The Word
Vol. 9 No.
24
Upper Room Discourse
John 15:11
In verse 11 we
have, “These things (Bible Doctrine) I have spoken to you so
that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.”
F. Joy is
based on having God’s Word in your soul with the Filling of God the Holy
Spirit.
1. Joy is thinking God's
happiness in contrast to emotion or stimulated feelings often confused as a
status of human happiness. Joy is a system of thinking based on God’s Word in
your soul which elicits the response of good emotion.
2. The
spiritual life runs on divine power, never how you feel. Even good emotion will
not get you back into fellowship.
3.
4. Joy and peace
must be related to thinking because your fellowship is with invisible God. When
you love someone you cannot see, you have a relationship with the invisible
person through thinking, thinking, thinking.
5. The purpose of
true Christian fellowship with God (the communication of Bible doctrine) is the
completion of your joy,
6. The unbeliever
cannot have joy, only the believer, because they do not receive the
communication of God’s Word,
7. Joy based on Sharing
the Happiness of God is the peak of emotional response in life. But even good
emotional response is not the criterion for the spiritual life. You are never
saved because you feel saved. You are never spiritual because you feel
spiritual.
a. A carnal believer cannot have a legitimate emotion
related to the spiritual life. When you are out of fellowship, your emotion is
not an issue. The issue is name your sins to God in the privacy of your
priesthood.
8. Joy is perfect
happiness which produces good emotion as an appreciator of that happiness. Emotional revolt of the soul is bad emotion,
9. Good emotions like
joy always come from metabolized Bible doctrine circulating in the stream of
consciousness. Therefore, joy is the function of Sharing the
Happiness of God at a point of maximum metabolized doctrine circulating in the
stream of consciousness, so that the emotions have something to appreciate that
is good.
10. To have “the Joy of
Jesus Christ” we must be imitators of the Lord and someone like Paul by use of
the three spiritual skills. We do not imitate personality characteristics,
because then you get into role model arrogance, and you have bad emotion.
Instead we imitate the power they had within their souls from Bible Doctrine
and the filling of the Holy Spirit, 1
Thes 1:6.
11. Circumstances are
not the issue in Sharing the perfect Happiness of God,
12. Maximum Bible
doctrine circulating in the stream of consciousness elicits the ultimate in
good emotion,
G. The Biography of Joy.
1. The infancy of
joy is cognitive happiness related to the persistent function of the two power
options (the filling of the Holy Spirit and metabolized Bible Doctrine in the
stream of consciousness), the development and deployment of the basic Problem
Solving Devices (Rebound, Filling of the Holy Spirit, Doctrinal Orientation,
Faith Rest), and the inner soul thinking that produces a motivation and an
animation to continue learning God’s Word. When you first begin to learn
doctrine, there is enthusiasm. When you first begin to understand some basic
doctrines, there is exultation; there is a liveliness in your soul. That means
that Bible doctrine has produced a spiritual animation, and this spiritual
animation is the beginning of loving God.
2. The adulthood of
joy is entering the door of hope (confident expectation) on God’s agenda
through the deployment of the advanced Problem Solving Devices, (Personal Sense
of Destiny, Personal Love for God, Sharing the Happiness of God, Occupation
with Christ), fulfilling stages two and three of the adult spiritual life
(Spiritual Autonomy and Spiritual Maturity). This is tantamount to the
definition of “joy” as Sharing the Happiness of God.
3. Joy is not an
emotion, but a system of Biblical cognition, (strength from God’s Power System
-
4. Joy is a system
of cognition of Bible doctrine. It is an integral part of the spiritual life.
It is a system of thinking in terms of metabolized Bible doctrine in the soul.
It is the capacity for loving God. It is cognitive awareness of the spiritual
life as you walk through and beyond the door of hope.
5. The Joy of Jesus
Christ is truly understood in relationship to the doctrine of Divine Love.
While joy is a part of God’s agenda for entering the door of hope, it reaches
its peak and completion in Sharing
the Happiness of God.
H. The
Difference between Joy and Pleasure.
1. Both joy and
love are thinking functions of the spiritual life in contrast to pleasure. Joy
and love are thinking. Joy and love are associated with virtue righteousness
and are in the soul (John
2. We must
distinguish between joy and pleasure. Joy is a system of thinking with
happiness related to love for God, while pleasure is a system of emotion.
3. There are some
traps associated with pleasure.
4. Pleasure is a
state of feeling pleased, happy, delight, or satisfaction. It is a satisfaction
derived from what is to one’s liking, a frivolous amusement or enjoyment which
is not related to the Biblical word joy,
5. The
6. Joy is the inner
soul thinking that does not depend on circumstances, environment or pleasure.
There is nothing wrong with most pleasures if you are in your spiritual life.
But pleasure can become a very definite destruction to your spiritual life.
7. Joy is thinking
Bible doctrine. The result is peace, harmony, tranquillity, rapport with God.
Compare with 1 Thes 1:6;
1
Thes 1:6, “Having received the Word of God under much pressure with the joy (from the source) of the Holy Spirit.”
Principles
of 1 Thes 1:6:
1) This joy under pressure is
in contrast to pleasure.
2) Regardless of the situation
you can have the Joy of Jesus Christ in your life,
Principles
of
1)
2) When
3) As a result, you rejoice to
the maximum, “you greatly rejoice with
joy inexpressible”.
4) “Having been made glorious” is the execution of the spiritual life
that results in joy.
I. Authority
Orientation and Joy
1. Your authority
orientation towards your Pastor/Teacher gives him great joy. It frees him from
having to address various problems or situations that distract him from his
main job – to study and teach,
a. You “remember” Pastors
by attending Bible class, by praying for them, by understanding that they have
an abnormal life and supporting them financially,
b. The issue of a Pastor’s
way of life is their Bible doctrine not their way of life. Are they faithful in
studying and teaching the word?
Heb 13:16, “And do not neglect doing good and sharing,
for with such sacrifices God is pleased.”
a. We must, according
to our power, give to the necessities of the body of Christ especially towards
the needs of our Pastor/Teachers.
b. The Pastor is
totally dependent on the grace of God and the grace of the local assembly.
c. We are commanded to
give graciously in all aspects especially in providing for our Pastor,
d. God accepts these
offerings with pleasure, and will accept and bless the offerers through Christ.
“Obey” is from the Greek word PEITHO in the Present, Middle,
Imperative with the Dative Case of HEGEOMIA that means “leader.”
This means to abide by the
teaching of your right Pastor Teacher and his delegated authority.
“Submit” is also an Imperative Mood in the Present Tense and Active
Voice of HUPEIKO which is an old Greek compound that means, “to yield under, to
give up or to give way to
authority.” Ultimately it means, “to submit to authority.” It is used here only
in N.T. This means to humble yourself under the authority of your
Pastor/Teacher. This is primarily wrapped up under his teaching authority which
means you show up to class when he is teaching and in objectivity you learn
from him.
So we have the dual command
to obey and submit that brings together two systems of authority in the Royal
Family: the right Pastor, plus the function of your own free will in positive
volition toward Bible doctrine.
Principle: Your obedience and submission to your Pastor/Teacher
has a direct correlation to your obedience and submission to God.
“Keep watch over your soul”, is the Greek verb AGRUPNEO; from AGREUO
that means to catch, take by hunting and
HUPNOS that means “sleep”. So AGRUPNEO
literally means, “to be sleepless or wakeful”, but comes to mean “to be alert,
keep on the alert, or to keep watch”. Whether you believe it or not, the Pastor
is a protector of your soul under the direct authority of God. He protects your
soul by teaching pertinent doctrines from God’s Word as lead by God the Holy
Spirit. Jesus Christ is the ultimate Shepherd and Guardian of your soul,
He is the capital “S”
shepherd and “G” guardian while the Pastor/Teacher under the delegated
authority of God is the lower case “s” and “g”. Jesus Christ’s guardianship
comes from His Word as taught by the Pastor/Teacher through the enabling power
of God the Holy Spirit.
“Not with grief” is the Greek verb STENAZO from
STENO that means, “to moan, sigh, or
groan.” So STENAZO means “to groan (within oneself)”. BDAG defines its
usage here as, “to express oneself involuntarily in the face of an undesirable
circumstance, to sigh or groan.” This is in contrast to the Pastor having joy.
If the congregation is not submitting to his authority by; not showing up to
class, not obeying his teachings, not applying it in life, not supporting him
fully financially, or honoring his administrative authority within the Church,
there will be grief in his soul, just as the Spirit is grieved,
“This would be unprofitable for you”, is the Adjective
ALUSITELES that means “unprofitable or of no advantage or help.” The Pastor’s
job is to study diligently so that you can learn the Word of God and apply it
within your life. If your Pastor has any grief at all he is hindered in performing
his job which will negatively affect your soul and your spiritual life. At best
you won’t be as fruitful as you could have been. At worst you will fall into
reversionism and have misery of your own with loss of reward.
“Let them do this with Joy, (CHARA)”
If you would
like more information on this subject,
you may
listen to lessons 10-066 through 10-068
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