What Is Your Greatest Joy?

SERMON OUTLINE

• I. An Incomparable Joy
• II. An Indisputable Joy
• III. An Impeccable Joy

TRANSCRIPT

Greetings in the blessed name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Grace and mercy be upon all of us with the peace of our Father and the Lord Jesus. I also bring greetings from True Life Bible-Presbyterian Church and the Far Eastern Bible College.

I thank God for this privilege that He has given me to share God's Word this morning. And this is taken from the Epistle of John, the Third Epistle of John, if you have your Bibles with you, we can open to the Third Epistle of John. There's only one chapter here, and we are to consider verse four: "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." (3 John 1:4) And the title for our meditation this morning is a question: What is your greatest joy? What is my greatest joy? What is our greatest joy?

A few years back, there was a survey from Forbes.com seeking questions on how or what men desire — what are the top things that people desperately desire. And of course, number one in the list was happiness, joy. And we all understand that, because we are looking towards that state of joy and happiness. No one here among us would like to go for something that would cause us to be sad, and be worried, anxious, and be troubled.

Of course, what came after that in the survey — happiness, money, freedom, and the likes. There was another question, or questionnaire, that was given, and that was: among these desires, what are the things that can't seem to be attained by people? What are those desires that were not attained by men? Interestingly, number one in the list was still happiness, joy. They desire for it, but they cannot attain this state of true contentment, satisfaction, joy, happiness in life.

Christianity seemed to be addressing this desire for joy. And we hear of many preachers in the past few decades bringing people to experience this joy. We know of a preacher who tries to encourage people to have joy in this present life, and defines Christianity as something that we should be happy and joyful, and live a pleasurable life — a present joy. That's why there's a book that he wrote: Your Best Life Is Now. You don't have to worry about the afterlife. You have to care for what you should experience today. You have to be joyful. You have to be happy. You have to be contented today — this present life. That’s the kind of joy that this preacher is promoting.

There's also another one who coined what we commonly hear today as the ‘hedonistic Christianity’ or ‘Christian hedonism’ — a kind of teaching that would encourage people to have pleasure, and pleasure is the motivating force that causes us to draw closer to God. And whatever we desire that we may be pleased and we be happy in life, that we can ask from the Lord - pleasure. And that is a life that is desiring for joy in the present — a kind of contentment, satisfaction that is based on worldly standards.

But majority of us is so familiar with this kind of joy that is being introduced. As many probably here come from Singapore, this is this teaching — that we have to have prosperity in order to have joy. You have to be prosperous. You have to be wealthy. You have to be healthy in order to have joy, and you are contented and satisfied in life. Without this, there is no such thing as a joyful kind of Christianity.

But is this the greatest joy that we have as taught in the Scriptures? Is this the joy that the Bible is teaching us? Is this the kind of joy that Christians should seek for? And that's why we have to ask ourselves: What is our greatest joy? Are we experiencing this joy as described from the Bible? Are we experiencing this kind of joy as what God wants us to have, and what the Lord Jesus Christ wants us to have in our lives?

We have to look into these few words of this book which may, I believe, not be so commonly preached — because it is just a short epistle. In fact, this is the shortest epistle in the Scriptures — or in the Bible — the Third Epistle of John. And in this epistle we have here a contrast of Christians who are walking in the truth and walking in the ways of the enemy — ways of the devil.

We have here some people mentioned by John who welcomed those disciples of his as they visited the church in Ephesus. This is probably a church in Ephesus in those days. John was ministering to the church in Ephesus. This was before his exile in the isle of Patmos. And he sent disciples into this church, and there were two responses that he saw. One was a welcoming kind of people — was joyful to bring in and to rejoice of the blessings and the words extended to them by the Apostle John. And the others were those who tried to have preeminence among themselves — they don’t want anybody to come (Diotrephes).

In this short letter of the Apostle John, we can see the situation of the churches even today. In those days it had happened, and we have this familiarity among our churches where there are two kinds of people: those who are walking in truth, and those who are walking in themselves — for their own sake.

And so, John here wants us to understand what is this kind of joy that he experienced when he knew that there were people who were walking in truth in that church. He says, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." (3 John 1:4) And so we are going to look into this joy — this greatest joy. What is this joy? And as Christians, do we experience this joy, or do we desire this joy? And let us pray that the Lord will grant us this kind of joy. Not the joy that is just for the present day. Not the joy that is just for pleasure. Not the joy that is brought by prosperity, but a joy that is scriptural. Joy that is taught by God in His Word.

I. An Incomparable Joy

And first, here we have to understand that John described this joy as an incomparable joy — a joy that cannot be compared by anything — because he says, “I have no greater joy.” And we all understand that if we compare, there must be something that we use to compare. We cannot say that I ate the best durian in town when you have not eaten some other durian in other places. You cannot compare when you have not tasted other things.

And so John here was expressing that he had that joy, but this one thing that I have experienced and have known is greater and far than what I have experienced in the past, or what I have experienced even in the present time. So he says, “I have no greater joy.” He had experienced this joy in his life as he came to know the Lord Jesus Christ.

He was called — you remember that — when he and his brother James were called by the Lord Jesus Christ. At first, they were hesitant. And then, when Peter and Andrew went to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, they also followed. But when they followed, they had some questions on how the Lord Jesus Christ dealt with the people. They even wanted people to come and follow. He ordered the Lord Jesus Christ to send thunder and then lightning to those who were not following Him. That’s why they were known as the "lightning and thunder brothers" — James and John.

But later they knew, and John himself experienced that great joy when he witnessed himself the time when the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross. Today, this Sunday is called as the Palm Sunday in many churches. And if we think of many — I mean like Roman Catholic countries like us in the Philippines — we would be seeing so many leaves of palms inside the church. But this sets us a pace to remember the Passion Week — the week by which the Lord Jesus Christ experienced a tremendous suffering, ending in excruciating pain on the cross, on His death, for the sole purpose of dying for our sins.

And it’s interesting that Paul, in his letter to the Hebrews, described this. There was this joy in the Lord Jesus — not that He was joyful and happy and rejoicing throughout the Passion Week. It was a great, tremendous suffering in His side. But he says: ‘for that joy that was set before him, he endured the cross’ (Hebrews 12:2).

The joy that was set — He looked forward to that joy. He knew that that will come. And He saw your faces. He knows your names. And He sees and He looks forward to the time that you and I will be with Him forever in eternity in His glory. And that’s the joy that moved Him to go on, and to move on, and to carry that cross, and even gave Himself to die on that cross.

The joy that was set. It was not a joy that must be experienced today. It was not a joy that was pleasurable. There was no pleasure in being whipped and being scourged. It was not even a pleasure of prosperity — Jesus had none. But it was a joy that was set before Him, because He knew that because of that sacrifice on the cross, you and I will be there with Him for eternity. And that's the joy that He looks forward to. That's the greatest joy of the Lord Jesus that He looks forward to.

And that's a problem that we have today in Christianity — because we are so much influenced by so many theologies and so many doctrines that are false, based on sociology, psychology, psychiatry, based on the teachings of the world, that we don't know and we are so ignorant of this joy that we should have as believers.

First and foremost, here we know of the salvific joy of John. There is no other joy that we can experience here. All of us who have come to the Lord Jesus Christ — we have to understand there is this great joy that we have when we come to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't you feel it? Don't you understand what is that great joy?

Sometimes we are clouded with so many economic problems today. When we hear of tariff and others, we sometimes forget about our joy of salvation. But there is this joy — knowing that we are already forgiven, knowing that we are already saved, knowing that we are already to be with our God — that joy, that great joy.

And I pray that all of us — we may go through some difficult circumstances in life, challenges in life — but we have to understand we have this great joy because we have experienced that great miracle. We who were dead in trespasses and sins are now quickened. We are now alive. There's a great joy that must be experienced by every Christian — that will erase all doubts, all anxieties, all depressions — because we know we have life eternal with God. ‘There is no more condemnation to those we are in Christ Jesus’(Romans 8:1). And that's the joy that we have as believers.

But there is another joy that is also given — a privilege for us — as we share the Word of God to others. What a great joy it is to have people be led to believe in Christ, people to come to Christ, because you have witnessed, you have given a tract, or you have shared your testimony. There's a greater joy — not that we only experience our own joy, but we also see that another person is saved. It is not because of us. It is not by our power. It is not by our eloquence. It’s not by the way we convince them. But it’s the power of the Spirit of God convicting this person to believe. And what a greater joy it is to see other people come to God — come to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is our desire.

But John here says that he has no greater joy. This is superlative. It is not just comparative to what he has experienced. It is the best. It is the greatest joy. And this he says—this is greatest—because I know that those who have come to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ through the witness, through the teachings, through the giving, the sharing, the preaching of God's word, here they are walking in truth. They just don't profess and say, ‘I am a Christian.’ He knew well that they are actively living out their Christianity, and that's what was so great in John's heart.

I believe when we share God's word to others and they come to the church, that is so privileged to bring that word to her, to him, and then we are so joyful to see them in the church. But how it is good, and how is greater, and even greatest joy for us to see them growing in the Lord. When we see them come to church regularly, when we see them come to the church to hear God's word, when we see them even growing in the faith, and when we see them even sharing their own testimony and the gospel to others—what a great joy, even the greatest.

And I pray we desire that—we desire that when we share God's word, someone, somebody will come to believe. And then, when somebody believe, he will grow. And this person who believe through the sharing of the gospel—he also, she also—will bring that word to others, walking, living in the truth.

That's the greatest joy of believers. It's not about money. It's not about estates. It's not about whatever vacations or holidays. It's all about souls. That's the greatest joy that John says here ‘they are walking in the truth’ (3 John 1:4). They are walking in God's word. So as joyful of his own salvation, he was more joyful when he share God's word and these people come to believe in God. But it was most joyful when these people who come to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ grow in the faith, and they also became witnesses and testimonies of God's glory.

Where God's word is given the preeminence—not the person—like here with Diotrephes, who wants to be known in the church and wants to be known as a great leader and wants to be given the prime attention of the people. No, he says it is the glory of God, and the glory of God is given the preeminence when people who have come to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ continue on to grow and share and teach and preach the word of God.

You don't need to go to Far Eastern Bible College to share God's word. We, by our own experience and the truth that we have learned from God's word and the lessons that we have learned from the Bible studies, in your worship services and other ministries—that you can share and give and testify for them.

Incomparable joy. I have my joy. There is a greater joy. But there is greatest joy in his life when he sees that these are bearing fruits.

II. An Indisputable Joy

And John continues to describe—this is not just an incomparable joy—it is an indisputable joy. Something that you cannot contradict, you cannot disprove, because he says here, I myself heard it. I heard it.

And this gives us the idea of John continually following up these people. You don't just share God's word and tell people about the Lord Jesus Christ, and when he come to believe, ‘Okay, let the Spirit guide you, brother. Let the Spirit lead you, sister. You can move on.’

Just like a tender plant or your seeds sown, and when they begin to germinate, you are there to water them. You are there to care for them. You are there to cultivate the soil. You are there to put fertiliser. You are there to even talk to them, because you want this plant to grow and bear fruit—or bear or have flowers. It is a personal joy. It is indisputable because he was himself hearing it, learning it, knowing it—that these people whom John referred to continued to walk in the truth.

And the word “hear” in this passage is continuous. He keeps on asking. He keeps on inquiring: How about this man? How about that sister? How about that brother? Now, as we grow old—and this is also what I experience—I sometimes, not sometimes but many times, forget names and even forget some people whom we have met. But John here gives us the idea of someone who keeps on asking, inquiring: How about this man? Is he continuing? Is he in the church?

When you look at our side—who was this person beside me last week? Why is he not here? Do you utter words of prayer for him? What happened to him? Is there some problem? Is there some concern? Are we bothered, or do we care for one another? And that is the joy that John here wants to inculcate among the believers in Ephesus —you have to think of others, that they may grow. Don't just think of yourselves. Anyway, I'm here. Pastor saw me. The deacons saw me. I'm here in the church. I'm in the Bible study. That's enough. We have to think of others and pray for them. Who are these people beside me? Why are they not coming? Where are they living? Can I visit them? Can I call them? Can I message them? Can I get their attention and invite them again?

That's John's greatest joy—to see that people were growing in the faith. And he continuously doing it. It was not just asking, then after that forget about them. He persistently continued to do the assessment: that I may hear, that I might hear and will continue to hear this people who walks in the truth.

The joy that I have is continuous. The joy that I have is there always in my heart. When I hear of this person, when I hear of that person, there is this joy that keeps on coming. And that is the greatest joy that I have. And he's active in a way by which he purposely inquired for them.

There are times that we forget people because they've been long gone from the church—long gone and have not communicated with us—and suddenly they will come. And when they come, do you welcome them with joy, with excitement, and to inquire from them: How are you? Or are we just, you know, staring and, ‘Oh, here's this man. I saw him once. I saw him a year ago. Okay, let him come.’

A principal in FEBC, he says sometimes we Bible Presbyterians, we are as cool as cucumbers. I mean, we know we don't need to be so warm to embrace and shake hands to welcome them. But there is this joy, supposedly, in our hearts—to know and to see these people coming to church, coming to our Bible studies, coming to our ministries. And when God sees that they are there, we also have this joy to know that indeed they are walking and they are following and they are pursuing in the ways of God.

It is indisputable. John says: ‘I know myself. I know this joy because I believe and I have heard and I’m continually hearing that they are doing this. And I purposely inquired, asked for them.’ And this cannot be done by the pastor alone. Sometimes we think that, you know, pastor must do it. He is paid.

If we have that joy in our hearts as believers, we are convicted that indeed it is a great deliverance that we have experienced from God. We ourselves are concerned with others. We don't have to wait for the so-called full-time workers to do this. We ourselves must do it and have the desire to work for it—because it is our joy.

You don't desire for greater joy and greatest joy if you have no joy in yourself. If you don't have that happiness, if you are not blessed by the presence of these people, you don't have the desire to reach out for them. You don't have the desire to let them come. You don't have the desire to inquire for them—because you yourself do not even the desire to inquire of your own state. And that reflects, actually—if we don't want the greater joy and the greatest joy—we ourselves don't have that great joy. And that's a good question for us to ask ourselves. Do I have that great joy? That's why I look forward to that greater joy and the greatest joy.

Because if I don't have that, I myself just come to the church, and it's enough for me to be here and to sit down and warm the pew. And don't bother to pray, don't bother to help, and don't bother to participate and actively be part of the ministry, then there's no point for me to seek for greater one. I don't have even the baseline.

And that's what John here describes.

III. An Impeccable Joy

Then he continued here to say this is not just an incomparable joy, an indisputable joy, but it is impeccable—impeccable in the sense that it is a joy that is without reproach, a joy that is without any blemish, a joy that is, we may say, inherent, infallible, because it is truly based on God's word. He says, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children" - those who are in the ministry, those whom I have shared the word of God, those who have heard the preaching of God’s word, they - "walk in truth" (3 John 1:4, KJV).

An idea of walking—here we have to understand what is the idea of walking. It is living out. It's not just walking towards a church or walking around. It's just walking in order to live out, or this is actually reflecting our conversation, our lifestyle, our day-to-day living, our day-to-day walk with God. And he says here that they are walking in truth. Walking here is a continuous description of one who is always living in the truth.

And we understand that it is not just living out. We know that those who are in the truth, when they are walking in it, they are learning God's word. For you cannot live out what you don't know. You cannot live out what you don't have, or what you are not acquainted of. You have to understand and to learn God's word.

And this is why we are encouraged to continue on actively participating, present in the ministries of this church, to learn God's word. Learning God's word is important in order for us to be able to live out the word of God.

Of course, there must be loving of God's word. We have to love God's word. We have to read it daily. We have to not only rely on the preaching on Sundays. We have to take in and pray that the Lord will teach us every Sunday, every Lord's Day, but we also ourselves is partaking, eating, taking. And that's what we have read in our responsive reading, where we are told that we are meditating the word of God. ‘Word of God is his meditation day and night’ (Psalm 1:2).

And here in Australia, you are so familiar with ruminants—with sheep and cattle—and you know these animals. When we were trained as vets before to understand what is the state of a healthy cattle, a healthy sheep, and the best thing and the first thing that we have to look is their mouth. And that is how they regurgitate. They're lying down, chewing what they have taken in. You know how they eat grass and fill their four stomachs, and then after that, lie down and bring back out what they have eaten in order to make it into smaller size. That's how they do it.

And that's also how we can see here meditation. When we receive the words of God here in the worship service, it's not living out the word of God after we leave the door, and then the word of God is just here. When we go to our own homes, we open the Bible, read God's word, meditate, regurgitate like the sheep and the cattle—chewing it, making it fine—so that it can easily be absorbed and understood and absorbed in our lives, so that we can live out this word of God.

A joy that is based on the truth. A joy that is walking in truth. For we have so many, as I mentioned earlier, of this joy that is just based on worldly standards—joy that is just because of the pleasure, and money, prosperity, and the present entertainment and amusement in this world. That is the basis of joy today. But the joy that John here describes is the joy of one having children, people who come to believe, to grow and mature, and also grow and be used by God to bring the word of God to others.

We have a very good illustration this morning of the infant baptism of this child—where the parents promised that they indeed would desire to inculcate, to train up this child in the admonition of the Lord. And not only to teach them, but to pray for him. That's what John here is teaching us—for us to experience this greatest joy, which is the joy of having children who grow up and be used by God as mighty soldiers of God, as mighty preachers of the word of God. We will have also that joy in ourselves to know that they are walking in truth.

Before the Reformation in 1517—as we always associate ourselves with Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, and all these heroes of the Reformation—there was one person who actually lived 300 years before the Reformation. He was thought to be the proto-reformer. Others would say it was Augustine, but he was one of those who was really bringing Reformation in the fields—in the countryside—bringing many people to believe truly in the Lord Jesus Christ according to the truth.

His name was Peter Waldo, and he's known as the leader of what we commonly hear today as the Waldensians or the Waldenses. Waldo was a Frenchman. He was a rich merchant. But even though he had so much money and treasure and fields, properties, he didn't have that joy. He didn't have that happiness in his life, and so he desired to have that. And he heard of a preaching of a monk called Alexis, and this monk preached on how the Lord Jesus Christ encouraged people to sell everything that you have, and then follow, take up your cross daily, and follow the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so he tried. He says, ‘I don't want anymore all these treasures of the world. I don't want anymore all these money, all these properties. I want to have that joy—that joy in God.’ And so he followed this example to be like a monk. But he was empty. He did what was to sacrifice. He emptied himself of things of this world. But he lacked something. And that he understood: although I can give myself to sacrifice and leave myself nothing, I'm not walking in truth. I am not walking in truth.

Because in those days, there was no Bible available for them. There was no Bible that can be read by people. It was in Latin. And even preached during those times in the Middle Ages, where the Roman Catholics didn't even know and understand what is Latin. And so when they preach, they just hear from the bishops, the Pope, what is to be preached. They don't know what is the Scripture. Priests didn't even know what is in the Scripture.

And so Peter Waldo had this desire that he should be walking in truth. And he had some remaining fields to sell. And he says, ‘I must hire scholars, priests, to translate the Bible from Latin to their own vernacular—their own dialect.’ And that was the first translation into the vernacular, where people—when they hear—and he himself says, ‘Oh, salvation is just by faith alone. It's not by working. It's not by whatever sacraments that we do.’ And they discovered that this is the truth. And they realised that indeed it's not just living sacrificially. Don't equate poverty with holiness. It is living according to God's word. And they had it.

They were the first group of people to have this. In fact, after the Roman Catholics knew that there was a translation, they burned as many of those copied books. In those days, there were no printing presses to be burned. And even persecuted the Waldensians. But many of them continued on. They were called the Poor Men of Lyons—Lyon, France—that was the place where they started. And went on like peddlers to share the word of God—copied books of the translated Bible in their own language. And they understood. And many rejoiced. Why? Because they can now walk in truth.

You can try to walk in holiness as what you think is holy. You can try to live righteously as what you think is righteous. You can think of giving yourself sacrificially to the church or whatever ministry, to think that is sacrificial. But if it's not according to God's word, that is nothing. That is not what God seeks from us. That is not what God wants from us.

And so John says he had no greater joy than to hear that his children walk according to God's word—walk according to the Scripture—walk according to the inspired and preserved word of God. And that's what we need today. Because we are so much influenced with the world that we think we have another form of Christianity. But we have to go back to the Bible.

Peter Waldo was not satisfied in just sacrificing himself to live a life poor and deprived of many. What was deprived from him was the truth of God's word. And we thank God that here we still have this word of God preached. And I pray that we desire for this. May the Lord grant us the love to learn the word of God, so that we can live out and walk in the truth. That is what God wants from us.

In a day where we are expecting the soon-coming return of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We are at the brink of World War III, as they said. In fact, we are few steps from that because of the situation of the world today. There's a need for us to truly preach the word of God, to walk in the truth and that is the greatest joy that every Christian should desire in life.

I pray the Lord will help us and grant us and ask ourselves: What is my greatest joy? Yes, I am greatly rejoicing over my salvation. And I rejoice over others because they have heard God's word. But is it really that they are living out the word of God? Am I living out the word of God? Am I walking in the truth?

May the Lord help us. May the Lord bless us. Let us pray.

Our gracious, loving Father in Heaven, we thank Thee for this morning. We thank Thee for Thy word. Thank Thee, O Lord, for Thy Spirit who guides us and leads us. And we pray that through this, we be convicted, O Lord, if truly we have that great joy in our hearts—and greater joy to bring the gospel to others—and greatest joy, knowing that these people have heard the gospel from us, walk in truth.

We pray, Father, that You will bless everyone who are here and let Thy Spirit work in our hearts to know and understand what You need from us to do. We pray that You will bless this church, continue to let Thy word be the centre of the preaching of this word. We pray that You'll preserve our pastor, the deacons. Pray that You will be with the members, visitors, and guests of today's worship—that all of us, O Lord, will come to that greatest joy that You have desired from us in knowing that we are not just saved, but we are used by Thee to even bring others to come to fruition. So, Father, we pray that You will continue to be with us in this worship service, to the glory and honour of Thy name.

For we pray and ask all this in Jesus' name, Amen.

THE BOOK OF 3 JOHN

What Is Your Greatest Joy?

What Is Your Greatest Joy?

3 John 4