Joy City

In this week’s episode on dealing with disputes, many people think we are living in some far away land that it’s impossible to live in when you are surrounded by all this COVID, mask mandates, vax’d or un-vax’d, rising prices and homelessness – how you gonna live in Joy City. 

As the Word is spreading, some cities sent for the Apostle Paul to come and preach and teach in their city and Paul would respond by teaching the Gospel message from the beginning to the raising of Jesus from the dead and would conclude with the message that “and this salvation is now offered to all of you” and the city would rejoice. So much so, they would beg for Paul to come back each week and preach this message and the Bible says, nearly the entire City would come out.

Now envy arose, the Gentiles were glad but the Jews expelled Paul and Barnabas from the city. Now how do you handle these situations, how do you handle dissention – God always has an answer for us to follow. Paul and Barnabas took one route, they shook the dust from their feet and went their way. But they went their way it says with GREAT JOY and the Holy Spirit. You see they didn’t let what others thought about them, felt about them, said about them alter their JOY. Beloved, as residents of Joy City, our worth, value or significance does not depend on OTHERS. Hallelujah, it depends on how God values us. 

Now I’m already knowing, some of you are saying – well, I can’t just shake the dust from my feet, I can’t just pick up and leave, I can’t just take off – these people live with me, they are my spouse, my children, my parents, my family or co-workers on my job and students in my class. Whatever the relationship, I can’t get away from them – so what do I do. 

Let me say this, don’t ever get caught up on the demonstration of the Christian life over the true heart connection of the Christian life. What I mean by that is many times we hear, “hey, fake it till you make it.” No my friend, don’t try and fake it, it won’t last and then you really have a dilemma. No, no, what you do is get real with your God, Father, I’m really struggling here – I really need You to guide and lead like you did the apostles so that I can rejoice and celebrate in the midst of this chaos. Trust me, God wants to and He’s waiting to – He promises if you call He will answer, He will reveal Himself and He is not a respecter of persons, but what He does for one, he will do for all. Glory to God. 

So lets look at another example of resolving disputes from the Apostle Paul who has had his share of lessons in order to teach us. In the 4th chapter of the book of Philippians we see a dispute between Euodia and Syntyche. Now we don’t know what caused their dispute, which shows God is not necessarily concerned with the cause of the dispute as He is with the disruption of the UNITY in the Body. God desires the Body of Christ work in sync with itself, that every member of the Body functions as prescribed and performs its duty to the benefit of the Body, so anytime that UNITY is fractured, God has remedy. So here, Paul pleads rather than commands. You see, he doesn’t appeal to his authority over them, he appeals to them as their friend, a brother in Christ, giving us a glimpse how we entreat one another as brothers and sisters, not authoritarians. Then he calls the community to engage in the matter, yes we are one another’s keeper and we are to be concerned with what impacts one of us impacts all of us. We are relational beings, relationships are under attack from all sides; I mean our belief systems, COVID and mask or vaccines, families are being torn apart and over the last few years, we have clearly seen where the holes are as relationships are being ruptured daily. So Paul urges the residents of Joy City, hey lets come together and lets engage in this situation and then he directs them back to the constitution of Joy City, “be of the same mind in the Lord.” 

Hello, welcome to Joy City, a weekly blog and podcast, hosted by yours truly, Stuart Welch the Lead Pastor of Life Connection Church, Modesto, CA. I want to invite you in, to join with an amazing community of friends that are quickly becoming an intimate part of my daily life. I am your host and excited to deliver great content that can change your life and truly transform as we celebrate the greatness of God and His presence in the every day moments of our lives. Knowing the Creator, the Grand Weaver of our lives is present with us and then leaning into that Presence can be revolutionary for many of us, so lets enter in to the City – Joy City. 

Have you ever heard the phrase, challenge is necessary for mature functioning or change is a must for change equals self-improvement? Well that is how Joy City came about, it came about due to the challenging circumstances in the lives of men and women who faced the threat of death daily at the hands of Christian persecutors. This risk, forced many people to flee and scatter all over – but guess what, they didn’t run and hide, they fled and began to teach and minister the principles of Jesus Christ wherever they found themselves. In one particular instance, one man named Philip found himself in a city called Samaria. While there, Philip preached and ministered the word of God and the people were saved, healed, delivered and we read there was great joy in that city. So in the midst of the threat of death, torture and all manner of evil directed at them, the people not only flourished but they found Joy City, a place where the people celebrated what they had to offer. 

In Joy City, faith is all important. For without faith it is impossible to please God. In Joy City, we understand that by faith we can receive anything and it can take us anywhere in the kingdom of God. But without it, I can’t even approach God, cannot receive forgiveness, deliverance, salvation, communion or any spiritual life at all. No, in Joy City, faith is the key that unlocks the door. In this self-centered world that we occupy – MONEY is the commodity everyone seeks. In the upside-down kingdom of Joy City, money is merely a resource not the source, that is God. So here in this earth, we follow hard after the dollar-dollar bill, use slogans like he with the most toys wins, where in the City of Joy, we follow hard after God and that faith has a reward that is more valuable than anything money can buy – God Himself. Like he told Levi, after occupying Canaan land and dividing the land among his siblings. You get no land Levi, what you get is ME! I am your portion and your inheritance – that right there made Levi richer than all his brothers. 

Now I’m not saying Joy City is free of hardships or suffering. Not at all, oh we cry a lot and feel the anguish at the plight and despair of family, friends and loved ones. However, in the midst of that we experience the true nature of our life in Christ. The Apostle Paul taught us that to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and be a partaker of his sufferings is to join with others in the midst of their suffering and then we become one of solidarity with human suffering. To connect our own vulnerability with those we live with, that is true joy. The joy of belonging, of being part of, of not being different. 

The sorrow is still there, but God is breaking through, something has changed. This happens when we are no longer standing in front of others, but sitting with them and sharing that moment of togetherness. 

 The cup of life beloved is the cup of joy as much as it is the cup of sorrow. In that cup is sorrows and joys, sadness and gladness, and mourning and dancing – they are never separated.

I’ve enjoyed being your host and you can comment below, or email me at [email protected] or call me at (209) 522-3583.