Experiencing the joy of God (Matthew 28:19)

Today’s Readings: Matthew 28:19

”Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,…”

I read an interesting observation by Tim Keller today that got me thinking. He noted that God, the Father, God, the Son, and God, the Holy Spirit, know perfect joy because they are in constant communication with each other.

I went back to this verse in Matthew as one of the pillars of our belief in a triune God, one God, manifest in three personalities, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus, Himself, spoke to those gathered on the mountain at His ascension with what we now call the “great commission.” In it He says, “…baptize them in the name of the Father….”

Notice that Jesus did not use the plural when He said name. He used the singular. One God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus often talked about joy and abundant life and the peace of God. As I thought about the three personalities of God separate, but one, it’s hard for me to understand. Theologians have tried to explain it in a lot of different ways, but none really come close to explaining how the triune Godhead really exists.

If we consider the Son of God, Jesus, communing with His Father, sharing all the activities and decisions of His earthly life. And sharing with His disciples all the things the Holy Spirit will do at His coming to dwell in us, not just with us, we can surmise the three personalities communed with each other throughout eternity. Each shared in perfect harmony as God, the Father, God, the Son, and God, the Holy Spirit before the first Christmas. Before the creation story. Even before time began.

So if God is the creator of joy and love and peace and harmony, if He is the perfecter of all things, then it stands to reason the Godhead enjoyed perfect happiness both before creation and after because of the intimate communion between the three personalities of the Godhead. He needs nothing else. He created all there is, but needs none of it. We need Him, but He does not need us. He knew perfect joy without us before creation. He knows perfect joy now. And shares His joy with us as we come to know Him.

So what does this have to do with prayer? Just that when we pray, we commune with God who knows and shares perfect peace. Perfect joy. Perfect comfort. God is perfect. There is nothing He cannot do. He cannot fail. When we tap into God, we tap into a power source beyond our imagination. We tap into everything good. We tap into the one entity beyond the bounds of time that truly understands real joy. He lives it and shares it. When He talks about the abundant life, He knows what He’s talking about. When He talks about joy, He understands the emotion better than we ever will.

Tap into God and know real joy!

Join me next time, won’t you?

Richard

What kind of noise will you make? (Psalm 98:4)

Today’s Readings: Psalms 97-99; Galatians 2

Raise your voices; make a beautiful noise to the Eternal, all the earth.
Let your joy explode into song and praise;

I live in San Antonio as many of you probably know. San Antonio is home of the Spurs and they are close to winning their fifth NBA championship. Only one more game to go as I pen these words. In fact, as you’re reading them, the games might have already fallen into history.

The Spurs haven’t always played as well as they’ve played this year. Last year, they played Miami and choked. This year, they’re looking a little better as they go into game five. One of the things I like about following the Spurs is watching their fans. Whether the Spurs win or lose, San Antonio loves their Spurs. The fans get loud! They make noise for their Spurs when they’re up or when they’re down. It just doesn’t matter, they cheer on their Spurs.

Not all teams have fans like San Antonio fans. I’ve watched the Miami fans empty the stadium long before the final buzzer in the last two games when they saw their team had little chance of winning. The crowd grew quiet and just began to walk out on their team. In San Antonio, that just doesn’t happen. The team can take a severe beating by their opponent, but the fans stay in their seats and cheer them on. They will fill the streets and encourage the team even if they don’t win the pennant. For them, acknowledgment of their Spurs is more important than the championship. I will admit, the volume goes up, when the wins happen, but not by much. The AT&T Center is always a noisy place.

That’s what the earth does in making a beautiful noise to the Eternal. I found that out when I took the Maid of the Mist tour at Niagara Falls a couple of years ago. If you’ve never experienced the noise the falls make, you might be surprised. At the bottom of the falls, you can’t see much because of the mist the falls generate, and screaming into my wife’s ear to make a comment about the falls got the response, “What?” But I couldn’t understand her response and screamed back, “What?” The sound of the falls are absolutely deafening.

The roar of a volcano or the clap of thunder shakes us. The onslaught of a hurricane or the sound of a freight train in the form of a tornado remind us that the earth makes noise. Even the waves on the beach can drown out conversation without much trouble as they crash against the shore.

Let’s take our cues from the earth and make a beautiful noise to the Lord. We don’t have to stay in tune. Noise isn’t harmonic. We don’t need to make it to the top 100 on the record labels. The psalmist never asks us to do that. All he says is make a beautiful noise. If God thinks the sound of waterfalls, tornadoes, hurricanes, and waves are beautiful, certainly our praise and thanksgiving lifted up to Him must please Him immensely. Give it a try today!

Join me next time, won’t you?

Richard

How are flashlights linked to joy? (Psalm 43:3-4)

Today’s Readings: Psalms 43-45

O my God, shine Your light and truth
to help me see clearly,
To lead me to Your holy mountain,
to Your home.
Then I will go to God’s altar with nothing to hide.
I will go to God, my rapture;
I will sing praises to You and play my strings,
unloading my cares, unleashing my joys, to You, God, my      God.

I sometimes enjoy watching crime shows like NCIS and all the NCI series, well most of them, anyway. One of the techniques I always found rather fascinating, the use of flashlights in well lighted rooms to look for evidence on carpets, beds, chairs, all over a room. I never understood it much until I tried it one day.

I was surprised at the difference a tight-beam flashlight makes in searching for things. It’s not the brightness of the light that makes the difference so much as the focus it provides. Without the beam of light, even if only a little brighter than the surrounding area, your eyes wander in random patterns over the surface. I’ve tried to contain my inspection by using my hand or my fingers to control the area I search, but found my eyes still wandered. But when I use a flashlight to pace myself to cover the area of interest, the investigation goes twice as fast and often reveals what I’m looking for even if I’d gone over the same area several times without the light.

This stanza of Psalm 43 reminds me of that police investigation technique. God shines His light and truth into our lives so we can see clearly the things He wants to change in us. We may try to hide sins so deep within us that even we forget them, but He shines His light into our lives to get to the core of who we are to clean us up. He gets out every speck of dirt hidden in the deepest corners of our heart so that we can enter His holy home.

When we allow His light to shine in us and allow Him to do His heart cleansing work, the rest of this stanza of the song happens. We go to His altar with nothing to hide. After all, His light reveals everything. He has seen it, so with nothing to hide, we can confess it to Him. The when He cleans us up, we experience rapture – intense joy! That’s what God does for us. He fills our life with joy.

He invites us to unload our cares and unleash our joys. What an incredible combination. Get rid of all your cares. “Cast them on Him,” he tells us elsewhere. How can we not then unleash our joys? How can we not let everyone know what He has done for us? How can we not shout from the mountain tops the release He has given us from our guilt and shame.

Join me next time, won’t you?

Richard

What new song do you have in your heart? (Psalm 33:3)

Today’s Readings: Psalms 33-34

Sing to Him a new song; play each the best way you can, and don’t be afraid to be bold with your joyful feelings.

Ever notice how music seems to translate universally? We may not know what words mean from one country to another, but we understand whether music expresses joy, sadness, anger, love, all the emotions we experience. Music expresses our feelings in ways words sometimes cannot. Perhaps that’s why David tells us in his psalm to sing to God a new song. Buy why a new song? Why not one of our favorites? Why not one we’re familiar with or one that makes us feel good?

I’ve thought about that a little since being led to this verse today. I think it’s part of the message that God is always changing us. He doesn’t leave us where we are, but always works to better us, to make us more like Him. if we are singing the same song today that we sang yesterday, we haven’t grown in Him. Our heart should sing a new song to Him. A new expression of praise for what He does right now in your life.

I like the caveat David gives us to the directive. Play each of those songs the best way you can. Don’t be haphazard in the expression of your feelings with God, but express them clearly and accurately. Get a grip on how you feel and let Him know. He can take it and He understands. Remember, in the persona of the Son, He walked the earth and felt the stress and frustrations and temptations we feel. He knew all the emotions we know. He expressed them in His prayers to the Father as you read through His words. And by expressing His feelings, He also controlled them.

I think that’s one of the beauties of singing a new song to the Lord. As we express our feelings to God, we name them and then as we name them, we can control them. We allow them to float around unnamed, we never get hold of them and they control us instead of us controlling them. Sing a new song to the very best you can.

David’s other caveat says, “Don’t be afraid to be bold with your joyful feelings.” Two things stand out for me about this caveat. First, we should let the joy of the Lord shine through so others can see it in us. If God doesn’t do anything for us, then why follow Him? But He does, and you know it. So when He does, show it, and tell it, and sing it, and let others see it. Let others around you look at you and think you’re crazy because of the big smile on your face that comes because of God’s goodness in your life.

Second, all of us experience days that let us down. We just don’t feel on top of the world. Some days the heavens seem like brass and nothing seems to get through to God. If you’ve been a Christian for any length of time, you’ve experienced those days. Notice, David didn’t say be bold with those feelings. I think that’s intentional. We tend to express our negative feelings a little too boldly anyway. Perhaps the absence says we shouldn’t necessarily suffer alone, but we don’t need to stand on the rooftop and let everyone know about our difficulties. Let them know about your joy, but keep your sufferings quiet. Not to yourself, but quiet.

You might be surprised what a difference it makes in how others perceive you and your Savior.

Join me next time, won’t you?

Richard

Hard Work Brings Joy (Ecclesiastes 3:12)

Today’s Readings: Ecclesiastes 1-3; Revelations 10

“I know there is nothing better for us than to be joyful and to do good throughout our lives; to eat and drink and see the good in all our hard work is a gift of God.”

You might see Ecclesiastes as a rather strange book when taken in pieces. It’s really best to read the book in one sitting to learn the conclusion of the Teacher’s analysis along with the arguments he presents along the way. However, throughout the book, there are gems of wisdom from which we can learn. This verse is an example.

When I read this verse, I’m reminded of the story of creation. God created all the plants and animals then created Adam. He placed Adam in the Garden of Eden and directed him to take care of all creation. God made Eve as a help-mate for Adam. Not lesser or greater than Adam, but a help-mate. The two then were told again to take care of creation and to fill the earth. God walked with them in the garden and they were happy.

We don’t know how much time went by before the fall. Maybe it was days, weeks, or years. I think the latter, but in any event, they were happy tending to God’s creation.

Now think about the work required to care for creation. Tending a garden, however beautiful and pristine from weeds and stray vegetation takes a lot of work to maintain it. Fruit and vegetables don’t pick themselves. Leaves and broken limbs always appear in abundance. Even in perfect conditions, there is plenty of work to do. Adam and Eve enjoyed it until the curse God imposed after the fall.

Animals also required care. Perhaps the animals in the garden needed feeding or grooming. Perhaps Adam and Eve assisted them in caring for the new-born or helping them find the right source of pasture or other food to avoid over-grazing or depleting a single food source. Perhaps they helped find water or shelter for them. But through all of their labor, they were happy doing the work God gave them to do.

The Teacher in Ecclesiastes early in his analysis of life discovered the importance of hard work in our lives and the joy hard work brings. Work also aims to help others and finds joy in doing good. The Teacher got it right. Relook what you do and the good it provides others. Then enjoy the gift of hard work that comes from God.

Join me next time, won’t you?

Richard