Your Highest Joy

Well, good morning.

The microphone's on.

Everything is good.

Well, hi, my name is Steve Craig, and I'm going to be speaking with you.

What?

Of course I'm Steve.

I'm wearing a long sleeve shirt, untucked, about to sit on a stool.

No, Steve is uh is out this week.

He's on vacation with his family, a much deserved break.

And uh we will look forward to having Ken Kington here next week with us.

Thank you.

But today, well, today you get to hear the keyboard player.

Uh my name is Ben.

I'm usually over there, so we're not trying to confuse anybody.

But uh we're excited to be here.

Actually, we're all kind of switched today.

It's a little bit weird because normally Dallas is uh doing guitar and singing, and he's on drums, and you got Tim on bass instead of drums, and I'm giving the message instead of playing the keyboard.

So I think all of you should go work in the coffee house, and then they can go to the nursery and they can come back here and it'll all work out.

I'm gonna start a timer so I don't talk till like Thanksgiving.

Well, before I start, I've been asked to give a couple announcements, uh, just a couple.

The first one is the 21 Getaway.

This is the women's retreat.

And basically what you need to know about this is um I'm not a woman, so it's not relevant.

So the next announcement now to those who it may concern, this is the 21 Getaway, and uh this is in July 13th and 14th, uh Brasstown Valley Resort.

And uh this will be a great time for you to get to know some other folks better, have some fun, uh, and spend some time with God.

And I know this is gonna be a time of great joy.

I would encourage you to do that.

There is a sign-up table in the back, in uh in the lobby, I should say, on your way out, and so you can get more information there.

And uh please go ahead and sign up if you can, so they can make sure they've got the right number of rooms and uh and all that.

And then finally, just a quick reminder about giving.

Uh, if you're new to his hands, uh we don't pass a plate or anything, uh, there's no hidden cameras.

But if you'd like to give, uh actually in the back, there are these giving stations, these these columns, four or five columns, uh, in addition to holding up the ceiling.

There's also our giving stations.

There's a slot there where you can place your offering or kiosks at a few of them if you want to link to online accounts there.

Anything that you can give, you know, give out of joy, but uh please know that it'll be put to excellent use.

This is almost an entirely volunteer church, but we love having this beautiful facility and uh having it air conditioned and all that.

Well, let's pray before we get started this morning.

Father, we just thank you so much for this time that you've given us.

And uh Lord, I just pray you'd give me a clear mind and let me speak just what you would have me to speak, um no more and no less.

And we just want to know you a little bit better this morning.

We pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Well, there's probably one passage over the last year that uh has meant more to me than anything else.

It's always kind of like that with me.

I guess it takes a while for things to kind of get in my head, but uh this has definitely been that passage over the last year.

And this is the first half of uh Luke chapter 10.

Luke 10 · chapter mention

And uh there's a couple reasons why I really have learned to enjoy this passage.

The first one is that in this, um, Jesus says this one statement, there's this one sentence that is really kind of puzzling.

Or at least it was to me at first, uh, the first hundred times I read it or so.

And I've always been kind of a puzzle guy.

And it, you know, it used to really kind of bug me in scripture when I would read something that I didn't immediately have some kind of category for uh or or understand.

I think that was generally because I would uh only read the Bible like an hour and a half before I was supposed to lead a Bible study.

And I get scared to death, somebody's gonna ask me about that.

But uh but as the years have gone on, I've I've started to be a little more uh just encouraged when I read things like that, and they're all over Scripture.

Because that teaches us where we should just stop, you know, and be patient.

Try to understand uh what God's perspective is.

Because you don't really want to serve a God that, you know, in your opinion, only says and does things that you immediately understand and agree, right?

I mean, how scary would that be?

To have a relationship with God that's like, yeah, I see just what you did there.

That's great.

That's just what I would have done.

You maybe said a little bit better than I would have, but that's great, you know, well played.

How scary is that?

You know, different is good.

You want a God that's making you say, you know, please press the pause button.

Help me to understand what you're doing, because I know your way is better than mine.

So this is definitely one of those puzzling statements.

But the second reason I love this passage, and this is probably the more important reason, is that in this passage, Jesus breaks out in joy before his father.

This is like Jesus the worship leader.

It says in the passage that he's overwhelmed in joy and worship before the Father.

So this is like I love the idea of the God of the universe knowing what it's like to be overwhelmed in joy and worship.

So when we worship him, just as an aside, you know, it's not like we're trying to uh, you know, conjure up some emotion and present it back to God to prove that we're grateful.

But rather we're just being like him, you know, it's a family trait because Jesus responds the same way in his ministry.

He's overflowing with joy.

And plus, joy is just uh it's an attractive thing, you know.

When you see that in somebody, you want to know what's going on, you know.

Joy is not necessarily happy giddy, you know, joy is not even having your circumstances all perfectly lined up.

Joy is more about what you really believe about reality, you know.

Joy is in the eyes, so to speak.

So when you see that in somebody else, you want to know what's going on.

So anything that makes Jesus this excited, this joyful, then we want to know what it is, right?

Even if that's maybe a little bit puzzling at first.

And sure enough, in this passage we're about to read, it's right on the heels of this odd statement, I think, that Jesus breaks out in joy.

So let me give you the setup on this.

This will save me having to read 30 verses in a row.

This is from the first half of Luke chapter 10.

Luke 10 · chapter mention

And in this story, uh, Jesus is sending out 72 of his disciples on a mission trip.

Or some of your translations might say 70 disciples.

And he's sending them out in groups of two in advance to some of these towns where he's about to visit.

Uh if you back up a chapter earlier in Luke chapter 9, uh he's done the same thing, sending out his 12 disciples, divides them up in groups of two, sends them out, and the instructions that he gives are almost identical for both trips.

Luke 9 · chapter mention

But we're going to look at this bigger trip.

So the general idea is for this particular mission trip is to rely upon the hospitality of strangers.

Uh, you know, pack light, don't pack a lot for this trip.

Stay at the first place that will have you in the town.

Uh if the town will hear your message and there's a place to stay, then that's great.

But if not, um, you know, don't make a big deal out of that.

Just shake off the dust from your feet, move on to the next town.

And uh, and the message that you're to preach when you get there is that the kingdom of God is at hand.

And this is the same kind of message that these guys would be, guys and gals, would be familiar with having heard Jesus preach in these towns as they had gone with him in the past.

So, and then lastly, very importantly, they are specifically empowered to heal people, cast out evil in these towns where they're about to visit.

So, these 35, 36 different groups of people, they're sent out to these towns.

Uh, and we don't have a lot of details on what happens on all the individual trips.

But what we do have in Luke 10 is a record of this conversation that takes place uh upon their return.

This conversation that they all have with Jesus when they get back.

And this is where we want to pick up uh in Luke 10.

So it says, When the seventy-two disciples returned, they joyfully reported to him, Lord, even the demons obey us when we use your name.

Yes, he told them, I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning.

Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them.

Nothing will injure you.

But don't rejoice because evil spirits obey you, rejoice because your names are registered in heaven.

At the same time Jesus was filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit, and he said, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank you for hiding these things from those who think themselves wise and clever, and for revealing them to the childlike.

Yes, Father, it pleased you to do it in this way.

My Father has entrusted everything to me, and no one truly knows the Son except the Father, and no one truly knows the Father except the Son, and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

And then, when they were alone, he turned to his disciples and said, Blessed are the eyes that see what you have seen.

I tell you, many prophets and kings long to see what you see, but didn't see it.

And they long to hear what you hear, but they didn't hear it.

So maybe it's just me, but there's a moment in that story when the train starts to kind of come off the track in terms of my initial understanding of this.

You know, the setup of it is dramatic enough.

You've got groups of two sent out to these towns to preach the kingdom of God, uh, heal people, cast out evil, stay in strange people's homes, eat their food.

That's amazing.

But I can imagine that.

You know, I understand why that's important.

Uh but then so these then these guys and gals, they come back and they share this joy with Jesus.

You know, on one hand, the trip's been has been difficult.

Jesus tells them as he sends them out, as is before, what I just read.

But he says, I'm sending you out as lambs among wolves.

Uh but then again, when they're in these towns and they use the name of Jesus and they they're obedient and they're they see people healed and they cast out evil.

And uh so they share this joy with Jesus.

They're overwhelmed.

This is so new in their lives to see this from their own ministry.

And Jesus reflects this joy and he says, Yes, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

Understand the authority that I've given you to walk over snakes and scorpions and not be injured.

Snakes and scorpions were symbols of evil in their culture.

But it's right at this moment that this sentence comes up.

So pause for a second.

You know, imagine that you're one of these 72 followers, and you've just been on this life-changing kind of trip, and you're amazed, and you come back and you share this joy with Jesus, and he says, Yes, I know, it's amazing.

Isn't it great?

And then he happens to be standing right in front of you, and he puts his hand on your shoulder and he looks you in the eye, and this is what he says.

But don't rejoice because evil spirits obey you.

Rejoice because your names are registered in heaven.

Don't rejoice because evil spirits obey you, but rejoice because your names are registered in heaven.

Come again?

I mean, who talks like that?

What is that?

What does that mean?

I'm not supposed to rejoice in the thing in which you were just rejoicing with me like three seconds ago?

How does that make sense?

It must not be that.

It must be that there's something even bigger, some higher joy that I need to have that's important.

So I'm supposed to rejoice that my name is registered in heaven.

But I've never been to heaven.

So how am I supposed to have joy in that?

How does this not feel like Jesus is just trying to suck all the energy out of the room right here?

Thank you very much.

But obviously, he's not doing that because it is right on the heels of this odd statement.

Do not rejoice that evil spirits obey you.

Rejoice that your names are registered in heaven.

It's right at this moment that Jesus does just that and he rejoices, and he breaks out in joy before his Father.

Thank you so much for revealing this right now.

Not to those who think themselves wise and clever, but to the bozos behind me, you know.

And he he's not so enamored with what has just happened by these celebrities that have come back.

He is overjoyed with what the Father is doing.

Thank you so much.

For generations after generation, uh, prophets and kings have been have been waiting for this, and this is finally happening.

So, what does Jesus mean in this statement?

Um If I had been one of these disciples, I think my I think my response would probably have been something like, you know, having heard Jesus say that, like, you know, trust me, Jesus.

We just did some amazing stuff back there.

You know, a few of us have been talking on the way back.

We're thinking about maybe getting a tour bus.

We're gonna write a little pamphlet, write a theme song, get some radio airplay.

This could work.

I mean, people wanted to have us over to their houses and eat their food.

Finally, this is making sense to me.

I'm so excited.

But Jesus wants them, he's excited that they've been so effective in their ministry, but he wants to redirect it right here.

So, what does this mean?

Um, the message version, uh, translation of this verse, I think is really helpful.

It says this it says all the same the great triumph is not in your authority over evil, but in God's authority over you and presence with you.

Not what you do for God, but what God does for you.

That's the agenda for rejoicing.

Not what you do for God, but what God does for you.

That's the agenda for rejoicing.

Jesus immediately goes there.

I love that.

I'm kind of an agenda guy.

You saw my computer desktop, I have like whole files, folders full of files of like notepad documents, and every project.

If I ever come back to this, I'm gonna work on it in this order, and it's all really depressing.

But this but this is my highest item on my agenda for rejoicing.

My highest joy is always this.

Or to turn the analogy upside down, my joy is always rooted right here.

This is the well where I dip in order to really get joy.

To be like Jesus, this is the way it goes.

Um, you know, I this is a challenging perspective for me.

I I typically don't live like this, really, which is I think why God's had to drill this into my head.

You know, I'll I'll I'll put my head on the pillow at night and probably like most of you, you know, ask this standard question Was this a good day?

And what I think I'm I'm generally asking myself is um, was I effective?

Did I prove my worth?

Did I exercise some kind of power?

And if I can't answer yes to that, then it's like, okay, my joy is postponed until tomorrow.

Because that's when I really feel good about myself, when I feel like I've been effective, because that's really what I trust.

And that isn't irresponsible from you know, maybe a small perspective of trying to be objective about my own effectiveness.

But Jesus' point is that's not where we go to find our joy.

That's not the way we have to walk through our day or end our day.

That's not our ultimate perspective.

In Colossians 2, Paul describes it like this.

He says, Now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him.

Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him, and then your faith will grow strong in the truth that you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.

So could it really be that it's that simple?

The same joy that I had originally when I first, the Spirit first revealed the immensity of my forgiveness, how much he loves me, all this that he had done for me, and it wasn't at all about what I was doing for him.

Could it be that that same joy, that same perspective, is the same way that I continue to walk in him?

It's not some different mode that I have to lock into.

I check that box off, and now I have to try to make myself right and effective and bring that back to God.

And my guess is that maybe Jesus saw this in his disciples at that moment.

You know, like one big success, and all of a sudden they are filled with joy.

Maybe more joy than he'd ever seen in these guys and gals up until that moment.

And he's excited for them, but he wants them to go deeper with it because he knows what's coming up for them and the difficulties that they're gonna face.

Romans 12 says something similar.

It says, Here's what I want you to do: God helping you.

Take your everyday ordinary life, your sleeping, eating, going to work, walking around life, and place it before God as an offering.

Embracing what God does for you is the best thing that you can do for him.

You ever wondered what that is?

You know, we all want to know that.

What's the best thing that I can do for God?

Let me know what that is.

I'm your guy, sign me up, I'm gonna do it.

Well, there it is.

Embracing what God does for you is the best thing that you can do for him.

But that doesn't feel right, does it?

It just feels like some kind of trick, you know, some some phrase.

But that really is the revolutionary way to live.

To embrace that, not just check it off mentally, but to have to be someone that can continually in every circumstance find your joy right there in what God's doing for you, not just in what you're doing for God, no matter how spiritual that is.

Uh but that's an odd kind of perspective, you know, to think that somebody knows your name better than you.

Another verse later there in that Romans 12 passage, he says, Living then as every one of you does, in pure grace, it's important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God.

No, God brings it all to you.

The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we do for him.

So it's not just the best thing that I can do for God is to embrace what he does for me.

But it's also even further, the only accurate way for me to understand myself is to first understand who God is and what he's constantly doing for me.

I'm not even the expert interpreter on all things bin.

You know, I'm not even the expert at that.

Only God knows that.

My joy is not found in me making a name for myself and presenting that to God.

My joy is found in knowing that he has named me.

My name is registered in heaven.

And that is where the joy comes from, what he's continually doing.

And it's only as I talk to him about that that I can begin to understand who he would have me to be.

So there's still a lot of activity, there's a lot that needs to change in both perspectives, but this is about always trying to measure up.

And this is about always overflowing in our relationship.

But this idea of someone else knowing us better than we know ourselves, as odd as that sounds, um, that's really kind of the dynamic of any apprentice relationship.

I enjoyed this kind of relationship growing up, like late teens, early twenties, um, trying to learn how to play piano.

Uh probably.

The best illustration is this instructor I had in college, piano guy.

And he was about to retire, so he gave me a spare key to his studio.

So when he was gone, I could practice there on a grand piano.

And his teaching style was not uncommon, but small studio, two seven-foot grand pianos right next to each other.

So, you know, 88 keys plus 88 keys.

And every song I played, I mean, just about every song, I'd be playing on the left-hand piano, and he'd be sitting at the right, always playing along lightly.

And after a while, you realize that this guy, he understands my style, what I'm good at, my weaknesses, uh, the way I generally play or how I normally do a phrase.

He understands it better than I understand it myself.

And I'll I'll decide to do this, you know, with the phrase.

And he's already anticipated that and he's doing it even more.

It's kind of unnerving.

And even like when I would uh perform, he would always be in attendance.

And if you happen to catch sight of him out of the corner of your eye, you know, he would always be like playing along, like air keyboard style.

He's very animated.

But it's like it's like he knew exactly where I was going to choose to take that and where he wanted it to go.

It was all kind of tied up together, and he was invested.

And that's the kind of thing that we mean, that's the category that God has our names written in heaven.

This is not some clerical thing.

And it's only as we first understand and take joy in who he is and what he does continually on our behalf that we have the same attitude and joy that Jesus has.

In Psalms, there's this famous verse that David says, He says, Restore to me the joy of your salvation and make me willing to obey you.

That's kind of what we're talking about.

How do we every day get back to the joy of our salvation and know that it is our right.

It is what God wants us, where he wants us to live.

That's what the Holy Spirit does for us to be able to continually walk in that joy of our salvation.

How do we do that?

You know, some of you might have been believers for a long time.

You know, maybe maybe you feel like your life's taken, you know, 12 different turns you didn't really anticipate.

Um the idea of, you know, the joy of your salvation feels like it's a distant memory.

So, how do we get back to that?

You know, it's it's an interesting kind of skill to take something and try to approach it as if it were new when it's not.

Um so here's what I want us to try.

Just for a second.

We're gonna get practical here.

Uh this is just an exercise, but I want us to try to imagine uh the immensity of what God has done for us rather than what we've done for Him, and let it hit us fresh, like we're hearing it for the first time, so we can remind ourselves of what God has already done.

So this is the way I kind of talk myself down from a ledge sometimes.

Uh state it like this, like I wish, like a prayer that's phrased like that.

And I'm gonna read this so I don't miss any phrases here.

God, I wish that you would love me enough to come down here yourself, put on skin, walk around in my shoes for a while, and truly understand everything that I go through.

I wish that you'd look me in the eye and all mankind and explain what the Father is like, what the kingdom of God is like, give some illustrations or something.

I wish that you would tell me that you love me and forgive me, that you would do absolutely anything to restore me to you, even if you have to die to make it happen.

I wish that you would defeat death forever because it scares me, and I'm tired of being afraid.

But I don't want you to stop there.

I wish that you would always be present with me somehow, like your spirit always in my spirit, so I would never have to worry about being apart from you or alone.

I wish that you would constantly be there to encourage me and teach me and remind me of all the things that I continually forget.

But I don't want you to stop there.

I wish that you would make a record of this whole love story that I'm imagining, have it written down by dozens of different people from dozens of different walks of life and perspectives, something that I could read and cherish forever.

I wish that this book would be translated into thousands of different languages and distributed across the entire globe for generation after generation.

But I don't want you to stop there.

I wish that you would rise up a group of people dedicated to always remembering you and making your love known.

Weekly meetings would be cool, just thinking out loud here.

I wish that I could be a part of this group, of course, welcomed with joy.

But not just welcomed.

I wish that I could be given a gift or two so that I could contribute something unique that fulfills a real need.

But I don't want you to stop there.

I wish that you would work right now to make a new home for all of us, a place that is perfect, not like this world that is broken and cynical and dying, but a new place that joins everything that is best about this earth with everything glorious in heaven.

Put it all together, a place where all things are set right.

And just to be clear, I want to be sure that I will be there, and it needs to last forever, and you need to live right in the center of town.

But I don't want you to stop there.

I wish that any list of wishes that I could ever dare to assemble or ever hear another person share would not be even half of the good things that you eventually have in store.

Surprise me.

I wish that you would promise me that this is what you're doing right now, and it won't be long until you're done.

God, this is what I want.

Please make it happen, because I can't do any of this myself.

But all the same, I don't think my heart is capable of settling for anything less.

So once you've stated it like that, that audacious prayer, then just pause for a second, and then all at once release the floodgates and realize all over again that that is precisely the reality in which you currently live.

What I just describe as a wish is precisely the goodness of God right now.

That's the story that we find ourselves in.

So doesn't it make so much more sense, so much more sane to take our joy there every day, rather than I feel like I've got my act together or not?

Small story.

And this is the big story of God.

And this, even if you are one of these 72 disciples, and you're just sent out specifically by Jesus to towns and you've preached the kingdom of God, you've healed people, you've cast out evil, you've stayed in people's homes.

Even then, Jesus, even when you share that story with him, his joy is in what the Father is doing.

And he asks us to share that.

And that's that's where we can be before God.

If the worship team wants to come up, this is uh is a good time.

So, what does this mean for us today?

What is this um this constant joy that we can have always before God?

Paul describes it like this in Romans.

He says, I'm convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love.

Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today, nor our worries about tomorrow, not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love.

No power in the sky or in the earth below, indeed nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So what's better than just feeling powerful?

What's better than feeling effective, even spiritually effective?

What's better than that, I think, is to own something that can never be taken away.

That's what's better.

And that God's love for us, what he's continually doing for us, is what can never be taken away.

And Jesus says, just like me, learn to take your joy there.

And that's what real power is.

Knowing that at every moment of your day, regardless of how amazingly perfect your circumstances, or how deep your need, or how remarkably boring the carpool line is, that at every moment that we have access to that joy, that same joy that Jesus has in what God is continually doing for us, and not in what we do for Him.

Let's pray.

Father, we thank you so much for what you've done for us.

Lord, we ask that you would teach us to take our joy right there.

I'm reminded, seeing uh so many of my friends today, that uh you know, when you have a friend, it's it's not just about being there when things are difficult and painful, as important as that is, but it's it's also just as much about being there with that other person in their joy.

And this is where you are this morning, Jesus, before the Father, standing before him, interceding on our behalf.

What I just read there is that list of wishes, that's the kind of conversation that you have with God the Father on our behalf, all these things that are done, and we want to take our joy there, and we thank you that we can do it.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.