Joy Renovation

Monday, February 18 2008, 01:44 PM EST
Contributed by: Sam Stone Views: 205

Relationship Renovation Series #2

Please read: Philippians 4:4-8

A middle-aged man was distraught over his wife’s stubborn refusal to admit she had a hearing problem. One day he asked his family doctor for advice how to convince his wife that she has this problem.

The doctor promptly told him that when he got home he was to confirm the problem by opening the front door and from there asking his wife what’s for dinner. Then the doctor said, if she doesn’t answer, move closer to the kitchen. Repeat the question again, and if she still doesn’t answer, move right up to her ear and whisper in it, “What’s for dinner, honey?” In this way, the doctor assured him, she’ll have to admit she has the problem.

So the man raced home with joy in his heart and opened the front door. “What’s for dinner, honey?” he asked. When there was no reply he moved closer to the kitchen and asked again. “What’s for dinner, honey?” No reply. When he looked into the kitchen, sure enough, there she was. So he tiptoed over to her and whispered in her ear, “What’s for dinner, honey?”
Immediately she turned and looked straight at him: “I said we’re having Spaghetti. This is the fourth time I told you!”

If you pay attention, you will realize that a lot of our relational problems in life are caused by our attempt to find fault on others before some serious self-examination.

----------

We are on a series of sermons that I called, “Relationship Renovation.” This week we are going to deal with joy. Joy is one of the most important elements in relationship. Who wants to be in a relationship that is lack of joy and always miserable?

Last week we learned the first and the most important element of relationship: love. If you missed it, you can read or listen to it online.

If your life is not full of joy but cynicism, sarcasm, pessimism, and resentment, you need to do some joy renovation. Lent is a good season for life renovation. The Bible teaches us to be joyful all the time. Even when we go through difficult time, we need to be joyful so that we can keep a healthy relationship. It says, in Philippians 4, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.” Notice, it says “always,” not sometimes.

We can rejoice always. When the Apostle Paul wrote this, he was in prison. So our joy does not have to be bound by our environment. Joy is an inside-out condition rather than outside-in. You don’t have to be rich and prosperous to rejoice. When I was young, at one point our family was going through some lengthy dispute among the adults. I remember my father told my grandma one day, “Mom, do you remember those days, after the war, he had almost nothing to eat? But, we were so happy as a family surviving with very little, but now as we become well off, we have plenty but we’ve lost the joy.”

Your refrigerator does not have to be full in order to be happy. So the point is happiness does not come from outside, but from inside; it is not controlled by the condition of our environment, but it is controlled by the condition of our heart. Let us learn from what God has taught us in the Bible how we can renovate our joy this week.

How to have a joyful heart?

Based on the passage we read today, in order to have joy, we must...

1 – Be Considerate

The Bible says in verse 5, “Let your gentleness be known to everyone.” The word gentleness here is translated from the Greek word “epieikēs,” meaning “considerate.” A gentle person is someone who is considerate.

For most of the couples, when you were first dating, you tended to be very gentle and considerate. When you picked up your girl friend, you get off the car, go around it and open the door for her, then close the door and come around and start driving. But after some years of marriage, you just scream, “Get in, quick!” and pull out of the drive way even before both of her feed are in the car.

Someone said, “At the beginning of our marriage, when I came home from work exhausted, my wife brought me my slippers and kiss me on my cheek, and my dog came barking. My stress just evaporated. Now, after ten years of marriage, when I come home from work, my dog brings me my slippers and licks me on my cheek, and my wife came barking!”

Folks, be considerate because gentleness and consideration bring joy to your relationship.

2 – Remember the Lord is Near

Last Friday, the movie “Independence Day” came on the TV, so I was watching it with the kids. It was about aliens from the outer space came to invade the earth and occupied the major cities. Near the end, the American President announced to the world to set aside our “petty differences” and join together to launch a counter attack at the alien spaceships. The word “petty differences” caught my attention. In fact when you focus on the things that matter most in life, everything else that we are disputing about is “petty differences.”

That’s why the Bible encourages us to remember that the Lord is near. Why can’t you be gentle? Why can’t you be kind? Why can’t you be considerate? It is because you think God is not near and you must fight with your own power to win over those petty differences. But the Lord is near. Even if you are unfairly treated now, ultimately God is going to write the final chapter human history. Whatever is bothering you, whatever is killing your joy, is not worth agonizing on. Life is short, it not worth losing your joy over petty differences and hurt the relationship. Like one guy wrote, “Don’t sweat the small stuff.” Let God judge the villains. So if you want to restore your joy, remember the Lord is near!

3 – Bury your Worries

The next verse says, “Do not worry about anything.” Did you hear that? Do not worry about anything. It says anything. It includes your future, your finance, your children, your spouse, your health, your everything. It doesn’t say that we should not plan for the future; it says that we should not worry for the future.

Worry does not help. Worry is the worst killjoy among us. Worry can consume our energy without accomplishing anything. Worry can wear you out and ruin your health as well as your relationship. It is like a car running its engine on high rpm without going anywhere. It is stewing without doing. Worry comes out of with your desire to control the things that is beyond your control. If the things you are worrying about can be changed by you, just change it, and why worry about it? But if it something that can’t be changed by you, worrying about it does not make any difference.

One of the ways to stop worrying is to focus on one day at a time. Jesus said, “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” Mat 6:34. A worry free life is living one day at a time.

4 - Pray about everything

The next verse says, “Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” It teaches us that the best way to get rid of your worries is to pray about it. If you spend the same amount of time praying as you do worrying, you will have nothing to worry about.

How do you pray? You pray by letting God know about the things you are concern about. You just tell Him everything you need. You pray with supplication. That means asking him with humility. You cannot ask God with arrogance. Arrogant prayers won’t go up to God’s ears.

And most importantly you pray with thanksgiving. Thanksgiving can bring joy to you. Next time, just try to observe yourself. When you are grumpy and whiny, you are most likely in a condition that you forget about the things that you should be thankful for. A grateful person is a joyful person. If you feel unhappy, think about the things you are grateful for.

I tend to be a gloomy guy; maybe like Eeyore in the Winnie the Pooh stories. Have you every seen me laughing exuberantly? I am sure none of you did. According to my parents, I was actually a very lively and happy kid, maybe like Christy. But I had been through some serious tough times growing up in a somewhat dysfunctional family that had totally killed my joy. For years I tried to restore my joy. I just couldn’t find a way let lose of myself and be exuberant. But I am getting better day by day.

You know how I do that? Each time I feel gloomy, I try to count the blessings and give thank to God. There are a lot of great things to be thankful for. At least, I have a great wife, I have three great kids, I have a shelter, and I have a great church family here at Trinity. In fact, just for the opportunity to live in America, each and every one of you has a great reason to be thankful for. When I can be thankful, I can be joyful. I have discovered that most of the miserable people in this world are the most thankless people.

At minimum, we need to be thankful for our salvation. Our future eternal happiness is guaranteed because of our relationship with Jesus Christ, who died for us on the cross; through him our sins are forgiven and the door heaven is opened for us. No matter what you are going through right now, no matter how hard your life is, when you give thanks for the future eternal joy that is waiting for you in God’s eternal Kingdom, that future joy will spill over to the present and you will be able to rejoice.

So pray to God by telling God your concerns, pray with supplication, pray with thanksgiving. The next verse says, if you do so, “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Did you hear that? Your hearts and minds will be guarded by the peace of God. When your hearts and minds are attacked by the killjoys, God’s peace will guard you. It is the kind of peace that surpasses all understanding and the kind of peace the world cannot give.

Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” (John 14:27) Don’t let your hearts be troubled or afraid. Fear and worries are basically the same thing; fear is an intense form of worry. You don’t need to fear because the peace that Jesus gives you—that is beyond the kind of peace that the world can give, and it will guard your heart and mind. That’s the benefit of prayer.

Lastly,

5 – Mediate Daily on Philippians 4:8

Verse 8 says, “Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

God wants you to meditate on these 8 things, “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

Do you know how to meditate? Do you know how to worry? If you know how to worry, you know how to mediate. Worrying is to repeatedly thinking about a negative subject, over and over. Meditation is to think about the positive subject over and over. Get it?

If you want to renovate your joy, look around you. Instead of focusing on negative things, look for the things that are true, honorable, just, pure, pleasing, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise. Then joy will come back to you.

Verse 9, says, if you do this, “the God of peace will be with you.” Previously it says, “the peace of God” will guard you, but now when you meditate on these things, the “God of peace” will be with you. It is like having God next to you because you are thinking about the things that are godly.

When you have peace, you have joy. When you have joy, you build stronger and healthier relationships.

So, last week, we renovate our love, this week we renovate our joy, and next week we are going to renovate peace, another important component for happy and healthy relationship. We are going to have another great learning experience, so bring your friends. May God bless you! Amen.

Join Us this Sunday!

Quality Children & Youth Programs

Make a Donation to Trinity

Recent Sermons in Text

Sunday Events

Random Image

Contact Us

User Functions

Joy Renovation

What's Related

Story Options