Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
New Covenant Presbyterian Church
Sermon John 15:11 “Joy”
December 16, 2018
Listen to this sermon.
We have arrived at the third Sunday of Advent. We hope in the forgiveness of sin and promise of eternal life because God has always been faithful to his promises. We have peace in our heart because we pray filled with thanksgiving to the Prince of Peace who comes at Christmas. Today we turn to happiness and ask “What brings us to complete joy?”. We will get to this, but first, let’s pray.
“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy Heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)
Today we will look at joy. If you listen to many sermons, including some of mine, you will hear that there is a great distinction between happiness and joy. But as I have been reading scripture this week, I haven’t seen this distinction. In the Bible happiness and joy seem to be synonymous. We read this in the Book of Esther 8:16 “For the Jews it was a time of happiness and joy, gladness and honor”. Happiness and joy are really the same thing.
Happiness occurs when we are content, satisfied. Happiness and joy are what we strive for. We all really want to be happy. So let’s look today at how we can achieve this happiness.
The philosopher Jeremy Bentham said that we will be happy when we pursue pleasure and avoid pain. This is the operative moral code at work in America today. Whenever we have a decision to make we calculate which path will give us the greatest pleasure and help us to avoid the most pain.
For example, we have a Christmas party this afternoon. Are you coming? If you think that coming to the Christmas party will be more pleasurable than doing something else, like watching football, then you will be here. If not, you will do something else, whatever gives you the most pleasure and helps you to avoid pain. So when we make decisions we figure out how to maximize pleasure and minimize pain and act accordingly in order to be happy.
But there are some problems thinking this way. Let’s look at a few of these problems.
Lisa was a popular girl in her college sorority. And she loved sorority parties. The girls would get together Saturday night and drink. When Lisa graduated from college and went to work she wanted to recapture the feelings she had at sorority parties. So she got together with a few other girls and when out drinking on Friday afternoons at what the bar called the “Happy Hour”. As Lisa got older she began visiting bars a little more often. She was careful not to let her drinking effect her job or get a DWI. She calculated that the pleasure she got from drinking was better than the pain of going home to an empty house. But then she got sick. Her doctor told her that her years of drinking had caused cirrhosis of the liver. Suddenly the behavior Lisa thought was bringing her much pleasure was now giving her much more pain.
What happened to Joyce was that she did not factor liver disease into her calculations of the pleasure and pain associated with drinking. She only saw the pleasure of drinking and did not factor in the future pain of liver failure.
Frank was making a good living. The personnel department suggested he invest in the firm’s 401k retirement plan. The company would match every dollar and the fund would grow tax-free. But Frank liked expensive cars and exotic vacations. These gave him pleasure. Inventing in a 401k was pain. But after 40 years with the firm Frank retired with a gold watch. He had nothing invested for retirement. And social security paid for only his basic needs. The cars and vacations were only memories.
Frank did what so many of us do. We want our pleasure now and have little regard for future consequences. We are short-sighted.
This happens to everyone. We have short-term happiness but long-term pain. So we smoke cigarettes, engage in promiscuity, and fail to fund retirement accounts, all in an effort to maximize current pleasure without considering the long-term consequences of what we do. When these consequences occur we find that we were not able to avoid pain. And therefore, we find that we are not as happy as we should be.
In order to deal with this problem, the government mandates warnings. We are told that cigarettes are harmful to our health. We are encouraged to plan for retirement. We are told to take care of global warming. The government tells us these things so that we will consider them as we make ethical decisions. We are told to take long-term consequences into account when we make decisions to maximize pleasure and avoid pain.
But this isn’t working. We are unable to achieve happiness by pursuing pleasure and avoiding pain. And the result of trying to do it this way has made America the land of very unhappy people.
According to a recent Harris Poll, only 33% of Americans said they were happy.
That only a third of us is happy is a gloomy statistic. But there is a silver lining. According to Harris, we are getting a little happier year by year. And Harris thinks that this is because more and more people see a positive influence from faith. John Gerzema, CEO of the Harris Poll, said, “Maybe we are turning off cable news and turning back into our families and communities and faith.”
So if pursuing pleasure and avoiding pain does not lead us to happiness, what does? Where can we find happiness? Jesus has this to say. John 15:11 “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”
So our source of happiness comes not from pursuing pleasure and avoiding pain.
Rather our happiness comes from Jesus. We get his happiness. And when this happens our happiness is complete, perfect. Jesus said it like this: 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me, you can do nothing.
So according to Jesus joy comes not from seeking pleasure and avoiding pain. It comes from abiding in him. If we remain in Jesus, happiness grows in us like fruit. We are the branches from which the happiness-fruit grows in abundance, provided that we are nurtured by Jesus. So how do we get this joy in us? How do we become happy? Jesus said, 7” If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”
Happiness comes from hearing Jesus’ words as recorded in the Bible and internalizing them. We do this by reading the Bible and going to God in prayer. This is how we abide in Jesus. And this is the source of our greatest joy. If you want to be happy and joyful, read your Bible and pray. Do this and you will bear much fruit.
Larry was a good student, but his grades were just average. He really wanted to go to a prestigious school so he applied to Harvard, Yale and Princeton. One by one Larry got rejection letters. His grades were not good enough. And you might think that Larry was very unhappy. But you would be wrong. Larry was very happy. Even though he had prayed to get into a top school he realized that this was not God will for his life. So he applied to a lesser university and got in. He experienced great joy because he and God were finally going in the same direction.
Sally and Jim have been married for 60 years. They love each other very much. But last month Jim had a stroke. After a month in the hospital, Jim is finally home. But he needs 24-hour nursing, can’t walk and has trouble speaking. You would think that Sally would be very unhappy. But Sally feels that God has blessed her richly. She has so many wonderful memories of her life with Jim. She has a family she loves. And she is filled with the hope of eternal life. And so she believes that one day she and Jim will be together again in healthy bodies in the resurrection. Sally is very happy, feeling blessed.
Accord to Dr. Robert Puff in Psychology Today, “To be happy, you must accept that what happens is God’s will. When you accept that God’s will is being done, it means that whatever is in front of you is exactly what’s supposed to take place. This isn't easy to swallow when you feel disappointed with a particular outcome. But if happiness is your goal, then rather than bemoan what happened, you can tell yourself, “This wasn’t what I expected. But I did my best to rectify it. And now all I can do is to leave the rest to God.” This is the message that will lead to increased happiness in your life.”
So let me ask again, “Are you coming to the Christmas Party this afternoon?” Most people would list their options for this afternoon and choose the most pleasurable in order to be happy. But Christian know that pursuing pleasure and avoiding pain is the not the path to happiness. Happiness comes from following
Jesus Christ. So if coming to church this afternoon will bring you a little closer to Christ then you will be very happy. So come to the Christmas Party and experience the joy of Christ.
If you want to be happy it is not enough to simply pursue pleasure and avoid pain. Unexpected long-term consequences will disrupt your calculations and you will be unhappy. Your only source of complete happiness is Jesus Christ.
Abide in him by keeping his teaching in your hearts and you will find complete happiness. Hold fast to the idea that God is in control, and to the idea that God loves you very much. And you will feel the joy of Christ in your hearts. Then you will be happy. Let’s pray.
Lord God, we have tried for so long to search for true happiness by pursuing pleasure and avoiding pain. But this has led us to unhappiness. So we turn to you for help. As we read our Bibles, help us to see your faithfulness. Help us to be thankful for what you have given us. Help us to realize that you love us and want us to be happy. So we surrender to you and pledge to follow your son as disciples so that we will receive his joy and be truly happy. In his name, we pray. Amen.
New Covenant Presbyterian Church
Sermon John 15:11 “Joy”
December 16, 2018
Listen to this sermon.
We have arrived at the third Sunday of Advent. We hope in the forgiveness of sin and promise of eternal life because God has always been faithful to his promises. We have peace in our heart because we pray filled with thanksgiving to the Prince of Peace who comes at Christmas. Today we turn to happiness and ask “What brings us to complete joy?”. We will get to this, but first, let’s pray.
“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy Heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)
Today we will look at joy. If you listen to many sermons, including some of mine, you will hear that there is a great distinction between happiness and joy. But as I have been reading scripture this week, I haven’t seen this distinction. In the Bible happiness and joy seem to be synonymous. We read this in the Book of Esther 8:16 “For the Jews it was a time of happiness and joy, gladness and honor”. Happiness and joy are really the same thing.
Happiness occurs when we are content, satisfied. Happiness and joy are what we strive for. We all really want to be happy. So let’s look today at how we can achieve this happiness.
The philosopher Jeremy Bentham said that we will be happy when we pursue pleasure and avoid pain. This is the operative moral code at work in America today. Whenever we have a decision to make we calculate which path will give us the greatest pleasure and help us to avoid the most pain.
For example, we have a Christmas party this afternoon. Are you coming? If you think that coming to the Christmas party will be more pleasurable than doing something else, like watching football, then you will be here. If not, you will do something else, whatever gives you the most pleasure and helps you to avoid pain. So when we make decisions we figure out how to maximize pleasure and minimize pain and act accordingly in order to be happy.
But there are some problems thinking this way. Let’s look at a few of these problems.
Lisa was a popular girl in her college sorority. And she loved sorority parties. The girls would get together Saturday night and drink. When Lisa graduated from college and went to work she wanted to recapture the feelings she had at sorority parties. So she got together with a few other girls and when out drinking on Friday afternoons at what the bar called the “Happy Hour”. As Lisa got older she began visiting bars a little more often. She was careful not to let her drinking effect her job or get a DWI. She calculated that the pleasure she got from drinking was better than the pain of going home to an empty house. But then she got sick. Her doctor told her that her years of drinking had caused cirrhosis of the liver. Suddenly the behavior Lisa thought was bringing her much pleasure was now giving her much more pain.
What happened to Joyce was that she did not factor liver disease into her calculations of the pleasure and pain associated with drinking. She only saw the pleasure of drinking and did not factor in the future pain of liver failure.
Frank was making a good living. The personnel department suggested he invest in the firm’s 401k retirement plan. The company would match every dollar and the fund would grow tax-free. But Frank liked expensive cars and exotic vacations. These gave him pleasure. Inventing in a 401k was pain. But after 40 years with the firm Frank retired with a gold watch. He had nothing invested for retirement. And social security paid for only his basic needs. The cars and vacations were only memories.
Frank did what so many of us do. We want our pleasure now and have little regard for future consequences. We are short-sighted.
This happens to everyone. We have short-term happiness but long-term pain. So we smoke cigarettes, engage in promiscuity, and fail to fund retirement accounts, all in an effort to maximize current pleasure without considering the long-term consequences of what we do. When these consequences occur we find that we were not able to avoid pain. And therefore, we find that we are not as happy as we should be.
In order to deal with this problem, the government mandates warnings. We are told that cigarettes are harmful to our health. We are encouraged to plan for retirement. We are told to take care of global warming. The government tells us these things so that we will consider them as we make ethical decisions. We are told to take long-term consequences into account when we make decisions to maximize pleasure and avoid pain.
But this isn’t working. We are unable to achieve happiness by pursuing pleasure and avoiding pain. And the result of trying to do it this way has made America the land of very unhappy people.
According to a recent Harris Poll, only 33% of Americans said they were happy.
That only a third of us is happy is a gloomy statistic. But there is a silver lining. According to Harris, we are getting a little happier year by year. And Harris thinks that this is because more and more people see a positive influence from faith. John Gerzema, CEO of the Harris Poll, said, “Maybe we are turning off cable news and turning back into our families and communities and faith.”
So if pursuing pleasure and avoiding pain does not lead us to happiness, what does? Where can we find happiness? Jesus has this to say. John 15:11 “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”
So our source of happiness comes not from pursuing pleasure and avoiding pain.
Rather our happiness comes from Jesus. We get his happiness. And when this happens our happiness is complete, perfect. Jesus said it like this: 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me, you can do nothing.
So according to Jesus joy comes not from seeking pleasure and avoiding pain. It comes from abiding in him. If we remain in Jesus, happiness grows in us like fruit. We are the branches from which the happiness-fruit grows in abundance, provided that we are nurtured by Jesus. So how do we get this joy in us? How do we become happy? Jesus said, 7” If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”
Happiness comes from hearing Jesus’ words as recorded in the Bible and internalizing them. We do this by reading the Bible and going to God in prayer. This is how we abide in Jesus. And this is the source of our greatest joy. If you want to be happy and joyful, read your Bible and pray. Do this and you will bear much fruit.
Larry was a good student, but his grades were just average. He really wanted to go to a prestigious school so he applied to Harvard, Yale and Princeton. One by one Larry got rejection letters. His grades were not good enough. And you might think that Larry was very unhappy. But you would be wrong. Larry was very happy. Even though he had prayed to get into a top school he realized that this was not God will for his life. So he applied to a lesser university and got in. He experienced great joy because he and God were finally going in the same direction.
Sally and Jim have been married for 60 years. They love each other very much. But last month Jim had a stroke. After a month in the hospital, Jim is finally home. But he needs 24-hour nursing, can’t walk and has trouble speaking. You would think that Sally would be very unhappy. But Sally feels that God has blessed her richly. She has so many wonderful memories of her life with Jim. She has a family she loves. And she is filled with the hope of eternal life. And so she believes that one day she and Jim will be together again in healthy bodies in the resurrection. Sally is very happy, feeling blessed.
Accord to Dr. Robert Puff in Psychology Today, “To be happy, you must accept that what happens is God’s will. When you accept that God’s will is being done, it means that whatever is in front of you is exactly what’s supposed to take place. This isn't easy to swallow when you feel disappointed with a particular outcome. But if happiness is your goal, then rather than bemoan what happened, you can tell yourself, “This wasn’t what I expected. But I did my best to rectify it. And now all I can do is to leave the rest to God.” This is the message that will lead to increased happiness in your life.”
So let me ask again, “Are you coming to the Christmas Party this afternoon?” Most people would list their options for this afternoon and choose the most pleasurable in order to be happy. But Christian know that pursuing pleasure and avoiding pain is the not the path to happiness. Happiness comes from following
Jesus Christ. So if coming to church this afternoon will bring you a little closer to Christ then you will be very happy. So come to the Christmas Party and experience the joy of Christ.
If you want to be happy it is not enough to simply pursue pleasure and avoid pain. Unexpected long-term consequences will disrupt your calculations and you will be unhappy. Your only source of complete happiness is Jesus Christ.
Abide in him by keeping his teaching in your hearts and you will find complete happiness. Hold fast to the idea that God is in control, and to the idea that God loves you very much. And you will feel the joy of Christ in your hearts. Then you will be happy. Let’s pray.
Lord God, we have tried for so long to search for true happiness by pursuing pleasure and avoiding pain. But this has led us to unhappiness. So we turn to you for help. As we read our Bibles, help us to see your faithfulness. Help us to be thankful for what you have given us. Help us to realize that you love us and want us to be happy. So we surrender to you and pledge to follow your son as disciples so that we will receive his joy and be truly happy. In his name, we pray. Amen.
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