The Word
Vol. 9 No.
25
Upper Room Discourse
John
15:11-13
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.”
Heb 13:17, “Let them (Pastor/Teachers) do this with
Joy, (CHARA)”
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,
Principles:
a.
Pastors do not rule over you in the sense of telling you what to do, but in the
sense of teaching you what God expects from you and how to execute His Plan.
(As the P.T. walks as an example for you,
b. You submit to the
Pastor’s authority by listening to their communication of Bible doctrine.
c. Your duty to your
Pastor/Teachers is to obey and submit to them, so far as what they are teaching
is agreeable to the mind and will of God, made known in His Word. Compare with
d. The pastor’s authority
is established on the basis of the teaching of Bible doctrine. The issue is not
the man’s personality but the message. However, He does have responsibility to
be a righteous man with a good reputation within and outside the church,
e. Since the Pastor’s
authority is Bible teaching, his ministry does not violate the privacy of the
individual priesthood. Therefore, the Pastor fulfills his responsibility under
the mandates of
R.B. Thieme Jr. translated it as, “For because of this
(communication of Bible doctrine), we work hard to the point of exhaustion, and
we hang in there tough because we have confidence in the living God who is the
savior of all men.”
f. The believer should
never think that he is too wise, too good, or too great, to learn Bible
doctrine from their Pastor. Regardless of a believer’s spiritual growth he must
continually search the Scriptures.
So far as the Pastor
teaches according to God’s Word, the congregation ought to receive his
instructions as the Word of God, which works in those that believe.
g. It is in the
interest of the hearers that the account their Pastor gives of them may be with
joy, and not with grief.
1 Thes 2:19‑20, “For who is our hope or joy or
crown of exultation? Is it not even you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at
His coming? (At the judgment seat of
Christ, those who have attained spiritual maturity are the crown of glory for
the pastor.) 20For you are
our glory and joy.”
h. Faithful Pastor
will deliver their souls, but the ruin of a fruitless and faithless people will
be upon their own heads, they can only blame themselves.
i. The more earnestly
the
congregation prays for
their Pastor, the more benefit they may expect from their ministry.
j. A good conscience
has respect for all of God’s commands and all our duty, including this one (Heb
k. The equipping /
perfecting of the saints in every good work (Eph 4:2), is the great thing desired by the positive
Pastor/Teacher, as well as the desire of the Pastor to be fitted for the
employment and happiness of heaven. He wants to be used by God.
l. There is no good
thing in us except that which is made by the work of God. The delegation of
authority from God to the Pastor, who is abiding in Christ for His sake and by
His Spirit, is the means by which God’s good is worked in us.
m. God’s good in the
positive believer is what brings joy to the Pastor/Teacher.
2.
We build capacity for joy through Authority Orientation. Remember that Joy is inner
liveliness caused by response to metabolized Bible doctrine in the soul’s
stream of consciousness. Joy is the reality of the spiritual life in the
thinking of your soul. It is animated thinking as a result of God’s Word in
your Soul. So our final points regarding “Authority Orientation and Joy” have
to do with building capacity within your soul for joy by applying God’s Word to
life’s situations where there is authority. When you apply God’s Word in life,
your soul is freed from sin and the garbage of Satan’s Cosmic System that
hinders happiness, and therefore you build capacity within your soul for the
Joy of Jesus Christ,
3. Authority Orientation
towards governing authorities frees the soul so that the joy of God can come
in,
a. “to be subject to”
is the Greek verb HUPOTASSO and is in the Imperative Mood which is a command in
Romans and Peter. In
4. Workers who submit to their bosses have capacity
for joy,
5. Wives who submit to the authority of their husbands
have capacity for joy. The husband has
authority over the wife. The husband’s authority over his wife provides great
happiness in category two love. This stabilizes category two love,
6. Children who submit to the
authority of their Parents have capacity for joy,
7. Rejection of authority carries
responsibility, and results in a life of misery, unhappiness, disaster, and no
human or Spiritual Self-Esteem,
J. Giving is related to joy,
K. Prayer should be conducted in the “joy of Jesus
Christ”,
L. The Word of God in your soul shared with others
brings joy,
We now turn to
Commandment is the Greek word ENTOLE that
means “an injunction, order, or command.” Jesus is identifying the following
statement as a decree. AGAPAO in the Present, Active, Subjunctive means, “to
love.” It is action that should regularly occur in the life of the believer.
The Subjunctive Mood linked with HINA, “that”, is for the command to “love one
another”, yet it also emphasizes the volitional responsibility on the part of
the believer. This love is the mentality of the soul having the
capacity to be relaxed, (RMA), toward other members of the human race,
especially believers.
ALLELON
means “One Another.” Therefore, this command is restricted to believers; its
family love towards members of the Royal Family of God. AGAPAO in the Aorist, Active, Indicative,
means “I loved”. It’s an absolute love Jesus had for the disciples
during His ministry on earth. This love reflects the capacity of His mental attitude
during His hypostatic union. He loved them totally and completely, even though
they were sinners.
A corrected translation of
This is
also noted in
How did Jesus love us? Personally? No! Impersonally, because we were imperfect.
Then in verse 13 we have, “Greater
love has no one than this”. Jesus’ love is greater than any human love. The
greater love is obviously what Jesus Christ did for us. He wants us to have
this soul love, which comes as a result of the RMA from doctrine in your soul.
He also wants to show us how far a RMA can carry us. It is the devil’s world but an RMA carries
you through many things.
Our
Lord demonstrated this in
And in
Doctrine of Relaxed Mental Attitude (RMA)
A.
Definition and description.
1.
A RMA is the function of human thought. Your mental attitude is what you think
at any given time. Consequently, thinking is the battlefield of your soul.
2.
A RMA is the high thinking of the Christian life. It is having a mental
attitude that is completely trusting in God and His Word in every situation.
3. The life of every believer is in
his mental attitude. The life of every believer is determined experientially by
two principles: what he thinks and what he decides. What you think is more
important than anything else. Your life comes to be what you think, not what
you feel,
If you would
like more information on this subject,
you may
listen to lessons 10-069 through 10-071.
A PERSONAL NOTE FOR YOU
If
you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I am here to tell
you that Jesus loves you. He loves you
so much that He gave His life for you. God the Father also loves you. He loves you so much that He gave His only
Son for you by sending Him to the cross.
At the Cross Jesus died in your place.
Taking upon Himself all of your sins and all of my sins. He was judged for our sins and paid the price
for our sins. Therefore our sins will
never be held against us. Right where
you are, you now have the opportunity to make the greatest decision in your
life. To accept the free gift of eternal life by truly believing that Jesus Christ died for you. So wherever
you are, pause to reflect on what Christ has done for you and say to the
Father:
"Father, I believe that Your Son,
Jesus Christ, died on the cross for the forgiveness of my sins."
If you have done that, I welcome you to the Eternal
Family of God!