Attributes of God - Joy

Joy - A quality or attitude of delight and happiness, which is ultimately grounded in the work of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Among the many situations in which joy is experienced, Scripture recognizes the supreme feeling of joy as being accepted in the presence of God.

So, what makes you happy? What gives you joy?

Interestingly Psychology Today says that Joy is a core human experience, but we often don't understand the true depth of its meaning in our lives. It goes on to say “Many people have an enduring and underlying sense of something that is deeper than the emotion of happiness, and that has been attributed to describe as joy. It is more complex than a feeling or an emotion. It is something one can practice, cultivate, or make a habit. Consequently, I suggest that joy is most fully understood as a virtue that involves our thoughts, feelings, and actions in response to what matters most in our lives. Thus, joy is an enduring, deep delight in what holds the most significance.”

Truly, the Joy we find from the Lord is the source of our strength. The relationship we have with him is enduring, it impacts our thoughts, our feelings, and our actions - making us want to respond to His interaction with us. Joy in the Lord provides us with a peace, a comfort, a feeling that we cannot get anywhere else.

Nation of Israel

Nehemiah 8:10 ESV

10 Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

The people of Judah had just finished rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem. It was not as high or as thick or as impressive as it had once been and was certainly less impressive than the walls of other cities—enemy cities. The people had many detractors who did not want the walls to be rebuilt. The next step was to “rebuild” the people by teaching them the Law of God that had been neglected in many respects. Ezra read the Book of the Law to the people, who were convicted of their ignorance and disobedience. They were repentant and began to weep.

However, as important as this revival was, God did not want His people to remain dejected. He had not rejected them but was in the process of restoring them. “Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and teacher of the Law, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, ‘This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.’ For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law. They acknowledged they had not kept God’s laws, commandments, statutes, and rules.

As a result, they were rejected, dejected, beat down. While they had been given the opportunity to come home during the time of Cyrus, they were having a hard time. While trying to resettle Judah, all the neighboring countries were against the rebuilding. They tried to rebuild the temple, and the neighbors caused trouble. A rebuild order was given, and the neighbors still tried to cause trouble. The walls and gates were rebuilt, and the neighbors REALLY tried to cause trouble. For 52 days, they sweated, labored, stood as armed guards, can you imagine how worn out they must have been? Mentally, and physically exhausted.

But here is the awesome thing, even though God had allowed them to be in exile for 70 years, He allowed them to return home and while it was not easy to re-establish themselves… God was not going to allow them to stay dejected.

“And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” God had taken them from exile to blessing! He gave them their freedom, and while the people owed Him their freedom, their worship, and their service, God was not wanting them to wallow in their pity. He wanted them to delight in God’s goodness, grace, and mercy.

God’s Pleased with His People

Psalm 149:4–9 ESV

4 For the Lord takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation. 5 Let the godly exult in glory; let them sing for joy on their beds. 6 Let the high praises of God be in their throats and two-edged swords in their hands, 7 to execute vengeance on the nations and punishments on the peoples, 8 to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron, 9 to execute on them the judgment written! This is honor for all his godly ones. Praise the Lord!

Is this not the most wonderful thing to be reminded of - the Lord delights in His people. Isn’t it awesome to know that God truly delights in us as we delight in our joy in the Lord.

In this Psalm, the song is praising God for His saving them from their enemies. As a Christian, we know the biggest enemy we will ever face is Satan. When we give our life to the Lord, then we are saved - regardless of our stature, our position, our authority when we humbly bow before the Lord He gives us salvation!

Romans 10:13 ESV

13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

EVERYONE! That excludes NO ONE! The church is also to come together in worship and praise to God. He delights when we come together for the purpose of lifting Him up and when we worship the Lord in His house and with His people…then He will be pleased. We can have all the excuses in the world to not come out on Sunday morning, but I do believe God is not pleased when we do not come together to praise and worship Him.

Hebrews 10:24–25 ESV

24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Does this mean there is some unpardonable sin by not coming together in worship? NO, but I do believe we should encourage one another to come together in corporate worship because it pleases God and He, in return, blesses us and the church.

What keeps us from church? Pride.

What leads us to salvation? Humility.

I want to ask you one question - can humility and pride be exhibited at the same time?

We should never allow praising and giving thanks to God to become a stale routine. As we lift our hearts and voices to the Lord, we need to reflect on our lives over the past week and be fully aware of all that God did to help and bless us. And we can’t do that…if we aren’t in church.

Genuine worship involves submitting ourselves to His lordship over us. When we come into the Lord’s house, we should ask the Holy Spirit to search us and reveal any disobedience in our lives. When He does, we need to confess our sins, repent of them, and make fresh commitments to walk in obedience to Christ.

God gave His Son to die for us so that we could be forgiven of our sins and have an eternal relationship with Him. We should never go to God’s house without praising Him for loving us so much that He would make the ultimate sacrifice for us.

Not to say we cannot and should not praise Him privately also, we should! No matter what we are doing, where we are, we should be praising God for all He has done for us. Whether it be singing to a song in our car or our home, to keeping the attitude of prayer all through the day, to audibly praising Him throughout the day.

If God loved us so much…then should we not love Him just as much?

Reminder of Joy

John 15:11 ESV

11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

In this teaching, Christ reminds us that we are to abide in Him. He uses the vine as the example here, and the need to remain in God. Why? Because every vine that produces fruit, is pruned so that it bears more fruit BUT the vines that do not produce fruit… He removes. God is the source of our strength, of our nutrition, of our life. Here Jesus reminds us that, if we abide in Him, that he too will bear much fruit and by not abiding in Him leads one to not bear fruit. Jesus reminds them that it is not for threats, it’s not for intimidation, but it is truly to show or to prove we are His disciples.

Jesus is reminding us, again, of the SOURCE of our joy. When we as believers see fruit developing it turns our minds to Him, we acknowledge that only He could do such things, and they choose to accept God or close their minds and reject Him.

Jesus loves believers with the very same love God has for Him. He completes our joy.

It is through accepting Jesus that we find true joy, and He joys in us.

Joy in Heaven

Luke 15:7 ESV

7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

Jesus tells of the shepherd who loved the one lost sheep so much, that he left the 99 others to go find the love. My goodness, aren’t we glad Jesus came looking for us? But, as a shepherd, one thing we have to keep in mind is…the sheep can still run. It can still try to stay away from the shepherd. It has to WANT to return to the flock also. Just the same as with us, the sheep represents a repentant sinner. You see a sinner must stop running away, and return back to God.

Repentance means to change; to turn; to change one’s mind; to turn one’s life. It is a turning away from sin and turning toward God. It is a change of mind, a forsaking of sin. It is putting sin out of one’s thoughts and behavior. It is resolving never to think or do a thing again. (Cp. Mt. 3:2; Lk. 13:2–3; Acts 2:38; 3:19; 8:22; 26:20.) Truthfully, two turns must be taken - the turn AWAY from sin, and the turn back TO God.

Repentance is more than sorrow. Sorrow may or may not be involved in repentance. A person may repent simply because he wills and acts to change; or a person may repent because he senses an agonizing sorrow within. But the sense or feeling of sorrow is not repentance. Repentance is both the change of mind and the actual turning of one’s life away from sin and toward God.

And notice what Jesus says when one turns toward God that there is “more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”

There is no doubt, that there is a joyous ovation, with singing, praise, and complete elation when one sinner turns back to God. Joy, then, could be defined as the emotion from God when one turns back to Him.

Closing

Jesus is the SOURCE of our joy.

Joy is divine. It is possessed and given only by God.

Joy does not depend on circumstances or happiness. Happiness depends upon happenings, but the joy that God implants in the believer’s heart overrides all, even the most troublesome matters of life and death.

The source of the believer’s joy is many.

The fellowship of the Father and His Son brings joy.

Victory over sin, death, and hell brings joy.

Repentance brings joy.

The hope of glory brings joy.

The Lord’s Word, the revelations, commandments, and promises which He made bring joy.

The commandments of Christ and the will of God bring joy. Obeying and doing a good job stirs joy within the believer’s heart.

Prayer brings joy.

The presence and fellowship of believers bring joy.

Giving brings joy.

Hearing of others walk in the Lord brings joy.

Converts bring joy.

Acts 3:19 ESV

19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out,

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