THE FRUIT OF JOY
The second word there in Galatians 5, which is “joy” is a very common word. What about its nature? What is its nature? It’s not superficial. It’s not related to circumstances. It’s not the kind of joy that you feel when something good comes along in your life, it’s not that kind of joy. It’s joy unrelated to shifting circumstances. It’s joy that has nothing to do with whether you’re healthy or sick, nothing to do with whether you’re alone or in a crowd, nothing to do with whether you are paid enough or not enough, nothing to do with whether you have enough food or not enough food; not related whatsoever to whether your circumstances are positive or negative; not related at all to whether you have trouble in your life, or for a little bit you’re trouble-free. No, this word is not related to that.
The word related to that sort of joy is “happy.” Happy is related to the word “happen,” which is related to “happenstance.” Happy means you like the circumstance you’re in. We understand that. This is not that, this is chara. This is deep down, settled joy. This is miles below the surface of the troubled sea. This is in the dead calm of the depth of your soul. It doesn’t move, it’s unassailable, it’s immovable. It’s the deep-seated joy that provides for you constant – listen to these words – constant satisfaction and contentment.
Nehemiah 8:10 says, “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” The joy that belongs to the Lord is dispensed to you, just like the love and peace of the Lord is dispensed to you. So your joy doesn’t rise and fall on circumstances, it is immovable, it is unchangeable, it is as immovable and unchangeable as your Lord is. It always refers, chara does, to that joy that is based on *divine realities.
First Peter chapter 1:8, says this: “Though you have not seen Christ Jesus, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.” What is this joy connected to? Ultimate salvation. No matter what happens in my life, you can’t touch the eternal salvation that I have been given. There is an inheritance laid up for me undefiled, unfading, settled in heaven, waiting my arrival; nothing can change that. It’s a settled joy based upon the unchanging promises and power of God.
Jesus, talking to the disciples again back in the upper room, John 16, said, verse 20, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You know, when I go to the cross, you’re going to cry, you’re going to weep, and the world’s going to celebrate. You will grieve, but your grief will be turned to joy. You’ll have a lot of grief on Friday, but you’ll have joy by Sunday night.”
And it’s illustrated by, “Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has come; and when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world. Therefore you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.”
Did you read that last line? “No one will take your joy away from you,” because Christ is risen, and He is alive, and He ever lives. That’s what gives everlasting joy. Christ is alive, and He has purchased our redemption and an inheritance undefiled, fading not, reserved in heaven for us.
Jesus actually said in John 15:11, “My joy I give you; you have My joy.” The very joy that the Son possesses in the promise of the Father, we possess in the promise of the Son.
In Isaiah 53:3 we find our example, the Lord Jesus. He’s the example of this kind of joy. It says, “He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” You say, “Well that’s not talking about joy.” No, but I just want to make a contrast. “He’s the man of sorrows acquainted with grief.” But Hebrews 12:2 says, “But He endured the cross,” – which is what’s being described in Isaiah 53 – “for the joy that was set before Him, enduring the shame.”
Christ is the model of joy. He went to the cross full of joy because the suffering could never overpower the promise of God, but it could only accomplish the promise of God. So joy – this is joy that’s deep, and it’s connected to our eternal salvation. An example of this joy is Christ who went through the depths of the wrath of God and held on to the promise of joy. He’s our example.
We’ll never go through anything like He did. “We haven’t suffered yet unto blood,” says the writer of Hebrews. We’ve never endured anything like He endured; and He did it for the joy of the outcome. That’s how we have to face life.
And then, like love, we’re commanded to do it. Philippians 3:1, Philippians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say, rejoice!” We’re commanded to do what only the Spirit can do, which is like saying, “Walk in the Spirit. Keep in step with the Spirit.”
Where do we get the power for this? Again, the power comes from the Holy Spirit. In Romans 14:17, “The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” The joy is the work of the Holy Spirit. If you walk in the Spirit you’re full of joy. Is that what people would say about you? Is that how you would be characterized, a person who is just manifestly full of love and full of joy, love for everyone who gets in your path and joy that is never ever diminished? You know, you wonder sometimes, “Is so-and-so a Christian? Is so-and-so a real believer? What about my spouse?” or, “What about my kids?” or, “What about this friend or that?” Don’t look at the past, look now and see if you see love, I mean, dominating, extensive, sacrificial, humble, unselfish love, and joy.
We’re not victims. We don’t need to go around moping and groaning because things aren’t going the way we think they ought to go. Christians are not victims, we are victors. We are huper-nike, hyper-conquerors in Christ. We don’t need to change the world, we don’t need to change our circumstances; we just need to live out of love and joy in whatever state we’re in, to be content. That should be you and me all the time; and when it is, we’re walking in the Spirit.
Lord, help us to walk in the Spirit, to walk faithfully in the Spirit, so that our lives are just relentlessly full of love and joy. Why should it not be that way, when we are loved eternally, and when we have been promised an incomprehensible eternal inheritance that can never ever be taken away. We would celebrate if we won the lottery; that’s sawdust compared to winning heaven. We have no reason to be anything less than loving and joyful. So fill us with that, that the world may know that we belong to You. Put the gospel, the power of the gospel, on display. May our transformed lives be witness to the one who transformed us, the Lord Jesus Christ, we pray in His name. Amen.
The second word there in Galatians 5, which is “joy” is a very common word. What about its nature? What is its nature? It’s not superficial. It’s not related to circumstances. It’s not the kind of joy that you feel when something good comes along in your life, it’s not that kind of joy. It’s joy unrelated to shifting circumstances. It’s joy that has nothing to do with whether you’re healthy or sick, nothing to do with whether you’re alone or in a crowd, nothing to do with whether you are paid enough or not enough, nothing to do with whether you have enough food or not enough food; not related whatsoever to whether your circumstances are positive or negative; not related at all to whether you have trouble in your life, or for a little bit you’re trouble-free. No, this word is not related to that.
The word related to that sort of joy is “happy.” Happy is related to the word “happen,” which is related to “happenstance.” Happy means you like the circumstance you’re in. We understand that. This is not that, this is chara. This is deep down, settled joy. This is miles below the surface of the troubled sea. This is in the dead calm of the depth of your soul. It doesn’t move, it’s unassailable, it’s immovable. It’s the deep-seated joy that provides for you constant – listen to these words – constant satisfaction and contentment.
Nehemiah 8:10 says, “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” The joy that belongs to the Lord is dispensed to you, just like the love and peace of the Lord is dispensed to you. So your joy doesn’t rise and fall on circumstances, it is immovable, it is unchangeable, it is as immovable and unchangeable as your Lord is. It always refers, chara does, to that joy that is based on *divine realities.
First Peter chapter 1:8, says this: “Though you have not seen Christ Jesus, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.” What is this joy connected to? Ultimate salvation. No matter what happens in my life, you can’t touch the eternal salvation that I have been given. There is an inheritance laid up for me undefiled, unfading, settled in heaven, waiting my arrival; nothing can change that. It’s a settled joy based upon the unchanging promises and power of God.
Jesus, talking to the disciples again back in the upper room, John 16, said, verse 20, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You know, when I go to the cross, you’re going to cry, you’re going to weep, and the world’s going to celebrate. You will grieve, but your grief will be turned to joy. You’ll have a lot of grief on Friday, but you’ll have joy by Sunday night.”
And it’s illustrated by, “Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has come; and when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world. Therefore you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.”
Did you read that last line? “No one will take your joy away from you,” because Christ is risen, and He is alive, and He ever lives. That’s what gives everlasting joy. Christ is alive, and He has purchased our redemption and an inheritance undefiled, fading not, reserved in heaven for us.
Jesus actually said in John 15:11, “My joy I give you; you have My joy.” The very joy that the Son possesses in the promise of the Father, we possess in the promise of the Son.
In Isaiah 53:3 we find our example, the Lord Jesus. He’s the example of this kind of joy. It says, “He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” You say, “Well that’s not talking about joy.” No, but I just want to make a contrast. “He’s the man of sorrows acquainted with grief.” But Hebrews 12:2 says, “But He endured the cross,” – which is what’s being described in Isaiah 53 – “for the joy that was set before Him, enduring the shame.”
Christ is the model of joy. He went to the cross full of joy because the suffering could never overpower the promise of God, but it could only accomplish the promise of God. So joy – this is joy that’s deep, and it’s connected to our eternal salvation. An example of this joy is Christ who went through the depths of the wrath of God and held on to the promise of joy. He’s our example.
We’ll never go through anything like He did. “We haven’t suffered yet unto blood,” says the writer of Hebrews. We’ve never endured anything like He endured; and He did it for the joy of the outcome. That’s how we have to face life.
And then, like love, we’re commanded to do it. Philippians 3:1, Philippians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say, rejoice!” We’re commanded to do what only the Spirit can do, which is like saying, “Walk in the Spirit. Keep in step with the Spirit.”
Where do we get the power for this? Again, the power comes from the Holy Spirit. In Romans 14:17, “The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” The joy is the work of the Holy Spirit. If you walk in the Spirit you’re full of joy. Is that what people would say about you? Is that how you would be characterized, a person who is just manifestly full of love and full of joy, love for everyone who gets in your path and joy that is never ever diminished? You know, you wonder sometimes, “Is so-and-so a Christian? Is so-and-so a real believer? What about my spouse?” or, “What about my kids?” or, “What about this friend or that?” Don’t look at the past, look now and see if you see love, I mean, dominating, extensive, sacrificial, humble, unselfish love, and joy.
We’re not victims. We don’t need to go around moping and groaning because things aren’t going the way we think they ought to go. Christians are not victims, we are victors. We are huper-nike, hyper-conquerors in Christ. We don’t need to change the world, we don’t need to change our circumstances; we just need to live out of love and joy in whatever state we’re in, to be content. That should be you and me all the time; and when it is, we’re walking in the Spirit.
Lord, help us to walk in the Spirit, to walk faithfully in the Spirit, so that our lives are just relentlessly full of love and joy. Why should it not be that way, when we are loved eternally, and when we have been promised an incomprehensible eternal inheritance that can never ever be taken away. We would celebrate if we won the lottery; that’s sawdust compared to winning heaven. We have no reason to be anything less than loving and joyful. So fill us with that, that the world may know that we belong to You. Put the gospel, the power of the gospel, on display. May our transformed lives be witness to the one who transformed us, the Lord Jesus Christ, we pray in His name. Amen.
