Cultivating a Community of Joy

The following video transcript has been lightly edited

Hi, today I want to talk to you about three practices that allow us to cultivate a community of joy. They are living love as a reality, not a feeling, engaging all ages and encouraging one another towards growth.

These three practices allow us to create joy. A community of joy, which is why John is writing to the early church, because what John believes is John believes that because of the life of Jesus, the death of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus, that God's love has been revealed to the world, that God has come to save the world that has defeated death through death.

And therefore. We should live as a community of people that love one another, love God, and experience joy. And so he says, hey, here's three things that are gonna help you do that. And in his letter, and this happens in chapter 2 of 1st John, he talks about how we have to walk in the light. And those who don't walk in the light, Walk in darkness, and in darkness they are blinded and they stumble around.

And his point is this, that we're to love one another. And he challenges them to love each other. But not love as a feeling. Not love as a sense of affection. But love as a reality. That they are to love one another. They are to be truthful. They are to be patient. They are to be humble. They are to be kind.

They are to be forgiving. Love as an action, love as a lived reality, not as a feeling. And I think this is hard for us because often when we hear the word love, we first think about the feelings of love. And in our world, we're often driven more by our feelings than anything else. And so if we want to give ourselves over to a practice that's going to build a community of joy, we have to choose to act in love.

Love as an action, as a lived reality, not a feeling. Now, it's interesting, because in the letter, what John does is he challenges them to loving one another. He doesn't talk about loving a community. He doesn't talk about loving their enemies, as Jesus does. Rather, he's very specific and gives them this challenge.

And I think the reason is, is because John is writing a pastoral letter. And he's trying to help them take a next practical step. This is true for you and I. For us to make change, it has to make sense to our head. It has to resonate with our heart and we have to know the clear next step to take. And so my challenge to you is to live love as a reality, maybe the best place for you to start is in your home.

So what's a practical step you could take? To not respond out of the way you feel, but rather to live love as a reality. How could you offer more patience? How could you endure all things? How could you be a person of truth in your home? Think about that and take that next practical step to help you cultivate that community of joy in your household or in your workplace or in your church, wherever you'd like it to be.

The second thing that John does in this letter is he offers a word of encouragement to children, to fathers, to young people. And it's this reminder that a healthy community is going to involve people of all ages. And when I think about this, I think it's this reminder that there's certain wisdom that comes with age. There's certain energy that a young person has, willing to challenge, to buck the system. And there's a certain joy that a child has. And you know, we need each of those in our life. I was driving the other day and I watched these two, four, five year old boys chasing each other with just pure delight on their faces.

And it reminded me that I need that kind of joy in my life. And so let me ask you, if you're trying to cultivate a community of joy, how are you intentionally engaging people of all ages? If you use the context of the church, it's why we would encourage you to volunteer in the kids ministry. Because it gives you a chance to absorb the joy and energy of children.

Maybe you are willing to have a conversation in the lobby with a student and ask them about their life and what they hope for in their dreams. Maybe for you it's also being willing to be a mentor or find a mentor. Someone who has gone ahead of you in life and can offer wisdom that only age can provide.

Whatever it is. For you to build a community of joy, for you to be a part of this community of joy, we have to engage all ages, and so I encourage you to do that.

Lastly, the last practice that John sketches out to cultivate a community of joy is that we would encourage one another towards growth. And he does that through both challenge and encouragement.

So the challenge that he offers them is to live love as a reality. The encouragement that he writes, twice, for emphasis, is he reminds them that they have the Word of God inside of them. That they know the Creator, the Logos. He reminds them that they are loved by God. Meanwhile, he challenges them to love one another.

And this is a great lesson for us in life. Because it's sort of like the Goldilocks principle. One bed's too soft, one bed's too hard, one's just right. If we're only encouragers then it's a little bit too soft and the encouragement itself begins to lose its meaning. Meanwhile, for only challengers, then that's overly harsh. If someone is just challenged over and over and over again, eventually they're going to pull back. They're not going to listen. But when you put the two of them together, when you encourage them, when you remind them that they're loved, meanwhile, when you challenge them and say, Hey, this is what I want for you. This is what I hope for you. This is who we're called to be because of the love of Christ. Then we are on the way. We are cultivating a community of joy.

So I hope that is helpful to you this week, whether you're trying to cultivate a community of joy in your house, in your workplace, or here at the church, remember that love is a lived reality, not a feeling to respond to. You want to engage all ages because each age, each generation has something to offer. And then lastly, be a person who's willing to encourage growth through both encouragement and challenge, that those two things have to go together.

And if we can practice those, we can be a community of joy. Have a great week, everybody.