Fruit of the Spirit - Joy
There are a lot of things in life that bring us joy. Maybe the team we cheer for makes a deep run in the postseason tournament. Maybe we get a job promotion at work. Maybe we eat a really great meal. Maybe our little one takes his or her first step. Maybe they graduate high school. I remember so vividly the births of our girls. They were very different, but I remember when Lennon was born, our firstborn, and as the doctor lifted her up she reached for the sky with wide eyes, like, ready to tackle the world. And I just remember going out into the lobby where our family was waiting and just putting my arms up in the air, overcome with emotion. It was a deep, soul level rejoicing that just overflowed. Maybe you have experienced something similar in your life.
As we continue walking through the different aspects of the fruit of the Spirit together, we come this morning to the supernatural joy that we can only experience because of the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives. There is of course a natural joy that all of humanity can experience, so I want to talk about that first to draw contrast between the 2.
Webster defines joy as “the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires.” It would appear, then, that the world’s definition of joy is driven by personal success and material gain. “I’m ok now but I will be happier when I get that raise. I’m happy, but I will really feel joyful when I finally get that car I always wanted.” And when we plant our joy in things that we can gain on this Earth, that joy is a fleeting joy because those things will never satisfy. The world’s joy is a temporary joy. We can use the word “happiness” somewhat interchangeably, as the 2 definitions don’t have much variation.
I discovered a new term this week called “hedonic adaptation.” In a study done in 2012, here’s what the researchers found:
“Hedonic adaptation refers to the notion that after positive (or negative) events (i.e., something good or bad happening to someone), and a subsequent increase in positive (or negative) feelings, people return to a relatively stable, baseline level of affect (Diener, Lucas, & Scollon, 2006). In a classic study that illustrates this hedonic adaptation, Brickman, Coates, and Janoff-Bulman (1978) found that 18 months after winning the lottery, people were no happier than a comparison condition who did not win the lottery.”
What this means, then, is that in our human nature there is a drive for satisfaction and fulfillment, but very quickly that feeling fades and we are brought back to the current state of happiness we were in before. The psychological nature of this feeling is like a hit of dopamine that we want to experience over and over again, which means we are always looking for the next thing to make us FEEL that heightened sense of joy and happiness. King Solomon, who was one of the wealthiest men in history, had gained everything the world had to offer. At the end of it all he looked around, and in a seemingly low point of despair, he wrote that ALL of it was meaningless.
Without Christ, humanity is left reaching for that which satisfies, for that which brings lasting joy. And they will never find it, unless they experience the saving power of Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in their lives.
So let’s talk about Holy Spirit given joy and then we’ll look at how Jesus viewed joy as well.
Biblical Definition of Joy
When we look at what God has to say about joy, we get a very different picture. Biblical joy revolves around who God is, what He has done, and the hope that we have in His faithfulness.
Here are just a few short verses as evidence of this:
Rejoice in the Lord always
You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.
This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
My lips will shout for joy, when I sing praises to you; my soul also, which you have redeemed.
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
Biblical joy, that which causes us to rejoice, is centered on the character and nature of God and how He has worked in our lives. When God is the source of our joy, when we trust in who He is and find hope in His promises… listen, the circumstances in our life whether good or bad do not change who God is. And this reality provides joy in our lives regardless of the circumstances.
I want to first look at how Jesus approaches joy, and then look at a practical approach in light of what Jesus says.
Joy in the Life of Jesus
1. Jesus Realigns the Disciples Joy (Luke 10:17-20)
Jesus had just sent out 72 people to preach in villages in the region. They return and are so pumped, because lives were being changed. They were able to cast out demons and heal the sick. People were believing in the power of Jesus as the Spirit worked through them. So they come back and report all these things, and Jesus is like “I know! I saw it! I saw the progress that you made. I saw the enemy facing defeat. I saw your boldness, the power given to you.”
“But,” Jesus says, “be careful not to find joy in what YOU did, but instead place your joy in what God has done for you.” It’s an interesting turn, and almost seems discouraging to these young followers. The implication would be that they may have been a little bit puffed up with pride, like, look what we can do! And Jesus is like, “you can’t do any of it if it weren't’ for the work of God in your lives.” And while I don’t think Jesus is discouraging rejoicing in the fruit of gospel work, I do think He is making sure that they don’t lose sight of who it is that is doing the work. When God uses us to serve His kingdom purposes, no matter what that looks like, we rejoice because God has saved us and through His power we have the ability to love and serve others. And so in THAT we rejoice.
2. Jesus Promises Joy Out of Sorrow (John 16:20-22)
Jesus is telling the disciples, not in super clear terms, that He is going to die, and for a little while He will not be with them, but then He will be with them again. This comes true because of the resurrection, but the lesson here is about the sorrow that they will face. Your world will seem like it’s crumbling, and you will weep, and you will lament. And it’s ok to feel sad, it’s ok to weep, it’s ok to lament. There is a whole book in the Old Testament that teaches proper lament.
The disciples would feel sorrowful but they would see Jesus again and would rejoice! Like a mother who painfully labors, when the baby is born all of the pain is worth it, and Jesus even says the pain isn’t remembered because the joy that is felt in holding that baby will overwhelm the memory of the pain. This is a powerful joy. A joy that gives us the ability to look beyond the grief and find hope in the Savior. It allows proper perspective that while there is very real pain in this world, our life is but a vapor and then we will be in the presence of Jesus. And this doesn’t discount the sorrow. In fact Isaiah 53:3 says that Jesus “was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;” Jesus Himself felt grief, He experienced sorrow. But in the midst of that sorrow we have the ability, because of the fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives, to hope for the day when all is restored and brought to perfection.
3. Jesus Endured with the Hope of Joy (Hebrews 12:1-2)
Jesus endured the most awful death on the cross so that humanity might be saved. He struggled in the garden beforehand with what was to come. He prayed to the Father for another way. But, He endured beating, mockery, torture and crucifixion for the “joy that was set before Him.” Jesus willingly endured because there was joy to come. Again, this is powerful stuff. Maybe His joy was the act of love that saved humanity. Maybe His joy was found in complete submission to and fulfillment of the Father’s will. Maybe His joy was found in the knowledge of returning to glory at the right hand of the Father. Maybe His joy was wrapped up in all of this.
What we do know is that the power of joy drove Jesus to the most extreme act of love in the history of the world. He knew that eternal joy was coming so He kept fighting. This is what the writer of Hebrews is imploring us to do as well. Keep fighting the good fight of faith. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Run the race with endurance knowing that your joy will one day be complete. In other words, you will experience so much joy that there isn’t even room to fit one more ounce of it!
Application
Rejoicing in Trials (Read James 1:2)
James is not saying that the trials that we face should be a joyous occasion. Again, there is a spiritual discipline of lament that allows us to properly walk through grief and sorrow. The word “consider” that James uses has an interesting definition. It paints the “picture of one leading his or her mind through a reasoning process to arrive at a conclusion.” It involves careful thought, not quick decision. It involves a conscious judgment resting on deliberate weighing of the facts.” In other words when we face trials we are to pause and consider, not rush into any thoughts or speculations that may interfere with what God might be trying to do.
When we can pause and consider, and take into account the truth of who God is, what He has done and what He has promised to do, we will find that our trials are a means to an end. I thought this commentary from one pastor was so helpful as I was reading this week:
“Yet we know that God is not trying to frustrate us or defeat us but to conform us to the image of His Son and in so doing He wastes no circumstance, no adversity, no affliction, no sickness, no success, no failure, etc, in achieving His end, which in fact He will achieve. God never commands to do His will in any area, that He does not also supply us the grace and power necessary to fulfill it.”
One of the ways in which God conforms us to the image of Jesus is by allowing trials in our lives. Romans 5:3-5 says, “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
We rejoice, we find joy in the fact that no matter what circumstances come and go, the Lord never changes. When life is difficult and we walk through trials, we pause and seek the Lord, focusing our minds in His faithfulness through generations and in our lives as well. We rejoice that these momentary afflictions will cease, whether on this Earth or in heaven, and we will be in the presence of Jesus.
Joseph, in the book of Genesis was sold into slavery by His brothers, thrown into prison on false accusations, forgotten about by his fellow prisoners, but God had a plan. God would elevate Joseph to 2nd in command behind Pharaoh, and because of the wisdom given Joseph by God, he would come up with a plan to save tens of thousands of people in a famine that lasted 7 years. Some of those he saved were his brothers, the same ones that sold him into slavery out of jealousy, and after forgiving them and moving his family into Egypt, their father died, and the brothers feared that Joseph would have them killed. Joseph wept over their fear, and in a powerful moment here’s what he said, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”
No matter what we are going through, we can find joy because of who God is, because of what He has done for us, and because one day, we will rest in His presence, forever.
