WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.639 Father, we do pray now and ask for your help and your blessing. 00:00:06.640 --> 00:00:07.600 You're probably tired. 00:00:07.600 --> 00:00:08.240 No, I am. 00:00:08.240 --> 00:00:11.339 And Lord, we know we need your help and your strength. 00:00:11.679 --> 00:00:14.839 And so we pray, Lord, that you just might speak to us and encourage us. 00:00:14.980 --> 00:00:18.679 Pray that this might be just a really significant moment in the life of our church, 00:00:18.699 --> 00:00:22.440 that you might move us to be a more joyful church. 00:00:22.559 --> 00:00:25.359 We are thankful for the joy that we have, but we want more of it, Lord. 00:00:25.460 --> 00:00:29.820 And so we pray that that might be the fruit of our time together in your word this evening. 00:00:30.379 --> 00:00:32.280 In Jesus' name. Amen. 00:00:35.020 --> 00:00:41.159 So we've come to think about joy in this series of studies on Christian character. 00:00:41.700 --> 00:00:46.500 So we've done humility and we've done love and now we're doing joy. 00:00:47.820 --> 00:00:49.620 So we're going to think about what is joy? 00:00:49.780 --> 00:00:50.740 How do I get joy? 00:00:50.920 --> 00:00:52.600 What does it feel like to be joyful? 00:00:53.679 --> 00:00:59.000 And you perhaps don't need me to tell you that joy or happiness is a big deal in the world. 00:00:59.000 --> 00:01:03.640 In 2011, the then prime minister, who was? 00:01:06.920 --> 00:01:08.000 David Cameron. 00:01:08.120 --> 00:01:08.700 Well done, Nick. 00:01:09.700 --> 00:01:14.719 Went on record to say that his government would be measured not by whether or not people were wealthier, 00:01:15.079 --> 00:01:17.280 but whether people were happier. 00:01:17.439 --> 00:01:18.000 Do you remember that? 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:25.799 His observation was that governments are obsessed with wealth increase, but economic growth has not made people more happy. 00:01:26.439 --> 00:01:28.239 In fact, it seems to have made them more miserable. 00:01:28.239 --> 00:01:30.039 What's the point? 00:01:30.119 --> 00:01:35.519 He said, if your bank account is full and your wages are going up and your savings are doing well, but you are miserable. 00:01:35.519 --> 00:01:40.519 Now, slightly cynically, what followed was austerity, right? 00:01:40.519 --> 00:01:48.500 And so trying to fill the financial gap following the 2008 financial crash, everyone was getting poorer. 00:01:49.039 --> 00:01:51.119 So perhaps David Cameron had an ulterior motive. 00:01:51.739 --> 00:01:54.159 He then resigned because of Brexit. 00:01:54.699 --> 00:01:56.140 But David Cameron wasn't alone. 00:01:56.519 --> 00:02:00.179 In fact, he was following a trend of what was called at the time positive psychology, 00:02:00.180 --> 00:02:03.680 which thought that you could make yourself happier. 00:02:04.480 --> 00:02:10.620 That guy, Jonathan Haidt, wrote a book in 2006 called The Happiness Hypothesis. 00:02:10.680 --> 00:02:12.700 Has anyone seen that book, read that book? 00:02:13.719 --> 00:02:20.379 About how you are able to change your mind and make your emotions and thoughts happier. 00:02:21.960 --> 00:02:29.340 He then sort of opened the floodgates of a whole genre of self-help books that thought that they could make people happier. 00:02:30.180 --> 00:02:32.340 Sadly, though, it doesn't actually seem to have worked. 00:02:32.340 --> 00:02:37.939 In March this year, the UK fell to its lowest ever ranking in the world happiness chart. 00:02:38.500 --> 00:02:45.680 It came in at number 20 in the world rankings below countries like Costa Rica and Belgium and Sweden, 00:02:46.020 --> 00:02:51.180 but above the United States, which was 23rd in the rankings. 00:02:51.740 --> 00:02:57.840 Even Russia, which is still below the UK, it has to be said, is increasing in happiness, 00:02:57.840 --> 00:03:00.420 despite all the sanctions. 00:03:01.360 --> 00:03:04.539 Professor John Helliwell, one of the founders of the Happiness Index, 00:03:05.020 --> 00:03:10.960 said that a key factor in the drop was young people being less happy than they've ever been before. 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:16.159 He said that among the problems that have been especially acute for younger people 00:03:16.159 --> 00:03:21.099 is the recent housing crisis, the inability to buy a home before their 30th birthday, 00:03:21.280 --> 00:03:26.400 growing numbers of 20-somethings, having to live at the family home with their parents because of the cost of living, 00:03:26.639 --> 00:03:32.259 mental health issues such as anxiety are known to have taken their toll on young people in the wake of the COVID pandemic. 00:03:33.599 --> 00:03:39.979 Fascinating that the happiest country in the world is, it is, that is right, Finland. 00:03:39.979 --> 00:03:44.319 Finland. Anderson, how did you know that? Just a random fact. 00:03:45.639 --> 00:03:50.879 Yeah, Finland are preparing for an invasion by Russia, and yet they are the happiest country in the world. 00:03:50.959 --> 00:03:51.799 Go figure, that. 00:03:52.959 --> 00:03:57.000 Now, as we said, that when you read those kind of studies and think about that, 00:03:57.219 --> 00:04:02.500 you realise that there is a kind of difference between what the Bible talks about being joy 00:04:02.500 --> 00:04:05.019 and what the world is talking about when it talks about happiness. 00:04:05.020 --> 00:04:10.840 In fact, despite trying, I couldn't exactly find out how they come about the happiness index 00:04:10.840 --> 00:04:12.920 and scoring your country between 1 and 10. 00:04:13.300 --> 00:04:16.160 One of the factors apparently is whether you eat alone, 00:04:16.560 --> 00:04:20.139 which apparently has gone up by 53% in the US in the last 15 years. 00:04:20.519 --> 00:04:22.360 But however they score it, I don't quite know. 00:04:23.120 --> 00:04:27.259 But I think we need to understand that the Bible defines joy differently, 00:04:27.939 --> 00:04:29.580 and we're going to come and see that together in a moment. 00:04:30.160 --> 00:04:33.340 But the Bible doesn't think joy is any less important than the world does. 00:04:33.339 --> 00:04:40.060 The reformers, if they are right, they think joy is the point of life, right? 00:04:40.399 --> 00:04:48.560 The Westminster Catechism says that the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever, right? 00:04:48.639 --> 00:04:50.839 So the reformers are big on joy. 00:04:51.279 --> 00:04:55.919 In fact, down the years, it's been Christian theologians who have thought the most seriously about joy. 00:04:57.039 --> 00:05:00.620 Augustine is purported to have said something like this. 00:05:00.620 --> 00:05:05.180 The Christian should be an alleluia from head to foot. 00:05:06.120 --> 00:05:08.500 I don't know whether people would describe your life like that. 00:05:09.199 --> 00:05:13.720 C.S. Lewis said that joy is the serious business of heaven. 00:05:14.800 --> 00:05:18.519 And so this pursuit of joy that we find in the world is not the problem. 00:05:19.180 --> 00:05:21.340 It seems to be that we are built for joy. 00:05:21.339 --> 00:05:27.000 Instead, the problem in the world is that it's been searched for in all the wrong places and understood in the wrong way. 00:05:27.339 --> 00:05:30.779 And the Bible understands it rightly and explains it differently. 00:05:31.819 --> 00:05:34.779 Now, how do you give a talk on joy? 00:05:35.019 --> 00:05:37.279 Say, last week, we stuck to 1 John. 00:05:37.399 --> 00:05:44.059 This week, we're going to zoom in and focus all of our time, effectively, really, on just a few verses from 1 Peter chapter 8. 00:05:44.060 --> 00:05:50.620 And we're going to kind of make some observations from those verses, jump around the Bible a little bit, but basically try and stay in 1 Peter. 00:05:50.939 --> 00:05:54.819 Now, I've printed it out on your handout, but you might also want to open it in your Bibles. 00:05:55.459 --> 00:06:00.660 It's on page 1217 if you have a church Bible, and you can follow along there. 00:06:01.560 --> 00:06:03.779 So let me read it to us. 00:06:03.840 --> 00:06:07.500 We're effectively looking at verse 8, but I'm going to read from verse 3 to verse 9. 00:06:07.500 --> 00:06:13.079 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:06:13.839 --> 00:06:21.699 In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 00:06:22.259 --> 00:06:27.439 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade. 00:06:27.439 --> 00:06:39.120 This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 00:06:39.819 --> 00:06:48.659 In all this, you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 00:06:48.660 --> 00:06:57.300 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire, 00:06:57.880 --> 00:07:03.200 may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 00:07:04.200 --> 00:07:07.540 Though you have not seen him, you love him. 00:07:08.100 --> 00:07:16.560 And even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy. 00:07:16.560 --> 00:07:42.759 Now, with the person next to you, just for a couple of moments, what does verse 8 tell you about joy? 00:07:42.759 --> 00:07:44.939 What does verse 8 tell you about joy? 00:07:45.959 --> 00:07:48.920 Just talk to the person next to you for a moment, and then we'll go back together. 00:07:51.240 --> 00:07:51.639 Okay. 00:07:53.480 --> 00:08:00.620 So I want to shout out anything that was particularly helpful, said by the person sat next to you. 00:08:00.620 --> 00:08:07.860 Right. 00:08:09.300 --> 00:08:10.360 Come through faith. 00:08:10.720 --> 00:08:10.860 Yeah. 00:08:11.160 --> 00:08:12.980 We'll talk about that. 00:08:13.120 --> 00:08:13.240 Yeah. 00:08:16.899 --> 00:08:17.819 Anything else? 00:08:17.819 --> 00:08:19.040 It's all about the person. 00:08:20.899 --> 00:08:21.420 Yes. 00:08:22.600 --> 00:08:23.120 Yes. 00:08:23.680 --> 00:08:25.620 It's rooted in knowing Jesus. 00:08:25.939 --> 00:08:26.139 Yeah. 00:08:26.139 --> 00:08:26.219 Yeah. 00:08:27.259 --> 00:08:30.159 So you see that the verse kind of works in two pairs. 00:08:30.560 --> 00:08:32.500 Though you have not seen him, you love him. 00:08:32.819 --> 00:08:35.759 And even though you do not see him now, you believe in him. 00:08:36.720 --> 00:08:42.840 The NIV, we'll talk about this in a minute, but the verb to be is not actually in the second part of that sentence. 00:08:43.139 --> 00:08:44.899 So it's actually the word rejoice again. 00:08:44.899 --> 00:08:49.879 So really, it's though you have not seen him, you love him. 00:08:49.980 --> 00:08:55.980 And even though you do not see him now, you believe in him, rejoicing with an inexpressible and glorious joy. 00:09:00.600 --> 00:09:00.919 Yeah. 00:09:01.419 --> 00:09:04.819 Just to save you all chipping in your answers, I came up with seven. 00:09:05.019 --> 00:09:07.199 And what we're going to do is try and work through them together. 00:09:07.539 --> 00:09:12.779 So if you turn over the page on your handout, you'll see what I thought, which I deliberately didn't tell you so that you wouldn't know. 00:09:12.779 --> 00:09:13.299 Okay. 00:09:14.519 --> 00:09:15.839 The first one is this. 00:09:16.279 --> 00:09:20.199 It is not dependent on present easy circumstances. 00:09:21.399 --> 00:09:27.000 So this, just to go to the second one of those pairs, even though you do not see him now. 00:09:27.600 --> 00:09:35.600 In other words, the present Christian experience, as Peter understands it, is lived in the physical absence of Jesus. 00:09:35.600 --> 00:09:36.200 Okay. 00:09:36.399 --> 00:09:38.899 If you're a Christian, you live with a not yet. 00:09:39.100 --> 00:09:41.440 You do not yet see him. 00:09:42.019 --> 00:09:49.019 You are not, you are, you are living your Christian life with the absence and ache of not yet being present with Jesus. 00:09:49.879 --> 00:09:57.259 And as you look at the context, you can see that what Peter is saying about joy is that it's not, therefore, a product of an easy life. 00:09:58.259 --> 00:10:01.620 Joy is not having everything that you want now. 00:10:01.620 --> 00:10:07.220 So notice how he describes his present experience for the Christian in the verses that are before. 00:10:08.100 --> 00:10:13.899 We're not only living in the absence of the physical presence of Jesus, we're also living in the presence of suffering. 00:10:14.379 --> 00:10:16.820 Look at verse six, all kinds of trials. 00:10:17.080 --> 00:10:25.539 In this, you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 00:10:26.360 --> 00:10:28.019 It's hugely significant, isn't it? 00:10:28.019 --> 00:10:33.699 Because it means, and maybe this is the most profound and revolutionary thing I'm going to say tonight, right? 00:10:34.139 --> 00:10:39.779 It means that the pursuit of joy is not the same as the pursuit of comfort, right? 00:10:40.519 --> 00:10:42.480 That's the mistake our world makes, right? 00:10:42.699 --> 00:10:47.699 It pursues comfort and thinks it's going to find joy, but it doesn't. 00:10:47.700 --> 00:10:50.180 It's the mistake of the world, isn't it? 00:10:51.240 --> 00:10:59.379 So that many people in the world who are very, very comfortable, they have good health, they have plenty of money, they have lots of leisure time, are deeply unhappy. 00:11:00.220 --> 00:11:05.820 And that's because joy, the kind of joy that we are made for and is ours in Christ, is not the same as present easy circumstances. 00:11:05.820 --> 00:11:16.120 John Flavel, the Puritan preacher, points this out when he says that Job was a happier man on the dunghill than Adam was in paradise. 00:11:17.340 --> 00:11:25.680 So Adam is thrown out of paradise and is rebelling against the Lord and is effectively unhappy in paradise. 00:11:25.900 --> 00:11:31.860 But Job knows his Redeemer and he knows the Lord. 00:11:32.200 --> 00:11:33.840 And so he is happier in the midst of his suffering. 00:11:33.840 --> 00:11:38.860 John Calvin says, there is nothing in our afflictions which ought to disturb our joy. 00:11:40.160 --> 00:11:43.580 And that's, I seem to think, a pretty good summary of what Peter is saying here. 00:11:44.420 --> 00:11:52.480 So here's the conundrum, which I hope we'll unpick over the next few minutes, is that Christian joy is possible in pain. 00:11:53.399 --> 00:11:56.080 Christian joy is possible in the midst of pain. 00:11:56.080 --> 00:12:07.280 That God sends suffering into our lives and into our world, not to rob us of joy, but to refine, test and grow our faith. 00:12:07.460 --> 00:12:09.320 That's what verse 7 says. Look down at verse 7. 00:12:10.180 --> 00:12:14.720 These have come, that's the trials of many kinds, so that the proven genuineness of your faith, 00:12:14.720 --> 00:12:21.899 of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though it's refined by fire, may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus is revealed. 00:12:23.360 --> 00:12:29.860 So Jesus does not send pain to rob you of joy, because the pursuit of joy is not the same as the pursuit of comfort. 00:12:30.560 --> 00:12:34.680 Secondly, it is not dependent on past euphoric experiences. 00:12:34.679 --> 00:12:43.500 So, it's not only that we're to have joy despite the present physical suffering and the absence of Jesus' physical presence with us right now. 00:12:43.679 --> 00:12:47.179 We also live our Christian lives having never met Jesus. 00:12:47.419 --> 00:12:49.299 So that's the first part of that sentence. 00:12:50.339 --> 00:12:52.439 Though you have not seen him. 00:12:53.199 --> 00:12:54.599 Now, this is obvious, right? 00:12:55.599 --> 00:12:59.139 But it means that although Christian joy is linked to our conversion, 00:13:00.219 --> 00:13:02.839 Christian joy is not primarily a look backwards. 00:13:02.840 --> 00:13:04.080 Right? 00:13:04.780 --> 00:13:06.259 It's a look forwards. 00:13:06.680 --> 00:13:10.519 The joyful Christian is not someone who is looking back all the time, 00:13:10.639 --> 00:13:15.300 because there was not a time when we met Jesus physically like the Apostle Peter. 00:13:15.960 --> 00:13:18.980 So Christian joy is not about looking back, it's about looking forwards. 00:13:19.860 --> 00:13:23.240 We live our lives without having physically met Christ. 00:13:23.560 --> 00:13:29.720 It's not for the joy set behind us that we endure, but for the joy set before us. 00:13:29.720 --> 00:13:33.080 The joy is in the future, not so much the past. 00:13:33.519 --> 00:13:40.320 That means, doesn't it, that the Christian joy is this acknowledgement that the best days are ahead, not behind. 00:13:41.840 --> 00:13:43.080 Perhaps I can say this. 00:13:43.440 --> 00:13:43.800 I don't know. 00:13:43.899 --> 00:13:46.940 I'm in this dilemma of whether I'm an older or a younger person. 00:13:46.940 --> 00:13:48.400 I'm kind of somewhere in between. 00:13:48.960 --> 00:13:49.860 I'm an older, thank you. 00:13:52.540 --> 00:13:56.540 That's absolutely fine, because then I'm going to talk to us older people in the room, right? 00:13:56.780 --> 00:13:58.340 Talking to us older people in the room. 00:13:59.200 --> 00:14:02.840 Let me tell you, nostalgia is a big joy killer. 00:14:03.780 --> 00:14:05.280 Nostalgia is a big joy killer. 00:14:05.279 --> 00:14:08.839 If you keep looking back saying, wasn't it great when? 00:14:09.500 --> 00:14:11.079 It will rob you of joy. 00:14:11.600 --> 00:14:14.879 Because Christian joy is not, wasn't it great then? 00:14:15.360 --> 00:14:17.819 It's, isn't it going to be great then, right? 00:14:18.159 --> 00:14:20.379 It is a look forwards, not a look backwards. 00:14:21.779 --> 00:14:23.579 And there's more of that to come. 00:14:23.580 --> 00:14:25.220 But it's, it's interesting, isn't it? 00:14:25.259 --> 00:14:29.580 That he, he says, though you have not seen him, right? 00:14:29.759 --> 00:14:32.840 So it's not that our past Christian experience was the high point. 00:14:32.940 --> 00:14:36.540 It is future Christian experience, which is going to be at the high point. 00:14:38.560 --> 00:14:42.259 Next, thirdly, it defies explanation. 00:14:43.800 --> 00:14:47.879 This is really just zooming in on that word inexpressible in verse eight. 00:14:48.060 --> 00:14:49.520 Though you have not seen him, you love him. 00:14:49.520 --> 00:14:53.520 And even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible. 00:14:54.420 --> 00:15:02.639 In other words, the joy of the Christian is not only something that sort of cannot be described. 00:15:03.400 --> 00:15:06.680 It also is something that at some points cannot even be expressed. 00:15:07.639 --> 00:15:08.639 That's really important, isn't it? 00:15:08.639 --> 00:15:13.600 Because it means that Christian joy is not a smiley face necessarily, right? 00:15:13.960 --> 00:15:17.759 Christian joy is not always expressed in laughter and levity. 00:15:18.160 --> 00:15:22.200 Christian joy, it's not only that you can't explain it, 00:15:22.200 --> 00:15:25.700 as in it defies explanation because it's possible in the presence of suffering. 00:15:25.920 --> 00:15:30.240 It also means it's not always physically expressed in that way. 00:15:30.759 --> 00:15:33.560 J.I. Packer puts it like this, which is helpful, I think. 00:15:34.180 --> 00:15:38.480 Joy is a condition that is experienced, but it's more than a feeling. 00:15:38.980 --> 00:15:41.560 It is primarily a state of mind. 00:15:43.160 --> 00:15:44.240 That's it here, isn't it? 00:15:44.240 --> 00:15:47.759 New Bible Dictionary calls joy a quality rather than emotion. 00:15:47.759 --> 00:15:51.659 And in that sense, joy really is the possession of God, isn't it? 00:15:52.259 --> 00:15:53.819 God is eternally joyful. 00:15:54.460 --> 00:15:55.899 God is a happy God. 00:15:56.319 --> 00:15:58.620 But that's not his emotions. 00:15:59.059 --> 00:16:02.240 God doesn't have emotions in the same way that you and I do. 00:16:02.240 --> 00:16:07.480 Really, when we say God is joyful, we're talking about a quality of who God is and what he's like. 00:16:07.820 --> 00:16:09.659 God is a joyful God. 00:16:09.759 --> 00:16:11.180 He is full of joy. 00:16:11.740 --> 00:16:13.639 And so joy then is a fruit of the Spirit. 00:16:14.240 --> 00:16:15.860 It comes from knowing God. 00:16:16.259 --> 00:16:18.200 The joy of the Lord is our strength. 00:16:19.960 --> 00:16:22.259 Psalm 16, verse 11 says, 00:16:22.259 --> 00:16:24.779 You make known to me the path of life. 00:16:25.360 --> 00:16:31.340 You will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. 00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:35.659 Joy comes as given by God, the joyful God. 00:16:37.200 --> 00:16:38.980 Fourthly, it's brilliant. 00:16:39.799 --> 00:16:44.000 Maybe I didn't need to say this, but in verse 8, joy is glorious. 00:16:44.259 --> 00:16:45.039 It is great. 00:16:45.120 --> 00:16:45.659 It is brilliant. 00:16:47.100 --> 00:16:49.279 Do you know what glory means, yeah? 00:16:49.279 --> 00:16:52.019 Glory is making greatness public. 00:16:52.500 --> 00:16:56.240 Yet you glorify God by going public on his greatness. 00:16:57.500 --> 00:17:00.139 Right, so if I say, God is great. 00:17:00.519 --> 00:17:02.879 Let me explain to you how amazing God is. 00:17:03.139 --> 00:17:04.039 Let me tell you what God is like. 00:17:04.059 --> 00:17:05.059 Let me tell you what God has done. 00:17:05.660 --> 00:17:07.519 I am glorifying God. 00:17:07.579 --> 00:17:10.539 I am going public on his greatness and his bigness. 00:17:11.279 --> 00:17:13.559 And joy is glorious. 00:17:14.559 --> 00:17:16.599 It is brilliant. 00:17:17.440 --> 00:17:18.920 It glorifies God. 00:17:18.920 --> 00:17:22.060 It is publishing his greatness to the world. 00:17:22.460 --> 00:17:28.500 The joy of the Christian, not simply because it is like God as we've seen, but it is praiseworthy. 00:17:28.980 --> 00:17:30.680 You want to go public on it. 00:17:31.560 --> 00:17:32.600 You have experienced this, haven't you? 00:17:32.600 --> 00:17:37.700 When you have met a happy Christian, you may well have had a serious conversation with them, 00:17:37.700 --> 00:17:46.059 but you are sort of aware and conscious that they have a joy that is oozing out of them, coming out of them that you can't quite explain. 00:17:46.980 --> 00:17:51.380 And that has been one of the most encouraging things about being pastor at West Kilburn Baptist Church, 00:17:51.380 --> 00:17:58.380 is meeting people who, in great suffering and pain, are mature enough as believers to still be full of joy. 00:17:59.440 --> 00:18:00.860 Glorious joy. 00:18:00.859 --> 00:18:01.859 Public joy. 00:18:01.859 --> 00:18:02.439 Public joy. 00:18:02.519 --> 00:18:04.000 Joy that flows out of them. 00:18:05.519 --> 00:18:07.959 It doesn't mean, does it, that Christians don't get depressed. 00:18:09.039 --> 00:18:10.500 Christians do get depressed. 00:18:10.639 --> 00:18:12.819 The Bible tells us that. 00:18:12.819 --> 00:18:19.399 One of my friends once did a series of sermons on people in the Bible who wanted to kill themselves. 00:18:20.059 --> 00:18:26.819 He's trying to just encourage his congregation to realize that actually despair is sometimes where we find ourselves. 00:18:26.819 --> 00:18:30.339 So, Elijah, Jonah, for example. 00:18:32.099 --> 00:18:36.019 Clinical depression sometimes is harder for a Christian because of the spiritual element to it. 00:18:36.019 --> 00:18:44.139 If you're struggling like that this evening, then my heart goes out to you and do come and speak to me or speak to somebody else and get help. 00:18:45.940 --> 00:18:50.359 Fifthly, it is the present possession of the Christian. 00:18:51.819 --> 00:18:57.359 Now, like I've said, verse 8 is not translated brilliantly by the NIV. 00:18:57.359 --> 00:18:59.339 Though you have not seen him, you love him. 00:18:59.440 --> 00:19:05.400 And even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy. 00:19:06.019 --> 00:19:08.200 So, that verb to be is not there in the Greek. 00:19:08.319 --> 00:19:09.539 It's really the word rejoice. 00:19:10.240 --> 00:19:14.779 So, a better or more literal translation would be something like this. 00:19:14.779 --> 00:19:21.460 This is from the Christian Standard Bible, which, interestingly enough, is the version of the Bible in those Good News for London translations. 00:19:23.119 --> 00:19:27.379 So, it's an anglicized version of the New American Standard. 00:19:27.619 --> 00:19:28.019 Is that right? 00:19:28.420 --> 00:19:28.940 Something like that. 00:19:29.319 --> 00:19:30.339 So, the Christian Standard Bible. 00:19:30.900 --> 00:19:31.700 It says this. 00:19:31.859 --> 00:19:34.779 Though you have not seen him, you love him. 00:19:34.779 --> 00:19:44.139 Though not seeing him now, you believe in him and you rejoice with an inexpressible and glorious joy. 00:19:44.720 --> 00:19:48.859 In other words, the point is that joy is the present experience of the Christian. 00:19:49.420 --> 00:19:52.240 The Christian life is a rejoicing life. 00:19:52.639 --> 00:20:00.359 Not the Christian life will be a life of joy or the Christian life was a life of joy and then it got really unpleasant. 00:20:00.359 --> 00:20:03.019 But rather, the Christian life is rejoicing. 00:20:03.159 --> 00:20:04.519 That is what the Christian life is. 00:20:04.839 --> 00:20:07.439 The Christian life is intended to be a life of rejoicing. 00:20:07.759 --> 00:20:09.539 Not that we laugh our way all the way through it. 00:20:09.979 --> 00:20:11.099 It's not an emotion. 00:20:11.299 --> 00:20:11.799 It's a status. 00:20:12.019 --> 00:20:17.459 But the fact is that what the world is looking for in comfort, you and I have found in knowing Christ. 00:20:17.899 --> 00:20:17.979 Right? 00:20:18.859 --> 00:20:23.719 It's right to say that the Christian has found in Jesus the life that everyone else has been searching for. 00:20:23.720 --> 00:20:27.980 That Christian life is the best way to live in this broken, suffering world. 00:20:28.620 --> 00:20:30.279 We've got to hold on to this, haven't we? 00:20:31.140 --> 00:20:38.259 When we're sharing the gospel with our non-Christian friends, you realize, don't you, that for them to become a Christian means a radical change in lifestyle. 00:20:38.940 --> 00:20:41.259 But it doesn't rob them of joy. 00:20:41.440 --> 00:20:44.539 It brings them to the only real source of joy. 00:20:44.539 --> 00:20:51.420 And at that point, the Christian's joy, our corporate joy, is essentially evangelistic, isn't it? 00:20:51.579 --> 00:21:00.539 You can say to your friends and your family that it's not just that you think they need a saviour, but really that in a deep down sense that they're not perhaps aware of and can't really articulate. 00:21:01.019 --> 00:21:06.440 They want a saviour and the saviour is what they've been looking for in everything else, but haven't found him. 00:21:07.079 --> 00:21:08.579 They are blind to the reality. 00:21:08.579 --> 00:21:22.659 It means that the sacrifices and losses of the Christian life, you know, leaving behind friends and family, the tears and the sadness, the dying to self, that is not to ruin your life, but is to make your life. 00:21:24.259 --> 00:21:35.019 As I was thinking about and researching for tonight's talk, I was listening to some lectures by the psychologist who had been advising David Cameron back in the early noughties. 00:21:35.019 --> 00:21:39.039 He's a guy called Martin Seligman. 00:21:39.259 --> 00:21:41.879 I think Seligman, Seligman, don't quite know how you say his surname. 00:21:42.240 --> 00:22:02.379 Anyway, one of the things that he was saying was an exciting discovery that he'd made in his research of happiness, which was that the most powerful antidepressant that they discovered was to suggest to the person struggling with depression that they go and do something that costs them for someone else. 00:22:02.380 --> 00:22:16.900 He said, I have no idea why this works, but it seems to be that the most helpful thing you can say to a depressed person is to tell them to get out and go and do something for someone else and not themselves, even though that costs them. 00:22:17.340 --> 00:22:20.940 That, he said, seems to make people happy in a way I can't explain. 00:22:20.940 --> 00:22:24.160 Now, you want to say to him, don't you? 00:22:24.259 --> 00:22:26.759 You want to kind of grab him by the shoulders and go, I know why that's the case, right? 00:22:26.779 --> 00:22:28.059 I know why that's true, right? 00:22:28.380 --> 00:22:31.539 Who is the happiest and most joyful man to have ever lived? 00:22:32.100 --> 00:22:32.460 Jesus. 00:22:33.000 --> 00:22:34.860 Well, what did he do? 00:22:35.299 --> 00:22:37.100 He gave his life as a ransom for many. 00:22:37.559 --> 00:22:41.340 He took up his cross for the joy set before him. 00:22:41.900 --> 00:22:43.299 And so that's our life, isn't it? 00:22:43.720 --> 00:22:49.539 Our life is the present possession of joy because of the future that we have in Christ. 00:22:49.539 --> 00:22:51.159 So that's our sixth thing. 00:22:51.399 --> 00:22:53.299 It is fueled by future salvation. 00:22:53.859 --> 00:22:55.220 Have a look at verse nine. 00:22:57.019 --> 00:23:00.879 Though you have not seen him, you love him. 00:23:01.639 --> 00:23:06.379 And even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy. 00:23:06.659 --> 00:23:13.139 For you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 00:23:13.140 --> 00:23:19.200 Now, the causal link between verses eight and nine, the word for. 00:23:19.500 --> 00:23:20.660 I hate doing this, right? 00:23:20.759 --> 00:23:24.020 Because this I don't want to undermine your confidence in the Bible in your hands. 00:23:24.259 --> 00:23:26.500 But the word for is not there in the Greek. 00:23:26.880 --> 00:23:28.680 So you mustn't kind of overplay it. 00:23:29.080 --> 00:23:31.060 It's not it's not really. 00:23:32.640 --> 00:23:35.100 Because it's more. 00:23:35.099 --> 00:23:38.559 For first time really starts with receiving or obtaining. 00:23:39.279 --> 00:23:49.899 OK, so the word for really, I think, in English kind of points the idea that the inexpressible and glorious joy in our present experience is connected with future salvation. 00:23:50.339 --> 00:23:55.219 Our present joy comes from this growing value that we attach to future glory. 00:23:56.519 --> 00:23:59.179 So this is the this is the joy of the Christian life, right? 00:23:59.180 --> 00:24:04.620 The Christian the joy of the Christian life is really like the joy of a child on the way to Disneyland. 00:24:05.180 --> 00:24:05.320 Right. 00:24:05.820 --> 00:24:12.220 It is the is the joy of arriving there flooding back into their life in the present. 00:24:12.900 --> 00:24:13.820 You get the idea. 00:24:14.840 --> 00:24:18.740 It's like the the office worker who is on the way home for the weekend. 00:24:19.000 --> 00:24:24.320 Yeah, it's the the joy of that is flowing back into their life in the present. 00:24:25.460 --> 00:24:29.160 It's the student on the way to graduation having passed all their exams. 00:24:29.180 --> 00:24:33.880 You know, it's the it's the joy of the future flowing backwards into the present. 00:24:35.019 --> 00:24:36.920 So perhaps this is worth thinking about some more. 00:24:37.500 --> 00:24:44.299 Perhaps it is the case that our absence of present joy is because of a lack of future hope. 00:24:44.920 --> 00:24:45.019 Right. 00:24:47.000 --> 00:24:49.440 I was trying to think about this because I think so. 00:24:49.580 --> 00:24:52.860 One one Peter is not the only place, obviously, that joy is talked about in the Bible. 00:24:53.180 --> 00:24:54.620 It's talked about all over. 00:24:54.619 --> 00:25:06.439 But really, I think what Peter is trying to say to us is you don't just find joy by trying to think on and ponder on what you've received today in Christ. 00:25:06.659 --> 00:25:09.139 So if I can say it this way, and this is almost heretical. 00:25:09.319 --> 00:25:12.339 So I'm hesitating to say it like this, but I'll clarify it. 00:25:13.339 --> 00:25:15.159 Joy doesn't come from justification. 00:25:15.160 --> 00:25:17.279 It comes from glorification. 00:25:18.000 --> 00:25:18.600 Does that make sense? 00:25:18.779 --> 00:25:24.900 So justification is our present standing in the Lord Jesus, that we know that before God we are not guilty. 00:25:25.640 --> 00:25:28.380 We have received full forgiveness for all of our sins. 00:25:28.480 --> 00:25:29.640 We have nothing to fear. 00:25:30.660 --> 00:25:34.100 Glorification is this is this hope that we will be with the Lord. 00:25:34.099 --> 00:25:38.579 But the gospel is not just about forgiveness and justification. 00:25:39.299 --> 00:25:42.779 It's about adoption into the family of God and the promise of glory with him. 00:25:43.519 --> 00:25:48.719 And joy is found in the future glory flowing back into present experience. 00:25:49.579 --> 00:25:55.859 And so if we find that our joy in the present is flaky, it's because our hope in the future is insecure. 00:25:57.719 --> 00:25:59.679 Verse seven captures it, doesn't it? 00:25:59.679 --> 00:26:00.740 Look back at verse seven. 00:26:00.740 --> 00:26:03.259 These have come, this is the trials, right? 00:26:03.319 --> 00:26:14.200 Have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire, may result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 00:26:15.799 --> 00:26:19.000 You know, the point is that what we have is truly valuable. 00:26:20.519 --> 00:26:23.220 Because it lasts into the future. 00:26:23.900 --> 00:26:27.620 And so that's why trials don't rob you of joy. 00:26:27.940 --> 00:26:28.079 Yeah. 00:26:28.339 --> 00:26:29.740 What do trials do? 00:26:29.740 --> 00:26:39.759 Trials and suffering build your hope in Christ for the future, which bring you joy and don't rob you of it in a Christian character sense. 00:26:40.539 --> 00:26:48.799 So you will cry and weep through the tears of pain and suffering and loss, the absence of friends, whatever it is that you are struggling with. 00:26:49.039 --> 00:26:51.559 You will weep and feel sadness at that. 00:26:51.559 --> 00:26:57.579 But as you bring that to Christ, it pushes you to think more about what is yours in him. 00:26:58.599 --> 00:27:07.019 So if I can put it this way, the more that your life today makes no sense outside of the return of Christ, the more joyful you will be. 00:27:07.460 --> 00:27:08.099 Does that make sense? 00:27:08.240 --> 00:27:09.220 Does that kind of scan? 00:27:09.220 --> 00:27:18.440 So if if your life could be fully explained without the future return of Christ, then you'll be miserable. 00:27:19.240 --> 00:27:19.400 Right. 00:27:19.400 --> 00:27:25.100 Because it is as our hope is in Christ that we find joy in the present. 00:27:26.759 --> 00:27:29.019 Now, that means, doesn't it, which brings us to the last point. 00:27:29.100 --> 00:27:31.420 And then I'm going to take some questions and we're going to discuss it together a bit. 00:27:31.420 --> 00:27:36.800 But we grow in it by cultivating dependence on and confidence in Christ. 00:27:39.000 --> 00:27:44.140 I think this is probably cheating in that it's not necessarily a direct implication of verse eight. 00:27:44.180 --> 00:27:49.500 But I think you could make a pretty good argument that Peter's purpose in writing this section is to increase their joy. 00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:50.100 Right. 00:27:50.860 --> 00:27:54.560 So he describes their joy in order to increase their joy. 00:27:54.559 --> 00:28:01.159 And so it's consistent, isn't it, with the with the other parts of the Bible, that it is not just that joy is a status. 00:28:01.579 --> 00:28:02.960 It is also a command. 00:28:03.519 --> 00:28:03.659 Right. 00:28:03.720 --> 00:28:09.359 So it's OK in Philippians four for Paul to write, rejoice in the Lord always. 00:28:09.359 --> 00:28:16.759 And I will say it again, rejoice, not as a sort of suggestion, but as an instruction to you, an imperative, a an instruction. 00:28:16.919 --> 00:28:18.779 Listen, you are to rejoice. 00:28:18.980 --> 00:28:21.099 I'm not going to say once I'm going to double down on it. 00:28:21.179 --> 00:28:22.480 You really must rejoice. 00:28:22.480 --> 00:28:25.480 Now, how can he command that? 00:28:26.160 --> 00:28:37.460 Well, because although joy is flowing back to us from a future event, it is still possible as a Christian to grow our joy in the present by growing our confidence in and our understanding of that future event. 00:28:38.720 --> 00:28:41.240 This is how this is how the Christian life works. 00:28:41.380 --> 00:28:45.539 OK, so we are interested, aren't we, in our emotions and our affections. 00:28:45.539 --> 00:28:51.899 And we think often as Christians that the way to affect our emotions and our affections to address them directly. 00:28:52.440 --> 00:28:56.779 But actually, what you find in the Bible is that your emotions and your affections are instructed by your mind. 00:28:56.779 --> 00:29:06.059 So it's as you understand and listen and grow in understanding that then your emotions and your affections are changed and transformed. 00:29:06.700 --> 00:29:13.500 So it's as I grow in understanding of and clarity on the future coming of the Lord Jesus, 00:29:13.500 --> 00:29:18.400 I find that my emotions and affections are shaped around the joy of what Christ is doing. 00:29:19.039 --> 00:29:24.940 That's why I don't think really there's any changing topic in 1 Peter chapter 1 when you get to verse 13, 00:29:24.940 --> 00:29:26.740 when Peter says, 00:29:26.740 --> 00:29:36.480 Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought you when Jesus Christ is revealed it is coming. 00:29:36.980 --> 00:29:41.200 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires that you had when you lived in ignorance. 00:29:41.779 --> 00:29:45.759 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do. 00:29:46.140 --> 00:29:48.860 For it is written, be holy because I am holy. 00:29:49.759 --> 00:29:53.000 He's just talked about this inexpressible joy. 00:29:53.000 --> 00:29:54.920 He's talked about this future coming salvation. 00:29:55.359 --> 00:30:00.339 He's talked then about the fact that everybody has wanted to know more about this, right? 00:30:00.420 --> 00:30:04.000 So the prophets have wanted to know more about this coming of Christ. 00:30:04.819 --> 00:30:06.240 They have pointed forward it. 00:30:06.319 --> 00:30:07.799 They long to look into it. 00:30:08.539 --> 00:30:09.920 And now he says, 00:30:10.579 --> 00:30:15.059 Therefore, with minds that are fully alert and sorry, are alert and fully sober, 00:30:15.220 --> 00:30:20.279 set your hope on the grace to be brought to you because he wants them to grow in joy. 00:30:20.279 --> 00:30:25.440 See, listen, you grow in joy by getting serious about the Christian life, 00:30:25.440 --> 00:30:30.240 by setting your minds and hopes on the future, on what Christ will reveal. 00:30:31.119 --> 00:30:35.319 Know that the more you make your treasure there and not here, the more you will receive joy. 00:30:35.859 --> 00:30:40.819 The more you commit yourself to holiness, because the future is holiness and because God is holy. 00:30:41.319 --> 00:30:43.059 That way you will be joyful in the present. 00:30:43.059 --> 00:30:46.839 See, perhaps I can put it this way. 00:30:47.000 --> 00:30:51.159 If I said before that for the older Christian like me and Liz, right, 00:30:51.579 --> 00:30:53.940 nostalgia is the big joy killer. 00:30:54.899 --> 00:30:59.799 If you're young, you know, like me and Nathan, right, 00:31:00.200 --> 00:31:04.659 let me tell you that half-heartedness in the Christian life is your big joy killer. 00:31:04.660 --> 00:31:09.680 I mean, it kills joy for an older Christian as well, but especially, I think, for a younger person. 00:31:10.420 --> 00:31:13.740 That desire that you have to have a foot in both camps, yeah, 00:31:14.240 --> 00:31:18.240 to have everything that the world has to offer and also try and be a serious Christian 00:31:18.240 --> 00:31:20.940 as much as that kind of scams with everybody around me, 00:31:21.360 --> 00:31:23.320 that robs you of joy. 00:31:24.279 --> 00:31:27.060 If your hopes are divided, your joy will be halved. 00:31:27.220 --> 00:31:30.340 I'm not actually sure whether the maths of that works, but that's the principle, right? 00:31:30.339 --> 00:31:35.099 Set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed. 00:31:35.879 --> 00:31:41.799 Commit yourself fully to him, being holy because he is holy, and you will receive joy. 00:31:43.379 --> 00:31:50.159 Let me take questions or comments, observations, and then we'll spend some time praying together. 00:31:53.319 --> 00:31:56.299 We can have a moment to shuffle and to think. 00:32:00.339 --> 00:32:04.659 Charleston. 00:32:11.220 --> 00:32:11.619 Yes. 00:32:12.119 --> 00:32:13.639 So, amen. 00:32:13.939 --> 00:32:20.500 So we will, we have joy now, and we will be joyful in the future. 00:32:20.720 --> 00:32:24.079 Yes, I'm trying to, I'm trying to look down at the verses because I think it picks that up, doesn't it? 00:32:24.779 --> 00:32:26.919 In all this you greatly rejoice, say for now, for a little while, 00:32:26.919 --> 00:32:28.779 you've had to suffer grief in all kinds of times. 00:32:29.099 --> 00:32:29.779 Where does it say it? 00:32:31.299 --> 00:32:34.939 Yeah, they result in praise, glory, and honor when Christ is revealed to you. 00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:37.939 So that the sense is that the fulfillment will also be joyful. 00:32:38.159 --> 00:32:38.480 Yes. 00:32:39.480 --> 00:32:42.879 The joy set before us brings joy into the present. 00:32:43.119 --> 00:32:43.220 Yeah. 00:32:44.740 --> 00:32:45.179 Yeah. 00:32:51.179 --> 00:32:53.359 Do you want to expand that question? 00:32:53.439 --> 00:32:53.859 What do you mean? 00:32:53.859 --> 00:33:07.740 Because, because our hope for future glory is based on justification. 00:33:07.740 --> 00:33:08.219 Yeah. 00:33:08.220 --> 00:33:18.420 So justification is receiving today the verdict of judgment day, right? 00:33:18.420 --> 00:33:28.259 So it'd be like me handing to Anderson, you know, straight nines in GCSEs now, even though he's not yet sat his examines, right? 00:33:28.259 --> 00:33:30.579 So that's, that's justification, right? 00:33:30.579 --> 00:33:37.220 So it's, it's the not guilty as righteous as Jesus verdict today that's in our hands, even though the judgment day is still to come. 00:33:38.099 --> 00:33:39.779 So that's how it fuels it. 00:33:39.779 --> 00:33:46.019 But what I'm trying to say, so that's why I think it's slightly dangerous to say that justification doesn't give me joy in it, because that's wrong, isn't it? 00:33:46.019 --> 00:33:48.539 But there's a, what I'm trying to say is there's a road there, isn't there? 00:33:48.619 --> 00:33:55.519 So it's as justification gives me a solid hope that that hope for the future brings me joy. 00:33:55.879 --> 00:33:56.000 Yeah. 00:33:58.000 --> 00:33:58.440 Yeah. 00:34:06.579 --> 00:34:08.000 Any other comments or questions? 00:34:08.000 --> 00:34:08.259 Yes. 00:34:08.980 --> 00:34:15.639 Sometimes in our churches, we break the void of the peace. 00:34:16.019 --> 00:34:17.019 Yes. 00:34:17.019 --> 00:34:18.019 Yes. 00:34:18.019 --> 00:34:19.019 Yes. 00:34:19.019 --> 00:34:33.780 I'm just sort of thinking out loud, where is, what is, what is the disconnect? 00:34:34.179 --> 00:34:34.619 Yes. 00:34:34.860 --> 00:34:41.420 And why are, why are we, sing songs without joy? 00:34:41.679 --> 00:34:41.940 Yeah. 00:34:41.940 --> 00:34:44.980 The words that we're saying should fill us with. 00:34:44.980 --> 00:34:46.099 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 00:34:47.340 --> 00:34:48.760 That is such a great question. 00:34:49.340 --> 00:34:52.800 I'm going to, why don't you talk to the person next to you about that? 00:34:53.000 --> 00:34:54.980 No, no, serious, because I think this is really helpful. 00:34:55.360 --> 00:35:01.500 Why do we find that our church is perhaps not as joyful as it should be? 00:35:01.500 --> 00:35:08.719 This is not a criticism of any particular individual or any particular thing, but just how can we be more joyful as church? 00:35:08.800 --> 00:35:11.300 Talk to the person next to you about it so that you've all had a think about it. 00:35:11.300 --> 00:35:15.300 Are you talking about joy and being or the expression of joy? 00:35:16.660 --> 00:35:17.220 Both. 00:35:19.019 --> 00:35:22.320 I mean, obviously, you're saying in the church, you're talking about the expression of joy. 00:35:22.440 --> 00:35:22.740 Yes. 00:35:22.880 --> 00:35:24.039 So that was David's question. 00:35:24.220 --> 00:35:25.280 Take the expression. 00:35:25.360 --> 00:35:26.280 You're saying this really in the roots. 00:35:26.280 --> 00:35:26.780 Yeah. 00:35:27.340 --> 00:35:43.580 My opinion, and I think the implication is that even if joy is a state of being rather than happiness, if it is such, it should express itself in something that looks such. 00:35:43.579 --> 00:35:45.179 Yeah, there should something come out from that. 00:35:45.239 --> 00:35:46.420 So what should, what would that look like? 00:35:46.980 --> 00:35:52.059 Just have a think for a moment, because I think it's a really helpful thing for you to ponder. 00:35:52.059 --> 00:35:52.179 Sorry. 00:36:13.579 --> 00:36:14.519 What would that look like? 00:36:14.519 --> 00:36:14.519 00:36:14.519 --> 00:36:14.519 00:36:14.519 --> 00:36:14.519 00:36:14.519 --> 00:36:14.519 00:36:14.519 --> 00:36:14.519 00:36:14.519 --> 00:36:14.519 00:36:14.519 --> 00:36:14.519 00:36:14.519 --> 00:36:14.519 00:36:14.519 --> 00:36:14.519 00:36:14.519 --> 00:36:14.519 00:36:14.519 --> 00:36:14.519 00:36:14.519 --> 00:36:14.519 00:36:14.519 --> 00:36:14.519 00:36:14.519 --> 00:36:14.519 00:36:14.519 --> 00:36:14.519 00:36:14.519 --> 00:36:14.519 00:36:14.519 --> 00:36:14.519 00:36:14.519 --> 00:36:14.519 00:36:14.519 --> 00:36:14.519 00:36:14.519 --> 00:36:14.519 00:36:14.519 --> 00:36:14.519 00:36:14.519 --> 00:36:14.519 00:36:14.519 --> 00:36:14.519 00:36:14.519 --> 00:36:14.519 00:36:14.519 --> 00:36:14.519 00:36:14.519 --> 00:36:14.519 00:36:14.519 --> 00:36:44.500 Thank you. 00:36:44.519 --> 00:37:14.500 Thank you. 00:37:14.519 --> 00:37:44.500 Thank you. 00:37:44.519 --> 00:38:14.500 Thank you. 00:38:14.519 --> 00:38:44.500 Thank you. 00:38:44.519 --> 00:38:51.259 Lola, have you found, say, Kate, coming to England, you found us to be really doer, yeah? 00:38:51.519 --> 00:38:53.840 And like, and depressed and depressing. 00:38:55.019 --> 00:38:55.500 Repressed. 00:38:55.500 --> 00:38:55.579 Repressed. 00:38:55.639 --> 00:38:55.920 Yes. 00:38:56.139 --> 00:38:57.639 I didn't see the one that pressed me. 00:38:57.639 --> 00:38:58.920 You, okay. 00:38:59.259 --> 00:39:02.780 It's like, it's like a few of us, you can't, those are two. 00:39:03.280 --> 00:39:03.639 Right. 00:39:03.860 --> 00:39:04.679 It's opposite. 00:39:05.159 --> 00:39:05.440 Yeah. 00:39:06.239 --> 00:39:06.759 Interesting. 00:39:07.719 --> 00:39:08.900 I'm trying to approach it. 00:39:14.519 --> 00:39:15.880 Oh my goodness. 00:39:17.000 --> 00:39:17.360 Yes. 00:39:17.360 --> 00:39:27.639 I noticed in the context of Neymar, there was an explanation of the word that brought joy to the people that they understood. 00:39:28.860 --> 00:39:34.719 And I wonder, even in our scene, how do we understand the theology of the covenant of what we see? 00:39:35.539 --> 00:39:37.199 I wonder how much we relate. 00:39:37.739 --> 00:39:38.420 Yes. 00:39:39.420 --> 00:39:42.039 Yes, or, yes, or engaging with it. 00:39:42.259 --> 00:39:43.300 Yeah, that's really helpful. 00:39:43.300 --> 00:39:47.400 Well, I think, see, we were chatting a little bit here. 00:39:50.400 --> 00:39:53.640 Some expressions of joy are very culturally located, aren't they? 00:39:53.640 --> 00:39:56.940 And so, and we are a really mixed bunch of all sorts of different cultures. 00:39:57.120 --> 00:40:06.140 So, it's, it's unhelpful if it is very repressed in a British way, because that's not reflective of who we are, right? 00:40:06.160 --> 00:40:07.920 We're a much broader mix than that. 00:40:07.920 --> 00:40:18.940 But, the joy of the Lord in, like, Nehemiah, chapter 8, is a serious joy in the sense of it's serious-minded, right? 00:40:18.980 --> 00:40:21.659 It's, it's fueled by good, solid theology. 00:40:21.659 --> 00:40:24.519 So, it's not the absence of content. 00:40:24.519 --> 00:40:29.019 It is the presence of content, but expressed joyfully. 00:40:29.899 --> 00:40:30.019 Yeah. 00:40:30.960 --> 00:40:32.119 But, go on, Liz. 00:40:32.119 --> 00:40:32.619 What is it? 00:40:32.619 --> 00:40:32.859 Right. 00:40:32.859 --> 00:40:32.859 00:40:32.859 --> 00:40:32.859 00:40:32.859 --> 00:40:32.859 00:40:32.859 --> 00:40:32.859 00:40:32.859 --> 00:40:32.859 00:40:32.859 --> 00:40:32.859 00:40:32.859 --> 00:40:32.859 00:40:32.859 --> 00:40:32.859 00:40:32.859 --> 00:40:32.859 00:40:32.859 --> 00:40:32.859 00:40:32.859 --> 00:40:32.859 00:40:32.859 --> 00:40:32.859 00:40:32.859 --> 00:40:32.859 00:40:32.859 --> 00:40:32.859 00:40:32.859 --> 00:40:32.859 00:40:32.859 --> 00:40:32.859 00:40:32.859 --> 00:40:32.859 00:40:32.859 --> 00:40:32.859 00:40:32.859 --> 00:40:32.859 00:40:32.859 --> 00:40:32.859 00:40:32.859 --> 00:40:32.859 00:40:32.859 --> 00:40:32.859 00:40:32.859 --> 00:40:32.859 00:40:32.859 --> 00:40:32.859 00:40:32.859 --> 00:40:32.859 00:40:32.859 --> 00:40:32.859 00:40:32.859 --> 00:40:32.859 00:40:32.859 --> 00:40:32.859 00:40:32.859 --> 00:40:32.859 00:40:32.859 --> 00:40:32.859 00:40:32.859 --> 00:40:32.859 00:40:32.859 --> 00:40:32.859 00:40:32.859 --> 00:40:32.859 00:40:32.859 --> 00:40:32.859 00:40:32.859 --> 00:40:32.859 00:40:32.859 --> 00:40:32.859 00:40:32.859 --> 00:40:32.859 00:40:32.859 --> 00:40:32.859 00:40:32.859 --> 00:40:32.859 00:40:32.860 --> 00:40:40.860 I'm not, I'm going to make you look at what you're saying about the culture thing and what you're saying. 00:40:40.860 --> 00:40:57.860 But is it not that one of the reasons that we find it difficult to express story is a right of reading knowing about it? 00:40:57.860 --> 00:41:08.860 I like to really know you all and wanting to know you more than anything else. 00:41:08.860 --> 00:41:20.860 Because I think it's half part of this, that desire to know him and to want more of him and that's not more of him. 00:41:20.860 --> 00:41:27.860 So it's, in a way it has to come out. 00:41:27.860 --> 00:41:28.860 Yeah. 00:41:28.860 --> 00:41:30.860 You know, it has, it can't. 00:41:30.860 --> 00:41:31.860 Yes. 00:41:31.860 --> 00:41:33.860 It doesn't mean that your hands are up in the air or anything like that. 00:41:33.860 --> 00:41:35.860 It could be something. 00:41:35.860 --> 00:41:36.860 No, don't say but it doesn't. 00:41:36.860 --> 00:41:37.860 It could be. 00:41:37.860 --> 00:41:38.860 Yes. 00:41:38.860 --> 00:41:40.860 Could be but it doesn't have to be. 00:41:40.860 --> 00:41:41.860 Yeah. 00:41:41.860 --> 00:41:42.860 Yeah. 00:41:42.860 --> 00:41:43.860 Yeah. 00:41:43.860 --> 00:41:44.860 Yeah. 00:41:44.860 --> 00:41:45.860 Yeah. 00:41:45.860 --> 00:41:46.860 Yeah. 00:41:46.860 --> 00:41:47.860 Yeah. 00:41:47.860 --> 00:41:48.860 Yeah. 00:41:48.860 --> 00:41:49.860 Yeah. 00:41:49.860 --> 00:41:50.860 Yeah. 00:41:50.860 --> 00:41:51.860 Yeah. 00:41:51.860 --> 00:41:52.860 Yeah. 00:41:52.860 --> 00:41:57.860 So, so let's, let's press into what we've learned, right? 00:41:57.860 --> 00:42:06.860 If we are finding that there's an absence of joy in the church, it's because present circumstances are more real to us than future glory, right? 00:42:06.860 --> 00:42:18.860 And so somehow, and it's possible, isn't it, even as a, as a church to do this, is to become so obsessed with what our experience is now, that we don't, we fail to look forwards. 00:42:18.860 --> 00:42:45.860 And therefore, like, I think if we go back in time to when Christians were really suffering or when life was really short, or, you know, when lots of really heinous and hideous things were happening in the world and Christians were still gathering together to our angles, but there, the amount that they talked about future glory, I think if you weighed that up compared to us, you know, that actually, some of our Christianity has just become like psychotherapy, hasn't it, to try and help us in the present. 00:42:45.860 --> 00:42:48.860 When really it's about future glory and that, that throwing back. 00:42:48.860 --> 00:43:03.860 So if somehow we can make sure that people don't feel repressed in church and feel able to express joy, and then we fuel joy by clarity on future glory, then really the idea is that that should kind of flow out, shouldn't it? 00:43:03.860 --> 00:43:04.860 Yeah. 00:43:04.860 --> 00:43:08.860 Yeah. 00:43:08.860 --> 00:43:13.860 Yeah. 00:43:13.860 --> 00:43:14.860 Yeah. 00:43:14.860 --> 00:43:14.860 00:43:14.860 --> 00:43:15.860 Yeah. 00:43:15.860 --> 00:43:16.860 Yeah. 00:43:16.860 --> 00:43:17.860 Yeah. 00:43:17.860 --> 00:43:32.860 And that might look like. 00:43:32.860 --> 00:43:33.860 Yeah. 00:43:33.860 --> 00:43:34.860 Yeah. 00:43:34.860 --> 00:43:40.860 And it might also look like just being a willingness to express sadness at current circumstances as well. 00:43:40.860 --> 00:43:41.860 Yeah. 00:43:41.860 --> 00:43:42.860 Yeah. 00:43:42.860 --> 00:43:43.860 Yeah. 00:43:43.860 --> 00:43:44.860 Go on. 00:43:44.860 --> 00:43:45.860 Yeah. 00:43:45.860 --> 00:43:45.860 00:43:45.860 --> 00:43:45.860 00:43:45.860 --> 00:43:46.860 Yeah. 00:43:46.860 --> 00:43:47.860 Yeah. 00:43:47.860 --> 00:43:48.860 Yeah. 00:43:48.860 --> 00:43:49.860 Yeah. 00:43:49.860 --> 00:43:50.860 Yes. 00:43:50.860 --> 00:43:51.860 Yes. 00:43:51.860 --> 00:43:52.860 Yes. 00:43:52.860 --> 00:43:57.860 So the amount of times I have spoken to people and visited people who are struggling to come to church, 00:43:57.860 --> 00:44:04.860 and the reason they give is because I don't feel like I am doing well enough to come to church, which is so sad, isn't it? 00:44:04.860 --> 00:44:05.860 Because it's this sense that I have to be able to put the face on in order to come to the gathering of the church, which is the wrong thing, isn't it? 00:44:05.860 --> 00:44:06.860 Yeah. 00:44:06.860 --> 00:44:07.860 Anyone else wanted to say something? 00:44:07.860 --> 00:44:08.860 Go on. 00:44:08.860 --> 00:44:09.860 Go on. 00:44:09.860 --> 00:44:11.860 I think there's like, there's part which seems to be upright and dignity as well. 00:44:11.860 --> 00:44:20.340 And the reason they give is because I don't feel like I am doing well enough to come to church, which is so sad, isn't it? 00:44:20.620 --> 00:44:28.340 Because it's this sense that I have to be able to put the face on in order to come to the gathering of the church, which is the wrong thing, isn't it? 00:44:29.420 --> 00:44:32.300 Yeah. Anyone else wanted to say something? 00:44:33.160 --> 00:44:37.480 I think there's like, there's part of it which seems to be upright and dignity as well. 00:44:37.480 --> 00:44:47.480 There's the two Samuel 6 where David's dancing in front of them and leaping for joy in front of them and thinking, so these questions are required to be so undignified. 00:44:47.480 --> 00:44:50.480 Because apparently, we're more undignified than David. 00:44:50.480 --> 00:44:52.480 Because it's in front of them. 00:44:52.480 --> 00:44:57.480 I wonder if our, I've probably come to every other aspect, what would it be? 00:44:57.480 --> 00:44:58.480 Yeah. 00:44:58.480 --> 00:44:58.480 00:44:58.480 --> 00:44:59.480 Yeah. 00:44:59.480 --> 00:45:00.480 Yeah. 00:45:00.480 --> 00:45:01.480 Yeah. 00:45:01.480 --> 00:45:02.480 Yeah. 00:45:02.480 --> 00:45:03.480 Yeah. 00:45:03.480 --> 00:45:04.480 Yeah. 00:45:04.480 --> 00:45:05.480 Yeah. 00:45:05.480 --> 00:45:06.480 Yeah. 00:45:06.480 --> 00:45:07.480 Yeah. 00:45:07.480 --> 00:45:08.480 Yeah. 00:45:08.480 --> 00:45:09.480 Yeah. 00:45:09.480 --> 00:45:10.480 Yeah. 00:45:10.480 --> 00:45:11.480 The debt. 00:45:11.480 --> 00:45:12.480 I mean, that's really interesting. 00:45:12.480 --> 00:45:16.480 The David and it's, it's Saul's daughter, isn't it? 00:45:16.480 --> 00:45:17.480 Yeah. 00:45:17.480 --> 00:45:19.480 That is like annoyed with him. 00:45:19.480 --> 00:45:27.480 I think because, again, it's the loss of her influence and her connection to the throne as well, isn't she? 00:45:27.480 --> 00:45:29.480 Never able to have children after that. 00:45:31.480 --> 00:45:32.480 Yeah. 00:45:32.480 --> 00:45:39.480 So there's the thing linking what the New Testament says about doing things in good order and also allowing people to express emotion. 00:45:39.480 --> 00:45:40.480 Yeah. 00:45:40.480 --> 00:45:42.480 It's just really important, isn't it? 00:45:42.480 --> 00:45:43.480 Yeah. 00:45:43.480 --> 00:45:44.480 Yeah. 00:45:44.480 --> 00:45:47.480 And that, that goes for both sadness and happiness, doesn't it? 00:45:47.480 --> 00:45:51.480 It's the, the feeling that I have to be able to say, yeah, I'm okay. 00:45:51.480 --> 00:45:54.480 When anyone asks me, which is helpful. 00:45:54.480 --> 00:45:55.480 Yeah. 00:45:55.480 --> 00:46:02.480 I wonder if there's this thing that, joy itself in, what causes us to express it in a way better. 00:46:02.480 --> 00:46:12.480 You know the whole idea of something like, for example, when you still, going through this very sad moment, and then at one point went to the beach and this sort of amazing scenery there. 00:46:12.480 --> 00:46:18.480 And it's not like you made an effort, not to think about anything else and to contemplate it. 00:46:18.480 --> 00:46:22.480 It was actually beauty itself and nature that had power. 00:46:22.480 --> 00:46:24.480 So you can start something. 00:46:24.480 --> 00:46:25.480 Yeah. 00:46:25.480 --> 00:46:26.480 I think God is the same way. 00:46:26.480 --> 00:46:32.480 Sometimes people try to make an effort to think about God and to love God, but it's God that's actually love worthy. 00:46:32.480 --> 00:46:48.480 And then knowing him more will cause us to, and I wonder if it's by being attached to the word of God and preaching and learning more about future warriors, it's self will cause us to, 00:46:48.480 --> 00:46:49.480 Yeah. 00:46:49.480 --> 00:46:51.480 To express it differently. 00:46:51.480 --> 00:46:53.480 That's really helpful. 00:46:53.480 --> 00:46:54.480 Thank you. 00:46:54.480 --> 00:46:56.480 That's very similar to what Liz was saying, isn't it? 00:46:56.480 --> 00:46:57.480 Yeah. 00:46:57.480 --> 00:46:58.480 Really helpful. 00:46:58.480 --> 00:46:59.480 Yeah. 00:46:59.480 --> 00:47:00.480 Great. 00:47:00.480 --> 00:47:01.480 Okay. 00:47:01.480 --> 00:47:20.480 Why don't you, with the person that you were talking to before, pray that our church would be a church of joy, and that we would feel able to express that together, and that we would be more excited about future glory than we are present comfort, and that would feed our joy. 00:47:20.480 --> 00:47:21.480 Go for it. 00:47:21.480 --> 00:47:22.480 Pray for a few moments and then. 00:47:22.480 --> 00:47:23.480 Thank you.