JOY

The other day my granddaughter came home from school and told my son something I haven’t been able to get out of my head. She said, Jesus, Others, and then Yourself, JOY. After hearing this I knew I would do a Sunday lesson on this. If only everyone would remember to put Jesus first, then others before themselves this would be a wonderful world. Let’s begin in Luke 14, and verse 25 reads.

Luke 14:25] And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them,
[26] If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

Just by reading I hope you understand that there is something wrong with that verse. This word “hate” should have been translated as “Love less”. We find in the Strongs’ that it is G3404, Miseo in the Greek and means; to love less. Knowing this, we must love less not only our families but ourselves also. Why? Jesus continues.

Luke 14:27] And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

Because we must be willing to die for Jesus, that’s what bearing your cross means. Anyone that claims to love Jesus should understand this, especially in the world we live in today. Now let’s go to Matthew 22, and verse 36 it reads.

Mat.22:36] Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
[37] Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
[38] This is the first and great commandment.

We must love the LORD first, now comes “Others”.

Mat.22:39] And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
[40] On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Jesus said all law and prophets hang on these two commandments. These two are commandments by God, we find them in Exo.20, these are the ten commandments. The first five are spiritual and the second five are civil. Exo.20:12 tells us to honor our mother and father. This is the fifth commandment, spiritual. This should help with Luke 14:26. Notice that Jesus said to love thy neighbor as thyself. Here we have both Others and Yourself, and the commandment is to love both. We should love ourselves just put others before ourself. I want to go to John 15 and verse 9 reads.

John 15:9] As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
[10] If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.

Jesus counts his love for us as God loves him, notice that keeping (doing) his commandments is our requirement.

John 15:11] These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

Here’s our word today, Joy. To be loved by the Lord is fulfilling to our souls, meaning his blessings are upon us.

John 15:12] This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

This is a commandment from Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us. That we love one another as he loves us.

John 15:13] Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

A man shows his love the most when he lays down his life for “Others”.

John 15:14] Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.

He called us his friends. Don’t overlook that big word “If”, it means it comes with a condition. That condition is that we be a doer of his commandments.

John 15:15] Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

The question is, have you read. Don’t overlook that it is Jesus that makes the word of God known to us, it is written here for us to understand.

John 15:16] Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

That’s right, anything we ask in his name the Father will give to us. This is not talking about your wish list, this is talking about anything that you ask for that is for the glory of the LORD, in his name, this he will give to you. For our fruits are our works. Now comes Jesus’s commandment for us.

John 15:17] These things I command you, that ye love one another.

Stop and understand that our commandment from Jesus was to love one another.

John 15:18] If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.

Will the world hate me? Yes, and it hated Jesus before us. We must all know this, that the world is evil, and it hates what is right, Righteousness. This is why it was his commandment for us to love one another, not the world but one another.

John 15:19] If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

This word hateth is also G3404, Miseo in the Greek, but here it means; to hate, to pursue with hatred, to persecute. Because we are chosen by God to do his good works, they will persecute us. Remember they only persecute those who are righteous.

John 15:20] Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

Jesus is speaking to his elect here, those who study and do his commandments. Remember his commandment is to love one another. This is JOY, Jesus first, He is the Living Word.  For without the Word of God we cannot know God. Others, because it is a commandment given by Jesus to all of us, to love one another. Yourself, if you don’t love yourself, how can you love another. And we as God’s children want only to please God, for this gives God joy. Thank you, Mattie, you have given Papa a lot to think about, I’m so proud of you. Let’s go to his throne.

Father, we thank you for your word and ask that you bless all that love you in Jesus’s precious name, Amen.

KJV along with The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of The Bible