GENERAL SUBJECT
THE ENJOYMENT OF CHRIST AND OUR GROWTH IN LIFE UNTO MATURITY
Message Two
The Joy of the Triune God Becoming Our Joy
Scripture Reading: Rom. 15:13; 14:17; John 15:4, 11; Gal. 5:22
I. The Triune God is a God of joy:
A. Romans 15:13 says,"Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace":
1. This indicates that joy is one of God's attributes.
2. God is the God of enjoyment.
3. In our experience, if we enjoy God as grace, we will have peace, and if we have peace, we will have joy.
B. Christ is also joy to the believers:
1. In John 15:11 the Lord said,"These things I have spoken to you that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be made full."
2. The context of this verse is the Lord's word concerning the vine and the branches.
3. For us to be branches of the divine vine is a matter of joy—a joyful life.
4. Our joy always comes from our abiding in the Lord, from our abiding in His love.
5. It is in this kind of life that we are full of joy.
6. This joy is Christ Himself; when He abides in us, His joy abides in us to be the source of our joy that our joy may abound and become full and that we may live our days with joy.
C. There is joy in the Holy Spirit—Rom. 14:17:
1. God wants us to enjoy Him and live for His purpose—Neh. 8:10; Eph. 3:11.
2. The Triune God is a God of joy, and the apostles are fellow workers with the saints for their joy—Rom. 15:13; John 15:11; 17:13; Acts 13:52; Gal. 5:22; 2 Cor. 1:24; Phil. 1:25; 2:17-18.
3. We may experience the joy of the Lord's word being in our heart— Jer. 15:16.
4. A sweet thought revealed in the Word of God is that in Christ God has given Himself to us as grace to be our enjoyment— John 1:14, 16-17; 2 Cor. 13:14:
a. In the first reference in the Bible to God's relationship with man, God presents Himself to man as food; this shows that God wants us to enjoy Him—Gen. 2:7, 9; Psa. 16:11; Jer. 15:16.
b. God's desire is to give Himself to us to be our enjoyment—Neh. 8:10.
c. The secret to the Christian life is not how much we work for Him but how much we absorb Him and enjoy Him— John 15:4-5; Col. 2:6-7.
II. The joy of the Triune God is becoming our joy:
A. In His person Christ is our joy:
1. If we abide in the Lord and keep abiding in Him by abiding in His love, we will be filled with joy— John 15:10-11.
2. The Lord is recovering the matters that have been missed among most Christians, and enjoying the Lord is one of the most important of these matters—1 Pet. 1:8.
3. The matter of eating and enjoying the Lord is based on John 6:57.
4. The Christian living is a life of eating, drinking, and enjoying the Lord day by day—v. 57; 1 Cor. 10:4.
5. In order for us to be faithful, normal, and proper Christians, the primary matter that we need to take care of is enjoying the Lord; this needs to be a vision to us—Prov. 29:18; Acts 26:19.
6. Our spirit needs to take the lead in enjoying the Lord—Heb. 4:12:
a. We must learn to directly use our spirit and let the soul be a follower of the spirit.
b. Our spirit must take the lead aggressively in enjoying the Lord.
7. In His prayer to the Father, the Son said,"Now I am coming to You, and these things I speak in the world that they may have My joy made full in themselves"— John 17:13:
a. The fullness of joy is in the real oneness.
b. When we are one in the Father's name by the Father's life, enjoying the Father together, we will have the Lord's joy made full in us—v. 13.
B. In the church as the kingdom of the Son of God's love, we experience and enjoy Christ in His all-inclusiveness—Col. 1:12-13, 27; 2:9, 16-17; 3:1, 4, 11:
1. Christ is our allotted portion, our good land—the divine inheritance for our enjoyment—1:12.
2. Christ is the reality of every positive thing in the universe—2:16-17.
3. Christ is the One sitting at the right hand of God—3:1.
4. Christ dwells in us as our hope of glory—1:27.
5. Christ is our life—3:4.
6. Christ is the constituent of the one new man—vv. 10-11.
C. According to 1 Peter 1:8, the believers"exult with joy that is unspeakable and full of glory":
1. This joy is immersed in the Lord as glory; thus, it is full of the expression of the Lord.
2. By believing into the Lord and loving Him, we obtain great joy.
3. The normal condition of a Christian is to have joy that is full of glory.
D. Enjoying the Lord has many aspects, such as the joy of the Lord's presence (Psa. 16:11), the joy of living in the divine romance (S. S. 1:1-4), the joy of the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity (2 Cor. 13:14; Eph. 3:14-21), the joy of drinking of the river of God's pleasures (Psa. 46:4a; 36:8b), the joy of knowing God's love (Gal. 2:20; Rom. 8:38-39), the joy of doing God's will (Psa. 40:8a), the joy of contentment in all circumstances (Phil. 4:11), and entering into the joy of the Lord in the kingdom (Matt. 25:21, 23).
E. A Christian should be a joyful person—joyful in the Spirit—Gal. 5:22:
1. The Lord is our joy when we are in Him—Rom. 14:17.
2. When we are abiding in the Lord, no matter what problem we have, we are joyful, and any difficulty deepens our joy in the Lord—John 15:4.
3. The Holy Spirit is a Spirit of joy—Rom. 14:17:
a. If we are joyful, this indicates that the Holy Spirit in us is also joyful— Gal. 5:22.
b. There may be nothing in the outward environment to make us joyful, but the Lord who lives in us is our joy—Col. 1:27.