The key scripture for today is “I have said these things to you so that God’s joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.” Joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. The fruits of the Holy Spirit are the results that we see from being used by God in a wonderful way. The other fruits of the Spirit are love, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. We talked about love last week. This week we want celebrate joy.
Joy is not something that we can buy, beg, or borrow. Joy is from God. That one scripture explains that we need the joy of God within us for our joy to be complete. First, we need to feel the love of God and share God’s love. The word “abide” is used a lot in this scripture. Abide means to wait patiently for, to remain in place, to dwell, to continue to be sure or firm, and endure. In the Gospel of John, I think of abide as being sure of God’s love for us. I also love the thought of dwelling in God’s love and waiting patiently for God to love us.
Let me read the context of the scripture from John 15:9-17. “As the Father loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other.”
God is commanding us to love each other. In fact, our love needs to be so big that we are willing to lay down our life for our friends. God is also telling us that he choose us to be his people. God is asking us to spread the gospel and God’s love. God wants us to bear fruit. God wants us to bear fruit that will last. Imagine a tree that bears fruit that doesn’t rot and always tastes good. We can be that tree that bears the fruit of joy. God will give us whatever we ask in the name of Jesus Christ.
We can focus on the pain and the hurt in our lives or we can be fruitful and plant the seeds of joy. Once we plant those seeds of joy we will be surprised when and where those seeds of joy will spread and grow in ways that we did not expect. I love a flower bed when the seeds that have survived the winter come up in new and unexpected places in the garden. Those flowers that were planted by God’s hand and watered by God’s rains are such a special gift.
My mother called those flowers that were planted by God “volunteers.” I love spring when the new seedlings are sprouting to try to guess from just a few leaves the flower that will bring us new joy with each blossom. The volunteer marigolds or zinnias spread their beauty in our garden. We just showed love to a flower last summer that bloomed and died, but the memory of that love is blooming in a new place in a new morning of a summer’s day. We did not anticipate that new day when a flower would bring us joy, but that joy is so special because it was so unexpected.
Life is like that unexpected flower seed. We show love, kindness, and joy to people along the path of our lives. Those people that we touch share their love, kindness, and joy with others along the path. Seasons change and grow. We are touched with new joy in a new spring by the seeds of our fruit that we cherished long ago. God brings us joy when he gives us discernment how the seeds of our joy has touch the lives of other people.
God loves to surprise me. I never expected for God to give one seed of joy for me to plant. I thanked God for that one seed. He told me that you haven’t seen anything yet. God gave me a package of seeds of joy. He told me to go spread those seeds wherever he sent to me to go. I’ve learned that the package of seeds of joy never run out. God refills the package of seeds as often as I plant those seeds of joy. The seed package never runs out of seeds that can be planted, watered, encouraged and celebrated.
I’ve told myself that I wasn’t worthy to be given that package of seeds. In fact, I’m not worthy of even one of God’s seeds of joy. I’ve asked God, “Why me?” God answered in the scriptures in the Gospel of John: “I have called you friend, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last.”
I’m so thankful that God choose me. God has shown me so many secrets of the gospel of peace and joy. I never thought that I’d go to Africa. If I did go, it would just be one trip of a lifetime. Instead, God has me doing work there. People have water to drink in wells that will last. People have a place to worship. I don’t even know the names of people who now have hope, peace, and joy because God have me a packet of seeds. I did not know what the leaves of those plants of joy looked like when they sprouted. I did not realize that the life that I was changing was my own. I thought I was going to tell others about God. Instead, God planted the first seed of joy in my heart. I will always be thankful to God that he gave me that seed of joy. That seed of joy was a “volunteer flower.” It continues to come up in my garden in unexpected places.
God continues to surprise me with the way that he uses me. My gift is being able to open my heart and being a willing gardener of the seeds that God gives me. I still can only guess how God’s garden will grow and blossom. I try to imagine the next spring how the garden will look after the winter has set in our lives. It is hard to believe that plants will sprout when snow and ice covers the ground. It is hard to believe that green grass will sprout when the drought or the dry season has burned everything in sight.
We may believe that we are that frozen ground. We may believe that life has burned everything that we touch, but that is a lie that Satan whispers in our ear. God has chosen us to be his people and for us to share his love so that the seeds of joy will grow in the lives of those that we touch. It is amazing that the fruit that grows will be seen in our fruit trees first. We will bear good fruit. We just need to take that seed that God has given and plant it in a special place to see our joy grow. God has given us his joy. If we accept God’s joy, our joy will be complete.
The joy that we need to share must start in our home. The scriptures are so important from Deuteronomy 6:4-9. We need to write the joy of God on our hearts and on our foreheads. We need to plant those seeds of joy in the hearts of our children. Our children must know that we love God and that we love them. We need to bind God’s love in every aspect of our lives.
The scripture from Deuteronomy tells us to “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
Stop talking about the faults of your spouse or your children. Start talking about the seeds of love and joy that are present in their lives. Every time you open your mouth you can water those seeds or you can kill those seeds with words that are sharper than any sword. I had conversations with a member of our church that we must speak with the words of faith. We must speak the unseen before it is seen. We must talk about our sons and daughters and the wonderful men and women they will become.
My grandmother Barker was gifted with planting seeds of joy in this way. She spoke words of joy about me that were untrue. She spoke words of joy with faith. I heard her words and wanted to become the man that she described. I wanted to have children that she would say were her great grandchildren with the same kind of words that she spoke about me so long ago. I wanted to marry a woman like she described for me. She described a woman of faith, a woman who worked hard, a woman with love overflowing, and a natural beauty that came from the heart. I realize today, that her words were seeds of joy that sprouted into Susan and my four wonderful children.
I realize that so many people planted seeds of joy on my path. God allows us to see some of the flowers that sprouted from those seeds. God also allows some flowers to sprout after our time on this earth is over. We can’t see those flowers bloom, but we have the promise from God that those flowers will be beautiful and full of joy. We can touch many generations with the fruits of the Holy Spirit. We can do things that we can only imagine. We just need to believe that God will use even you and me.
Our strength to keep going comes from the joy of the Lord. In Psalm 19:8 (NIV), it says “The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes.” Our eyes show the love and joy of God within our hearts. God’s light will shine in the darkness. God’s lights shines through our eyes and shares joy with others. In Psalm 45:7 (NIV) it says “Therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.” Isn’t that great? Anointing is so powerful. If I’d never gone to serve God in Africa, I may never have understood the power of anointing. The image of anointing with the oil of joy is so wonderful that it makes my heart jump with joy.
We are able to stand firm against evil and the challenges of this world by faith in God and God works with us for our joy. I am so thankful that God gave me a package of seeds to plant. God also gave you the same package of seeds. We need to plant those seeds of joy in our home gardens and in many unexpected places. Our joy will be complete if we allow the joy of God into our hearts today and speak with a voice of faith before we can see that flower growing in our heart or our garden. God gave us the promise of that flower, we just have to ask God to be our Lord and Savior and ask him into our hearts.
The love of Jesus Christ will water and nourish our lives so that our joy is complete. May the love of Jesus Christ make you joy complete this day! Go out and share the joy of Jesus Christ with everyone that you touch. Amen!
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