The Gospel of Joy
John 15.7-11
Fifth Sunday in Lent
Rev. Matthew M. Fry

As we continue to experience the Word of the Lord together, Let us Pray. Grant unto us now, almighty God, the ability to go beyond our limits, so that we might experience you more fully, in this time and into our future. May this time of preaching and hearing the Word Proclaimed infect our lives, and alter our ways of seeing the world, and of being in it, so that we might live in your grace and love, and spread your mercy and care to the whole world. In the name of Jesus the Son we pray, Amen.

Here we are, with the last Lenten sermon in “The Gospel of…” series. Which will have the denouement at the sermon on Easter morning. But today marks the last one during Lent, the last one titled “The Gospel of” something. Easter being a little different, entitled, “The Culmination of the Gospels.” Today is, in some ways, the last sermon in the series, with an addendum sermon on Easter.

The sermons have been about various things that I think are important in the life of the one who follows Christ, the one who seeks God with all their heart, mind, soul and strength. The first one was about community. I called it the Gospel of Wasting time, cause that is a better title, but the first one was about growing in our relationship with God by spending time in fellowship within the community of God’s family. The second one was a difficult sermon, for me at least, about the fact that following God means letting go of the ways of the world, including the world’s strength, the world’s wisdom, and the world’s ways of getting power and glory. Following God means a denial of self, a denial of our human power, a surrender to God. The third sermon was about how that frees us up to be our whole and complete selves before God, and we can even be, and perhaps should at times be, silly. You could probably gather that it was a personal favorite of mine. You didn’t even need to see video of past VBS years, and my dancing prowess, to know it.

This week’s sermon is about joy, about something in which I completely and fully believe. So hear now The Word of the Lord as it comes to us in the Gospel of John. Listen. John 15.7-11.

If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. As the Father has 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.

The Grass withers, the Flower falls, but the Word of the Lord endures forever…Thanks be to God.

When we talk about joy, we are not talking about happiness. Happy fades. Happy is dependant upon circumstances that are often beyond our control. I’m happy when the weather is nice, but I don’t always control the weather, yet. But joy is different. Joy is not dependant upon conditions. I have long been working with this self definition of joy. Joy is the power to celebrate the sufficiency of Christ in all circumstances. Which means when the weather is nice, celebrate the sufficiency of Christ. When the check book is out, and the bills are all over the dining room table, and the dang thing just won’t balance, and the hair is tightly grasped in the fists, well, celebrate the sufficiency of Christ. Just a hint here, one is easier than the other. But, in all things, Christ is sufficient. And the ability to trust in that, well, that’s real joy.

Joy can be a kind of redefining of life. Sure there will be times of happy and of sad. But to realize that Christ is sufficient in all things, in the happy times when things are just right, when life is as we dream it should be, and in the sad or even deeply miserable and or heartbreaking things, Christ goes with us. Somewhere in that re-definition of life and how we live in the world, knowing that God is always with us in the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ brings a deeper sense of joy that remains even when situations are sad or heartbreaking or worse.

Maybe that’s what it means to abide in the love of Christ. That’s what Jesus says, “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you, abide in my love.” It’s a beautiful statement. Live in my love, Jesus says. Make my love your home, Jesus says. Your life, whatever you do, wherever you are, whatever is going on, whatever happens, remember that you are bathed in my love. Make yourself at home, take your shoes off, get yourself comfortable, in my love. It is a beautiful image.

This is the way that Eugene Peterson translates verse 9 in The Message. “I’ve loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love.” It’s a great image, being at home in God’s love. Perhaps that is true joy, and the ability to celebrate the sufficiency of Christ, making ourselves at home in God’s love.

But it’s not as easy as that. We get so easily distracted by the day to day details of life. We worry about our mortgage and our mortality. We worry about what other people think of us, making sure to project just the right image so they will like us. We worry about keeping our jobs, making sure that we will have enough money at the end of the month. We worry about making our families happy, being good children to our parents, good siblings to our brothers and sisters, good parents to our children, whatever your combination is, we worry about our duty to our family. We worry about 401k plans and retirement, and 529 plans and the rising cost of college. Trust me, the 529 with the knowledge of how much they say college will cost in 12 years has kept me up a night or two. We worry about life insurance and making sure that if we pass on, our families are taken care of. We worry about good things, these are all things that are good to think about. They are all things that I think God wants us to do, things that will make our lives better and will make stronger our ability to provide joy to a hurting world. But when they take away from my focus on the fact that Jesus is sufficient, that God’s love offers me a welcome home, then no matter how well I take care of them, they bring no joy and little happiness.

The passage continues on to verse 11. “I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.” We have, as you know, two outstanding daughters. Neither Melissa nor myself would trade either of them for the world even if you threw in a really good ham sandwich. They are our joy. And it’s because they always do exactly what we say, exactly when we say, and exactly how we say. They always obey, and are always perfect little angels. And while I’m dreaming, they always keep their respective rooms clean and the music they make us listen to in the car is just wonderful. Kids and their music, huh. None of that fictional daydream is why they are our joy. They are a huge source of abiding joy even when they are bickering over who gets to hold the balloon, or when they won’t do what we ask, or when “Daddy, can I have some Ice Cream?” “No sweetie, you didn’t finish your dinner.” “Mommy, can I have some Ice Cream?” And they are our joy when they listen to that God awful music over and over and over and over and over again as we zoom down the road in the Green Grocery Getter, our minivan. See, I’m not always happy with what our children do, or how they act, or the situations that they put us in like listening to non-stop Choo-Choo Soul music or going to restaurants with playgrounds instead of wine lists, but they are always my joy. I have a deep and steadfast sense of joy because they are ours, born of our love.

I think this is what it means to abide in God’s love, to know that God has a deep sense of joy in us because we belong to God, and are created out of God’s love. Our children deeply love Melissa and me. I think it is because they know that they are completely and unconditionally loved by us, and that they know what it means to abide in our love, and that is sufficient for any circumstance. When a tooth is loose but we just can’t bear the thought of having it pulled, when the splinter is deep and the extraction is painful, when the time out chair looms because Boo the Bear has been hitting, even when there is no dessert, I think they know that our love, as any parent’s love for their child, is sufficient. And the joy that is enabled in our children because of that knowledge, well it makes our joy as parents more complete.

God loves you completely, not because you are good, though that certainly makes God happy, I think. But God loves you simply because you belong to God, simply because God created you and knows you. Certainly that is reason enough to have joy, to rely on the sufficiency of Christ, to abide in God’s love, through every time and season. Amen.