My Cup Overflows...With Joy, Peace, & Hope

[dave c]

HEALING SHELTER MINISTRIES #126b; Re-Written 13SEP08; http://groups.msn.com/AHealingShelter/welcome.msnw

My Cup Overflows— Part Three: ...With Joy, Peace, And Hope

by rev dave c

Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant's name was Malchus.) Jesus commanded Peter, "Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?" (Jn 18:10&11; NIV). From His prayer of submission in the Garden of Gethsemane...to betrayal by the kiss from Judas...to His going to the cross as a lamb to the slaughter, Jesus continually demonstrated His willingness to surrender His life to the will of the Father during the unfolding of His crucifixion. This cup of suffering and sacrifice was prepared from before the beginning of time and only the Christ could drink from it (Ac 2:22-24). God the Father giving His Son for the salvation of the world (Jn 3:14-18) and His Son’s perfect obedience (Ph 2:8) stand as ultimate acts of unconditional love.

It is written: "I believed; therefore I have spoken." With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God (2Co 4:13-15; NIV). “...The one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead” is the same One who caused the Son of God to be conceived as the Son of Man within the womb of a virgin (Lu 1:35). This One is the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the triune Godhead, Who descended as a dove upon the person of Christ at His baptism (Lu 3:21&22). Luke 4:1 then continues, Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert for testing (NIV). It is this same Holy Spirit Who accompanied our Savior throughout His life and filled Him with the power to perform countless miracles as He walked, taught, and loved His way through the first advent.

Jesus tells us in John 15:22-27,16:5-15, and Acts 1:4-8 that He had to live and die among us, be resurrected, and ascend back to Heaven in order that the Holy Spirit might be poured out upon all people, both Jews and Gentiles, so that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Ac 2:16-21). The Apostle Paul extends to all believers this blessing from Romans 15:13, May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. If we are filled with joy and peace because we believe God—because we place our trust in Him—then we will overflow with hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Obviously, the question becomes, “How are we to be filled with joy and peace?” Jesus tells us explicitly, If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command (Jn 15:10-14; NIV). To be filled with the joy of Christ we must lay down our lives for our friends (which includes the Person of Christ). This is how Jesus loved us...and of us this is what Christ demands. This is how we are to be obedient to His commands, because this is how the Son of God lovingly obeyed the commands of His Father.

In the pursuit of peace we find Christ’s exhortations to be much the same as for the pursuit of joy: Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him." Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, "But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?" Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. "All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid (Jn 14:21-27; NIV).

...The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men (Ro 14:17&18; NIV). Righteousness defined in a phrase is obedience to the commands of God and the laws of man (Ro 13). The key to peace and joy, to hope itself, is a heart, a head, and hands that fulfill the commands of our Lord, Jesus Christ, as a living sacrifice of thanksgiving (Ro 12:1/He 13:14&15). How can I repay the LORD for all his goodness to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD. I will fulfill my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people (Ps 116:12-14; NIV). Again, in the words of Paul from Romans 13:15, May the God of hope fill [us] with all joy and peace as [we] trust in him, so that [we] may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (NIV). And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly (Ro 5:5&6; NIV). Amen.