The Fruit of the Spirit - Joy

Actually two weeks ago, on Valentines Day, we started a new series called The Fruit of the Spirit and look at the God kind of love. The Agape, unconditional, love that God has for us. After all He gave His Son to save the world because of His unconditional love for us. Last week we saw that Jesus told us we would be known not by our gifting, our talent, but by our fruits which take a lot of work to produce. So the fruit of the Spirit is found in Galatians.

Galatians 5:22–23 NLT

22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

Since we already looked at Love today we are going to look at the fruit of Joy. Let’s get started by looking at this passage of scripture from

Nehemiah 8:9–12 NLT

9 Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were interpreting for the people said to them, “Don’t mourn or weep on such a day as this! For today is a sacred day before the Lord your God.” For the people had all been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law. 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!” 11 And the Levites, too, quieted the people, telling them, “Hush! Don’t weep! For this is a sacred day.” 12 So the people went away to eat and drink at a festive meal, to share gifts of food, and to celebrate with great joy because they had heard God’s words and understood them.

1. We are strengthened by the joy of the Lord!

Nehemiah told the people to not be dejected and sad because we have the joy of the Lord! Now the Hebrew word joy used in this passage is the word ḥeḏvâ. This word actually means gladness and joy. It doesn’t mean happiness which is an emotion that people think you need to have in order to be full of joy. But as you can see in this scripture, it wasn’t time to do a happy dance, but it was a time to reflect on the fact that when we focus on God, His joy becomes our strength! There is joy that comes from the fact that no matter what we face, God is there to give us the strength to overcome every circumstance. The Joy of the Lord is strengthening!

John 15:9–11 TPT

9 “I love each of you with the same love that the Father loves me. You must continually let my love nourish your hearts. 10 If you keep my commands, you will live in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands, for I continually live nourished and empowered by his love. 11 My purpose for telling you these things is so that the joy that I experience will fill your hearts with overflowing gladness!

2. When we operate in God’s love, we are filled with His joy!

Did you see this? Jesus said that His purpose for teaching us to obey His commands the way He obeyed His Father’s commands, which demonstrates love, is so we would experience His joy! Think about this, whenever we do right, there is an inner joy knowing we’ve done right! That is even when it’s difficult to do right! We might not feel happy but there is a joy that comes from it. Joy is much deeper than just an emotion. One of the definitions of the word emotion is, “a state of feeling”. Joy doesn’t come from feelings, it comes from God and His ability in us to do right!

Romans 14:13–18 TPT

13 So stop being critical and condemning of other believers, but instead determine to never deliberately cause a brother or sister to stumble and fall because of your actions. 14 I know and am convinced by personal revelation from the Lord Jesus that there is nothing wrong with eating any food. But to the one who considers it to be unclean, it is unacceptable. 15 If your brother or sister is offended because you insist on eating what you want, it is no longer love that rules your conduct. Why would you wound someone for whom the Messiah gave his life, just so you can eat what you want? 16 So don’t give people the opportunity to slander what you know to be good. 17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of rules about food and drink, but is in the realm of the Holy Spirit, filled with righteousness, peace, and joy. 18 Serving the Anointed One by walking in these kingdom realities pleases God and earns the respect of others.

3. Putting the feelings of others first, establishes God’s joy in us!

To put this in simple terms, only thinking about ourselves is not the way to operate in joy! Our “culture” likes to fight for our rights instead of serving others. We have a right to do what we feel like and not care about what anyone else thinks. We operate with this attitude and wonder why we don’t have joy in or lives. It’s simple, if we want what God has to offer, we need to do things God’s way. The kingdom of God is not about doing whatever we feel like doing. Look at our example, Jesus! He told us He didn’t come to be served, but to serve. He didn’t come to do things His way no matter what. He came to serve and because of that He had a life full of the joy.

Hebrews 12:1–5 ESV

1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 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. 3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. 4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him.

4. Running life’s race looking to Jesus, gives us joy to face any obstacle!

There’s strength we get from keeping our eyes on Jesus. That strength gives us the ability to face all of the tough situations we go through. We make the changes that God challenges us to make because He lets us in on the end result. For instance, we stay married even though it could be tough and we have to change because God gives us a glimpse of the joy that lies ahead by building a strong marriage and having a strong family. We become generous because we can see the joy of God providing what we need when we need it. It’s a principle and we need to welcome the God’s correction in us to be able to make the changes necessary to live the way God wants us to live.