The Blessing of Righteousness, Peace and Joy // An Abundant Life in Jesus, Part 3

Most of us want to be happy, so we go looking for happiness …. everywhere.  No stone left unturned, only to discover that we can’t find lasting happiness.  Because at the end of the day – happiness isn’t what we’re looking for.  It’s joy that we’re after.

 

The Blessing of Righteousness

Over the last few weeks we have been having a discussion on this programme about the promise that Jesus made; an outrageous promise, in fact, of an abundant life. Here it is, have another listen, John chapter 10, verse 10:

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

And I guess that the reason that it’s so outrageous is that firstly, Jesus is saying that His purpose in coming to this earth, in stepping out of heaven into the physical dimension, taking on flesh, becoming a man, dying on the cross, rising again – all that – the reason He did that was what? “That we may have life and have it abundantly.” And it is for us because this promise is made in the context of a parable, where Jesus is the Good Shepherd; the True Shepherd and we are His flock. It’s a beautiful picture with a deep and rich meaning to the agrarian audience to which He said it, back in the first century.

"An abundant life", but what does that mean? I had a student ask me that once when I was lecturing at a Bible College. I was rabbiting on about this "abundant life" thing as though the idea of an abundant life was completely obvious to everyone. And one of the students, a woman in her sixties, asked me, she said, "But Berni, what is an abundant life?" You know something, I think that is a really, really good question.

A little while ago we aired a teaching series called, “Financially Secure Once and for All”. It was all about the fact that God means us not to find our security in money; in wealth but in Him. However much we may have or may not have when it comes to financial wealth.

Now, I was interested in the response of one man to that. He sent me a sharp email, declaring that he couldn’t support anyone who preaches the prosperity doctrine. You know that false idea that if you believe in God in the right way and give lots of your money away to whoever is preaching that day, you will be rich. God will make you healthy, wealthy and wise, with a big house, big car, and a great job – on easy street! It’s a false idea and we should have nothing to do with that because it puts our own wealth at the heart of things, rather than God’s glory. And that is not – simply NOT what we are called to do.

Anyhow, the point of me telling you this story is that, the moment I open my mouth about financial security, the man who wrote me that sharp email, assumed that I was talking about monetary blessing from God. But that was, in fact, the complete opposite of what I talked about in that teaching series. What I was talking about ‘God security’ irrespective of the size of the bank balance, we might or might not have.

And I wonder whether that isn’t the obvious thing to fall into, precisely the same wrong assumption when we start talking about "an abundant life in Jesus"? That abundance must mean, well, healthy, wealthy and wise – easy street! And so people look at their lives and think, "Well, you know, I don’t fall into the healthy, wealthy and wise category. I’m on struggle-street, not easy street. My life definitely is not all good or hunky dory, therefore this promise must either be false or for someone else." Do you see my point? We can be like that man who sent that email – we judge Jesus wrongly; we judge what He said from a worldly standpoint, rather than from a godly one.

Back in the early church in the first century, a controversy arose about what foods they could eat and what drinks they could drink. Remember, early Christians mostly came out of Judaism with its legal demands about a whole range of things including food and drink. And the Apostle Paul was addressing this controversy in a letter to the Roman church. And the crux of what he had to say was this, Romans chapter 14, verse 17. He said:

For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

In other words, boys and girls, stop looking at this whole thing from a worldly viewpoint, because in so doing you are completely missing the point. God’s Kingdom isn’t a physical thing – it’s something that happens inside you when you lay your life down; lay down your worldly desires, lay don’t everything you want, for Jesus. It’s about righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

We will look at each of those today, starting right now with righteousness, because that’s the heart of an abundant life. Righteousness is a word that is bandied around a lot in Christian circles at least, and used almost never anywhere else. So what does it actually mean, "righteousness"? It means ‘a right standing with God’; it means the state that we should be in; the condition in which we are acceptable to a holy God.

Now, we have all sinned and rebelled against God. That means there’s an enmity; a hostility between us and God but the moment we accept Jesus, the forgiveness we have through His sacrifice on that cross, there is peace. Because the debt for our sin, which is death, has been paid by Him and now through our faith in Him and what He has done, God sees us are righteous. Just as the criminal, who has paid his debt in prison, once released, is now right with the law; so we are right with God through our faith in Jesus.

That’s why elsewhere in his letter to the Roman church, Paul has this to say, Romans chapter 5, verse 1:

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we now stand.

See, we are back where we should be. We are justified; ‘made right,’ through our faith in Jesus Christ and so we have peace with God through Him. The war is over; the battle is over; the enmity between us and God is over; the running away from God is over. And then, does Jesus say, "Well, okay. Now, keep on doing all the things you were doing wrong – that’s fine, that’s not a problem?" No! Just as He said to the woman caught in adultery, whom the crowds had condemned and wanted to stone to death. In John chapter 8, verse 11, Jesus said to her:

… neither do I condemn you. Now, go your way and from now on, do not sin again.

So, we are forgiven, back in relationship with God and then we are called to go and live out our lives and stop doing the things that have caused the problem in the first place. That’s "righteousness", right there. Something that God gives us as a free gift through Jesus Christ – a right standing with Him and then something that we are called to live out in our lives. That’s what Jesus came to give us, an abundant life! A life that begins with God’s righteousness given freely to us and that then continues in that righteousness and there … right there is the blessing, because sin has its consequences. Sin is the thief that comes only to steal, kill and destroy but Jesus came that we may have life … real life, in all its abundance - righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

 

The Blessing of Peace

We are looking today at Jesus’ outrageous promise of an abundant life. John chapter 10, verse 10:

"The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy. I came,” said Jesus, “that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

Righteousness (we looked at that earlier) peace and joy in the Holy Spirit – those three are, in a nutshell, what the Kingdom of God brings to our lives. They are a fountain of blessing. And that little troika is put together not by me, but by the Apostle Paul, in dealing with the controversy over religious rules to do with food and drink that was raging back in the first century church. And in responding to that in his letter to the Romans he is saying, "Guys, guys, you have got a hold of the wrong end of the stick! Don’t you get it? The Kingdom of God isn’t about food and drink, but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit."

That’s the context and that’s why we are focusing on it today because in exactly the same way as some people were taking a "human; worldly" perspective of God’s Kingdom, over a bunch of religious rules, back then, you and I can easily take a worldly view of this promise of an abundant life, through our consumer oriented, twenty first century mindset. I mean, when you hear the promise of an abundant life, what’s the first thing that springs to mind? Enough money to get by? Being able to have a few of those luxuries? Aaah, easy street!

I mean, that’s the natural reaction, right? But is not what Jesus was saying. As I said earlier, this promise of an abundant life, comes set in a parable of a shepherd and his sheep, who lived in a difficult and dangerous world out there in search of pasture, where thieves often came and wild animals came to ravage the flock and where sometimes, the shepherd had to lay down his life for his sheep.

There is nothing "easy street" about that, I can tell you. But if we stopped and thought about this whole ‘abundant life’ thing for just a little while and thought, well, if I want an abundant life, what would be right up there … right up on the top of my list, numbers one, two and three, I think we might come up with the same list.

1. Righteousness – a right standing with God, finally; the enmity between us and God is gone. Finally, the threat of eternal judgement is gone. Finally, we are where we are meant to be – back in relationship and right standing with God. That is righteousness.

2. Peace – is there anyone here who doesn’t want peace on every side of their lives; the absence of strife?

3. Joy – a deep delight that springs out of our relationship with God; a joy that transcends the ups and downs of life - a deep joy that’s there 24/7.

But right now we are going to focus on the second one of these, peace! And again, remember, we are not talking here from a worldly perspective, we are taking a godly view. And that’s exactly what Jesus instructed His disciples to do when He gave them His peace. He was about to be crucified. The disciples knew that – they were in fear for their own lives as well. It was a scary, scary time. They had been following this amazing Jesus around for three and a half years – the miracles, the teaching, the crowds and now, all of a sudden, the dark cloud of death hung over their decision to follow Jesus. And Jesus says to them – He says, in John chapter 14, verse 27:

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled; do not let them be afraid.

Do you see this "peace", not from the world’s perspective; not the way the world gives it to you. He says, "Take My peace; My deep inner peace." The security; the safety that comes from being one of Jesus disciples - the sort of peace that sheep have when they are safe in the protection of their one true shepherd – the shepherd who is prepared to lay his life down for them.

And the clear thing that Jesus is saying to them is, Look, My peace isn’t the same as the peace the world offers you. That’s why your heart shouldn’t be troubled; that’s why you don’t have to be afraid.

And as I have said previously, that promise of an abundant life – John chapter 10, verse 10, comes set in this story of a difficult, dangerous journey in the existence of a shepherd with his sheep. It comes set in the realities … the cold, hard reality of life and it’s for that reason that you and I need peace because life is not always what we want it to be. Without that sort of peace we can’t have an abundant life, can we?

As I look back on my decade and a half now of walking with Jesus, through thick and thin, through some great places and some places that look very much like that valley of the shadow of death, that the Psalmist talks about in Psalm 23. His peace is one of the things that I value most about my relationship with Jesus – a peace that lasts, through every situation because it’s His peace; it’s His way, not the world’s peace; the world’s way.

Paul, the Apostle, in Philippians chapter 4, writes about a peace that surpasses all understanding; the peace from God that guards our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus. Can I tell you – I so relate to that because so often this peace from Jesus just doesn’t make sense? It completely defies logic and surpasses understanding because there are times when I should be afraid; I should be panicking; I should be running around like a chicken with my head cut off, but instead … instead I have a deep peace. Psalm 23, verse 4:

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

That’s the peace that Jesus brings! Friend, it is better … better than any bauble or any trinket that this world has to offer – this deep inner peace from God. A peace delivered into our very beings by the Holy Spirit, Himself. And it’s a peace that only comes when we first have a right standing with God, through Jesus. That’s why Paul, in his list of three things that the Kingdom of God is about, kicks it off with righteousness first, then peace because peace flows out of the relationship that we have with God, through Jesus.

And then … then, once we have the relationship with God and the peace that comes out of that, the next thing; the icing on the cake is joy – the joy of the Lord.

 

The Blessing of Joy

You ask people this question: "What do you want out of your life?" And ninety nine percent of them will answer, "Well, you know, I want to be happy." And why not? After all who wants to be sad all the time? Who wants to live out their lives in darkness when the light of happiness beckons, just around the corner? But, you know, happiness isn’t always what life dishes up, is it? As much as we want to be happy all the time, it just doesn’t work out that way.

In fact, happiness can be illusive because it depends on our circumstances; things going on around us. I mean, we are not happy when we are sick or when someone is giving us a hard time, or when we are struggling financially or when we are having an argument or a fight. I mean, you can’t be happy at those times. So as much as it is something just about everyone aspires to, happiness is not all that it is cracked up to be. Happiness is linked to our circumstances and when we say we want to be happy all the time, what we are really saying is that we want all of our circumstances to be favourable – easy street, that’s happiness. Well, my friend, life isn’t like that. Mine isn’t and yours isn’t. We might have short times on easy street, but most of life isn’t like that.

And so, then we come back to looking at this promise that Jesus made about an abundant life and it’s easy to imagine it’s a sham; it’s an unrealistic promise – the sort that politicians make before an election, only to renege once we have voted for them. I’m not saying all politicians’ promises are like that, but you understand what I’m saying. In my country, at least, many promises are made during an election campaign, which never eventuate.

And so happiness is a bit like that – a mirage in a desert. It can be illusory. John chapter 10, verse 10:

The thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy. But I came … I came that you may have life and have it abundantly.

Surely, if I am going to have an abundant life just as Jesus promises here, surely I have to be happy, right? Well, in unpacking and understanding this promise so far today, we have been looking at how Paul, the Apostle, summed up what the Kingdom of God is about. People back then, when Jesus and later the disciples, were going around talking about the Kingdom of God, well, people kind of imagined that it was something physical, there was the Roman Empire - that was THE kingdom. But there had been other kingdoms before that so they were expecting Jesus to come, riding in on His shiny white steed, with His sword held high, leading a mighty army to boot the Romans out of Israel.

That pretty much is what the Kingdom of God kind of painted to them; the picture that they thought of but Jesus had a completely different take, as Jesus often does. Luke chapter 17 and verse 20 – have a listen to this:

Once Jesus was asked by the Pharisees, when the Kingdom of God was coming and he answered, “The Kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed nor will they say, “Look, here it is!” or “There it is!” for in fact, the Kingdom of God is among you.

So when it comes to Jesus coming to this earth in order that you could have a life and I could have a life, that we could live out abundantly, it makes sense to me not to look at from that human perspective, the way the Pharisees were, but from the perspective of God’s Kingdom.

And this is why we have been unpacking Paul’s nutshell of what the Kingdom of God is all about – Romans chapter 14, verse 17 – Paul writes:

For the Kingdom of God is not about food or drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Well, so far today on the programme we’ve looked at the first two of those: righteousness – a right standing with God, we live out in our relationship with Him and peace – the sort of peace that Jesus brings; the sort of peace that doesn’t make sense; that surpasses all human understanding.

But what about this third one; what about joy? You know what? I spent the first thirty six years of my life looking for happiness. I left no stone unturned in my quest for this happiness thing – wealth, a big house, expensive cars, marriage, children, status, career, fame, recognition, winning at everything I set my hand to – it was all about winning for me back then. Believe you me, I looked under every rock. I was persistent. And other than some fleeting experiences of happiness, I never found it.

Why? Because unbeknown to me, I wasn’t so much yearning for happiness, I was yearning for something much deeper; something more lasting and abiding. What I was after was "joy". And joy is different to happiness, in that, it doesn’t rely on our circumstances. It doesn’t come from out there, joy comes from within, from among us, from in our midst. It’s a well inside us that bubbles up, no matter what is going on, on the outside.

I have experienced joy on some of the darkest days in my life. Now you can’t experience happiness at those times. To be happy, things out there have to be on the up and up – the sun has to be shining. But I have experienced great joy, right, smack bang in the middle of great pain. How? Why? Because it’s a joy that comes from God and that well never runs dry.

Let’s listen again to what the Apostle Paul wrote, that the Kingdom of God was all about – Romans chapter 14, verse 17:

For the Kingdom of God is neither food or drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

You see, the righteousness, peace and joy come when we are immersed in the Holy Spirit. They come from God through the Spirit, not from us. And Jesus describes how this works in John chapter 7, beginning at verse 37:

Jesus was standing there and he cried out, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and let the one who believes in me, drink. As the Scripture has said, ‘out of the believers heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

The joy of the Lord, which comes from His Spirit within us, is like that. It bubbles up and then it flows out of the centre of who we are, out of our hearts, like rivers – not a tiny little stream, not even a modest or large river but rivers, a Nile and a Ganges and a Mississippi and a Rhine and an Amazon – rivers of living water.

The Holy Spirit, with His righteousness, peace and joy, flows up out of us like a … like a flood tide of blessing from rivers of living water, into the lives of other people when we yield our lives; when we turn them back and live them for God. That’s what the Kingdom of God is!

And do you know what this overflow sounds like to me? It sounds like life in all its abundance and that’s exactly what Jesus promised.