Joys That Jesus Gives!
Part 2

Sermon Notes
July 22, 2007

Rev. Jim O’Neal, Senior Pastor
Sun Lakes United Methodist Church
9248 E. Riggs Road, Sun Lakes, Arizona 85248
(480) 895-8766

 

¹For freedom Christ has set us free.  Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. 

A.  Introduction

                        1.  Happy Hour

                                                a.  John and Barb Grover live next door to Hal and Sue Martin.  The Grover’s are active at the United Methodist Church and the Martin’s are staunch Southern Baptists.  They’re good friends and they often go out socially.  One night they went to a new steak house that everybody was raving about.  When they arrived at the restaurant, they were given a number, escorted into a crowded, noisy room, and told to wait there until their number was called.  As they waited a chirpy little cocktail waitress came up and said, “Welcome to happy hour, what would you like to drink?”  Both couples politely declined.  Ten minutes later the waitress was back and again asked them what they would like to drink.  John replied, “We’re just waiting for a table.”  Five minutes passed and the waitress was again trying to get them to buy drinks.  Hal commented that maybe the restaurant was stalling in the hopes of getting them to run up a bar tab.  So when the young woman came back by with her “Welcome to happy hour” speech, Barb informed her:  “Young woman we’re two tea totaling Methodists and a couple of Southern Baptists, and this is as happy as we get.  So please tell them to get us a table!”

                                    b.  So, how happy are you?  Last week I reminded us of the truth that the happiest people are those who have Jesus in their heart.  Believers are neither dour of demeanor or drug dependent to make them happy.  People who abide in Jesus know the Lord’s blessings and are filled with the deepest inward joy!

                        2.  John 15

                                                a.  And that is the promise Jesus gave us in last week’s scripture.  In the Fifteenth Chapter of John’s Gospel, Jesus calls us to abide in Him and His love.  Then in verse eleven He promises:   “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” (John 15:11 NIV)

                                                b.  Those who have Jesus in their heart know true joy.  Today, I continue a two part series sharing four of the many joys that Jesus gives to us.  Last week’s message was about forgiveness and friendship.  Today, I will talk about freedom and our forever after life with the Lord! 

B.  Freedom

                        1.  Peyton Place

                                                a.  Grace Metalious wanted to be free.  In her view American society of that era of the 1950’s was repressive and inhibited.  How she admired some of those neighbors in her small town that did what they wanted.  Of course, people did not talk about it back then, and those living the “wild” life for the most part did not want it broadcast.  Grace drank to excess to forget her boring inhibited life.  Then one day she had an idea:  She would write about what was really happening in her small New England town.  Her novel was filled with stories of sex, adultery, perversions and incest.  Her publisher asked her to clean the book up.  Immediately after it was published the book became a best seller, which is a sad comment upon society.  Grace became so rich that she could buy herself a new home, two Cadillacs, and divorce her husband.  Now she thought she was free!  She married a radio disc jockey.  This lasted two years.  She showed up to court drunk.  The next year she moved in with a Welsh journalist, who was married and had five children.  Five months later she died.  Her autopsy revealed that her alcoholism had destroyed her liver.  She had run up a huge debt, and there was no money left in her estate.  At her funeral were twenty-five people.  Among them her children and her ex-husband George, who sat near the coffin and cried. 

                                    b.  Grace Metalious thought being free meant doing whatever you wanted.  But her excessive drinking and reckless living brought her death at age 39.  Freedom is not licentiousness or being ruled by your passions.  Freedom is not having lots of money and material things.

                        2.  Saint Augustine

                                                a.  It is one of life’s paradoxes:  You find freedom in submission to God’s will.  The freest person is the one who is obedient to God.  The world just can’t comprehend that.  Even in Saint Augustine’s time people scoffed at the idea that Christians were free.  One critic asked Augustine, “And just what can a Christian do?”  Augustine said, “Anything he pleases, as long as he loves God!”  Augustine put it this way:  “Love God, and do as you please.”  And he knew what he was talking about.  For you see for many years Augustine was not a Christian.  He did as he pleased, before he loved God.  He lived an immoral life.  But doing as he wanted only brought heartache to himself and pain to others.  Then Augustine gave his heart to Jesus.  And Jesus so possessed his heart that Augustine could still do as he pleased!  For now he wanted to please the Lord, and obeying Jesus gave him pleasure!

                                                b.  If you expose yourself to the love shown on the cross, and give yourself to Jesus, then you too will be free to do as you please!  For when Christ rules the heart we want to do things that are truly good for ourselves, which build others up, and that glorifies God!  Have you allowed Christ to begin this process in you?  Jesus wants to help you.  He knows best.  He is your friend.  He is not there to cramp your style, or to diminish your life in any way.  He is truly with you to free you, to loosen you up to enjoy the abundant life that He gives!  In the eleventh Chapter of John’s Gospel, after Jesus spoke the words that raised Lazarus from the dead, this is what he said to the people gathered there:  “Unbind him, and let him go!” (John 11:44 NRSV)  Jesus wishes the same freedom for you.  And His is true liberty, which seeks that which is best for you.  His freedom protects you from becoming a slave to the demonic.  Those who advocate the worshipping of self-centered desires and the accumulation of material things are not those who are free.  For these things ultimately possess them.  Christ’s freedom considers you first.  And that is because God loves you so very much.  If you allow Jesus’ Spirit of love to motivate your life, you will find yourself loving the Lord more and doing as you please, because you please to do what pleases Him!  This is what defines being truly free:  Living a life that you can look at Jesus, and be glad He is looking back at you! 

C.  Forever After Life!

                        1.  I should have put the money in the basement!

                                                a.  Homer had always been a mean cuss who treated all with disrespect, and most especially his long suffering wife Sarah.  Now the old buzzard was old and feeble, bedridden and dying.  He begged Sarah to fulfill his dying wish.  “Now Sarah, out in the barn, under the corn crib you’ll find a box of money I’ve been hidin’ away for years.  I want you to take that box and put it up in the attic window.  I ain’t got much longer here on earth, and I want to take the money with me when I go off to Heaven.”  Sarah placed the box in the window.  That night Homer died.  The next morning Sarah went up to the attic and found the money still sitting on the windowsill.  “That’s what I thought,” she said to herself, “I should have put the money in the basement instead of the attic.”

                                                b.  After death people have long believed there is something.  Beyond this life there is some life in a new realm.  And indeed the Holy Bible teaches that there is such a place called Heaven.  In the video THE PLACEMENT SERVICE we see the “last judgment” or the entry place to Heaven depicted as a placement service run by Doctor Peter Gates.  Dr. Gates gives each person a choice:  You can have your own private suite with guaranteed isolation, of you can be with The Founder.  In essence, it’s your choice.  It’s your statement of faith.  You can choose spiritual death, forever separated from God, or Eternal Life, forever with God?  So which do you choose?  For as Dr. Gates says this placement is extremely permanent.

                        2.  Maybe somebody up there doesn’t want you?

                                                a.  Grandpa was telling some of his remembrances to his two Grandchildren.  “Yes children, I survived World War II and I was there fighting on the beach at Normandy!  Somebody up there must really like me.  Then after the war I was in a terrible car accident.  I had a broken arm and several fractured ribs, but I survived just fine.  I guess somebody up there must really like me.  Then I was robbed at my store at gunpoint.  The police came and the young hoodlum started shooting every which way.  I ducked behind a counter and no bullet touched me.  Somebody up there must really like me.  Then last year I had quadruple bypass surgery, and I did just fine.  Children, like I always say, ‘Somebody up there must really like me.’”  One of the Grandchildren responded:  “Gandpa, it sounds to me more like somebody up there doesn’t want you!”

                                                b.  One thing you can count on is this:  God does want you.  God wants to spend time with you now and for all eternity.  Scripture is clear on this.  “God wants everyone to be saved and to know the whole truth.” (I Timothy 2:4 CEV)  God wants to spend eternity with you!  And in Jesus Christ we have that gift of a forever after life.  Jesus says to you:  “I am the resurrection and the life.  Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” (John 11:25-26 NRSV)  Jesus offers to all who will receive it the gift of eternal life in Heaven!

                        3.  Bridge of Moses

                                                a.  A young couple decided that it was time they got back involved in a Church.  They wanted their young son Billy to learn of God and be taught lasting values.  So they visited a nearby Church.  They went to worship and sent Billy off to Sunday School.  After worship dad asked their son, “So what did you learn about in Sunday School?”  Billy replied, “We learned about how the Israelites were slaves in Egypt, and how they ran away.  The King of Egypt sent his army after them.  The Israelites then built this long suspension bridge across the Red Sea to escape.”  With furrowed brow mother said, “Son, I find that story kind of hard to believe.”  “Well,” Billy replied, “if I told you what they really said, you’d never believe it!” 

                                                b.  This “forever after life” in Heaven is beyond our belief and comprehension.  People who have gone through near death experiences have tried to explain how wonderful it is.  They often speak of pure light and love.  They share a deep sense of being welcomed and abiding with God and loved ones.  They speak of buildings, mountains, plants and animals beautiful beyond our understanding.  The Book of Revelation states that Heaven will look as pretty as a bride on her wedding day (Revelation 21:2), and then says this:  “Behold, the dwelling of God is with men.  He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:3-4 RSV)  Heaven is going to be a wonderful place.  It will be a place of truth and beauty with the Lord forever! 

D.  Conclusion:  Recap

                        1.  There are people in this world who are really happy.  They are called Christians.  They abide in Christ, and Jesus’ Spirit abides in them.

                        2.  They know the joys that Jesus gives!  They know His forgiveness of their sins, and they know His friendship.  They know the freedom that comes from a life dedicated to God.  And they have already begun that forever after life with Jesus here on earth! 

¹For freedom Christ has set us free.  Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. 

Joys That Jesus Gives!

1.  Forgiveness!
2.  Friendship!
3.  Freedom!
4.  Forever after life!