Let’s Have Some Joy
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Introduction.
Flourish and Thrive in spiritual life, our Vocation, our finances, our health, our relationships, and our character. Today we will talk about happiness… or really joy which goes beyond happiness.
We have been having VBS all week and some of the kids have been doing this seated wall thing to see who could hold that position the longest. I won’t ask you to do that today, but …
Let me ask you…
How long do you believe you could smile without stopping?
How long do you believe you could smile without stopping?
The Genius Book of World Records says 10 hours and 5 minutes.
A lady named Lisa Lester smiled for 10 hours and 5 minutes without stopping. She broke the previous record of 7 hours and 32 minutes. And then she had to stop smiling.
This is what we are going to talk about tonight… joy not just a smile. Joy goes way past a smile. A smile is outward. Joy is inward. A smile, at best lasts 10 hours and 5 minutes. Joy lasts forever.
Here is another question for you.
What is the shortest verse in the Bible?
What is the shortest verse in the Bible?
Some might say it’s John 11:35 “Then Jesus wept.” But you are wrong. It is the shortest in English, but not in the original language it was written in.
The Shortest verse in Greek is 1 Thessalonians 5:16 “Always be joyful.” or Rejoice evermore… Not just for a few hours, but all the time.
So today we want to talk about the Fruit of the Spirit - JOY. There is a big difference between happiness and joy. So let’s look at that.
What’s the difference between Happiness and Joy?
What’s the difference between Happiness and Joy?
Happiness depends on what happens to you.
Happiness depends on what happens to you.
It depends on your happenstance. If your happenstance is good, you are happy, but if your happenstance is bad, your are sad. If you put your trust in happiness, you will be a victim of circumstances, because your circumstances always change.
Unlike circumstances, God doesn’t change.
The Bible doesn’t tell us to rejoice in our circumstances. The Bible says Phil 3:1
1 Whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. I never get tired of telling you these things, and I do it to safeguard your faith.
So God isn’t telling us to rejoice that whatever you are going through. He is telling us to rejoice in Him while we are going through it. Why? Because God is in control, and He loves you. He will get you through whatever it is you are going through.
And since God never changes, the tells us to 1 Thess 5:16
16 Always be joyful.
Happiness is like cosmetics. Joy in like character.
Happiness come from outside circumstances, Joy comes from within.
Happiness come from outside circumstances, Joy comes from within.
Happiness meets your surface needs, joy meets your deepest needs. Happiness is like a thermometer that registers conditions while joy is like a thermostat that regulates conditions.
Happiness often goes away during times of difficulty. Joy often intensifies during times of difficulty.
Happiness is a good thing. There is nothing wrong with being happy. But happiness works best, and lasts longer when it is rooted in joy. Joy is not dependent on happiness. So when terrible things happen, you probably will not be happy, but you can still have joy.
Why joy is so important?
Why joy is so important?
Joy is important to leading people to Jesus.
Joy is important to leading people to Jesus.
There is not much that’s more attractive to bringing people to Jesus than a Christian that is oozing joy.
A cold dry faith has no appeal. No one is attracted to rules.
When David got out of fellowship with God, he lost his joy and he stopped showing people the Lord. He prayed in Psa 51:12-13
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you. 13 Then I will teach your ways to rebels, and they will return to you.
David basically said that when he got his joy back, he would show others the way to God. Listen, no one wants what you have if you are always sad and depressed… angry and mean. When you have joy, they want some of that. People want joy in their lives.
Joy is important for living the Christian life.
Joy is important for living the Christian life.
The Bible teaches us that we are to serve the Lord with gladness. Psa 100:2
2 Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing.
10 And Nehemiah continued, “Go and celebrate with a feast of rich foods and sweet drinks, and share gifts of food with people who have nothing prepared. This is a sacred day before our Lord. Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!”
The joy of the Lord is our strength.
Joy is lubrication that makes it possible to live in this world.
Joy lifts burdens.
Joy takes the pain and dreariness out of our lives.
Joy takes the weariness out of our work.
I can tell you that there are times when I am tired as I can be, but when I praise the Lord, joy floods in and it energizes my body.
Repeat this with me…
The Joy of the Lord is Our Strength.
The Joy of the Lord is Our Strength.
The Four Ingredients of Joy
The Four Ingredients of Joy
There are four ingredients of joy that we want to look at tonight.
1. When we live a cleansed life we will experience joy.
1. When we live a cleansed life we will experience joy.
To be clean means that there’s no sin between you and God. Look at Romans 5:1-2
1 Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. 2 Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.
Joyfully… When we are made right with God, we can have inner peace and we can joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.
Peace with God comes by the Grace of God. Grace brings justification. Justification brings joy.
Peace with God comes by the Grace of God. Grace brings justification. Justification brings joy.
It brings peace because we know our sins are forgiven.
In case you are wondering what Justification is.
Justification is when God wipes out our sins and declares us righteous.
Justification is when God wipes out our sins and declares us righteous.
6 David also spoke of this when he described the happiness of those who are declared righteous without working for it:
Notice, it says without working for it. That’s because Jesus did it all. We receive it by faith. Look at Rom 4:9
9 Now, is this blessing only for the Jews, or is it also for uncircumcised Gentiles? Well, we have been saying that Abraham was counted as righteous by God because of his faith.
Abraham was declared righteous, and we are declared righteous because of our faith. Take a look at this in 2 CO 5:17-21
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Now that I have convinced you that cleansing brings joy, there is only one thing that can really steal our joy.
Only sin can steal our joy.
Only sin can steal our joy.
When we allow sin (lifestyle) to creep back into our lives after you have been justified, it destroys your joy. That’s why David prayed Psalm 51:12 “Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.” He didn’t pray restore my salvation. He prayed for the restoration of the joy of his salvation.
You may think, well what if someone does something to me? Listen, that cannot take the joy out of your heart. It takes it out of his, but not yours. How you react can take the joy our of your heart.
If you want to see who a person is, don’t watch their actions. Watch their reactions. We control our actions but our reactions show who we really are.
I have said this before and I’ll say it again.
The most miserable person in the world is not an unsaved person. The most miserable person on earth is a Christian out of fellowship with God who has lost the joy of their salvation.
The most miserable person in the world is not an unsaved person. The most miserable person on earth is a Christian out of fellowship with God who has lost the joy of their salvation.
2. When we are cleansed by Jesus, we have confidence.
2. When we are cleansed by Jesus, we have confidence.
1 Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. 2 Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.
We confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory. Some translations use the word hope, but it means confidence based on God’s word.
We can have confidence because we know that no matter happens to us, God can bring good out of the situation. Look at Romans 8:28
28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
No situation is ever hopeless for us as Christians. That’s why we can have joy. Look at Romans 12:12
12 Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying.
Paul is saying it again… confident hope. Our hope is based on God’s word. We can have joy in Christ no matter what is going on around us. 2 CO 7:4
4 Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort. I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation.
He was joyful in all of his tribulations. He says we can have joy in our losses. Heb 10:34
34 You suffered along with those who were thrown into jail, and when all you owned was taken from you, you accepted it with joy. You knew there were better things waiting for you that will last forever.
We can have joy because we know better things are waiting on us that will last forever.
A lady left home at 7 for work. When she turned on her radio, it was playing a Steve Green song, That’s where the Joy Comes from. Here are some lines
Thieves may try to rob my treasure, but they don’t hold the key that leads into the sanctuary where God’s spirit lives in me.
She then said that while she was driving to work thinking about where your joy comes from. If it comes from things, you might need to make some changes. But if it comes from God, that joy cannot be takes away.
After she got to work, her son called and let her know that he had passed by her house and all of the doors were open and the house had been ransacked by thieves… and a lot of their belongings were missing. She said the words to the song came back to her, and she realized God had been preparing her for this event.
She said it took the hours to clean up the mess, but she never once considered crying because she was filled with a deep and lasting joy from the Lord. She said that today, thieves took many of her treasures, but they don’t hold the key to the sanctuary where the Holy Spirit lives in me.
We need to base our Joy in the Lord.
3. We have joy because of our Commitment to the Lord.
3. We have joy because of our Commitment to the Lord.
1 Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. 2 Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.
Lord means boss… it means more than that actually. Paul is basically saying, I have made Jesus the Lord (master) of my life so I rejoice.
There has to be a commitment to Jesus. There is a cleansing, a confidence, but that cleansing and confidence comes with a commitment to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
It’s that commitment that is the secret of being clean and staying clean. Is there any kind of small key that may be spoiling your joy?
If Jesus is not Lord of all, He is not Lord at all.
If Jesus is not Lord of all, He is not Lord at all.
4. We have communion with Jesus which gives us joy.
4. We have communion with Jesus which gives us joy.
Take a look at Romans 5:11
11 So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.
Our new relationship with one of friendship with God.
Joy is not found in circumstances, it’s found in our relationship with Jesus.
4 Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice!
Paul says to rejoice in the Lord… not our circumstances. Rejoice that we are friends with the God of the universe.
11 I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!
Jesus gives us his joy, so when we remain plugged into him, our joy will overflow.
Then when Jesus prayed for his disciples, He prayed that will be filled with His joy.
13 “Now I am coming to you. I told them many things while I was with them in this world so they would be filled with my joy.
Listen, when we commune with Jesus, we are plugged into the vine. Jesus said, John 15:5
5 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.
When we are plugged into him, joy comes out of us. We can’t bear fruit or joy in this case, unless we are in Christ. We don’t rejoice in our circumstances. We rejoice in our relationship with God through Jesus.
Conclusion
I don’t care how much you own; I don’t care how handsome you are; I don’t care how beautiful you are; I don’t care how so-called happy you are; I don’t care what your family is like; if you don’t have joy, for you, life is meaningless. No matter what else you own—you may be Elon Musk. I wouldn’t trade places with Elon Musk for 20 seconds, if he doesn’t know the joy of Jesus.
Listen. If you don’t have joy, life is meaningless.
Joy comes from a relationship with God through Jesus.
Pray
