Joy - Fullness

While there, we spent time teaching in an English lab where college students could come to learn and to practice their English. The lab was really a house, home to a dear brother and sister and their children - they lived in part and we taught in another part

One of the things you would note upon entering the “yard” through the steel gate in a 6’ mud brick wall was a pair of goats tied to the trees.

Goats -one big white one and a smaller black/white one

one day afternoon classes cancelled

go back to apartment for afternoon break then return

strangers slowly coming in one at a time throughout the day

came back from afternoon break and mr black/white goat was gone

we were sent up to the roof for a meeting

told we were going to meet with a gathering of the underground pastors from this country

these gentlemen knew each other, or knew of each other, but had never meet as a group before

Shortly after we were informed about meeting with them, the pastors made their way upstairs and we were introduced, sat down,

and enjoyed a dinner - of black/white goat

whether it was the goat or the company, that was one of the tastiest meals I have ever eaten.

It’s hard to overstate how unique this experience was.

There were 6 gentlemen there, 7 including our host who I will call “Harry,” - and this was virtually the entirety of all the pastors in the whole country - a country that is approximately the size of MN, IA, MO, NE & KS combined with a total population of just over 4M people. Roughly 1 pastor to every 500K people.

Now, these gentlemen and their families (most were married with children) lived under the constant threat of persecution by the government or radical elements in the society. Almost every one of these brothers had been jailed and beaten - some on more than one occasion.

One brother I had a long conversation with had a small congregation that met, literally, in old dry wells and he had kept the congregation divided in two separate groups for almost 2 years - why? to make sure there were no government informants - if one group were compromised, the other would not.

One of the other brothers had a masters degree, yet drove a taxi to support his family because after he professed Christ, he was fired from his well-paying job and that employer made sure no one else would hire him.

It is hard for us to understand what it is like to live under those circumstances. Our natural tendency is to think they must live in constant fear.

We wouldn’t blame them for that, right?

But that is not how they live.

They do not live in fear, they live in joy, what I saw and heard from them was joy,

when I asked if there was anything was anything our team could provide to them - like financial or material support - their response was a resounding no - just give us prayer.

Not prayer like you and I would think, not prayer for protection or health or security - they just wanted prayer that Jesus would be known among their people.

And they were joyful, not giddy bubbly joyful, they were joy-full - not joyfullness, what I saw was joy - fullness — a fullness of joy in their manner, and speech and being.

In their joy - fullness there was in inexplicable or inexpressible peace.

It was captivating; it was magnetic; it was contagious; it was addictive - I don’t really have words to express it adequately. This presence of joy was peace.

Now I’m going to pause, but we will come back to these pastors in a few minutes...

Joy is one a word probably associated with Christmas more than any other holiday.

Luke 2:10 ESV

And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

Every time I hear that verse I think of Linus’ speech in A Charlie Brown Christmas - and it makes me happy. :)

It’s that type of warm, happy feeling that seems to dominate our understanding of joy. More of an emotional response than a state of being.

Webster’s defines joy as:

1: a: the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires : DELIGHT

Even the Church often follows the world in defining joy in this manner

“Tired of enduring life? Start enjoying life!”

Joy is seemingly reduced to a life strategy...

A few years back, Kay Warren - the wife of Rick Warren (Purpose Driven Life - Saddleback Church) - wrote a book called “Choose Joy - Because Happiness Isn’t Enough”

In her book, Kay defines joy as:

“...The settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life, the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is going to be all right, and the determined choice to praise God in all things.”

(I actually had that quote posted on the wall in my office for a long time. )

I’m not saying Webster’s, Kay Warren, or even “Joy Church” are wrong, but circling back to my story, I don’t think any of these explain the joy - fullness these brothers exhibited. There certainly are scripture passages, many of the actually, that utilize the word “joy” in a manner that reflects an emotional response, but the fullness of joy is something beyond emotional response, it is something far deeper.

In talking this through with Tina - which is always a wise move on my part - she recommended that I give everyone a chance to digest what I’m about to say...

So, bear with me here, set aside what I am going to guess is your natural, knee-jerk, reaction to say, “Huh? That doesn’t sound right.” and as Tina said, I needed to take a moment and think deeply about that and now I understand.

Here is my definition of joy:

Joy, deep heartfelt, enduring joy is an absence of fear. Take a minute and think about this - Joy is the absence of fear. Joy - fullness is the absence of fear.

I think there is a direct correlation between joy and fear - more joy, less fear, more fear, less joy. Joy is the absence of fear. Let’s take a look at our text...

Proverbs 10:28 ESV

The hope of the righteous brings joy, but the expectation of the wicked will perish.

OK, geek moment here.... What is not readily apparent in this verse is that there are actually two different words for hope. The one translated “hope” and the one translated “expectation.”

Tiqwa, the word translated “expectation” occurs 32 times in the OT - 30 of those times it is translated as “hope.” Only 2 times is it translated “expectation.” Here in 10:28 and in its sister proverb 11:23. If you are using the NIV, you will note they reverse this and translate the first word as “prospect” and the second as “hope.”

I’m certainly not here to criticize who did those translations as they are far smarter than I. I believe the translation teams were trying to make a comparison here, drawing attention to the fact two different words were used, but, (Jay speaking here) I think the best translation is having both translated as “hope” so the passage reads,

The hope of the righteous brings joy, but the hope of the wicked will perish.

This concludes our geek moment...

Back to the message...

The hope of the righteous brings joy…

The idea here is that joy is rooted in hope. At the risk of sounding obvious - Your joy is only as sure as your hope. From an earthly perspective, there are generally two things you can put your hope in - things or people.

First. Joy rooted in things (including money) is a false hope - things will always be fleeting - the “shiny new object (or car, or phone, or clothes, etc.) will always rust, or break, or be stolen, or lost in some disaster or simply fade away; there is no permanence, no endurance and certainly no peace; things may bring happiness - but only temporarily.

Hope in things will always lead to fear. Fear of loosing things, fear of not having the latest and greatest, fear of not having enough. Money and things are always a false hope - they are the hope of the wicked and they will perish along with their joy.

Second. Joy rooted in people is also a false hope. There are two kinds of hope in people - hope in others, and hope in yourself. Things are fleeting, people are disappointing. Sorry to burst your bubble, but I’m sinful, you are sinful, everyone is sinful (and that is not a good thing). And, sinful as we are, we are prone to sinning, we are prone to, among other things, lying, cheating, stealing, anger, bitterness, envy, and a laundry list of other ignoble behaviors.

Hope in self leads to pride, arrogance and spiritual blindness and death; ultimately leading to fear - fear of failure or not measuring up.

Hope in others leads to idol worship, false hope and division; it ultimately leads to fear - fear of loss, fear of hurt, fear of abandonment.

While godly relationships may bring happiness and a measure of joy, we are all going to die. Therefore, at the very best, hope in a person is fleeting. People are always a false hope - and such hope will perish along with its joy.

There is a possible third category - hope in false gods. I’m not going to spend too much time on this one, but I want you to note and remember, hope in false gods always - and I mean always - leads back to the problem of hope in self. Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Sikhism, Confucianism, Shintoism, Shamanism, Voodoo, Wickanism… Every religion (including atheism and agnosticism) has the self at the center of salvation. You must do better, do the right things, know the right things, go through the right process, etc. in order to attain or earn your “salvation.”

This is our natural, sinful, inclination - thinking that we can fix what we have broken. Worship of false gods will always lead back to the problem of hope in self - pride, arrogance, spiritual blindness, death and fear of failure, or loss, or not measuring up - not being good enough for the false god to “save.”

Your joy is only as sure as your hope.

That was the bad news, now the Good news! Christian JOY is uniquely rooted in hope in Jesus, in what He did on our behalf and who He is, not in things, not in people, but in Jesus’ birth, life, death and resurrection. This hope is not fleeting (like things), it is eternal. This hope does not lead to fear of loss, hurt, abandonment or failure (like self or people) because Jesus is not sinful, He is holy, He is God and God is Love - perfect love - and perfect love casts out all fear. Hope in things and people ultimately leads to fear - Hope in Jesus leads to love and joy and peace.

1 John 4:16–18 ESV

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

And, what does Love bring forth? Fruit… Gal 5:22

Galatians 5:22–23 ESV

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

It starts with God - the object of our hope - God’s love that drives out fear, and in the absence of fear there is true joy (remember, joy is the absence of fear) and in that joy peace is found, peace which manifests in patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Does this make sense?

Now I can circle back to my story about these brothers who are joy-full in the midst of persecution. They are not joyful because of the persecution, they aren’t joyful about being imprisoned or beaten or having their wives and children threatened. They are not joyful about being renounced and disowned by their families or about losing their jobs. They are not joyful about those things, but they are joy-full in the midst of these things, in the trials and persecutions, why?, because of Jesus, because He is the object of their hope.

They are not joy-full because of their circumstances, they are joy-full because of their Savior, their hope, their anchor, Jesus. They are the embodiment of the joy expressed by Paul when he wrote in Romans,

Romans 5:3–5 ESV

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.

Does this make sense? Can you hear what God is saying through His Word?

I wish I could say I have perfected this kind of hope, this kind of joy, this kind of peace, that it was the dominant characteristic of who I am - maybe you are, but, sadly I’m not there yet. One thing I know for sure, true joy is powerful.. (tears story)

So, what is the object (or objects) of your hope? Take a minute to honestly reflect - is it in money or things? Is it in others? Your self? Do you know the fear associated with those objects of hope? How divided is your hope? Let’s be honest, we probably all have divided our hope among a few of these - things, people and Jesus. (maybe imagine a world without fear - a world of joy) Things and people lead to fear; Jesus leads to joy. Which do you want? Circling back to Kay Warren, Choose Joy - Choose Jesus.

Maybe this understanding - joy is the absence of fear - changes our understanding of Luke’s Christmas narrative a bit,

Luke 2:10 ESV

And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

Jesus is good news of great joy - amen!

May we all learn to lives of joy - fullness, just like our great and wonderful savior, Jesus.