The Secret to a Life of Joy
A sermon based on John 15:9-17
For Sunday, May 17, 2009 (Easter 6B)
A sermon based on John 15:9-17
For Sunday, May 17, 2009 (Easter 6B)
What makes you happy? What is it that fills you with joy? Is it something as simple as an ice cream sundae with all the fixin's? Was it watching the Hurricanes win game 7 this week? Is it the vacation you have coming up with time away from work and time spent with family? Is it the thought of retirement where you can finally move to some island paradise and get the rest you've been longing for?
This morning Jesus gives us the secret to finding a much more meaningful joy, one that runs deeper and lasts longer. And it's the opposite of what the world tells us will bring us joy. It's not in selfish pursuits, getting more for ourselves and taking it easy. Rather true joy can be found in one place: In giving of yourself to love others in obedience to God for the love he's shown to us. Listen now to Jesus words in John 15:9-17 as he gives us the secret to a life of joy...
9"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. 11I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command. 15I 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. 16You 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. 17This is my command: Love each other.
I. Our Lack of Obedience to God and Love for Others
A school in Texas burned to the ground 30 years ago resulting in the death of several students. Before the county rebuilt the school, they made sure to take all precautions to ensure such a horrible tragedy would never happen again. They installed the most advanced fire alarm system with sprinklers lining the ceilings. It was inspected several times to make sure everything was safe before parents sent their children back to the school. But a few years ago as they were constructing an addition to the building, they discovered their simple mistake: the sprinklers were never hooked up to the water supply. They thought they were safe, but they weren't connected.
Last week we heard the importance of being connected to Jesus. It means we can survive. It means we can thrive. But this week in a continuation of Jesus dialogue with his disciples on Maundy Thursday, he tells them how to stay connected: by obedience. "If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love..." Jesus says. In other words, obedience to Jesus is not optional. "You are my friends," he says, "if you do what I command." Literally "whatever I command." Selective obedience, choosing to obey what you want to obey, is really no obedience at all. It's merely convenience. To stay connected to Jesus requires absolute obedience.
So, how well have you done? Have you loved God with all your heart, soul and mind? Have you loved your neighbor (that is everyone you encounter) as much as you loved yourself?
Two hikers were walking through the woods when they suddenly confronted a giant bear. Immediately, one of the men took off his boots, pulled out a pair of track shoes and began putting them on. "What are you doing?" cried his companion. "We can't outrun that bear, even with jogging shoes." "Who cares about the bear?" the first hiker replied. "All I have to worry about is outrunning you."
All too often that's how we act, isn't it? It's a dog-eat-dog world out there and I'm just trying to survive. That's the mentality we adopt. We do not submit to others and love them first putting their needs above our own. And we do not submit to God since his command is pretty clear, isn't it? "My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you." With a self-sacrificial love, willing to give up even your life for someone else, even for someone who mistreats and hurts you. After all, that is how Jesus loves us. And he even repeats it for emphasis: "This is my command: Love each other." If you take an honest look into your heart and at your actions this week, I'm sure that you will come to the same conclusion that I do. We have not kept this simple command.
Next to the guy who does not pay his bill, the doctor's most annoying patient is the one who refuses to follow orders. Recently it was estimated that 90 percent of all patients leave half-empty pill bottles, cheat on diets, continue to smoke, or never return for checkups despite careful prescriptions and cautious advice. And they do so to their own harm and sometimes to their own death.
And that's often the reason for the lack of joy in our lives. We refuse to follow this order: Love others. Live to serve ourselves and we're bound to be miserable. Live to serve ourselves and we deserve to be miserable. For our lack of obedience to God and love for each other we deserve to have no love from God. We deserve only hell. But we don't get what we deserve...
II. Jesus' Obedience to God and Love for Us
Instead of misery, suffering, and death, we get blessing upon blessing and a life of happiness and joy! Why? Not because of our obedience to God and love for others, but because of Jesus' obedience to God and love of us.
And how well does Jesus love us? Jesus said, "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you." There is no more perfect a love than God showed to Jesus. And that's the exact same love that Jesus showed to us. A love for us that kept him focused on his selfless task. Was Jesus tempted to serve himself? You bet! But Jesus never gave in to any of those temptations. Instead, he lived the perfect life of selfless love, never once choosing his best interest over yours. He lived a sinless life and gave that perfection to you. Then he showed the ultimate love on the cross. "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." And that's the love that Jesus showed us... when we were his enemies!
There once was a little girl named Liza who was suffered from a rare and serious disease. Her only chance of recovery was a blood transfusion from her five-year-old brother, who had survived the same disease and had developed the antibodies needed to combat the illness. The doctor explained the situation to her little brother, and asked him if he would be willing to give his blood to his sister. The boy hesitated for only a moment before taking a deep breath and saying, "Yes, I'll do it if it will save Liza." As the transfusion progressed, he lay in a bed next to his sister and smiled, seeing the color returning to her cheeks. But then his face grew serious, his smile faded, and he turned to the doctor and asked with a trembling voice, "Will I start to die right away?" You see, the boy had misunderstood the doctor, he thought he was going to have to give her all of his blood.
What that boy was willing to do for his sister, Jesus did for you. He gave his blood for you--all of it. He gave his life for you--all of it! He gave his very soul for you as he endured hell on the cross. And he did it willingly and gladly out of obedience to his Father and out of love for you. And then out of love for you he revealed this all to you. You didn't choose Jesus, but he chose you to be his own, and by his grace he revealed to you his business and "everything that [he] learned from [his] Father [he] made known to you."
And so the chain of love is begun. The Father loves the son for his obedience, the Son loves you by grace alone. And now that love that he's given, the forgiveness of sins, the heaven we get, fills us with a real and lasting joy and moves us to love God in return. And out of love for him we gladly and willingly obey his commands. And "This is [his] command: Love each other." And so the chain of love continues. The Father loves the Son, the Son loves us, and now out of thanks to him, we love each other...
III. Our Obedience to God and Love for Others
As we stay connected to Jesus and continue to enjoy Jesus' love for us, we long to obey him in thanksgiving. We long to love others--and not just in words, but in actions. We long to love others with the same self-sacrificing love that God has shown to us.
You know, it's been said that the reason the editors of our hymnal put the wedding service right next to the funeral service is because both services involve the death of a man. :) But don't get me wrong. Marriage is also the death of a woman. Because the love that each has for the other means the death of self. Loving someone the way the way that God has loved you (and always will love you) means you don't want to have your way. You won't be happy if the other person isn't. Love is an exercise in frustration. You leave the window up when you want it down. You watch someone else's favorite TV show and listen to someone else's favorite radio station. You're passionate even when you have a headache. You turn the music down when you like it loud. You learn to be patient without sighing or sulking.
Love is offering to help a co-worker out. Love is doing an extra chore without being asked. Love is letting someone else take the credit. Love is not interrupting when they're talking. Love is being considerate of someone else's time. Love is reaching out to someone who's hurting. Love sacrifices your time, your comfort, your dollars to make someone else happy. And we gladly love others, because of the love that Jesus has shown to us. "We love because he first loved us." (1 John 4:19) And as we do obey God by loving others, our lives are filled with a real and lasting joy. For Jesus didn't give us this command to make life a burden or a pain, but he "told you this so that [his] joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete." And filled with joy we gladly obey God and love each other.
Love makes obedience a thing of joy! To do the will of one we like to please
Love makes us choose to do the will of God, To run His errands and proclaim His truth;
It gives our hearts an eager, lilting song; Our feet are shod with tireless wings of youth!
—Hazel Hartwell Simon
—Hazel Hartwell Simon
May God keep you in his love and by so doing, keep you joyfully obedient to him and loving to each other. In Jesus' name, amen.
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