November 1, All Saints Sunday, Daylight Savings Time Ends

Lessons: Philippians 3.17 4.1

Sermon Title: Crown and Joy

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What Does it mean to be a good citizen?

INTRODUCTION

I. Job Security¹

After being laid off from three jobs in the past year, Dewey was hired to work in a warehouse.

Unfortunately, one day he lost control of the forklift and drove it off the loading dock. Surveying the damage, the owner shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, Dewey, but I'm going to have to withhold 10 percent of each of your paychecks until we back the damage."

"How much will it cost?" Dewey asked.

"About $5,000," the owner replied.

"Finally!" Dewey exclaimed. "Job security!"

1. Our forklift operator has discovered joy.

1. What is joy

2. Can it be understood?

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MAIN BODY:

I. We relate to joy in so many ways

1. We sing about it.

1. I Have The Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy (by George W. Cooke)

I have the joy, joy, joy, joy, Down in my heart, Down in my heart, Down in my heart, I have the joy, joy, joy, joy, Down in my heart, Down in my heart to stay. And I'm so happy, so very happy, I have the love of Jesus in my heart, And I'm so happy, so very happy, I have the love of Jesus in my heart

1. What is joy?

2. Can we define it based on a song?

2. We envision it.

1. We sing I’ve Got Peace Like a River Text: African American Spiritual Music: African American Spiritual

2. The third stanza reads:

I’ve got joy like a fountain, I’ve got joy like a fountain, I’ve got joy like a fountain in my soul, I’ve got joy like a fountain, I’ve got joy like a fountain, I’ve got joy like a fountain in my soul.

1. What is joy?

2. Des the vision provide us with an answer?

3. We recognize the source of it.

1. We sing, Jesus Is The Joy Of Living

I have found a wondrous Savior: Jesus Christ, the soul's delight. Every blessing of his favor Fill my heart with hope so bright.

Refrain:

Jesus is the joy of living; He's the king of life to me. Unto him my all I'm giving; His forever more to be. I will do what he commands me; anywhere He leads I'll go Jesus is the joy of living; He's the dearest friend I know.

2. What is joy?

   1. The dictionary is no help.

   2. Strong’s Exhaustive dictionary of the Bible points us in the right direction.

chara, (khar-ah') From G5463; cheerfulness, that is, calm delight:—gladness, X greatly, (X be exceeding) joy (-ful, -fully, -fulness, -ous).²

4. I read the following in an old sermon

The cross leads to joy and not just happiness. There is a difference between joy and happiness. Happiness is a checkbook that has money, a car that works, a good date for Saturday night. Happiness is the absence of major hassles, or terrorism or crime; happiness is kids getting good report cards and spouses getting a raise. Happiness is something we know as enhancement or protection of our own lives.

Joy comes in connection with another or with Jesus. Joy can happen without money or a working car. Joy happens when we get to the core of life and realize that love is at the core. Joy befriends us; love accompanies us.

II We can conclude that Joy is an inner well-spring of personal well-eing that floods one’s life.

1. What we might like to consider are the side effects of joy.

2. Everything has side effects.

3. We think of side effects as negative or harmful.

4. Some are more helpful and beneficial

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III What are the side effects of joy?

1. Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us.

1. We are not left in the dark to find our own way.

2. We have a pattern of life with which to follow.

While setting the table for dinner one evening, a little girl entertained herself by bringing the utensils to life. Her mother listened as knives, forks and spoons carried on conversation and wrestled their way onto the table.

Suddenly the girl looked over at her mother and declared, "If I had to choose -- I'd be a spoon!"

"A spoon," her mother replied, intrigued. "Why would you want to be a spoon? What would be wrong with being a knife or a fork?"

"Well," the girl explained, "forks are too grabby -- always stabbing stuff and taking it like it's theirs. Like in school -- I hate it when somebody takes a piece of my dessert with their fork and eats it."

"Okay," her mother agreed, "what about being a knife?"

"No, knives are scary -- like, they cut things, and you can't really eat with them, just slice stuff up," she responded.

"But," the little girl continued, holding a shiny spoon in front of her face, "spoons can scoop up lots of stuff and even pass it around. They're just --"

"-- Nice and round and smooth and friendly," her mother suggested.

Her daughter's eyes lit up. "Right!" she said. "I'd rather be a spoon!"

3. Be a spoon!

   1. It's not just a silly childhood daydream.

   2. It is a great image of a Christian lifestyle, a ministry in motion.

2. The little girl's analysis of silverware was right on the nose.

1. But it was also a revealing insight into the way various types of people operate in this world.

IV. We have an example.

1. For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears.

2. There is a quotation in William B. Frazier’s, "The Incredible Christian Capacity for Missing the Christian Point.”³

“For Paul rightly perceived his attack on those whom he called ‘enemies of the cross’ as a life-and-death struggle for the soul of the church.

“As one systematic theologian has written, ‘Failing to keep the cross at the center of salvation and the death of Jesus at the center of the cross, Christians and the Christian point will continue to pass each other in the night.’”

1. Who wants to pass in the night.

2. This is the result of those who have little or no joy in their life.

3. Their lives are empty.

3. Paul says “their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things.”

Having a belly God is another way of describing excessive desire, or lust. Imagine this scenario: Some shipwrecked men are left drifting aimlessly on the ocean in a lifeboat. As the days pass under the scorching sun, their rations of food and fresh water give out. They grow deliriously thirsty.

One night, while the others are asleep, one man ignores all previous warnings and gulps down some salt water. He quickly dies. Ocean water contains seven times more salt than the human body can safely ingest. Drinking it, a person dehydrates because the kidneys demand extra water to flush the overload of salt. The more salt water someone drinks, the thirstier he gets. He actually dies of thirst.

When we lust, we become like this man. We thirst desperately for something that looks like what we want. We don't realize, however, that it is precisely the opposite of what we really need. In fact, it can kill us.

1. Here there is only a sense of loss

2. In this scenario there is only grief.

3. Would you give up joy for this?

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V. The joyous person has a citizenship in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

1. We are citizens of America.

1. Although the United States does not strongly enforce it, we do expect new citizens to leave behind old loyalties, to wit, the loyalty oath for new citizens:

2. Those seeking naturalization are required to take an oath that reads in part:

“I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen.”⁴

2. Is it possible for us to take a similar oath for Jesus?

1. Pledge to the Christian Flag

I pledge allegiance to the Christian Flag and to the Savior for whose Kingdom it stands. One Savior, crucified, risen, and coming again with life and liberty to all who believe.

2. How about The Apostles' Creed⁵

I believe in God the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth;
And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord:
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried;*
the third day he rose from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic* church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.

VI. He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself.

1. We will be dressed alike

Dressed Alike⁶

Mike comes from a large family, five sisters and three brothers. My sisters and I were looking through the family photo album one day. Picture after picture, we were all dressed in matching clothes. I asked my mother why she dressed us all alike, right down to the baby.

She explained, "When we had just four children, I dressed you alike so we wouldn't lose any of you. Then," she added, looking at the pictures in the album, "when the other five came along, I started dressing you alike so we won't pick up any that don't belong to us."

1. Jesus provides the robe and the crown and the joy.

2. Who wants to miss out on the big event?

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CONCLUSION:

I. Listen to the words of The Speaker by Louis Jenkins⁷

1. The speaker points out that we don't really have much of a grasp of things, not only the big things, the important questions, but the small everyday things.

   2. "How many steps up to your front door?

   3. What kind of tree grows in your backyard?

   4. What is the name of your district representative?

   5. What is your wife's shoe size?

   6. Can you tell me the color of your sweetheart's eyes?

   7. Do you remember where you parked the car?"

2. The evidence is overwhelming.

   2. Most of us never truly experience life. "We drift through life in a daydream, missing the true richness and joy that life has to offer."

   3. When the speaker has finished we gather around to sing a few inspirational songs.

4. Louis and his friends stand at the back of the group and hum along since we have forgotten most of the words.

1. Don’t forget the words.

2. Don’t let go of the joy. Amen!`

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