Sermon Notes, August 11, 2013
The Fruit of the Spirit—Joy (Part 3), John 15:9-16, Romans 5:1-5
This morning we return to our study of the Fruit of the Spirit, again looking at joy. We’ve seen, I hope, that joy is essential to the gospel. The word “gospel” means: Good news.Good tidings. It is the tidings that bring joy! Joy is at the heart of God’s plan for your life. And therefore our first point was:
1.Joy is of the essence of the Christian life.
2.Our second point was: Joy overlaps with sorrow.
This is very clearly taught by Jesus, as well as throughout the Bible. The opposite of joy,we’ll see, is not sadness. When you come to Christ, when you become a Christian, you get a joy that overwhelms the sorrow. When sorrow comes it gets you closer to Jesus—it helps you dig down deeper into Him.
3.Then thirdly we said that Joy is permanent and deep. (John 16:22)
The mark of real joy is that it is not subject to circumstances. That’s the reason it literally says, “no man can take away your joy.”What is that permanent deep joy produced by? Joy is really produced by Christ. That means: Obey Christ. Know Christ. Pray to Christ. Joy is not an easy thing to develop. It really comes to the degree that you’re obeying and knowing Jesus Christ.
The Bible describes Christian joy as flourishing right in the midst of pain & suffering. We’ve seen it inRomans 5:3, "We rejoice in our sufferings."In 1 Thessalonians 1:6, "You received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit."And in 2 Corinthians 8:2, "In a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have over flowed in a wealth of liberality."
4.Now, the opposite of joy. The opposite of joy is not sorrow, it’s hopelessness.
Peter 1:6 and elsewhere we’re told Christians can rejoice while they are in pain sorrow. A Christian is both sadder and happier than anyone else. Look at Romans 5:3.
We rejoice in our suffering because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance character, and character hope. And hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
Clearly we’re told the reason we can have joy during our suffering is because of our hope! What is hope? It’s the ability to say, “As nice as all these things are here on earth, I’ve got something better. As nice as it is to have this someone telling me what it is that matters, I’ve got a better verdict.”
So the opposite of joy is not sorrow, but it’s hopelessness and despair. Look at 1 Thess. 4:13. It says Christians do grieve,Paul says,“But I do not want you to grieve as those who have no hope.”Some people think Christians shouldn’t grieve. That’s not what Paul says. He says Christians have a different kind of grief. They rub their hope, their hope of the future, the hope of their salvation; they rub it into their grief the way somebody rubs salt into meat to keep it from going bad.
5.The counterfeit of joy is the feeling that comes when we rest in our blessing rather than the blesser.
There’s an elation that comes when we get things we really think will make our lives great. If you have an idol in your life, something that you tell yourself—if I get that then I will be great. Or I will be happy. Then my life will be OK. When you’re getting closer to that idol your idol is operating like a little “god” in your life and it blesses you.
Look.Let’s say you’re ruled by the god of career and you get a promotion, the god of career will come and bless you and say, “Bless you my child.”It works for a while but if you don’t get another promotion next year and others do, the idol will come and curse you. So don’t be so happy when it’s blessing you now because it won’t be for long. Because all gods are false gods except for One—the true God. And only God can give you joy. The way you find out about false joy is it’s there temporarily, it’s based on blessings, but it doesn’t go beyond to the blesser—to God Himself and rejoice in God.
6.Look at the cultivation. Basically, joy is the result of the assurance of our salvation.
The assurance of your salvation comes from knowing you’re saved, not by your good deeds, but by grace. Read this quote. Embrace it. J. C. Ryle, bishop of Liverpool in the 19th century, points out why the assurance of salvation is the heart of joy. Look.
“Assurance goes far to set a child of God free from a painful kind of bondage and it ministers mightily to his comfort. It enables him to feel that the GREAT business of life is settled, the GREAT debt is paid, the GREAT disease is healed, the GREAT work a finished work and all other business, diseases, debts works are by comparison small.”
When Peter speaks in 1 Peter 1:9 of “rejoicing with unutterable and exalted joy"in anticipation of our final salvation, (there it is—the assurance) he is not so much describing a decision; he is describing an explosion. Now, you can prepare for it—like lifting your sail on a still ocean. But you cannot make the wind blow. The Spirit blows where it wills, and joy, as we know, is a fruit of the Spirit. Yet there are things we can do to cultivate joy. In fact, God can and does command His people to rejoice. Youweremadeforjoy.
LewisSmedeswrote:
Tomissoutonjoyistomissoutonthereasonforyourexistence.
C.S.Lewisputitlikethis:
Joyistheseriousbusinessofheaven.
ProbablythesinglemostfamousstatementfromourheritageasaPresbyterianChurchisthisline:
ThechiefendofhumanbeingsistoglorifyGodandenjoyHimforever.
Why?BecauseGodisthehappiestbeingintheuniverse.Paulputitlikethis:
RejoiceintheLordalways.AgainIsayrejoice.
Ican’tmakemyselfbyjoyful,butIcanabideinGodwhoisajoyfulbeing.
Nehemiahsaidthistoagrievinggroupofpeople:
ThisdayisholytotheLordyourGod.Donotmournorweep.
There’satimeformourningandweeping,butit’snotthisday.Withoutjoy,spirituallifebecomesdrudgeryandexhausting.Ministrybecomesdefeating.
Now, aboutthistime,ifsomebody’sthoughtful,they’regoingtoaskthisquestion:
- HowcanIembracejoywithallthepaingoingonaroundme?
- Isitevenrighttotalkaboutjoyinaworldwherethereissuffering,hungerandviolence?
It’srightherethatweseethestrangetruththatitisoftenpeoplewhoareclosesttosufferingwhoarefilledwiththemostjoy.PeoplewholivedwithMotherTeresasaidthatinthemiddleofallthatsufferingwhatwasremarkableaboutherwasnotthewaythatshekeptserving;itwastheextraordinarycapacityinwhichshebroughtjoy. Infact,Ithinkoneofthetestsofauthenticjoyasopposedtocheap,circumstantialhappinessorpleasure: Oneofthetestsofauthenticjoyisitsabilitytoexistinthemidstofpain.
KarlBarthoncesaid:
Joyisadefiant“Nevertheless!”Fromthisday...“Thisistheday.”Andwherethereispainandsuffering,painisadefiant“NeverthelessIwillrejoice.”
I’vehadanextendedperiodoftimetothinkaboutthis. WhenIwasyounger,howsomanythingswouldcutmyjoy. Thethingsthatwouldcutmyjoymostoftenwerenotaltruisticconcernsaboutotherpeopleorsufferingandsoon. They werejuststupidstuffaboutme.Ithinkaboutmylifenow.There are times Istill try to servethesegodsthatarecalled:
•Whatdootherpeoplethinkofme?
•AmIachievingenough?
•HaveIdoneenough?
Youknowaboutthosegods:
- HaveIclimbedhighenough?
- HaveIgotenough?
- AmIsecureenough?
Listen: Thesearecruelgods.Theywillpromiseyoujoy,buttheywillnotgiveyouany.
Thisistheday. Thisdayisjustagift! Alltheotherdaysaregone,andtheyarenevercomingback.Andallthosetomorrows…wedon’tknowaboutthem. Whatwedoknowis:
ThisisthedaythattheLordhasmade. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!
Everydaysince Jesus was crucified on our behalf and then raised from the deadhasbeenagift—everydaysince.Today isagift.Andtomorrowwillbeagiftandthenextdaywillbeagift,ifyoureceiveit.
Untilthatdaycomes when the Jesus returns—anditsurelywillcome—when,inthewordsoftheprophet,whowastryingtoexpresswhatnowordscouldeverexpress: