Practical Joy, Part Two

 

We have been looking at four stepping stones we can take if we want to find our way to joy.  The first two we looked at last time were surrender and sanctification, in this post I want to look at service and silence.

When I was a child in Sunday school I was taught an acronym for joy: Jesus, Others, Yourself.  If I want to find joy, I was told, I needed to put Jesus first, others second and myself last.  It is a simple, but profound truth.  Life is not meant to be about my self-fulfillment, self-satisfaction, and self-actualization, at least not as ends in and of themselves.  Life is about serving Jesus and serving others.  While I am busy serving others I find the fulfillment, satisfaction, and actualization I desire.

Jesus acted this out in dramatic fashion in John 13,

"3. Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God.

4. He riseth from supper and laid aside his garments; and took a towel and girded himself.

5. After that he poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded."

Later in the passage Jesus said this,

"13. Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.

14. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet.

15. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.

16. Verily, verily, I say unto you, the servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.

17. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them."

One of the things that blows my mind about this passage is the glimpse we get into the mind of Jesus.  In verse three we read that He realizes that He is the Incarnate Word of God, the Son of God, the Sovereign Lord of all time and space.  He was the embodiment of God here on earth.  He also realized that His time was short and there was not much more time to teach His disciples what they needed to learn.  How could He maximize that time?  What were the most important lessons He could teach them?  How could He demonstrate the heart of God?

Through service.

And so, he stoops to wash His disciple's feet.

Jesus is not calling us to literally wash each other's feet, though many Christian traditions practice this, and more power to them.  Jesus was teaching us to humble ourselves and be willing to do for others what they would rather not do themselves.

Practically speaking, this type of service will happen most often in the context of our home life.  We can always think of ways to serve our family members and flat mates.  There are always chores we would rather not do, and we know those we live with would rather not do, and we can humble ourselves and do them as an act of service.

Our service can extend to our community as well.  There are floors to be swept and lawns to be mowed at our churches.  If you ask your pastor, "What can I do to serve?" I have no doubt he will have some ideas.  Jesus called us to love our neighbors as ourselves.  There may also be a homeless shelter, food bank or some other non-profit that would benefit from some of our time and efforts.

In verse seventeen Jesus said, "Happy are ye if ye do them."  Service makes us happy.  Service is a sure-fire way to find more joy in our lives.

Surrender, sanctification, and service all work together to fuel our joy, but there is one more piece of the puzzle and I am going to use the word "silence" because it alliterates nicely.

What I am talking about is taking time to be silent in the presence of God.  Psalm 46:10 says this, "Be still, and know that I am God."  God is seldom found in the hustle and bustle of our day-to-day activities; the noise and the chaos drown out His voice.

Elijah was a mighty prophet in the Old Testament.  He had just won a decisive victory for the Lord against the worshippers of Baal - a false god many in Israel were following.  At the climactic moment, Elijah literally called down fire from heaven to consume his sacrifice.  It was spectacular display of God's power and presence.  Jezebel was the Queen at the time and was an evil, brutal woman.  She did not appreciate Elijah's success and wanted to put an end to him.  So, Elijah made a run for it and found himself in a cave in the wilderness.

In that cave Elijah became lonely and discouraged.  God appeared to him, and they had a talk.  You can read more in 1 Kings 19, but here is a piece:

"11. And [the Lord] said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord.  And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake.

12. And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice."

Elijah needed to hear the voice of God to get his courage back, but God's voice could not be heard in the tornado, the earthquake, or the fire.  God's voice was in a still, small voice, a whisper as some translations have it.  The fire falling from heaven to consume the altar was an amazing thing, but God wanted Elijah to realize that is not how He normally operates.

People often say that they want God to crack open the heaven and rain down thunder and fire and then they will believe in Him, but God does not operate that way.  Remember, the Israelites saw all manner of signs and wonders when God delivered them from Egypt, and it did not take too long before they made a golden calf and started worshipping that instead of the Lord.  We like to think that we are different than those Israelites, but are we really?

If we want to find God, know His power and presence in our lives, we will find Him in silence and solitude, through the old spiritual disciplines of Bible study, prayer, and meditation.

We have to slow down.

Slow down our schedule, slow down our hearts and minds.  Shut of the TV, the phone, the social media and all the rest.  Unplug and engage with God.

In the New Testament we find the image of the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus like a dove.  Doves are peaceful, quiet creatures.  In the compound here there are a large number of doves and some of them are half tame.  I have been sitting at a table and had a dove land within a foot or two of me, looking for snacks.  If I was talking loudly, waving my hands, or if I just walked past the table, that dove would not land.  I have to sit still and wait.  And in time, the dove will arrive.  If we want the heavenly dove of the Holy Spirit in our lives we must be still and wait, and in time, He will arrive. 

This takes discipline and practice.  We do not learn to hear the voice of God in one fifteen-minute session.  It is a labor of months, years, even a lifetime.  But the rewards are always worth it.  The peace that is found in His presence is boundless.  The joy found in relationship with Him is glorious. 

The age of signs and wonders has passed, though prophecy does indicate that it will come again at the end of the age.  For now, God manifests Himself in silence and stillness, and if we want the joy that can be found in His presence that is where we should look for it.  It is in silence that we find the face of God and it is there we find joy unspeakable and full of glory. 

God wants us to be happy.  More than that, He wants us to have eternal joy.  He offers us a taste of that here on earth.  It is not found in seeking after our own selfish ambition and fleshly desires.  It is found as we practice surrender, sanctification, service, and silence.