Hey gang! Josh here. This week at Northview, we will be forgoing our weekly meeting in order to make room for our annual Trunk or Treat. While I trust you all will still do your homework on our fruit of the Spirit JOY for this week, I wanted to add my two cents because it’s too important to skip.
Defining Joy
When I think back to my childhood, the word “joy” seemed to come up a lot more. Maybe like me you remember the children’s song “Jesus and others and you / what a wonderful way to spell ‘joy.’” That was a good place to start: putting Jesus first, and putting others before yourself. The implication is if you do this, you will have joy. And I have to admit, I do experience joy when I serve others.
But the song doesn’t say anything about what joy is. We tend to get the meaning from context, and I heard about joy often in songs and Bible verses. For example, the angels speaking to the shepherds in the field announced good news of great joy (Luke 2:10). Or there’s that praise song that’s almost a little prayer: “Take joy my King in what You hear. May it be a sweet, sweet sound in Your ear.” Maybe around Christmas time, we might sing, “Joyful, joyful, we adore thee, God of glory, Lord of love!”
So what does this teach us about joy? Joy is a kind of gladness or delight. One dictionary I read said joy is “self-conscious self-transport.” (I think they meant “you’re happy and you know it.”) It’s an overflow of positive emotions in response to something good. It’s closely tied to gratitude and appreciation. It’s a heart of celebration over something good.
Joy and Worship
And it’s no coincidence that I keep coming back to music: joy is expressed in rejoicing. So when we rejoice in song, we express our joy. That’s why if you’re old school you might have sung “rejoice, rejoice, O Christian, Christ Jesus lives today!” Joy is inextricably linked to our worship.
This is why I was taken aback at the stories my best friend told me when he took a job as a Kirby vacuum cleaner salesman. In the morning, he would gather together with the other salesmen and their manager would lead them in songs like, “I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy,… to sell Kirby.”
What?!? No!! That’s about Jesus! Can they do that?
It turns out they didn’t need anyone’s permission. They could and they did. Why? I doubt it’s because they really did enjoy their work that much. (There it is again, see?) It was because they wanted to use the song to manufacture joy in the task ahead of them. And music can do that, it can help lead us into feeling one way or another. That’s why we have to be careful what music we listen to and what we sing. Where are we allowing our hearts to be led?
Despite the corporate singing, my friend didn’t have that joy, so he didn’t last very long in that job.
Joy and Circumstances
Do you have joy? We live much of our lives in search of happiness or pleasure, people or things or experiences that will fill us up. And when I was young, I was taught that joy was different than all that. Happiness and pleasure are about circumstances, but I was told joy transcends circumstances. I think that’s mostly right, but today I would tweak that description. I think the better way to think of it is this: the kind of joy that the Spirit produces in you isn’t disconnected from circumstances, but it’s a reflection of deeper, more important circumstances.
No one in the Bible takes joy in nothing. Instead, James says to count it all joy when you face trials of various kinds—not because the trials are enjoyable, but because they indicate something bigger: that God is working to produce good things in you (James 1:2ff). We don’t rejoice in the trial itself, but we rejoice in our growth, and in God’s work. And so no matter how bad my immediate circumstances are, if I am saved, there is always something to rejoice about. Am I sick? One day I will live forever with Jesus! Am I out of work? God still has plans for me!
Yet I Will Rejoice
The book of Habbakuk ends with a short but powerful hymn:
Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
GOD, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer’s;
he makes me tread on my high places. (Hab. 3:17-19)
Imagine sitting there: no food to eat, and no prospect that any will soon grow. The barn is empty of livestock. What will you do? It seems bleak. There is nothing to rejoice in there. But at that same time, in that very moment, the God of the universe is present. God sees. He knows. He cares. He loves. He is the rescuer. And that is worth rejoicing in. Because hunger cannot separate me from God. Destitution, sickness, plague, a swarm of foes—no, Romans 8 tells us nothing can separate us from the love of God.
If you know that, if you realize what that means, then there is never a moment you lack a reason for joy. The challenge, of course, is to set your mind and heart on what matters most.
Locating Joy
If you asked me who best models joy for me, I would have to say Joni Eareckson-Tada. She came to speak at chapel twice while I was a student at Dallas. And there she was, this now aged, long wheelchair bound, physically frail woman, at the time facing cancer, and even fighting for breath so she could simply keep talking to us. And even in all of that, her eyes lit up with the joy of all she had in Christ. Unfailing joy. Because she had an unfailing reason for joy. And she still does.
What do you take joy in? What sparks joy for you? If you’re not sure, understand that there’s a close connection between experiencing joy and expressing joy. So what lights you up? What do you spontaneously celebrate? What gets you excited? That’s your joy. And there’s nothing wrong with enjoying God’s good gifts here on earth. Maybe you enjoy the beauty of autumn colors or excellent music or a good book. Maybe it’s athletic achievement, delicious food, your children, your grandchildren, your wife, your work, your house. Good! By all means, enjoy them. The challenge is: do you also radiate joy about who God is and what He has done for you? When you enjoy these good things, do you also rejoice in the God who has allowed you to experience them?
Check Your Face
A popular Christian comedian was known to joke “check your heart.” Good advice. But maybe a good test for joy would be “check your face” instead. Are you downcast? Dismayed? Frustrated? Hurt? Angry? Maybe you have a right to be. Joy doesn’t deny the reality of any of those things. But it should temper them. It should help you keep them in perspective. Like David said,
Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation (Psa. 42:5)
If nothing else, joy keeps our heads up because our eyes are fixed on the horizon, in hope. We rejoice because what we hope for is true and certain. If all else fails, one day Christ will return and the dead will rise. One day we will be judged and accepted because of what Jesus did for us. One day we will receive glorified bodies. One day every wrong will be made right. One day God will make His dwelling with man forever. One day we will get to experience the things we look forward to now. Joy teaches us to be glad for that promise. It’s yours today.
Conclusion
Joy is delight in a good thing, and Christian joy delights in the goodness of God, who is faithful no matter what. If you need help holding on to joy right now, tell someone. Share it with your group. Find some good worship songs that help you gain perspective. Read the Psalms and reflect on how they process life. It’s ok to be disappointed or to grieve or to feel all other kinds of negative emotions, at least sometimes. But as you grow, what the Spirit works in you is a joy that’s present in the middle of the grief, like a good friend’s hand on your shoulder.
Brothers, God is with us now, and there are better things to come. Take joy!
“Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer” (Rom 12:12).
