July 25, 2020
Last week we identified LOVE as the core of the fruit in a Victorious Christian Life. Today we will examine JOY.
• Psalm 33:1-4 - Sing joyfully to the LORD, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him. 2 Praise the LORD with the harp; make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre. 3 Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy. 4 For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does.
• Zephaniah 3:17 - The LORD your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.
Psychologists and neuroscientists have done research into the anatomy of joy. They’ve mapped the pleasure centers in the brain; they’ve isolated “joy genes” in our DNA; they’ve identified the chemicals that stimulate pleasurable feelings; they’ve studied identical twins in order to explore environmental factors. One bit of research actually involved tickling rats in order to understand the physiology of laughter. Even after all the research, Joy remains an elusive and difficult term to get a hold of. How do you pin-point JOY? How do you define JOY?
According to Webster’s Dictionary JOY is: “a feeling of great pleasure and intense happiness.” Pleasure and happiness about what - a new house, a new car, a new baby, a favorite song on the radio, an unexpected gift? Worldly joy tends to be based on external events - it happens TO us. But this “feeling” is fleeting – guaranteed when the good and pleasant thing goes away so does the “feeling”.
While worldly joy is tied directly to external circumstances, Christian Joy is deeper – it’s internal – it’s produced IN us. Now, I’m not being naïve. Christians don’t always walk on the mountain tops with the sun shining on them the soft breezes blowing through their hair.
In this life we will have tribulation, trouble, difficulty and trials. Things won’t go as planned --- The storm WILL rise --- The winds WILL blow and the waves WILL crash against our lives…. Guaranteed! {John 16:33}
Question --- Can your life be devoid of the “feeling” of pleasure and happiness and STILL be filled with joy?
• Isaiah 12:2-3 - Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. Therefore, with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.
• Habakkuk 3:17-19 - Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. 19 The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to go on the heights.
• James 1:2 - Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.
• 1 Peter 4:12-13 - Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: 13 - But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
Even in the darkest days, when sadness, grief, and loss threaten to overwhelm us, God’s JOY is there. External circumstances can’t touch JOY because the source of JOY is God. JOY speaks of something beyond circumstances. It is something the world has no ability to give to us and no power to take away. JOY helps us see past today to a future when everything will be made right again.
• Luke 6:22-23 - Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven….
• 1 John 1:2-4 - The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to make our joy complete.
• Revelation 21:1-5 - Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." 5 He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."
As we grapple with this idea of Joy apart from circumstance, we can learn a lot from Paul:
• Acts 16:22-25 – {while in Philippi} …. The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. 23 After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24 Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. 25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God…
• Philippians 1:3-11 – {years later while imprisoned in Rome} … I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. 7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me. 8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ-- to the glory and praise of God.
• Philippians 4:4, 6 - Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! . . . Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Paul is receiving and experiencing JOY while in jail. He understood, more than most, that no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in, there is the promise of JOY.
• Philippians 4:12-13 - I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want {I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. 24 Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26 I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. 27 I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. – 2 Corinthians 11:23-27} 13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
As a matter of fact, Godly JOY is immune to trial, trouble and tribulation:
• Psalm 56:10-11 - In God, whose word I praise, in the LORD, whose word I praise-- 11 in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?
• Hebrews 12:2 -Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Nothing can kill the Internal Joy that we have been promised but it will require a radical change in our thinking
• Malcolm Muggeridge: I can say that I never knew what joy was until I gave up pursuing happiness…. {British journalist, writer, and Christian apologist - 1903–1990}
Because this kind of JOY does not come naturally to us --- we have no ability to manufacture it through human effort………. But JOY is meant to be a hallmark of the Christian life – it is not an optional extra.
What is the solution? Allowing the Holy Spirit into our lives to guide and transform them. The Holy Spirit will not automatically operate in the life of a Christian. A transformed life only happens as we surrender to and cooperate with the Holy Spirit.
Choosing the Holy Spirit is an absolute necessity for Victorious Christian living. Why? Because the power of a fruitful life does not lie with the believer, but with the Spirit. Just as an apple tree doesn’t think about producing apples – it produces apples because it’s an apple tree and because it’s connected with the source of life, so it is with a believer. A believer doesn’t TRY to produce righteous fruit. He produces fruit BECAUSE he is a believer and BECAUESE he is connected to his source of life --- the Holy Spirit.
• John 15:1-11 - "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit. 3 "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing. 6 "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch, and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you. 8 "By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. 9 "Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. 10 "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love. 11 "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.
JOY is produced by God’s work in us --- it’s a gift.
• Oswald Chambers {He shall glorify me 486}: The miracle of the joy of God has nothing to do with a man’s life or his circumstances or the condition he is in. Jesus does not come to a man and say, “cheer up” – He plants within a man the miracle of the joy of God’s own nature.
• Galatians 5:22-25 - The FRUIT of the Spirit is love, JOY, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
JOY is the evidence that the Holy Spirit is at work in our lives – transforming us into the image of Jesus. Every Good Tree Produces ---- JOY
