John 17:13 And now come I to you; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I. THE NATURE OF CHRIST'S JOY. The joy of Jesus was not that then that every eye could see. It certainly was not the mirthfulness that plays over the countenance. To have looked into His face would not have been to see joy mirrored. It was more marred than that of the sons of men, and deep were the furrows care had ploughed. If it was a joy not strongly expressed in the countenance, it was also a joy not easily detected by His conversation. In His recorded discourses we have no sparkling coruscations of mirthfulness, investing them with brilliancy, but rather a spirit of calm sadness. Observe also that the joy of Jesus was not one extracted from surrounding circumstances. With too many of us our joy is distilled from our circumstances, and consequently if those circumstances be adverse we are destitute of happiness. Our joy, like honey, is gathered "from every opening flower." Many of you know what poverty means — can you coin joy out of it? You may know what reproach is — do you find it a fount of sweetness or bitterness? You have been betrayed — do you like it? With us death is in a great measure an unknown thing, and the time of it is uncertain, but remember that with Jesus every pain was foreknown, and all the agony and shame forefelt, and yet He had so deep a joy that He prayed that His joy might fill His disciples. Assuredly then, it was not the joy gleaned from surroundings. What was it? It was a joy that had its fount deep within the soul. It was not a joy that flowed into the soul through the channel of the senses. The tide flowed the other way. It flowed out from the soul. Here is one of the great differences between the joy of the Christian and the joy of the worldling. The latter drinks in nearly all his joy through the senses. The child, lovely and beloved, sends joy into the heart through the channel of the sight. Music comes stealing through the corridors of the ear — joy comes with it. The scent of the rose awakens pleasure, and taste and touch alike become the instruments of happiness. The Christian, like his Master, has all these, but the joy of his heart is the joy that rises there independently of all outside things; the joy which like himself is born from above. This joy is not confined to any one place. Being an inward joy it may be had under any and every circumstance, yea, it is a joy that will thrive where any other joy would perish. It is the chamois of the Alps, that leaps like the hind of the morning where others cannot walk, and finds its food where most would starve. The only difficulty would be to say where it cannot and where it has not grown. It has sprung up between the stone slabs of the dungeon floor, and made the prison a conservatory. It has flourished in poverty until the inhabitant of the palace has envied. It has lived in the flames of martyrdom, and made the tongue sing when almost all beside was charred and blackened. It is a joy that lives in the fountains of the great deep of the soul. So much for the joy of Christ being an inward one. Let us now go more into particulars, and see what was the nature of this inward joy, or the different channels in which it flowed. 1. I observe that it was the joy of communion. Our Saviour ever had an abiding sense of His Father's nearness, and deep beyond all description, must have been the fellowship between them. 2. Christ's joy was also the joy of realized and returned love, Communion is more a positive act, this an experience. Christ felt His Father's love. This He declares — "The Father loveth the Son." Christ loved the Father. This also He declared — "I love the Father." Now a realized and returned love can only result in joy. I was standing on a tongue of land, or rather rocks, with a river on either side of me. Both rivers could be traced for some way back. They came from almost opposite directions. Both of them came leaping and roaring along channels filled with great boulder stones. Both of them were beautiful to a degree. For many a mile they had each run their lovely course, gradually nearing, until at last their streams met at the foot of the rock on which I stood. The place was called "the meeting of the waters," and marvellous was the "water's music." The two streams embraced, and seemed for a moment or two to dance for very glee, and then blending, ran off no longer separate but one. So I thought I have in this division of my subject the meeting of the waters. The one stream is called "the Father loveth He." The other stream is called "I love the Father." Both are exquisitely lovely. Both are born from above. One flows from the mountain of the Father's house on high; the other from the Rock of Ages. They meet in our subject, and the music of the meeting of the waters is joy. A heart beloved and a heart loving must be a heart of joy. This joy was Christ's This joy may be, should be, must be ours. The same stream of love that flowed from the Father to the Son, flows from the Father to us. 3. It was also the joy of complete surrender. What would have been a source of sorrow to most, casts a bright gleam of sunshine into the heart of the Man of Sorrows. How is it so? By what process does He extract matter for joy from seeming want of success — a bitter cup to the lips of most? The answer you have in His own words, "Even so Father." Yes, this was enough for the soul perfectly surrendered. It was the Father's will that so it should be, and therefore it being so, was the Son's joy. Would to God we knew more of this joy of perfect and complete surrender. It is our will clashing with our Father's will that gives disquiet. Were our will but one with His, it would be utterly impossible for us ever to be anything else than serene, calm, and happy. 4. It was the joy of one who could look back upon a life work finished. In the fourth verse of this chapter our Saviour says, "I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do." Yet once more. 5. It was the joy of approaching glory. How clearly does this shine out in the first few words of our text, "and now come I to Thee." "I to Thee!" Ah, here is joy indeed. Christ's own joy is indeed ours in this respect. His heaven is our heaven — His home our home. II. THE MEASURE IN WHICH CHRIST DESIRES HIS SAINTS TO POSSESS THIS JOY. "Fulfilled." What an expressive word have we here! Full to the overflow — filled to the utmost capacity. This is the measure of joy Christ wishes for His disciples. They already possessed it in some degree, but He wished them to have it in a far larger; like a sacred flood until it overflows all banks, and eddies into every nook and cranny of the soul. How are we to obtain this inward bliss? Our text tells us. "These things I speak that they might have My joy." It is the word of Jesus that gives this joy. No looking into our own hearts or inspection of our own feelings will avail. That will but empty us. And oh how necessary it is that we should be filled. A very simple illustration will show the necessity. Take a bottle but half full of water, and placing your hand over its mouth, shake it. See how the water rushes from end to end as you move it. There is a turmoil within at the slightest motion. Why? Because it is only half full. Now fill it until you cannot add another drop. Shake it — all is still within. Turn it upside down — all is quiet. Why is this? Because it is quite full, and therefore no outside motion affects it. (A. G. Brown.) Parallel Verses KJV: And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. |
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