Northside Church - Sydney
God is Able Week 4: …Able to Satisfy
You're listening to another great message from Northside Community Church, God is able to satisfy. That's the affirmation we're making this morning. Now, that's a vitally important component to the good news. If it's true, and of course we believe it is, if it's true, it means the message of Jesus demands the attention of people everywhere. Because one of the most basic and primitive human desires is to lead a satisfying and fulfilling life. It's basic. It's instinctive within the human heart and soul. Everybody wants to feel their life counts for something. Everybody wants to feel that there's a certain degree of meaning in their existence. And these things sort of get through the tough times of life. Back in the mid-60s, when Mick Jagger belted out those immortal words, "I can't get no satisfaction." I'm so tempted to sing a few bars this morning. It was a fantastic song that. He was expressing a yearning that was felt by many who'd gone before and a yearning that would be felt by many who followed him. Experiencing deep satisfaction, deep joy in life proves to be elusive for many people. And yet, here in John 15, here in John 15, Jesus says to his first disciples, and he says to you and to me, look at this, "I've told you this," all the day, and it's all about his, you know, "I'm the vine, you're the branches. I've told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete." Now, just well on that for a moment, complete joy, absolute fulfillment and satisfaction in life. Is that possible? Is that possible? I'm sure there are some of you sitting here thinking, "Well, that sounds great in theory, man, but I tell you what, that's a long way from where I am right now," which raised the question, "Am I speaking to people this morning? Am I speaking to anyone today who feels that their joy is not complete?" Now, the reasons may vary. You might be struggling with unanswered prayer. You've prayed your heart out over a certain matter, and things are not working out as you'd like them to. Maybe you're trying to cope with lurking doubts, either arising out of those unanswered prayers, or there are people in your life who, through their words and their actions, are trying to destabilize your faith, your confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ. I know some of you are in work environments like that. I know some of you are in homes like that, mixed with relatives who do that to you. Maybe you're struggling with lurking doubts. Maybe the thing you're faced with at the moment is adverse circumstances. Things just aren't going right for you financially, health-wise, accommodation-wise. It's just not where you want to be, whatever it is. Maybe it's relationship stress. Maybe it's frustration in your job. Friends, I'm here to tell you today, none of these need be joy robbers for the disciple of Jesus Christ. None of these need be joy robbers for the follower of Jesus. Speed bumps along the way. Yes. Sources of great frustration and disappointment. Yes. You see, when the Bible talks about joy, when Jesus talks about complete joy, we need to realize we're dealing with a precious commodity here that comes directly from God by means of the Holy Spirit. Joy is the very epicenter of the Christian journey. It's implanted in our hearts by faith. We could preach on Christian joy and nothing else for the rest of this year. We still wouldn't plumb the depths of meaning of what it means to have real joy in our hearts. Complete joy as Jesus is referring to it. What I'm going to do in these remaining moments, I'm going to just give you and largely this will depend on you rereading John 15 at home and also going on a little Google search of Christian joy because it'll lead you into all kinds of interesting information. I want to give you what I call a sort of your need to know list, your need to know list in relation to Christian joy. And if you're experiencing joy in Christ now, if you're rising above all those things I mentioned earlier, then this for you will be a kind of a revision list, a little revision lesson in what it means to have deep seated joy in your heart. But friends, if you are being beaten down by your circumstances, if you are feeling that you're in a mode of defeat at the moment, for whatever reason, this list could provide you with the key to freedom in Christ. Here's the first need to know. And I think everybody realises this, but we must restate it. Joy is not to be confused with me happiness. I mean, it is totally unrealistic to think that anybody can go through life without periods of profound unhappiness and despair, even Christians. It's just so unrealistic. That's why I reject that sort of theology that sort of says you should be rejoicing all the time and never showing sadness. I mean, that's just rubbish. It's not realistic to not experience unhappiness. Even our Lord Jesus Christ felt the weight of sorrow and heartache. We know at least one time when he actually broke down the death of his friend Lazarus. So happiness and joy are not the same. Happiness is determined by the conditions at the time. Joy is determined by our convictions all the time. Let me say that again. Happiness is determined by the conditions at the time. Joy is determined by our convictions for all time. It's something else. To intentionally seek joy is a sure way for it to remain elusive. We know this to be a principle of life. I mean, people who try to buy joy, those who choose a particular lifestyle in pursuit of joy and happiness and pleasure, we know the end trail of that. More often than not, they fail to discover the thing they're actively seeking. And one of the reasons is because they can never get enough to satisfy. You've heard me mention some of you, the story of the factory worker who was in the lunchroom one day talking to a friend. This lady said, you know, I worked it out. If I could just have $25,000, I would be totally happy, totally at peace, totally fulfilled. The friend said, $25,000. It enabled me to go back to England to see my very sick mother. I could pay off all my debts. I could do a little addition to my improvement to my home that I've always wanted to do. I'd still have a little bit left over. I would be so happy. $25,000. What she didn't realize was the owner of the factory was just outside and overheard the conversation. And he asked this lady to be brought into his office. He said, you know, you've served me in this company for more than 25 years, nearly 30 years. And nothing would give me more pleasure. I overheard your conversation. Nothing would give me more pleasure than right now to give you that level of joy and satisfaction and meaning that you've been talking about. And I just want to give you. And he started to write. I'm check. $25,000. Thank you for your faithful service over all these years. Of course, the lady couldn't wait to get back onto the line to a friend and said, what did I say? 50. I mean, what's enough? You know, it's just going to go on. Well, friends, you see, joy is not an end product. It's a by product. Now, that's true in a material sense, but it's especially true in a spiritual sense. Joy is what we experience when we're seeking something else. And this is the aspect of the Christian faith that people so often fail to see. This is what makes from a worldly perspective. This is what makes the Christian faith so weird. This is why we need the conversion power of the Holy Spirit to reorient our perspective. You see, Jesus says, seek first the kingdom of heaven and all the things you really need will be added to you. He also said, those who save their life will lose it. Those who lose their life for my sake will find it. These are paradoxical statements which you can't understand until God touches you and transforms your thinking and reorient your whole perspective on what life's all about. And here's this spiritual principle being highlighted in John 15 where we find this. Look at this. Jesus' promise of complete joy is immediately preceded by a challenge to obey his commands and remain in his love. Can I read it for you? Verse 10. Look at this. Right before verse 11 where he talks about complete joy, he says this in verse 10. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love. Just as I have obeyed the Father's commands and remain in his love. And many says, I've told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. Friends, joy is more than a state of mind. It's a condition of the heart. And I know many of you are doing it tough and you may think that some of the things you're experiencing are going to rob your Christian joy. My word to you this morning is get back into a situation where you are close to God through Jesus. Get back into the wood, get back into regular prayer, get back into sharing with trusted friends what's on your heart, get that mutual encouragement that we found in the letters chapter. The Christian lies not easy. Jesus Christ never promised it would be but he did promise that our joy potentially can be complete in him. And when that happens, and that's something that can happen this side of heaven because so many of you have proved it, are proving it. You can face anything when your joy is not dependent on external circumstances but it's something that's deep within that confirms you are in a relationship with the Father through Jesus the Son. There's nothing like it. Do you know it this morning? Are you experiencing complete joy? Don't settle for anything less. He doesn't want you to. His aim is to give you me complete joy. [BLANK_AUDIO]