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Jesus Wants Us to be Joyful...not Fearful, Lonely, Right, or Isolated - Audio

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Conteúdo fornecido por Bradley J. Sullivan. Todo o conteúdo do podcast, incluindo episódios, gráficos e descrições de podcast, é carregado e fornecido diretamente por Bradley J. Sullivan ou por seu parceiro de plataforma de podcast. Se você acredita que alguém está usando seu trabalho protegido por direitos autorais sem sua permissão, siga o processo descrito aqui https://pt.player.fm/legal.
Brad Sullivan 6 Easter, Year B May 6, 2018 Emmanuel, Houston John 15:9-17 Jesus wants us to be joyful…not fearful, lonely, right, or isolated. Abide in my love, Jesus said, so that my joy may be in your and your joy may be complete. Jesus had all sorts of emotions, just like every other human. Anger, frustration, contempt. Think about how Jesus was with the scribes, the Pharisees, the money changers, his own disciples at times. Jesus was powerful in the extreme, and those emotions and ways of being, anger, frustration, contempt are powerful as well. They were a part of Jesus and they gave him a nudge to start acting or doing things every now and then, and yet rather than choose to act and live out of those powerful emotions, he chose to live in the powerful weakness of love. The powerful weakness of love is so much more powerful than anger. Love is so much more powerful than frustration. Love is so much more powerful than contempt…and love often feels like weakness. Love is vulnerable. Love doesn’t force the other but offers, guides, leads the other, allowing the other not to follow. Love allows for failure and is not coercive. Love does not belittle or taunt. Love allows for things not to go “my way”, allowing for the needs of the beloved over one’s own desires. Love also trusts in the mutual nature of love such that the beloved will also reciprocate that love, trusting, not forcing. Jesus could have forced people to do whatever he wanted. When push came to shove, however, he acted not out of his power, not out of anger, frustration, or contempt. Jesus acted instead out of the powerful weakness and trusting nature of love, and he told his disciples to abide in his love, not in any of those other emotions or ways of being. Abide in my love, Jesus said. Abide in that which ultimately led Jesus to the cross…ok, my sales pitch isn’t really as good as his. Jesus talked about joy, and love allowing our joy to be complete. So, what keeps us from joy? How about fear? How about when, because of our fear, we choose to dwell not in love, but in anger, frustration, and contempt? When we’re afraid, we feel weak, and we want to feel strong, so we often turn to anger, frustration, and contempt. They are powerful, and so when afraid we act out of those things which make us feel powerful, but where do they lead? To joy? Not so much. Dwelling in and acting out of anger, frustration, and contempt leads to hurt, resentment, loneliness, victimhood, maybe a sense of being right (in a me versus the world kind of way), and a profound lack of joy. We may feel powerful, but we also feel more alone, more fearful, and worse about ourselves. Such is the way of fear and dwelling in power to overcome our fear. When we choose to abide in Jesus’ love, to make love our home, then we will in all likelihood be led to the cross, to that place of powerful weakness. So when we abide in love and are led to the cross, what gets nailed to that cross? How about being right? How about our hurt and resentment? Is anyone else here kinda good at hurt and resentment, at being hurt or let down by someone whom we deeply love, and then letting that hurt turn to resentment? It certainly feels strong. Walls up, weapons out, not going to hurt me again, but it never leads to anywhere good. Greater fear and isolation, loneliness, victimhood. It may feel right or righteous, but it certainly doesn’t lead to a place of joy. Say you’ve got a mini, stay at home date night planned for after the kids are asleep, and your wife falls asleep again putting one of the kids to bed, and instead of your usual feelings of hurt at being stood up again on such an occasion for the exact same reason as usual, you choose instead to be happy for your wife because as tired as she is, she got to get some well needed sleep. (As a top of my head, totally hypothetical example.) Being happy for my wife led me to be joyful amidst the let down, and a little while later, she woke up anyway. Jesus wants us to joyful, not fearful, lonely, right, and isolated. Jesus wants us to be joyful, and so he taught us to dwell in his love. We dwell in love, we let love lead us to the cross, and we put our hurt and resentment on that cross. Then when someone we love lets us down, we can dwell in love for that person. When someone we love lets us down, rather than dwelling in hurt and resentment, we get to ask ourselves, “why did they let us down?” Maybe they were overwhelmed. Maybe life just happened. Maybe they were doing their level best and reached a limit in what they could do. Maybe in letting us down, they got something that they really needed, and so rather than being hurt, we can be happy for them. We are talking about someone we love after all. Maybe our hurt can turn to concern for them if it seems that their letting us down came from a place of limit or need on their part. Out of concern, we get to act out of love on their behalf, our hurt and resentment transformed to gladness or concern for the other, and gladness or concern for the other are places of joy, expressed through love. Abide in Jesus’ love, and we do get led to the cross, so that our fear and hurt may be transformed into joy. Jesus said he wants us to abide in his love so that his joy may be in us and our joy may be complete. I often think of Jesus as so serious and our religion so serious. Anyone else? Christianity is so serious, isn’t it? Jesus died for our sins and rose that we may have life eternal. Jesus lived and showed us his kingdom here on earth and taught us to live out his kingdom here on earth, loving, forgiving, caring for those in need. It’s all so serious, and he was so earnest and serious in his teachings, so at times I tend to forget how darn joyous Jesus was. He hung out with people. He partied. He took delight in children, and found joy and beauty in grass and birds. He didn’t worry about daily struggles because in his kingdom, people take care of each other. When visiting his friends Martha and Mary, it didn’t bother him that the house was a mess or that the meal wasn’t perfectly perfect and on time. He was enjoying being with his friends. As much as we are earnest in our faith and are intended to take our faith seriously, Jesus didn’t tell us to abide in his love so that our earnestness and seriousness would be complete. Abide in my love, Jesus said, so that “my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.” So what does joy look like? Joy looks like forgiveness and compassion leading to a place of peace, of happiness and love for the other. Joy looks like hope and being surrounded by love in the midst of sadness. Joy looks like enjoying time with people in all of our imperfect glory. Joy looks like being cared for and caring for others. Joy looks like the sun coming up every morning and letting that be enough. Joy looks like acceptance, accepting life for what it is and finding the peace, hope, and love in what life is, rather than constantly wishing for life to be something else. Joy looks like placing the power of our hurt and resentment on the cross and abiding in that place of love. Jesus invites us into his joy, that his joy may be in us. Jesus invites us to abide, to dwell in the powerful weakness of his love so that our joy may be complete.
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330 episódios

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Manage episode 391190856 series 1034858
Conteúdo fornecido por Bradley J. Sullivan. Todo o conteúdo do podcast, incluindo episódios, gráficos e descrições de podcast, é carregado e fornecido diretamente por Bradley J. Sullivan ou por seu parceiro de plataforma de podcast. Se você acredita que alguém está usando seu trabalho protegido por direitos autorais sem sua permissão, siga o processo descrito aqui https://pt.player.fm/legal.
Brad Sullivan 6 Easter, Year B May 6, 2018 Emmanuel, Houston John 15:9-17 Jesus wants us to be joyful…not fearful, lonely, right, or isolated. Abide in my love, Jesus said, so that my joy may be in your and your joy may be complete. Jesus had all sorts of emotions, just like every other human. Anger, frustration, contempt. Think about how Jesus was with the scribes, the Pharisees, the money changers, his own disciples at times. Jesus was powerful in the extreme, and those emotions and ways of being, anger, frustration, contempt are powerful as well. They were a part of Jesus and they gave him a nudge to start acting or doing things every now and then, and yet rather than choose to act and live out of those powerful emotions, he chose to live in the powerful weakness of love. The powerful weakness of love is so much more powerful than anger. Love is so much more powerful than frustration. Love is so much more powerful than contempt…and love often feels like weakness. Love is vulnerable. Love doesn’t force the other but offers, guides, leads the other, allowing the other not to follow. Love allows for failure and is not coercive. Love does not belittle or taunt. Love allows for things not to go “my way”, allowing for the needs of the beloved over one’s own desires. Love also trusts in the mutual nature of love such that the beloved will also reciprocate that love, trusting, not forcing. Jesus could have forced people to do whatever he wanted. When push came to shove, however, he acted not out of his power, not out of anger, frustration, or contempt. Jesus acted instead out of the powerful weakness and trusting nature of love, and he told his disciples to abide in his love, not in any of those other emotions or ways of being. Abide in my love, Jesus said. Abide in that which ultimately led Jesus to the cross…ok, my sales pitch isn’t really as good as his. Jesus talked about joy, and love allowing our joy to be complete. So, what keeps us from joy? How about fear? How about when, because of our fear, we choose to dwell not in love, but in anger, frustration, and contempt? When we’re afraid, we feel weak, and we want to feel strong, so we often turn to anger, frustration, and contempt. They are powerful, and so when afraid we act out of those things which make us feel powerful, but where do they lead? To joy? Not so much. Dwelling in and acting out of anger, frustration, and contempt leads to hurt, resentment, loneliness, victimhood, maybe a sense of being right (in a me versus the world kind of way), and a profound lack of joy. We may feel powerful, but we also feel more alone, more fearful, and worse about ourselves. Such is the way of fear and dwelling in power to overcome our fear. When we choose to abide in Jesus’ love, to make love our home, then we will in all likelihood be led to the cross, to that place of powerful weakness. So when we abide in love and are led to the cross, what gets nailed to that cross? How about being right? How about our hurt and resentment? Is anyone else here kinda good at hurt and resentment, at being hurt or let down by someone whom we deeply love, and then letting that hurt turn to resentment? It certainly feels strong. Walls up, weapons out, not going to hurt me again, but it never leads to anywhere good. Greater fear and isolation, loneliness, victimhood. It may feel right or righteous, but it certainly doesn’t lead to a place of joy. Say you’ve got a mini, stay at home date night planned for after the kids are asleep, and your wife falls asleep again putting one of the kids to bed, and instead of your usual feelings of hurt at being stood up again on such an occasion for the exact same reason as usual, you choose instead to be happy for your wife because as tired as she is, she got to get some well needed sleep. (As a top of my head, totally hypothetical example.) Being happy for my wife led me to be joyful amidst the let down, and a little while later, she woke up anyway. Jesus wants us to joyful, not fearful, lonely, right, and isolated. Jesus wants us to be joyful, and so he taught us to dwell in his love. We dwell in love, we let love lead us to the cross, and we put our hurt and resentment on that cross. Then when someone we love lets us down, we can dwell in love for that person. When someone we love lets us down, rather than dwelling in hurt and resentment, we get to ask ourselves, “why did they let us down?” Maybe they were overwhelmed. Maybe life just happened. Maybe they were doing their level best and reached a limit in what they could do. Maybe in letting us down, they got something that they really needed, and so rather than being hurt, we can be happy for them. We are talking about someone we love after all. Maybe our hurt can turn to concern for them if it seems that their letting us down came from a place of limit or need on their part. Out of concern, we get to act out of love on their behalf, our hurt and resentment transformed to gladness or concern for the other, and gladness or concern for the other are places of joy, expressed through love. Abide in Jesus’ love, and we do get led to the cross, so that our fear and hurt may be transformed into joy. Jesus said he wants us to abide in his love so that his joy may be in us and our joy may be complete. I often think of Jesus as so serious and our religion so serious. Anyone else? Christianity is so serious, isn’t it? Jesus died for our sins and rose that we may have life eternal. Jesus lived and showed us his kingdom here on earth and taught us to live out his kingdom here on earth, loving, forgiving, caring for those in need. It’s all so serious, and he was so earnest and serious in his teachings, so at times I tend to forget how darn joyous Jesus was. He hung out with people. He partied. He took delight in children, and found joy and beauty in grass and birds. He didn’t worry about daily struggles because in his kingdom, people take care of each other. When visiting his friends Martha and Mary, it didn’t bother him that the house was a mess or that the meal wasn’t perfectly perfect and on time. He was enjoying being with his friends. As much as we are earnest in our faith and are intended to take our faith seriously, Jesus didn’t tell us to abide in his love so that our earnestness and seriousness would be complete. Abide in my love, Jesus said, so that “my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.” So what does joy look like? Joy looks like forgiveness and compassion leading to a place of peace, of happiness and love for the other. Joy looks like hope and being surrounded by love in the midst of sadness. Joy looks like enjoying time with people in all of our imperfect glory. Joy looks like being cared for and caring for others. Joy looks like the sun coming up every morning and letting that be enough. Joy looks like acceptance, accepting life for what it is and finding the peace, hope, and love in what life is, rather than constantly wishing for life to be something else. Joy looks like placing the power of our hurt and resentment on the cross and abiding in that place of love. Jesus invites us into his joy, that his joy may be in us. Jesus invites us to abide, to dwell in the powerful weakness of his love so that our joy may be complete.
  continue reading

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