Joy or Joyless?
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Introduction
Introduction
Good evening everyone, and thank you for coming tonight. Like I always say, I know it means the world to these kids when people come and support them as they worship the Lord.
Are you in spiritual danger? If you were, how would you know?
One key sign of spiritual danger is losing your joy. Don’t skim past what Paul says at the end of Philippians 3:1: “Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.” Paul reminds them to rejoice because it is safe.
Joy is one of the vital gauges on the dashboard of the Christian life. When the needle dips — when you lose your joy — you should take note. To stay safe, you need to pay attention to your joy.
Life-and-Death Canaries
Life-and-Death Canaries
How does this work? Here’s an illustration.
Coal miners know that dangerous gases can gather silently and secretly in the tunnels. Carbon monoxide will asphyxiate them. Methane explodes.
A methane explosion took the lives of 12 men in the 2006 Sago mine disaster in West Virginia. In 1906, almost 1,100 miners were killed in Courrières, France in one massive chain of explosions.
“It’s hard for Satan to tempt a believer filled with joy in God with the empty pleasures of this world.”
But in the early days of coal mining, they found an effective, low-tech solution: They brought canaries into the mines. A canary’s metabolism is very sensitive to air quality. As long as the bright yellow birds chirp and sing, miners know the air is safe. If gas levels rise, the canaries stop singing, wobble on their perch, and eventually fall to the floor of the cage.
Christian joy is like that singing, yellow bird. One of the first effects of sin or doctrinal error is that we lose our joy in Christ. When your heart stops singing, that is a warning to watch your life and doctrine closely.
Jesus’s Joy in You
Jesus’s Joy in You
Jesus himself connected our daily spiritual life with joy.
If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
If your soul is satisfied in Christ, you will rejoice in Christ. Take your eyes off Christ, and you’ll lose your joy. Christian joy is a barometer of your spiritual life.
Don’t confuse this unique joy with other upbeat feelings. Genuine Christian joy is not the power of positive thinking. Joy is not a bubbly, optimistic personality. Joy is not being happy because life is going my way. Joy is not walking through life with a naïve, glass-half-full attitude.
“The joy we have in Jesus cannot be extinguished by the circumstances of life.”
Jesus says it is my (His) joy . . . in you. And Paul says, Rejoice in the Lord. Joy is the emotion of salvation. It is the joy of seeing, knowing, loving, and trusting Jesus Christ. We cannot generate this true joy ourselves — it is the product of the Holy Spirit in us (Galatians 5:22). Joy is a glorious gladness and deep delight in the person of Jesus Christ.
Such joy cannot be extinguished by the circumstances of life. It is a God-given joy greater and stronger than any trouble that comes into my life. As the prophet Habakkuk says,
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.
As a spiritual barometer, joy is not a slave to circumstances. The light of Jesus’s face shines in the darkest night. Jesus said in
John 16:22 (ESV)
So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.
Before I get into my three points, I’d like to begin by showing you just how important joy is throughout the bible. Joy is commanded all over the bible. I’m gonna go kind of quick here.
It was commanded of God’s first-covenant people, Israel, perhaps especially in the Psalms.
Let Israel be glad in his Maker;
let the children of Zion rejoice in their King!
Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
When the Lord restores the fortunes of his people,
let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.
Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous,
and give thanks to his holy name!
Serve the Lord with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!
Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous,
and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!
With literally hundreds more instances throughout the Old Testament.
Beyond just Israel, God commands all nations to rejoice in their Maker
Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you judge the peoples with equity
and guide the nations upon earth. Selah
Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
In the New Testament, God himself, in full manhood, doesn’t change his tune once he’s become the “man of sorrows” in our fallen world (Isaiah 53:3), but commands our joy as much as anyone, and gives us even more reason to rejoice.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.
Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’
and
And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’
If it weren’t plain enough at this point, the apostle Paul drives it home further in his letters to the churches.
Romans 12:12 (ESV)
Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.
Romans 12:15 (ESV)
Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.
Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.
Rejoice always,
Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.
Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.
Not that we’re dull to the multifaceted pains of life in this age, but in Christ we have access to subterranean joy that is simultaneous with, and deeper than, the greatest of our sorrows — It is like it says in 2 Corinthians 6:10
as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.
One reason the Bible is so relentless in insisting on our joy is because of the goodness of God. The imperative to joy in us is based on the indicative of good in him.
Deuteronomy 26:11 (ESV)
And you shall rejoice in all the good that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the sojourner who is among you.
Joy in the heart of the creature corresponds to goodness in the heart of the Creator. Joy is the fitting response in the receiver to the goodness of the Giver.
Joy Protects from Religion
Joy Protects from Religion
First, joy keeps you safe as you serve. If you lose your joy, that could be a sign that your work for the Lord is no longer worship. Joy protects you from serving God for the wrong reasons.
George Müller was an evangelist and orphanage director in Bristol, England. He is famous for his tremendous faith and amazingly effective ministry — he cared for over 10,000 orphans over the course of his life. And joy was Müller’s first priority each day.
I saw more clearly than ever that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was to have my soul happy in the Lord. The first thing to be concerned about was not how much I might serve the Lord but how I might get my soul into a happy state, and how the inner life might be nourished.
Working hard for Jesus — even caring for thousands of orphans — is a cold and empty duty if we have lost the warmth of our love for Christ. Joy keeps you safe from serving as a religious duty.
Joy Protects from Temptation
Joy Protects from Temptation
Second, joy keeps you safe from temptation. Matthew Henry said, “Joy in the Lord will guard you from the empty pleasures the tempter uses to bait his hooks.”
Joy protects you because joy in Christ comes from being satisfied in Christ. I like what Jonathan Edwards says.
The enjoyment of (God) is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, children, or the company of earthly friends are but shadows, but God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams, but God is the ocean.
When I get up from the table after Thanksgiving, the last thing I want is more food. You can’t tempt me with another bite. In the same way, it’s hard for Satan to tempt a joyful believer with the empty pleasures of this world.
Again, “Genuine Christian joy is not the power of positive thinking.”
A joyful believer is already more than satisfied in Christ — what more could he possibly want? Make it a point to be satisfied in Christ so that you rejoice in the Lord, and you will find safety and strength in your fight against sin.
Joy Protects Us from the World
Joy Protects Us from the World
How does Christ-gazing, Spirit-given joy keep us safe? Here are three ways.
Third, joy protects us from the sorrow and negativity that the world brings us.
Again, “The joy we have in Jesus cannot be extinguished by the circumstances of life.”
Take Paul for example in Acts 16 where Paul had cast a demon out of a slave girl who had been bringing in money for divination. When her masters learned she would no longer bring them money in this way, they had Paul and Silas beaten and thrown in prison(Acts 16). But what was it they were doing at midnight? There they were, sitting in the dark dungeon, their feet in stocks, they had been beaten and had not even been given medical treatment. They were singing! Not the blues, but joyful, praiseful singing. It is to this congregation that Paul later wrote the book of Philippians, a letter often called “the book of joy.”
Paul struggled greatly to develop the congregation of Phillippi, but yet in all of it he found joy and constantly expressed the importance of rejoicing in the Lord. You could essentially put Paul through nearly anything, and yet Christ and His Joy would be all that Paul needed to be content. Yes, I am speaking of having joy here, but don’t be mistaken that Paul is content because of his Joy in the Lord. I love Phillipians 4:11-13 because it speaks of just how content Paul was in the Lord.
Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
We as Christian need to be seeking this joy and contentment! With all the darkness and sadness that continues to surround this world, what better weapon than joy from the Lord?
I mean honestly, how many of us can stand around and say that even through the darkest of times we wouldn’t question the Lord? Because I think that’s one of the big differences between me and Paul. I know I’ve had times where I’ve questioned or been mad at God because of circumstances, but I fully believe Paul at this moment was so content in Christ that he never wavered. Never questioned. He KNEW that somehow through his pain and anguish the Lord would be glorified and lifted up and that’s all that mattered. He just sat their in a cold dark prison praising the Lord, and if you read on, him and Silas actually lead a prison guard to salvation.
Joy is essential to get us through trials. Things could have gone much differently for Paul and Silas if they had not been so joyful in that Philippian jail. Joy helped them through those trials. James talks of joy and trials:
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
This endurance or patience, he goes on to say, makes us perfect or thoroughly complete. Jesus also related joy with trials. The writer of Hebrews says, Hebrews 12:2
looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Joy through our trials makes us stronger and better for God’s service.
Coal miners know that if the canary is not singing, there is trouble on the way.
So rejoice in the Lord! To say the same things is safe for you.
The alter is open as Naman comes to play a song, but I invite you to join with me in prayer, that if tonight you felt conviction that you’re not truly fulfilled with the Joy of the Lord, that tonight is where you make that change. Make tonight be the night where you commit yourself to being CONTENT with the Lord. BE FILLED WITH HIS JOY.