John 15:1-11 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. (2) Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. (3) Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. (4) Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. (5) I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. (6) If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. (7) If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. (8) Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. (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.
We have spent the last several days on John 15:1-10, but today we will only reference it for context. In short, Jesus tells us:
1. That we need to be fruitful for God’s Purpose
2. We must Abide in the VIne (Jesus)
3. Without Him We can Do Nothing
But with all of that understood Jesus says this in the next verse.
John 15:11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
In this verse,Jesus says that with these truths His Joy might remain in us The first thing that sticks out is the concept of Jesus having joy. It is not that I think he did not have joy, just that I don’t think of him in that concept. Of course we think of joy in the context of the Joy of a birthday, the joy of Christmas, the joy of having a new baby and so on. But notice those are all events of a worldly nature! With Jesus living such a humbled life, I am sure that he may not have had the same kinds of joys that we do. Rather his joys were much different. He had the joy of healing folks. He had the joy of altering peoples life for the better. He had the joy of being their savior. His Joy was a spiritual joy. His joy was a sustainable and lasting joy.
Because of that, Jesus’ desire is that his joy might remain in us and that it might be full. If we are going to experience the joy that Jesus had, we must learn to take the focus off of the worldly things and concentrate on what Jesus did.....serving others. He had joy because his “happiness” was not his focus or purpose. Rather his life was dedicated to serving others and he had joy to spare Maybe we ought to go back to the sunday school lesson on Joy!
J - Jesus First
O - Others Second
Y - Yourself last.
- If we apply a principle like that, we are likely to be Joyous like Jesus!
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