Creekside Church, Sunday, January 29, 2023
Jesus Experienced Joy and Happiness Too!
Locations & Times
Creekside Church
660 Conservation Dr, Waterloo, ON N2J 3Z4, Canada
Sunday 9:00 AM
Sunday 10:30 AM
What picture of Jesus hangs on the walls of your mind? Is he sober or is he smiling?
God is the happiest and most joyful being in the universe.
Happiness is about “happenings”. It’s a consequential emotion. It is driven by circumstances lining up with what it is I like or I want. Joy, on the other hand, is a choice emotion. Joy looks for and finds the blessing no matter the circumstances.
WHERE DO WE SEE THE JOY AND HAPPINESS IN JESUS?
1. We see it in the Prophetic Announcements:
“You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.”
Psalm 45:7 NIV
2. We See it in the Christmas Announcement:
“I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem . . .”
Luke 2:10b-11
In his book, Abundant Living, E. Stanley Jones observed, “The early Christians did not say in dismay, ‘look what the world has come to,’ but in delight, ‘look what has come into the world.’”
3. We See It When Comparing Him With Others:
You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.
Psalm 45:7 ESV
4. We See It In His Playfulness With The Disciples:
He gave the disciples nicknames. In Mark 3:17 he names James and John the “Sons of Thunder”
5. We See It In The Parties He Attended:
"What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
Romans 8:31-32
6. We See It In The Stories He Told:
In Luke 15 he tells three stories that include the image of a happy and joyful God when a woman finds a coin, a shepherd finds a sheep and a father has a son return. There is joy and happiness modelled in all three.
7. We See It In His Use of Humour:
He was all about the use of hyperbole and irony, and he occasionally employed a little sarcasm too.
- Beam of wood in your eye
- Pearls to pigs
- Strain at a gnat and swallow a camel – play on the Aramaic words for gnat and camel
8. We See It In His Promise of His Joy As Our Joy:
Jesus wants us to have the same joy that he has.
These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.
John 15:11
But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves.
John 17:13
HOW CAN I KNOW JESUS’ JOY AND HAPPINESS IN MY LIFE?
1. Live In Light Of The Sovereignty Of God:
We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.
Hebrews 12:2 NLT
Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy. Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world. Therefore, you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.
John 16:20-22
**
Joy is a focus before it’s a feeling.
Joy is the settled assurance that God is in control of every detail of my life.
**
2. Live In Light Of The Sweetness Of God:
We are forgiven, redeemed, adopted, loved, and God is working all things together for our good. He is a good and glorifying God and we are in his hands right now.
Get close to Jesus and you will see and feel the sweetness of God.
God is the happiest and most joyful being in the universe.
Happiness is about “happenings”. It’s a consequential emotion. It is driven by circumstances lining up with what it is I like or I want. Joy, on the other hand, is a choice emotion. Joy looks for and finds the blessing no matter the circumstances.
WHERE DO WE SEE THE JOY AND HAPPINESS IN JESUS?
1. We see it in the Prophetic Announcements:
“You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.”
Psalm 45:7 NIV
2. We See it in the Christmas Announcement:
“I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem . . .”
Luke 2:10b-11
In his book, Abundant Living, E. Stanley Jones observed, “The early Christians did not say in dismay, ‘look what the world has come to,’ but in delight, ‘look what has come into the world.’”
3. We See It When Comparing Him With Others:
You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.
Psalm 45:7 ESV
4. We See It In His Playfulness With The Disciples:
He gave the disciples nicknames. In Mark 3:17 he names James and John the “Sons of Thunder”
5. We See It In The Parties He Attended:
"What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
Romans 8:31-32
6. We See It In The Stories He Told:
In Luke 15 he tells three stories that include the image of a happy and joyful God when a woman finds a coin, a shepherd finds a sheep and a father has a son return. There is joy and happiness modelled in all three.
7. We See It In His Use of Humour:
He was all about the use of hyperbole and irony, and he occasionally employed a little sarcasm too.
- Beam of wood in your eye
- Pearls to pigs
- Strain at a gnat and swallow a camel – play on the Aramaic words for gnat and camel
8. We See It In His Promise of His Joy As Our Joy:
Jesus wants us to have the same joy that he has.
These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.
John 15:11
But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves.
John 17:13
HOW CAN I KNOW JESUS’ JOY AND HAPPINESS IN MY LIFE?
1. Live In Light Of The Sovereignty Of God:
We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.
Hebrews 12:2 NLT
Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy. Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world. Therefore, you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.
John 16:20-22
**
Joy is a focus before it’s a feeling.
Joy is the settled assurance that God is in control of every detail of my life.
**
2. Live In Light Of The Sweetness Of God:
We are forgiven, redeemed, adopted, loved, and God is working all things together for our good. He is a good and glorifying God and we are in his hands right now.
Get close to Jesus and you will see and feel the sweetness of God.