Off the Chain with Joy

This is Jim. He alway had a huge smile, his shirt half un-tucked, and sometimes one of his shoestrings untied just bubbling with joy.

He was one of the happiest guy I have ever met. I say ever met because this week my friend call me and said well Jim just died of cancer. Jim was a pastor.

Even when facing a challenge or a trial he reminded joyful and was often quoted as saying, “isn’t this great!” At his funeral they said He was off the chain. Everyone knew what they meant. He was off the chain with joy.

I wish I could be more like Jim. but I am always too stressed out, or depressed, or scared, or anxious. or insert any negative emotion.

Jim was a Bible verse...He was a living 1 Thessalonians 5:16

1 Thessalonians 5:16 CSB

Rejoice always,

What is the shortest verse in all of the bible.

Pictures of the verses in Greek

Once you bring Old Testament verses into the conversation, things get even more complicated. Biblical Hebrew did not originally have vowels. Modern versions of the Hebrew Bible usually do have vowels. So, do you count the vowels or not? In English, Job 3:2 reads, “He said,” with only 6 letters. In Hebrew, Job 3:2 has 13 letters if you only count consonants and 18 letters if you include vowels. Even shorter is 1 Chronicles 1:25, which reads, “Eber, Peleg, Reu” in English, with 12 letters. In Hebrew, though, 1 Chronicles 1:25 only has 9 letters if you only count consonants—14 letters if you include vowels. (From Got Questions website)

Verse 16 how does this apply to a Christian who is struggling with depression or any other debilitating negative emotion.

1st I want to say something that I have heard pastors say over an over again and I questioned if it was really true before I said it to you today. Because I did not want to say something just because everyone else says it.

“Joy is different from happiness.” Here is why I believe that is true.

happy (adj.) an etymology

late 14c., "lucky, favored by fortune, being in advantageous circumstances, prosperous;" of events, "turning out well," from hap (n.) "chance, fortune" + -y (2). Sense of "very glad" first recorded late 14c. Meaning "greatly pleased and content" is from 1520s. From Greek to Irish, a great majority of the European words for "happy" at first meant "lucky." An exception is Welsh, where the word used first meant "wise."

The word for Rejoice here has noting to do with luck or “happen chance” but with thankfulness towards God. At all time and in all things. In the good time and the bad. Even in the unhappy times. This is exactly why Paul says in verse 18 give thanks in everything. Rejoice always and give thanks in everything are related don’t you think?

George Mueller, who ran the famous orphanage in Bristol England said, “I never allow myself to being the day without facing before God anything that has left me unhappy or distressed, because I want to be before Him always in the spirit of joyfulness.”

Jesus was rejected by men, Before He was born He was called a Man of sorrows. ...

Isaiah 53:3 CSB

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering who knew what sickness was. He was like someone people turned away from; he was despised, and we didn’t value him.

Yet when you read the gospels you see that His spirit was always one of joyfulness and especially hope! Even though He wept in John 11 at the news of the death of His dear friend Lazarus. The over arching emotion that Jesus exudes in that story is one of optimism and hope. This was because of His faith doing the will of the Father and in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection.

We often blame others when we feel sad or depressed and sometimes it is because there is an unwillingness to forgive on our part or we have unresolved conflict in our lives. So often we only have ourselves to blame because we are out of fellowship with God. The next time you are struggling with depression or sadness or fear or anxiety or anger or any other emotion that robs your ability to rejoice do something with me please. Stop and ask yourself if you are in fellowship with God. The pray to Him and ask Him to restore your faith and fellowship and joy in Him.

Let me show you how this works. Look at Romans 8 with me. Lots of Christian counseling text books uses this approach to resolving conflict or depression.

In Romans 8 look at what it says Jesus has done for us. One christian counseling book I looked at asked the readers to list 10 things that Jesus does for them. Verse 26 and on is where you will find this.

He helps us with our weakness. 2. He helps us pray and even prays for us. 3. He searches are heart and minds so he understands us perfectly and knows exactly how we feel. 4. He works things out for us. Not only that but He works things out for us in a good way. 5. He has called us meaning He has a plan for us.

Now do you not feel more like rejoicing after you consider all these things? Its like the lyrics to that praise song…How can I keep from singing your praise…how can I keep from shouting your name.

Verse 17 Rejoicing is related to prayer. Actually prayer is how we rejoice.

The Bible Knowledge Commentary 5:17

The adverb for continually (adialeiptōs, also in 1:3) was used in Greek of a hacking cough. Paul was speaking of maintaining continuous fellowship with God as much as possible in the midst of daily living in which concentration is frequently broken.

Not about always talking, that is not possible, Even Cyrus has to take a break from talking sometimes. It is about an attitude of prayer. An attitude of dependence on God.

Verse 18

The Bible Knowledge Commentary 5:18

5:18. The two previous commands deal with one’s time (“always” and “continually”); this one deals with his circumstances. Christians are to give thanks to God in every circumstance of life. The fact that God works everything together for good for those who love Him (Rom. 8:28) is the basis for this entreaty.

Have you ever thought of this? Thankfulness and holiness go together. That is they are both God’s will for us.

This verse say that it is God’s will that we are thankful.

Earlier in his epistle Paul says something similar about holiness and the will of God.

1 Thessalonians 4:3 CSB

For this is God’s will, your sanctification: that you keep away from sexual immorality,

Some translations translate the word sanctification as holiness.

There is something about thankfulness that keeps us joyful, I would even say up-bet and positive.

If you live a holy life and a happy life you will be living in God’s will.

No one pays you to be negative.

When we express gratitude and receive the same, our brain releases dopamine and serotonin, the two crucial neurotransmitters responsible for our emotions, and they make us feel ‘good’. They enhance our mood immediately, making us feel happy from the inside.

By consciously practicing gratitude everyday, we can help these neural pathways to strengthen themselves and ultimately create a permanent grateful and positive nature within ourselves.

1. Gratitude releases toxic emotions

Studies have shown that hippocampus and , the two main sites regulating emotions, memory, and bodily functioning, get activated with feelings of gratitude.

A study conducted on individuals seeking mental health guidance revealed that participants of the group who wrote letters of gratitude besides their regular counseling sessions, felt better and recovered sooner (Wong et al., 2018).

The other group in the study that were asked to journal their negative experiences instead of writing gratitude letters reported feelings of anxiety and depression.

2. Gratitude reduces pain

Counting Blessings vs Burdens (Emmons & McCullough, 2003), a study conducted on evaluating the effect of gratitude on physical wellbeing, indicated that 16% of the patients who kept a gratitude journal reported reduced pain symptoms and were more willing to work out and cooperate with the treatment procedure. A deeper dig into the cause unleashed that by regulating the level of dopamine, gratitude fills us with more vitality, thereby reducing subjective feelings of pain.

3. Gratitude improves sleep quality

Studies have shown that receiving and displaying simple acts of kindness activates the hypothalamus, and thereby regulates all bodily mechanisms controlled by the hypothalamus, out of which sleep is a vital one.

Hypothalamic regulation triggered by gratitude helps us get deeper and healthier sleep naturally everyday. A brain filled with gratitude and kindness is more likely to sleep better and wake up feeling refreshed and energetic every morning (Zahn et al., 2009).

4. Gratitude aids in stress regulation

Studies on gratitude and appreciation, found that participants who felt grateful showed a marked reduction in the level of cortisol, the stress hormone. They had better cardiac functioning and were more resilient to emotional setbacks and negative experiences.

Significant studies over the years have established the fact that by practicing gratitude we can handle stress better than others. By merely acknowledging and appreciating the little things in life, we can rewire the brain to deal with the present circumstances with more awareness and broader perception.

5. Gratitude reduces anxiety and depression

By reducing the stress hormones and managing the autonomic nervous system functions, gratitude significantly reduces symptoms of depression and anxiety. At the neurochemical level, in the neural modulation of the prefrontal cortex, the brain site responsible for managing negative emotions like guilt, shame, and violence

Feeling grateful and appreciating life triggers the ‘good’ hormones and regulates effective functioning of the immune system.

Scientists have suggested that by activating the reward center of the brain, gratitude exchange alters the way we see the world and ourselves.

Jim:

after the funeral we had the meal at church

his aunt had the same cancer at the same time and they did treatments at the same cancer center.

When I was setting there getting pumped full of drugs. She would see Jim there across the hall getting the same Chemo and He was just laughing and his laugh was infectious.

someone said at his funeral above all Jim loved to preach. He loved it some much that He thought he was going to preach his own funeral. Well in a way he did. He lived joy! He never really talked much about it but everyone there knew he was off the chain with Joy.

He was always joyful and always thankful.

They joked at his funeral that they would all live by WWJD what would Jim do because he was so Christ like it was almost the same as what would Jesus do.

I think 1 Thessalonians 5:16 tells us to be Be like Jim.

Be off the chain with joy.