God and Reason (14)
“These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.” John 15.11
Joy to your world!
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is associated with joy. From the announcement of the angels to the shepherds, through all the healings and good works of His public ministry, to the joy of the disciples on the Emmaus Road, the experience of joy features large in the accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry.
All who have come to know Jesus as Christ and Lord have entered the joy of the Christian life. As every believer knows, we have every reason to be joyful in Jesus, and we must be ready to tell others what it is to know true joy, and how they can know joy as well, giving as our reason the joy we have come to know through faith in Jesus Christ.
Like “glory”, “joy” is a term that we often use with only the most meager understanding of what it is. We understand joy to be pleasant, and therefore, a desirable experience. However, many of us find it difficult either to explain joy, to distinguish between joy and happiness, or to account for joy when we think we’ve known it. Like C. S. Lewis, we are often “surprised by joy,” delighted and lifted to find ourselves in a moment of sheer elation and exuberance, but not knowing quite how we got there, save for the Lord Jesus Christ. Moreover, many of us have difficulty expressing the joy we are experiencing, with the result that our joy is not as infectious or enticing as it otherwise might be.
We are the joy-bringers to our world, so it behooves us to know and experience the joy of Jesus as often as we can.
Joy under the circumstances
I recall Howard Hendricks saying that he was talking to a student and asked how he was doing. The student replied, “OK, I guess, under the circumstances.” Hendricks said, “Under the circumstances? What are you doing under there?”
Temporal circumstances are neither the source of our wellbeing nor the key to joy. Habakkuk 3.17-19 is a good place to start in trying to get at the true nature of joy. Let’s make two brief observations.
First, note the progression of the passage, how it moves from what is seen to what is unseen. Our immediate experiences and circumstances are not always such as to elicit from us a response of joy. Indeed, we are very often wanting in those conditions of life that others look to for happiness. Nevertheless, Habakkuk was able, by engaging sound reason, to rise above even the most unfavorable circumstances to know rejoicing and joy in the Lord. We don’t have to live under our circumstances.
Joy is not determined by what we can see in our immediate environment. Instead, joy is a condition that attaches to knowing the Lord and being able to see past or through what is seen to engage what is not seen (Heb. 12.1). This is part of what gives joy its great appeal: it is not attached to changeable circumstances but to fixed realities and eternal verities in which we participate by grace through faith. And joy is always there, always available to tap into in any situation.
Second, the ability to know joy—despite any untoward circumstances or conditions—is dependent on the extent to which one actually knows the Lord and is intimately engaged in a relationship with Him. Habakkuk declared that he would rejoice in the Lord and in His salvation, which he experienced as strength, security, and safety (v. 19). The chords, melodies, keys, and pace of our lives are ever changing, like a Baroque keyboard composition; but the continuo of joy walks like a solid bass line under and through all the vicissitudes of our lives, and makes them all, regardless of their nature, cohere and make sense.
The experience of joy associated with knowing the Lord thus depends on the extent to which we know the experience of His salvation. If salvation is for us only a “by-and-by” experience, something to hope for but not necessarily to know, then we may struggle to experience joy amid the trials that we must endure as we await translation to eternal glory. On the other hand, if salvation is an experience of living in the Kingdom of God, where we know the hope of glory, experienced and expressed, as a daily reality, then our joy will be fuller and more constant because our relationship with the Lord will be as much for the “here and now” as for the “there and then.”
True joy—a pervasive sense of wellbeing, strength, security, elation, exuberance, and safety—comes from the Lord. We may know joy in the Presence of the Lord and His strength, joy now and joy complete in the days to come. God’s Law and, indeed, all His Word, bring delight and joy for the believer (Ps. 16.11). The Spirit of God, Who dwells in each believer, bears the fruit of joy in us (Gal. 5.22, 23). The joy believers may know in the Kingdom of God comes always from the Lord, and it is available in His Presence amid whatever situations, conditions, or circumstances. We deprive ourselves of this joy when we neglect the Word of God, fail to walk in the Spirit or to resort often to the Presence of the Lord in prayer. Believers must not look to their circumstances for the joy only God can give.
Expressing joy
When we experience it, joy will come to expression in a variety of ways. That is, joy is not an affection merely to be experienced. For joy to have its full effect, it must be expressed.
Once again, the Scriptures provide numerous suggestions to guide us in expressing the joy we have in the Kingdom of God. We may shout for joy, like a home-town partisan whose favorite player has just scored the winning basket (Pss. 47.1; 66.1). Singing songs of joy is also commended (Ps. 92.4). We may express our joy by giving to or comforting others in the midst of our adversity (2 Cor. 8.1, 2); sharing in the sowing and harvest of the seed of the Kingdom (Ps. 126.5); doing justice (Prov. 21.15); and by increasing in our experience of the Kingdom of God (Matt. 13.44).
And in giving a reason for the hope that is within us. Joy makes sense because true and lasting joy is found only in Jesus. He’s the reason we know such joy and have such a powerful hope.
For reflection
1. What is the difference between happiness and joy?
2. Why is the Christian able to know joy despite the lack of anything that others might think of as making them happy?
3. What are the keys to tapping into the “bass line” of joy that undergirds our Christian life?
Next steps—Transformation: How do you experience the joy of the Lord? How does this joy affect you? How would you explain the joy you have in Jesus as Christ and Lord to someone who might ask about it?
T. M. Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment to give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
Order a copy of our book, Joy to Your World!, at The Ailbe Bookstore.
This week: Our Read Moore podcast continues readings from thethe book, The Joy and Rejoicing of My Heart. In our Crosfigellteaching letter, we are studying examples of the spiritual poetry of the Celtic Revival. And in our daily Scriptorium column we are working our way through the Gospel of Matthew. Click here to see all the other columns and writers available to you.
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