank you, God, that my heart is

right. I thank you, Lord, that I'm still standing.

Hallelujah. But God, I also want to thank you

for what you're going to do. I want to thank

you for the blessings on the way. I want to thank

you for miracles on the way. I want to thank

you, God, for my healing. Oh, I still got pain

in my body, God, but I thank you, God, for my

healing.