There Is Joy

There Is Joy based from Jim Cymbala’s book Spirit Rising


In the late eighties, Bobby McFerrin wrote and performed a little song called "Don't Worry, Be Happy." Click to listen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHFDa9efCQU



Only played part of song in SS, so don’t feel like you have to!  One member said “Thanks a lot Hayard, now I will have this tune in my head all week”.

The song hit number one on the charts, and people enjoyed singing along with the happy little tune. Of course, the message offered a great psychological boost too. Don't worry. Just be happy. Let go of your anxi¬eties and enjoy life. It made sense. Being happy is probably something we'd all like to do more. But that leads to a simple question: how?

Happiness versus Joy

Happiness ebbs and flows based on our changing circumstances. A new baby or grandchild is born, and we're all smiles. We win a free vacation, and we're ecstatic! The boss gives a big raise just when we need the extra money, and we're elated. But the euphoria is only tem¬porary. Inevitably something changes and takes our happiness with it. The baby gets sick; our vacation gets rained on; our job is elimi¬nated by a corporate merger. The positive feeling is fleeting. At best we're left feeling empty, and at worst, even angry.



So how do we get our happiness back when the situation changes?



We can't wish happiness back. We can't chase it. Trying harder to regain it only produces frustration. If circumstances alone make us happy, then our situation has to change for us to be happy again. Yet that's precisely the reason we're unhappy. We don't, and never will, have control over the things that make for "don't worry, be happy."



Happiness is circumstantial and elusive, but joy is not circum¬stantial. We can have joy even when we're not happy. Some may hear Christians talking about joy and think that joy is just a religious word for happiness. But joy differs from happiness. If the situation is right, anyone can experience happiness. Even people who don't know God or who curse God can be happy. But they don't have joy, for that bless¬ing in life has a totally different source.



According to Scripture, the Holy Spirit produces joy. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control" (Gal. 5:22 - 23). Isn't it interesting that joy is mentioned immediately after love? Obviously God doesn't want us to live depressed, cranky, and bitter lives. He knows that happiness is fleeting, so through the Spirit, he gives us supernatural joy that transcends our circumstances. Joy is a beautiful gift that accompanies salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. It is a gift imparted by the Holy Spirit to our innermost being.



Inexpressible and Glorious Joy

If joy is a gift, we should expect to see more of it in the church, yet we're often surprised when we do. However, when we recognize that true joy doesn't come from our circumstances but rather from God, we begin to see joy as a blessing for everyday life. And that joy from the Spirit will make us distinctive to the culture around us.



HIV POSITIVE AND FULL OF JOY

A certain woman in our church is known for her sunny disposition and the joy in her heart; she's a real saint of God. One day more than fifteen years ago, she came to my office and said she needed to talk.

"I just found out that I have HIV," she said. "I contracted it from my husband. He's a drug addict."



I sat forward in my chair and lowered my head, thinking of the devastation in that sentence. "I'm here for two reasons, Pastor. The first is that I wanted to tell you personally so you wouldn't hear it from someone else. The sec¬ond is because I need counsel on whether I should tell my children, and if so, when would be the best time? I don't want them to be hurt if I don't tell them, but I don't want them to worry either."



As she told me this, she was amazingly composed. There was a sweetness about her spirit that caught me totally off guard. A part of me wanted to ask, "What planet do you come from?" But instead we talked, and then I prayed for her. When we finished, she asked sincerely, "Can I pray for you?"



That sweet lady started out by telling me she was HIV positive and then finished by praying for me! She hadn't read some book on positive thinking and then decided to give it a try. She hadn't psyched herself up to send good vibes into the universe so they would come back to her. This was a woman experiencing joy despite some very painful and undeserved circumstances.

.



JOY MAKES US DISTINCTIVE



The kind of joy this woman had was normal for the New Testament church, and it should be normal for us too. Should we be depressed that Jesus died for our sins and rose from the grave and that all of our sins are forgiven? Should we lament the knowledge that one day we're going to be with the Lord forever? Should the fact that our name is written in the Book of Life make us sad? No. Those things should give us great joy.

Peter wrote: "You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.” (1 Peter 1:8-9) Does a " glorious, inexpressible joy " describe your life, this class or our church? It should. The epistle to Rome is Paul's great theological document regarding justification by faith and other weighty doctrinal matters. Yet toward the end of his letter, the apostle declares that the kingdom of God isn't essentially about denominational positions. The kingdom isn't about who is right about whether the tribulation (distress or suffering resulting from oppression or persecution) times come before the rapture or after the rapture. Paul said that the “kingdom of God” is a matter of "…living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." (Rom. 14:17). That is how important joy is; it makes us distinctive as followers of Jesus Christ.

I'm not talking about emotions. What the apostle Paul described was a life of joy that comes from the Spirit. He wrote to the Thessalonian believers, "…you received the message with joy from the Holy Spirit in spite of the severe suffering it brought you. In this way, you imitated both us and the Lord." (1 Thess. 1:6).

If we saw a church filled with prejudice and anger, we would say, "That can't be a Christian church." Why? Because God is love, and the fruit of the Spirit is love. If there is no love, if there is a nasty atmosphere, then it can't be of God and of the Spirit.



Why shouldn't we draw the same conclusion when we see a joy¬less church? We often rationalize about why our lives aren't joy-filled, but we don't find depressed, cranky believers in the New Testament.



In the little church I grew up in, there was a middle-aged woman who was always dressed in black. She wore a black dress, a black hat, and black shoes. She always sat alone with a tight, pursed look on her face, and she never talked to anyone. I never even saw her smile. She would enter into the meetings and pray and listen to the Word and then leave. As a young child, I was afraid to even get near her. She looked like she had been baptized in lemon juice!



One day I got up the courage to ask another adult about her. "What's with that lady?" I asked.

The man gave me an understanding nod as If he knew from expe¬rience something that I didn't. "Oh, her. You can tell she walks very close to God." My little mind struggled with the thought. Walking close to God means you never smile? It means you have no friends? You never rejoice in Jesus? Why would anyone want to get close to God if that's what it did to you? Yet that is the picture some people have of God's plan for the Christian life - dark, somber, and joyless.

When we walk in the Spirit, when the Spirit controls us, he pro¬duces joy in our lives just as he produces love. Luke even said " ….Jesus was filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit" (Luke 10:21). All joy comes from the Holy Spirit. We can't manufacture it, call it up, try harder to get it, or make it happen on our own.

We "rejoice in the Lord" (Phil. 3:1) by remembering and claiming all the benefits he has provided now, and in the hereafter. We all have an unfortunate tendency to dwell exclusively on the problems and pain confronting us, but in Christ, we have a thousand blessings no one can take from us. Jesus told his Apostles that after He was gone there will be sorrow but then "you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy." (John 16:22). Later Paul reinforced Jesus' command by saying, "Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice!" (Phil. 4:4). Therefore, we need to resist the "joy thieves" that want to rob us of his precious gift.

In order to keep our joy, we must habitually "rejoice in the Lord," even when we feel nothing or are hurting. It is possible to feel sor¬row yet rejoice. To rejoice is to celebrate and glorify Christ no matter what. This cannot happen without relying on the Spirit. Only through Him can we have joy no matter what!



Joy and rejoicing might seem inconsequential to the heady, intel¬lectual types among us. But let's remember how vitally important joy is to our spiritual growth. Paul said: "Knowing this, I am convinced that I will remain alive so I can continue to help all of you grow and experience the joy of your faith" (Phil. 1:25). Paul linked our prog¬ress and growth in the faith with the joy that increases as we mature in Christ. Faith grows best in the soil of a heart that rejoices in Jesus despite what's going on around it. That's how David could write some of his most uplifting, joyous psalms while King Saul and the army of Israel were in hot pursuit to destroy him. The prophet Nehemiah said, "Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the LORD is your strength!” (Neh. 8:10). We require that joy for survival. We will never stand victoriously against Satan's daily assaults if our souls are filled with anger and resentment.



The early believers lived precarious lives, never knowing what their allegiance to Jesus might cost them. They faced ten times more difficulties than we do, yet they experienced a hundred times more joy! Let's pray as they did, that God might fill us with joy through the Spirit - not just a momentary pick- me- up from time to time, but a deep and continuous river of joy.