Members Message
Embracing Joy
Introduction
At SRT, we all have A+ personalities striving to be more like Christ each day, embracing the training and discipline needed to follow the Way of the Lord. As a result, it's easy to overlook the joy of life in Christ and focus only on the hard work. We can even keep a weekly Sabbath and still miss this altogether. However, it is a fruit that should be visible in the lives of everyone walking with the Lord.
The Fruit of Joy
Galatians 5:22-23 – “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”.
What’s interesting about joy is that it seems to require less effort to attain compared to some of the other fruits. While the others demand effort and a personal plan to achieve them, joy often comes as a gift and is readily within our reach.
Biblical joy goes way deeper than being “happy”. This joy–as the world sees it-is just a feeling, something like what you get when you’re about to go on vacation, or when you’re laughing with friends, or when you’re simply with a loved one. However, that can leave us in an instant if our circumstances change.
In comparison, biblical joy is a very different kind of joy. It isn’t something that only appears in the best of times. It is rooted in who Jesus is and God’s presence in us through the Holy Spirit. Biblical joy is available to us even during the worst of times, and it can never be taken away. It is a feeling of good pleasure and happiness that is dependent on who Jesus is, rather than on who we are or what is happening around us.
This Joy comes from the Holy Spirit and is found by abiding in God’s presence and embracing the hope in His word, that all things are subject to Him and under His control.
John 16:22 says, - “Therefore, you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.”.
Renowned author, John Piper, defines Christian joy as being that “good feeling in the soul, produced by the Holy Spirit, as He causes us to see the beauty of Christ in the Word and in the world.”. Implied in this statement is the idea that true joy, the joy that comes from God, comes from seeing and embracing Jesus in every situation.
Jesus desires a relationship with us and has given us His Holy Spirit so that we can hear His voice and grow closer to Him through God’s Word. When we draw near to Him, we can feel His peace, which surpasses understanding, and find contentment in any situation, and often find healing in His presence.
We find joy in knowing Jesus, because He has saved us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of light. However, to truly understand this, we need a relationship with Him in which we can worship, speak to Him, listen to Him, and love Him.
This requires us to draw aside and spend time with Him and His Word, and from this comes a relationship full of abundant peace and joy.
Faith in God’s Word
To experience true joy, we must have faith in God’s Word because this is His revelation to us. It’s where we can get to know Him and soak in His presence, no matter what is going on in our lives. When we know the blessings that are in God’s Word and take them deeply within us, we will experience abundant joy.
Psalm 16:11 – “You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.”.
God’s Word makes the path of life visible to us, and it is alive and active, bubbling over with truth, hope, and joy. He says in His word (Rom 8), that He will never leave us or forsake us, He will strengthen us, comfort us, and bring us a place of peace. He is near the broken-hearted and wants to bless us and keep us close to Him.
Biblical Joy Endures All Things
This joy endures all things because that’s what Jesus did. His secret to maintaining His joy in all circumstances was that He knew there was a greater joy coming that He had yet to experience.
Explaining this, the writer of Hebrews said, “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”. (Hebrews 12:1-2).
The Christian life is a journey that is going somewhere, and knowing this is part of our joy. Nothing is in vain – the Lord causes all things to work together for good, for those who love Him and are called by Him to work for His glory (Romans 8:28).
God’s power both leads us and guards us through every situation, and here we come into another great promise from 1 Peter.
1 Peter 1:6-8 – “In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, 7 so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 8 and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.”.
Wow – that is quite a statement – joy inexpressible. Often, when we relax, we should ask ourselves: Are we truly getting this? As a result, we may consider that certain habits, pleasures, self-indulgences, or associations might be holding us back. We need to shed them, and often we will require Christ’s help to enable us to do so.
The reason we get joy inexpressible is that He has commissioned the Holy Spirit to empower us to overcome anything that robs us of this. There is nothing we cannot overcome with Him leading us.
So, even when it doesn’t make any sense in this world, or when we are suffering, the greatest feature of biblical joy is that it endures all things because it knows that the Father has lavished His love on us and made a way for us to dwell with Him not only today but forever.
The Importance Of Biblical Joy
Without biblical joy, we would have to depend on life circumstances to find happiness and joy. That might work well during family holidays and when things go our way, but it would let us down when life becomes tough.
We need a joy that we can hold onto, no matter what is happening in our lives, a joy that is always accessible to us. That joy is not found anywhere else other than in a relationship with Jesus.
Romans 8:18 – “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”.
A Better Life to Come
All those in Christ have the assurance that they will be in heaven with Him for eternity. Although this is beyond the understanding of the unsaved world, our key characteristic of biblical joy is the awareness that the Father has lavished His love upon us and has made a way for us to dwell with Him forever. The salvation He has granted us gives us enough joy to last a lifetime and beyond, even though we still face hardship in this life.
The joy we experience has nothing to do with any fleeting, light-hearted emotion so common to the world. Rather, it is that deep-seated knowledge that we are saved in the present. Yet, our full redemption lies in the future (1 John 3:2).
The powers from this age to come are continually transforming us into the image of Christ (Romans 8:29). Therefore, regardless of our circumstances, the believer experiences a joyous confidence that our destiny is in God for eternity.
“Joy means sweet thoughts of Christ, melodious hymns and psalms, praises and thanksgiving, with which Christians instruct, inspire, and refresh themselves. God does not like doubt and dejection. He hates dreary doctrine, gloomy and melancholy thought. God likes cheerful hearts. He did not send His Son to fill us with sadness, but to gladden our hearts. For this reason, the prophets, apostles, and Christ Himself urge, yes, command us to rejoice and be glad.”. Martin Luther.
Conclusion
In the Psalms, we are repeatedly told to be “joyful in the Lord”. Jesus tells us to “Rejoice, for your names are recorded in heaven” (Luke 10:20) and Paul tells us to: “Rejoice in the Lord always” (Philippians 4:4).
So – despite all the issues of discipline, service and transformation we face, let’s make sure that we lay hold of our abundant measure of joy, expressing our gratitude to God that we are not lost in the world’s system but members of the Kingdom of God – a Kingdom that produces love, joy, peace, etc. both for now and flowing out into eternity.
Knowing this should bring great joy and have us longing to get together at any time to share this joy with others and to hear what God has given them cause to be joyful about.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Bruce Billington
