Learning about Joy

When we give a membership class here, one of the principles we want to help people understand is that being a member of a church is not the same idea as being a member of a gym or a warehouse grocery store.

LA Fitness and Costco are for-profit organizations, and they make a profit by providing a service for their customers. They are not, however, intrinsically made up of the people who join them. As long as they keep getting your money, LA Fitness or Costco is not going to call you if you stop attending. You are not a vital part of who they are. In fact, the inanimate weights and machines at the gym are more a part of the gym than you are.

But that’s not how things work with a local church belonging to Jesus Christ. A church might own property, but that property isn’t what fundamentally makes up the church. The church is those people who have committed themselves both to Christ and to one another. The church is the people.

Therefore, if you want to have a healthy church, the most fundamental requirement is healthy members. You can enjoy a gym membership and never get too involved with the other people because the people who attend aren’t intrinsically part of the what the gym is. But that’s not how the church works. You can’t have a wonderful, healthy church—in the biblical sense—without having biblically healthy individuals.

As we look at the closing sections of 1 Thessalonians, what we see is not just a spattering of biblical commands, but a very useful checklist for a healthy church and a healthy Christian.

A healthy Christian, according to verses 12 and 13 appreciates and honors his leaders. A healthy Christian, says the end of verse 13, seeks to live at peace. According to verse 14, a healthy Christian also admonishes the unruly, encourages the fainthearted, helps the weak, and is patient with everyone. According to verse 15, we can also add to the list that a healthy Christian responds to evil with good, and he helps his brothers and sisters do the same.

Starting in verse 16, we see some brief commands that give us even more characteristics. A healthy Christian is joyful, prayerful, and thankful. Verses 16-18 say: Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

If you aren’t a Christian, if you haven’t surrendered your life to Jesus Christ, God’s will for your life is that you repent and be saved by trusting in Christ alone. But for those of us who have, by grace, been united to Christ, for those of us who are in Christ, God’s will is that we always rejoice.

In the original Greek, the adverb comes first. Paul said, “Always rejoice.” At all times. There is never to be a time or a season when we are not supposed to be rejoicing.

This past week, we saw kids smiling all the time. They’re outside playing in the water. They’re playing games in an air-conditioned room. They’re eating snacks or candy. So, of course, they’re happy.

But we recognize that life is not a continual stream of pleasant experiences in which we delight. Sunny days only last so long. Eventually, storm clouds gather. There is going to be severe pain in this life. And yet, even in those times, God calls us to rejoice, to be glad.

Verse 16 is only two words, and they don’t need much explanation. But what will help us obey this command, for the benefit of our church and our own spiritual life, is to understand what joy is and how we can be joyful. Those are going to be the two main sections of our time today.

I focused my attention this week on what the New Testament says about joy, and that’s what I’m going to share with you today. It’s going to feel a lot more like a seminar than a sermon.

To start, we’ll look at some principles concerning joy. And let me warn you upfront, in the interest of time, I am not going to be giving you a chance to flip to all these passages yourself. But I will cite them for you so you can study them later if you want to do that. Also, once the sermon gets posted online, we’ll have the notes available there as well. So, don’t feel like you need to be furiously writing everything down.

Let me give you four principles about joy to help you understand it. Number 1, joy is not always good. Joy is not always good.

Just because you see joy in someone’s life or see the word in the Bible, that doesn’t mean it’s inherently a good thing.

To have joy simply means to delight in something. It is to be glad—and sometimes it gets translated that way, but it’s the same Greek work. Joy and gladness are emotional words. And while the feeling of joy is pleasant, not all joy honors God. That is because you and I can delight in the wrong things or in the wrong way.

As a clear example, Mark 14:11 and Luke 22:5 tell us that the chief priests were glad, or joyful, when Judas agreed to betray Jesus into their hands. That’s evil joy. They took joy in sin, which is exactly what 1 Corinthians 13:6 says we should not do. We must not rejoice in unrighteousness.

On a similar note, in John 16:20, Jesus said the world would rejoice because of his death, and Revelation 11:10 says the world will rejoice and celebrate when God’s witnesses are murdered.

Those who put Jesus or God’s messengers to death are an extreme example of rejoicing in wickedness, but many times impure joy is more subtle than that.

In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul wanted to make sure the Christians there stayed focused on Christ and didn’t get distracted. So, in 1 Corinthians 7:30, he says, “Let those who rejoice [live] as though they were not rejoicing.” He’s not saying joy is bad; he’s saying the joys and pleasures of this life can distract us from our devotion to Christ.

This remind us that joy can be a distraction. It can be evil, it can be a distraction, and it can also be deceiving.

In Matthew 13, Mark 4, and Luke 8, Jesus shares the parable of the soils, and He talks about someone who receives the word of God with joy. If we saw that happen today, we would celebrate with that person. But we need to be aware that while a person’s joy may be connected to Christ, it may not actually be connected to the right things, and therefore it won’t last.

In the parable, Jesus said that in some cases the joy of hearing God’s word is temporary. A person can fall away from Christ and lose his joy because of persecution or affliction or temptation. What they initially experienced was real joy, but it wasn’t real Christian joy, otherwise it would have endured.

Related to that idea, we have passages like Luke 13:17 and 19:6, which tell us that the people rejoiced because of Jesus’ miracles and how he humiliated the religious establishment. But just a few days later, that same crowd was going to be calling for His death. Their joy wasn’t true, Christian joy.

Also, Luke 23:8 says Herod was glad or joyful when He got to see Jesus. But that was because of Herod’s own curiosity, not because of his faith. He wanted to see a miracle and be entertained.

Joy is not always a good thing. Be aware of the possibility of unholy joy in your own heart. God is not pleased just because you are pleased. Not all joy will please God. Joy is not always good.

Principle number 2 is this: True joy only comes from God. True joy only comes from God.

In Matthew 25, when Jesus is teaching His disciples about rewards in the life to come, He says that those who are righteous will hear, “Well done, good and faithful slave... Enter into the joy of your master.”

That speaks of a joy the God gives but also of a joy that is within God Himself. The God of the Bible, the God of the Apostles, is a God of joy. Joy is an inherent character of God, and He shares it with His children.

Luke 15 has the well-known stories of the missing sheep and the missing coin, and the missing son. And one of the repeated themes in those stories is that after finding or receiving back what had been lost, the person rejoiced. Well, Jesus said that that joy pointed to the joy in heaven over a sinner who repents. That is the joy of God which we are called to participate in as well.

Jesus Christ had the joy of the Father in Him, and John 15:11 says He came so that His joy would be in us so that our joy would be made full. John 17:13 says it again. Jesus taught the truth so that His disciples would have His joy made complete in them.

What makes that joy possible is that Christians receive the Spirit of God within them, and that Spirit produces joy. Acts 13:52 says the disciples were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. Those aren’t two distinct realities; it is the Spirit which produces godly joy.

Romans 14:17 tells us that the kingdom of God is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. And Galatians 5:22 tells us that joy is part of the fruit of the Spirit. First Thessalonians 1:6 says the church received the word with the joy of the Holy Spirit.

So, if you want true joy, eternal joy, everlasting joy, the only way to get it is from God the Father through His Son Jesus Christ. Believe in Him. Call out to Him for forgiveness and surrender your life to Him. Then, God will gift you His Holy Spirit, and He will produce genuine joy. And according to John 16:22, it is a joy that no one will take away.

And if you already belong to Christ, you should pray for more joy. You need to depend on God for it rather than look for it in other things.

When you find joy in the things of this world, like a good meal or a wonderful friendship, recognize that all of it comes from God, not matter how ordinary it might seem. Of all people, we should be those who enjoy the good gifts of God the most because we know the One behind all that is good.

God wants you and me to be joyful. And the work that God began in us for our joy will be completed one day. God is working in you for your sanctification, and that also includes your joy. One day, according to Jude 24, God will cause you to stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy. So don’t forget that true joy only comes from God.

Let’s move on now to principle number 3, which is this: True joy touches every aspect of the Christian life. True joy touches every aspect of the Christian life.

In other words, God did not intend joy to be an isolated trait in your life. Joy is meant to enhance and strengthen everything else.

If your Christian life were a pizza, joy is not a slice or a topping. It’s the cheese covering the whole thing. It’s in every bite. If you don’t like cheese on your pizza, God have mercy on you, but I think you understand the illustration.

In studying joy in the New Testament, you find a clear connection to other aspects of the Christian life. We see joy in connection with faith. We see joy in connection with the church gathering for meals and for worship. We see joy in connection with prayer as well. Romans 12:12 says we should rejoice in hope. Romans 15:13 is a prayer that the God of hope fill His people with joy and peace by the power of the Holy Spirit. So, joy is connected to faith, fellowship, worship, hope, and peace.

It is also related to Christian ministry. In 2 Corinthians 1:24, Paul says, “I am a worker with you for your joy.” In Philippians 1:25, he says, “I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith.” In chapter 4, he refers to the church as his joy and crown, and he says the same thing to the Thessalonians. Paul also told the Philippians that he prays for them with joy.

So, joy is essential to the heart and the motivation of ministry. We are to serve with joy, and we are to serve for the joy of others. Godly joy should infuse and enhance every aspect of the Christian life. You don’t just sit down for a few minutes and conjure up joy somehow, and then think, “Okay, that’s my joy for the day. Time to move on.” No! Everything we do for the glory of God is to be done with joy. We are to rejoice always. True joy touches every aspect of the Christian life.

The final principle—principle number 4—is this: true joy is compatible with pain. Joy is not always good. True joy only comes from God. True joy touches every aspect of the Christian life. And number four, true joy is compatible with pain.

If you’ve studied the Bible for a length of time, I assume this is a lesson you have come across. Being a Christian doesn’t mean we aren’t going to suffer. It means that in the pains and difficulties of this life, our joy will not go away. In fact, it shouldn’t go away.

There are many passages that connect joy with pain. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus old us to rejoice when we are persecuted. In Acts 5:41, we’re told the Apostles suffered shame but they rejoiced. In 2 Corinthians 6:10, Paul says that as a servant of God he was sorrowful yet always rejoicing. In 2 Corinthians 8:2, Paul says that the Macedonian churches were in “a great ordeal of affliction,” but they had an abundance of joy.

In Philippians 2:17, Paul says that his life is being poured out as a sacrifice, but he rejoices. In Colossians 1:24, he says he rejoices in his sufferings. In 1 Thessalonians 1:6, we’re told the church experienced tribulation with joy.

In Hebrews 10:34 it talks about Christians joyfully accepting the seizure of their property. Hebrews 12:2 focuses our attention on Christ who had a joy set before Him even as He endured the cross and despised the shame.

That’s the example we are called to follow. James tells us to be joyful in trials. First Peter says we rejoice even though we are distressed by trials and share in the sufferings of Christ.

I know I’ve just been bombarding you with passages, but I want you to know that this is not some obscure, nuanced teaching. True, Christian joy is not incompatible with pain and suffering.

Once you embrace this principle, then it doesn’t seem harsh or inappropriate for God to command us to be joyful, which He does a number of times. I’m not going to share all the passages, but I counted 10 or 11 times in the New Testament where we are commanded to be joyful, and that includes the verse that started us on this study, 1 Thessalonians 5:16—Rejoice always.

Just as a side note here, the primary word used in the New Testament to greet someone is the verb to rejoice. Our Bible usually translates it as “Hail” or “Greetings,” which is how it’s being used, but the word means rejoice, either as a command or as a wish. Wouldn’t that be a good way to greet one another? “Rejoice!” or “May God grant you joy!”

The question then becomes: How does that happen? How do we rejoice? How is it possible for me and you to obey the command of 1 Thessalonians 5:16 when we are having a rotten day, or when tragedy comes at us? What do we do?

The answer from Scripture is that we need to turn our attention to something greater or broader than the circumstances in themselves. We need to step back in faith and rehearse the truth of God. We need to find biblical reasons to rejoice, and we need to meditate on them. You need to flex the muscle of your mind and hold it somewhere. That’s not going to take away the pain or the sadness; that’s not what we’re aiming for. But it is going to honor God and move us toward rejoicing.

Lord willing, we’ll talk more about that in our next sermon from 1 Thessalonians.